The Christian Nutritionist

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48: Eat, Fast, Feast with Jay W. Richards

Chelsea Blackbird

I had the pleasure of interviewing NYT best-selling author Jay W. Richards about his brand new book Eat Fast Feast for this week’s podcast. It’s everything I love and preach about the benefits of feasting and fasting for metabolic flexibility. 
In this episode Jay shares how he went from eating every few hours to fasting for days at time. He lays out his six week plan for increasing fasting ability. He explains our history and calling to fast as Christians. This episode will motivate and strengthen your spiritual conviction to incorporate fasting and feasting for Spirit, Mind and Body health.

EPISODE 48: Eat, Fast, Feast with Jay W. Richards

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SHOW NOTES

(0:00) Intro

(0:44) Welcoming today’s guest: New York Times bestselling author Jay W. Richards

(2:50) WHY as Christians we’re meant to fast:

  • Christians did this regularly for hundreds and hundreds of years.

  • The wonders of fasting:

    • Power of prayer

    • Discipline the body

    • Helps clear your mind and strengthen your body

    • It’s good for your soul!

  • True health is a Spirit, Mind, and Body approach.

    • Fasting brings together these components.

(7:04) Jesus said, WHEN you fast, not IF you fast…

  • Christians are supposed to model their lives after Christ.

  • Jesus’ 40-day fast:

    • Mother of all spiritual boot camps

    • Season of lent

    • Making the historical case

(10:07) Where did the disconnect come in?

  • #1. The logic for different kinds of fasts disappeared over time.

    • Historical fasts made sense at a certain time.

(12:59) Jay’s experience of coming into the practice of fasting:

  • Overcoming the mindset of eating all throughout the day.

    • Mind shift from feeling the need to eat all the time.

  • Insulin Resistance

  • Utilizing fat for fuel

    • Metabolic Flexibility

      • Stoking metabolism

      • Tapping into fat storage

(16:31) Modern day dietary advice whiplash:

  • Bringing it back to Real Food the Way God Made It.

  • Sugar burner / Fat burner

(17:55) Jay’s experience switching into eating a higher fat diet:

(22:25) How Jay overcame a serious esophageal issue:

  • Since he was a child, food would get stuck in his esophagus.

  • A condition where the esophagus fills with white blood cells.

  • 6-food elimination diet

    • Noticed improvement in just 3 days.

    • He became acutely aware of the affects of food.

  • Standard American Diet

  • Had to go 36-hours without eating before his procedure:

    • He felt strong, lucid, clear

    • Began researching the benefits of fasting

“For over three decades I had been three days away from a cure and didn’t know it.”

(30:37) “Our ancestors were victims of scarcity, and we are victims of abundance”

(31:32) What’s the deal with bread? There sure is a lot of bread eating going on in the bible!

  • In modern times:

    • Gluten sensitivity and intolerance

    • The way that bread is refined and processed.

    • Microbiome tends to be more compromised.

  • We are not necessarily well designed to eat a lot of grains.

    • Bio-individual

(36:06) Jay’s book: Eat, Fast, Feast

  • 6-week approach

  • Week 1: Getting fat adapted and processing fat

    • Knowing what it feels like to be in ketosis

  • Week 2: 16:8 Fast

    • Once you are fat adapted, the goal would be to start limiting the window of time during the day in which you eat.

    • Eating in an 8-hour period, fasting in a 16-hour period

  • Week 3: 24 Routine

    • 3 days that week, limit to a 4 hour eating window.

    • Insulin levels lower, body gets used to burning fat for fuel

  • Week 4:

    • 3 days that week, limit to having 1 meal (1-hour window)

  • Week 5:

    • 3 days that week, limit 1 meal and consume 1/4 the amount of calories

    • Fasting Mimicking Diet (Valter Longo)

  • Week 6: Multi-day fast

    • 36-72 hour fast

    • Autophagy takes awhile to kick in.

  • Seasonal fasts

(43:19) Chelsea and Jay recap!

  • Working up to multi-day fasts

  • Training the body

(49:20) How the Spirit, Mind, and Body connects to fasting:

  • Fasting and spiritual connection with God

    • Acuteness of thinking

    • Sharpness of mind

    • Mental clarity

  • Physiological effects and benefits

  • Science is always coming around to what the bible has always told us.

(52:29) Spiritual warfare:

  • Fasting and prayer is a powerful combination

  • Ancient traditions

  • Rediscovering spiritual riches

  • I am not above going for you vanity jugular 😂

(54:30) Jay’s anchor questions! ⚓️

  • Anchor meal

  • Anchor verse

 (100:49) Outro & Disclaimer

Thanks for listening! Have a healthy and blessed week!

XOXO,

Chelsea