cinepro Posted July 21, 2014 Posted July 21, 2014 Fellow Mormon Dialoguers--or is it Dialogists? Dialogians? Dialogicians?...,I've had some good experiences in my life with fasting, but comparatively not that many. The main reason for this is that, while I'm neither diabetic nor pre-diabetic, my blood sugar during a fast usually drops low enough that my brain semi-shuts down; and it's hard to feel very spiritual or enlightened through a mental fog.Help! Among the millions of fasting Latter-day Saints, there must be a great, great many who've experienced this, and many who have experienced it and then figured out how to mitigate or eliminate the problem.Here are a couple surmises I have on how things that would help:1. Make sure I get enough sleep when beginning the fast, since adequate sleep improves the body's blood sugar control.2. Eat healthy fats and very slow-breakdown carbs for dinner before beginning the fast.That's all I've got. I'm going to try those, before my next fast. But I could sure use any insights that anyone else has.Have any of you reading this had a good experience with fixing the low blood sugar problem during fasting, or do you happen to know of things that would help?The problem isn't that bad today, relatively. (At least not yet: I still have a few hours to go!) But near the end of church I found myself having trouble thinking through some fairly elementary things, and I'm having trouble right now with thinking clearly enough to make good plans.DonP.S. Naturally, if I've made any silly mistakes in this post, these should be attributed to my low blood sugar and not to me! ;-) All members who are physically able should fast. https://www.lds.org/manual/gospel-principles/chapter-25-fasting?lang=eng As far as I can tell, it is totally up to the individual to figure out what "physically able" means, and there is no punishment meted out to those who don't fast. Fasting is supposed to bring certain blessings into the life of the fastee, and if someone didn't feel like they were getting those blessings, I don't think God would blame them if they didn't fast.
BCSpace Posted July 22, 2014 Posted July 22, 2014 I've had some good experiences in my life with fasting, but comparatively not that many. The main reason for this is that, while I'm neither diabetic nor pre-diabetic, my blood sugar during a fast usually drops low enough that my brain semi-shuts down; and it's hard to feel very spiritual or enlightened through a mental fog.P.S. Naturally, if I've made any silly mistakes in this post, these should be attributed to my low blood sugar and not to me! ;-) Well Don, didn't you know that the Church schedules the teaching of it's most insidious doctrines on Fast Sunday for this very reason? Just when you are mentally at your weakest and most open to suggestion...
The Nehor Posted July 22, 2014 Posted July 22, 2014 As someone who routinely eats at most two meals a day and sometimes forgets to eat for a day or two I have the opposite problem. Fasting does not seem like a change.
rpn Posted July 23, 2014 Posted July 23, 2014 Dehydration is what causes many of the medical issues related to fasting. Try fasting with water, and then cut the water to less and less. And who says you need your brain to be unfoggy while you fast? Maybe you simply learn to allow that in the service of doing it, and maybe that leap of faith will result in your being blessed. But if not, if it isn't life threatening, what is the harm of spending a few hours uncomfortable.
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