I've seen people who passed out at work because they were trying to do manual labor and fast for Ramadan. Or people who skipped their meds because of fast days.

I heard an old Rabbi's line. "The Bible is like the daily newspaper. If the newspaper tells you that the President was in New York City last night you know that it's absolutely true. If the newspaper tells you that it's likely to rain tomorrow, you can accept that as very probably right. If the newspaper shows you a little boy with a talking tiger you have to accept the metaphor."