Adapted from "Jewish Life... Organized"
• Up your intake of water for at least one day before the fast. Drink 8-10 cups the day before. • If you suffer from caffeine withdrawal, start cutting down 1 to 2 weeks in advance. Start by cutting your caffeine intake by half and then the last week, cut it out altogether. To prevent a caffeine headache, drink or eat something with caffeine during the pre-fast meal. The adverse side of drinking caffeine is that caffeine is a diuretic, and water loss will thus occur, increasing your body’s need for water. • I had always been told to eat noodles and grapes before a fast. Why? Becausecomplex carbs holds the water that is in your body, preventing dehydration. Protein actually attracts and leaches water from your tissues and so for 3 days to 1 week before the fast, eat complex carbs and foods high in fiber (not protein) to keep the water in your system. Foods like salt-free popcorn, pasta, fruits, rice, potatoes, nuts, and vegetables with skins. Avoid foods with salt, as they will make you more thirsty. • It is best to break your fast on something that is a simple sugar to establish your glucose again. A cracker with honey or a fruit juice since we have used up our glucose during the 24 hour fast. • The day before a fast, try not to overexert yourself. Stay out of the sun and only exercise minimally. • Pray! Try to release your anxieties about fasting by praying and getting conscious about what it is that gets you nervous about fasting and then accept it and release it. I’m saying this because I am someone that feels anxious about fasting, and when I understood why and then accepted myself regardless, I was able to release that fear.
Click here for Top 10 Fasting Tips for the Pregnant Woman.