Diabetes and fasting during Lent

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SeekerWillie

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I’m currently in RCIA, and this will be my first time trying to follow the Church’s recommendations during the Lenten season. In past years, I’ve given something up for Lent, and last year I gave up meat on Ash Wednesday and Fridays. I haven’t attempted to fast, however.

My concern is that I have type-II diabetes, and one of the medications I take acts to lower my blood sugar. If I don’t eat at regular intervals, and my blood sugar drops, I get some of the usual symptoms of low blood sugar: confusion, shaking, sweating, feeling light-headed, headache. I’m willing to try one meal, with other snacks as needed (not totaling the equivalent of another meal) on the appropriate days, but I’m a little worried about low blood sugar. I keep some things on hand at work in case I need to get food in me during the work day, but I don’t want to take advantage of it.

Do any of you deal with this issue during Lent, and if so, what works for you? I’m going to try to talk to my doctor, to see if she has any recommendations, but I figured someone on the forums deals with this each year. 🙂

Thanks in advance for any advice y’all might have!
 
Just so you know, you are exempt from the fast due to your medical condition. If you can’t figure out a way to do it safely…don’t do it. Fasting is a tool to help train your ability for your will to have control over your actions. You learn to ignore what the body says and out of love use your will to say “no, I’m in control… I don’t need to eat right now”. You can get this through practicing good control with your diabetes and also by giving something else up your body craves…like drinking only water during lent if you’re a big beverage drinker and it will be safer for you.

Whatever you do during lent…make it something that’s going to help you fall deeper in love with God. It also should be something that you’re happy to do …not be miserable. AND it needs to be something attainable.

God bless
 
Absolutely right! Fasting is only a requirement for people of the correct age, who don’t have any medical reason to prevent them. People who are sick or doing poorly have always been excused. In fact, sick people are generally excused from abstinence as well.

(You get some really funny stories about monks out in the desert or in monasteries, where the abbot would be trying to get some scrawny sick guy to eat some meat to get some serious protein into him, and scrawny guy would be desperately trying to get out of it - “I can do it, coach!” is the general feeling. Sometimes the abbot pulls out the nuclear option - “Either you eat meat on Friday in Lent, or I’ll make everybody in the monastery eat meat on Friday in Lent!”)

(Okay, maybe it’s only funny if you have family members who consistently pull this kind of stuff when they’re sick… but mine do!)

On the other side of the spectrum, people who have to do really hard physical work have historically also been excused from fasting, or had it softened a lot.

Fasting and abstinence are meant to help you, not hurt you. The Church is called Mother Church for a reason, and she’s not going to make you do anything that would mess you up.

Focus on alms/good works and prayer. That’s the part of Lent that a lot of people forget, and they are 2/3 of the Lent formula. Fasting is only 1/3.
 
The purpose of fasting is to sacrifice and remember Jesus’ sacrifice for us.

I am hypoglycemic. Plus, I can’t eat any grains and my son was allergic to fish (so what to eat on Fridays?) The Church does not say I still need to fast and abstain.

So, I do other things to sacrifice. Here are some things I’ve done over the years:
  • Go to adoration for an hour (in addition to time I already spend there)
  • Read a book by a saint or pope (or other religious book)
  • Give up something that won’t hurt my body. Examples: coffee (that’s hard, tea, a particular cheese I like, etc)
  • make sure on Fridays that I’m not eating anything special. So no special treats or snacks. No condiments (ketchup, etc)
  • go to nursing home to visit
Basically, I do something I’d not normally do (and some times things I’d rather not do)
 
SeekerWillie,

I am also a Type 2 diabetic, and I no longer fast anymore for Lent. Rather, I try and do other things instead, that don’t require food.

I try and focus on the spiritual things that we can do during Lent, like trying to do more reading, more prayer time, trying to focus on watching more sins, etc.–doing something like that, that would help with my spiritual life in some way.

I have had other health issues that have prevented me from fasting, anyway. I have to take different medications throughout the day, where I am required to eat something each time that I do, so I would not be able to fast, anyway. This was even before I knew that I was a diabetic.

Then with also being a diabetic, I also have to have snacks too during the day besides meals, so I would not be able to fast, either.
 
Um…yeah. What the others said. I’m sure God appreciates the fasting devotion, but it’s entirely man-made. God prefers you to maintain your health. 😉
 
I am also Type II diabetic, though my medication (metformin) does not generally lead to low blood sugar unless I really go crazy on not eating.

That said, I have much better control if I eat normal meals at normal times than if I fast, skip a meal or upset my meal schedule, or miss out on exercise.

That said, the Church does not require that diabetics fast. Moreover, the definition of fasting is not “no food at all”, but one normal meal and two snacks during the day that together don’t add up to a normal meal. But even that’s too much for me, and as I said, the Church does not require it if you have a medical condition (or when you become 59 years old, that is, you enter your sixtieth year).
 
First, keep in mind that the Catholic definition of fasting does not mean going without food all day. It means cutting back.

If you wish to cut back in observance of Ash Wednesday and Good Friday, you might try sticking strictly to the diet your nutritionist has given you. If the meal plan says you should be eating 2 oz. of protein and a small apple, actually eat 2 oz. and a SMALL apple – there’s a good chance that while it’s completely in line with what your health care people want it’s less than you normally eat.

Second, you might test a few extra times during the day. If you find yourself going low, drink some juice or whatever other treatment your doctor has told you to use. And if you’re fine, then you have the reassurance of seeing the numbers in front of you.
 
Another T2 here! On Fridays and during Lent I aim to follow my diet very strictly - no cheats, which includes sugar-free goodies. I usually add spiritual reading during Lent.
 
I am a type 1 diabetic and a convert I stopped worrying about the fast and abstinence along time ago.
 
thequeen said:
I am a type 1 diabetic and a convert I stopped worrying about the fast and abstinence along time ago.
Click to expand...
I’m curious about how your diabetes would not be compatible with abstaining from meat. Do you react differently to beef or chicken as a protein than to fish or eggs?
 
I’m not diabetic but have other serious health issues and am thus currently exempt from fasting. (My condition has not yet been determined to be chronic.) I do, however, maintain the abstinence and refrain from eating all animal flesh (fish included) on Ash Wednesday and all Fridays in Lent. This approach was defined through a collaborative effort between my doctor and pastor. Everyone is different, so I recommend that anyone with similar challenges consult with their own doctor and pastor to find what would be best under the circumstances.
 
SuscipeMeDomine said:
I’m curious about how your diabetes would not be compatible with abstaining from meat. Do you react differently to beef or chicken as a protein than to fish or eggs?
Click to expand...
I do eat fish or some other non meat protein However I cannot do a fast because that could make me blood sugar drop too low.
 
thequeen said:
I do eat fish or some other non meat protein However I cannot do a fast because that could make me blood sugar drop too low.
Click to expand...
Thanks. I was confused because you said you didn’t do fasting or abstinence and I was trying to figure out what was wrong with non-meat dishes.
 
(Type 2) I use an insulin pump and frankly have to admit that I am able to fast. My basal insulin takes care of my fasting blood sugar and I only use as much bolus insulin as needed.

I also had acute pancreatitis, and to prove a point, I ate nothing for five days in the hospital while I recovered. My only intake was one liter of IV fluid with 50 grams of sugar in it, every 8 hours. So, I just had to adjust my basal insulin (the intermittant continuous injection of insulin) to offset the sugar in the IV solution. I lost 17 pounds in 5 days.

But, that said, not all diabetics are controlled this way. Some “have to eat” to balance the drugs they take. That’s the way probably a lot of diabetics are glucose controlled – by eating to balance out the insulin or other drugs they take.

So, someone with diabetes (SWD) has to KNOW how to control his/her blood sugar, which could be one definition of fasting in Lent, all by itself. Others might not know how much mortification that involves.

Whatever regime SWD is on, they have to follow it. It may or may not allow “fasting.”
 
Thank you for all the wonderful feedback and ideas! I’d suspected that my condition meant I didn’t really “have” to fast, but I wanted to do something, and you’ve given me many ideas.

I think I will try to cut back on fast days, and not have any “treats” those days. If I start to feel shaky, I always have something at work I can much on to get me back on track.

Thanks again! Y’all are awesome! 👍
 
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