Orthodox Health 12 Days, Not 12 Pounds of Christmas How to Feast Without Falling Apart
Christ is born. Glorify Him.
The Church does not give us the feast so that we can fall apart... & then punish ourselves in January.
In this episode of The Orthodox Health Podcast, Dr. Michael Christian & John walk through the often-ignored stretch from Nativity to Theophany & ask a different question than the culture does:
How do we feast like Christians... without burning out our bodies, numbing our souls, or turning January into a war on ourselves?
This is not about dieting.
It’s not about guilt.
And it’s not about “being good.”
It’s about gratitude with guardrails... receiving the feast as worship, not as escape.
Drawing from Orthodox theology, St. Basil the Great, & real physiology, this episode covers sleep, light, food, alcohol, almsgiving, & a simple year-end examination to help you enter the New Year grounded rather than wrecked.
Takeaways:
Why the opposite of gluttony is not dieting, but thanksgiving
What the “Twelve Days” are & are not in Orthodox life
How modern “holiday chaos” trains binge → crash → punish cycles
Why sleep & light quietly make or break the feast
How to feast at meals instead of grazing all day
Why protein before sugar & seed oils matters
Alcohol as celebration vs. self-medication
St. Basil on surplus, gluttony, & remembering the poor
Why almsgiving stabilizes the nervous system, not just the soul
A simple Christian year-end examen (without shame)
Why habits must flow from worship, not willpower
Sound Bytes:
- “The opposite of gluttony isn’t dieting—it’s gratitude with guardrails.”
- “We fast badly, we binge the feast, and then we punish ourselves in January.”
- “The line between wine as celebration & alcohol as self-medication gets very blurry this time of year.”
- “A resolution says, ‘I will fix myself.’ A supplication says, ‘Lord, I’m sick—here’s where it hurts.’”
- “Turning outward changes your physiology, not just your morality.”
- “This is not a productivity review. This is repentance without self-hatred.”
Chapters:
00:00 Opener
01:30 Christ Is Born... & the Feast Is a Command
08:01 What the “Twelve Days” Actually Are (& Are Not)
13:55 The Real Story of "The Holidays"
16:33 Why Light & Sleep Can Shape the Feast
19:56 Guardrails 1-3: Ordering Your Circadian Rhythm
27:25 Guardrails 4-6: Feasting Without Metabolic Chaos
33:01 Guardrails 7-9: Alcohol as Celebration vs. Self-Medication
37:45 St. Basil & The Call to Remember the Poor
43:19 Guardrails 10-12: Almsgiving, Hospitality, Thanksgiving
45:26 Why Almsgiving Heals the Body Too
50:11 Year-End Reflection & Examination
56:07 The Blessing & the Danger of Orthodoxy’s Growth
57:44 What Am I Actually Asking God to Heal?
01:01:09 Closing Thoughts & Moving From Willpower to Worship
01:05:56 Outro
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Intro & Outro Music: St. John of Chicago Orthodox Church Choir (Arkansas) - Please support their building fund by buying the whole album here
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