Food, Faith, and Fasting

Rita Madden shares some reflections from the book titled, "How to Live a Holy Life."

Rita Madden reminds us of the blessing of working together in all facets of our lives, especially as we struggle to change some aspect of our life.

Feasting is not the opposite of fasting, but a most joyful application of the fruits of our Lenten spiritual efforts! Take what you have cultivated during the fast, and feast with joy by following these 5 tips.

The Church offers us guidance for what to eat and what to abstain from during the fast, but does not give much guidance in the way of exactly how much to eat. Today, I am hoping to suggest that, when keeping the proper spirit of the fast, the wisdom of how much we need is already within us.

In this episode, Krista Fedorchak, the new co-host of Food, Faith and Fasting, unpacks the differences between the fasting mindset and the dieting mindset, so we can better understand and approach this ancient Christian Discipline within the context of our current society's understanding of dieting.

Modern day medicine is encouraging people to practice gratitude as it is good for health. We are called by our Holy Tradition to give thanks for all things! Following the Holy Orthodox Tradition provides us the tools we need to care for soul and body.

Rita Madden shares how to make a change that lasts in our lives through small but persistent choices.

In this podcast we explore how to make small changes in our life to benefit our soul and body based on various practices that our Holy Tradition provides to us.

In this podcast we discover wonderful wisdom from A Monastery's Kitchen to bring Christ into everything we do.

In this podcast we examine a teaching from the Desert Mother Amma Syncletica to understand how to care for our health in a Christ centered manner.

In this podcast we explore how guidance from St. John of Kronstadt to handle spiritual sickness, following Holy Orthodox Tradition, gives us the answers and when we do this, we just feel physically better.

It's simply so beautiful how our tradition has the answers for what a lot of modern day self-help programs are offering to help one care for their health.

Rita Madden shares some wisdom from Abba Pambo to aid us in keeping the correct spirit for the Great Fast.

In this brief podcast we look at a beautiful teaching from St. John Kronstadt about our true food.

In this podcast, we see great teachings for our relationship with material things, our earth and body, through teachings from a saint that lived around 1500 years ago! Starting January 21, 2021, Rita will be offering my Food Faith and fasting workshop in the virtual format. Here is the website to learn more and sign up: https://foodfaithfasting.gumroad.com (Workshop Flyer is attached)

In this podcast, we see how the teachings of our holy tradition guide us in understanding our relationship to health.

The late Father Thomas Hopko outlines 55 Maxims that provide guidance to aid us in the New Years Resolution of putting Christ first—and as we all well know, this is the most important resolution of all!

Rita explores the use of modern day medicine and how it lines up with our Holy Orthodox Tradition.

As we continue to move through the fast, it is quite beautiful to see how the physical end of our fasting tradition aids us in the spiritual hunger we all feel.

We know, with Christ, anything is possible! In this podcast we review the importance of not giving up or losing faith when we are struggling to meet a goal.

With fasting being such a buzz diet, craze right now, Rita Madden helps us to gain some perspective through the teachings of St. Issac the Syrian.

Rita Madden shares St. Gregory of Nyssa's writing on The Lord's Prayer, and provides insight on stress management and how to eat.

Rita Madden encourages us to continue the fast with words from St. Paisios of the Holy Mountain.

Rita Madden encourages us to prepare our lives for the journey of Great Lent by working for the healing of the whole earth.

Rita reflects on how physical objects can help us attain food for our soul, and how we can use physical objects to help us in prayer.

Rita discusses ways that we can create structure in our lives for silence and prayer.

Rita explains the use of the Sanctification Prayer that we pray before eating, asking the Holy Spirit to fill and guide what we are partaking in.

Following the feasts and fasts of the Church cannot only help us care for our own health, but it can also benefit the environment and God's creation.

Rita shares her reflections on a short conversation by two desert fathers on laying new foundations in our lives.

Rita discusses how we can face our health struggles in a way that aids in the healing and growth of our souls in Christ.

Rita reflects on the journey of Great Lent, and encourages those of us who feel we have lost our way. Setting realistic goals can help us to keep our focus on the rest of the journey towards Pascha.

Rita provides good insights into how we can keep the fast of Great Lent, and encourages us to stay connected to others who can help us be accountable and on the right path.

Jamey Bennett approached me about doing an interview as on ancientfaith.com he has blogged about fasting and created music about healthy eating. Jamey shares his thoughts from his blog post titled, "Paleo Living and Orthodox Lent."

Rita encourages us to deepen our Advent Fast by simplifying our choices of what and where to eat, so that we can spend more time attending services, praying and serving others who are in need. She also introduces a new program called My Beautiful Advent which can be found at http://www.mybeautifuladvent.com.

Caring for our health and fighting our passions requires compassion. We need to start with showing compassion to ourselves to aid us in creating sustainable changes.

In this podcast, Rita discusses how fasting can actually lead to healthier food choices. She will also look at a 16-hour fasting approach and it's benefits to care for our body and soul alike.

Rita Madden shares the latest research regarding the way fasting helps our bodies to function properly, even as we keep our focus on prayer during Great Lent.

Rita Madden shares some readings from "Meditations for Great Lent" by Archimandrite Vassilios Papavassiliou, and reminds us that the purpose of Lent is to grow in humility and love. Sign up today to be apart of My Beautiful Lent!

Rita interviews Cynthia Damaskos about the current research on gluten. Rita and Cynthia are the creators of My Beautiful Lent, a program to help Orthodox Christians in all stages of life to use the fast for the nourishment of the soul, leaving room for the blessings that the Church intends and that God wants to give freely. Find out more at http://www.mybeautifullent.com

Many people feel they are experiencing some intolerance to foods (and for sure some people do) but some may be experiencing stress and when their body is in stressed mode it can create physical symptoms that do not feel the best. We will look at the teachings of the Desert Fathers for some wisdom to help with stress. In addition we will explore the program My Beautiful Lent (http://www.mybeautifullent.com) which is an online program being released this Great Lent (2016) to help decrease the stress that somehow appears during this time. The program aids to simplify Great Lent to allow it to be a fruitful season.

This PSA provides information about where to access ideas and guidelines for the FFF Group Setting.

Rita describes the benefits of creative almsgiving for both our spiritual and physical well being.

Rita discusses dedicating a fast to someone to aid us in deepening our prayer for them.

Rita offers suggestions for how to keep your New Year's resolutions.

Rita discusses the sixth and final chapter of her new book, which focuses on stress management.

Rita discusses the fifth chapter of her new book, which focuses on exercise.

Rita introduces her new book Food, Faith, and Fasting: A Sacred Journey to Better Health, published by Ancient Faith Publishing.

Rita discusses the fourth chapter of her new book, which focuses on fasting.

Rita discusses the third chapter of her new book, which focuses on portion control.

Rita discusses the second chapter of her new book, which focuses on how to create balance with our food choices and also sugar consumption.