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

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I’ve always been curious about this. Unless I go out to a sit-down restaurant, most of my meals are fairly simple. I have plain tastes in food, too, which is part of the reason for that. So a “regular” meal for me might be a homemade bean burrito and a few tortilla chips, plain tea, and a piece of fruit for dessert. Maybe a piece of pie or a couple of cookies added if they’re handy.

Breakfasts are really simple - a yogurt, or a couple of pieces of toast, something like that, unless I have a busy morning where I know I might get hungry (I tend toward low blood sugar and so carry crackers or granola bars for snacks, and a bottle of water).

I make it a point to eat meat only once a day under most circumstances, for health and environmental reasons, and to save money. A meal with meat might be a couple of chicken tenderloins, potatoes, salad or some vegetables, and fruit or dessert. On Fridays I abstain from meat, and I find this quite easy to do, not much different from the rest of the week.

So when we’re talking Ash Wednesday and Good Friday fasting, it seems really hard to figure out where to start - and how miniscule I’d have to make the two smaller “meals” so they don’t add up to the “larger” or “regular” meal. It seems rather scrupulous to get out calorie charts or weigh food on postal scales. :confused:

I have a dispensation anyway to choose another penance because of my blood sugar issues, and this is what I would do when working. But now that I’m on disability, if I don’t have to go out and do much on Ash Wednesday or Good Friday, I try to keep the fast as best I can just as a spiritual challenge.

Still, I would be very interested in hearing how others “calculate” their fasting meals.
 
I’d say - somehow - that you are already fasting 😃 Let’s see what others suggest 🍿
 
I use smaller dishes for the two half-meals, drink only water (with a miniscule amount of salt & baking soda for electrolytes) and skip snack foods.
 
I also have very small meals (yogurt for lunch, a little cereal for breakfast, meat and fruit for dinner, except for restaurant or meal at family’s) so I’ve also wondered about this. In the past I’ve just cut my portions to a couple T. full. Is that right? I’m also dieting some so portions are even smaller and I don’t do snacks.
 
My parents had this same problem. They ate very little at each of their meals. They also would have a small snack before bed time. The priest they consulted told them that what they normally did was fine and just to cut out the snack during lent.
 
i have a very similar situation.
so that is a good question!!!

one of my difficulties with the fats days is that I am really not used at all to have a big huge meal. I tend to eat a little here, a little there… a piece of fruit, a chunk broken off from a bread, a candy bar, … only at night I usually eat something more because I have a hard time falling asleep when hungry. But that is mostly simple stuff too.
I do eat a lot of bread sometimes though… sometimes mindlessly, just out of nervousness or to procrastinate (this is one thing I want to be working on for Lent 🙂 ) … I am rather on the underweight side too and a vegetarian for almost 20 years I think. I am a bit afraid of the fast days I must admit.

So I can relate a lot to your question!
What I have been doing is have the one real meal at night, that is, eat so that I don’t have to go to sleep hungry ( I think that is ok, as far as I know and have been told)… while during the day have only two small snacks, and as I usually snack very little I am also a bit curious what other people use as snacks… I sometimes feel even a piece of rbead is already too much… what about an apple, if it is a big one, already too much? There was a thing about ounces once when I went through RCIA i think, must have been around 1998… now I am not sure is there any such limit. It seems to me other people eat more for the smaller meals… well maybe one could say that while on other days I snack more often, during those days i will snack only twice, until at night. And I try to time drinking something other than water with those two snacks…

Kathrin
 
Glad to see this thread is catching the eyes of some kindred spirits! :grouphug:

I might also add that since my days are no longer structured around a typical 8-5 workday, I get up later, usually go to bed later, and yes, there are days when I “piece” instead of really eating meals per se.

I’m on the side of needing to lose more weight, and am blessed to be in a situation with a roommate who believes in eating healthy. We cook and eat separately most of the time but it’s just a good influence on me as I move further and further away from the “supersize me” fast-food fare that I used to take for granted.

Which does raise another question - when the fasting and abstinence requirements are published by bishops, it’s for each country (correct me if I’m wrong on that) and geared toward what people in that country tend to eat, I would assume. And bishops are men, so their calorie requirements (and metabolisms) are different from what I can get away with as a small-boned and not that tall woman.

I know the bishops probably don’t sit down and calculate all this out but I wonder if there’s just a common assumption that a “regular” meal might be like a restaurant meal, that size, in the United States and similar countries. And our meals are on the large end of the continuum.

More food for thought! 😃 And be sure and finish all your popcorn by midnight! 🍿
 
I am in Switzerland, so it is possible that different rules apply here.
RCIA I did in the US.
Now it is closing in on midnight (11.20 now) so I better finish up my food 🙂 Tired somehow anyway, got a headache. Good night!
 
I don’t think anyone has tobe particularly scrupulous about this. It’s probably too late for this advice, but I would simply figure out how much I ate throughout the whole day and half that.

Yes, many people do already eat small meals or sparingly. But those who eat small meals 5 or 6 times a day, should maybe cut out 2 or 3 meals (of whatever those meals/snacks consist of). So no cookies, granola bar, handful of raisins, bowl of cereal before bed or what have you.

I tend to eat 3 normal sized meals a day. My plan is to eat my normal breakfast in the morning and something snack-like in the late afternoon. We shall see how that goes. 🍿:coffeeread:🍕🍰😃
 
If you’re already practically fasting, you should focus on the repentance and the alms/good works part of Lent.

If you’re already doing that, then focus on learning something about the faith, or on prayer, or on teaching/proclaiming the Gospel.

Also, don’t forget to pray and repent for others, since there are many who don’t or can’t do these things for themselves.

There’s more to Lent than fasting and abstinence.
 
I have the same problem. I hardly eat as it is. To subtract from what I do eat is hard.

That’s all right. I have my work cut out for me - trying to be charitable. I can’t even say “more” charitable since I have none. 😃
 
Mintaka said:
If you’re already practically fasting, you should focus on the repentance and the alms/good works part of Lent.

If you’re already doing that, then focus on learning something about the faith, or on prayer, or on teaching/proclaiming the Gospel.

Also, don’t forget to pray and repent for others, since there are many who don’t or can’t do these things for themselves.

**There’s more to Lent than fasting **and abstinence.
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Like Prayer and Almsgiving, perchance?
 
First, chickens don’t have tenderloins. At least they shouldn’t. With all this genetically modified food, you never know, though.

Secondly, the fasting laws are actually written that only one meal is eaten during the day (midday) and IF NECESSARY, two more small meals may be eaten that do not add up to one full meal when combined. You could try cutting down to just one meal, or a small bite of food in the morning and one meal.
 
The guideline is simply ‘one moderate meal’ etc.

So I’d say each person should simply make sure the main meal is a little less than they would normally eat at that meal. If you normally snack or graze during the day, cut it out.

By the way - the rules are the maximum. You are more than welcome to eat less or nothing.
 
You might also focus on types of meals. If you usually have a salad with deluxe ranch dressing, try using no dressing, or something simple like oil & vinegar. Cut out butter, jellies, sauces. If you have cream in your coffee, drink it black. Omit that cheese you love. Cook very simple meals (lentils, anyone?). Use simple preparation methods.

As I understand it, the RC fasting is only a couple days a year? So if you’re really fretting, ask your priest or spiritual father for guidance, and then follow it without question (that whole obedience thing!).

For different perspectives on fasting/abstinence, you might be interested in your Eastern Catholic church guidelines (see the EC Forum here at CAF for past threads on EC fasting).

Orthodox fasting is a little different than what you’re used to in the Latin church, but here are a couple of links for consideration, that may offer ideas: Orthodox Fasting Guidelines. Orthodox Fasting Guidelines 2. There are some helpful quotes at the bottom of the second, to help put fasting in perspective.
 
Deo_Gratias42 said:
**First, chickens don’t have tenderloins. At least they shouldn’t. With all this genetically modified food, you never know, though. **

Secondly, the fasting laws are actually written that only one meal is eaten during the day (midday) and IF NECESSARY, two more small meals may be eaten that do not add up to one full meal when combined. You could try cutting down to just one meal, or a small bite of food in the morning and one meal.
Click to expand...
hahahaha :rotfl:
 
The half meals are optional, and are only for those who need them to keep up their strength.
 
Lormar said:
I have the same problem. I hardly eat as it is. To subtract from what I do eat is hard.

That’s all right. I have my work cut out for me - trying to be charitable. I can’t even say “more” charitable since I have none. 😃
Click to expand...
It is not necessarily a bad thing for it to be hard - it is meant to be a penance after all, and it is only for two days out of the year.

Certainly if your health or ability to work would be unduly compromised by cutting back your eating then eat normally. Otherwise offer it up.
 
LilyM said:
It is not necessarily a bad thing for it to be hard - it is meant to be a penance after all, and it is only for two days out of the year.

Certainly if your health or ability to work would be unduly compromised by cutting back your eating then eat normally. Otherwise offer it up.
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Lily, I wasn’t thinking of the two day requirement. I was thinking of the entire forty days. Our diocesan Catholic calendar “strongly suggests” doing the traditional Lenten fast, so it was with that thought in mind that I wrote what I wrote.

Ash Wednesday and Good Friday I can do; it is the six weeks that I would have a problem with.
 
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