Hi there,
I'm very intrigued by your question and thought 'd drop you a line.
I am a muslim and have just finished fasting during the fasting month.
I started fasting when I was seven - though I was doing half days only.
Anyway, fasting is good for you, and I've never heard of any muslim who died due to fasting. You're giving your internal organs a 'rest' - to serve you better after being 'serviced'. Even cars need to be serviced or they'd break down, let alone our bodies that 'work' 24-7.
My English husband, who is a muslim convert, tried fasting this year, and it's not so bad for him. Most days he was able to go without food or water, though some days he did drink just water and no food.
For health reasons, you can try doing it two ways:
1) go without food for 12 hours a day - just drink water.
2) go without food and water for 6 hours.
If you can do no.2 easily, maybe try to go without food or water for 12 hours. Don't do more than 12 hours a day as that would be detrimental to your health. Even we muslims are supposed to break fast as soon as it's time and not delaying it. If we delayed and we fell sick because of that, we would have sinned as we have endangered ourselves. Strange but true.
For all of these, I suggest you get up in the morning, say 5 a.m. and take your breakfast. I normally have 2 slices of toast or a bowl of cereal and tea/water. This will help you go through the day without feeling sluggish or overly hungry.
When you're breaking fast - take a sip of water, and eat two dates. Rest for say 5 or 10 minutes, then have dinner. Just don't gorge yourself. You'd be surprised that you wouldn't really feel like pigging out, though ten minutes ago you feel like you could eat a horse!!
a word of caution - if you have diebetes, etc or need to take medication throughout the day, you have to check with your doctor. Even in Islam, if you're sick etc, you're not supposed to fast as it would do you more harm than good. After all, self-preservation is of vital importance in Islam.
Good luck. and if you did try it, let me know how you find it.
