Fasting

[Johnone]

Have you ever fasted?

For how long? Days on end? Hours?

What was your reason for fasting? Religious? Spiritual? Physical? Political?

What was your experience fasting?

What did you suffer (headaches, etc) when fasting?

The longest I fasted was probably no longer than 12 hours and it was just to see how long I can stay without food. I tried it several times, but with the same outcome. The headaches probably kills me the most. I get dibilitating ones; probably migraines. But they say the headaches come due to your body craving coffee or tea, being accustomed to the caffeine.

Ps. I'm talking about fasting as a willful abstinence of food, not being forced to go without food due to not having food, i.e. poverty and hunger.

 

[MyWorld]

For how long?
4 days - Only fluids

What is your reason for fasting?
Religious

What was your experience fasting?
The first day is nothing, just business as normal, the second day gets a little tougher, but still manageable. It hugely depends on the person. I fast quite easily but other people have severe hunger pains after just missing 2 meals, on vacation I go regularly missing 2-3 meals a day (not as active, not so hungry). The end of the second day and for the third day I get light headaches but after the third day it is really easy to just keep going.

What did you suffer (headaches, etc) when fasting?
Light headaches. Your strength decreases gradually but you hardly notice.

 

[medicnick83]

I'm not muslim, but I tried to fast for a few days according to the way my friends do it - didn't last 4 hours - I ate something (with coca cola)

Could never do it

 

[mister]

Below in bold

Have you ever fasted?

Yes. Water and freshly made vegetable and/or fruit juices (depending on amount of free time to wash, chop, juice!)

For how long? Days on end? Hours?

Three weeks is the longest.

What was your reason for fasting? Religious? Spiritual? Physical? Political?

Physical & mental benefits

What was your experience fasting?

Absolutely love it. After the first few days I have abundent energy and increased mental clarity. I find that after the fast has ended my desire for junk food has disappeared and I tend to only want healthy food.

What did you suffer (headaches, etc) when fasting?

Headache for maybe the first day, and missing the enjoyment of eating towards the end.

The longest I fasted was probably no longer than 12 hours and it was just to see how long I can stay without food. I tried it several times, but with the same outcome. The headaches probably kills me the most. I get dibilitating ones; probably migraines. But they say the headaches come due to your body craving coffee or tea, being accustomed to the caffeine.

If you can push through the first few days it becomes really easy.

Ps. I'm talking about fasting as a willful abstinence of food, not being forced to go without food due to not having food, i.e. poverty and hunger.

 

[Avenue]

I have fasted a few times for 48-72 hours - drinking water only

First time was the worst. By the second day I had a terrible taste in my mouth, and I couldn't stand without wanting to fall over.
By the third day I had heart pulpetations and felt nauseous so I gave it up.

I lost about 7kg's

Now days I can do 48 hours without a problem, but struggle after that.

Benefits:
My sinuses cleared. I had a lot more energy. I could think clearly - and my desire for fatty/salty/sweet foods decreased.

 

[Wall]

2 years ago, I did a complete, 24/7, saltless grainless fast. That meant I onlyhad fruits and milk. I used to have like a banana and 2/3 apples a day. After my fast, I was over hungry and lost 8kgs. It was for religious purposes

Edit: fast was for 9days

 

[Wall]

By the end of the fast I only wanted salt, not so much food

 

[ponder]

10 days, only fluids.

 

[PapercutPrincess]

Have you ever fasted?

Yes.
Had to fast dairy, red meat, chicken, fish (if I recall correctly), sunflower oil, eggs... I can't remember what else.

For how long? Days on end? Hours?

A week. We're supposed to fast the full 40 days for lent but most parents let their children off until the last week. I can't remember when I started to do the fasting, probably from very young, but I stopped in 2009 or 2010.

What was your reason for fasting? Religious? Spiritual? Physical? Political?

Religious. I was christened Greek Orthodox but I am not religious at all. I don't believe in a god. Though while I was still in school, I had to conform to whatever my mom said because "it was her rules" but once I turned 18, I told her that I don't believe in this so I am not going to do it. There was a bit of an argument about it and "how can you not believe in god" etc. but I told my mom and step dad that I respect their beliefs and I don't interfere, so I would like for them to respect mine. They are obviously not happy, and my brother also told them he doesn't believe in god, but they just live with it lol

However, since her and my step dad are both religious, during fasting week, they don't buy the food that they are fasting so my brother and I end up eating whatever they do and I don't mind really because it is close to the diet I follow anyway (wheat intolerant, egg intolerant, lactose intolerant and other restrictions too).

What was your experience fasting?

As a child, I felt it to be amplified compared to when I got older. You obviously are aware that you can't eat the chocolates in the cupboard or have hamburgers so I didn't enjoy it much. Though as I got older, it didn't really affect me too much since we were on holiday and then my body started to reject all those foods.

What did you suffer (headaches, etc) when fasting?

I don't recall getting headaches or anything like that. We were allowed to eat whenever we wanted, it was more that we couldn't eat certain things like dairy products.

 

[ShaunSA]

2 years ago, I did a complete, 24/7, saltless grainless fast. That meant I onlyhad fruits and milk. I used to have like a banana and 2/3 apples a day. After my fast, I was over hungry and lost 8kgs. It was for religious purposes

garha prayers? Which pundit conned you into that one lol

 

[Wall]

garha prayers? Which pundit conned you into that one lol

Did it got Navarathri I am already a vegetarian so I decided to try a different fast

 

[Haldex]

Headaches are caused by caffeine dependency, worst when dry fasting, 6-8 hours and you would feel it.
Liquid fasting you can still get away with no headaches - coffee, Coke.

 

[ShaunSA]

Did it got Navarathri I am already a vegetarian so I decided to try a different fast

Hey I'm also a vegetarian. Not for religious reasons though. Meat just makes me go

 

[Necuno]

For how long? Days on end? Hours?
I do 24 hours. So I'd stop eating at 7pm and start to eat again next day at 7pm. Do take caution not to go and eat meals upon meals after a fast it's better to return to food by having something that easily digestible.

What was your reason for fasting? Religious? Spiritual? Physical? Political?
Spiritual and Cleansing (detoxing).

What was your experience fasting?
1st time I thought I was going to die of hunger having taking no food or water . All of a sudden I was very conscious of having to eat and drink during that first cycle.

What did you suffer (headaches, etc) when fasting?
headaches and sometimes bit light headed, but you get better at it.

You can also try to vary
1) no food or water.
2) just no food.
3) can take a juice in between if you really can't just go on water.

 

[Wall]

Hey I'm also a vegetarian. Not for religious reasons though. Meat just makes me go

Awesome, how long have you been a veggie?

 

[ice_cubes]

wow, I have thinking alot about fasting lately. I honestly thought fasting was just for a specific race/religion.

So (excuse my ignorance), how do I go about fasting? I am very interested & everyone I ask at work just gives me funny looks because they think I am mocking their religion.

 

[murraybiscuit]

in my former life, i used to fast once a year with the rest of the bretheren.
the communal fast generally lasted for a week and was more focused on prayer around a specific goal/need than fasting for the sake of fasting. because people have different nutritional/dietary requirements, it was pretty flexible and generally worked on a few days of veg/fruit and then a day of water and tapering back to solids.

i only did 3 week fasts twice that i can remember. these were for personal petitionary and meditative purposes. they generally involved a tapering off a normal diet onto veg, fruit, fruit juice, water and back to solids. the first few days without caffeine can give a few headaches, but it's not too bad. your body becomes used to the hunger and it becomes less of an issue the longer you go. you need to replace electrolytes and salts if you're just drinking fluids. your body also becomes fairly used to lower energy levels over time. the weight loss isn't just fluid loss, and it becomes noticeable after about 10 days.

there's a theory that the weight loss releases toxins which are trapped in your body fat, which leads to headaches etc. but i think that's some detox bs from what i remember.

since deconversion i don't see a reason to fast. cooking gives me great pleasure, and i don't see the evidence or mechanism behind detox theory (fasting for "health" purposes). i'm also a bit cynical of people's [spiritual] reasons for fasting. from my experience, it's not all it's cracked up to be. there's better ways of achieving what you want to achieve without going to extremes or complicating things. a famous prince once discovered that the middle path was better than extremes. he knew a thing or two.

 

[hellfire]

wow, I have thinking alot about fasting lately. I honestly thought fasting was just for a specific race/religion.

So (excuse my ignorance), how do I go about fasting? I am very interested & everyone I ask at work just gives me funny looks because they think I am mocking their religion.

It's quite easy. It's really a one step process. You know how you eat and drink stuff when you're hungry or thirsty?
Step One: Don't do that.

You will then be fasting.

 

[Avenue]

wow, I have thinking alot about fasting lately. I honestly thought fasting was just for a specific race/religion.

So (excuse my ignorance), how do I go about fasting? I am very interested & everyone I ask at work just gives me funny looks because they think I am mocking their religion.

It's quite easy. It's really a one step process. You know how you eat and drink stuff when you're hungry or thirsty?
Step One: Don't do that.

You will then be fasting.

lol. well this. But there are other things you may want to consider also:
if you are going for more than one day, its best to arrange it so that the second/third day falls over a weekend or something because you will probably have to spend time lying down or moving around slowly. I have heard that when you push through the 3rd day you begin to regain strength and can actually start to feel fantastic. But I have never gone that far.

Drink a lot of water.

Break it slowly:
drink fruit juice an hour or so before you eat and if you fast for an extended time- a week or whatever spend the first day back eating yoghurt and fruit. Progress slowly to heavier foods. I heard of a guy that broke a 40 day fast with a steak and ended up in hospital.

Start slowly:
you may want to start off with a 24 hour fast and then in a few months try a longer one. Get your body used to it.

Even if you aren't dong it for religious reasons, your mind is going to be clear, so it is a good idea to think about life and set some goals for the future.

oh and your body's going to be detoxing so dont get too close to people- they will probably smell it on your breath lol

 

[Nokkie]

Have you ever fasted?

For how long? Days on end? Hours?

What was your reason for fasting? Religious? Spiritual? Physical? Political?

What was your experience fasting?

What did you suffer (headaches, etc) when fasting?

The longest I fasted was probably no longer than 12 hours and it was just to see how long I can stay without food. I tried it several times, but with the same outcome. The headaches probably kills me the most. I get dibilitating ones; probably migraines. But they say the headaches come due to your body craving coffee or tea, being accustomed to the caffeine.

Ps. I'm talking about fasting as a willful abstinence of food, not being forced to go without food due to not having food, i.e. poverty and hunger.

I fast every night when I go to sleep no food until the next morning :erm: