> > there is a limit to how physically hungry one can get within a 30 hour period. You don't get hungrier and hungrier. You plateau after a while and stay physically hungry about the same amount. > >

I think that's due to stomach shrinkage. Big meals expand one's stomach and light (or absent) ones allow it to contract. This, to me, is clearly an asset in fasting.

>However... you start thinking about food even more.

The thinking (i think) is part hunger and part natural reaction to a vitamin deficiency. I'm told one's body craves certain foods when it lacks the nutrients that particular food provides.
I'm a little skeptical of this explanation, however. After being diagnosed with iron-deficiency anemia (most common, i'm told, in pregnant women--Go, me!), i found that i had experienced fatigue and general food cravings, but not specifically for those high in iron. But that's a bit off-topic (Why do i always do that?).

> > Two, it really is possible to be too tired to eat, no matter how hungry you are. At 1:30 in the morning, I have eaten half of my bag of popcorn, and then it became... Augh. Can't reach to the bottom! I was still hungry... but I didn't have the energy to eat anything. And the party wasn't over and wouldn't be until 6am. It was really too loud to get to sleep.
> >

Was popcorn the first thing you ate to break fast? In ninth grade Bible class, when my pastor instructed us in fasting, he told us to be careful about the foods we had directly after fasting, because the digestive system is really sensitive. He suggested something smooth like soup and advised against junk food.

> I'm worried I'll get really dizzy from not eating- does drinking sugar water sound like a good plan?
>
> Ga"No, I'm not *trying* to rot my teeth...."halia

When i fasted in high school, i actually found i had MORE energy for afternoon basketball practice after a day of nothing but water than after a day of regular meals including all the junk food. But that's one person, and that was quite a few years ago.

Be CAREFUL with the water you drink. The first time i tried to fast, i didn't do it right. The sipping water became a nervous tic to take my mind off the hunger, and i got too much of it. i got cold chills, turned pale, and ended up breaking fast several hours early.

One "safe" way of fasting i've known others to do is to take a multi-vitamin or to drink fruit juices instead of water alone (which, as someone has previously mentioned in RinkForum, might as well be just sugar-water anyway).

Penny*not so fast now, having been five years retired from high school athletics*stamp