Lenten fasting and weight loss? Amen!

 A blessed Ash Wednesday to all. Whether you're Catholic or not I invite you to join me as we kick off the Lenten season in a Fat-Free February weight loss challenge. Lent is a time in the  Catholic liturgical calendar when we walk with our Savior, through the temptation in the desert on His way to the cross. We practice Christian values of prayer, fasting and almsgiving. We are called to follow these all year long but in a special way in the Lenten season. We return our attention to these core habits which I can really admit in my own life, sometimes gets diverted. 

The focus of this blog is on weight loss, specifically how I lost 100 times without gastric bypass. So you may be wondering does it really count for spiritual reasons if I'm trying to lose weight by fasting. This question came up in a q&A on an orthodox Christian site as well. And my answer to that is yes if you are fasting for religious reasons first and weight loss as a happy outcome. Actually, having said that, any practice that gets us focusing less on ourselves, our needs and more usually our wants, has spiritual benefit too. 

And if you are fasting as the church calls for, by eating simpler, low to zero sugar, fish instead of fatty heavy meat, less dairy and no junk, then you will lose weight regardless. So part of my Family at Free February weight loss challenge will include a Catholic Lenten type fast. And I will follow my Lenten fast by being more faithful to calorie restricting in a 1200 calorie diet. I will also do intermittent fasting every Wednesday and Friday, following the (keto) bread and water fast that Our Lady, the Blessed Mother called us to at her Medjugorie apparition. I will talk more about that later. Blessings to you all. Love mar

How I lost 100 pounds with the social justice diet: spiritual fasting for weight loss and just to be a good human

Hello friends! Sunday at mass, we heard a priest from Kenya speak on conditions of hunger in developing nations. And it occurred to me that on this weight loss blog, I talk a lot about hunger. But I haven't a clue on it means to starve. Today's thoughts center on how I lost 100 pounds by eating a social justice diet. 

What is social justice as determined by the Catholic church? It involves many things: outreach, sharing, giving, praying. Those are not just actions I should perform on Sunday, or when I happen to think about it. Just as in weight loss, social justice must be a daily habit. It's not about throwing a few bucks in the collection plate, and then back to business as usual. It's about living in solidarity with the poor. 

I lost 100 pounds by relearning how to eat simpler, cleaner and less. I call this the social justice diet because eating less helps everyone. We see on the show "My 600-lb Life" examples of morbid obesity brought on by eating too much junk. I know, some weight loss experts would like us not to call any food bad. But "My 600-lb Life" proves a steady diet of unhealthy, addictive, sugary, starchy, greasy, breaded and fried foods ain't good...for the body, the planet, the population or our entire world infrastructure. 

"My 600-lb Life" Dr. Now uses a 1200 calorie diet which is a great place to begin weight loss. But it's also about what's on that 1200 calorie diet. To shed obesity, I eat fresher, simpler homemade, closer to the farm, less processed and fewer fast food meals. This social justice diet helps everyone: farmers, growers, animals, environment and those in need. 

I practice spiritual fasting, a type of intermittent fasting called for by Catholic social justice. I give up certain foods and eat less of others. Spiritual fasting calls for eating less expensive restaurant food and more simple home-cooked meals, which is perfect for weight loss and family bonding and saving money. 

And what's cool about eating a 1200 calorie diet of simpler meals, not only do I lose weight and manage obesity, I'm spending less, thinking less about food, more satisfied and happier emotionally. Spiritual fasting gives me more time and energy to put into helping those in need instead of creating need with rampant consumerism. 

(Top picture is me before I lost 100 pounds and bottom is after.) 

My How-to-lose 100 pounds Diet: Fasting, religious diets, food swaps and more

In 2014, I lost 100 pounds and a lot of people have asked me, "so how'd ya get from <--- to ---->?"  I don't follow a specific weight loss diet because there's no one meal plan that hits everything I'm looking for.  Here are the basic tenets of my "how to lose 100 pounds" plan.

TAKE WHAT YOU CAN USE AND LEAVE THE REST

Al-Anon says "take what you like and leave the rest." My eating strategies are culled from a variety of weight loss programs. The Ketogenic (Keto) Diet, South Beach, hypertension DASH diet, paleo, Mediterranean Diet, Weight Watchers and more.

FOOD SWAPS

Some of my favorite weight loss tricks are food swaps. Using the "eat this, not that" and "hungry girl" concepts, I create recipes that trade fatty, sugary, salty, junky ingredients for healthier, low-calorie ones.

RELIGIOUS FASTS

I also follow many of the dietary fasts and restrictions of other religions. I'm not a Muslim, but Islam's halal foods are typically healthier. So are Jewish kosher foods. I am Catholic and observe Lent, but I try to do it all year-long. I try to live and eat simpler as Buddhists and Hindus do.

Even doctors recommend some fasting (I say "even" because I got very little help with weight loss from the medical community, aside from advice to get gastric bypass surgery. So I don't put much faith in traditional medicine.

VEGAN AND DIABETIC
Arguably, vegan or at least vegetarian is how we should all be eating. I'm by no means vegan, but I have tried to reduce processed foods. And I'm not diabetic but before I lost weight my glucose number was getting higher. I was tentatively diagnosed with pre-diabetes (aka insulin resistance or metabolic syndrome). So I try to avoid refined sugar as if I had Type 2 diabetes.

SUPERBOWL FOODS

"Bowling" is not only a sport but a trendy eating style just now. It just means eating food in bowls, typically based on salad and soup. I've begun eating less starch-based meals and foods on bread and swapped with vegetables. Our best meals feature high protein and lots of veggie varieties. And we love to make big pots of warm, nourishing soups bursting with herbs and low in sodium.