Any tips on how to fast or what to fast from? I need to improve in this area!
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I don’t fast from food anymore because I need to keep my blood sugar stable. I don’t have treats on fast days, but I give up things I like to do instead of giving up food. I’m 70 now, and I gave up fasting a couple of years before I reached the age of exemption. One day at work on a fast day, I felt a brief wave of dizziness and ate a few crackers. I felt bad about it, but my mother and doctor set me straight: it’s not as though I were eating a bacon cheeseburger. But I decided that if I could feel dizzy sitting down, I should not risk getting dizzy while crossing the street or, worse, driving, so after that, even on fast days, I stuck to the prediabetes diet my doctor had given me, which involves snacks and protein throughout the day. If you can fast from food, you can not only limit the amount but not have things you would like to have. If you can’t fast from food, most of us, I think, have things we like doing but don’t need to do, and we can refrain from them on fast days.
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Until recently, it has always been a practice in the Catholic Church to abstain from meat on Friday. Although this has been relaxed, many Catholics still observe the Friday fast. Start here. No meat this Friday.
Choose a day of the week Wednesday is a good day, because it is tradition in the Church to be a fasting day. (Ash Wednesday). 5 things you could do.
Eat nothing but bread and water for 24 hours.
Only eat dinner, skip breakfast and lunch. Water and drinks are fine.Jewish people would eat a small meal after Sunset.
Skip snacks in between meals.
No sugary drinks, like soda, juices, gatorades
Skip dessert
All these are fasting to different degrees.
There may be a certain sin, demonic force, or trouble in our lives or our loved one’s lives that we are dealing with. Commit to fasting for a certain amount of time. You could choose 1 day 1 week. 1 month, 90 days…. choose what you think fits best.
Fast during this time from something and offer this up to God as penance and suffering so that He may use this for good.
As we saw, in Mark chapter 9, Jesus teaches us that some demons are only cast out through prayer and fasting. Use this time to focus more on your prayer life, get in front of the blessed sacrament, and offer up your fasting to our Lord. He will reward you.
Ideally, I do a water-only fast from midnight to midnight. However, lately this has wreaked havoc with my body so I have started to eat crackers or no-calorie foods like pickles to supplement.
For Advent, I have given up fast food (except for Sundays). This is a biggie for me as I tend to eat fast food 3 or more times a week.