What diet is right for you nutritionally? Keto? Paleo? Vegan? High-carb/low-protein? High-fat/high-protein? Anything in moderation? What about the pattern of taking in that nutrition? Is one meal a day best? Two meals a day? Snacks every two hours?
Perhaps it’s none of these exclusively, but instead a balanced combination of all of these over the course of a year.
Charlie Deist and David Clayton discuss how the traditional cycle of fasting and feasting in the Christian Church - as exemplified by that articulated by the Byzantine Catholic Churches today, allows for a harmonious balance of periodic fasting and different patterns of nutritional intake that works beneficially over an annual cycle and is tailored to needs of the person.
In this, the traditional fast is a statement of the ideal to which we aspire, but in practice generally observed by monks. The seasons of fasting and abstinence are Lent, two weeks prior to the Feast of the Assumption, and four weeks prior to the Feast of the Nativity. During the course of the rest of the year, fasting and abstinence are observed on Wednesdays and Fridays.
Fasting for the Eastern Catholic means there is no consumption of solid food from midnight until noon, or in some cases, 3 pm. Abstinence is refraining from eating meat, dairy products, eggs, alcohol, fish, and olive oil.
However, it is not expected that everyone manages to maintain the strictest application at all times. It is a matter of personal conscience, often formed in conjunction with advice from a spiritual director, as to the degree to which it is adhered to.
Three approaches to fasting and abstinence have developed. These might be called 1) the Law - that is required of us, 2) the Tradition - that which devout followers adhere to, and 3) the Compromise - that which is most widely accepted.
Here is a summary of the Eastern Catholic approach of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church.
