Fasting for those who can't

 Pregnant? Nursing?  Diabetic or hypoglycemic? Sick?  But its fast Sunday and you want to fast and have the blessings that come with it. So what do you do?  Lets take a look at why God has us fast.  In chapter 25 of the Gospel Principles manual it says  "Fasting helps us gain strength of character. When we fast properly, we will learn to control our appetites and passions. We are a little stronger by having proved to ourselves that we have self-control. If we teach our children to fast, they will develop the spiritual strength to overcome greater temptations later in their lives."

I have come to learn for myself that Fasting is all about over coming the Natural Man and feeding  the spirit.   Fasting is about denying your ego and your negative mind. When you fast your  negative mind will  start to get irrational "We are going to die if we dont eat!" it will say. "IF I just eat a little bit I can still call it fasting." "I ate bread for the sacrament sooooo  I can eat this slice of bread and its not really breaking my fast."  You will have whining, and kicking, and screaming from your negative mind telling you to eat or you will die a horrible grueling death of 24 hour starvation.  If you are truly fasting you will have some of these thoughts but if you push through you will see that in about 20-23 hours of a true fast the urge to eat and the compulsive rationalizing to eat are gone and you feel  at peace.   

Lets look at the  phases of fasting and what it does to the brain/body really  quick or you can skip down to  how to modify a fast.

Stage one is eating the last meal before you fast from food and drink. So lets say it is Saturday night at 5 and you eat a nice light dinner and drink plenty of water.  At this time your insulin levels increase because of the food you just ate. You  have a uptake of glucose and any excess glucose is stored in the liver.

You get ready for bed, sleep nice, and wake up in the post - absorptive phase. This happens 6-24 hours after beginning your fast.  In this phase your insulin levels start to decrees.

 So if we stay on our  time table this happens at about 11am-3pm Sunday. Your insulin levels are very low and your body is constantly reminding you that you are hungry and thirsty. If you do not give into your body's  urges to eat and drink, your body will start to  breakdown the stores of glycogen in the liver releasing it as glucose. Your glycogen stores last for roughly 24 hours.

Near the end of this stage you will start to feel less of an urge or compulsion to eat as your body consumes the stored glycogen. This sensation of being satisfied could happen  as early as 20 hrs from the time you started your fast.

At roughly 23-24 hrs from your fast you reach a new phase where new glucose from amino acids  is manufactured in the liver in a process called “gluconeogenesis”. Literally, this is translated as “making new glucose”. Your glucose levels will  fall a bit but stay within the normal range.

The cycle is complete  at  5 on Sunday when you are sitting down to a nice light meal and drink plenty of water.

The CYCLE.

Being fed and life is great! 

I m kind of hungry. 

I NEED it!  I need food NOW!- - breaking point

Im at peace and I feel I can wait a few more hours.

Then breaking your fast and feeling fed  again.

How to modify a fast

I have been pregnant or nursing for the last 8 years  and have wanted to fast.  After studying  what fasting was doing to my body and what fasting was doing for me mentally and physically I started to fast on Fast Sunday. Now even  with a 4 month nursing baby who likes to eat every 2 hrs - I fast nearly every Sunday.  The key is to  follow the cycle  that fasting from food and water provide.  Pick something that you feel  like you would have a hard time living without... some examples are internet, meat,  your phone, chocolate, electricity, grains, your mirror, saying your favorite expression. The point is to make it something HARD to go without and then follow the cycle. 

Fasting should be hard- a sacrifice- a way to exercise self-control. If it isn't hard... it isn't truly fasting.   As of right now I fast from the internet every Sunday and from food I need to chew. After a few months my body will make  enough milk for 24 hrs on my last fasting meal and water and I will skip  the small smoothy. So Pick something uncomfortable, something that will give you  constant reminders that you are fasting from it, like fasting from food does.  Then complete the cycle.

It is important to  note that depending on what you chose to fast from your cycle may take longer than  24 hrs.  If I fasted from something like meat or sugar it may be several days before I get to  " I HAVE TO HAVE THIS NOW" or the breaking point part of the cycle. This is where you justify anything to have what you are fasting from.  If you decide to fast from electricity you may reach this breaking point in 8- 30 hrs.  Remember not to break your fast until you have  moved past this stage and are feeling at peace or satisfied, and a have a willingness to wait until the prescribed time to end the fast has arrived. The point is to give your self an opportunity to put off the natural man and deny the body and its impulses and take that time to focus on the purpose of your fast regardless of what you are abstaining from.

One other thing to consider is a prolonged fast.  When I do a prolonged fast I pick a time frame usually 10-40 days and stick with it long enough to  repeat this cycle a few times. When I do a prolonged fast I fast from sugar, or meat, or I do a diet of grains and green. Eating only green things, primarily vegetables, with an emphasis on leafy greens for calcium, seaweed for minerals, and avocado for healthy fats; with a few fruits (green apples, green grapes, kiwi, or pears) and pistachios to enrich the diet and keep the blood sugars balanced. This diet allows the blood to become more alkaline, decreases cortisone and other stress factors in the tissues, adds moisture to the colon and purifies the liver, pancreas, and intestines. If it is not a grain or not the color Green I dont  eat it. This allows me to eat, and eat well I might add, but still gives me practice being the master of my body and practice denying myself the things my body might want or think it needs.  Another prolonged fast diet is called the Kitchari Diet and lots of Kundalin Yogi's do it for 30 days.

 A part often over looked when making fasting modifications is the fast offering. Continue to pay your fast offerings as if you were fasting from food- be generous with your offerings.  This  is also part of the law of the fast. Abstaining and giving are key to fasting. Just because you are not doing a true food and water fast does not mean you are exempt from the fast offering.

Mastering the  fast helps us master our selves. It makes it easier to exhibit self-control in other areas of our lives. Its an important commandment to keep.

As you find ways to  put off the natural man, exercise power over your body, and  let your spirit be in control you will be  blessed.  Fasting is a great way to do this.

However you do it, whatever you eat or don't eat, or do or don't do for your fast, remember to fast with prayer and purpose. Remember the cycle and move all the way through it, and not just give in as soon as you are at the breaking point. Its getting past that point and into the feelings of peace and acceptance where the true power of the fast comes in to play.

Sat Nam

 Put off the Natural man and come of conquer!