Arrrrrrrgh!!!! Milk EVERYWHERE!!!

[Light of the East]

Trying to be faithful to the Great Fast. I have a pretty good idea of what I can eat and what I can't after years of checking out labels on containers, however, this year I got a bit of a surprise.

The baked clams I love have milk in them. Some of the shrimp dinners have milk in them (what the heck???). I bought some Morningstar Farms faux sausage (ugh!) to try and when I got home, it said "May have milk ingredients"

GOOD GRIEF!!!!

How do you guys (especially you, Father Matt) handle this? Do you not sweat the details or are you very precise in reading labels and avoiding anything make with milk or eggs as an ingredient.

Sheeeeesh!!!!

 

[pgp_protector]

Not orthodox, but my understanding of ingredienfs, the "May have" is a,libilaty issue as there could be cross contamination, during production the previous batch can use xyz, the next batch should`nt have it, but because the same equipment is used, there might be cross contamination.

Talk to your leader for better clarification.

 

[gzt]

If something says "may have...", that's definitely not something to worry about unless you are worried about allergies. As for the rest, the advice I typically hear is not to bother with scrutinizing for additives in the ingredients list, since there are countless animal byproducts that sneak into manufactured versions of goods that make little difference to the end product. However, things that are an important or noticeable part of the product, that would be present in a homemade version, that may be a different story.

 

[Light of the East]

If something says "may have...", that's definitely not something to worry about unless you are worried about allergies. As for the rest, the advice I typically hear is not to bother with scrutinizing for additives in the ingredients list, since there are countless animal byproducts that sneak into manufactured versions of goods that make little difference to the end product. However, things that are an important or noticeable part of the product, that would be present in a homemade version, that may be a different story.

So what you are suggesting, if I understand correctly, is that the main things to avoid are the obvious, eggs (such as scrambled, fried, or deviled or etc) dairy (glass of milk, cheese, either by itself or in a sammich) and meat of all kinds (including fish with backbone)?

 

[All4Christ]

First - I am only speaking from some of my experiences starting fasting as a convert - not in place of guidance from your priest or spiritual father.

For a period of time, I started to focus about finding the smallest amount of dairy and eggs in every ingredient to the point of obsession. Fasting started to become about searching and coming up with the right prepackaged foods and recipes. I’d choose the whole wheat bread that didn’t have a teeny tiny bit of whey by reading every single package. When I was visiting family, if they served me a veggie burger, I would be tempted to go look at the package to see if it was dairy and egg free, despite them doing something special for me. I would spend hours of cooking and searching for recipes over time praying, etc.

My point with this is that it is good to follow the fast in all areas, but if we focus on the food to the detriment of skimping on other things like prayer, almsgiving, charity, etc, then we aren’t doing what we should be doing. It’s a balance. We shouldn’t just skip it - but we shouldn’t obsess either. I’m not saying you are doing that - just giving some cautionary advice based on my experiences.

 

[rusmeister]

Our Faith is not magic. It's not like "Oh no! I took in 5 grams of (the non-fasting stuff)".
Do what you can WITHIN REASON. Don't go to silly or unreasonable lengths: focus on the idea of limiting yourself in things that you want, and that goes double for temptations. If you accidentally or unavoidably eat something that has a little bit of meat, acknowledge that you missed the mark, but don't blow it up into an irrevocable tragedy.
When you fall, fail, or can't do it perfect, hold onto the mentality of
"Keep on swimmin', keep on swimmin'".

 

[Light of the East]

First - I am only speaking from some of my experiences starting fasting as a convert - not in place of guidance from your priest or spiritual father.

For a period of time, I started to focus about finding the smallest amount of dairy and eggs in every ingredient to the point of obsession. Fasting started to become about searching and coming up with the right prepackaged foods. I’d choose the whole wheat bread that didn’t have a teeny tiny bit of whey by reading every single package. When I was visiting family, if they served me a veggie burger, I would be tempted to go look at the package to see if it was dairy and egg free, despite them doing something special for me. I would spend hours of cooking and searching for recipes over time praying, etc.

My point with this is that it is good to follow the fast in all areas, but if we focus on the food to the detriment of skimping on other things like prayer, almsgiving, charity, etc, then we aren’t doing what we should be doing. It’s a balance. We shouldn’t just skip it - but we shouldn’t obsess either. I’m not saying you are doing that - just giving some cautionary advice based on my experiences.

Love what you said. Especially about the non-food issues of the Great Fast. For me this year, with the help of my spiritual father, I am working on fasting from anger, critical spirit, and being harsh with others. These are areas of my life that really need improvement and on which I am working with my spiritual father.

Balance. In the Christian life it ain't easy!

 

[Kenny'sID]

I learned something here concerning the term "may" in the ingredients.

I would take this like the rule in the bible, wherever it may be, that we are not to eat the fat on beef. We all know, even if its grilled, there will be a little fat left on it, but not enough to hurt.

This comes from a non Cathloc, so just a FWIW.

 

[Lawrence87]

You should talk to your priest about it and see what they advise.

Its pretty easy to avoid dairy, plenty of foods are marked as vegan these days. The thing that is difficult is oil because even stuff labelled vegan has oil in it... I was advised to not sweat too much as to whether something off the shelf has a bit of oil in it, or even traces of dairy or whatnot. As a single, working person it is not practical to follow the fast completely when it comes to things like that. The important thing is to make an effort. Not eating steaks, but sometimes eating a vegetable soup off the shelf that has some oil in it, is better than not even trying to fast at all...

The advice you get from your priest may differ, but that is my take on it.

 

[ArmyMatt]

if it's to the point where you are overly checking labels, be a little more publican and less Pharisee (not saying anyone on here is like this, just a general rule I heard when I was checking Skittles).

and talk to your priest.

 

[Light of the East]

You should talk to your priest about it and see what they advise.

Its pretty easy to avoid dairy, plenty of foods are marked as vegan these days. The thing that is difficult is oil because even stuff labelled vegan has oil in it... I was advised to not sweat too much as to whether something off the shelf has a bit of oil in it, or even traces of dairy or whatnot. As a single, working person it is not practical to follow the fast completely when it comes to things like that. The important thing is to make an effort. Not eating steaks, but sometimes eating a vegetable soup off the shelf that has some oil in it, is better than not even trying to fast at all...

The advice you get from your priest may differ, but that is my take on it.

Yes, I spoke with my spiritual father and he isn't all that excited about it either. He is more interested in helping me improve on my theosis rather than niggling about bits of milk in the food.

 

[gzt]

So what you are suggesting, if I understand correctly, is that the main things to avoid are the obvious, eggs (such as scrambled, fried, or deviled or etc) dairy (glass of milk, cheese, either by itself or in a sammich) and meat of all kinds (including fish with backbone)?

I mean I'd go a level below the completely obvious - things like cake or doughnuts are, if you know how they're made, made with milk, eggs, and butter in the normal course of things but don't have obvious milk, eggs, or butter showing. You have to get creative to make them in a vegan manner. However, casein and whey are some very common food additives that come from milk and aren't really essential to the product, but it's hard to find commercially available replacement foods that leave them out without making your own, so you can probably ignore them if they're just there as additives (doesn't apply to adding whey to make a granola bar into, like, a protein bar). But get specific advice from your priest.

 

[gzt]

I would also say that, you know, if a vegan popped out of the woodwork at your grocery store and told you, "You know, that thing you're about to buy has chicken/butter/etc in it," and you'd be utterly surprised by that, I think at that point, it probably doesn't matter for the fast. However, if the reaction is, "Oh, yeah, it totally makes sense that the cheesy potato chips have real cheese in them," maybe you should skip them. This isn't some game show where if you eat the wrong thing somebody will drop a bucket of green slime on your head (in the spiritual sense).

 

[SamanthaAnastasia]

Trying to be faithful to the Great Fast. I have a pretty good idea of what I can eat and what I can't after years of checking out labels on containers, however, this year I got a bit of a surprise.

The baked clams I love have milk in them. Some of the shrimp dinners have milk in them (what the heck???). I bought some Morningstar Farms faux sausage (ugh!) to try and when I got home, it said "May have milk ingredients"

GOOD GRIEF!!!!

How do you guys (especially you, Father Matt) handle this? Do you not sweat the details or are you very precise in reading labels and avoiding anything make with milk or eggs as an ingredient.

Sheeeeesh!!!!

May have is just legal mumbojumbo so someone can’t sue the company I think. All joking aside they do the same thing for peanuts and tree nuts. They have to be super duper careful about allergies.

 

[Light of the East]

I mean I'd go a level below the completely obvious - things like cake or doughnuts are, if you know how they're made, made with milk, eggs, and butter in the normal course of things but don't have obvious milk, eggs, or butter showing. You have to get creative to make them in a vegan manner. However, casein and whey are some very common food additives that come from milk and aren't really essential to the product, but it's hard to find commercially available replacement foods that leave them out without making your own, so you can probably ignore them if they're just there as additives (doesn't apply to adding whey to make a granola bar into, like, a protein bar). But get specific advice from your priest.

Yeah, well, I kiss my Dunkin Donut shop goodbye every Monday after Cheesefare! LOL! Same with Dairy Queen and my .......mmmmmmmmmmmm......hot fudge and caramel sundaes!

 

[Light of the East]

May have is just legal mumbojumbo so someone can’t sue the company I think. All joking aside they do the same thing for peanuts and tree nuts. They have to be super duper careful about allergies.

They have to be super dooper careful because behind every tree there waits a lawyer just looking to sue someone. Yeah, I get it!

 

[Yeshua HaDerekh]

I am working on fasting from anger, critical spirit, and being harsh with others. These are areas of my life that really need improvement and on which I am working with my spiritual father.

Balance. In the Christian life it ain't easy!

Those are things we should be "fasting" from all year long! Fasting is a tool...

 

[Light of the East]

Those are things were should be "fasting" from all year long! Fasting is a tool...

Agreed. This is just the time to really zero in on these sins and do battle with them.

 

[Goodhuman]

If you eat something with milk or eggs you are not fasting.

 

[SamanthaAnastasia]

They have to be super dooper careful because behind every tree there waits a lawyer just looking to sue someone. Yeah, I get it!

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