Fasting - when you don't eat large meals to begin with . . .?

[mellowcalico]

Wow, you eat a lot of carbs, and you’re so lucky to be able to consume milk! I can’t because of digestive disorders.
Maybe in your case a few more vegetables may take the place of the fruit, but beyond that I think that, as long as you’re healthy there’s no reason to change.
Some people do well with less food and you sound like one of them, I’ve also heard that six small meals are much better for us than the three larger ones we were trained to eat.

You know, I never really thought of it as I eat a lot of carbs, but I see what you mean. I know fruit counts as a carb for diabetics and I tend to eat fruit a lot. I try to eat proteins though the day like peanut butter and hummus. Even my spaghetti sauce (which is home-made) is mostly tomato and that’s a fruit too. I really don’t eat a lot of meat. I am not vegetarian or anything, just not a big meat fan. I should have noted, that’s one cup of cooked pasta. That’s about the size of a baseball (it’s not a plateful of pasta).

I’ll keep my banana (get foot cramps from all the walking I do if I don’t eat them). But I can replace that apple for sure. The hard part is veggies in season this time of year.

 

[3DOCTORS]

You know, I never really thought of it as I eat a lot of carbs, but I see what you mean. I know fruit counts as a carb for diabetics and I tend to eat fruit a lot. I try to eat proteins though the day like peanut butter and hummus. Even my spaghetti sauce (which is home-made) is mostly tomato and that’s a fruit too. I really don’t eat a lot of meat. I am not vegetarian or anything, just not a big meat fan. I should have noted, that’s one cup of cooked pasta. That’s about the size of a baseball (it’s not a plateful of pasta).

I’ll keep my banana (get foot cramps from all the walking I do if I don’t eat them). But I can replace that apple for sure. The hard part is veggies in season this time of year.

Ha ha, I remember reading some “carb lover’s diet” book a year or two ago, and let me tell you I was SHOCKED to find that their definition of “carbs” even included vegetables (and fruits, but that’s a little easier to understand since they have sugar). I guess I’d just always thought of “carbs” as synonymous with “starchy or sugary foods” (a.k.a. “comfort foods” ). And then there’s the whole business about refined carbs vs. unrefined carbs. That’s what I thought the book was going to address. So here was the book’s cover leading me to believe I was going to be able to have my comfort foods and lose weight. :bounce: Then I start reading and find out it’s a bait-and-switch!

I returned that book to the library! Now don’t get me wrong, I’ve reformed a lot of my diet, but I do better if I don’t forbid foods but rather retrain myself to eat them in moderation and to add in more healthy foods. Making a food “forbidden” just makes me obsess about it and want it more. And I have lost weight this way.

Lent is Lent, I got off topic there really telling my normal, non-Lenten way. During Lent some years I’ve fasted from sweets. Worst 15 minutes of my life, LOL!

 

[LilyM]

The problem is that a lot of us have no idea idea what moderate meal means without a couple of specific examples.

Moderate is what is moderate for you personally. Like I said earlier, my personal
definition would be a little less than what you personally would normally eat in one meal.

If a normal meal for you is a sandwich and a banana then a moderate meal for you is one sandwich and half a banana. If you would normally eat a steak, salad and a piece of pie then have a smaller serve of steak or maybe cut out the pie. That sort of thing.

 

[Kathrin]

concerning carbs… I am kind of in the same boat THERE Sorry that this is off topic… I am additionally a vegetarian. I try to get protein from milk producs, soy milk, peanuts, sometimes other things. I also like fruit. I also like carrots a lot but I read they have a very high carb index or whatever that is called… ? Ok maybe we shouldn’t talk about this here because it is off topic, I am nt sure?

 

[Mrs_Sally]

It doesn’t matter if one eats lots of meat or little meat. We cannot have any meat on Ash Wednesday or the Fridays in Lent.

The same with fasting. The Church gives the guideline of 1 meal a day (plus the two snacks if necessary). We should all be able to figure out how that works for us individually.

It seems sometimes that all the discussion about how much or how little we normally at or plan to eat, or how shakes and porter aren’t really food, etc distracts us from the point of the fasting.

This isn’t a foodie fad or a Holy weight loss/cleanse effort. It is a means to draw us closer to God.

 

[Reuben_J]

Unless health is an issue, fasting is to eat less than what you normally have. We fast from food not because we want to avoid the calories or to get slim. It is to experience being with less or without. In other word, it is to deny the want of the flesh. If eating less is not practical, especially due to health reason, then there are many vices, weaknesses and indulgences in our lives that we can give up during this Lent.

Have a blessed Lent.

 

[TimothyH]

i just asked because I have heard before that alcohol is forbidden on strict fast days?

Professed religious - Benedictines, Cistercians, Carmelites, Dominicans, Franciscans, etc., are exempt from canon law. The laws of the Church specific to fasting don’t apply to them. They do what the superior of their community says.

Pennance in general, is part of the divine law and religious are not exempt from divine law. The abbot or superior of the community gets to decide what pennance means in the context of the Rule of Life observed by each of the orders.

If the superior says they are to eat but are to sleep on the hardwood floor instead, then that is what they do. They are exempt from the laws which tell us non-religious that we are to fast.

-Tim-

 

[waterbrook]

I think I am in a bad mood but I found this thread irritating me. I really don’t get why the details of what may or may not constitute a fast are such a cause for concern. To me it’s missing the point., it is a distraction…from the less easy task of facing up to ones true self.

 

[3DOCTORS]

It doesn’t matter if one eats lots of meat or little meat. We cannot have any meat on Ash Wednesday or the Fridays in Lent.

The same with fasting. The Church gives the guideline of 1 meal a day (plus the two snacks if necessary). We should all be able to figure out how that works for us individually.

It seems sometimes that all the discussion about how much or how little we normally at or plan to eat, or how shakes and porter aren’t really food, etc distracts us from the point of the fasting.

This isn’t a foodie fad or a Holy weight loss/cleanse effort. It is a means to draw us closer to God.

No, I didn’t mean for it to be about weight loss or anything. I think posters who mentioned diet-related topics (myself included) were really doing so peripheral to the issue of what is assumed by most (in the US and similar countries) to constitute a “regular” meal. If one doesn’t eat the “average” or “common” foods/quantities of foods it’s just hard not to get into the topic. And maybe the discussion strayed a bit far in that direction here and there.

I really did intend to post this out of curiosity because of my own situation - and it seems to have struck a chord with some. I actually am with you waterbrook in that I was finding the questions in my mind distracting. Therefore I started this thread to get other points of view so I wouldn’t just sit there ruminating too much over it. Does that help?

 

[Kathrin]

I actually am with you waterbrook in that I was finding the questions in my mind distracting. Therefore I started this thread to get other points of view so I wouldn’t just sit there ruminating too much over it. Does that help?

can soo relate to this

 

[waterbrook]

3doctors, as a non catholic I do think that no one should put their health at risk by fasting. I was reading something the other day that suggested the point of fasting was to make room for God so may be if you eat little and healthily already may be there is something else that one can fast from, may be forums …I can understand that it was helpful for you to ask your question I was just wanting to add an other dimension to the conversation. Good luck with keeping lent,

 

[mellowcalico]

No, I didn’t mean for it to be about weight loss or anything. I think posters who mentioned diet-related topics (myself included) were really doing so peripheral to the issue of what is assumed by most (in the US and similar countries) to constitute a “regular” meal. If one doesn’t eat the “average” or “common” foods/quantities of foods it’s just hard not to get into the topic. And maybe the discussion strayed a bit far in that direction here and there.

That’s pretty much what I was getting at. I don’t eat “meals” and eat small amounts though out the day. I suppose it could be called “snacking.” So trying discern what two smaller meals is (for me) is a bit confusing. How should I do it? If I just eat half of what I normally do, then I am still snacking by most people’s definition (which is to be avoided). If I lump the food together to actually make it “small meals” then I am actually eating more than I usually do at a sitting (which doesn’t feel like fasting as it makes me feel “Full”).

Like I said, I just didn’t eat–although since I was getting dizzy and needed to do a lot of driving, I figured it was wise to have something with a little protein in it before taking off into the freezing rain.

As for the side tangent on the carbs thing, another poster brought it up as an aside–it wasn’t the main subject.

 

[Kathrin]

Mellowcalico, why don’t you speak with a priest about this before Good Friday?