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DemoniaFairy

PostPosted: Thu Jun 16, 2011 9:22 am
I was wondering if anybody here has ever fasted for spiritual reasons. Does your path or tradition require you to do so every so often? Or is it optional? What was the specific reason or purpose you fasted? Did you feel that you were successful for whatever it was you were trying to achieve through fasting?

NOTE: I will understand if you can't provide me information on this if it is oathbound, or if you simply do not wish to share.  
PostPosted: Thu Jun 16, 2011 11:24 am
I do a type of fast during the fall equinox. From sunrise until the evening meal, after sunset, I don't eat anything and I only drink water.

For me it's part of my harvest time. I fast to remind myself that without the bounties of the harvest I won't have any food during the colder months. It reminds me to be thankful to the gods for their blessings. It's also really hard for me to do because I spend almost the whole day preparing the evening meal from scratch. I do everything but kill and clean the main course.  

Shearaha

Aged Hunter


maenad nuri
Captain

PostPosted: Fri Jun 17, 2011 5:09 am
For medication reasons, I can't fast. But I did it, or abstained from certain foods, growing up Catholic. I wish I could do it now, to see if it holds more meaning when you want to do it.  
PostPosted: Fri Jun 17, 2011 7:54 am
maenad nuri
For medication reasons, I can't fast. But I did it, or abstained from certain foods, growing up Catholic. I wish I could do it now, to see if it holds more meaning when you want to do it.

When I was a teen I participated in the 30hr Famine every year. I didn't have a choice and it really didn't have much of an impact on me compared to when I do it now as part of an observance or ritual.  

Shearaha

Aged Hunter


DemoniaFairy

PostPosted: Sat Jun 18, 2011 5:06 pm
Shearaha
I do a type of fast during the fall equinox. From sunrise until the evening meal, after sunset, I don't eat anything and I only drink water.

For me it's part of my harvest time. I fast to remind myself that without the bounties of the harvest I won't have any food during the colder months. It reminds me to be thankful to the gods for their blessings. It's also really hard for me to do because I spend almost the whole day preparing the evening meal from scratch. I do everything but kill and clean the main course.


That's admirable, I can not skip a meal without feeling miserable! gonk
How do you make it through the day? What do you do when hunger kicks in? Or is it pretty easy for you to go all day with only water?  
PostPosted: Sat Jun 18, 2011 5:09 pm
maenad nuri
For medication reasons, I can't fast. But I did it, or abstained from certain foods, growing up Catholic. I wish I could do it now, to see if it holds more meaning when you want to do it.


I didn't know Catholics must abstain from certain foods, how interesting. Why and what foods mustn't Catholics eat?  

DemoniaFairy


X-Yami-no-Ko-X

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PostPosted: Sat Jun 18, 2011 5:55 pm
DemoniaFairy
maenad nuri
For medication reasons, I can't fast. But I did it, or abstained from certain foods, growing up Catholic. I wish I could do it now, to see if it holds more meaning when you want to do it.


I didn't know Catholics must abstain from certain foods, how interesting. Why and what foods mustn't Catholics eat?
If I'm correct she's talking about Lent.
Lent's the period between Ash Wednesday and Easter. I forget the reasoning for it exactly though. I wasn't raised Catholic but some, if not all, of the other denominations of Christianity participate in Lent. My grandma would always give up chocolate for Lent.  
PostPosted: Sun Jun 19, 2011 2:48 am
DemoniaFairy
Shearaha
I do a type of fast during the fall equinox. From sunrise until the evening meal, after sunset, I don't eat anything and I only drink water.

For me it's part of my harvest time. I fast to remind myself that without the bounties of the harvest I won't have any food during the colder months. It reminds me to be thankful to the gods for their blessings. It's also really hard for me to do because I spend almost the whole day preparing the evening meal from scratch. I do everything but kill and clean the main course.


That's admirable, I can not skip a meal without feeling miserable! gonk
How do you make it through the day? What do you do when hunger kicks in? Or is it pretty easy for you to go all day with only water?

I get through by thinking about why I'm doing it.
When I get hungry I drink some water.
It's not easy, but if it was then it wouldn't be worth doing and it wouldn't be a sacrifice.  

Shearaha

Aged Hunter


maenad nuri
Captain

PostPosted: Sun Jun 19, 2011 6:51 am
DemoniaFairy
maenad nuri
For medication reasons, I can't fast. But I did it, or abstained from certain foods, growing up Catholic. I wish I could do it now, to see if it holds more meaning when you want to do it.


I didn't know Catholics must abstain from certain foods, how interesting. Why and what foods mustn't Catholics eat?


There's the season of Lent -- where there is fasting involved, usually some sort of sacrifice (often food-related) and fridays are no-meat fasts.

That said, if you are traditional catholic, you'll also have every friday be no meat, and there's other fasting days as well.  
PostPosted: Wed Jun 22, 2011 4:44 pm
Like Shearaha, I tend to also go towards drink water-only fasts.

That being said, Hinduism (the main reason I fast) really makes one abstain from cooked foods on fasting occasions. So eating fruits all day.  

Bane of Ezekiel

Liberal Regular


DemoniaFairy

PostPosted: Sat Jun 25, 2011 3:35 pm
Bane of Ezekiel
Like Shearaha, I tend to also go towards drink water-only fasts.

That being said, Hinduism (the main reason I fast) really makes one abstain from cooked foods on fasting occasions. So eating fruits all day.

That's pretty fascinating! I wonder if there is a spiritual reason for the fruit or if the fruit is eaten to prevent hypoglycemia?  
PostPosted: Sun Jun 26, 2011 7:14 am
My faith requires me to fast semi-often. It's triggered by certain times of year, certain festivals, certain rituals, and a whole host of other reasons.

As far as specific reasons go, the most common is as a purification prior to ritual. I think the other most common reason for the fast is that I'm a mystic, and the deprivation combined with moving meditation and singing really put me into place. I've also fasted out of solidarity with my community.

For your final question, the reason that I continue to make fasting central to my spiritual life is because I feel continually that it is successful. The deprivation as I mentioned really puts me into the "other space," that parts of my spirituality need me to be in. When I'm fasting with community, the sense of collective suffering is pretty meaningful for me as well.

Shearaha
For me it's part of my harvest time. I fast to remind myself that without the bounties of the harvest I won't have any food during the colder months. It reminds me to be thankful to the gods for their blessings. It's also really hard for me to do because I spend almost the whole day preparing the evening meal from scratch. I do everything but kill and clean the main course.


I do this on the opposite side of winter. I go into the fasting period during Lent prior to a big festival for the Spring Equinox. A big part of the mentality there is "things were bad, hunker down, because they will soon get better." Toward the Autumn, that switches to "things were good, hunker down, because they will soon get worse."  

Collowrath


Yanueh

Shameless Shapeshifter

PostPosted: Mon Aug 29, 2011 7:55 am
DemoniaFairy
That's pretty fascinating! I wonder if there is a spiritual reason for the fruit or if the fruit is eaten to prevent hypoglycemia?

Considering that the energy from most fruit is pretty much all carbs, fruit would be the one of the worst things you could eat to prevent hypoglycemia. confused  
PostPosted: Wed Sep 07, 2011 7:21 am
Yanueh
DemoniaFairy
That's pretty fascinating! I wonder if there is a spiritual reason for the fruit or if the fruit is eaten to prevent hypoglycemia?

Considering that the energy from most fruit is pretty much all carbs, fruit would be the one of the worst things you could eat to prevent hypoglycemia. confused

I didnt know that either. I learn something new everyday whee

(I assumed the fruit would help because of the sugar it contains) sweatdrop  

DemoniaFairy


Yanueh

Shameless Shapeshifter

PostPosted: Wed Sep 07, 2011 7:36 am
DemoniaFairy
I didnt know that either. I learn something new everyday whee

I assumed the fruit would help because of the sugar it contains sweatdrop

A lot of people - doctors included - operate on that assumption. It's infuriating. IT'S LIKE THEY'RE TRYING TO KILL ME.

A small amount of some kind of low-glycemic carbohydrate is usually okay if it's paired with something that contains a lot of protein or fat. Protein and fat provides the body with energy that can't be locked away by insulin. In fact, it's entirely possible to avoid having low bloodsugar attacks altogether by following a low-carbohydrate diet.

But yeah, simply eating carbs to remedy one's low bloodsugar is like trying to put out a fire by pouring gasoline on it. You might succeed in drowning out some of the flames, but you've just fed it the fuel it needs to come back.  
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Pagan Fluffy Rehabilitation Center

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