Fasting

I do 48 hour fasts once every two weeks. During that time I try to meditate and contemplate on being a Jedi. I'm obviously losing weight (healthily). I also do 48 dry fasts (no food or water) once a month. I do this mostly for contemplative reasons and to remind myself that all that I have was there by the Will of The Force.

It gives me an appreciation for food, water, and pretty much life.

I was wondering if anyone else did this, and what your thoughts on controlled fasting?

May The Force be with you all.

Nothing that extensive, but I do intermittent fasting every day. Nothing but coffee with no sugars or water for the first 8 hours I am awake.

I did intermittent fasting too, but I found I couldn't stick to it. I had to go hard core because it was the only way to keep me on track. When I break the fast, I do light eating.

Every other day I eat fruits and vegetables during the day and heavier food at night. It's from the Warrior Diet book and I seem to enjoy that a lot.

I've done extended dry fasts as part of the Blackfeet ceremonial way associated with Sundance religion (what we call a "Four day" - comes out to roughly 60-70 hours without food and water, depending on the time of the ceremonies). It was a profound and beautiful experience, mostly because of how it bonds the community together and teaches you about sacrificing for others. I wouldn't - and probably couldn't - have done it without the Lodge's support! Some shorter periods for other observances - though I'm not around that community anymore to be able to continue that practice, I still fast every once and a while for both building discipline and appreciation and also giving my body a "reset."

I agree - you will never take clean water for granted after the first day you go without it! I really understood a lot about the sacredness of food, water, and community ties after fasting.

The first 36 hours in my first 48 hour fast was really brutal. After that, doing 48 hour fasts has been really easy. I remember my first meal I took to break my fast. It was steamed broccoli with soy sauce next to lemon peppered chicken. That broccoli was an explosion of flavor.

I like fasting to help me appreciate the variety of flavors food can produce.

I would have liked to have tried a group fast. That would have been an amazing experience.

The wife and I have been on a vegetarian fast for nearly two years now, if that counts. I also do a 48 hour fast (just water) on the last day of the month transitioning to the first day of the following month. I use my fast to realign myself to empathize with the suffering of the things we often take for granted and to focus my attention on gratitude.

I do this once every quarter of the year. 30 days straight is tough for me but I enjoy it at the end and feel accomplished. Nice to know i'm not the only one that does this.

Okay, since I'm not on the bandwagon, can I ask you to clarify? I'm assuming you're not going 30 days without any food.

I really love the concept of fasting, specifically with regards to the appreciation I could see being gained from it for food and water. Also for the weight loss benefits. But actually working that into my life would be very difficult, if only because I always have things going on that take a lot of energy out of me. Maybe if I could start doing this once a week on the weekend, maybe Saturdays... hmmm...

Locksley wrote: I really love the concept of fasting, specifically with regards to the appreciation I could see being gained from it for food and water. Also for the weight loss benefits. But actually working that into my life would be very difficult, if only because I always have things going on that take a lot of energy out of me.

Fasting can also just mean abstaining from certain types of food for an intentional reason (eating fish instead of meat on Fridays is a classic fasting observance). One of the diets I have explored before is the historic diet of the Knights Templar - due to the intensity of their activities, they did eat meat (unlike the rules of most of the similar monastic orders), but only three times a week (one meat-centered meal on Tuesday, Thursday and one to two on Sundays). This ratio of meat in the diet also been found to have other beneficial properties, so it's one I like as a long term dietary ideal, but it's also a nice short term way to be more observant about what you're putting into your body. So it doesn't have to be the no food (or no anything) fasts to have benefits.