Fasting | Imamother

louche

Wed, Mar 19 2008, 2:15 pm

My theory, which is only a theory, is that a few generations back, when poverty and malnutrition were widespread, infectious diseases rampant, and child mortality an everyday occurrence, fasting may really have been dangerous to both women and children. B"H most of us are well-fed and healthy enough to withstand the rigors of a day without food, but if you're underfed to begin with, not fasting may well mean the difference between having the strength to fight off a life-threatening infection or succumbing to it. People today continue to do the same things their parents and grandparents did, without necessarily knowing the reason for it. If your great-great grandfather forbade his daughters to fast, the "tradition" may have been passed down that "in our family girls don't fast"--even if the underlying reason no longer exists.

You know why some of us still retain the idea that "a fat child is a healthy child"? Because less than 100 years ago, you needed that fat to see you through if you got sick and couldn't eat. That fat could literally spell the difference between life and death in the days before intravenous feeding.