I was wondering if anyone knows about fasting. Can you give up certain foods and still be fasting? Not all foods. Is that still fasting? Also please explain fasting. Thank you.
i fasted for many years for three days every month, now that i am older, it seems to effect me in a worse way. So i don't do it near as much as i did back in my earlier days.
Fasting is anything that you love and are willing to give up for a specific amount of time. For example a person who watches TV every single day, and loves it, and would never dream of giving it up, that one would do good to fast from TV for a period of Time. Fasting things that you love is a way to give to Jesus. That person above who loves to watch TV everyday, could say in prayer, Jesus for You, i will give up what i love, i will give up TV for a three days.
Now fasting from all food, and only drinking water, is the BEST way to fast. This is the fast that i would do in every fast that i have ever done.
Fasting from all food for a minimum of three days, is beneficial in several ways. It cleans out your system from poisons. inevitably on the third day i would get a nasty taste in my mouth, found out that by the third day, the body expels poisons from your system, it is the poisons that i am tasting in my mouth on the third day.
The first few times i fasted by the second day i was sick as can be. But after those first few fasts, i now no longer get sick as i did before.
The first day of my fast, was pretty easy, i would just get hungry and that was it. The second day of my fast, my body would go into high alert, it realizes it is not getting in food, and will start to growl at you, to "FEED ME" it can be very painful. This is the bodies way of telling you it needs food, The first few times i was dry heaving, nauseated, dizzy, and felt like i was going to die, Family was telling me to eat, to go to the Hospital and the such, i told them all, that i vowed to God that i would fast for three days, and even if it kills me, that is what i am going to do.
Always the third day, i feel GREAT. my body, once it realizes NO FOOD is coming, will then go into eating the stored fat in my body, and my body would only take what it absolutely needed, no more, no less the PERFECT amount. Always on the third day, my mind could think clearly, my mind was sharper, smarter even. This is the reason throughout the Bible people fasted when they had a tough decision to make, by the third day, you are thinking more clearly to make better decisions. Not to mention the clearer the mind, the more able it is to receive Spiritual guidance. And if you meditate and pray during your fast, all the more able it is to receive Spiritual guidance.
i would like to tell you about an article i read one time, i think it was Discover Magazine, or OMNI magazine, or i may have seen it on a 20/20 show, i can't recall (if i fasted, by the third day i probably could recall where it is from) But here is the gist of it.
It was a study on Fasting, and the subjects were monks, i think Tibetan Monks, these fast all the time. They hooks up brain measuring instruments to these monks and recorded them for each day. The first day, all the measurements were normal brain wave activities. The second day all the measurements were LOW, that is to say they were actually DUMBER, Which i can fully relate too, on the second day i could not hold a thought straight, i could think about was food, and the pain i was feeling because i was not eating any food. The Third Day, all the measurements were off the charts. Brain wave activity was extremely high, way above normal. Hence the reason you can think more clearly.
Fasting is good for you. Despite what doctors say.
Oh and if you are thinking about starting to fast, and never have done it before, i recommend baby steps. Fast for one day, then a week from that fast for a day and half or two days. Do that for a while, then eventually get to 3 days. i know someone who will always eat vegetables for two days prior to the a 3 day fast.
Oh also another tip, don't drink so much water thinking that it will fill you up, for me it only made me sicker. drink moderately. i found what helped me, is when my stomach would start to turn, i would only drink a gulp of water, it would settle down a bit, only to realize it was only water then start turning again.
Hope this helps.
^i^ Responding to OP