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

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Lormar said:
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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:eek: Me too. Or even the suggestion by Inego de Loyola of just one meal. I feel ashamed to have to admit my weakness. 😦 Though not all of it is a “first world problem” of being spoiled by the ready availabilty of food. I do have insulin resistance and it does wacky things to my blood sugar. Which then makes it difficult for me to think clearly - and sometimes I can experience great difficulty being charitable :mad: so I have to do the best I can.

Which I shall, and perhaps impose another type of penance (less internet time, perhaps :manvspc: and on the positive side, more time spent on Scripture and prayer:bible1::crossrc:)

Well, half an hour till midnight, so best go wash the dishes from Mardi Gras and then go to sleep! Blessed Lent to all!
 
i think important is the thing about just one meal, and two snacks if necessary. I don’t think it matters that much WHEN you take that one meal? Or is that also different in different contries maybe?

Of cours ewith me the important thing is that I cut out all the other grazing today, so I will really onlye have one meal and two snacks…
 
oh I think the two small meals ar enot supposed to add up to one full one right…?
 
Tou might try following the Traditional Byzantine Fast (originally followed in the West as well).

For ALL of Lent including Sundays.

No meat, fish, eggs or dairy products. On weekdays and non feast days oil and wine are also abstained from.

One meal a day after 3pm on weekdays. Two meals are permitted on weekends and festal days.

Now that is hardcore! 🙂

When did the Latin Church give up the traditional Lenten fast? I know my grandparents spoke of it.
 
Kathrin said:
oh I think the two small meals ar enot supposed to add up to one full one right…?
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Correct, in the U.S. and some other countries to the best of my knowledge. That’s what I have trouble calculating since my “meal” is hard to define! :o
 
Food is not a big problem for me, either. I don’t eat much of it, and I’m not a huge sweets fan, although once in a while I’ll take a bite of chocolate.
So, in order to accomplish some semblance of sacrifice during fasting, and indeed, throughout Lent I choose my lesser favorite of my choices.
My #1 breakfast is bread and cheese. I usually only eat once piece anyway. But, for Lent I will move to Raisin Bran or Cheerios. RB is my preferred of these two choices, so some days I will opt for Cheerios.
I eat lots of vegetable soup at lunch, but it is usually accompanied by saltines with a bit of butter. I will eliminate the butter from the crackers.
Salads will be void of feta cheese and croutons.
For years I’ve given up meat completely during Lent, which is one of those tough-but-not-impossible goals. The first year I was amazed at how much I craved a turkey sandwich by the time it was over, so it turned out to be tougher than I had expected, but again, not impossible.
I can’t give up my coffee to save my life!
 
Obviously, continue to observe the fasting rules, as you already are. Since this is the norm for you, though, you might consider supplementing with additional forms of penance, such as undertaking some sort of penitential prayer (I’ve resolved to pray lauds and vespers daily during Lent with penitential intentions) or little acts of mortification (make your last 30 seconds in the shower cold, or throw some mustard on that piece of pie!).
 
I like my food :p.

Anyway, today I just had a Snackwells granola bar type thing for breakfast and a handful of almonds for lunch. Nothing more than that. I’ll have a regular dinner in the evening.

If you want, you can skip breakfast/lunch and just have two or one meal. You can just maybe eat a couple slices of bread for the whole day or maybe drink a beer (preferably thick Belgian type beers) instead of a meal like the monks would do. Whatever works.
 
Kathrin said:
the Monks drink alcohol on Ash Wendesday???
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There are many traditions of Monks in Europe (Germany/Belgium) drinking beer in place of food when fasting through Lent. Unfiltered, dark, heavy beers with lots of calories (they surely weren’t drinking Bud Light). Due to how they were made, they were a decent enough source of nutrients. Since they had rules that they couldn’t allow food to pass through their lips, a beer diet was the alternative. They obviously weren’t getting hammered, but would drink enough to sustain themselves 😃
 
i just asked because I have heard before that alcohol is forbidden on strict fast days?
 
Kathrin said:
i just asked because I have heard before that alcohol is forbidden on strict fast days?
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Well the liquid form of Communion is alcohol, right? I don’t believe that alcoholic beverages break a fast, but there’s a difference between having alcohol as a beverage vs. as a meal.
 
SonCatcher said:
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.
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I don’t understand, why do you use the baking soda? Does it prevent health risks from too much water?
 
I wish I saw this thread before. I am in the same boat as the OP. I don’t really eat “meals” like most people do. My typical day is something like glass of milk at breakfast, a few hours later a banana, a few hours later another glass of milk, an hour or so later maybe carrots with hummus, an hour later an apple with peanut-butter.

I usually eat dinner–but even then I don’t eat as much as other people (I don’t know where people “put it all.”)

So when someone says two small meals… what do I count? What is a meal for me? Based off a typical dinner.

It was funny, yesterday at work the boss treated the office to pizza. A kind poster tried to be helpful and tell me I could have a slice or two of vegetarian pizza and still “fast.” That’s twice of what I would eat for dinner under normal circumstances and HUGE for a lunch by my usual eating habits.

Yesterday I just didn’t eat except dinner… although I started getting light headed and had a protein shake (Slim Fast) around 3pm. I had to drive and it was freezing rain and the last thing I wanted was to be light headed and dizzy while driving in that. for dinner, I had 1 cup of pasta with 1/2 cup of vegetarian spaghetti sauce–for a lot of people, that’s a side. For me, that’s typical meal.

Thanks for the answers so far. It’s a good topic!
 
i had eaten VERY little during the day and then suddenly at night i wasn’t sure anymore if I could still have a full meal… since the second very little snack had already been late. I am really not sure if that matters. Anyway I started worrying about it… I must admit I’ve been struggling with scrupulosity and just started therapy again for it… a psychologist who is also a priest 🙂 … anyway I suddenly wasn’t sure anymore but I was really hungry and was even worried about my health in case I went to bed without eating anything else… so what i ended up doing is wait until after midnight and then I ate something…
 
mellowcalico said:
I wish I saw this thread before. I am in the same boat as the OP. I don’t really eat “meals” like most people do. My typical day is something like glass of milk at breakfast, a few hours later a banana, a few hours later another glass of milk, an hour or so later maybe carrots with hummus, an hour later an apple with peanut-butter.

I usually eat dinner–but even then I don’t eat as much as other people (I don’t know where people “put it all.”)

So when someone says two small meals… what do I count? What is a meal for me? Based off a typical dinner.

It was funny, yesterday at work the boss treated the office to pizza. A kind poster tried to be helpful and tell me I could have a slice or two of vegetarian pizza and still “fast.” That’s twice of what I would eat for dinner under normal circumstances and HUGE for a lunch by my usual eating habits.

Yesterday I just didn’t eat except dinner… although I started getting light headed and had a protein shake (Slim Fast) around 3pm. I had to drive and it was freezing rain and the last thing I wanted was to be light headed and dizzy while driving in that. for dinner, I had 1 cup of pasta with 1/2 cup of vegetarian spaghetti sauce–for a lot of people, that’s a side. For me, that’s typical meal.

Thanks for the answers so far. It’s a good topic!
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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.
 
GangGreen said:
There are many traditions of Monks in Europe (Germany/Belgium) drinking beer in place of food when fasting through Lent. Unfiltered, dark, heavy beers with lots of calories (they surely weren’t drinking Bud Light). Due to how they were made, they were a decent enough source of nutrients. Since they had rules that they couldn’t allow food to pass through their lips, a beer diet was the alternative. They obviously weren’t getting hammered, but would drink enough to sustain themselves 😃
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That seems a sensible thing to do, they knew that hurting their health was not the intention of the fast.
 
LilyM said:
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.
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The problem is that a lot of us have no idea idea what moderate meal means without a couple of specific examples.
 
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