Fasting is the willful abstinence from some or all food, drink, or both for a period of time. An absolute fast involves abstaining from all food and liquids for a defined period, usually a single day or several daytime periods. Other partial fasts may restrict certain foods like meat. Fasting practices exist in many religions and spiritual traditions and may include abstaining from other activities besides food. Examples described in the text include fasting in the Bahá'í Faith from sunrise to sunset during a certain month, monks in Buddhism not eating after noon, Lenten fasting in Christianity, and fasting by religious figures like Moses, Jesus, and Cesar Chavez for spiritual reasons.

1. The act of willingly abstaining from
some or all food, drink, or both, for a
period of time.

2. An absolute fast is normally defined as
abstinence from all food and liquid for
a defined period, usually a single day
(24 hours), or several daytime period.

3. Other fasts may be partial
in scope of food and drink,
such as restricting only
meat.
The fast may also be intermittent,
spanning an irregular set of days.

4. Fasting practices
may preclude sexual
and other activities
as well as food.

5. Bahá'í Faith
In the Bahá'í Faith, fasting is observed from sunrise
to sunset during the Bahá'í month of Ala' (March 2-
March 20).
It is the complete abstaining from both food and
drink (including abstaining from smoking).

6. It is essentially a period of meditation and prayer, of
spiritual recuperation, during which the believer
must strive to make the necessary readjustments in
his inner life, and to refresh and reinvigorate the
spiritual forces latent in his soul.

7. Fasting is symbolic, and a reminder
of abstinence from selfish and carnal
desires

8. Buddhism
Monks and nuns following the
Vinaya rules commonly do not
eat each day after the noon
meal. This is not considered a
fast but rather a disciplined
regimen aiding in meditation and
good health.

9. Christianity
In essence, it means afflict the soul through
abstaining from fulfilling the needs or wants
of the flesh.
The Lenten fast observed in the Catholic Church and the
Eastern Orthodox Church is a forty-day partial fast to
commemorate the fast observed by Christ during his
temptation in the desert.

10. Moses fasted for forty
days and forty nights,
twice back-to-back,
without food or water;
the first, immediately
before he received the
tablets on the mountain
with God. And the
second, after coming
down, seeing the
Israelites practicing
idolatry, and breaking
the tablets in anger.

11. The prophet Joel
called for a fast
to avert the
judgment of God.

12. Jesus fasted for forty days and forty nights while in the
desert, being tempted by Satan to turn stones into
bread and eat them, among other temptations.

13. Fasting during these times includes abstention
from:
- animal products, all dairy products, and—with the
exception of some specific days—fish,
-oil (interpreted variously as abstention from olive
oil only, or as abstention from all cooking oils in
general), and
-red wine (which is often interpreted as including
all wine or alcoholic beverages)
-sexuality (where fasting is pre-communion)

14. Roman Catholicism
Anglicanism
Eastern Orthodoxy and Greek-Catholicism
Oriental Orthodox Churches
Protestant churches
Lutheranism
Classical Pentecostalism
Charismatic
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
Hinduism
Vaishnavism
Islam
Jainism
Judaism

15. A prominent figure associated with
"spiritual fast" was labor leader and
activist, Cesar Chavez. A spiritual fast is
a particular fast that incorporates
personal spiritual beliefs with the desire
to express personal principles.
This form of fasting is different from a hunger strike in that it is not
participated in to achieve a certain political goal.
A spiritual fast is aimed at
expressing a personal belief and is
commonly used in the context of
a social injustice.[

16. Cesar Chavez fasted a legendary twenty five days,
for his sins and the sins of his supporters.
On promoting the principle of nonviolence.
Gandhi’s fasts and emphasis of nonviolence