Three Widows, One Powerful Discovery: How Spiritual Fasting Transformed Their Grief
“The Lord is near to the brokenhearted,
and saves the crushed in spirit.”
– Psalm 34:18
What happens when the deepest grief of your life collides with your relationship with food? Many women discover that after losing a spouse, food becomes a source of comfort, distraction, or relief from overwhelming emotions. Yet what if the healing you long for isn’t found in food at all? If you’ve ever struggled with emotional eating, grief, loneliness, or trying to numb difficult emotions, this episode will speak directly to your heart.
In this powerful conversation, Beth sits down with three remarkable women from the Delay and Pray Group Coaching Experience—Christine Canino, Amy Blakely, and Shirley Lokar. Each woman shares her journey through widowhood, emotional eating, weight gain, and ultimately spiritual healing through Catholic fasting. Their stories reveal how spiritual fasting became more than a weight loss tool; it became a pathway to deeper intimacy with Christ, freedom from emotional eating, and a renewed understanding of redemptive suffering.
Throughout this episode, you’ll hear inspiring stories of faith, resilience, and transformation as these women discuss grief, healing, metabolic health, emotional eating, and the powerful role spiritual fasting played in their recovery. Most importantly, they share how they discovered that food was never meant to carry the weight of their suffering—only Christ can do that. This conversation is filled with hope for anyone seeking healing in both body and soul.
The women featured in this episode each experienced profound loss after the deaths of their husbands, yet their stories are also stories of renewal. Christine shares how widowhood led her deeper into her Carmelite spirituality and eventually into the Delay and Pray community, where she found support, healing, and purpose. Amy discusses returning to her Catholic faith, walking through grief after her husband’s death, and learning that food could never solve spiritual problems. Shirley courageously shares her journey through decades of suffering, the loss of two husbands, and how she finally found freedom from emotional eating while experiencing remarkable physical and spiritual transformation.
One of the most striking discoveries during this conversation was that all three women lost their husbands to complications related to diabetes. This realization sparked an important discussion about metabolic health, insulin resistance, sugar addiction, and the responsibility we have to care for the bodies God has entrusted to us. Their experiences serve as a powerful reminder that our health choices matter—not only for ourselves but also for the loved ones who depend on us.
This episode also explores the Catholic understanding of redemptive suffering. Rather than running from pain or attempting to numb it with food, these women learned to unite their suffering with Christ. Through spiritual fasting, they discovered that healing often begins when we stop avoiding our wounds and invite God directly into them.
Whether you are grieving a loss, struggling with emotional eating, seeking freedom from food obsession, or desiring a deeper relationship with Christ, this conversation offers encouragement, wisdom, and hope. Their stories remind us that true healing is possible when we surrender our pain to God and allow Him to transform both our bodies and our souls.
God is calling each of us to live happy, holy, and healthy lives. This episode beautifully demonstrates what can happen when we answer that call.
Help Beth reach her goal of bringing 1 Million Catholics back to the Church
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