Fasting and Compulsive Eating
After eating a whole box of brownies in one sitting, I realized I had an obsession with food. I waste so many minutes of my day thinking about “what to eat” “when to eat” and so furth. I realized my constant obession with food turned into a sin ful habit. Today I decided that tomarow I will start my 40 day water cleanse. I am mainly doing it for the Lord and to give myself self-control and discipline. I hope my dedication and commitment for our Heavenly Father will help me get through these next 40 days. My only concern is loosing to much weight. I am 5’7 and at a healthy weight of 130-135 pounds. I know my body has lots of toxins though because I have irrugular bowl movements and a bloated stomach, so I feel like this fast will be beneficial in the detoxifying aspect, but how do I know when im in the “starvation” mode and when my body starts feeding on my healthy energy stores??
Also, if I turned to juices, what kind is acceptable?
Response By Tom Coghill
Do not do a long water fast as that will increase you compulsive behaviors. Do juice fasts of 2 to 4 days then try to break it correctly for 5 days. Read http://compulsive.ws and my new work on emotional eating at http://obesity.fasting.ws Fasting can be transformational for self-development but only if you are working on cleansing the mind of toxic thoughts.
Cindy Pa-ac 
Amy Seery 
Totes Boots 
Grace Fawoye 
Clay Lapre 
dear Katie, it’s probably too late to offer this advice, but I really am curious about how your fast went. I would love to hear of all the spiritual breakthroughs you experienced as a result of your fast.
A word of caution when taking advice of non-followers or people who have not attempted to do what you’re trying to do. Ask followers first about whether this is possible.
I say this because I too felt by God to do a 7 day water fast. I don’t think I had ever done a water fast before. When I used to be a Buddhist, I think I fasted every full moon for a couple of years. Then I was born again, I was introduced to fasting, but for a different spiritual realm. Anyway, one of my believing friends inadvertently discouraged me by saying he wasn’t sure it was possible. I pointed out when King David fasted for his son with Bathsheeba to live, and he fasted for 7 days, but it doesn’t specify what kind of fast. I think however, with the exception of Danie and his Hebrew brothers’ fast, it was probably always a water fast. Again, I am not sure, so don’t take my word for it.
Okay, to get to my point, I felt called to go to Justice House of Prayer’s Call conference in Boston for 3 nights in a row. And to speak directly to my fears, Pastor Lou Engle said, “I fasted for 40 days on water!” And as soon as I heard that, I knew it was God’s call on my life for the next 7 days to drink only water. Actually, I was thinking to only water fast for 5 days, bc I was planning on breaking my fast Thursday night, but upon further internet research, one person recommended only fruits and juices 2 or 3 days leading UP to the fast. WOW! That made total sense to me!
So now I feel strengthened. To finish what God asked me to do, 7 days of water fasting. 2 days of juice fasting before and after, which will give me an 11 day fast, the longest I’ve ever done. When I first started, God told me, “This is going to be the most powerful fast you have EVER done.” Whew. How is that for confirmation. I thought that it was strange that a 7 day fast would be my most powerful. I have heard of TREMENDOUS breakthroughs when people fast for 40 days!!!! I’ve heard of cancer being healed, gray hair growing in completely black, miraculous stories of salvation. So, I completely believe. One of these days, I am praying for God to lead me into a 40 days. I want to experience what Jesus experienced.
On a side note, I wasn’t PURPOSELY trying to lose weight, but I had thought I had gotten a little out of shape since I stopped running and swimming so much. I was 3 lbs over my desired boundary a couple of weeks ago, but by the time I started I was 125.6. When I got on the scale this morning, I was STUNNED to see 116.4 staring back at me! Again, I want to specify that I wasn’t trying to lose weight, but it certainly was nice to see that I was one pound lower than my high school weight! Of course in high school I was running track every day was solid beautiful muscle.
Wow. You got me rambling! But I pray that your walk with Jesus is still strong. If you get this message in time, please pray for me. Healing of eczema, a weak back and neck, fits of temper/impatience, healing in my family (immediate and extended), ringing in my ears, athlete’s foot and on a spiritual level-that I would hear God more clearly, obey him more readily, spend more time reading the Bible and that he would BLESS and anoint my ministry!!!!!!!!!!
God bless you, Katie, you’re making the right choice in following God. I will pray for your disabled son to be fully healed, for your complete (emotional, physical, spiritual) healing as well. May God be with you.