Driving out demons with "Eat Fast Feast" and prayer

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Muzhik

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I have a daughter who is experiencing some demonic oppression (details not relevant, so don’t ask). I want very much to help her and have been praying for her for some time. I recently started taking up the fasting program described in the book “Eat Fast Feast” by Jay W. Richards. I found his techniques (over a 6-week period) to work up to a whole-day (and longer) fasting to be quite doable. The plan is to eventually be able to fast entirely from food on Wed. and Fri., eat less on the other days, and on Sunday enjoy a “feast” to celebrate the Lord’s Day.

My problem is basically this: how do I tie the fasting with prayer to be applied to help my daughter? Honestly, for the past 4 weeks I’ve been doing a multi-day fast on Thursday and Friday until mid-morning on Saturday, and I’m looking at starting the multi-day fast on Wednesday. I have not been experiencing a high level of discomfort on my fasting days, so I haven’t been able to “offer up” the suffering of fasting for her. (I think this is why I’m having a difficult time seeing the fasting as helping to drive out demons.)

Has anyone else here used “Eat Fast Feast” as part of a spiritual program, and if so do you have any thoughts on the matter?

(For the record, yes, I will have no problem living off my blubber on my multi-day fasts. And as far as discomfort goes, today is the first day since starting this program that my stomach has been sending me strong continuing “hungry” signals as opposed to just the occasional pangs that I can ignore.)
 
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If you are fasting for the Lord, with a spiritual intention, remember that it doesn’t really matter how you “feel.” It is very similar to prayer. Sometimes when we pray we feel devout and focused, many time distracted and wishing we were somewhere else. That is, sometimes prayer is a real suffering, and sometimes it is delightful. Both are equally valid in God’s eyes as long as our intention is pure. Same with fasting. Sometimes I do it super easily, not hungry at all, in fact feeling great. Sometimes I’m crawling the walls and can’t stop obsessing about eating. But when done for the love of God, both are equally valuable. God does not count “feelings,” and neither should we.
I haven’t used or even heard of “eat fast feast” but any fasting for the love of God should be appropriate as long as you are not damaging your health. In fact, medical evidence today (eg Jason Fung) says occasional fasting is one of the best things you can do for health! I often do a 36 hour fast with little problem.
 
What you offer up is your additional prayers in tandem with your sacrifice. That is what makes it powerful, not if you are suffering or not.
 
You don’t have to be feeling pain in order to offer up a fast. Just the planning and so forth you have to do in order to fast, plus the fact that you are fasting, is sufficient.

As you have noticed, those who fast routinely get used to it. This would probably include virtually every holy person and saint and priest and religious who ever fasted. Fasting is recommended to be done under a spiritual director partly so someone doesn’t keep increasing the self-mortification beyond a reasonable level.

I would strongly suggest you discuss this program of self-mortification with your priest and take his advice.

I do have my own fasting program. I would not use a program like Eat Fast Feast as for me it sounds both spiritually unappealing and likely to wreak havoc on my metabolism. YMMV.
 
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Actually, I’m a Type 2 diabetic. I’ve wanted to try fasting for years as a spiritual practice, but could never find any advice on how to do it as a Type 2 diabetic. The program outlined in EFF (Eat Fast Feast) has worked EXTREMELY well for me in terms of controlling my diabetes. Each chapter that describes a new step in “becoming metabolically flexible” (i.e., training your body to depend on things other than sugar for energy) is followed by a chapter on the science behind fasting, then another chapter describing fasting in the history of the Church. These history chapters have been very encouraging, helping me to understand how I’m engaging in a tradition that dates back to the founding of Christianity.

He also talks about different Protestant “fasting” programs, where one Christian author or speaker or theology student tried to do things like a 40-day fast. These attempts usually failed miserably, mostly because instead of drinking only water and using multivitamins to ensure the people didn’t lack for nutrition, participants were encouraged to drink fruit juice. This totally sabotaged their body’s attempts to move away from relying on carbs, leading to a lot of suffering.

By sticking with the plan and making sure to REALLY watch my carbs on my non-fasting days, I’ve been able to greatly reduce the amount of insulin I’m taking, and that amount has been gradually going down the longer I stay on the program. Biggest change is having to take my blood sugar levels every two hours instead of just before meals (or when I would normally eat, on my fasting days.)

I will be going to Confession this afternoon – first time since the pandemic started – and I will bring my fasting up with the priest.
 
I suggest you get doctor clearance for fasting first.

My spiritual director told me this first when I suggested fasting to him.
 
Have you read Dr. Jason Fung’s the Obesity Code?

He has a practice up in Canada treating patients with type 2 diabetes using fasting.

It’s been very successful.
 
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Sarcelle said:
I suggest you get doctor clearance for fasting first.
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Other than a slight frown of concern when I first mentioned it a few weeks ago, she said nothing. It’s one reason why I’m testing my blood sugars so much more frequently.
 
I’m glad it has worked out for you, but most importantly I’m glad you are proceeding under the guidance of a doctor as well as a priest.

I am not diabetic, nor are there any diabetics in my family. I have other issues, which I don’t discuss here because medical discussion is not allowed under the TOS of the forum. One size does not fit all when it comes to fasts and unfortunately I’ve seen a lot of very questionable promotion of certain trendy fasting programs by prayer groups and even priests (some of whom weren’t even doing the fast they were recommending to others).
 
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That’s all she did?

My doctor had me take a blood test and then from the results gave me the go ahead.
 
Sarcelle said:
Have you read Dr. Jason Fung’s the Obesity Code?
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He is mentioned in the EFF book, but the difference is that EFF goes into the spirituality of fasting, not just the health or physical effects.
 
Dr. Fung’s book outlines the beneficial results of fasting from a physiological standpoint.

Fasting is good for your soul and body.
 
Sarcelle said:
My doctor had me take a blood test and then from the results gave me the go ahead.
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I had taken a fasting blood test just a month or two earlier, so I don’t think she saw the need for an additional one.
 
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