Find Eat, Fast, Feast: Heal Your Body While Feeding Your Soul—A Christian Guide To Intermittent Fasting Edited By Jay W. Richards Document

informative just what we needed today as Christians! After reading the mixed reviews, I was surprised at how much value I got from this book and how much I enjoyed it! Despite being Catholic my whole life and reading about/practicing intermittent fasting for the physical benefits for the pastyears or so, this had a lot of fresh information and brought the faith/physical sides together in a new way for me.
I like that he focuses on the way God designed us both spiritually and physically, and proposes that a lifelong cycle of true fasting, eating, and feasting is in line with how we were created.
A lot of emphasis is put on ketosis, but good scientific reasons are given for doing so, I was inspired by this to try fasting for the full day on Good Friday, and like he continually says, it wasn't as hard as I expected! I wanted to read this during Lent while practicing some modified fasting.
I like the idea of mixing some of the ancient Christian wisdom on fasting with modern knowledge about gut health, intermittent fasting and the keto diet, Theres so much good information here, But also, the attitude of the writer was so challenging for me, hence the lower score, Theres no real understanding of how most of us want to eat because it tastes good and just dont have the dieting discipline that he clearly has had for tons of his life.
And he has a wife who is choosing to cook for him a lot, which most of us dont have, The smugness is annoying. Also, his discussion of the science and theology are way out of his expertise zone and the dogmatic way he talks about some of it made me dislike the entire project.
And yet. Im definitely inspired and appreciate the overarching desire to connect these parts of our lives,
However sheltering in place during the corona virus means Im eating whats in the house, and not having all the special food needed for keto diet has messed with my Lenton plans.
Very inspiring book. I began this journey for lent this year having no idea that my lenten promises and sacrifices would evolve into much bigger sacrifices as we are all locked down during a pandemic.
I thought about throwing in the towel when I faced the possibility of not having access to ketofriendly foods and the likelihood of becoming infected while searching them out.
Would it be irresponsible of me to search for healthy, keto foods when going we are being asked to stay home Should I just hunker down and consume the least perishable foods over going out for fresh foods weekly Should I really deny my body nutrition that it may need to fight off an illness several days a week In the end, I kept coming back to the section on spiritual warfare.
The point isn't solely health or weight loss, While that is a benefit, the point is understanding and returning to long forgotten roots of Christian fasting and the spiritual significance of denying the self, I have held fast to the plan, With onlydays til Easter, the most challenging three days of fasting to go, and a family who is home more that I still have to cook for, I'm hopeful that with all the extra prayer time and much to pray about, I can do it.
I cannot think of a more important time to return to our roots and fast as spiritual warfare in the face of a global pandemic, The New York Times bestselling author and senior fellow at the Discovery Institute blends science and religion in this thoughtful guide that teaches modern believers how to use the leading wellness trend todayintermittent fastingas a means of spiritual awakening, adopting the traditions our Christians ancestors practiced for centuries into daily life.


Wellness minded people today are increasingly turning to intermittent fasting to bolster their health, But we arent the first people to abstain from eating for a purpose, This routine was a common part of our spiritual ancestors lives for,years,

Jay Richards argues that Christians should recover the fasting lifestyle, not only to improve our bodies, but to bolster our spiritual health as well, In Eat, Fast, Feast, he combines forgotten spiritual wisdom on fasting and feasting with the burgeoning literature on ketogenic diets and fasting for improved physical and mental health.
Based on his popular series “Fasting, Body and Soul” in The Stream, Eat, Fast, Feast explores what it means to substitute our hunger for God for our hunger for food, and what both modern science and the ancient monastics can teach us about this practice.


Richards argues that our modern dietheavy in sugar and refined carbohydrateslocks us into a metabolic trap that makes fasting unfruitful and our feasts devoid of meaning.
The good news, he reveals, is that we are beginning to resist the tyranny of processed foods, with millions of people pursuing low carb, ketogenic, paleo, and primal diets.
This growing body of experts argue that eating natural fat and fasting is not only safe, but far better than how we eat today,

Richards provides aday plan which combines a longterm “nutritional ketosis” with spiritual disciplines, The plan can be used any time of the year or be adapted to a penitential season on the Christian calendar, such as Advent or Lent,

Synthesizing recent science with ancient wisdom, Eat, Fast, Feast brings together the physical, mental, and spiritual benefits of intermittent fasting to help Christians improve their lives and their health, and bring them closer to God.
A good read that makes a biological and spiritual case for incorporating fasting into your lifestyle, supported by a ketogenic diet, This just wasnt the best timing for me to read it with parishioners giving me carbs and sugars left and right The nutritional plan I coach through the FASTer Way to Fat Loss is not totally in line with this book we are not low carb but does share some of the same principles around fasting.
I was hoping to see ideas for how to take my fasting to a more spiritual level now that it's a transactional part of my daily life, I don't feel like I got that but the book did have some good historical aspects to ponder that I had not considered, Glad I read it and gained new knowledge but would not necessarily recommend the book to others, This book was lifechanging. It got me on the right track in regards to my diet, I also really enjoyed learning a little bit more about the Christian tradition of fasting, This was an interesting one, I picked it up from the new nonfic shelf at the library and was pleasantly surprised to read a foreword by Dr, Jason Fun AND to learn that the author was Catholic, While the food recs werent for me lots of meat suggested, I found the little historical tidbits about fasting fascinating and I liked having a layout for easing into fasting and progressing towards longer fasts.
While I dont like the reference to “friendly” and “enemy” foods foods being morally neutral, I enjoyed reading the science behind ketosis being a better starting point for fasting as well as reading about the medical benefits of a fast.
There were less references to the spiritual benefits to fasting than I expected, but all in all a good read, I just finished the book and ampounds lighter, I listened to Jay Richards' interview on Bible Answer Man while I was driving home one day and it sounded like a book that I needed to read.
I love it and intend to do this the rest of my life because it is not a diet it is a way of life, I have a degree in nutrition and I have seen the changes and discoveries that have happened down through the years, In thes, eggs were practically forbidden because they contain lots of cholesterol, Breakfast was a must. After all you fasted fortohours while you slept, Later the new food pyramid had bread and grains as the strong base of the pyramidtoservings, Obesity and diabetes are out of control, He recommends a keto diet and working up to fasting, I still have a hard time accepting that low carb and high fat is healthy, or course not all fat is healthy, and he explains all that, First week you fast forhours and there is ahour window you have to eat the keto diet, Next week, three days with ahour fast and ahour window for eating, Next weekthree days with one meal a day andhours of fasting, Eventually you can work up to,hours of fasting because your body is in ketosis and using the fat stores, The author gives Biblical background on fasting and how fasting has been used in the church, and how we have gotten away from the practice, I like the spiritual aspect of this book, and the spiritual aspect is necessary for me to get my appetite under control, I have never been obese but my appetite was sort of running my life, This may not work for everyone, but this is a way of life for me, So far this has been my favorite of the several fasting books I've read through, Richards uses a similar approach as many, transition to Keto, intermittent fast, gradually increase to full multiday water fasts,

What he does that is unique is to include a couple of chapters of historical church tradition with each stage of the program, This is primarily from a Catholic tradition, but as a Baptist I was able to easily relate, and even be challenged to explore these areas that Id not really experienced before.


There were a handful of doctrinal things that for me werent compatible at all, but it didnt take away from the overall program,

His humor was especially delightful, especially considering the potential stoicism of the topic, Highly recommended! This is the book I couldnt find and needed when I started a fasting g lifestyle back in, Jay W Richards does a fantastic job of weaving together the scientific, historical, spiritual and physical reasons for fasting, As someone who discovered a fasting lifestyle via Dr Jason Fung six years ago, I appreciated the way Richards touted the benefits of eating a ketogenic diet and showed the differences of other “diet” lifestyles in comparison to it.

As a Catholic, I concur that our current culture lives for feasting and it has been to the detriment of our health and that incorporating the spiritual reasons for fasting can truly transform our whole body, mind and soul.

I read this via audio and ebook but will definitely be adding a physical copy to my library to lend and refer to in the years to come.
Bookin
Stars

This book is good but uneven in its goodness,

Pros:
Its good to see a Christian writing on this forgotten spiritual practice
Richards has some excellent easy to understand discussions about what happens to us physically when we fast, and stresses the need for metabolic flexibility
The author walks you thru different types of fast from an initial/time restricted window to a multi day fast
The author tries to incorporate research into his discussions while alternating chapters with spiritual perspectives

Cons
Hes a little too proKeto diet while barely hiding at times his disdain for vegan diets if thats your thing.
I thought he could have done a better job with persuasiveness instead of being needlessly combative though he does try to check himself in this
Out ofchapters there is only one on feasting, and even then he barely scratches the surface.
The book amp reader would have benefitted from a bit more of an exploration on this topic, especially since Feast is in the title
He is a bit too pro Roman Catholic amp its hard to fault him for this since thats what he is but he does try to moderate it a bit and even quotes some Protestants from time to time.
But still, “we can offer our suffering for repentance” / “salvific suffering” keeps me from being able to offer an unqualified endorsement,

Other than that, this book is an enjoyable read and a challenge to think more about eating, fasting, and feasting,

John Pipers book on fasting, A Hunger for God, is a good compliment to Richards book, though it doesnt touch on the physical components,

Overall, I am thankful for Richards effort and benefited from reading it and will no doubt go back to this book again and again, .