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Gelatin during fasting season?
Greetings in Christ.
Hey everyone,
I was wondering- is it bad to eat things that have gelatin in them during the fasting season?
I cant taste it and only recently learned that gelatin is made from animal. Should I still eat it?
Thanks
Hey everyone,
I was wondering- is it bad to eat things that have gelatin in them during the fasting season?
I cant taste it and only recently learned that gelatin is made from animal. Should I still eat it?
Thanks
Comments
Greetings in Christ.
Hey everyone,
I was wondering- is it bad to eat things that have gelatin in them during the fasting season?
I cant taste it and only recently learned that gelatin is made from animal. Should I still eat it?
Thanks
It is not bad to eat anything. But during the fast, part of what we do is refrain from food coming from animals. If you suddenly learn that lettuce comes from animals, you should stop eating it. It doesn't matter how minor or major the substance is. Be faithful in what is least.
I'm not saying its ok to eat it, but going in and researching into a it is a little too overkill, in my opinion...but as Andrew said if you find out lettuce comes from a cow, then you shouldn't eat it.
What if you brought some regular crackers to school for lunch but when you took them out looked at the ingredients and found they had butter. Would you eat them?
Ok guys, here's another question:
What if you brought some regular crackers to school for lunch but when you took them out looked at the ingredients and found they had butter. Would you eat them?
It doesn't matter what I ( a sinner who breaks his fast daily), or anyone else, would do. I think we all know what we should do: Not eat it.
I don't think it's good to come up with hypothetical scenarios and figure out what one would/should do. Let's just be careful to prevent such temptations from arising. Sticking to simple foods (e.g. beans, vegetables, etc.) and away from processed stuff makes things easier.
Ok guys, here's another question:
What if you brought some regular crackers to school for lunch but when you took them out looked at the ingredients and found they had butter. Would you eat them?
No I wouldn't. That's a different situation. Some people actually fool their selves by reading the ingredients after eating it! One should think of fasting as a sacrifice. Say you've been waiting all day for lunch and you're starving. When you go to open your crackers, and you find butter in them, you don't eat them. That's true fasting, to not fulfill bodily desires.
I don't know if this is wrong but I don't generally read the ingredients...like others have said, if it doesn't look, smell, feel, or taste fasting then don't eat it during a fast (such as a slice of pepperoni pizza). The reason why I don't check labels is because the fasting then (for me at least) becomes more about following the rules rather than the sacrifice. If I were to eat those cookies that has butter in them (not knowing they contain butter in them), I haven't really broken my fast because I didn't know that I had butter, plus I wasn't going out of my way to eat something that I had desired. My taste buds in this case can't tell the difference between butter and margarine...which is very different from me going ahead and eating a chicken drum when its clear that it isn't fasting.
There is a big difference between margarine and butter. Lol but yes not checking the ingredients is wrong. The church clearly says nothing from animals. It's not your decision to make, regardless if it tastes good or bad..
Say you love fool mudammas. If you don't feel like you're depriving your body in some sort, you're not fasting. That would be something you would have to talk to your FoC about
What about food that is 100% vegan, like a veggie burger, veggie cheese, and soy milk. Is it fasting?
[quote author=servant33 link=topic=12618.msg148128#msg148128 date=1322623613]
Ok guys, here's another question:
What if you brought some regular crackers to school for lunch but when you took them out looked at the ingredients and found they had butter. Would you eat them?
No I wouldn't. That's a different situation. Some people actually fool their selves by reading the ingredients after eating it! One should think of fasting as a sacrifice. Say you've been waiting all day for lunch and you're starving. When you go to open your crackers, and you find butter in them, you don't eat them. That's true fasting, to not fulfill bodily desires.
that doesn't mean that you just eat stuff blindly. yes the food itself is not a problem anymore......i personally don't feel like it effects us much anymore as we get older but we MUST continue doing it with all diligence. if we can't stop ourselves from eating simple things (even if it is as little as a small portion--the fact is i KNOW it is there) how are we gonna deal with major stuff. ALSO, fasting from food is something small of life with God. How are we going to do major and more difficult things.
[quote author=Timothym link=topic=12618.msg148135#msg148135 date=1322625412]
I don't know if this is wrong but I don't generally read the ingredients...like others have said, if it doesn't look, smell, feel, or taste fasting then don't eat it during a fast (such as a slice of pepperoni pizza). The reason why I don't check labels is because the fasting then (for me at least) becomes more about following the rules rather than the sacrifice. If I were to eat those cookies that has butter in them (not knowing they contain butter in them), I haven't really broken my fast because I didn't know that I had butter, plus I wasn't going out of my way to eat something that I had desired. My taste buds in this case can't tell the difference between butter and margarine...which is very different from me going ahead and eating a chicken drum when its clear that it isn't fasting.
There is a big difference between margarine and butter. Lol but yes not checking the ingredients is wrong. The church clearly says nothing from animals. It's not your decision to make, regardless if it tastes good or bad..
Say you love fool mudammas. If you don't feel like you're depriving your body in some sort, you're not fasting. That would be something you would have to talk to your FoC about
Peter, yes you're right in all that you said. You make a good point about checking. At the same time, this can be taken to the extreme. In general, I know what I'm eating so there isn't really a need for me to check. Lol yes I know there is a difference between butter and margarine I was just illustrating a point...in the sense that one might not be able to see or taste the difference right away without knowing; but of course, point taken that we should obviously try to stay faithful in our fasting. It's not just about rules and its not about finding loopholes either :)
Alright, 'nother question.
What about food that is 100% vegan, like a veggie burger, veggie cheese, and soy milk. Is it fasting?
I think most people will tell you know, but I generally say yes because of how repulsive those things usually taste.
Alright, 'nother question.
What about food that is 100% vegan, like a veggie burger, veggie cheese, and soy milk. Is it fasting?
We have to understand that the early church did not have these "substitution" foods nor could they have ever imagined them. If they did exist, I'm guessing they would have been ruled out as well.
To George's point about these foods not being so tasty. . .you'd be surprised.
Simple answer is that it is technically fasting but it will probably not benefit you during the fast to search for imitation mayo, beef, bacon, cheese, etc. to eat an imitation burger. All you are doing is an imitation fast. Save your efforts and hit up your local In-N-Out.
[quote author=servant33 link=topic=12618.msg148137#msg148137 date=1322625996]
Alright, 'nother question.
What about food that is 100% vegan, like a veggie burger, veggie cheese, and soy milk. Is it fasting?
I think most people will tell you no, but I generally say yes because of how repulsive those things usually taste.
[/fixed]
That was an inexcusable mistake.
[quote author=servant33 link=topic=12618.msg148137#msg148137 date=1322625996]
Alright, 'nother question.
What about food that is 100% vegan, like a veggie burger, veggie cheese, and soy milk. Is it fasting?
We have to understand that the early church did not have these "substitution" foods nor could they have ever imagined them. If they did exist, I'm guessing they would have been ruled out as well.
To George's point about these foods not being so tasty. . .you'd be surprised.
Simple answer is that it is technically fasting but it will probably not benefit you during the fast to search for imitation mayo, beef, bacon, cheese, etc. to eat an imitation burger. All you are doing is an imitation fast. Save your efforts and hit up your local In-N-Out.
The only one I had that actually tasted good was the Boca imitation chicken patty. And when I saw that it tasted that good, I started avoiding it.
As far as In-N-Out goes, I don't think anything, real or not, will come close to its amazing tasty goodness.
[quote author=Andrew link=topic=12618.msg148149#msg148149 date=1322629125]
[quote author=servant33 link=topic=12618.msg148137#msg148137 date=1322625996]
Alright, 'nother question.
What about food that is 100% vegan, like a veggie burger, veggie cheese, and soy milk. Is it fasting?
We have to understand that the early church did not have these "substitution" foods nor could they have ever imagined them. If they did exist, I'm guessing they would have been ruled out as well.
To George's point about these foods not being so tasty. . .you'd be surprised.
Simple answer is that it is technically fasting but it will probably not benefit you during the fast to search for imitation mayo, beef, bacon, cheese, etc. to eat an imitation burger. All you are doing is an imitation fast. Save your efforts and hit up your local In-N-Out.
The only one I had that actually tasted good was the Boca imitation chicken patty. And when I saw that it tasted that good, I started avoiding it.
As far as In-N-Out goes, I don't think anything, real or not, will come close to its amazing tasty goodness.
(emphasis mine)
Amen.
When one eats imitation food, what he does is scan the ingredients of this "veggie burger" and decide that because it doesn't have the word "beef" in it, it is fasting. Although this person did not actually read the ingredients, he has made a decision that this imitation food passes as fasting food because the ingredients do not list any animal products. This same person may then go and eat a bowl of Mr. Noodles. Mr. Noodles may have some kind of animal product involved even though the box says "vegetables" on it. For example, it may have beef broth. If I were to talk to this person and tell him it is non fasting, and he told me, "Don't be so pharisic, it is just noodles" then we have a problem. This person, when the ingredients hindered his will, decided that being picky with the ingredients is wrong, and so, did his desire. And when being picky with the ingredients benefited him (by the ingredients impliying that the veggie burger is fasting) decided that to look at the ingredients is good (although he may not have looked at the ingredients in the physical sense of picking up a paper and reading it). If you see what I am saying, and have followed my train of thought, you will see that this man did not fast at all, because all he did was do what his will desired, and perverted all judgement to support himself. This is exactly what fasting is supposed to get rid of. It is supposed to teach you self control, not how to get around certain "rules."
The point is, let's not kid God. If looking at the ingredients is not good because it is being too much like the pharisees, then imitation food is not permitted. If looking at the ingredients is good because it shows diligence, then those chips that have the words "modified milk ingredients" in their ingredient section, are also not permitted.
H.G. Bishop Youssef taught me that, "If it looks non fasting, consider it as such."
ReturnOrthodoxy
Ok so another question. What about seasoning of food?
For example, there is some sauce that is siami but it tastes really good and you can put it on even the most disgusting food and it will make it edible. Would you say that a true fast would not use that sauce?
And if that's the case, what about any seasoning - even like adding salt to your food.
"Not what goes into the mouth defiles a man; but what comes out of the mouth, this defiles a man."
If we treat our fasting as a mere diet change, then we are not fasting. If we worry only about every last derivative of every ingredient, then we are not fasting. What is fasting? Fasting means to put your body under subjection and to let your spirit thrive. Why should we concern ourselves with minor things like whether this is siami or that is siami? A priest once told us that before he was ordained he use to nit pick every food he ate during lent and made sure that not even one ingredient was a derivative of something non-fasting, but if im not mistaken a bishop told him that what he is doing is not in the spirit of fasting because he was following the "letter of the law" but not the "spirit of the law" which is to weaken the body and strengthen the soul.
Please do not get me wrong, it is beneficial to keep a strict fast, but it is not beneficial to nit pick and only be concerned with ingredients.
Please pray for me
George_Mina_Awad goes by "Jimmy".
Just thought I'd put that out there.
Andrew,
George_Mina_Awad goes by "Jimmy".
Just thought I'd put that out there.
Duly noted.