Lenten Fasting

We are Roman Rite Catholics (usually attending the Traditional Latin Mass, but we'll go where needed).

For fasting, we follow the older fasting rules. No, older than what you first thought; and probably older than the second thing that you thought of ;)

We follow the original fasting rules. They can be found in the Didache, written sometime between the 1st and 3rd centuries. The Eastern Rite churches still follow them.

Food-fasting during Lent: no meat or animal products (including dairy, eggs, fat, gelatin), no olive oil, no wine.

Yes, this goes beyond no meat on Fridays - far beyond, since anything with a back-bone is considered meat. Yes, that means most fish. We can have shellfish, but nothing with a backbone.
It means we focus on simplicity, careful planning, and we then have ample time for prayer and almsgiving. Any of these three without one or the other, is useless: fasting, prayer, almsgiving.

Now, this means we don't give up anything else for Lent. We simply choose to DO something extra.

The official rule of the church is that you should follow something very close to the above, OR give up something (in the way that people are used to doing) and at minimum avoid meat on Fridays.

So we choose A. :)

It's fun every year to see how creative we get with our food. And we do allow for some flexibility on Tuesdays and Thursdays (I have to have yogurt for health reasons - needing the bacteria, and whole foods are better for a person than a supplement, when available.)

Sundays in the Western Church are not actual days of Lent (although historically they were included in Lent too, but that is another discussion). As a family we choose what we give up for Lent (the fasting outlined in the Didache is our choice), but we do follow the calendar of our Rite.

Also, in charity, we do have to accept what is given to us by our hosts when we are visiting. However, if we have a choice between milk and water to drink, we will choose water. This is a humbling situation because one doesn't want to say too much and appear arrogant, but there is an interesting history here that is fun to discuss and learn from.

I hope that answers the questions I've been receiving this past week :)

Now. We do modify.