They also have other scattered fasts of less importance. Restricting food intake is also a part of many secular ways of life, but the goal of such practices is very different from the goal of fasting in Islam. In these fasts, solid foods are eliminated, but the person may drink water or juice. The most widespread Western form of restricting food intake is dieting. The only real goal of this practice to reduce weight.
Most dieters are women.
Their motive is to look as much as possible like models and actresses held up as the ideals of beauty in a steady barrage of movies, TV shows and advertisements. The more extreme forms of this state of mind are anorexia and bulemia. This obsession with outer appearance is the very opposite of the Islamic goal in fasting. The Qur'an repeatedly promises that those who achieve taqwaa will gain the good of this life and the Hereafter. A person who achieves taqwaa is in a state of constant awareness of God.