What about Food?

  • Thread starter Thread starter CatholicBerean
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
C

CatholicBerean

Guest
Is the such thing as a monks diet for Laypeople? I mean is there such a way that food is only used for it primary purpose and not for enjoyment at all? What would that diet look like?

A way to eat only to live. Just the bare essentials and nothing else. What would that consist of?
 
An IV fluid thing.

Food brings pleasure and warmth, so unless you want to go on a diet of Fear Factor you are out of luck.

Now a good suggestion would be a fast.
 
Thar is the Key, it is not a matter of what you eat but limiting your feeding to only what you need to keep your metabolism going, that means not buffets, fast foods etc…

Which is why I am not concidering monastic life any time soon…😛
 
40.png
CatholicBerean:
Is the such thing as a monks diet for Laypeople? I mean is there such a way that food is only used for it primary purpose and not for enjoyment at all? What would that diet look like?

A way to eat only to live. Just the bare essentials and nothing else. What would that consist of?
Click to expand...
How about a simple vegetarian diet - homemade bread, dairy products, lots of fruit and vegetables?
 
God made food for us to enjoy, as well as to nourish. Keeping your diet simple, that is no junk food or overly processed foods, tastes wonderful & will keep your body much healthier than the standard American diet (SAD).

I remember seeing a museum display of early California missions. The dining table showed the Franciscans eating grapes, fresh homemade bread, & wine. Simple, but delicious.
 
Please correct me if I’m wrong but do monks set out to"not enjoy their food at all"? I thought it was gratitude for what was before them. Holy obedience without grumbling . I found it helpful to read St. Benedicts Rule-I love eggs and rice and potatoes-Eating a big fat juicy steak would be a penance for me-
 
We’re Third Order Franciscan. Our friars do not eat *anything *if it isn’t donated to them. They love coming to visit the isolated commuinities, cuz we make sure they eat well.
 
I agree with the sentiment that God made food for us to enjoy, as well as be nourished by. To deliberately set out to repress or block one’s enjoyment reminds me of those who scourge themselves, thinking this will get them closer to God. I understand their logic, but I think it’s faulty. I would say we should take suffering as it comes, not go out looking for it. There’s nothing wrong with taking pleasure in food, as long as it doesn’t lead to gluttony(admittedly, sometimes a difficult sin to avoid!).
 
I think we can learn a lot from John of the Cross in his description of the dark night of the senses. The problem is not the type of food that we eat, but the attachment we have to the pleasure associated with it. Someone could eat only bread and water (hopefully with some vitamins as well) and still have an attachment to food that prevents complete union with God. Likewise, someone could work at a restaurant and eat fine food every night, but not have any attachment or desire for this food. The same could be said for personal wealth and many other areas. While we are alive, we can never completely remove ourselves from our sensory (name removed by moderator)ut. But we can alter how we let our desire for this (name removed by moderator)ut influence our relationship with God.
 
Why is it that so many people…albeit with good intentions wish to do the opposite of what Jesus told us not to worry about? These are the kinds of laws and restrictions that the Pharises were into… Jesus abolished all the old crazy laws and I see Catholics and other Christian groups trying to bring them back in some form or another…ie…The Bible Diets, etc… :confused:

Fasting and temporarily giving something up is one thing…but I would have to say that if the Church came out tomorow and said faithful catholics must now give up sweets, pizza, etc, and live a life of tofu, alfalfa sprouts and bland foods to get to heaven…well…I gotta say…me and the church would be parting ways… and thats why she aint gonna do something so crazy to begin with… just like we were given sex drives…to use in a healthy moderate and proper manner for pleasure…God aint a prude!.. he knows we like to “get some” as long as we are married, for the most part, he’s like, go for it!..We were also given TASTE BUDS to ENJOY food in the same way! 👍
 
Faithful 2 Rome:
…We were also given TASTE BUDS to ENJOY food in the same way! 👍
Click to expand...
Food (even good food) is not intrinsically evil. However, due to the effects of original sin, what is created by God as good is perverted by our own imperfections. For some, the desire for food is not properly ordered and leads us away from God (or at least hinders our relationship with Him).

Jesus condemned the Jew’s belief that adherence to the law would bring them salvation. The practice of dietary restrictions was NOT what Jesus condemned.
 
40.png
onaquest:
Please correct me if I’m wrong but do monks set out to"not enjoy their food at all"? I thought it was gratitude for what was before them. Holy obedience without grumbling . I found it helpful to read St. Benedicts Rule-I love eggs and rice and potatoes-Eating a big fat juicy steak would be a penance for me-
Click to expand...
Some may.

But one would not know the joy of giving up a certain nice food unless one can occasionally experience the joy of tasting that food!

Give thanks to God for tasty food! 😃
 
I am an Atkins devotee and one of things Robert Atkins brought back to eating was the fact it is to be enjoyed. I do have the desire to fast though, which I beleive is different than choosing a nutritional approach.

I would offer one thing on the side of science vs. religion. Dr. Atkins is right - some foods just intrinisicly lead to gluttony because of what they do to some people’s sugar levels. Pretzels, chips, and other highly refined foods without nourishment make you more hungry.

So, I suppose the rule is - eat to live, not live to eat.
 
Is Food your God? Are you trying to fill your ‘heart hole’ with food instead of with Jesus. God made each of us with a Jesus shaped hole in our heart so that we may search for Him to fill that hole with only Him. If this isn’t the issue that you are concerned about with your question; my following comments may not help…

One of my struggles is how I am constantly using food to numb my feelings, console my sorrow, celebrate my successes, stuff my anger, etc. etc. INSTEAD of going to God. He is the only one who will help me with my feelings: console me; give me what I need before I even know I need it.

I’ve found a tremendous amount of help in the Light Weigh program which I initially heard on Johnette Benkovic’s program on EWTN. Here’s the website link: http:lightweigh.com. It’s a bible/Catholic faith/saint/study which focuses on growing deeper in your Catholic faith to over come food issues. Hope this helps someone…
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top