Taking no food following a painful little wound (7)

I believe the answer is:

fasting

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'taking no food' is the definition.
Although both the answer and definition are singular nouns, I cannot see how they can define each other.

'following a painful little wound' is the wordplay.
'following' becomes 'f.' (used when citing page numbers etc).
'painful little wound' becomes 'sting'.
'f'+'a'+'sting'='FASTING'

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for fasting that I've seen before include "Going without food" , "not eating" .)

I've seen this clue in The Independent.

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