Fasting?

For the first Friday of lent I did a mini fast, I did not eat anything upon waking and I had one meal at night time. I thought it wouldn't be suck a big deal because I could go a long time without eating, as I have done it before. To take my mind off of food I started the day with my normal five mile run, when I got home I drank lots of water. I was off to work. Thankfully we had just gotten new merchandise that needed to be put away so I was able to occupy my mind on something other than food and my grumbly tummy. Another fortunate event is that the food shop wasn't cooking anything very fragrant. I don't think I could stomach any strong smells, especially French fries. Even though I have not eaten a French fry in over two years, it is still the smells that always makes me hungry and crave them. I doubt I will touch them though. However, if I would have smelled food that day I think it would have gone one of two ways

1. I would get soo hungry and eat; even some questionable items might be consumed
2. It would make me nauseous because I had an empty stomach and therefore I would be sick and feel faint.

Thankfully none of the above occurred. However, around 3:30pm I started to feel the pains of hunger. It was kind of awful. It felt weird not being able to satisfy my body's need for food. Unfortunately, I had finished putting away all the merchandise at work and therefore had nothing to occupy because there wasn't any customers-it was a slow day. I couldn't concentrate on homework, it was pretty bad. I started to feel like a

zombie. Around 5pm, I was starved. I felt like I was living in a dark hole. I had no emotion, no feeling, I was getting irritated quiet easily. I didn’t want to talk to people, however I did not want to be alone, because alone was when I started to think about food and that was a bad thing.

Finally, it was time to go home, I raced home and looked into the fridge, and I ate oranges and apples till my stomach popped. I thought I was full, but I wasn't because, my stomach was soon asking for nutrients again. I ate banana chips (bad choice), raisins, apples, pears, dried apricots. I didn't properly combine my food; I was just acting on instinct. It was horrible. I felt like a disgusting creature that just thinks about food. I soon was able to stop eating; I ate the later portion of food in my room because I kind of felt guilty for eating. I soon went to sleep. 

The next day, I went on my usual Saturday five mile run in the morning. However, I felt the effects of not nurturing my body properly immediately. I ran slower, I got tired faster. By the second mile I was running on pure will power, I was not motivated to keep running. I got home and decided that if I was ever to fast again; I will not be participating in any physical exercise because it does have an effect on your body immediately. 

Now that I experimented with this mini fast, I am thinking of all those poor girls (and boys) who suffer from body dismorphia and chronically under eat and over exercise just to fit a certain image category. These individuals must have a miserable life--I felt as my personality was sucked from me in ONE day--imagine these people who under eat for a lengthy period of time. They don't realize that they are not eating enough to nurture their body properly so that they can continue to perform at or above their desired level. They don't realize that they themselves are abusing their body to the greatest degree, robbing it from the basic needs it needs to survive.  

What are your opinions about fasting? Under eating? Over exercising?
Do you think some people thrive on over exercising, that it makes them feel alive?
I feel that fasting shouldn't be done by everyone; only certain people know how to properly listen to their body and are able to do it safely. However, i think it abuses your body to participate in this practice tooo often.  

Breakfast: Oranges (4), Cuties (6), few slices of jicama Peach and pear

Lunch: less than two cups of OJ

            Papaya tacos: papaya, cucumber, bell pepper, tomatoes, scallions, cilantro, tomatoes

            Guacamole

Dinner: three baby bananas, 3-4 cups of grapes, 1 apple, 1 pear, 5 dates, and 4 dried figs 

Exercise: 11.45 miles

random soccer/volleyball playing at the shelter I volunteer for