Fasting- day 1

I've never truly fasted before. I've skipped a meal occasionally, or given up a certain thing for a time. There's fasting for medical reasons, and Biblical reasons. I've tried for Biblical reasons before, to sacrifice something for God, to say no to my flesh. The Bible says to keep your fasting private, not to brag about it, showing how spiritual you can be. So why am I telling the whole interweb? Well, never did a proper fast before, and thought I should document the experience. I remain humble that I am the least of spiritual people.

I've been reading about reasons to fast medically (maybe medically is the wrong word, how about health fast), and I felt I could benefit. I've had asthma & allergies for many years, and was reading that a fast could even help allergies. Well, Ok, I'll give it a shot! I could use a fast for Godly reasons, too. Two birds with one stone, right?

So day 1 went much easier than expected. I'm only having water & apple juice (recommended). Before I get into the day, let me say I've been practicing different eating habits. I habitually overeat, always have, and carry a little extra weight, 20, 30 pounds. The only thing that has saved me from being more overweight is I've had pretty active jobs. So i was reading from Setting Captives Free about another course they have, The Lord's Table. It follows the same principles as the Freedom course I took, and is based on the fact that overeating is gluttony, a sin. I've been working hard this year to get as sin-free as possible, and found this to be an area I could use some improvement in. So I've been trying to eat only when I'm hungry, and then only enough to satisfy me. It's been working, I've lost over 10 pounds in a month or so!

So back to day 1. I was only hungry a few times, and when I was, I drank some juice. I had good energy all day long, and still feel pretty good, at 8PM here. At lunch time, I did some Bible reading, substituting spiritual food for physical food.