The "Fast" Track to Spiritual Progress

When Jesus' disciples couldn't cast an evil spirit out of a man, Jesus told them, "this evil spirit cannot be cast out unless you pray AND fast" - Matthew 17:21

When ye fast (not if) Matthew chapter 9 verse 15 " then shall they fast", Helaman they did fast oft, and Matthew: "this cometh not out but by prayer and fasting"

Jesus was giving us a clue that fasting is a tool that can bring immense power into our lives. Most people don't use fasting to it's fullest potential. In order to do that, we must dive deeper into just what fasting is, and how to do it in order harness the ultimate power of it's potential.

Fasting is the most powerful spiritual discipline of all the Christian disciplines. Through fasting and prayer, the Holy Spirit can transform your life.
Fasting and prayer can also work on a much grander scale. According to Scripture, personal experience and observation, I am convinced that when God's people fast with a proper Biblical motive – with a broken, repentant, and contrite spirit, God will hear from heaven and heal our lives, our churches, our communities, our nation and world. Fasting and prayer can bring about revival – a change in the direction of our nation, the nations of earth and the fulfillment of the Great Commission.
The awesome power can be released through you as you fast through the enabling of the Holy Spirit.
Fasting is one of the most neglected spiritual admonitions. In fact, it has been ignored for so long that it is difficult to find information on the “how-to's” of this life-changing experience. When I first undertook an extended fast, I had a difficult time finding information on the nature of a Biblical fast, how to start, what to expect physically and spiritually, and how to terminate a fast.

While many people fast to lose weight, dieting is not the purpose of a spiritual fast. Instead, fasting provides unique spiritual benefits in the life of the believer.
Fasting requires self-control and discipline, as one denies the natural desires of the flesh. During spiritual fasting, the believer's focus is removed from the physical things of this world and intensely concentrated on God.
Put differently, fasting directs our hunger toward God. It clears the mind and body of earthly attentions and draws us closer to God. So, as we gain spiritual clarity of thought while fasting, it allows us to hear God's voice more clearly. Fasting also demonstrates a profound need of God's help and guidance through complete dependence on him.

What Fasting Is Not

Spiritual fasting is not a way to earn God's favor by getting him to do something for us. Rather, the purpose is to produce a transformation in us—a clearer, more focused attention and dependence upon God.
Fasting is never to be a public display of spirituality—it is between you and God alone. In fact, Jesus specifically instructed us to let our fasting be done privately and in humility, else we forfeit the benefits. And while Old Testament fasting was a sign of mourning, New Testament believers were taught to practice fasting with a cheerful attitude:
"And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, that your fasting may not be seen by others but by your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you." (Matthew 6:16-18, ESV)
Lastly, it should be understood that spiritual fasting is never for the purpose of punishing or harming the body.


What is fasting?

Fasting is going without something for a period of time. It has been used especially by spiritual people across the globe for thousands of years. Buddhists do it to try to declutter their minds and bodies from worldly entanglements and achieve or more enlightened state of mind. Muslims fast during a whole month each year for Ramadan for multiple reasons. Catholics participate in lent each year, where they choose to detach themselves from something (doesn't have to be food) for a month.

These spiritual people have typically gone without food, and sometimes water for a designated period of time.

In truth, believers may fast from anything. Doing without something temporarily, such as television or soda, as a way of redirecting our focus from earthly things toward God, can also be considered a spiritual fast.

We fast every day. When we eat breakfast, we are "break" the "fast" we have undergone from the time we finished dinner until the

Many people equate fasting with starvation, and believe it is a ridiculous thing to undertake.

“Fasting differs from starvation in one crucial way. Control. Starvation is the involuntary absence of food. It is neither deliberate nor controlled. Fasting, on the other hand, is the voluntary withholding of food for spiritual, health, or other reasons.” (dietdoctor.com)

Could their possibly be any benefits from voluntarily abstaining from food for a longer period than our normal break-fast each night? If so, what are they, and how can we fast to reap the greatest benefits? And even if these benefits are real, most people don't think it's healthy to abstain from food for multiple days, or do they think it's even possible, let alone desirable.

The following will provide an introductory to answer to those questions.


It's possible, and not unhealthy, and thousands have done it for years

Many people look at 40 day fasts in the Bible and say that's just not possible today. However many people today fast for longer than that today, and the record is 378 days.

Let me explain.

The reason fasting from food for multiple days is not only possible, but not unhealthy, is because after the initial hunger pangs of the first day or two, our bodies start to eat the fat stored in our body to use as fuel and energy. Most people who do extended fasts testify that their hunger goes away after a day or two, and that it doesn't harm their health at all. So the more overweight you are, you can fast for longer.

Skeptics will say that people tend to gain back all of their weight after a long fast, but that's only if they reintroduce bad eating habits afterwards.

Besides, the highest purpose for fasting isn't physical anyway, it's spiritual.

We get a clue from nature, because our body naturally shuts down into fasting mode when we get sick, sore bodies can devote more energy to healing us and not digestion

Even though this might be true, most people would not want to put themselves through the pain of the first few days. However, as the slogan goes, "where there is no pain there is no gain."

Before we dive into the tremendous potential benefits of fasting, both physical and spiritual, it is important to briefly cover the doctrine of fasting

The Doctrine of Fasting

The Spiritual Doctrine:
The light of the Spirit is a more refined and lighter matter, so our bodies need to be light, and not too heavy with food, if we want to sync up and vibrate with that light spirit, and it will give us the fruits of the spirit, namely a light heart full of Jesus' disposition

The Opportunity Cost Principle
-You can't have your cake and eat it too
-Hal Urban chapter

She reveals the measure of food’s mastery over us — or television or computers or whatever we submit to again and again to conceal the weakness of our hunger for God. And she remedies by intensifying the earnestness of our prayer and saying with our whole body what prayer says with the heart: I long to be satisfied in God alone! (When I Don’t Desire God, 171)
That burn in your gut, that rolling fire in your belly, demanding that you feed it more food, signals game time for fasting as a means of grace. Only as we voluntarily embrace the pain of an empty stomach do we see how much we’ve allowed our belly to be our god (Philippians 3:19).

The Scientific Doctrine:
“the body only really exists in two states – the fed (insulin high) state and the fasted (insulin low) state. Either we are storing food energy, or we are burning it. It’s one or the other. If eating and fasting are balanced, then there is no net weight gain.
If we start eating the minute we roll out of bed, and do not stop until we go to sleep, we spend almost all our time in the fed state. Over time, we will gain weight. We have not allowed our body any time to burn food energy.
To restore balance or to lose weight, we simply need to increase the amount of time we burn food energy (fasting). In essence, fasting allows the body to use its stored energy. After all, that’s what it is there for. The important thing to understand is that there is nothing wrong with that. That is how our bodies are designed. That’s what dogs, cat, lions and bears do. That’s what humans do.
If you are constantly eating, as is often recommended, then your body will simply use the incoming food energy and never burn the body fat. You’ll only store it. Your body will save it for a time when there is nothing to eat. You lack balance. You lack fasting.” (dietdoctor.com)

From "The Pleasure Trap":

"One survival adaptation we possess is the tendency to reduce or eliminate food intake when we are ill. The natural loss of appetite during illness is a component of a powerful self-healing system. Just as fever, inflammation, and other self-healing adaptations have been misconstrued, so has been the loss of appetite. A large set of self-healing machinery is facilitated during water-only fasting, many components of which are more active during fasting than in any other state. As a result, water-only fasting is a self-healing adaptation of great practical significance. Scientists now understand that we are designed to withstand prolonged periods of water-only fasting. However, there is a much more exciting message emerging from cutting-edge investigations: It is now appreciated that for many conditions, particularly those conditions associated with dietary excess, that a period of water-only fasting is an extremely useful clinical technique. After supervising the fasts of over 5,000 patients, we can confidently report that this procedure is often very effective for many, but not all, common pathologies including arthritis, diabetes (adult-onset), heart disease, hypertension, asthma, fibroid tumors, obesity, chemical toxicity, and other difficult conditions."

"While sick animals and humans are often observed to instinctively fast, and while humans have had to periodically fast for the simple reason that they couldn't find food, the notion of electing to fast for the improvement of health is not something that our species, or any other, would normally consider. So, it was truly a piece of good fortune that, in 1877, a physician named Henry S. Tanner decided that it was time to die. A Serendipitous Survival Henry Tanner was a middle-aged physician living in Duluth, Minnesota, who had suffered for years with rheumatism. He also suffered from asthma, which chronically disrupted his sleep, and he spent his waking hours in constant pain. Tanner had been taught that humans could live only ten days without food, and in this knowledge he found solace. Not believing in suicide, he determined that he would simply starve himself to death. As he stated later, "Life to me under the circumstances was not worth living… I had found a shortcut and had made up my mind to rest from physical suffering in the arms of death." 1 But fate had an agreeable surprise for Dr. Tanner. By unwittingly invoking an unknown constellation of health-promoting adaptations associated with water-only fasting, he rapidly recovered. By the fifth day of his fast, he was able to sleep peacefully. By the eleventh day, he reported feeling "as well as in my youthful days." Fully expecting that he should be nearly dead, he asked a fellow physician, Dr. Moyer, to examine him. The doctor heard Tanner's story, and was, not surprisingly, amazed. Tanner recalls that Moyer told him, "You ought to be at death's door, but you certainly look better than I ever saw you before." Henry Tanner continued to fast, under Dr. Moyer's supervision, for an additional thirty-one days. Fellow physicians heard his story with disbelief and reacted with criticism. Though widely rebuked as a fraud, he had the last laugh. Subsequent to his fast, Tanner had no symptoms of asthma, rheumatism, or chronic pain, and lived a full life of ninety years. Tanner's story has become a footnote in the history of knowledge. Perhaps his experience was just too bizarre, too good to be true. It's understandable why his contemporaries disbelieved him. As the Nobel-Prize-winning scholar Ilya Prigogine and Isabelle Stengers have noted, "There are striking examples of facts that have been ignored because the cultural climate was not ready to incorporate them into a consistent theme." And this was a report without a logical theme. 2 As a result, the story of Henry Tanner and the lesson it contained were nearly lost to a medical culture that then had, and still has, difficulty seeing how "doing nothing" can improve a healing response. The idea that the human body might contain self-healing machinery that would operate best in the context of water-only fasting seemed ludicrous. This remained true until very recently, when our self-healing machinery finally became much better understood."

Behavioral Adaptations
"Consider your behavioral inclination toward a pesky mosquito drilling into your skin. Probably, you will slap at the pest. Slapping at mosquitoes is an example of a behavioral adaptation. It is an exquisitely coordinated movement of muscles and sensory feedback made possible by our natural design. Nature punishes us with unpleasant feelings if we can't or won't slap at the mosquito, and rewards us with a small feeling of relief when we do. Many behavioral characteristics and bodily responses are components of our natural design. Coughing, sneezing, vomiting, fever, and inflammation, while they may not be pleasant, are adaptations. They are sophisticated responses of the body designed into our nature in order to assist our health and healing. The artificial suppression of such adaptive mechanisms, such as suppressing a cough or a fever with medication or other means, is almost always a step away from health. Among clear-thinking health professionals, it is appreciated that the artificial suppression of these adaptive responses may provide pain relief, but at the potential compromise of overall health. The wise doctor attempts to understand what is causing these adaptations to be activated and to remove such causes, rather than to merely suppress unpleasant symptoms. But while fever, inflammation, and other symptoms are finally becoming recognized as components of adaptive processes, the importance of the loss of appetite, characteristic of many disease processes, is still largely unappreciated. This symptom causes a tendency to refrain from eating when ill, a widely observed phenomenon in animals. We shall see that the natural consequence of honoring this tendency, a sustained period of water-only fasting, brings about remarkable adaptive responses that are only beginning to be properly appreciated."

A Curious Adaptive Solution
"Among the many vicissitudes of life, two adaptive challenges repeatedly confronted our ancestors: periodic famine and illness. Though there were undoubtedly periods of caloric bounty, there were also times of caloric poverty. Famine and illness were two recurrent adaptive challenges that required both physical and behavioral solutions, and ancient peoples who evolved effective solutions were more biologically successful than those who didn't. Those solutions are adaptations, genetically designed mechanisms of survival capability. We are the descendants of early peoples who evolved particularly effective solutions to famine and illness, and we carry within us some remarkable physical and behavioral characteristics as a result. We have many adaptations, both physical and behavioral, for the problems of famine and illness. For example, we have the ability to store fat during times of bounty as insurance against famine. And we have physical characteristics, such as our multifaceted immune system, together with behavioral reflexes such as coughing, sneezing, and vomiting, as defenses against infection. But there is one set of adaptations within us that has evolved partly as a result of adapting to both famine and illness. This adaptive system, which includes both bodily changes and behavioral tendencies, accompanies water-only fasting. The importance of this adaptive system is immense, and for millions of years it has been a critical component of our biological success. Yet today this adaptive system is unrecognized among health professionals, despite both its history and its enormous contemporary promise."

"When animals become acutely ill, their need for sleep and rest increases. Their appetite is reduced and often eliminated for extended periods of time. This strongly suggests that the loss of appetite in acute disease is an adaptation, part of a healing strategy that includes rest, sleep, drinking water, and, if indicated, licking wounds. Though this may appear obviously correct to some observers, to others, another explanation may be more plausible. A devil's advocate might argue that the abstention from food is not caused by the activation of an adaptive mechanism, but is rather the unfortunate result of reduced physical capacities. It might be argued that the inability to obtain food as a result of illness is what causes fasting."

"Humans have misunderstood this connection between eating and the regaining of health. People have mistakenly assumed that an increase in food intake causes the regaining of health. In reality, this is precisely backwards. It is the increase in health that results in the reappearance of hunger. Unfortunately, many health professionals have also missed the nature of this connection. Patients are often encouraged by their doctors to eat, even while the patient's innate adaptive mechanisms are resistant. In hospital beds, ailing patients who are strongly disinclined to eat are often presented with highly stimulating foods, unhealthy concoctions of concentrated sugar, salt, and fat, and vigorously encouraged to partake. Often, the unnaturally stimulating nature of these foods can result in even very ill patients being successfully encouraged to "take a few bites," to the relief and satisfaction of both their families and the medical staff."

"Human beings have, as part of their inherent biology, the capability to survive extended periods of water-only fasting. However, with the advent of agriculture and increasing technological advancement, modern humans have largely lost the awareness that this capability exists. In fact, the 1937 edition of The New Standard Encyclopedia (Funk and Wagnalls), states that for humans, "Generally death occurs after eight days of deprivation of food." 6 By 1956, this grim pronouncement had been somewhat attenuated. In that year's edition of the American Peoples Encyclopedia, it was stated that survival time in men during water-only fasting ranges from 17 to 76 days. 7 In truth, the "authorities" writing for these publications had no idea what they were talking about. If we go back in time to earlier writings, we see that more "primitive" cultures were aware of the extent of our fasting capability. For example, in the Bible, Moses, David, Jesus, and Elijah were all said to have fasted for up to 40 days. Is this really possible? A Tall Tale? We can't be certain of the duration of these ancient fasts, though many fasts of longer than 40 days have been documented in recent scientific literature (the longest of which was 382 days). 8 Regarding the report of the ancients, we must admit that the Holy Scriptures give us a more accurate picture than do our mid-twentieth century encyclopedias. At our inpatient facility, we routinely supervise water-only fasts of up to 40 days. We consider water-only fasts of eight days to be short, and fasting for 17 days to be moderate in length. Humans (and many other animals) have the ability to sustain life through periods of famine, just as any biologist might have predicted. When we closely consider the human body, we can observe evidence of a capability for extended water-only fasting that was the product of natural selection. We also find that there are inter-related features of human physiology that make water-only fasting a possibility for our species. The fact that this capability exists indicates that water-only fasting has a long evolutionary history within our species."

"According to Joel Fuhrman, M.D., in Fasting and Eating For Health, "The human body has been designed to fast safely… Even in prolonged fasts (those lasting from 20 to 40 days) no deficiency diseases develop, illustrating that the body has the innate ability to utilize its stored reserves in a highly exacting and balanced manner." 11 Overwhelming Evidence We have the innate capacity for prolonged water-only fasting. This capacity, which requires complex bodily machinery, did not "just happen" any more than our eyes and ears "just happen" to be part of our design. Such complex design is irrefutable evidence that our ancestors slowly evolved sophisticated, reliable machinery for managing caloric deprivation. The mechanics and nature of our water-only fasting capacity are now better understood than at any previous time in our history. But its value is probably less appreciated than ever before. Yet as we shall see, rediscovering this remarkable capability of your own body may be one of the most important discoveries you shall ever make. Because fasting can save your life. Dr. Tanner's Unremarkable Story Today we know a good deal about the nature of healing. We know that no physician and no medicine can improve the speed of healing that takes place when you cut your finger. Your cut is healed by a gene-regulated adaptive mechanism vastly more complex and sophisticated than any medical procedure, a miracle of your adaptive design. We know that although we (or our doctor) can clean the wound and provide an optimal environment for healing, it is the body that heals itself. And the body does this with a precision that is beyond our current comprehension. Dr. Tanner's story of fasting his way to superior health is true. His report is consistent with what we know is both likely and possible. After supervising more than 5,000 prolonged water-only fasts, we find Tanner's story unremarkable except for its historical significance. Our case files are full of such "miracles." We have proven that water-only fasting provides an environment extremely conducive to our self-healing machinery for an astonishing array of conditions. We have had the satisfaction of observing patients successfully overcome arthritis, diabetes, heart disease, hypertension, asthma, fibroid tumors, chemical toxicity, obesity, and many other conditions. And we have witnessed these recovery successes in percentages far higher than when these conditions are treated with conventional medical procedures. But we don't expect you to take this claim on faith alone. We will shortly unveil the hard evidence, and within it, the promise of a better way. As we warned you at the outset, this story is hard to believe. It is, nevertheless, the truth. Henry Tanner really did discover an amazing fact about the nature of health and healing. He really did discover a potent self-healing adaptation that is buried within the design of our species. He really did discover that fasting can save your life. We know that he did."

"Though the scientific evidence documenting the value of this procedure was limited, our curiosity was piqued. A determined search uncovered a handful of doctors around the world who were using this unusual procedure. In the early 1980s, Alan Goldhamer traveled to Australia to study under a man who was the president of a leading osteopathic university. This prominent Australian physician had supervised over 10,000 extended water-only fasts and was willing to train an eager young doctor in the supervision of this little-known, but ostensibly powerful, technique."

A Key Message
“In the years that followed, our TrueNorth Health Center in California has provided medical supervision for thousands of extended water-only fasts. Over that time, the Center's files have become filled with the "medical miracles" of patients with conditions that failed to respond to conventional treatment. Yet, when these patients chose to refrain from eating, they often made a full recovery. There is an important message within these "miracles." We have repeatedly observed that the human body has marvelous healing capacities that require the optimal environment to be fully expressed! The exclusive intake of pure water in an environment of complete rest is that optimal environment. This environment replicates the circumstances that our ailing ancestors attempted to create when they sought out shelter, water, and sleep until their health recovered. Smart Skeptics Over the years, we have shared this story with colleagues in the allied health professions—medical doctors, osteopaths, chiropractors, and naturopaths. A few became quite interested, and we have trained a score of doctors in this procedure. All we ask of our training doctors is a six-month, round-the-clock commitment to our fasting patients, and a determination to keep their eyes open. We don't require that they keep their mouths shut. For the most part, however, doctors who hear about this procedure have remained skeptical. And we cannot blame them, for this is a miracle that sounds too good to be true. For most physicians, it is simply too counterintuitive to believe that the body can heal itself while water-only fasting. Such an approach seems too passive. Instead, most health professionals want to do something. They forget that the best management is often to let the body heal itself unimpeded. Unfortunately, most doctors are almost totally ignorant about what environmental conditions are optimal for our self-healing machinery to best perform! When patients fail to improve, doctors take action to "do something about it," such as prescribing drugs or performing surgeries. Our most respected healers have failed to decipher the message that is sent when a finger is cut. In such an event the only useful function that they perform is merely to apply a bandage and remove contaminating materials so that the body can heal itself without unnecessary aggravation. Physicians typically fail to recognize this truth and to consider the possible value of removing the causes of disease as a method of assisting the body to heal itself. For most of the conditions they treat, this would mean removing dietary and other lifestyle excesses that are the cause of most chronic disease. But to most physicians and their patients, the removal of such excesses doesn't seem like "doing something." And this is an enormous conceptual error, one that results in incalculable human costs."
A Problem of Persuasion
“Imagine, for a moment, that you are in possession of a health secret. It is a message about a remarkably simple, but stunningly powerful technique for the restoration of health. It is a secret that you wish to share with the world. However, every time you tell the secret to your colleagues, they simply don't believe you. How might you attempt to persuade them otherwise, to unveil your secret in a way that they could understand? A Major Problem One way that you might attempt to do these things is to test the power of your secret technique on the most serious health condition in the land. Then you would discover whether your secret technique was really anything special, after all. And if it were, you could disclose your discovery to fellow professionals in a language that they would embrace, the language of science. In western civilization, the leading associated cause of death and disability is high blood pressure. This condition is the leading associated cause of heart attacks, strokes, and congestive heart failure, collectively the leading causes of death and disability in industrialized societies. Not surprisingly, high blood pressure is the most common reason for doctor visits in the United States, and the leading reason for prescription medication. The conventional medical solution has nothing to do with removing the causes of this condition and so is largely ineffective. This depressing report is not disputed by knowledgeable scholars. The research evidence has conclusively demonstrated that the majority of those who suffer from the consequences of high blood pressure will derive only limited benefit from the treatments currently provided by modern medicine. The power of the body's self-healing capacities with water-only fasting and complete rest is the world's greatest health secret. This process is extremely effective with many serious health conditions. But to our fellow health professionals, such a statement seems simply too good to be true. So to make our secret believable, we have chosen to first report the impact of fasting on the country's #1 health problem as a test case for our fellow professionals. And fortunately, water-only fasting has a substantial beneficial effect on high blood pressure. But such a statement does not fully communicate the true state of affairs, for water-only fasting is actually far and away the most effective treatment for high blood pressure ever reported in the world's scientific literature. How can this be true? Perhaps it is because the use of supervised water-only fasting is, in reality, a superb example of the Healing Goal of medicine which involves identifying the cause of disease and then removing that cause. Water-only fasting does this better than any other treatment option of which we have knowledge. Here's how it works. GETTING TO THE CAUSE High blood pressure is a health problem that is a symptom of serious disease, as well as a cause of disease. High blood pressure, like most health problems throughout the industrialized world, is the result of dietary excesses. One excess is excessive consumption of animal products, resulting in excessive dietary fat and protein. Another is the excessive intake of sodium chloride (salt). We shall examine these two primary causes of high blood pressure to glean clues as to why water-only fasting is often vastly superior to medical management for this condition. Excessive Animal Consumption A diet that includes too much animal fat and protein predictably leads to the build-up of plaques within the cardiovascular system, also known as atherosclerosis. These plaques are a chief cause of high blood pressure and of related conditions including heart attack, stroke, and congestive heart failure. Your cardiovascular system is a circulatory system. Your heart is the pump; your arteries, veins, and capillaries are the hoses; and your blood is the fluid. If the pipes are clogged, the pressure in the system will increase in much the same way that placing your finger over the end of a garden hose will increase the pressure within the hose. In this case, the pressure within the system might be viewed as merely a symptom of the most significant underlying danger, that is, the clogged arteries that might well result in a stroke or heart attack. But we shall see that high blood pressure is not merely a symptom of disease; it is a cause of disease, as well. Your circulatory system was designed by nature to work within appropriate parameters. While at rest, your blood pressure is designed to be at its lowest point, as the pump, your heart, is not working hard. This is because your muscles are also not hard at work, and the oxygen needs of these tissues are being met by modest cardiac output. However, when you are using your body more vigorously, your heart must work much harder. The pumping action increases the force with which blood flows through the system, and thus blood pressure rises. This rise is temporary, however, as rest quickly reduces the heart's output, and correspondingly, your blood pressure. Temporarily elevated blood pressure resulting from physical exertion is not problematic, as it is consistent with our natural design. However, if your blood pressure is chronically elevated to levels inappropriate for our biological design, damage to the system can result. If blood pressure is consistently elevated above appropriate levels, the high blood pressure itself can be a direct cause of arterial damage and lead to greater risk of heart attack, stroke, and congestive heart failure. In this way, high blood pressure is both a symptom of serious cardiovascular disease, as well as a causal factor of disease in itself. Medication management of high blood pressure does little to halt or reverse the build-up of atherosclerotic plaques. A removal of the dietary excesses that cause these plaques, however, has been shown to halt or reverse their progression. Since water-only fasting results in the complete removal of excess dietary fat and protein, it improves blood pressure quickly and dramatically. Excessive Dietary Sodium A second major cause of high blood pressure is the presence of excessive water in the bloodstream. Just as turning the faucet on high increases the pressure in a garden hose, having excessive fluid in the circulatory system results in increased blood pressure. Modern diets often contain more sodium than some people are able to excrete (via the kidneys). This excessive sodium results in excessive water retention, and thus, elevated blood pressure. Sodium and potassium are essential nutrients that work together to regulate fluid levels throughout the body. These two nutrients counterbalance each other perfectly on the ancestral diet. That diet, dominated by fresh fruits, vegetables, and whole grains, typically contained about four times as much potassium as sodium. This is identical to the ratio of potassium to sodium within our own bodies at any given time. However, if dietary sodium is excessive, which is now the norm because of excessive animal products (devoid of potassium) and processed foods (laden with added sodium), this natural balance can be disrupted. In the typical American diet, this ratio has changed dramatically. Most people now consume two to three times as much sodium as potassium, meaning that the sodium-to-potassium ratio has been altered by a factor of ten! 1 This radical ten-fold reversal can play havoc with the body's fluid regulation system, causing the kidneys to work extremely hard to excrete great excesses of dietary sodium in order to maintain appropriate fluid levels. For many people, this system works well for decades, with the kidneys managing to keep fluid levels, and thus blood pressure, within normal parameters. The Double Whammy Over time, however, these dietary excesses defeat the blood pressure-regulating systems within most people. By the sixth decade of life, the majority of Americans suffer from high blood pressure and run high risks of heart attack, stroke, and congestive heart failure. In fact, nearly half of our citizens will die prematurely as a result of these related processes, with many more becoming permanently disabled. Excessive dietary proteins and fats (particularly of animal origin) result in atherosclerotic plaques within the arteries that supply blood to the kidneys. This reduction in blood flow to the kidneys contributes to a reduction in kidney function, making the compromised individual increasingly unable to excrete excessive dietary sodium. In the final analysis, these two dietary excesses work together to result in a cardiovascular system that works much too hard, and is likely to fail. In one sense, medical management does attempt to address the "cause" of hypertension associated with excessive water retention in the bloodstream. Doctors commonly treat high blood pressure with diuretics, drugs designed to force the kidneys to work even harder! These drugs do "work," in terms of reducing blood pressure. However, they are so dangerous that for the majority of people who suffer from high blood pressure their use may result in as many deaths as they prevent. In the largest study of high blood pressure drug treatment ever conducted, the Medical Research Council of Great Britain reported that while drug treatments significantly lowered blood pressure, drug treatment for hypertension did not reduce the overall rate of death. 2 To be fair, some beneficial effects were reported for the minority of patients with the most severe high blood pressure. The major benefit was that for every 850 patients taking medication, one stroke was avoided. Meanwhile, one survey indicated that 99 percent of patients were reported to suffer significant side effects. 3 Progressive physicians who think in terms of the Healing Goal of medicine may not be surprised at these findings, nor should they. Standard medical management of high blood pressure does not remove causes of this disease, as medications do not remove dietary excesses from the body. Water-only fasting, on the other hand, results in the removal of these causes. A period of water-only fasting not only eliminates all incoming dietary fats and proteins, but also eliminates incoming sodium chloride, as well. The previously overburdened body jumps at the chance to restore order, and does so with astonishing efficiency. The result is a rapid reduction in excessive bodily fluid and a normalization of blood pressure. And the body does this more effectively when water-only fasting than under any other conditions of treatment. This is a bold pronouncement, but we know that it is true. And we can prove it, because we have conducted the necessary scientific studies. A Test for Truth Over a 12-year period, our TrueNorth Health Center physicians have supervised the prolonged water-only fasts of 174 patients with high blood pressure. Many of these patients were treated by their doctors with medications prior to admission, and many suffered from the normal side effects of such medications: impotence, fatigue, nausea, headaches, depression, chronic cough, and gastric irritation. Fortunately, none had yet suffered any of the more serious side effects known to be associated with these medications—kidney failure, congestive heart failure, and hemorrhagic stroke. Taking these medications might have been providing some small degree of benefit for some patients, however. Medications are known to cause an average reduction in blood pressure of about 12/ 6 points, a statistically useful reduction for patients with moderate to severe hypertension (pressures over 160/ 100 mm Hg). 4 Removing the causes of high blood pressure, however, has rather different-looking treatment results. After an average water-only fasting period of about 10 days, followed by a week on a vegan-vegetarian diet, our 174 patients experienced an average reduction in blood pressure of 37/ 13! This is about three times the effect demonstrated by standard medical intervention, easily the most powerful effect reported anywhere in the scientific literature. More impressive still is the fact that among the most serious cases, water-only fasting has even more profound effects. For patients with moderate-to-severe high blood pressure (pressures of 160/ 100 or above), the average impact of water-only fasting was an extraordinary 45/ 18! These more serious cases began their fasting experience with an average blood pressure of 173/ 99 and ended their experience, off all medications, at 128/ 81. By the end of their supervised fasts, all patients in the study had eliminated their use of high blood pressure medications. And six months after their experience, a follow-up subgroup of 45 patients had retained nearly 100 percent of their improvement."

"We sometimes wish that our results were due to some peculiar potion, medicinal plant, or herbal concoction that could be sold by the pill. For if it were, our secret would probably be widely accepted, and we might be rich and famous, as well. We would probably be readily believed, because adding something, and therefore "doing something," seems much more intuitively reasonable than subtracting the "unlikely" causes and letting the body heal itself. But truth is often stranger than fiction. We don't believe in magic pills and certainly haven't discovered any. All we have is a collection of astonishing scientific evidence, analyzed with the help of world-renowned Cornell University scientist T. Colin Campbell and his staff, demonstrating that removing causes is, in the case of hypertension, the best treatment. We now know that water-only fasting is vastly superior to any medical regimen. And we have published these results in the scientific literature in order to deliver this message in a way our colleagues can hear. We find it ironic that in our environment of abundance and technological capability, the most effective treatment for our most widespread public health problem is not some chemical or surgical procedure: It is simply drinking pure water in an environment of complete rest. For many of our patients who have suffered through years of medical management, the simplicity of this "cure" does not make it less miraculous. Within this miracle there lies something much more important than a treatment for high blood pressure. It is a message calling for a new level of respect for the self-healing capacities of the human body. Embarrassed by Success We are almost embarrassed when talking to fellow health professionals about our "secret." But we cannot resist. The body's response to water-only fasting is an extraordinary adaptive tool that may be utilized as a method for assisting the body to heal itself of many chronic diseases. And when we pause to consider that most of the diseases of our civilization are chronic diseases of dietary excess, the concept of using water-only fasting as a healing tool begins to make some serious sense. From observations we have made in our own facility and from our communications with other physicians around the world, we know that water-only fasting does much more than just normalize high blood pressure. There have been outstanding results with conditions such as adult-onset diabetes, congestive heart failure, angina, atherosclerosis, digestive disorders, osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, colitis, chronic constipation, irritable bowel syndrome, asthma, food and environmental allergies, skin problems, fibrocystic breast disease, chronic fatigue, low back pain, chronic headaches, and more. The list is staggering, and it almost never fails to cause disbelief in even our most sympathetic colleagues until they begin to fully grasp the underlying message. SAVING YOUR LIFE Fasting can save your life in a number of ways. It can reduce your blood pressure, reverse potentially deadly atherosclerosis, and help you to avoid a heart attack, stroke, or congestive heart failure. Perhaps your primary problem is adult-onset diabetes, for which fasting is the most effective method known for attacking the critical underlying pathology, a phenomenon known as "insulin resistance syndrome." Or you may suffer from rheumatoid arthritis and find that fasting so effectively removes the antigen/ antibody complexes from your body's tissues that you may be pain-free, possibly for the first time in years. From our perspective, the most important effect of fasting may be none of the above. It may be this: The experience of fasting makes it possible for almost anyone, regardless of lifestyle history, to escape the dietary pleasure trap. We know this because our patients find that after consuming nothing other than pure water for many days, the simplest and most healthful foods taste the best of all. In our clinical experience, we have seen nothing that can even remotely approach the effectiveness of water-only fasting to encourage the adoption of a healthy diet. Not the fear of excruciating pain, nor the fear of a lifetime of obesity. Not even the fear of death itself. While the recovery and maintenance of health are excellent motivations for healthy eating, the most effective motivation is maximum gustatory pleasure. Fasting makes it possible for this to be experienced with health-promoting foods, and leaves unhealthy foods seeming overly stimulating, like a room with lighting that is painfully bright. Fasting can save your life by enabling you to cheerfully and enjoyably adopt a diet and lifestyle consistent with your natural design, one that will protect your health by preventing unnecessary disease. It is this ancient and natural process that may enable you to escape from modern life's most deadly and insidious force: the drug-like allure of modern foods—the dietary pleasure trap."

What are the benefits of fasting?

Physical benefits
Fasting’s most obvious benefit is weight loss. However, there are a myriad of benefits beyond this, many of which were widely known in ancient times.
The fasting periods were often called ‘cleanses’, ‘detoxifications’, or ‘purifications’, but the idea is the same – to abstain from eating food for a certain period of time for health reasons. People imagined that this period of abstinence from food would clear their bodies’ systems of toxins and rejuvenate them. They were more correct than they knew.
Some of the purported physical benefits of fasting include:


Now of course there are contra opinions, as there is in everything, so I will provide resources to check out a balanced perspective. However, the number of reputable studies and the volume of people who swear by extended fasts would lead one to believe that there is perhaps something to it. It seems that what is important is doing the fast correctly, and making sure you're cleared by your doctor beforehand.




Spiritual Benefits
Is not this the fast that I have chosen? (Isaiah 58)

when thou fastest, anoint thine head, and wash thy face; That thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy Father which is in secret: and thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly.” We can see that our motives in fasting must be pure. We are not to do it in order to broadcast it, but we are to do it as quietly and simply as possible so as not to attract attention to ourselves. We are to appear to others as though we are not fasting. There are exceptions, such as when we are fasting as a group for a specific thing. Then it must be announced so that others can take part. We find this in Joel 1:14, “Sanctify ye a fast, call a solemn assembly, gather the elders and all the inhabitants of the land into the house of the Lord your God, and cry unto the Lord. Matthew 6:16-18

we receive more of the Lord’s Spirit and have our spiritual eyes opened to new dimensions. A three day fast is also especially helpful in breaking any addictive habits.

Fasting builds our faith. In fact, this is what Jesus meant when he spoke to the disciples in Matthew 17:21 in answer to why they were not able to cast a demon out of a child. He said, “Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting.” He was telling them if they wanted their faith to be at such a level as to be able to cast out demons, then they must fast and pray for their faith to increase.
Fasting also makes it easier for us to hear the voice of the Lord. We find an account of this in Acts 13:2-3: “As they ministered to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them. And when they had fasted and prayed, and laid their hands on them, they sent them away.”
Fasting is also a way we can minister unto the Lord. We read in Acts 13:2 that they ministered unto the Lord and fasted. It is a way we can offer the time we generally spend in eating as unto the Lord in prayer. As we spend this time with Him, it causes things to happen in the Spirit.
We have discussed the absolute and the normal fasts, but we need to also mention the partial fast. This is a fast where we restrict our intake of food, but do not totally abstain. We have a record of this in Daniel 10:2-3: “In those days I, Daniel was mourning three full weeks. I ate no pleasant bread, neither came flesh nor wine in my mouth, neither did I anoint myself at all, till three whole weeks were fulfilled”. Daniel went on a three-week partial fast, restricting his diet of all pleasant food, meat and wine. It was during this time that he had a visitation from an angel. Fasting always suppresses the flesh and heightens our spiritual sensitivity. Generally speaking, we hear the Lord’s voice more easily while fasting.
We all can benefit by giving up our pleasant bread for a season. The Lord blesses us for whatever sacrifices we make for Him. Our country is suffering under a spirit of gluttony and it would be a great blessing for the United States to have a time of national fasting unto God. We sit down and eat many times when we are not even hungry, simply because it is a habit. We should not eat out of habit or tradition, but rather that we might glorify Christ in our bodies. (1 Corinthians 10:31: “Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.”)
Fasting sometimes comes spontaneously, for example when we are so busy seeking God about a situation or a spiritual goal that we simply forget to eat. (We are moving too fast to take time to eat because we are concentrating on the things of the Spirit. We are moving in the spirit in a “fast” way. The fasting acts as spiritual dynamite to speed things up in the Spirit that would normally take a longer time to come to pass.) Some Christians are forced to fast due to a lack of food in their part of the world. They can dedicate this time to God and He will bless it as He would a voluntary fast.
Isaiah 58:7 also says, “Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house?” Fasting makes it possible for us not only to give “spiritual bread” to those that are hungry, but also releases our finances so that we can give “natural bread” to the poor and needy. The Lord wants us to have an abundance so we can be a blessing to others. He will bring the poor to our houses to be fed. He wants us to be able to minister to others. He will give us a ministry and cause people to be drawn to our doorstep by the Holy Spirit for counsel and prayer.
The following are 10 spiritual benefits to fasting, as outlined in holy scriptures and as witnessed by thousands of regular fasters:

1. The pain and challenge of fasting makes us more humble and helps us recognize our very real dependence on God for our lives. There are many aspects of being mortal that cause us to be prideful and not remember our dependence on God. Any sin we commit in our mortal bodies separate us from God and The Holy Spirit, so when we resist the very fundamental urge of our bodies to eat, we are putting it into subjection to our spirits, and allowing a stronger spiritual power to enter our body. (i.e. Psalm 35:13 - David fasted for humbling his soul)

2. Gratitude for blessings combined with compassion for the suffering and understanding leading to peace and harmony with others, which can provide us with more opportunities to serve those in need, which in turn is a spiritual blessing to be able to do so. Imagine for a moment if everyone in your community decided to skip one breakfast a week, and donated the money they would have spent to a local charity. Can you imagine how much money that would be?! And it wouldn't require anyone to increase their budget one penny. How ingenious! Can you imagine the kinds of causes that could be given more attention if this became a more wide-scale practice?!

Isaiah 58 says: “Is (the fast) it not to deal thy bread to the hungry (1st thing mentioned, we can do it more if we fast more, let’s follow council of Monson, Uchtdorf and 4th fold mission ), and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; And if thou draw out thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul”

3. Fasting is the fast-track to spiritual progress, letting the spirit strengthen the body (more control/vigilance (discernment and strength) to resist temptation (increasing indulgence in an increasing material society: goods, food, lust) & more strength to have fruit of spirit - peace, joy, love, healing, strength, and inspiration for my own life and for others (will happen if done frequently, since satan constantly tries to cause us spiritual erosion (rock, glacier) - gradually becoming more tolerable of certain thoughts, images, words, sounds, places, people, actions (“ye must watch yourselves”)

Fasting=Devil less hold - and more free to receive God’s help
  • Christ strengthened to conquer devil (waited until Christ most physically vulnerable at end of of 40 days - but He didn't know Christ was spiritually strongest)
  • This (devil goeth not out)...
  • Isaiah 58
  • “due to a lack of preoccupation with the satisfaction of bodily appetites during the daylight hours when fasting, the spirit gains a measure of ascendancy. The soul is freed from the chains placed by carnal desires. Fasting provides a break in the cycle of rigid habits or overindulgence.”

We have a materially abundant society, but most have undernourished spirits. Food has a lot of emotional and psychological weight to it for many, and when we deny ourselves, it unleashes what’s underneath, unmet needs people try to meet with food come out, makes us vulnerable, and crumbles and strips away our shields and blocks

NT flesh wars against spirit (flesh is not bad though)

Fasting is also one of these labors. It is a form of afflicting our soul. (Isaiah 58:3: “Wherefore have we fasted, say they, and thou seest not? wherefore have we afflicted our soul, and thou takest no knowledge?…”) By afflicting our soul, we say to our flesh, “Flesh, you are demanding to eat, but Christ is stronger than the desires of my soul. My spirit shall rule my soul, and my soul shall not have dominion over me.” Numerous individuals today are in bondage to their appetites because they have never denied themselves anything. The Lord wants us to be ruled by the Spirit, not by the flesh. Fasting brings the flesh unto subjection of the Spirit. (Matthew 4:4: “But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.”)

Does fasting move the hand of God? No. If we believe that God withholds from us and we have to fight to get Him to bless us, then we have a wrong conception of the Lord. Isaiah 58:6 indicates that fasting is not to move the hand of the Lord, but it is to make Satan turn loose of what he is holding back that rightfully belongs to us. Jesus died so we could have the blessings. They belong to us as His children. However, we must press in and demand the enemy to release some things. This is our right as sons of God. Sometimes Satan still controls much territory in our lives and the lives of our loved ones. He has many in bondage. Fasting is a key that breaks loose the bands of wickedness. As we fast and pray, Satan must let our children who are bound by spirits of rebellion and drugs go free. He must take his hands off our loved ones, our friends and family. Some people are so bound that only fasting can loose them from the wicked chains of darkness.
Verse 7 also says, “…and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh?” One trick of the enemy is to get us so busy ministering to others that we fail to minister to our own flesh. We must also ask the Lord to do a work of cleansing in our lives, and also make sure that we take time to let the Lord minister to us through His word, and in time spent alone with Him. Also, we are not to neglect our own flesh and blood. We must not get so busy with others’ needs that we do not minister to our own families. We are to fast for them, pray for them and spend time with them.
In verse 8 we see the fruits of fasting, “Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thine health shall spring forth speedily: and thy righteousness shall go before thee; the glory of the Lord shall be thy reward.” Healing will come forth quickly through fasting. If we have a besetting sin that we cannot get the victory over, fasting will strengthen us spiritually and deliver us from that bondage so that our righteousness can go before us. What a beautiful promise that the glory of the Lord shall be our reward! We receive a reward during the time of fasting, but it does not stop there. We also will be rewarded by seeing things come forth in the future as answers to our prayers.

Have you ever noticed yourself or someone else indulge in unhealthy food and/overeat, and then a little bit later lose their temper?

The physical-emotional-mental-spiritual are connected, and when we pollute our temples, we separate ourselves from the Holy Spirit, and Satan has more of a hold on us

Following a possible symbolic meaning of John the Baptists, in a very real way "I must decrease, so that He can increase - (in my life)" By decreasing our food intake, and our total pound count, Christ's spirit has a chance to increase in our lives. In addition, we are symbolically more connected with him. As he gave of His body for us, we also in a very small way sacrifice a part of ourselves to draw closer to him

From the podcast, “Zion: Consciousness and Covenant,” in the episode, “Fasting is Feasting”:

Isaiah 58:6, “this is the purpose of fasting - it’s to release our attachments to anything that we believe that we need, or any lifestyle that we are desperately attached to in this world, and to help us come to an understanding that the heavy burdens, the oppression, the yokes are elusory, maya, not real. We are spiritual eternal beings, and what represents that attachment to all things temporal more than food. Fasting is for us a gift, to help us detach from everything in this temporal world - all we are attached to and think we need and think that we desperately have to have in order to live happily or successfully is really just maya - it’s part of the illusion. We are spiritual beings, and what better representation of that than food - we have to have it, until we don’t, and part of it too is giving up a portion of your fat and blood in direct similitude of the Christ - and you’re joining with Him in that sacrifice, and coming to God by leaving behind the things of this earth. And it represents the sacrifices of the law of Moses where the fat and blood were sacrificed of the animals, all Christ centered. We are making ourselves one with Him, in a sacrifice on a much smaller scale, that mirrors His own. (putting the animal inside ourselves on the altar, giving all to him, dying to the flesh, and being reborn and renewed in the spirit) And what better way than through the sacrifice of food to help us to realize, no we are connected to and one with God. We don’t need anything, he provides it all. We are here to have a different experience and serve in different ways. That’s why it’s a gift - it undoes these heavy burdens - unlocking the armor that you carry around and just shrugging it off.” You’re releasing these attachments that hold you, and which you’ve used to self-medicate, health food is necessary, but we use it in different ways, and if you ‘draw out your soul to the hungry,’ you’ve completely reversed the paradigm by sacrificing some worldly pleasures in order to help another, and by doing this you’re taking on your true role in the name of Christ to ‘satisfy the afflicted soul’ and then your blessing, ‘thy light shall rise in (from/out of) obscurity, and thy darkness as the noonday, The Lord shall guide thee continually, satisfy thy soul,...waters that fail not, healthy spring forth speedily (science confirms this)...etc. (he that loses his life for my sake in the service of others shall find it - find what? The true life?) Many think they can’t do it, physically or emotionally, but whatever we are not, Christ is, and we take upon ourselves His name and GRACE and righteousness, power and perfections through FAITH - we can’t be yoked to God and Mammon, in order to be YOKED (attached) to Christ, we need all other attachments (yokes) to be broken  (my yoke is easy, break every (bad) yoke, yoga) - and when we do this, our talents and God’s spiritual gifts can be better and more quickly accessed through the atonement to reach our potential to increase in love and happiness ourselves, and to more Christ-like ministers to others - once you’ve flushed yourself of the heavy burdens and released them and start giving to others what you don’t need, then you’ve opened yourself up, it’s not that God is waiting for you to do this and I’ll give you this - God is not some vending machine in the sky, you’ve opened yourself up to receive because you know that you are fully supported, “your cup runneth over, leadeth you in green pastures” you’re willing to receive and be led, and then shall you call and the Lord shall answer (direct access to heaven) - but “don’t accuse/judge - be kind/loving” - Isaiah 58 footnote -  you’ll be the foundation of many generations, repairer of the breach/restorer of paths to dwell in (assisting in Christ’s dual mission, to temporally bless us and spiritually weld the whole human family) - and connection to sabbath - Andy Rassmusen

Imagine the cumulative flywheel of power, healing, joy, love, purification/sanctification from the atonement of God and daily consistent Isaiah:

Fasting and coming to Christ’s yoke and yoga (and implied eating well)
Generous offerings to others
Kindness
Holy Sabbath days

And my own i and M devo’s with bed early up early

It will prepare my body and spirit and mind and heart to be cleansed and prepared for purification and elevation

“Fasting gives us a bodily and subconscious minds cleanse, which helps us access the atonement better - which helps weaken the power of the devil in our lives, and gives us more of the power of God - go deeper to get to deeper subconscious monsters, we need to go deeper into these empowering gospel principles that God gives us, like prayer, fasting, the temple, scripture study, obedience, service etc.” And I fasted often for 3 months during a rough period, and more power and joy and healing came into my life and my spiritual pursuits and it catapulted me to the level of the “ “ Fasting and also fast offerings can help us challenge our feeling of lack and attachment to worldly things (food-money-attachments) and gluttony, remember the lilies, challenge what we need/want - elevate - up level, Elder Holland looked at me, and looked through my eyes into my soul. He is an highly awakened soul, and has probably gone deep into fasting/prayer, and yoga could aid even more for all - God will put on the superhighway - Felice Austin

Crossroads of:
  1. Yielding to God through mercy, grace and faith, fasting and yoke-ga (breaking every bad yoke)
  2. Growing through mercy, grace and faith, fasting and yoke-ga (Taking upon ourselves Christ’s yoke)

Isaiah equates the word fasting with rejoicing, suggesting that when we fast, we allow The Spirit of God to enter our bodies to a greater degree, bringing with it the “fruit of the spirit” including peace, love and reJOYcing

More Isaiah 58:
“To loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, (diminishing the power of satan) and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke?

Many people believe that fasting is to move the hand of God, when in actuality it is to make Satan turn loose of the things he is holding.

Then shall thy (gift of our divine nature/Holy Spirit) light break forth as the morning, and thine health shall spring forth speedily: and thy righteousness shall go before thee; the glory of the Lord shall be thy rearward.” (physical health, joy & freedom, and awareness)

Fasting can reverse the weakening of one’s spirit (confidence, emotional and mental strength) that has happened through my own (and parents enabling) lack of control over my impulses throughout the years:

“There is perhaps no physiological skill more fundamental than resisting impulse. It is the root of all emotional self-control, since all emotions, by their very nature, lead to one or another impulse to act (Daniel Coleman, Emotional Intelligence)

The Book of Mormon says: “bridle all thy passions, that ye may be filled with love.”
All things are connected, physical, spiritual, emotional and mental. When we prove to ourselves we can do something hard in one of those realms, it will give us more momentum and confidence to tackle other things in life, choosing the good, and resisting other non-essentials.

As a pamphlet about Ramadan hoped: ““May our fasting become a first step toward the removal of the chains of self-oppression and narrow-mindedness that enslave us, our neighbors, and our world!”

and...
“The satisfaction one derives from the self-induced pain of fasting provides insight into a better possible reaction to the normal, external suffering we will all experience throughout our lives. Taking a pill (or mate, bad food etc.) is not always the best way to alleviate pain, especially if by doing so we allay the symptoms without reaching the root cause.”

And my musing:
“Giving in to an indulgence to temporary medicate our suffering is idol worshipping. We are saying that this thing is sufficient to comfort us and make us happy, when God is the only one who can do so. When we resist the temptation to indulge in a pleasurable and unhealthy thing, and let our uneasy state bring us to our knees in surrendering to God, in utter vulnerability and nakedness, He will help our bodies work in better fashion with our spirits and reward us in every area of our lives (marriage)” -Tony Fieldson

Joy can come from conquering and achieving more self-mastery over a/n compulsion addiction

4. When combined with prayer, can effectuate miracles (healing, inspiration, strength for another) - Matthew 17:21

5. Another biblical use of fasting was as a penance preparation for repentance - Joel 2:12-13

6. The religious have also used fasting as a mourning and symbolic suffering with others - 1 Samuel 31:11-14
Often if people are grieving they lose their appetites and unconsciously fast. That is why mourning and fasting are mentioned together in the Bible.
7. All of these spiritual blessing help us to come closer to God, which is ultimate goal for theists

Isaiah 58:
“Then shalt thou call, and the Lord shall answer; thou shalt cry, and he shall say, Here I am...And the Lord shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones: and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not. Then shall thy light rise in obscurity, and thy darkness be as the noonday”

8. And when we are closer to God from having more humility, gratitude, self-control, compassion, and spiritual power, we will be able to fulfill our potential by becoming more loving like Christ to others

Isaiah 58:
“And they that shall be of thee shall build the old waste places: thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations; and thou shalt be called, The repairer of the breach, The restorer of paths to dwell in. Then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.” (more impact on the world from self-mastery)

9. Bonus Blessing:
“Fasting offers many important unique advantages that are not available in typical diets. Where diets complicate life, fasting simplifies. Where diets are expensive, fasting is free. Where diets can take time, fasting saves time. Where diets are limited, fasting is available anywhere. Where diets have variable efficacy, fasting has unquestioned efficacy. There is no more powerful method for lowering insulin and decreasing body weight.” (dietdoctor.com)

10. A list of more purposes for fasting in the Bible, from Don Whitney, Spiritual Disciplines)

More Examples of Fasting in the Bible

Old Testament Fasting

  • Moses fasted 40 days on behalf of Israel’s sin: Deuteronomy 9:9, 18, 25-29; 10:10.
  • David fasted and mourned the death of Saul: 2 Samuel 1:12.
  • David fasted and mourned the death of Abner: 2 Samuel 3:35.
  • David fasted and mourned the death of his child: 2 Samuel 12:16.
  • Elijah fasted 40 days after fleeing from Jezebel: 1 Kings 19:7-18.
  • Ahab fasted and humbled himself before God: 1 Kings 21:27-29.
  • Darius fasted in concern for Daniel: Daniel 6:18-24.
  • Daniel fasted on behalf of Judah's sin while reading Jeremiah’s prophecy: Daniel 9:1-19.
  • Daniel fasted regarding a mysterious vision from God: Daniel 10:3-13.
  • Esther fasted on behalf of her people: Esther 4:13-16.
  • Ezra fasted and wept for the sins of the returning remnant: Ezra 10:6-17.
  • Nehemiah fasted and mourned over the broken walls of Jerusalem: Nehemiah 1:4-2:10.
  • The people of Ninevah fasted after hearing the message of Jonah: Jonah 3.

New Testament Fasting

  • Anna fasted for the redemption of Jerusalem through the coming Messiah: Luke 2:37.
  • Jesus fasted 40 days before his temptation and the beginning of his ministry: Matthew 4:1-11.
  • The disciples of John the Baptist fasted: Matthew 9:14-15.
  • The elders in Antioch fasted before sending off Paul and Barnabas: Acts 13:1-5.
  • Cornelius fasted and sought God’s plan of salvation: Acts 10:30.
  • Paul fasted three days after his Damascus Road encounter: Acts 9:9.
  • Paul fasted 14 days while at sea on a sinking ship: Acts 27:33-34.

Just as Christ told his disciples that fasting was needed in addition to prayer to cast out the devils from a group of people in order to set them free to keep progressing towards their destiny, maybe fasting can be a key in our lives to gain more control over our lives, cast out our demons, and progress in spiritual power, light and love towards our eternal destinies.

The Book of Mormon on Fasting
In Alma chapters 5 and 17, fasting provided revelation and power

In Helaman 3, a group of people decided to increase their fasting and prayer in the face of persecution instead of rebelling against God. And this brought them more humility, faith in Christ, consolation, joy, purification and sanctification.

Alma 38 says that if we bridle our passions (fasting being an excellent way to that) we will be filled with love

Omni 1:26

Modern Day Revelation
“Let thy food be prepared with singleness of heart that thy fasting may be perfect, or, in other words, that thy joy may be full. Verily, this is fasting and prayer, or in other words, rejoicing and prayer.”- D&C 59:13-14



Anna the Prophetess fasted in the temple and I’m sure that’s part of what helped her have spiritual power
Moses fasted 40 days (Exodus 34:28)
Jesus fasted 40 days in order to get the power he needed to accomplish his mortal ministry, message and mission (Matthew 4:2, Luke 4:2)

Saul fasted for 3 days

How Can I Fast?

Being Lead By the Holy Spirit

We need to be sensitive to the Holy Spirit as to when fasting is needed. Sometimes it is not necessary because the problem has already been “prayed through.” We need simply to rest in the Lord until His time for our answer to arrive. If we fast at those times, we will just be going hungry. We need also to seek the Lord as to whether He would have us go on a partial fast, normal fast or total fast. If we will ask, He will let us know. He will confirm His will to us. If we cannot hear His voice too clearly, He will send somebody to speak His counsel to us. We must trust Him.
We need also to check our motives when we fast. If they are selfish, our fast will not be accepted by the Lord. We see this in Jeremiah 14:10 and 12, “Thus saith the Lord unto this people, Thus have they loved to wander, they have not refrained their feet, therefore the Lord doth not accept them; he will now remember their iniquity, and visit their sins. When they fast, I will not hear their cry; and when they offer burnt offering and an oblation, I will not accept them: but I will consume them by the sword, and by the famine, and by the pestilence.” We cannot fast and have evil, unrepented sin or selfishness in our lives and expect God to answer our prayers. Many times we don’t even recognize selfish prayers. When we pray for our loved ones to be saved or delivered, and our motive is to only bring relief to ourselves instead of being concerned that they receive the peace and joy of Jesus, we are wrong. Let us examine our hearts when we seek God for anything.
Prepare for it mentally and emotionally by de-feeding yourself (gradually go down to more easily digestible and 100% healthy foods)

*Focus on God and rest, or it will be harder and not as much a joy*

1. Fast (With-go) from what?

  1. from food (just solid or all) (&/or water)

Shorter fasts (<24hrs)

Fasting offers infinite flexibility. You can fast for as long or short as you like, but here are some popular regimens. Generally, shorter fasts are done more frequently.

16:8

This involves daily fasting for 16 hours. Sometimes this is also referred to as an 8-hour eating ‘window’. You eat all your meals within an 8-hour time period and fast for the remaining 16 hours. Generally, this is done daily or almost daily.
For example, you may eat all your meals within the time period of 11:00 am and 7:00 pm. Generally, this means skipping breakfast. You generally eat two or three meals within this 8-hour period.

20:4

This involves a 4-hour eating window and a 20-hour fast. For example, you might eat between 2:00 pm and 6:00 pm every day and fast for the other 20 hours. Generally, this would involve eating either one meal or two smaller meals within this period.

Longer fasts (>24 hours)

24-hour fasts

This involves fasting from dinner to dinner (or lunch to lunch). If you eat dinner on day 1, you would skip the next day’s breakfast and lunch and eat dinner again on day 2. This means that you are still eating daily, but only once during that day. This would generally be done two to three times per week.

36-hour fasts

This involves fasting for the entire day. For example, if you eat dinner on day 1, you would fast for all of day 2 and not eat again until breakfast on day 3. This is generally 36 hours of fasting. This provides more powerful weight loss benefit. The other great benefit is that it avoids the temptation to overeat dinner on day 2.

Extended fasting

You can fast almost indefinitely. Generally for fasts greater than 48 hours, I recommend a general multivitamin to avoid micronutrient deficiency. The world record for fasting is 382 days, so going 7-14 days is certainly possible.

The first few days you’ll feel the most intense hunger. But it’s not hunger, it’s emotional withdrawals
Can uncover generational things like being deprived
Information & material abundance and overload producing greed and depression (fasting can simplify things
I discourage people from fasting for more than 14 days due to high risk of re-feeding syndrome.
More examples:

b. “Mono” food fast or abstaining from certain foods
    A mono fast is only eating certain foods for a certain period of time, for example only vegetables and fruits, or only plant food etc.

    And one may just pick one or a few foods to fast from, like for example when I fasted from milk and peanut butter for a month

    C. fasting (abstaining) from other things
    This can include a mirror fast, a phone fast

2. Start gradually and wisely and end gradually and wisely
From certain or all food, and from all or no water, or other things (like technology) for a certain period of time
Starting off, I want to try to fast from all food and water for 24 hours from 5pm on Saturday to 5pm and Sunday, and also on Thursdays? from all food only from sun up to sundown

3. Combine with an intention, prayer, spiritual feasting and service (A medieval text states, “Better to eat a little and study twice as much.”

The first is physical. Throughout your fast, you may feel somewhat weaker than normal. During the first few days, you may feel tired and irritable. Lightening your workload and cutting down on strenuous exercise would be a very good idea to maintain your health and your morale.
The second reason is spiritual. Fasting is not just denying yourself food. It is exchanging the needs of the physical body for those of the spiritual. Long times of prayer and reading God's Word will be very essential if you are to enter into a more intimate communion with God to maintain your fast to its completion. While fasting, if you dissipate your energy on numerous errands or busy-work to the neglect of spending special time with God, you will starve both physically and spiritually. You will find yourself becoming discouraged and frustrated with your fast instead of being benefited and uplifted and blessed. I don't want that to happen to you.
The more time you spend with God in fellowship, worship, and adoration of Him, and the more you read and meditate upon His Word, the greater your effectiveness will be in prayer and the more meaningful your fast will be. So I encourage you to arrange your schedule accordingly! (cru.org)

How Long Should I Fast?

Fasting, especially from food, should be limited to a determined length of time. Fasting for too long can cause harm to the body.
While I hesitate to state the obvious, your decision to fast should be guided by the Holy Spirit. Also, I highly recommend, especially if you've never fasted, that you seek both medical and spiritual counsel before embarking on any type of prolonged fast. While Jesus and Moses both fasted for 40 days without food and water, this was clearly an impossible human achievement, only accomplished through the Holy Spirit's empowerment.
(Important Note: Fasting without water is extremely dangerous. Although I have fasted on many occasions, the longest without food being a period of six days, I have never done so without water.)

How Often Can I Fast?

New Testament Christians practiced prayer and fasting regularly. Since there is no biblical command to fast, believers should be led by God through prayer concerning when and how often to fast.

How to Make Your Spiritual Experience the Best it Can Be


Receiving God's best blessing from a fast requires solid commitment. Arranging special time each day with God is absolutely crucial in attaining intimate communion with the Father. You must devote yourself to seeking God's face, even (and especially) during those times in which you feel weak, vulnerable, or irritable.
Read His Word and pray during what were mealtimes. Meditate on Him when you awake in the night. Sing praises to Him whenever you please. Focus on your Heavenly Father and make every act one of praise and worship. God will enable you to experience His command to “pray without ceasing” as you seek His presence.
As you enter this time of heightened spiritual devotion, be aware that Satan will do everything he can to pull you away from your prayer and Bible reading time. When you feel the enemy trying to discourage you, immediately go to God in prayer and ask Him to strengthen your resolve in the face of difficulties and temptations.
The enemy makes you a target because he knows that fasting is the most powerful of all Christian disciplines and that God may have something very special to show you as you wait upon Him and seek His face. Satan does not want you to grow in your faith, and will do anything from making you hungry and grumpy to bringing up trouble in your family or at work to stop you. Make prayer your shield against such attacks.
My major reason for fasting is for personal revival, revival for our nation, for the world and for the fulfillment of the Great Commission. But praying for our own needs and interceding for others are also important reasons to fast and pray. Bring your personal needs before the Lord, intercede for your loved ones, your friends, your church, your pastor, your community, your nation, and the world. By your prayers of humility, as you fast, you will help the Great Commission be fulfilled.
However, do not become so caught up in praying for yourself and others that you forget about simply reverencing and praising God. True spiritual fasting focuses on God. Center your total being on Him, your attitudes, your actions, your motives, desires, and words. This can only take place if God and His Holy Spirit are at the center of our attention. Confess your sins as the Holy Spirit brings them to your attention and continue to focus on God and God alone so that your prayers may be powerful and effective.
A renewed closeness with God and a greater sensitivity to spiritual things are usually the results of a fast. Do not be disappointed if you do not have a “mountaintop experience,” as some do. Many people who have successfully completed extended fasts tell of feeling a nearness to God that they have never before known, but others who have honestly sought His face report no particular outward results at all. For others, their fast was physically, emotionally, and spiritually grueling, but they knew they had been called by God to fast, and they completed the fast unto Him as an act of worship; God honored that commitment.
Your motive in fasting must be to glorify God, not to have an emotional experience, and not to attain personal happiness. When your motives are right, God will honor your seeking heart and bless your time with Him in a very special way.


Responding to Challenges During the Fast
During your fast, you may have your struggles, discomforts, spiritual victories, and failures. In the morning you may feel like you are on top of the world, but by evening you may be wrestling with the flesh-sorely tempted to raid the refrigerator and counting how many more days are left in your fast. This is especially true if you are new at fasting. To counteract temptations like these, take extra time with the Lord to spend with God. Step outside for fresh air and a moderate walk of a mile or two, and talk to the Lord as you walk along. And in the process always keep on sipping water or juice frequently during your waking hours.

How to Maintain Nutritional Balance and Health from Beginning to End




Testimonials of Fasting:
In Felice Austin’s podcast about fasting said most progress in her life came when fasted more - it raised her up with more power, healing, deliverance, peace, power, love and joy

5 day fast article

7 day fast Ted Talk


Some of my Experiences with Fasting:
-Cecilia miracle
-Afton intimacy miracle
-Others unaware

Fasting in different religions (my Ramadan break the fast interfaith experience - inspired to tap into more of the potential of fasting)

“Thy health shall spring forth speedily” - Isaiah 58
In late December of 2016, I noticed that my injured back seemed to not be painful anymore - just a few days into my fast

For me, everything starts with food

I struggle with it, and it's just hard to eat healthier and smaller portions on its own. Fasting


MOST IMPORTANT PART - HOW TO BREAK THE FAST

“All the experts agree that “breaking the fast” is the critical phase of fasting. While your body is in the resting mode, your stomach shrinks and your intestines become idle, so solid food must be re-introduced very slowly to avoid kidney failure or digestive distress. In fact, after a 40-day fast, you should make a careful transition for at least three days before returning to eating meats or fats or normal foods.
Further, if you end your fast gradually, the beneficial physical and spiritual effects will linger for days. But if you rush into solid foods, you may lose much of your deep sense of peace and experience physical problems such as diarrhea, sickness, fainting, and frankly even death in some cases, due to shock!”


Motivation
“Our problem might be how we think of fasting. If the accent is on abstinence, and fasting is some mere duty to perform, then only the most iron-willed among us will get over the social and self-pampering hurdles to actually put this discipline into practice.
But if we are awakened to see fasting for the joy it can bring, as a means of God’s grace to strengthen and sharpen Godward affections, then we might find ourselves holding a powerful new tool for enriching our enjoyment of Jesus.” (article from desiringgod.org)

Jesus Assumes We’ll Fast (from desiringgod.org)

While the New Testament includes no mandate that Christians fast on certain days or with specific frequency, Jesus clearly assumes we will fast. It’s a tool too powerful to leave endlessly on the shelf collecting dust. While many biblical texts mention fasting, the two most important come just chapters apart in Matthew’s Gospel.
The first is Matthew 6:16–18, which comes in sequence with Jesus’s teachings on generosity and prayer. Fasting is as basic to Christianity as giving to others and asking from God. The key here is that Jesus doesn’t say “if you fast,” but “when you fast.”
Second is Matthew 9:14–15, which Richard Foster says may be “the most important statement in the New Testament on whether or not Christians should fast today” (Celebration of Discipline, 53). Jesus’s answer is a resounding yes.
Then the disciples of John came to him, saying, “Why do we and the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?” And Jesus said to them, “Can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast.” (Matthew 9:14–15)
When Jesus, our bridegroom, was here on earth among his disciples, it was a time for the discipline of feasting. But now that he is “taken away” from his disciples, “they will fast.” Not “they might, if they ever get around to it,” but “they will.” Which is confirmed by the pattern of fasting that emerged right away in the early church (Acts 9:9; 13:2; 14:23).

Will You Fast? And Will You Always Seek To Get More Out Of Your Fasting?

More could be said (like check with your doctor about any health concerns), but this spiritual discipline is simple enough. The question is, Will you avail yourself of this potent means of God’s grace?
Fasting, like the gospel, isn’t for the self-sufficient and those who feel they have it all together. It’s for the poor in spirit. It’s for those who mourn. For the meek. For those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. In other words, fasting is for Christians.
It is a desperate measure, for desperate times, among those who know themselves desperate for God.
until we come to the place where the kingdom of God means more to us than food, we need to set our wills to fast in order to bring our bodies under subjection to the Spirit of the Lord.
Paul was an overcomer and says in 1 Corinthians 9:27: “But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.” For us to overcome we must do likewise. To grow in God we must follow the methods He mapped out in His Word. The Lord is encouraging us to walk in His footsteps so that we might attain the same victory that Paul did. It is not impossible; we just have not understood God’s ultimate purpose for our lives; we have lived far below the level God intended. Even though we will walk through some hard places in this life, we will be able to say it was worth it all when we come into the same perfection that Paul did.
In weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness.2 Corinthians 11:27
Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ. Philippians 3:8

So how are you currently utilizing this powerful tool that God has given us to become stronger mentally and physically?

And what small step of progress could you make in order to more fully tap into the potential fasting has to bless you?

That is the question.

“Father, You know each one that is reading this today, and I ask You to reach out and meet their needs. Lord, minister to their need now through the power of the Holy Spirit. If there are those who have not been filled with Your Spirit, I pray that You would fill them now to overflowing. Lord, to those who need You as Savior, touch them and come into their hearts; may they be born again and placed into Your kingdom. For those who need healing in their bodies, touch them with Your creative power. Father, deliver and set free those who are suffering from depression and are bound by the things of this world. Bless Your people, Lord, as they seek Your will and way for their lives. Give them Your strength to use the keys of the kingdom to overcome the enemy. In Jesus’ name, Amen.”

In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen

Tony Joshua Fieldson

Thank you:)



GREAT Introductory Resources:

https://www.dietdoctor.com/intermittent-fasting (With Common Questions & Answers at the Bottom of the article)





The “water fasting” chapter from the book, “The Pleasure Trap.”

Fasting is Feasting, Zion: Consciousness and Covenant (podcast)

Arthur Wallis’, God’s Chosen Fast, and The Coming Revival

Resources:
Maxwell "Deny Yourselves..
Bridgestone: "take up your cross...
healthpromoting.com




http://progressiveprophetess.blogspot.com/2015_02_01_archive.html?m=1

drmercola
-don't eat for 3 hours before bed
-slowly eat breakfast later until don't eat it




Scriptures

Isaiah 58
Alma 6:6
Helaman 9:10
D&C 88:119



Zion podcast


Ted Talks/Science


My experiences

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