If man lived by bread alone, maybe it wouldn't be so difficult. But of course there are also cheeseburgers and fries and fettuccine and chocolate decadence drizzled with raspberry sauce. There are, in short, thousands of reasons not to fast.
The impulse to fast springs from a different appetite: the desire to get closer to God.
"What we want to focus on is reattaching ourselves to God and his will," explains Chaya Mandel. Like other devout Jews, she will engage in a fast for Yom Kippur next week, a fast in which she will not eat or drink anything for 25 hours. "On that day we want to become like nothing," she says. "We want our souls and minds to focus on God and what he wants from us."
Although fasting is common to many religions, the particulars of fasting vary, from the 25-hour no-food-no-water fasting of Jews to the Hindu practice of refraining from certain foods at the discretion of the person fasting. Muslims fast for a month, from sunrise to sunset. Members of the LDS Church fast, collectively, for two meals once a month and donate the money for the food they didn't eat. Catholics fast during Lent, and sometimes in solidarity with people in need; Native Americans participating in the Sun Dance go four days without food or water.
The world is full of countless distractions and things to crave, but food and drink are also necessities — which means that giving them up, even for half a day, is a challenge. Stomachs rumble, mouths get dry, minds begin to want.
But the reward, says Abdoul Latif of the Islamic Society of Salt Lake, "is that one develops a close relationship with Allah, the Creator."
Fasting, which is one of the five pillars of Islam, also serves as a shield, he says. "It protects you from all the wrong-doings, all the bad deeds. There's a saying of the prophet, 'When a servant of Allah observes the fast for a day for the sake of Allah, he thereby repels the fire from him a distance of 70 years journey.' "
For Muslims, fasting extends to sexual contact with a spouse as well, he says. "Any good pleasures are put away." All able-bodied Muslims are required to give up both food and water from sunrise to sunset during the monthlong Ramadan. This year, Ramadan begins in mid-November.
Jews, both orthodox and reform, fast on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, and on Tisha b'Av.
At the Mandel house, the lunch before the sundown of Yom Kippur will be festive, including symbolic dumplings: (the dough symbolizes
mercy, the meat judgment, she says.) An hour and a half before sundown there will be a smaller meal, then the family will light candles and attend services at the synagogue. The services continue the next day until sundown.
With the focus on God rather than "our own will and needs," Mandel says, "every single prayer has a momentous meaning."
Not that the fast is easy, though. Mandel says she becomes a little dizzy by the end of the day and craves ice-cold water. "My grandmother claims that if you eat a spoonful of peanut butter (before the fast), it makes a difference," she says. "The times I've tried that, the fast has gone better."
For orthodox Jews, the Yom Kippur and Tisha b'Av fasts are mandatory. The exception is illness, but even then the rabbi and a doctor must be consulted. Last year, when Mandel had just had a baby and was on medication, she was allowed an ounce or less of liquid or food every seven minutes, "which, just so you know, is harder to sustain" than a complete fast, she says.
For Catholics, fasting is required during Lent, "but it's not nearly as extensive as it used to be," says Sister Bridget Clare McKeever of the Spirituality Center of the Diocese of Salt Lake City. "It doesn't mean eating nothing at all. It means eating one main meal and two small meals and nothing in between." Catholics will also abstain from favorite foods, such as sweets. The only two mandatory fast days are Ash Wednesday and Good Friday, for adults until their sixtieth year.
The purpose of fasting, she says, is "to focus the body for things spiritual, for those things that transcend. Fasting reminds us that there is something more than body."
"We also need to keep ourselves conscious that we have so much more than the rest of the world has," Sister Bridget Clare says. Catholic families are encouraged to keep a rice bowl on their tables during Lent and to "put (money) into the bowl every day when we eat less."
Hindus, says Indira Neelameggham, fast but are not required to. "They do it as a personal vow or if they have a personal wish," she explains. "They say, 'If I get this wish fulfilled, I'll undertake this service.' Or 'I will do this kind of vow in order to achieve something.' "
Although Hindu holy persons may observe total fasts, most Hindus are more likely to give up rice, soy or wheat. Fruits and milk are usually allowed on fast days, Neelameggham says.
For American Indians who do the four-day Sun Dance fasts, the emphasis is on sacrifice and purification, explains Larry Cesspooch of the Northern Ute Tribe. "Most native religion is based on sacrifice. You sacrifice what you can, which is usually your body. You don't get anything for nothing."
But you don't worry about what you'll receive in return, he says. "The way the Creator works is he gives you what you need, not what you want."
The Sun Dance fast is breathtakingly long: four days in a medicine lodge without food or water. "It involves full commitment," Cesspooch says. "You go in knowing it will be hard."
After 24 hours without food or water, says Thunder Jalil, professor in the Division of Foods and Nutrition at the University of Utah, the body's glycogen stores will be gone and muscle will begin breaking down. Such a fast may cause some discomfort but usually no risk, he says. The longer the fast, the more body proteins — muscles, organs, etc. —will be broken down and used for energy. Four days without food is uncomfortable, "but ultimately not permanently harmful to the body. However four days without water is dangerous, especially if there is any kind of activity or sweating involved," he says.
For the LDS, "Fast Sunday" occurs once a month and is accompanied by a donation at least equal to the value of the food that would have been eaten. Members are also encouraged to fast "whenever their faith needs special fortification," according to Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin of the church's Quorum of the Twelve.
The once-a-month fast involves no food or drink for two consecutive meals. The fasting can help build self-restraint and discipline — "each time we fast, we gain a little more control over our worldly appetites and passions," says Elder Wirthlin — and through fasting "we literally put ourselves in the position of the hungry and needy."
Church members also fast and pray for someone in need. "We've fasted for people who are sick," says Ronda Dressen. "Often there's nothing else you can offer them. It doesn't seem like a sacrifice when you have that goal in mind."
Prayer needs to be an integral part of fasting, says Elder Wirthlin. "Without prayer, fasting is not complete fasting. It's simply going hungry."
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