Religious Doctrine: Deliberate Fasting
October 8, 2008
It’s sundown and though I didn’t go to synogogue tonight (I’ll go tomorrow), my 24-hour fast has officially begun.
Unlike fad crash diets of yore, once a year, Jews around the world fast on Yom Kippur from sunset til sunset.
For a population whose every holiday revolves around food, Yom Kippur (the holiest day of the year) is clearly the exception to the rule!
Usually I just eat normally the day before Yom Kippur and treat it like any other day. But today, I had a weird, non-clean food day today … including a dinner that was totally out of “necessity” versus genuine hunger.
From my hotel in Chicago, I ordered room service for breakfast (dry egg white omelet, fresh fruit, dry whole grain toast). I had a FiberOne bar for a snack an hour later (that run this morning along Michigan Ave. did me in and I guess the breakfast didn’t do much). Lunch was on the road: a 6″ Subway turkey on wheat with veggies, Light Lays (gr!), and an apple. And finally, a snacky dinner of cereal and peanut butter, cocoa and FF ReddiWhip (gr!).
A 27 point day…high for a weekday.
Truthfully, I wasn’t even hungry for dinner but ate, simply because I knew once the sun went down, that was it and the little girl in me demanded to be fed.
Last year, I didn’t find the food part that challenging — so I don’t know what I was so anxious about. After a while, the hunger pangs honestly went away. It was almost scary, because I seriously think I could have gone to bed without ingesting a single thing that night.
In fact, I even extended the fast til about 9, when my friend arrived for dinner (services ran late and I’d cooked). I don’t recommend self-induced starvation but it did help me reset my hunger queues in a way.
Because it was the no-water-thing that really did me in much moreso than the food, tonight I chugged a good amount of water, hoping that will hydrate me for tomorrow.
I think it will be good to get in touch with my hunger signals again; they’ve been so out of whack lately.
For example, I wasn’t hungry at our event at all last night, but I jammed my plate with fruit because it was so unbelievably fresh and delicious … and I can never say no to fruit.
True, it’s “just fruit” … but I wasn’t hungry … and eating when not hungry is how my hunger signals have gotten so confuzzled … and how I’ve gained a little weight lately.
Then, I seriously didn’t want or even need dinner last night (I was full on fruit plus I’d had a late Subway lunch), which is why I only nibbled at my filet mignon (I brought it back home for my break-the-fast dinner, unless we go out).
I just loaded up on steamed veggies so it looked like I was eating more … I genuinely wasn’t hungry. Yet I had to eat to be polite because I was with my co-workers and we were at Capital Grill having a freaking amazing dinner. I wish I’d been hungry, to actually enjoy it.
Then this morning, I woke up literally starving! Talk about mixed signals.
So after my workout, I ordered in a healthy breakfast from room service around 9. That meant I wasn’t hungry for lunch until about 3, and so my dinner was totally not eaten out of hunger … but rather necessity.
Anyway, I am hoping to have an “easy fast” (what we Jews wish one another).
No food or liquid will cross these lips until sundown tomorrow. I’ll be in services all morning, and then home reflecting tomorrow, connecting with my faith, my heritage and my future. I might blog, I might not. I will play it by ear.
Either way, I know that I’ll go to bed tomorrow night feeling stronger for having made it through another Yom Kippur fast. I’m planning to succeed … and planning is half the battle.
How about you? Are you fasting today, or have you ever fasted for a religious reason?
Entry Filed under: Uncategorized. Tags: fasting, religious fasting, yom kippur.
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1.
Mara | October 8, 2008 at 8:10 pm
Hope you have an easy fast… I’m being a bad Jew and eating after sundown.
2.
lissa10279 | October 8, 2008 at 8:53 pm
LOL Mara. There’s no such thing!!
3.
Sisters By | October 9, 2008 at 2:58 am
Wishing you an easy fast…
As a Catholic, we’re called to fast on Ash Wednesday, which marks the beginning of our Lenten journey towards Easter, and on Good Friday, the day Jesus died on the cross.
I’ve also done a couple 24 hour fasting retreats in an effort to be in solitude with the poor of our world and learn of poverty during that time.
None have been easy, but some have been easier. I’ve found that as my food issues have grown, the fasts have become harder mentally. I’m constantly battling my mind that this is for a religious purpose and to bring me closer to God and not because I want to lose weight… It’s a battle to come out of the fast during these times.
Previously, I loved the fasts because it truly did bring me a closeness with God.
4.
auntie | October 9, 2008 at 10:32 am
I’ve never fasted for any reason - religious or otherwise - but I was thinking as I read your post that the reason you may have felt like you wanted to eat even though you weren’t hungry was because you were out of your “comfort zone”. You’re on a different schedule, not at home, maybe/probably not sleeping the same as you would at home…and if your business trips are anything like mine, all they do is throw food at you every 10 minutes to keep people awake or engaged or who-knows-what!
I know that there have been times when I’m in an unfamiliar situation like that where I don’t notice myself feeling nervous or anxious, but then I realize that I’m eating, sort of like having a drink or a cigarette in your hand (if you’re a drinker or a smoker) - it makes you feel more like “yourself”.
Anyway, I admire your ability to fast. I’ve never attempted it, as it’s not part of my religious practices, but it might be an interesting thing to try sometime.
5.
Cathy | October 9, 2008 at 1:24 pm
Melissa, why don’t you apply what you’re practicing today, which sounds like getting in tune with yourself instead of turning to food, on a regular basis instead of just once a year?
6.
lissa10279 | October 9, 2008 at 2:44 pm
Thanks everyone … Cathy, that’s what I’m hoping. It sounds a lot easier than it is, though. However, I think I can do it if I put my mind to it.
Nothing has crossed these lips since7 p.m. yesterday — water or food. Hunger didn’t even start til noon and now it’s subsided at 2:45. I have to go til 7, 730 when the sun goes down. The water is always the hardest. But today is a NO CHOICE day … in every way.
I will post tomorrow or tonight about how the rest of it unfolds.
I was keeping an awful lot of people in my prayers this morning in services– two friends who just lost dear family members, a high school friend whose wife delivered a deformed baby that only lived 16 minutes, and my boss, whose mom is very ill…among others. So when I put it all in perspective … I’ve nothing to be upset about given my own situation. I will be ok. And today’s a day to remember that.
7.
nikita | October 9, 2008 at 3:14 pm
hey… it happens
don’t forget that you can’t always be perfect and eat according to your hunger. Normal people eat sometimes because they want to and because its yummy, not only because they’re hungry. I remember my mom telling me that she ate two times dinner at Christmas because she went on both sides of the family. She wasn’t hungry, but she ate two times, and it’s not like she did this everyday.
Anyway, congratulations on your fast so far ! I had a coworker who did the Ramadan for one month and i think you can do this are very strong, i couldnt spend a full day without even drinking !