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August 9, 2008, 1:38 pm
Flag as Inappropriate Lissy  

I have encoutered this viewpoint several times, it appears to be more prevalent in Europe: people say they do not really believe in God, yet they observe Catholic or Orthodox fasting "for health purposes." Fasting, they say, is a form of diet, it helps to let the body rest from heavier foods, detox, etc. So fasting is stripped off of any spiritual meaning... It no longer goes hand in hand with prayer and trying to get closer to God.

I strongly disagree with this view. Fasting and dieting are two completely different things. If you want to lose weight & detox, it is called dieting, and Christian fasting has nothing to do with it.

...Oops, I've got a typo in the thread title. It should read "Fasting and Dieting are not the same," of course. Sorry about that.

Actually fasting is not religious in nature and rather describes the physical act of restricting food and drink for a period of time. This may be done for a number of reasons including medical, religious, and political.

So while I agree fasting is not dieting per se it is used as a part of dieting as a detox diet and has nothing to do with religion as a rule.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fasting

I have fasted many times and it is not religious in nature (nor is it related to losing weight). It is for the purposes of detoxing the system and allowing built up toxins to flush from the body. This is not dieting, which needs to be observed for a long period of time. It's for the purpose of doing a fast and furious bodily cleanse.

Whilst fasting itself is not a religious act, it can be a part of the whole religious experience-accompanied by prayer and so on. I don't hold sway by it myself-each to their own.

And no, it's not dieting. Nor is it safe to do often.

ActuallY FASTING is a religious act. being orthodox jewish Jews were comanded to fast during many turbulent times. It caused a number fo things. First it was a self sacrifice of something good.

It acused self realization and self exploration.

Its a humblin experience. Many of us fast during Friday so that when shabbos dinner comes around we can enjoy and revel in the food itself. during certain holidays we fast so as nt to be bothered with trivialities of food and explore other measures of nourishment. So theer si hiostoric over 5000 years of purpose to fasting.

Dieting is a restriction of foods or limitations of certain or in general foods. The numan diet is basically Omnivourous. To diet is to restrict caloric, combinations or genre of foods n order to loose weight. Dietings basics is actually more caloric in estructions. The term diet is actually misued in the english language.

j

Do you know that Muslim also fast? In fact, they are in their fasting month right now. Yep, they are sure two different things. One is for spiritual elevation while the others is to make yourself healthier and slimmer.