Delay and Pray

Anyone else feeling tired? Today, Beth is talking about how sleep-deprivation can inhibit your ability to achieve the vibrant life you desire.

“Sleep is as important as exercise and nutrition.” - Beth Bubik

She explains different sleep rhythms, describes what good sleep actually looks like, shares scientific explanations of what sleep (and the lack thereof) does to your brain and body, and suggests various ways to optimize your sleep in order to live a more fruitful life.

Did you know that you may be genetically predisposed to stay up later or get up earlier than other people? Beth encourages everyone to discover their natural sleep rhythm, and make a plan to honor it. She also shares how just a few more hours of sleep could affect your weightloss journey, and how sleep-deprivation can awaken the primitive brain’s desire for fast-acting carbs, rather than healthy foods. 

And for any new parents out there: Beth understands that sleep may not always be easily accessible. Even with that, she encourages everyone to keep this information handy, and create a lifestyle that promotes sleep as much as possible. Maybe that’s reading Scripture before bed, instead of binging Netflix. Maybe it’s avoiding excessive caffeine intake, or journaling to work through your stress. Or maybe it’s simply honoring your natural circadian rhythms: eating when it’s daylight, and sleeping when it’s dark.

Making changes in your sleep schedule can be challenging. If you’re feeling discouraged, try Beth’s new motto: “Wrestle. Pray. Trust. And then Repeat.” Three steps forward and two steps back still results in a trajectory towards sainthood: you just have to be willing to get back up and try again. 

Help Beth reach her goal of bringing 1 Million Catholics back to the Church: 

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Resources:

Dr. Matt Walker: “Why We Sleep”

Delay and Pray Links:

The Catholic Fasting Coach

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Friday night happy hour? Count Beth… out! In today’s episode, she’s challenging the idea that Friday night fun begins with a drink.

“Alcohol is small and irrelevant in my life.” - Annie Grace, This Naked Mind

Thought shifts, scientific proof, and her own personal testimony combine into a provocative episode that boils down to answering one simple question: “Do you really need to drink to have fun?” 

Beth shares a recent story about a family weekend when she was tempted to have a drink, and the thoughts and motivations that kept her strong in spite of that desire. She gives a few excellent examples of motivating thought shifts and even shares a deliverance prayer that she has found helpful in the face of temptation. Using her own struggles as an example, Beth reassures her listeners that giving up alcohol does get easier and more rewarding: she hasn’t had a drink on Friday night throughout 2023!

And if, after all that, you’re still reaching for a glass of wine, Beth shares some pretty fascinating scientific facts about the cyclical havoc that alcohol can raise in your brain, and the destructive power of your own habitual thoughts about alcohol. You don’t need to be stuck in these cycles: using the delay-and-pray protocol, you can break these patterns and begin a fun, rewarding life without needing alcohol. You just have to be willing to question your own mind the next time it says, “I need a drink.”

Help Beth reach her goal of bringing 1 Million Catholics back to the Church: 

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Resources Mentioned:

This Naked Mind - Annie Grace

The Alcohol Experiment - Annie Grace

Deliverance Prayers: For Use by the Laity - Fr. Chad Ripperger

Delay and Pray Links:

The Catholic Fasting Coach

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What is the easiest way to do hard things? In today’s episode, Beth is answering that question with insights from multiple great saints, theologians, and her own mindset coach.

“Our thoughts determine our lives.” - Elder Thaddeus

If you think the pursuit of virtue is difficult, you’re right! But maybe it doesn’t have to be quite as difficult as you think it is.

Beth is explaining a two-tiered approach to creating lasting, virtuous change in your life. The first tier is self-knowledge, and the second tier is Divine Grace, through the Sacraments. She cites great thinkers like St. Thomas Aquinas, St. Paul, Elder Thaddeus, and Fulton Sheen, to explain that your interior life dictates the results of your external life. If you want to experience real change in your life, the first step is to start noticing your thoughts and taking them to God.

She also addresses the way that the material world can affect our interior life. How often do we allow the culture’s ideas of fun to creep in and fill us with FOMO  if we choose to live a countercultural life through prayer and fasting? Beth counters this by describing the “smells and bells” of the Mass as an example of the lovely ways that God reaches us through our senses, and she shares her personal relationships with nuns and priests to exemplify how fun holiness can truly be. Furthermore, she quotes Fulton Sheen, who explains that the Sacraments are the spiritual manifestation of our physical lives. Internally and externally, God is constantly offering us the truths and graces we need to shift us into a life of abundance and love. 

So… What do you need to be thinking to create lasting spiritual, mental, and physical changes in your life? Your results all begin in your thoughts!!

Help Beth reach her goal of bringing 1 Million Catholics back to the Church: 

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Delay and Pray Links:

The Catholic Fasting Coach

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What if it’s not you… What if it’s your hormones? In today’s episode, Beth is continuing her two-part series, “Stop the Overeating,” and de-escalating the emotional pressure of your weight loss journey with a simple, biological fact: your hormones aren’t playing nicely together.

“Trade your cheap desire for sugary foods and alcohol for the true desires that God has written on your heart.” - Beth Bubik

Tackling both the mental strain of indulgent thoughts and the hormonal imbalances triggered by our stressed, exhausted lifestyles, Beth is offering simple, straightforward suggestions to win the weight loss battle once and for all. 

She begins by discussing ‘indulgent’ thoughts and ‘opportunity’ thoughts, replacing “This isn’t working” with “This just might work!” She also explains the effect that the three hunger hormones - insulin, leptin, and ghrelin - have on your weight loss journey. Insulin is a fat storage hormone, and an excess of insulin contributes to diabetes and weight gain. Leptin is the hormone that tells us when we’re full and need to exercise, but insulin blocks that receptor to our brains. Ghrelin tells us when we’re hungry and need to find food, but insulin causes ghrelin to escalate, creating even more desire for food. 

In order to get all of these hormones balanced, Beth is offering a simple, effective plan to her listeners, including food choices, sleep recommendations, and tips for controlling the stress responses that make us reach for cookies when we really ought to reach for a pillow. Finally, Beth gently affirms that the first few weeks are the hardest, but they will result in a deeper awareness of your interior life. From that space, call out to the Lord to shine a light on the true desires of your heart that have gotten buried under the sweets and processed foods. This is the path to permanent healing. As Beth says, “Don’t shoot for purgatory - Shoot for heaven.”

Help Beth reach her goal of bringing 1 Million Catholics back to the Church: 

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Delay and Pray Links:

The Catholic Fasting Coach

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What if the best way to stop overeating and to start enjoying the best days of your life had literally nothing to do with food itself?

“Take the pressure off yourself. This is not a diet. It is a spiritual lifestyle.” - Beth Bubik

In this episode,  Beth is exploring practical ways to overcome common food struggles, but more importantly, she’s tackling the interior thoughts and desires that create the chaos that ultimately lead to overeating. If you have struggled with diets in the past and you’re frustrated by the numbers on the scale, you don’t want to miss this episode!  

Beth begins by defining overeating, and challenging the diet mentality. By shifting our focus from deprivation to experimentation, Beth unearths a new way to view the impact that food has on both our bodies and our minds. She even debunks some myths about foods that have been wrongly labeled “unhealthy,” while simultaneously explaining why no foods should be eaten with reckless abandon. 

Have you heard of the motivational triad? “Seeking pleasure, avoiding pain, and reducing effort” is a default setting in the human brain, but it can have catastrophic results on the mind and body when we allow it to influence our food choices. To undo the damage done by these brain habits or “neural pathways,” Beth suggests identifying the scenarios that lead to overeating, and making a plan to address them in the future. The same repetitive process that created the unconscious bad habits can be used to create unconscious virtuous habits!

And finally, if you’re struggling, Beth suggests praying for the virtue of longanimity: the willingness to wait for the good. As Beth says, “This is the ticket to heaven for the whole Body of Christ.” 

Help Beth reach her goal of bringing 1 Million Catholics back to the Church: 

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Delay and Pray Links:

The Catholic Fasting Coach

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Welcome to Part 2 of Metabolic Flexibility for God! In today’s episode, Beth uses the parable of the Sower and the Seed to explain the Delay and Pray Spiritual Fasting Course.

“Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him.” James 1:12

She introduces her listeners to the desired results (the ‘seeds’) of spiritual fasting, and uses the parable to illustrate four different ways that our brains pursue those results. 

Do you stop before you start? Cave to perfectionism? Buffer with other foods and entertainment? Or fail your way to success? Addressing these four tendencies, Beth uses beautiful, Biblical symbolism to illustrate this epic journey into spiritual fasting. She’s also sharing purely practical information, by offering you a list of pantry staples, recipes, and even a 7 Day Meal Plan to help you become metabolically flexible for God. 

And finally, if you love the idea of spiritual fasting but you don’t want to make this journey alone, the next Delay and Pray cohort starts soon! There’s a free waitlist on Beth’s website!  

Help Beth reach her goal of bringing 1 Million Catholics back to the Church: 

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Resources Mentioned:

Beth’s 7 Day Meal Plan

Jim Rohn: The Parable of the Sower and the Seed

Delay and Pray Links:

The Catholic Fasting Coach

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The fourth of July was last week, and the feasting and parties were glorious! But how many of us are worried about returning to “normal” life now that the feasting is over?

“I know indeed how to live in humble circumstances; I know also how to live with abundance. In every circumstance and in all things I have learned the secret of being well fed and of going hungry, of living in abundance and of being in need.” (Phillippians 4:12)

On today’s episode, Beth is introducing her listeners to the concept of metabolic flexibility, a skill that can help you feast joyfully without losing your ability to return to the eat/fast/feast cycle as soon as the holiday ends. To achieve this kind of freedom, she offers five suggestions for achieving and maintaining metabolic flexibility even during celebratory seasons throughout the year.  

Beth shares a few minimum baseline plans for staying on target spiritually and physically during holiday weeks, even while the sugar consumption goes up. She also shares a few of the devastating  side-effects that over-consumption of sugar/flour/alcohol have on the body, mind and soul. With this in mind, she taps into the science of glucose and ketones, and explains how the eat/fast/feast cycle leads to a metabolic flexibility that processes carbs and fats more efficiently. Finally, she shares her personal testimony of the life-changing daily affects that the eat/fast/feast cycle has had on her, both physically and spiritually. 

She ends her podcast by listing her five ways to be metabolically flexible with God during any holiday: take notes, because these steps are simple, effective, and fully doable even during the busiest holiday seasons! 

Help Beth reach her goal of bringing 1 Million Catholics back to the Church: 

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Delay and Pray Links:

The Catholic Fasting Coach

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As we celebrate the Fourth of July this week, Beth is interviewing Megan Gephart, an active-duty Army officer, life and fitness coach, and the host of the podcast, “Armed to the Heart.”

“Our calling oftentimes is really born of our pain:

it’s born of our wounds and those challenges we’ve walked through.” - Megan Gephart

For the past three years, Megan has coached prenatal, postnatal, and high-achieving women in the military and other male-dominated environments. Today, Beth and Megan are discussing the challenges women face in the military, and Megan’s advocacy for pregnant military women. 

As an Army officer, wife, and the mother of two small boys, Megan has personally experienced pregnancy discrimination, and has also been privy to the deeply disturbing abortion policies currently in effect in the military. She has already fought for and won some policy battles, and she is now on a mission to help military women understand their options, fight for their motherhood, and understand their value as women in male-dominated environments - all while she continues to fight for necessary policy change.

Armed with the teachings of the Catholic Church and her mindset coaching tools, Megan is helping military women understand the true power of their feminine genius, and how motherhood can change them into the leaders they are meant to be. 

Help Beth reach her goal of bringing 1 Million Catholics back to the Church: 

Please subscribe to the podcast and leave a review! 

Megan Gephart’s Links:

Armed to the Heart Podcast

Free Guide: Overcome the Overwhelm

Email Address

Delay and Pray Links:

The Catholic Fasting Coach

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In today’s episode, Beth is interviewing Jessica Castillo, a Catholic personal development and health coach, and the host of the podcast, “A Thriving Catholic.”

“The goal is not perfection. The goal is resilience.” - Jessica Castillo

Her mission is to help Catholic women thrive in every aspect of their lives, body, mind, and soul, so that they have the energy, the strength, and the focus to do the important work that God has created them to do. In this episode, Beth and Jessica are discussing the connection between physical and spiritual health, and how better health leads to increased capacity for mission. 

Jessica begins by describing her childhood pursuit of health in a stressful home environment, creating an exercise routine with the help of water bottles and library books, and teaching herself to pray, inspired by movies and a Gideon Bible. A difficult diagnosis for her mother, a combat deployment to Iraq, and dating her Catholic husband ultimately led her to RCIA and Catholicism. Jessica began making connections between food, exercise, and prayer, and how vital all three were to showing up as her best possible self. Finally, she shares her journey into motherhood, and how a bout with depression brought her into a deeper understanding of who she is and what she needs to thrive. 

Listen as Beth and Jessica discuss how to find meaning in life, and the importance of intentional, holy routines. They also discuss the mission God has in store for each one of us, and how it does not include fitting into a preconceived mold. They challenge us all to see food and exercise as choices totally within our control, and encourage us to simply decide on a plan and then act: don't stay in decision-mode. Finally, in light of the upcoming Fourth of July and Jessica’s military background, they discuss the virtue of patriotism, and invite all of us to fast and pray for freedom.

Help Beth reach her goal of bringing 1 Million Catholics back to the Church: 

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Jessica Castillo’s Links:

A Thriving Catholic podcast

Instagram

Website

Delay and Pray Links:

The Catholic Fasting Coach

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In today’s episode, Beth is interviewing Jane Snyder, the founder and CEO of Wisdom Wellness Coaching, and the host of the podcast, “Cycles and Sanctity.”

“We have to shift our mindset into love and abundance.” - Beth Bubik

Affectionately named “Mama Jane” by her clients, she combines her knowledge of the Billings Ovulation Method with Catholic mindset coaching to mother her clients and help them embrace the unique beauty of their bodies. Today, Beth and Jane are contemplating the miraculous intricacies of a woman’s cycle, and how those intricacies can complement the Eat, Fast, Feast cycle. 

Mama Jane shares her own unique NFP experiences, both with seven years of infertility, and with managing her fertility during her husband’s deployment. She shares beautiful ways that women can offer up the different phases of their cycles for others, and she and Beth compare the fasting and feasting encountered in the woman’s cycle with the fasting and feasting of the Delay and Pray lifestyle. They also discuss the unitive and procreative aspects of the marital act, and how both NFP and fasting honor the full integration of the human person: body, mind, and soul. They end their discussion by sharing Mama Jane’s “two holy duties,” emphasizing the importance of shifting into an abundance mindset toward the female body.  

If you would like to hear more from Mama Jane, check out the links below!

Help Beth reach her goal of bringing 1 Million Catholics back to the Church: 

Please subscribe to the podcast and leave a review! 

Mama Jane’s Links:

Wisdom Wellness Coaching

Cycles and Sanctity Podcast

Facebook

Instagram

Delay and Pray Links:

The Catholic Fasting Coach

Instagram

Facebook

Linked-In

Resources Mentioned:

Armed to the Heart Podcast