The Church diet

The other day, I was watching Weekend Sunrise (terrible show, absolutely terrible, due in part to O'Keefe), and there was an item on the Church diet. Apparently, the Bible promotes some sort of dietary guidelines that are conducive to weight loss, and this new revelation is causing a mass revival in a particular parish in America. Really? And another little gem, apparently Church goers are 50 percent more likely to be overweight than non Church goers. Again, really?

I love many things about the Church, one being the way it is so considerate of all our human needs. For example, work is a form of prayer, so as I do my housework each day, I am actually 'killing two birds with one stone'. Another example is the way that the liturgical year is designed to always keep us spiritually focused. If followed correctly, the liturgical year also helps keep us balanced in other areas of our lives. Even the basic idea that Sundays are to be set aside for The Lord. We always go to Mass on Sundays, then spend the day with people, socialising, and do NO work (there are some points in the Bible that I take really literally and no work on Sundays is one of them). I always start Monday mornings with dishes from Sunday (I told you that I take it literally).

The Church year is also set up into feasting and fasting... On feast days (all Sundays are included), we are encouraged to enjoy the bounty of God's goodness. On fast days (all Fridays are essential, Wednesdays are optional), we are encouraged to abstain from Earthly pleasures including over indulging in food, and abstaining from meat altogether. On all the days in between, we are encouraged to eat moderately and not indulge in the sin of gluttony. Simple really.

One little note; those people looking for a loophole, well there is one... Everyday is technically a minor feast for one saint or another (there are just so many saints you see), but my rule is that you can only feast on a feast day if you go to Mass! That includes Saint Patrick's Day :)

So eat, drink and be merry.... On feast days!