Wednesday, March 09, 2011
Fast times
...(resisting the Sheen thread)...Today Wednesday March the 9th is the beginning of Lent, Ash Wednesday for us Catholics and I'm wondering if any of us truly fast anymore. Now my last church bulletin laid out the rules, one regular meal today and on Good Friday and two smaller meals at other times of the day are allowed but they cannot equal another regular meal. Got that? you do the math but since I was dieting for the second half of last year it's probably easier for me so today for lunch I had a tin of sardines, six crackers, a pear and washed it down with some Poland Spring. Later on I'll eat regular but not pig out, dunno what it'll be yet but I do find fasting to be a spiritual experience so let's lay it out. How do YOU fast? Once the hunger starts to set in do you reach for that Twinkie or Ding Dong and rationalize it? Sure you do before you go all Gandhi on us. The Friday thing of abstaining from meat is not an issue for me since I LOVE seafood anyway but the Question before the Board today -- have we become pussies when it comes to fasting?
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I don't fast so I'm of no help on this. Next topic.
ReplyDeleteI am going to try to fast (meaning three meals a day, no food in between) for all of Lent.
ReplyDeleteWe have very strict rules about fasting as we do it often. A regular Ekadasi fast is twice a month, for ISKCON Vaisnavas it's no grains or beans (and nothing made with them) in addition to the regular dietary restrictions we have. Other Vaisnav groups are more strict on what is and what isn't allowed for Ekadasi.
ReplyDeleteFor four months of the year is Chaturmasya, and each month is fasting from a different food. Taking Chaturmasya vows isn't like a mandatory thing (I've never done it.)
We do lots of regular no-eating fasting for different holidays and festival days.. sometimes half-day, sometimes till moonrise, and on Janmastami (Krishna's birthday) we fast all day until midnight.
There is also a special Ekadasi day called Nirjal Ekadasi where the goal is to go completely without eating or drinking for the whole 24 hours. I've never been able to do this because I get sick but I know lots of people who do. Instead I just follow a regular Ekadasi fast.
If for whatever reason (medical, elderly, young, pregnant, etc) you can't do a regular fast, you can do a regular Ekadasi fast and that will suffice. It's more about minimizing bodily needs and focusing the consciousness in the right place. But to follow the fast is really what needs to be done insofar as you can do it safely.
In the past three days I've worked 48 hours and I'm going back for another double (1045pm to 3pm) tonight and then I'm doing another 8 on Friday. I'm a little tired.
Like Soap, fasting is not in my regimen. I'm half bulemic...binge eat, but no regurgitation.
ReplyDeleteApparently besides the religious (serious Buddhists eat nothing after noon lunch), Mormons
eat nothing the first Sunday of each month, fasting is the third pillar of the five pillars of Islam) there are good medical reasons for fasting. Probably would have prevented my gastritis last year.
If I were in any way theologically qualified,
I'd give you a dispensation, considering your dieting the last few months....
Fasting cleanses the body:)
ReplyDeleteFasting makes one hungry. A hungry mouth is an angry mouth.
ReplyDeleteWork with a Muslim guy and they take their fasting very seriously as during Ramadan. No eating or drinking until the sun goes down and then he says you can eat the whole cow if you want to. Back in the day before the Church became liberalized my Mom says people seriously fasted on Christmas Eve as in don't eat and then after Midnight Mass everyone feasted. Even the modern rules for fasting for Catholics though strict seem just a tad soft (1 main meal and then 2 lighter meals may be taken to maintain strength but taken together they cannot equal another main meal) and, well I like your dispensation BB as I felt the second half of last year was Lent for me. Beth I like your regimen:)
ReplyDeleteIt's a spiritual thing soap, I can't explain it. If you're a Catholic and don't get at least somewhat hungry on the days of the fast then you're not seriously fasting. At first you'll feel hungry but if you have any blubber on you that'll hold you over which seems to me some of the biggest contestants on "The Biggest Loser" could seriously use some fasting.
ReplyDeleteNice blog, Z-man!
ReplyDeleteI've never consciously fasted for spiritual reasons. I think it's a good idea.
So, as a Catholic, do you just fast on Ash Wednesday through the following Friday? Or do you consider all of Lent a fasting period?
Well according to my church bulletin as a Catholic you fast on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday only. On the other Fridays you're to abstain from eating meat. Seems to me it'd be a good place to begin a diet but you have to have the right attitude. To the Italians I work with any diet is an eating disorder so I'm kinda curious how they fast. As for giving up something for Lent I haven't made it official yet (can I give up work?).
ReplyDeleteWhat is the purpose of not eating meat on Friday anyway? So you spare a couple animals for one day out of the week. What about fish? I thought fish were a perfectly fine animal. And here the Catholic church by its stated policy is causing market disruptions by creating an artificial demand for fish on Fridays.
ReplyDeleteI never really understood this soapie but for me it's not at all a sacrifice. I mean a nice pan-seared salmon fillet with the skin on, oh the suffering! oh the humanity!!
ReplyDeleteYou mean a GMO Salmon.
ReplyDeleteI'll go with the Wild Caught any dayof the week. Had a farm raised salmon recently and it just lacked in the flavor department, probably not good for your diet either.
ReplyDelete