Is the key to unlocking fitness stied to an ancient way of eating?  Dr. Jay Richards says yes. Richards, Senior Research Fellow at the Heritage Foundation, argues that Catholics can spiritually and physically benefit by returning to a feeding cycle of eating, fasting, and feasting.

Dr. Richards says it’s regrettable that Catholics have lost the practice of fasting. “We lost it in part because we got lazy, fasting does take some work.” However, the American diet has made it harder to fast, “we eat very high amounts of sugar and refined carbohydrates, and we eat very frequently throughout the day.” Simply cutting out the carbs, of course, will cause blood sugar to drop.

So, Americans who want to change their food habits will have to do more than cut out pasta. “It might sound counterintuitive, but the first thing you’re going to want to do if you’re going to drop those carbs way down… is [to] bump up the fat significantly.  That allows a different pathway in your metabolism to kick in,” Richards told Drew Mariani.

Richards also told Mariani he encourages people to engage in extended fasts – between 24-36 hours. Working up to a longer fast can be difficult, but achievable. “Slowly narrow the window in which you eat over a few weeks, and then slowly build up the time in which you fast and what you discover is…it’s hard,” he explained. While it might be difficult at first, “It’s a skill that your body can adapt to.”

The liturgical life of the Church is instructive for the feast and fast cycle. “There are some days when you eat modestly. There are some days I think God wants us not to eat at all,” Richards explained to Drew. There are also days like Sundays and solemnities in the Church calendar where it is proper to eat desserts and feast.

Richards believes fasting has both spiritual and physical benefits. “I believe a fasting lifestyle can reintegrate our lives – both our health and our spiritual life.”