If we oversleep (miss breakfast) can we still fast?

[BritishBahai]

According to the Bahai rule, do we have to eat breakfast if we plan on fasting for that particular day?
Im not too sure of this.

What happens if we oversleep and as a result havent had a chance to eat breakfast.
Is there a particular law or rule which says that we have to eat before fasting.

Im pretty sure its bad for our health if we do this.
Ive done it a couple of times.

I havent come across anything which directly addresses this.

Does anyone know of anything?
Thanks

[coatofmanycolours]

hi BritishBahai; You don't have to eat breakfast or drink anything before dawn. The
law doesn't say anything about that. I think it is just a good idea to do so.

Consider that most of the Baha'is, in the beginning, came from a culture familiar with
the fast prescribed by God through Muhammad. They new how to prepare for fasting
from the experience of their ancestors.

About missing the chance to eat or drink before dawn. It is probably a common problem
for many believers. I know it was for me. How you choose to cope with it is between you
and God. Certainly, if you begin to feel ill, you can choose to avail yourself of the exemption
offered by God, through Baha'u'llah. There are other exemptions that you have probably
read about.

Here is a tip from me to you:

Grab a baby and begin to nurse it. This will make you instantly exempt from fasting.
Of course it helps if you have ...s and are female.

O ya. Women going to college are also exempt, because they are in their courses.

Just kidding.

-Peter

[coatofmanycolours]

Also, if you are old or just look really, really, really old, you may also be exempt. -Peter

[BritishBahai]

O ya. Women going to college are also exempt, because they are in their courses.

LOL

[Truth]

Twice during the fast i got called for emergencies at work at around 5-6am and didn't really have time to eat. One of them, i worked from 6am right through to 8pm. That dinner was divine i tell you! The turkish food across the work never tasted so good! It really does make you think about the majority of the world living below the poverty line. We know when our next meal is when we're fasting. They don't.

I don't think you're exempt from the fast if you overslept. That's just being lazy! If this was a valid reason, everyone would be purposely oversleeping! "dang, missed my alarm, oh well, i'm gonna go get a cheeseburger". If you missed breakfast due to a reason out of your control, then maybe. Maybe walk to work and hope it takes more than 2 hours? lol.

Ah well, not long till vernal equinox!

[BritishBahai]

.
.
.
About missing the chance to eat or drink before dawn. It is probably a common problem
for many believers. I know it was for me. How you choose to cope with it is between you
and God. Certainly, if you begin to feel ill, you can choose to avail yourself of the exemption
offered by God, through Baha'u'llah. There are other exemptions that you have probably
read about.
.
.
.

In the past, if ive overslept then Id just take the day off and not fast, but this particular year for some reason I decided that i would still fast even if i hadnt had breakfast that morning. To my surprise i quickly forgot about it but perhaps it wasnt as noticeable because ive been at home sitting at my desk. So I wasnt moving around much. If i had done the same thing (not eat but be outside) then i probably wouldnt have survived much because id be moving around a lot more (hence using up more energy) so would feel tired more quickly.

I most probably would because i dont want to be a fanatic.

its naive to think that just because someone fasts then youre a better person. For example, i know a really obnoxious person who's christian, and he thinks that he can be rude/arrogant to anyone. He thinks that just becauseJesus died for our sins then that makes him invinsible by default and that he can somehow speak to whoever he wants to in whatever tone and God would excuse him. (Hope that made sense. If not, its probably because im food-deprived ).
EDIT: i dont even know why i said this 2nd bit, lol, but i'll just leave it

[coatofmanycolours]

Friends; I discovered that moving around increases my energy and comfort level while fasting.
I walk, ride bike, bounce on trampoline or play with kids. I don't overdo it and I listen to how
my body is doing.

I think I know why this works. My body gets the message that I am active. It releases stored
energy and boosts my metabolism to an ideal level.

If I give my body the message that I am NOT active, it responds by conserving stored energy.
This is NOT an advantage in daytime-only type fasting because virtually everyone has abundant
stored energy from food eaten before dawn and after dusk. Also, most people have stored
energy from previous weeks or months. When the body lowers the metabolism, because of
inactivity, tiredness and weakness set in unnecessarily.

A nutritional tip that is very helpful to me is to use cold-pressed flax oil each day. I put a
tablespoon of the oil on my food, such as oatmeal or potatoes or salad. It is a nice
vegetable oil and tastes OK. I especially like to use it in the cold season so as to build up
my brown fat (the kind Inuit people develop). This fat, and the oils that feed it, provides
energy evenly and more efficiently than common white fat which southerners develop.

I think a feeling of trust in God and in ones body also helps to make the fast more pleasant
and more confidence-building. Remember, the idea is not to suffer. The idea is to trust in
God and in ones own powers which come, ultimately, from God. That is how I see it.

-Peter

[Truth]

Hummmm, if you mean stored energy in terms of glycogen, you would be depleted fairly soon. Once you have nothing to burn, the body will start to go catabolic. i.e. You will burn stored fat but you'll also burn away muscle mass.

The reason why starving yourself and doing exercise is such a bad idea is that if you're burning away your body too quickly, your body will go into starvation mode, basically shutting the body down to conserve as much as possible. It basically thinks you're stuck on an island with no food and takes the necessary steps to ensure you survive for as long as possible. This is why so many people colapse on the treadmills at the gym. They aren't fueling properly and just trying to cut weight as quick as possible. Also, you need glycogen and water for the brain to function, which is why most of us are operating at half our mental capacity when we fast.

Mind you, if it's at an easy pace and you're keeping an eye on how your body responds, that'd be okay. Just need to watch out for signs of fairly moderate dehydration such as headaches and dizziness and the like.

Happy new years guys!

[coatofmanycolours]

Yes, I go at an easy pace and plenty of rest throughout the day as well.
Still, it does surprise me how much energy is available throughout the day
if I am moving around a bit instead of sitting down.

Any way. Happy Nawruz. Had a terrific evening. Hope all of you did too.

-Peter