By Penelope A. Domogo, MD
Fasting is abstaining from eating a certain kind or all kinds of food for a certain period of time. In a broader sense, fasting is denying yourself something pleasurable like doing Facebook, watching TV, movies. Food fasting is the most popular form of fasting because eating is, undoubtedly, the most popular pleasure of humankind. For Christians, we just observed the season of Lent and Lent used to be fasting season. Good Friday is supposed to be a water-fasting day, meaning no food intake, just water for the day. That is just fasting for about 12 hours. What? No food for 3 meals? No way, some would say. We forget, though, that fasting has been a tradition all over the world, even Igorots. For Kankanaey Igorots, what I know is that there are short fasts as part of the wedding celebration for the parents and bride and groom. Longer fasts are also required of elders who perform other indigenous rituals. Fasting, by tradition, has always been a part of prayer, whether in the East or in the West, North or South. Prayer and sacrifice. And these two, prayer and sacrifice, as shown by history, play the role of cleansing and healing.
Abstaining from food is a form of sacrifice and takes many forms. The simplest form is water fasting – just don’t eat for a day or two and eat little in the next meals but drink as much water as you like. Or juice fast – this means that instead of just drinking plain water, you drink fresh vegetable like squash, sayote, pechay with or without fresh fruit. No solids. Or you can just eat raw vegetables – raw sayote is also good for cough and sore throat. Remember to chew very well. See, you really also save! How much does one kilo of sayote cost?
This cleansing method is for adults, though, not for babies or young children. Primarily because babies and children don’t need cleansing as much. Why? They don’t overeat like adults. They will eat only when hungry, drink when thirsty. So parents, please believe your children when they say they don’t like to eat anymore. They don’t have to finish all the food in their plate. Kids don’t have an idea how much they can eat and sometimes it was you who placed the food in their plate. Take note that their stomach is not as big as yours.
After water or juice fasting, eat some vegetables and a little fruit in season to continue the cleansing process. If you cannot do water-fasting, fast from meat, eggs or fish or dairy. Or you can decide to fast from meat only. Or chocolate only for a week. Whatever it is that you decide to fast from, you have to decide how and when and how long you will fast. Whether it is a short fast or a long intermittent fast, take it seriously. For example, if this time you want to fast from TV, then unplug the TV and cover the screen, and make yourself busy with prayer or meditation or gardening (which could also be meditative if you like it to be). If you want to water fast, then remove all food from your sight and concentrate in prayer. The wonderful thing about fasting is that it detoxifies your body, mind and spirit. A clean body-mind-spirit has a lot of positive power that can change your perspective and lifestyle for the better, for you and for those around you. Cheers!
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“Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.” Ephesians: 6:11.
