I have been lambasted for beign a label reader by other Orthodox Christians in an OrthodoxChristianity chat room before. As long as you are doing it for yourself and your family, whats the harm in making sure you are properly fasting?
For instance, Boca burgers are not all Lenten. The onion ones are, but some of them have milk, cheese or butter in them. Since we are not supposed to eat these things, one should check the labels IMO.
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Personally, I think label reading is a good idea not only for lenten reasons but for general health reasons. I don't want to be eating anything I cannot pronounce.
nikolaoc
Here is something the Orthodox have known for a long time. I remember reading an article on fasting that talked about how long the Optina elders lived by fasting. If I have time, I will try to find that article. I believe it maybe on Father Alexanders site. Anyway here is a current news story that is timely for us after Lent.
Regular Fasting Seems to Improve Health
Tue Apr 29,10:46 AM ET Add Health - AP to My Yahoo!
WASHINGTON - The health benefits of sharply cutting calories may occur after periodic fasting, even if the fast does not result in eating less overall, a new report indicates.
Scientists are now planning a study to see if fasting, which seems to benefit mice, will also be good for people too.
Benefits ranging from longer life to less stress and greater sensitivity to insulin have been reported in recent studies of severe reductions in diet.
But mice that were fed only every other day, but were allowed to gorge themselves on the days they ate, had similar health benefits to ones on a diet reduced by 40 percent of normal food intake, a team of researchers reports in Tuesday's online edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (news - web sites).
While the cause of health improvements from cutting back on diet isn't fully understood, many researchers had assumed that a long-term reduction in calories was involved.
The new study by Mark Mattson and colleagues at the National Institute on Aging found equal benefits, however, for mice that ate only every other day, even if they didn't cut total calories, because they ate twice as much on days they weren't fasting.
Mattson said a study is being planned to test the effect of fasting on people. The plan is to compare the health of a group of people fed the normal three meals a day with a similar group, eating the same diet and amount of food, but consuming it within four hours and then fasting for 20 hours before eating again.
"Overeating is a big problem now in this country. It's particularly troublesome that a lot of children are overweight. It's still unclear the best way to somehow get people to eat less," Mattson said.
"One possibility is skipping a meal a day. Our study suggests that skipping meals is not bad for you."
Dr. Carol Braunschweig of the University of Illinois at Chicago, who was not part of the study team, said she was intrigued by the suggestion that a drastic change in eating patterns might have benefits.
"With the current epidemic of obesity and physical inactivity facing the U.S. today, identification of a beneficial eating pattern that could address some of the untoward effects of excess weight would be a very significant finding," she said.
Mattson said an earlier study found that mice that fasted every other day had extended life spans. The new experiment found the mice also did better in factors involved in diabetes and nerve damage in the brain similar to Alzheimer's disease (news - web sites), he said.
"We think what happens is going without food imposes a mild stress on cells, and cells respond by increasing their ability to cope with more severe stress," Mattson said. "It's sort of analogous to physical effects of exercise on muscle cells."
He said the researchers think this stress occurs throughout the body, which might be the reason fasting seems to increase life span and the animals become more resistant to the diseases of aging.
The dieting mice consumed 40 percent less food than mice eating normally and lost nearly half their body weight (49 percent) in the experiment, while the fasting mice weighed only a little less than mice eating normally.
In recent years, some nutritionists have recommended eating smaller amounts more often, but this study did not deal with that type of eating pattern.
In the new report, the researchers said both the fasting mice and those on a restricted diet had concentrations of blood sugar and insulin that were significantly lower than mice allowed to eat whenever they wanted. Indeed, insulin levels in the fasting mice were even a bit lower than the dieting ones.
At the end of the experiment all three groups of mice were injected with a toxin that damages cells in the part of the brain called the hippocampus. Cell damage there is involved in Alzheimer's in humans.
When the mouse brains were later analyzed the scientists found that the brains of the fasting mice were more resistant to damage by the toxin than the brains of either dieting mice or those eating normally.
Ah, Lenten label reading. See, the big problem here is that, before being graced by God to find the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church I was a vegan. If you don't know what that means, veganism is a very strict form of vegetarianism. So anyway, label reading was a BIG part of my lifestyle =) This Lent, I didn't really have to do much label reading, as I already knew what had the secret non-lenten ingredients in it. But I did split hairs with my wife about things a few times (one time she bought pita bread, something that shouldn't really have dairy in it, and it had whey in it). The general concensus in our parish is that label-reading is getting to the point of legalism. To a point, this is sensible. For instance, we are permitted to eat olives during Lent, but not to consume olive oil. But wait, isn't there olive oil in OLIVES? So I'd say that the idea behind the Lenten dietary issue is one of sacrifice and pensiveness, etc. Let's also not forget that Lent isn't just about "what goes into a man's mouth"
Before, I start. I just have a quick question. Is malt a milk ingredient? It's usually in some of the cereals I eat and for some reason I think it might be. I'm not sure though, can anyone clear this up? Thanks 
Usually, I eat cereal with soy milk and fruit for breakfast. And then most of the day I end up eating something like crackers or fruit. (although not much fruit or vegetables even though I should!)
Anyone else?
In Christ,
Valentina
Splitting hairs over malt is missing the point, I would think. Keeping the fasts are important in relation to:
A) Remembering the betrayal and passion of Christ.
B) Subordinating the body (and thereby the passions).
C) Focus and watchfulness during the periods leading up to great feasts.
Forgive me if there's a "modernist" tone to this statement, but most food only had a few ingredients in it when St. Paul and the Holy Fathers were producing the tenets of Holy Tradition. My spiritual father says that label reading is legalistic, when the food seems to be generally lenten (i.e. reading the label on pita bread and finding out there's whey in it...I only knew about it because I used to be a vegan...my wife didn't, she bought the bread, I ate it).
Not only do I obey his view on the subject, I also agree with it. I suppose, if we were all doing our best at it (which, at least I can say, I do not), we'd all eat fruit, nuts, and maybe some very bland, simple bread during fasting periods. The reason that the Fathers originally came up with the system of eschewing meat, dairy, wine and (olive) oil was because it was a means by which ordinary people could govern their physical habits when directed to do so by The Church. I am now rambling. My point is, although doing without the obvious (meat, dairy, eggs, olive oil, alcohol), if we're not going to take it to the level it was intended, then we shouldn't split hairs about whether there's a pinch of malt in the cereal 
Justin, these days it is SOOOO easy to fast with soy milk, make meats, etc. Some would say by having soy milk and fake meats, etc we are missing the spirit of the fast.
Since it is so easy to find fasting foods, I think this demands of us to read labels. If something has whey we should not eat it unless we are served it.
Me, I eat salads, Dunkin Donuts Munchkins (made w/o milk or eggs), Chinese food, a rice dish, or pasta on fasting days. Its easy to do.
I would reccomend reading the fasting thread here for recipes
