How to Deal With Hunger Pangs During a Fast

People fast for different reasons. Some fasts are motivated by religious or spiritual reasons, while others may be health or medically related. Fasting requires strict mental and physical self-discipline and restraint. If you are fasting, you may experience severe hunger pangs. Fortunately, there are ways to deal with hunger pangs and alleviate or reduce your discomfort.

Tips for You

1. Drink green tea, if the fast requires abstaining from food only. Green tea is known to curb hunger and cravings as the antioxidants in tea suppress appetite. Drink green tea hot or cold, depending on your preferences.
2. Drink lots of water, which will distend your stomach and trick your stomach into feeling full. Add a wedge or zest of lime or lemon because the acid in citrus foods is known to reduce digestive pain and calm the stomach.
3. Keep your mind occupied on tasks to distract yourself from thinking about food. Psychological hunger, not just physical hunger, can cause hunger pangs. Stay out of view of food. The sight and smell of food can cause the body to experience hunger whether or not you have a real appetite. Stay out of the kitchen, if the sight of the refrigerator tempts you.
4. Avoid intense exercise and physical activity. A rigorous workout will only increase your appetite and exacerbate your hunger pangs. Go for a light walk or do some stretches to warm the muscles and get the blood circulating without burning energy.
5. Increase your body temperature. Hunger is increased when you are cold or slightly chilled. Put on extra layers of clothing or adjust the thermostat so that you are slightly, but not too uncomfortably, warm.

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Benefits of 12-Hour Fasts

Fasting is abstaining from food, and perhaps drink, for a period of time. People fast for religious and cultural reasons, as well as for health and weight loss purposes. Fasting for an extended period of time can be detrimental to health, but short fasts, such as 12-hour fasts, have physical and psychological benefits.

Brain

• Short, 12-hour fasts gives the brain a chance to fight the chemical byproducts of stress. When your body creates energy from glucose, mitochondria in the brain release tissue-damaging radicals of oxygen. However, fasting depletes the levels of glucose that require metabolizing. During the interruption of tissue-damaging radicals, the brain is given a chance to recover and recuperate. Short fasts help the mind to re-focus and improve memory and sensory perception.

Water Weight

• Twelve-hour fasts help the body to lose weight. Weight loss is not significant, since it is mostly water weight that is expelled from the body. However, excess water and fluids may total as much as 10 pounds on some people. Short fasts trim down the figure by decreasing bloat and swelling without posing any of the health risks that fasts of more than 18 hours do.

Body Fat

• Short, half-day fasts do not lower the metabolism, since they are too brief for the body to adjust to burning fewer calories. When undergone intermittently, such as every few days, short fasts help the body to lose excess fat over a period of time. However, weight loss only occurs if overall calorie intake is reduced by fasts. If you over-eat after or before fasts, you will not lose body fat.

Other Chemical Benefits

• Twelve-hour fasts lower the body temperature, the blood pressure and the heart rate, which are beneficial side effects to people who suffer from high blood pressure or high heart rate. Twelve-hour fasts also increase HDL, also known as the "good cholesterol" and beta-hyroxyburyrate, a brain-protective chemical. Further, they decrease the brain's sensitivity to excitotoxins, including MSG and sucralose, which increase the appetite.

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