Fasting isn’t just a wonderful form of penance, it has the added benefit of detoxifiying your body. For seven years before I became a Catholic (when still a heathen) I did the master cleanse for 10 days at a time, once a year, typically in January after the food and drink orgies of Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s. Back then I did it because like many people I was inordinately concerned with my body and overall physical health (and with my image, too), and while I didn’t realize it then, in addition to cleansing my body to the point that I noticed immediate improvements to its daily efficiency and in its response to food and exercise, it also put me in a very heightened state of awareness accompanied by an amazing tranquility. What is more, while the fast typically reduced my daily caloric intake from about 3500 to 600-800, I actually had more energy than normal, resulting in less need for sleep and equal amount of time exercising, though with lighter weights and lower intensity. I always did it to give my body a break from a diet high in animal protein, so the weight loss of about one pound per day was just a bi-product I welcomed as I typically began cutting my weight in the spring anyway.
Now that I have returned to the Church and put first things first, I avoid meat all Fridays and typically eat less overall that day. I typically fast all day Wednesday, consuming nothing but water and hot tea, so zero calories. While the master cleanse at least allows some calories from grade B maple syrup, going on nothing but tea and water is certainly a test for the will. More importantly, it is a test that pays off in spades, especially in the context of spiritual warfare (in my case this helped me immensely in my battle with lust). If you want to wage a successful battle against your vices and weaknesses, fasting is a powerful weapon in the arsenal. What is more, if you want to open the channels of communication between you and the Lord then implement fasting on a regular basis. Your efforts will be rewarded.
If you look at animals in nature, they will often go without food and water, or at least greatly limit them, when they are sick or wounded. Why? Because instinct tells them to do so. The reason is simple: they, like us, use about one-third of their energy to digest food. When you greatly limit your intake of food, or simply reduce your intake to nothing but some liquids, all that energy is freed up to be dedicated to the task of cleansing and healing. I’ve seen this with a stray cat my mother would let sleep in our house before it came in for good. It spend the days out in the woods foraging for food and fighting with other strays. It came home a few times with cuts and wounds, one time developing a suppurating gash to its tail. Every time this happened it would go lay in a corner of the house to rest, lashing out at anyone who came near it, even if to simply put some food and water out. This was its instinct kicking in and telling it how to heal itself. We eventually forced him to the vet for the suppurating wound, but all other times it healed itself by going off to fast in a corner of the house for a day or two before eating again and wanting to head back outside into the wild.
While I can say that prolonged fasting has put me into profound states of peace and heightened awareness (back then I said I felt “spiritual”), it does also do your body good. My sense of smell increases to the point where everyone around me smells sick, even people who appear to be in good shape. The whites of your eyes get whiter, your tongue becomes very pink (this is a sign that you have successfully detoxed). You may wake up with a rash on an arm or leg that is gone by the evening (another sign of toxins leaving your body through the millions of pores on your body). The world slows down a tad and nothing arouses anger or anxiety. In short, I think it kind of turns you inside out to the point where your soul is on the outside and your flesh within.
Anyway, the Bible is laden with tales of fasting, and as we all know the first thing Christ did after being baptized in the Jordan was fast for 40 days. I’m someone who out of ignorance let the devil use my passions for sport during many years, to my utter detriment. However, the Lord, His Church and the Scriptures have given me quite an education, and fasting is one positive thing I’ve adapted from my misguided past, turning it from a prideful enterprise of will power imposed to enhance my bodily health into a weaponized form of asceticism that devotes my will to the Master and dedicates my free will to the cause of holiness. If you want to advance in the spiritual life I highly recommend doing violence on your appetites by fasting.
To be continued in second post…
I dont think anyone does anymore 
), and recently added a vegetarian Tuesday to my routine since I barely eat anything on Fridays anymore so there’s not much opportunity to abstain.
