Yeah, work won’t let me off for this because it’s not for a religious holiday observance, but rather something I’m doing just for myself over some things I’m praying about.
And after reading all the replies, I do believe it would be wise to start with just one day instead of three. So I think that’s what I’ll do.
Thanks everyone for all your help. I much appreciate it.
Like some other folks I do it for the Jewish Day Of Atonement but that’s only one day. It certainly does help me think about the meaning of the day because I’m reminded of it every time I feel hungry. Unless you’ve got some medical condition that would preclude it I think you’ll be fine doing a 24 hour fast, but plan on taking it easy - don’t rush around, don’t do any vigorous activity, etc. I would certainly drink water during the day, you would be astounded at how quickly you can dehydrate and what it can do to you (remember we get a lot of water from the food we eat so you’ll already be missing that amount).
Just wanted to pop in and refute the old canard about soda being “dehydrating.” It’s not. It’s full of water. Even Coke.
I only have experience with no food/no water fasting (24 hours). It always gave me a headache but it does make you feel light-headed, trippy, and slightly drunk. I used to have to fast during hot summer days (stupidly dangerous), so I always started my fast by drinking a 2 liter bottle of Coca-Cola. It helped me make it through.
Assuming you are in good health otherwise a fast isn’t going to hurt you. A three day fast is a bit much to start with.
I’ve done two day fasts, which are easier 'cause you can do them over the weekend.
I found you should drink lots of water, and do it on scheduled times. Such as the top of each hour.
Oddly enough your body ajusts to hunger. On the second day you’re body has switched to living off your fat and you’re a lot less hungy the second day than the first.
For beginning you may want to try a juice fast. This is bascially using 6 ounces of various juices taken at the top of the hour, alternating with water or plain (no cream or sugar) coffee.
Ever hear of the “cabbage diet”? This is a modified form of a water fast.
At worst have your doctor prescribe three dayas worth of Ambien or Valium and sleep for three days 
I fast for Yom Kippur.
I do sometimes get lightheaded, to the point that driving is a problem. I’m also always amazed by how utterly exhausted I am after the end of Yom Kippur. I find that fasting makes me more emotional- the Yom Kippur services affect me much more than reading the same material any other day. YMMV, of course.
Most religions that have fasting as part of their religious practices have some sort of an exemption for health. Don’t do it if you’re sick, have a chronic health problem that fasting might make worse, are pregnant, or think there’s a chance you might be pregnant. The authors of Superfreakonomics found a correlation between birth defects and a woman (who might not even know that she is pregnant yet) fasting during the daylight hours for Ramadan. You’re not fasting during the day for a month as Muslims do for Ramadan, but I wouldn’t take any chances with this if you are or might be pregnant.
Don’t go off any medications, even for one day, without clearing it with your doctor first. That can cause problems with some medications.
Don’t eat too quickly when you break your fast. Mr. Neville (who has fasted on Yom Kippur for a lot longer than I have) says that can cause the food to come back up. You want bland, starchy foods to break your fast- bagels are good for this. Spicy or other highly flavored foods are not a good idea. Coke or another sugared soda might be better than water if you’re feeling nauseous when you break your fast (that sometimes happens to me).
If you’re not going to be drinking water during your fast, drink a lot the day before.
If you really start feeling bad, break your fast. It’s much better to not make it to the end of your fast than it is to pass out from it.
I fast during Lent. I do three 24 hour fasts a week. I guess you could call it a water fast, in that I take in zero calories for a period of 24 hours, three times a week. So feeding looks like this:
Sunday: eat lunch, eat dinner @ 6 PM
Monday: eat dinner @ 6 PM
Tuesday: eat breakfast and lunch at appropriate times, eat dinner @ 6 PM
Wednesday: eat dinner @ 6 PM
Thursday: eat breakfast and lunch at appropriate times, eat dinner @ 6 PM
Friday: eat dinner @ 6 PM
Saturday: eat breakfast and lunch at appropriate times, eat dinner @ 6 PM
Note that many people use the above plan throughout the year as a life extension diet. It’s pretty clear that regular zero calorie fasts lasting shorter than three days are benefical in mammals. It been proven over and over again since the late 1930’s in controlled studies of mice, rats, dogs, and primates, most recently in rhesus monkeys. Fasting has also been a standard practice in all cultures since the dawn of man. There is nothing unhealthy about it.
Anyway, I do it for reasons other than health. I have to say I don’t really get broth and juice diets. Calories are calories. Juice in particular is loaded with calories. I could easily take in excess of 1200 calories a day in juice. I can say that a total fast is actually easier in my experience than taking in excessively small number of calories. When I first started doing this a few years ago I allowed myself a cup of coffee in the morning with a shot of half-and-half, about 30 calories. I cut this out in favor of a caffene pill instead, and the fast days became much easier.
So some advice:
If you do fast, make sure you double your water intake during the fast period. You get a lot of water from the food you eat that needs to be made up.
Hunger will come and go in waves, probably because your body releases ghrelin in a cycle. In my experience intense hunger lasts for about 45 minutes and then subsides for several hours. So push through and things get better.
It gets easier as it becomes routine.
I get a great natural energy and clarity of thought on fast days, but the background of hunger never goes away. It is an interesting experience.
Same.
When I’ve fasted for a day (I eat dinner late, so it’s probably about 33 or so hours between dinner the day before and getting food the morning after) it hasn’t been physically taxing at all and I don’t really notice hunger until late in the evening, 8 or 9pm or later. It’s much more a mental issue. I tend to graze and snack when there’s food around, or when I’m bored, or for other reasons not related to hunger.
So fasting does help me focus mentally because I can move from “don’t eat that, I’m fasting today” when I find myself wandering toward food to thinking what I wanted to focus on during the fast.
I do drink water, and you might want to take it easy the first day you try it, but it probably won’t be that bad.
For many years I didn’t eat on Fridays. I am glad you’ve decided to start with just one day. If you continue the practice, and start adding time, you may come to the point where only the first six hours are hard. Also, be careful, the “high” that comes with starvation can become addictive.
When you feel super hungry, sit down and hold your breath for a few seconds. Don’t do this while driving.
And go easy on the broth. The best thing is to let your appetite “turn off.” If you sip broth or juice all day then your insulin level keeps ramping up in expectation of a meal, and you feel shaky and miserable. If you just let your body accept that no food is coming, you’ll get comfortable a lot faster. Water does not affect this process, so drink when you’re thirsty.
You may also need to consciously divorce emotion from hunger. Intellectually acknowledge the hunger as a signal from your body that no/not much food is being absorbed by the intestines or processed by the stomach. Observe any added emotional bagagge you automatically attach to this simple signal. For first timers, this is often the primary realization.
Good luck!
Wow guys! Thanks for all the wonderful information and advice. I actually feel pretty comfortable that I’ll be able to take on a 24 hour fast without much strum and drang. I’ll definitely be drinking enough water and I’m not sure now, since it’ll be a much shorter period of time than I first envisioned, that I’ll actually eat broth or not. But I’ve got much food for thought (pun intended) to get me mentally prepared. I think I’ll give this a go within the week.
If anyone else has any suggestions for me, please feel free to post them. Otherwise, thank you all so much again. I knew I could count on my fellow Dopers.
Due to some emotional issues regarding my impending divorce, I virtually stopped eating and drinking at all. I spent last night in a hospital, dangerously dehydrated, or so they said. I mention this only to encourage you to avoid dehydration; drink all the water your stomach can hold and don’t stray too far from the mens room.
Are you okay now Louis? I hope so because that doesn’t sound good at all.
A few people who aren’t as faithful but adhere to the Fast tend to cheat a lil’ by having a big meal right before but then pretty much just go to sleep and do nothing all day during the fast and then try to go to bed early again. I personally think that’s silly and kinda against the spirit of the fast, but whatever works.
But it’s not so hard- Water works well, and it’s just another form of control over your body/mind, ya know? I think you should be fine and good luck to you on your fast. Just remember that if you can’t make it or you feel faint or dizzy or such, it’s okay to keep some emergency rations around or such just in case. Like all things, it takes some practice and there’s no need to take any unnecessary risks if you don’t have to (though in my mind 24 hours is QUITE doable, but still. Always safer than sorrier).
Good luck!
My pastor regularly goes on 40 day fasts. He’s really big on allowing any liquid. He says the point is just to feel hungry (which is unpleasant), not to deprive yourself of nutrition. One liquid he does warn not to drink is milk, as the hyperacidity of your stomach makes the milk feel like it curdles in your stomach.
I. personally, have only done a Ramadan style fast (i.e. less 24 hours at a time), or the other types that don’t involve food (like fasting electronic conveniences.) The idea is to forgo things that normally give you pleasure, and instead to pray and try to get that pleasure from God. Even if you leave out the religious part, it’s a nice way to help you not to require material things to be happy.
I would expect the environment of your stomach when you aren’t fasting to curdle milk too.
You just described Yom Kippur for most Jews I know…
I think it’s better to ease off food and ease into it again as SecondJudith suggested, particularly fatty and sugary foods.
I fast 3-4x a year for a day or two each time, water only, so it’s no big deal to me, but from when I started I recall the first day is pretty much the hardest. If you watch TV you’ll suddenly become very much aware of how much food is advertised 
I never thought of giving electronics, or news or something as a “fast” but that’s a really good analogy. I tend to use Lent as a time to free myself from anything that is forming a place of tyranny in my life. One year Television, another year coffee, another one it was a particular video game.
Fear of hunger and the constant contemplation of food (i.e. planning the next meal etc.) tends to take over every human at one time or another. Saying “stop!” and reminding the universe that you can go without for a time is a very powerful feeling.
Your mind then becomes free to focus higher concepts.
That’s not cheating for Jews on Yom Kippur. According to the Talmud, you’re supposed to eat a lot on the day before Yom Kippur.
We usually have something filling the night before Yom Kippur, like a meat stew with pasta and beans.
The point of the fast on Yom Kippur is not to suffer. We wish each other an “easy fast”, in fact.
If you’ve never done this kind of thing before, it can be harder than you might think. It does get easier with practice, though.
Not having to plan and cook meals helps with focusing on prayers on Yom Kippur, too.
I think faithfool is a woman, so the latter might not help so much.
Well, distractions can be useful . . . LOL!
I fast for Yom Kippur as well. One day of complete fasting (no food or water) really isn’t that big of a problem for me.
Your body goes in cycles where it starts to get hungry. At least mine does. Around 10 o’clock it starts to realize it hasn’t had anything to eat yet and starts rumbling. Around 3 o’clock is when the hunger really kicks in, mostly because I’m not doing much of anything but watching TV and looking at all the food commercials. Also because it wants some sort of mid-afternoon snack.
But when the breaking of the fast rolls around late that evening, I’m perfectly fine and not hungry at all despite not consuming anything for over a day.
The first day you also shouldn’t have much of a problem keeping up with normal activities. One year in high school, I went straight from synagogue to a chess tournament, where I medaled.
My suggestion is to start on a Thursday night so you have most of the weekend for your fast.
I would recommend not doing this while you’re fasting. TiVo, DVDs, web surfing, reading, and other forms of entertainment that don’t include food ads are your friends.
I’m sure you could even find something really disgusting to look at, that would totally kill your appetite. Please don’t cite examples.