In our consumer society where fast food commercials try to convince us to instantly satisfy our every craving, a fast is a countercultural statement. Add to that the fact that it’s a rich and biblical part of Christian tradition. If you are undertaking a fast, and it is your first time here are a few tips to help you succeed.

Remember to Pray

This sounds simple, but it’s amazing how sidetracked you can become when you’re thinking about your stomach. The whole point of fasting is to focus on prayer. You’re not engaging in a starvation diet. Every time you start obsessing about food or how hungry you are, pray. When a Subway commercial comes on TV, PRAY!

Ask for Support

While Jesus tells us not to go around bragging about our fasting, there’s nothing wrong with asking a couple friends to hold you accountable and pray for you. Hopefully, they’ll also be kind enough not to eat massive amounts of food in front of you.

Don’t Tempt Yourself Unreasonably

You don’t want to isolate yourself while fasting, but it’s important to be smart about what situations you put yourself in. For instance, in the midst of my fast I went to my favorite barbecue restaurant with a group of friends and watched them eat. One of them tried to convince me that if I drank baked beans they counted as a beverage. It almost made sense. Stay away from situations that are going to put unreasonable strain on your fortitude.

Drink a Lot

Chugging a lot of water will make the hunger pangs less severe. Also, going without food for a while can make you extremely lethargic. Water will boost your energy. You may also want to think about drinking juice. It will keep your blood sugar from plummeting too much. Stay away, however, from caffeine and alcohol. Without food in your stomach as a buffer, caffeine will have you bouncing off the walls and alcohol will probably put you in a coma.

Fasting is tough. There’s no way around that. But it can be an incredible learning experience. During my fast, I realized how much of my life was centered around immediate gratification. Fasting and prayer are often mentioned together in the Bible. Prayer takes on new meaning when you’re weak enough that you sometimes feel the wind might blow you over. It is a physical manifestation of a spiritual reality: We are husks of nothingness without God.

We run into problems when we make the soul all-important and the body totally insignificant. When we forget that our bodies matter, we live lopsided lives. We forget to rest. We forget that our very cells are holy and that the clearest word God’s ever spoken came to us as a body with red blood and breakable bones. The spiritual intersects profoundly with the physical.

Our souls are all tangled up in our bodies, and when I fast, I know this. I become more aware of each small physical thing and each small spiritual thing, and that they are not so separate as I once believed.