great fast meals

Since May 2017 a medical condition has forced me and my family

to begin what many call a whole foods, plant based, oil free diet.

Because of our Byzantine heritage and tradition,

and because we do it for love of each other,

we call it perpetual fasting and its not as difficult as you might think.

Let me show you!

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Next up:

The Nativity Fast

Gregorian/New Calendar:

November 15-December 24

Julian/Old Calendar:

November 28-January 6

On November 15, we will begin Philip's fast. It is a fast of 40 days (during which the faithful abstain from animal foods, as they do during Great Lent) that continues from the day after the feast of St. Philip until Christmas Eve to spiritually prepare for the coming of the Savior. Many contend that the fast is attributed to the 40 days of prayer after the anniversary of the death of St.Philip and may have nothing to do with the feast of the Nativity. Nevertheless, it does take place forty days before this great feast and many eastern Christians use it to prepare themselves for its celebration. We can do this by fasting from meat and dairy, from sweets, from whatever we chose to be most meaningful to us, or we can prepare in other ways.

It isn't really known when such a fast was introduced. Some say it was observed as early as the sixth century, although some say later in the eighth. However, it was in the year 1166 AD that the Nativity Fast was first formally instituted at a synod at Constantinople to imitate the 40 days that Moses fasted before receiving the tablets of the law.

It is clear that the fast is designed to prepare us both physically and spiritually for the coming of the Savior at Christmas. We are asked to abstain from meat and dairy products, eggs, and oil, just as we do during the Great Fast, but the rules are a bit less strict. We may eat fish and are allowed oil and wine on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and weekends, and on feast days such as the Presentation of the Theotokos and St. Nicholas day.

Watch ByziMom

Catherine Alexander from

Your Word From the Wise

as she interviews

Abouna Moses from

Holy Resurrection Monastery on how to observe the Fast

See the Video HERE

Ask me about my

Whole-Foods, Plant-Based

way of life!

Plant-Based Nutrition Certificate, Completed October 2020, from the T. Colin Campbell Center for Nutrition Studies and eCornell!

My new book is out!...

As you may already know, my family has been advised by our cardiologist to adopt a perpetual fast in order to combat a family health crisis. We've adopted a whole-foods, plant-based, no oil diet...just like our Eastern Christian fast!...full time, and now that we've done it, I can help you get through 40 days of fasting too.