What is the term for not eating food or eating very little food for a period?

Fasting refers to the voluntary abstention from eating food or consuming very little food for a certain period. This practice can have various purposes, such as spiritual, health-related, or weight management. During fasting, individuals may consume water or other non-caloric beverages, but the main focus is on avoiding food entirely or significantly restricting caloric intake for a certain duration.

The other terms provided have different meanings. Dieting typically refers to the adoption of specific eating habits, often aimed at weight loss or health improvement, but it does not necessarily imply a complete abstention from food. Starvation is a severe state of malnutrition due to prolonged lack of intake of food, which is more extreme than fasting. Restrictive eating can describe a broader pattern where the type or amount of food is limited, but it does not specifically indicate the absence of food for a defined period, as fasting does. Therefore, the term that accurately captures the idea of not eating food or eating very little food for a period is fasting.