How Do I Fast?

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Max

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Hi,

I’ve had a lot of trouble trying to fast, even for a day. I can’t seem to get enough willpower to do it! I’ve tried a few times, but I always fail quite miserably by evening at latest. What do I do about it, it can be so frustrating…suggestions?
 
Describe what you do when you’re fasting. Are you giving up food entirely or just cutting back? Are you eating certain foods (such as bread and water) but not others?

Are you fasting on Krispy Kreme? (It makes a difference!) :tsktsk:
 
I am no expert, but I did fast for a while on Wednesdays and Fridays. I read somewhere that you could take juice and still call it a fast . When I would get hungry, I thought about Jesus in the desert, and offered up the discomfort. It seemed to help. 👍
 
Describe what you do when you’re fasting. Are you giving up food entirely or just cutting back? Are you eating certain foods (such as bread and water) but not others?
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I tried giving up food entirely.
 
That’s the wrong way to do it–and it’s not necessary spiritually.

Instead, try this:

Eat half of your regular breakfast or just limit yourself to toasted (not buttered or jammed) bread and water.

Skip lunch, but don’t skip water during the day. Drink lots of water. It fills you up for a while and prevents you from getting woozy.

Eat a half-size dinner of regular food. Make dinner earlier than usual, to compensate partly for skipping lunch.

Use this regimen for four months (presuming you want to fast one day a week). If your health still seems fine, then go to bread and water for dinner, leaving breakfast as before.

Use this regimen for another four months. If you want to cut back additionally, try skipping breakfast entirely and having just bread and water for dinner. Don’t skip water during the day.

If you feel “guilty” for not fasting more rigorously than this, then you have an imbalance in your spiritual life and shouldn’t be fasting at all (strange as that may sound).

Remember that line from T.S. Eliot’s “Murder in the Cathedral”:

“The last temptation is the greatest treason,
to do the right deed for the wrong reason.”
 
Try drinking coffee with a lot of milk. It’ll help keep you going. Also, cutting back on food generally beforehand helps. It gives the body a chance to adjust it’s insulin production, decreasing low blood sugar.

I don’t drink juice when I fast. Too sugary , fast acting and non-sustaining. My trick is a cup of coffee first thing, and one around noon, with lots of milk. The caffiene helps too.
 
You should be able to fast at least one day without eating anything . Just drink water throughout the day, and when you feel hungry transfer that hungar into a spiritual hungar for more of Jesus , those who hungar and thirst shall be blessed. When you feel weak remember in our weakness God is strong, and remember he is our true food and drink , and that man shall not live upon bread alone but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of the father.

When you feel like giving in , see Jesus nailed to the CROSS, dying for your sins , offer up your suffering up with his, unite it to his and offer it to the father , this will be pleasing to God.

Remember the fast is to show you that God alone is your true comfort and Joy and not earthly things, that were to put all our hope in him , all our joy in him, and put him before all things, its he who sustains us.

Thank God for upholding you , and the next day Reward yourself and eat whatever you like .

Fast one day
 
Your blood sugar is probably dropping causing you to have wild swings in hunger.

In this case, injesting juice or coffee like the other posters suggested will only exacerbate the problem, not help it. I don’t understand all this new age “Juice Fast.” stuff. A fast is a fast. You don’t eat anything with caloric intake, juice included. I can’t even figure out the juice thing - take away all the good stuff, the fiber, and drink the nectar of the fruit, which is basically empty calories.

You may as well have a Pepsi Cola fast if you are going to juice fast, LOL.:rolleyes:

Sit tight for a day and it usually passes.

I am a fan of the Atkins Diet for normalizing your sugar throughout the day. I was considered a Syndrome X, not really a diabetic, but maybe pre-diabetic before adopting an Atkins’ Nutritional Approach to my life.

Perhaps if you adopt this approach (and the Atkins Diet is nothing more than a primitive caveman diet), you will probably have an easier time fasting altogether on days you abstain from food. Your appetite becomes more managable.

I also beleive fasting should accompany some rest and reflection and prayer, that you shouldn’t be working while you are doing it.

If you have some medical condition I am unaware of, please consult with your physician first.
 
Well - I will try posting again - the last post has got lost by the server twice so far. Why I do not know? It may have been that I tried to use a list.

A lot of good comments for so far so I will just add to them.
  • It is important to understand your metabolism when fasting from food. Different people have different metabolisms so what works for one is unhealthy (even deadly) for others. Try to understand how your body reacts to different foods and nutrients. Some people require a much greater balance in their diets than others, such as diabetics who need to eat balanced meals and not over or underdo any dietary aspects. Other need daily balance; many weekly balance if fine. Some can abstain for certain types of foods entirely. Learn how much of which nutrients your body needs (vs. wants) and on what basis. Consult your doctor about your diet and fasting as necessary.
  • Fasting can include fasting for non-food items.
  • Fasting from your vices can help you reduce them in your life permanently and thus improve the quality of your lifestyle.
  • Fasting does not have to be all or nothing. It can be just a 10% reduction, but could be more as well. The key is that is should be helping you grow closer to God.
  • Attitude is important. Why are your fasting? Understand your movitations, and if you have many that is fine.
  • Prayer is very important even in choosing what to fast from and how much is good and when not to fast.
  • Fasting should not hurt you permanently.
  • If fasting leaves time in your schedule, fill it with positive activities. Fasting from sitcoms and turning on reality TV, probably will not help you much. Fasting from sitcoms and spending quality time with is family is much better.
  • Often a person is better increasing a positive activity than fasting from a neutral or even harmful one. For instance, adding a family rosary each week is beneficial to most families and may help you more than abstaining from ice cream on Wednesdays and Fridays.
Hope some of my ramblings are useful.
 
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