Fasting vs. being healthy

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Hi,

So I’m reading lots of books on saints and how some ate only a piece of bread or a few grains of rice or how in some religious communities you only eat at prescribed meal times and only very little, etc. and am wondering how we are supposed to maintain our health while trying to fast. Granted, I would never try surviving on a few pieces of bread a day (yet the saints did…) but how do we discern between maintain health and offering up hunger?
 
Your body adjusts. If you eat a certain amount of food a day, your body adjusts to it. As long as you are not starving yourself to death. If you’re used to American-sized servings, then you can’t just eat any less. So if you’re used to eating half-a-chicken and then switch to just a loaf of bread, you might kill yourself. But if you gradually reduce your intake, give your body time to adjust, you will eventually be able to comfortably live off a small amount of food. Many people around the world live off a small amount of food, mostly not by choice. But they live with it.
 
I fasted for a year and lost 60 pounds using the Weight Watchers guide to spirituality 😃

Most people on WW’s, are eating 1,200 calories a day with a “fudge factor” of 500-700 per week to splurge on.

P.S. Calories are calories whether you eat chocolate cake or roasted chicken.

This is just me, but fasting became real to my soul when I took the money (from what I didn’t use eating) and give that money to the starving poor.
 
It says in the bible that some things cannot be acheived except through prayer AND fasting, for example when some of the apostles were trying to cast out a demon but Jesus had to come help them.

I’ve tried fasting and i get weak and tired and my blood sugar drops. It’s miserable and I can’t focus at work or do anything. I felt guilty b/c of that, like I should just put up with it bc that is what fasting is all about.

I’ll have to start off slower next time I guess. Still extremely hard for me to get my willpower up to the task though 😊
 
Remember that fasting is relative. You can’t go from huge consumption to no consumption instantly. Thats not fasting, thats suicide.

For most people giving up one meal a day is a big fast already. If you can go down from 3 big meals to 2 big meals, then thats great. Then if you do that consistently for a period of time, you can then go to 2 small meals and 1 big meal, then further down to 3 small meals, then down again. But if you do this sometimes, like during lent, then its advisable to just give up one meal. Since most of the year your body is used to having 3 meals.
 
It just seems odd to be kind of living on the brink of starvation, despite what the rest of the world does. Isn’t there responsibility to care for our bodies?
 
HeWillProvide said:
It just seems odd to be kind of living on the brink of starvation, despite what the rest of the world does. Isn’t there responsibility to care for our bodies?
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Actually, the rest of the world is living in starvation, not by choice though.

Fasting is a wonderful discipline for the soul. Being able to deny something so common and ordinary and necessary as food helps us condition our mind to be stronger and able to deny ourselves sinful things that we often overlook everyday because they are so ordinary and common and at times may seem necessary.
 
I do believe all of the Apostles were in excellent health. There was no diabetics, epileptics, congenital heart problems, hearing challenged, vision challenged or frail among the Apostles. Prayer and fasting is excellent penance unless there is a health reason not to fast. A Doctor can be consulted.
The body is, after all, the temple of the Holy Spirit and it is a sin to intentionally destroy the temple.
 
MMprn said:
I do believe all of the Apostles were in excellent health. There was no diabetics, epileptics, congenital heart problems, hearing challenged, vision challenged or frail among the Apostles.
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And you arrive at this belief how exactly?
 
ConstantineTG said:
Actually, the rest of the world is living in starvation, not by choice though.

Fasting is a wonderful discipline for the soul. Being able to deny something so common and ordinary and necessary as food helps us condition our mind to be stronger and able to deny ourselves sinful things that we often overlook everyday because they are so ordinary and common and at times may seem necessary.
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Oops, that was what I meant. I meant, even if the rest of the world is starving, why must we live on that edge, too? Should we also all live in cardboard shacks as well?? 😉
 
P.S. When fasting, eat protein to level out blood glucose levels (soy beans, peanut butter, eggs, beans, meats) and whole grain complex carbohydrates.

Atkins and the South Beach Diet are higher protein and less carbohydrate diets.
 
bkayw said:
P.S. When fasting, eat protein to level out blood glucose levels (soy beans, peanut butter, eggs, beans, meats) and whole grain complex carbohydrates.

Atkins and the South Beach Diet are higher protein and less carbohydrate diets.
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Right, but how does this work with fasting on bread and water on Wednesdays/Fridays?
 
HeWillProvide said:
Oops, that was what I meant. I meant, even if the rest of the world is starving, why must we live on that edge, too? Should we also all live in cardboard shacks as well?? 😉
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This all goes back to conditioning the mind. Abstinence really is the root of this, giving things up. Fasting is just a higher form of abstinence as you give up food specifically. What happens is your instincts fight with your conscious mind, the instinct of course is the desire for food, while the conscious mind masters the instincts. As your conscious mind becomes the master of your instincts, you are able then to take control over everything that your instinct may dictate, and this includes sin. Often times our sin starts subconciously and our instinct overwhelms our conscious mind to the point that our conscious mind makes up justifications for givin in to the instinct. Example is when a married man feels physical attraction towards another woman. The instinct reacts to bodily hormones and directs the man to go after this girl and initiate the act of mating. The conscious mind know this is wrong on so many levels. Many times we see today the man uses his conscious mind to justify why he should go after the girl despite knowing its the wrong thing to do. This is instinct’s mastery over the conscious. If your conscious mind has mastery over your instincts, you can supress the urges of your body and make the right choice.
 
Barbkw said:
Who said to fast on bread and water on Wed and Fridays?
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The Church requires Ash Wednesday and Good Friday, but not every Wednesday and Friday. But people are free to do so if they want to.
 
The Church requires Ash Wednesday and Good Friday, but not every Wednesday and Friday. But people are free to do so if they want to.
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We also got to fast or some kind of pennance every Friday?
 
Patrick_Joshua said:
We also got to fast or some kind of pennance every Friday?
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Abstinence. Also required only during Lent but highly recommended for all Fridays.

Absitnence classicly means abstaining from meat. Recently I’ve heard people abstain on other things, like TV, video games, shopping, sex, etc.
 
As a nutritionist, I must comment that eating less than 1200 calories per day becomes a serious health risk.

It’s not just about the calories. It’s about the vitamins and minerals your body needs to function.

Prolonged fasting is unhealthy. It can lead to death. I cannot encourage it.

Reports of people living for years on a few pieces of bread a day or just a little rice are frankly totally false.

You’d die of scurvy in less than a year because of lack of vitamin C.
 
constantseeker said:
Reports of people living for years on a few pieces of bread a day or just a little rice are frankly totally false.
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Saint Rose of Lima got by on very little. Of course she got very weak, and died at only 31.

Probably today they’d diagnose her as anorexic.

We need to realize that in the recounting the lives of saints, I am sure legend slipped in, in many cases.
 
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