Prolonged fast; this time for religious reasons


(Marius the butter craving dude) #1

Hi, Yesterday (15 nov) the Chrismas fast period has started in the Orthodox Christian calendar.
This will be my first religious fast on keto.
By religious fast I understand: no animal products at all (vegan) for the soft version; not eating any food for the hard version.
Previously I did two 60 hours no eat fasts (no religious purposes) but I had some coffee with very little butter. I did not managed more than this and the last one I had a terrible experience when breaking the fast (I eat lard, meat and butter on my first meal all at once).

I do not know if I should go vegan or do prolonged fasting and vegan in between. Doing this fast is now a challenge to me because I hardly eat any starches and vegetables anymore.
How do you guys recomand to proceed ?


(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #2

In the West there are dispensations for laborers and the ill. The fast is meant to be a tool for finding a deeper connection with God, not an instrument of self-torture. Decide what you think you can attempt, pray constantly, do your best, and if you can’t cope, eat again. Give it your best shot, and do what you can. Don’t worry about what you cannot.

God may desire our success, but he desires our best effort even more. Even if you experience what feels like failure, you will still learn something about yourself and God. You might find the Jesus Prayer to be helpful to your efforts. You can repeat it whenever you feel in need of strength.


#3

Just remember the devil wants you to eat carbs.


(KCKO, KCFO) #4

If you decide to go vegan, please read about vegan keto WOE. The Herbivore Post - Low Carb Keto Vegan Lifestyle.


#5

Sorry, nosy here. What’s an Orthodox Christian?


(Ellen) #6

Oh @Ifod14 you’ve probably opened up a huge can of worms with that question.
@Yogy I second what Paul said, just do what’s right for you, I’m not religous but am fairly sure Jesus/God won’t condemn you whatever you do. May I ask why this is your 1st religous fast (don’t mean to be disrespectful), have you fasted before? If not I’d ease into it.


(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #7

Christendom is divided broadly into two main groups: Eastern Orthodox and Western Catholic (“orthodoxia” is a Greek word meaning “right praise,” “katholikos” is Greek for universal; both groups consider themselves both orthodox and universal, of course). The theological and practical differences are probably not worth going into, but suffice it to say that they are basically associated with the Eastern and Western divisions of the Roman Empire, i.e., with Constantinople/Byzantium/Istanbul and with Rome, respectively. They came into conflict and separated from each other in the eleventh century.

The Eastern Orthodox are a combination of independent national churches, each with their own patriarchs. The Bishop of Rome, also known as the Pope, has always been considered the Patriarch of the entire West. The various Protestant denominations that have arisen since the time of Martin Luther are basically different forms of Western Christianity, and what is now called Roman Catholicism is the portion of the Western Church that remained loyal to the Pope. These various Western denominations vary wildly in their degree of adherence to what is commonly called the Apostolic tradition (the Roman Catholics, of course, retain it fully); whereas the Orthodox churches remain, as I understand it, fairly close in terms of theology, polity, and discipline.

Nowadays, Eastern and Western Christianity, in all their forms, are found around the world, so the designations are used more in the nature of convenient tags than as descriptive terms.


(Troy) #8

Yup
Better know as…Lucarbcifer


#9

Haha, I’m sure. I’m Catholic but thought I had a descent knowledge of the other Christian denominations out there. I’m thinking a non-denominational thing maybe?


#10

That I never knew. Thanks!


(Doug) #11

I’ve always liked some of the headgear.

Orthodox

Pope Paul VI - 1963. You don’t see this much, anymore. Give me that old time religion!


(Marius the butter craving dude) #12

It is not my first religious fast. But on the previous ones I did the vegan soft version. And always I would get fat and be grumpy due to the unhealthy vegan products. Yet the fast is considered a time of body healing and meditation… and for me it was just awfull food and geting fat. Now I understand :slight_smile: 100 years ago religious persons did not have a tone of sugar and does in their option of food.
This is my first fast after going keto and loosing 30kg. My eating options do not include any carbs and hardly any vegetables anymore


(Ellen) #13

Ah I see. Wishing you well.


(Bunny) #14

According to some scientific sources on prolonged fasting; on the third day of fasting the brain is consuming a quarter pound of ketones and glucose per day then the liver starts making around 4 ounces of ketones and 2 ounces of glucose per day and by the fourth day the metabolism slows and blood pressure drops.

My idea of fasting for spiritual reasons is not as simple as to just suddenly stop eating, it is to very very slowly cut food out (type of food or the substance of sustenance is very significant) over a period of days as you start to feel as if your spirit or sentience is starting to disengage from your body and knowing the difference between being asleep and awake and breathing (spleen) through the base of your spine or lower back (literally speaking) …and that’s all I will say about that because it is very dangerous…lol


(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #15

@Yogy I have been thinking prayerfully about your question and have some further thoughts:

As I may have mentioned, I don’t really know the Orthodox rules, but the Western rules distinguish between fasting and abstinence. The former is either complete elimination of food or at the very least a reduction in quantity, the latter is refraining from eating certain foods.

St. Martin’s Lent, as it used to be called in the West, is a combination of fasting and abstinence, and as I mentioned before, there is provision for mitigating both for medical reasons. You should probably not abstain from meat, because you are on a special diet for your health, but you could certainly repesct the rules by restricting the quantity you eat for this period and perhaps fasting completely on Wednesday and Friday (the traditional fasting days). Remember that all Sundays are feasts of Our Lord, and one should not fast on those days, though abstinence is still appropriate. Perhaps going carnivore for the duration could be your form of abstinence?

It’s too bad you don’t have a keto priest to turn to for help figuring this out. For what it’s worth, I for one will support whatever you decide to do.


(Marius the butter craving dude) #16

Hi all. I feel the need to report what I have being doing, since the fast period is nearing the end.
In the end I did alternative day fasting. By Orthodox rule Wednesday and Friday are black fast days (for the capable ones, ) so I did fast on those days and once also included Thursday. In the orthodox religious calendar there are also fish days in witch you are allowed to break the fast and only eat fish; they are basically days when a saint is celebrated. In case you do the fast vegan those are useful days. In the rest of the days I eat keto, no fast or vegan at all.

For the next religious fast period I want to increase my endurence to lack of food and use the fish days betwean fasts.

I also attempted to eat only cabbage soup; I do omad; with meat even medim quantities of fatty meat give me hunger relieve till the next day. With one big cabbage soup a day I do get my stomach very full, but I just do not have hunger resistance, as night approaches the hunger is painful, I just ended up eating leafy vegetables all day . Not eating at all is the best, the hunger just goes away, your body resigns with your decision to not eat, it complies.


(Laurie) #17

It’s a form of Christianity that has been common in Eastern Europe, as well as other places that were influenced by Eastern Europe or with immigrants from those areas. You’ve probably seen the outside of “onion dome” churches, at least in pictures. Some of these, but not all, are Orthodox Christian. Here’s a photo of St. Basil’s Cathedral in Moscow:

StBasilsCathedral


(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #18

I’m glad you figured out a way to deal with the fast that works for you. Have a joyous Christmas.


#19

Hi PaulL,

I am new to the forum, and, as a matter of fact, Orthodox! Just for the heck of it I did a search for ‘Christian’ and was stunned to see ‘Orthodox’ in the results. Not the most popular Christian faith in this country!
So I just want to say hello!

As for fasting and managing the keto diet, I started the diet (this past June) for health reasons, rather than weigh loss. In light of that, my priest gave me his blessing to continue the diet and to be mindful of the other points of the fast. I’m thankful! The keto diet has helped tremendously in lessening the arthritic pain and extreme headaches.

Lastly, too bad their hasn’t been any discussion for two years!