Healthy Fasting

[Morgan]

Would appreciate some feedback as to what would constitute a healthy breakfast, and how one should go about breaking the fast after sunset.

Many thanks！

[Guest]

I eat as much protein and a protein drink with lots of vitamins and drink a lot of wter before sunrise.

then I remember to read the writings and pray at least 2 or 3 times before noon. Seems to help a lot!!

Then do the same if possible (work gets busy afternoon) till I get off from work then keep busy cleaning and planning when I get home. I still have over an hour when I get home till I can break the fast but since I have a lot of planning to do for Music thing with Bahai youth and I clean seems to go by fast. this is my first full fast and I am enjoying it a lot actually!!

Then I eat slowly over the a few hours at night. I get really tired after eating but if I slow down and eat a little bit at a time its not so bad:)

I dont know if there is a more proper way to do it. but I thought it was up to an individual. So thats just what I have been doing:)

Mat

[hihellowhatsup]

Hi,

I suggest, if this is your first fast, to drink alot of water during the day. I know your not suppost to, but it's really helping me get through it (it's my first fast too!). Drinking water is also very healthy.

[brettz9]

Greetings all,

Here are some quotations I thought might be of interest...


There is some rigor in the Fast but it has been abated since prior times:

"Even though outwardly the Fast is difficult and toilsome, yet inwardly it is bounty and tranquillity. Purification and training are conditioned and dependent only on such rigorous exercises as are in accord with the Book of God and sanctioned by Divine law, not those which the deluded have inflicted upon the people. Whatsoever God hath revealed is beloved of the soul. We beseech Him that He may graciously assist us to do that which is pleasing and acceptable unto Him."

(Bahá'u'lláh, The Importance of Obligatory Prayer and Fasting, sec. 1, no. 16 at http://bahai-library.com/compilations/o ... .html#1XVI )

"...Those unwarranted practices, in connection with the sacrament of baptism, of communion, of confession of sins, of asceticism, of priestly domination, of elaborate ceremonials, of holy war and of polygamy, have one and all been rigidly suppressed by the Pen of Baha'u'llah; whilst the rigidity and rigor of certain observances, such as fasting, which are necessary to the devotional life of the individual, have been considerably abated."

(Shoghi Effendi, World Order of Bahá'u'lláh, p. 22)

The Fast is not harmful to the health (of healthy individuals):

"...the friends should realize Baha'u'llah never would have instituted it {the Fast} if it were detrimental to the health."

(From a letter written on behalf of the Guardian to an individual believer, May 21, 1946 ; quoted in Lights of Guidance, no. 777)

"As to your question regarding the Fast: If there is any doubt in the mind of a person as to whether it will really be bad for that person's health to keep it, the best doctor's advice should be obtained. But generally speaking most people can keep it, anywhere in the world, with no detriment to their health. It is very good for the health and, once one forms the habit, each year it becomes easier to keep, unless one is rundown. No one is obliged to keep it if it really harms them."

(From a letter written on behalf of the Guardian to an individual believer, April 14, 1947 ; quoted in Lights of Guidance, no. 778)

"If, however, you find your health affected by keeping the Fast the Guardian would advise you to consult a physician, and if he tells you you are unable to fast then of course, you should abstain from doing so."

(Letter to an individual dated May 1943, on behalf of Shoghi Effendi , Unfolding Destiny, p. 440)

Not for anyone to exceed the limits laid down by God and His law
(not to practice asceticism):

"Fast ye for the sake of your Lord, the Mighty, the Most High. Restrain yourselves from sunrise to sunset. Thus doth the Beloved of mankind instruct you as bidden by God, the All-Powerful, the Unconstrained. It is not for anyone to exceed the limits laid down by God and His law, nor should anyone follow his own idle imaginings."

(Bahá'u'lláh, The Importance of Obligatory Prayer and Fasting, sec. 1, no. 13 at http://bahai-library.com/compilations/o ... html#1XIII )