Hello all, my name is Andy Rhodes. I’m a type 2 diabetic on an insulin pump and CGM. I just became a believer about a month ago (today’s a month exactly).
But I was wondering about fasting. How can you do a biblical fast with diabetes? My thought is drink milk a couple times a day and do juices & water and just monitor. Any thoughts on doing a fast for a week? Longer than a week?
What are some thoughts or tips on fasting in general and if it’s only a day, a meal, or just 2 meals?
Hi Andy,
I am type 1 diabetic on an insulin pump. I became diabetic in 2005 when I was fit, working and worshipping. In those days I had reservations about long fasting. Some people I am friends with fasted for 40 days, which seems impossible and theologically speaking I am not sure of thr justification for it.
I am now studying theology at Edinburgh University having stepped out in faith and moved away from a career.
Now I am diabetic I feel, for me, that food fasting would not be a good idea and I do not feel God calling me to that, while I know some Church cultures might actually put pressure on people about this.
I had a freindship who would fast, but take a drink, she used to drink a Starbucks hot chocolate with cream and marshmellows…
I think you should pray and speak to your doctor, and reflect on if it in the Bible or culture that demands you to feel like a long fast?
God bless, and I hope you find some peace in this.
Hi! God bless you! Angels in Heaven are rejoicing over you!
It is generally not thought to be safe to fast from food if you are a diabetic. However you can fast from something else - a bit like at Lent (the month before Easter) when some people might fast from - say computers, or watching television or something like that. Some people fast from say, coffee or chocolate - something that you enjoy or gives you pleasure! God knows your heart and understands that you cannot fast from food. If your Pastor is asking you to fast explain that it is not a good idea to do this for you as a diabetic.
But you can use your television time to pray instead for example.
Same with tithing. If you have no money you should not feel bad. Save that to buy food and pay your rent for example. You can tithe with your time and do something for the good of the community or church instead!
I agree, it is not good to fast from food. You can fast from other things, as I have already said. I think too that there are differences in culture and perhaps in Biblical times there was not so much that they could give up and that giving up something else, like they do at Lent for example is just as significant and relevant as giving up food.
The body is a temple of the Holy Spirit. We are not to abuse it! If you fast from food you are abusing it! Especially as you have a condition that requires regular sustenance!
I used to fast but after diagnosis I dont anymore. Im not on pump or insulin. I figure God knows! He understands where we are. Now if you feel He is wanting you to then I would sure pray more about it! Congratulations and welcome to the family of God and to the forum!!! Karen
Well fasting from food could be a natural way of lowering your blood sugar so you must maintan a normal BG, fasting may not be advisable. also it depends on your level of faith if you beleive God is going to use the fasting to heal your Dm, the decision is yours.
when i had a high BG sometimes in 2009. i think i naturally lower it by reducing my meal to once in a day and mountain climbing without any drug. after three consecutive days, i recorded a normal BG. However i dont know if that have a scientific backing. then it wasnt easy because beign diabetic makes you feel more hungery than necessary due to the wrong signal of hunger being interpreted by the brain.
however, it is advice that you do the fasting with close monitoring of your BG if it is a must you fast. i wish you all the best.
How can you quantify faith? You either have faith or you do not. And nobody should tell anyone that they have too little faith! I have had many people say to me that I can’t have much faith if I have not been healed of my ailments, and this has caused a lot of depression and self flageolation. Then I felt the Lord saying that even a mustard seed is enough. I know that God allows things to happen (He does not cause them) - rather like Job - but what we do with what we have is what is important.
Diabetes is my “thorn in the flesh” and I use it to educate others. It reminds me to pray, and often when I do nt feel like praying it is the time when I should pray! And usually the words that God gives me are spot on!
By the way fasting is a way of coming closer to God, not as a means to cure diabetes!
I agree with this whole heartedly !
Tim, Sorry, what do you agree with?
Replying to my own comment - the edit time has run out. I remember before I was diabetic I had extremely low blood sugar levels. I went hypo at a huge Christian conference and was force fed coca cola! I hate coca cola with a passion and when they were trying to get it up I was going “The body is the temple of the Holy Spirit and here you are forcing me to drink the Devil’s own brew! We should not abuse our bodies …!” (Amazing how crazy we can get when hypo! I am normally very shy and mild mannered!)
I think God can use the situations of illness, and he has with me, to deepen faith. I trust God more now that I did before Diabates. I would never have left a job in IT to return to university to learn more about God.
I hope that my closeness to God is deeper and richer, despite not fasting. I have been on my knee’s and God picks me up and shows me new paths, ‘thank you Lord’
Fasting is not about curing Diabates, God is about healing deeper ills in our souls and sometimes our struggles bring us closer to him!
Sorry, the body is not to be abused! I have felt for years that people I know have abused their bodies through fasting and I am not always sure how this glorifies the Lord.
I’ve actually got a Practicle Theology exam coming up, one of the areas covered on the course is how church organisations an be abusive, I think this thread is giving me some ideas…
Yes, it is easy for those in authority to say “God has told me …” and people are considered sinful when it does not ring true to them. We must be careful and discern the Spirit. And even if He has told someone to do something it does not mean that the whole congregation has to follow suit. It is a very individual thing and not for diabetics!!
Besides which, if we are to fast we are not to tell anyone about it but go about our daily lives with shining faces (hopefully that does not mean sweating from hypoglycaemia!!) and not make a big deal about it, amassing sympathy!
David Koresh said that God told him that he and all the rest of his followers had to die! That never rang true to me!
This is an interesting topic and one I have thought over on many occasions. When I was young and on NPH insulin I was not able to ever fast. Once I got my pump my idea about that has changed. If your pump is set up where the basal rate is covering your actual basal needs you should not need to eat food to prevent low blood glucose.
Andy- if you feel the need to fast I would suggest testing your basal by skipping a meal or two and seeing if your blood sugar drops (or goes higher!). If you can keep stable blood sugars doing this then I think you could do fine fasting (and if not it would probably be helpful for control to have it set so it does keep them stable when fasting). One thing to note: Depending on how your liver works, at some point, you will deplete your glycogen stores (glucose stored by your liver) which could potentially decrease the amount of insulin you need for your basal rates. I would expect it to happen within 1/2 day to 1.5 days (YMMV!). At this point I would just try using a temporary basal and decrease it by 20% or so (if your basal needs do indeed change once glycogen is gone) and monitor. Of course your idea about using milk and/or juice to treat any low blood glucose that happens is a good idea if you so choose to fast. On a one day fast my normal basal rates keep me nice and steady with no need to treat high or low blood glucose. The second day for me gets a bit more dicey and I have to fiddle around a little more. Don’t think I need to, but I would just mention doing any of this requires very frequent monitoring and would probably be best talking over with a Doc before you do decide to do it.
Side note(s):
I read a study recently looking at the effect of fasting on health. The researches followed a group of Mormons who all fasted one day every month. Because Mormons are known to not smoke and drink alcohol the researches controlled for this in the control group (I believe they controlled for a few more things but can’t recall). They found independent of everything they controlled for, that Mormons who fast once monthly had better health status (can’t recall what they measured for health status???) than did the control group. The researches theorized other factors could play a role but that fasting once monthly seems to improve health status. If anyone is interested in reading more I will see if I can dig the email that has the link to the article.
All theology aside, my personal opinion is that fasting once monthly or even for a full week is NOT damaging to the body and is something I do not consider abusive. You will likely begin to deplete some vitamin and mineral stores after a week but everything else the body needs to sustain itself over a short period of time is already there. Repeatedly doing this without much break in between would eventually lead to some severe side effects that could potentially lead to long term damage but one day once a month or one week every year- I think the body is well suited for, so long as the diabetes can be appropriately managed.
Andy; I’m a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon), and we are supposed to fast on the first Sunday of the month, plus donate the amount of money we would spend on those meals as a Fast Offering. When I was diagnosed as a Type II, I asked that same question of my Bishop, and he counseled me that I should carry the feeling of the Fast in my mind, pay the Fast Offering, but that the Church allows those of us with medical conditions like Diabetics, to eat, rather than have a problem. And, that is what I do. If this is the only trial I have to go through (and it’s NOT) I’m still not in the same league as Job…
Chaplain ET