Hi All,

The secret to an easy fast is drinking.
Its not the lack of food that makes us sh'vach as we have plenty of extra reserves of, um, extra pounds that we can spare.

Its the liquid.

There are numerous products now that you can purchase and take to help with an  easy fast. They are not magic or a segula. They are simply herbs that influence the body to retain fluids.
There is no need to buy them.

Simply drink a lot.

But, not just right before. ... the way most people do.

That might make it worse, since the body gets a large influx of fluid and needs to flush it out and may actually flush out extra fluid it would normally have retained.

Start at least 24 hours before, and preferably 2 days before.
Start drinking A LOT. double what you usually do.

At first there will be extra 'asher yatzers' to say. But then the body will get used to it and start storing the water.

And then by the time the fast rolls around it will have a large reserve.

I work in a ware house type business, and on many fasts, when I am working,  if I don't do this before, I usually think I am going to die before the fast ends.

But if I do, it is as if I'm not fasting.

Works every time!!!

So, I'm sharing this with the 'oilem'... please try it (NOW!) and please leave feedback on this thread after the fast, so we can see if it really works, or not.

warmest wishes,
kutan

Thanks!!
Our mishpocha already heard this in the past and tried it. Still doing the same ever since! This is a great favor you are doing for the oilem!
IT WORKS!
"On my next asher yotsar already",
Dov
PS. Having something kosher and relaxing to do besides thinking about how yucky I feel also helps me. Reading "divrei chizuk" (R' Tzvi Meyer on the topic of T' b'Av afternoon is fantastic, but sometimes reading historical novels about the churban is great, too. But in a pinch, almost any busywork is better for me, a touchy recovering addict, than focusing on feeling yucky!)

bs"d

I am going to try this out!

Thanks a lot!

Nu?
Did anyone try it?
Did it work for you?
We are conducting a study...

Sponsered in part by GUE.

bs"d

I tried it and i think it works (not sure 100%); i usually have easy fasts, but this one was difficult at a certain point. But thinking back, i don't think i was very thirsty/hungry, just tired and exhausted.

So thanks for the tip anyway!

worked for me thank you very much!i usually am a terrible faster but today i was fine cause i took your advice and pounded water the last couple days.yasher koach!-uri
p.s. dov,where do u get R tzvi meir stuff?hes gevaldig but i cant find anything he writes

bs"d

you can probably get in the kollel of his chabura, if i remember correctly it's rechov chacham bruchim off bar ilan. if you walk into the street from Bar Ilan, at some point on the right is a kollel; you have to walk down some steps. He used to (maybe he still does) give his erev shabbos talks in that kollel. The guy who puts together his sforim learns there.

Dear Reb Uri (JA) - There are other people on this forum who I believe have regular and deep ties to Reb Tzvimeyer, I only visited him for a week a few years ago and whenever I am in eretz Yisroel I try to get to his erev Shabbos 1hr shmooz at 12 or 1pm, etc. Things may have changed, but he apparently doesn't write, per se. His shmuessin from about TafShinNun"Vav till about TSh"Samech are written up very nicely in a set of plain blue sforim - one on each chumash - modestly called "Divrei Chizzuk". It's mainly in easy hebrew; some shmeussen have more yiddish in them but it is always translated to easy hebrew on the bottom. All his taped smuessen can be purchased. He spoke at least 20 times so far in USA in English and you can get those tapes in a bunch (at least, I did a few years ago) from the tape man who is there at the end of each Erev Shabbos shmooz. You can get that set of s'forim and others right there, too. BTW, the prices all happen to be very reasonable - these people are obviously not about money, at all....
The "Divrei Chizzuk" functions kind of like the Bnei Yisoschar always has for me: he describes exactly what the avodah of the day/week/month or tekufah is about and suggests specific ideas to focus on that are essential to improving avodah in general. Beautiful. The beis medrash was called "Kolel RaMo"H", I seem to remember - it has been a few years now, right near Bar Ilan as chl wrote to you. Ashrecha should you get to see and hear him, even if yiddish is meaningless to you! It's nice to know that there are other things that change us just by looking at them rather than - lehavdil elef-alfei havdolos - you-know-what!!! Hopefully Midah tova should truly be very merubah for you!! Love,
Dov

shkoyach chl and dov.
i actually stopped by today and bought a sefer from the kollel there.its off bar illan like u said chl.so far i read part of parsha eikev and its very geshmak.thanks alot

I usually keep well-hydrated.  But, on Erev Tisha b'Av I went a step further.  In the 3 hours before the fast began, I drank over a gallon of water.  I believe it helped a lot - I was not too thirsty for the entire day.

Uri (JA) wrote on 02 Aug 2009 20:22:

His Torah and orah are life itself, aren't they? Nevertheless, I cannot say this enough, and have posted a lot about this in the past: These seforim and all the good intentions and yiras shomayim in the world and out of it are not what I needed and need to stay sober today. I needed to work the steps with help from another addict. Period. The seforim and Torah give us a reason to live and define "being alive", bichlal. A reason to be sober, too. But - for me - the way to get sober and sane enough to stay alive was by using these tools, not by doing more of what I was doing before, nor even by doing it better. I wish you the best, of course, and love you, no matter what.
You may not be an addict at all. But if you are, you may need to do these steps, too, as I did.

Dov,
Your constant reminder of these points... that more musar etc may not be the way to conquer this problem, are appreciated. Please don't stop!
As you acknowledge, for some people it may indeed be enough, but for those who have been conditioned or are predisposed to the level of attachment to lust that the world labels as 'addict', they will need to reinvent themselves.
Just wish to add, that there may be levels of 'doing the steps' as well. Some may find it enough to be on this forum, with the honest self introspection it engenders, and reinvent their being this way.
Ultimately, the only thing that can measure success is success itself, and, perhaps, the 'smoothness', or lack of internal weariness at achieving it.
with much appreciation,
kutan.