March 11, 2026, fasting in general, and the season of Great Lent in particular, is, as we have all come to learn, most certainly not just about food. At the same time, however, it kind of is. One of the reasons why fasting is as difficult for us as it is, is that our relationship with food, eating and our bodies is fraught with anxiety.
When we fast, the underlying issues that generate this anxiety are exposed and we are forced, as a result, to face the root causes of our disordered eating patterns. Although it is not always the case, most of the time, this being-forced-to-face process, is not one that the worshiper has any control over whatsoever.
Although it might not be something that you hear spoken about that frequently because of the stigma attached to this manifestation of the Spirit’s deep work within our souls, eruptions of out-of-control eating are, especially during the early stages of one’s fasting journey, a common occurrence and can take years to peter out.
The compulsive episodes that occur across the course of the Great Fast (or during any fasting process), although destabilizing, are not something to be ashamed of. They are a sign that the soil of our souls are being tilled by Christ’s healing plow. His plow penetrates areas deep within us that need to be purified before they can be planted with new seeds. New seeds that will bring forth new life.
One of the primary causes of binge eating is restricting certain foods, food groups and food quantities outside of the Church’s fasting and abstinence rule. The more that we restrict, the more eager the body is to binge (when it has the chance) and the more that the body binges, the more eager the ego is to then implement further restrictive measures to try and control this out-of-control drive. It is a vicious cycle.
The Church is a hospital. The fasting and abstinence rule that she puts in place is one of the primary means through which she administers healing. When we follow it, our food/ eating comes under her protection and is, as a result, covered.
The fasting and abstinence rule of the Church carries a special grace. When we organize our eating in accordance with it, we become recipients of this grace. Grace which extends to every area of our lives and to the area of our life concerned with food, self-care and self-nurture, and body image/ relationship, in particular.
Where things become more complicated is when we begin to restrict certain foods/ food groups/ quantity of food—medical cases aside—in accordance with our own logic. The Church’s message regarding food is simple: All food is permitted. All food is good.
- So He said to them, “Are you thus without understanding also? Do you not perceive that whatever enters a man from outside cannot defile him, because it does not enter his heart but his stomach, and is eliminated, thus purifying all foods?” (Mark 7.18–19).
- The next day, as they went on their journey and drew near the city, Peter went up on the housetop to pray, about the sixth hour. Then he became very hungry and wanted to eat; but while they made ready, he fell into a trance and saw heaven opened and an object like a great sheet bound at the four corners, descending to him and let down to the earth. In it were all kinds of four-footed animals of the earth, wild beasts, creeping things, and birds of the air. And a voice came to him, “Rise, Peter; kill and eat.” But Peter said, “Not so, Lord! For I have never eaten anything common or unclean.” And a voice spoke to him again the second time, “What God has cleansed you must not call common” (Acts 10.9–15).
- Let not him who eats despise him who does not eat, and let not him who does not eat judge him who eats; for God has received him (Romans 14.3).
- Eat whatever is sold in the meat market, asking no questions for conscience’ sake; for “the earth is the Lord’s and all its fullness.” If any of those who do not believe invites you to dinner, and you desire to go, eat whatever is set before you, asking no question for conscience’ sake (1 Corinthians 10.25–27).
During fasts and fast days, certain types of this good food are restricted (for a limited time/ for a specific spiritual purpose). Outside of those days/ periods, however, everything is not only permitted but encouraged. Why? Because everything that God created is good! As the titular verse from Genesis tells us: God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good (Genesis 1.31a). When we are in Christ, we partake of this goodness (once again).
All of which goes against the wisdom of the world. The enemy has come up with an overwhelming range of diets, ways of eating, food lifestyles, culinary sub-cultures, counterfeit fasting traditions, and ways of categorizing food according to moral/ ethical criteria that have overtaken our lives and penetrated our hearts.
There is, however, no biblical basis for thinking about food in this way, which is often punishing and/ or destructive. Furthermore, as children of the Church, there is no need. The ecclesial Mother is the one who sets the beat of what and when we should and should not eat. Outside of that, we are radically free.
Lent is a time to become aware of what foreign food doctrines, practices and resultant problem behaviors have entered into the depths of souls and taken root, and to get released from them, so as to return to a simpler, happier and easier way of eating—and through it—living.
Amen +
Source: Apocalypse Substack
