Fasting isn’t a diet challenge or a biohack... it’s ascetical medicine inside the life of the Church.

In this episode of the Orthodox Health Podcast, Dr. Michael Christian & John pull together everything we’ve been tracing through the "Sacred Diets" arc... from Adventist “health reform” & occult kitchen rituals to Zen minimalism & macro-tracking... & answer the real question: How do I actually fast toward the Feast without wrecking my body, my mood, or my family?

We lay out a simple, livable 7-day “Rule of the Kitchen” for the Nativity Fast, then walk line-by-line through the usual snags: fasting with kids without becoming the food police, therapeutic diets (PCOS, insulin resistance, AIP, gluten-free), heavy labor & shift work, & what to do when “Sunday blows up my macros.”

From there, we connect the dots with the 5R Orthodox Health framework: Reorient, Rebuild, Resensitize, Refine, Return.

If you’ve ever tried to keep the Church’s fasts & ended up edgy, scrupulous, isolated from parish meals, or just flat-out exhausted, this episode will give you merciful guardrails: clinic, not courtroom; altar, not lab bench. We keep the mind of the Fathers while staying brutally practical for real Orthodox families in the modern world.

Takeaways:

• Fasting is ascetical medicine, not a diet challenge: it must move you toward Christ and neighbor.

• Think clinic, not courtroom: you confess, adjust, & begin again at the next meal.

• Prayer before protocol: timing, macros, & hacks are good only when they serve repentance and Eucharist.

• Aim for “calm, strong, & charitable”: roughly 1.0–1.6 g protein/kg plus steady salt & potassium.

• Keep one simple family table; adapt for kids, heavy labor, & illness with a priest’s blessing.

• Let the Church’s calendar, not influencers, set your rhythm: fast simply, feast gratefully, give alms.

Sound Bytes:

• “When prayer leaves, control rushes in. The fast becomes a god you’re trying to appease.”

• “Fasting is a clinic, not a courtroom. You don’t get sentenced for every stumble, you begin again at the next meal.”

• “The table is meant to be an altar, not a lab bench. People matter more than your plate.”

• “If the fast turns you into a jerk, you’re doing it wrong... no matter how ‘perfect’ your compliance is.”

• “Time, not technique, is the Church’s answer. The calendar forms desire better than any hack.”

• “One warm carb, a pinch of salt, & a short walk often fix more ‘fasting problems’ than a new app.”

• “We’re not chasing heroics; we’re building availability to God & to the people in front of us.”

  
  

Chapters:

00:00 Opener

01:30 Introduction to the Orthodox Response to the Sacred Diets

08:46 Fasting as an Ascetical Medicine & Not a Punishment

13:11 Lessons from the Fathers About Fasting

18:50 The 7-Day Rule of the Kitchen

25:57 Dealing with Physical & Social Exceptions to the Rule

28:55 Dietary Defaults During the Fast

32:49 "But What About My Protein?"

42:16 Some Quick Housekeeping About Shellfish Concerns

44:03 When is it Time to Supplement Protein?

44:52 Won't Somebody Please Think of the Children?

45:56 Solutions for Specific Conditions

48:50 What About Pregnant or Nursing Women?

52:08 Fasting Physiology: The Orthodox Health Five R's

01:03:55 60-Second Saves

01:05:13 Closing Thoughts & Looking Ahead

01:09:39 Outro

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Intro & Outro Music: St. John of Chicago Orthodox Church Choir (Arkansas) - Please support their building fund by buying the whole album here

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