Having given a lot more thought to fasting in the past couple of years, I now think of it as iconic: it's a way to both symbolise and personally encounter the call to pennance and conversion through a withdrawal from both world and self. Just as it's necessary frequently to put distance between ourselves and the world, I find fasting helpful in establishing a spiritual distance between soul and disordered will.
I try to remember the essential link with humility as a test of whether a fast is being properly pursued.
That would be, imo, a significant view.