Originally posted by MarinkatombDo one day, from the time you wake up and do it until a set time in
Greetings folks. 🙂
Just wondered if any of you have ever fasted before? I have decided i'd like to do one next week (probably for 3-4 days at first just to get an idea what's going on). Any advice, do's-dont's would be most appreciated. 🙂
Cheers
James.
the evening. You will get a feel for it there, once you start fasting for
a day or two at a time it is easier, but when you first do it, you'll feel
deprived big time and enjoy your food when you done even more.
Kelly
Originally posted by MarinkatombI thought it helps make you fat oddly enough, because the body goes into emergency mode, thinking it's starving. I can't find a link for that though.
This is'nt really about losing weight, i'm not over weight at the moment. Do you have any links to back up ths claim that fasting is bad for your digestive system?
It also causes protein breakdown in the body:
After several days of fasting, all cells in the body begin to break down protein. This releases amino acids into the bloodstream, which can be converted into glucose by the liver. Since much of our muscle mass is protein, this phenomenon is responsible for the wasting away of muscle mass seen in starvation.
However, the body is not able to selectively decide which cells will break down protein and which will not. In effect, all cells will break down protein, and essential cells (such as lung cells) are just as likely to be broken down as nonessential cells (such as muscle cells). The problem is that proteins are essential to the structure and metabolism of the cell. Most cells cannot tolerate the loss of very much protein.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Famine_response
Its interesting to me that most of these posts assume that the fast is a complete abstinence from food. I have a couple of thoughts here.
1) Fasting does not have to be the complete abstention from food. Even the ascetic monks of old (e.g. the Desert Fathers) didn't completely abstain from food. The idea was to be hungry always, not starving. From my reading in the Catholic and Orthodox traditions, it is my understanding that this was commonly accepted to mean a "pound" of bread a day... a "pound" being basically a loaf (if you're into bread-making, I here mean the standard loaf pan, not commercial.)
2) The point of fasting is two-fold: to mortify the flesh and to serve as a reminder of your devotion to your God. In so far as fasting mortifies the flesh, it does so by exercising the virtue of self-control. Many a good monk has said that if we can control the things on which our bodies rely then we are able to control our spirit. The constant pang of hunger serves as a reminder for prayer in our efforts to "pray always" -- if every time you were hungry during a fast you said a prayer you would pray quite frequently.
I think the Roman Church's understanding of a fast (i.e. one "normal" meal and two "colations" which together make-up less than one meal) is pretty solid... if you do that for a few days I think you'll find it quite an experience.
I would also observe that jumping in straight to a "liquids-only" fast of three or four days is somewhat hurculean... I wouldn't dream of such a thing, but then again I don't know you, maybe you'll do it.
pax vobiscum,
Corey