Physical Health In Religious Communities

[Totally Franciscan]

Would you mind to mention which communities these were?

 

I entered many years ago, so the active community no longer functions as it once did.  They are teachers and now live on their own in apartments for the most part.  The contemplative community no longer exists having been suppressed by the bishop. 

[petitpèlerin]

On the fitness end of things, there are the "running nuns" in New Hampshire. They have a home for kids who have been removed from their homes and they found that running helps keeps the kids more mentally and emotionally well and helps those with anger issues to deal with them. So they run four miles a day with the kids, and sometimes go out for hikes in the mountains. For anyone interested in serious fitness in religious life. ;)

[Strictlyinkblot]

Would you mind to mention which communities these were?

 

At the moment I won't as I want to keep the name of the community private until I'm accepted as I don't want to repeat the mistakes I made before in revealing too much online. They are Dominican if that helps.

[Blessed&Grateful]

there was one order I remember that had a nun who roller-bladed, sorry can't remember which but think it was franciscan and maybe mid-west? I don't think they wore a habit per se just modest contemporary clothes.

[emmaberry101]

there was one order I remember that had a nun who roller-bladed, sorry can't remember which but think it was franciscan and maybe mid-west? I don't think they wore a habit per se just modest contemporary clothes.

 

I forgot about the rollerblading nun! Thank you Blessed&Grateful (wonderful screen name, by the way :like:). I don't think this is the same nun (she is PCC) you were speaking of, but she is rollerblading nonetheless:

 

[cmaD2006]

Curiosing ... good topic.

 

I do think you need to worry about physical heath to some degree.  TradMom did post in another thread about cultic practices ... and one can be limiting sleep and food.

 

Note:  Fasting is an appropriate practice -- I am really talking about not having enough food period.  If all you see on the table is pasta (for example) and nothing else is left in the kitchen then it should be a concern -- because the sisters either do not have enough resources to support themselves or do not know what a proper diet is.  Or -- as I said it could be a control device in the case that a community is using cult-like practices.

 

Physical health should be a concern, just not the primary concern with respect to entering religious life. 

[AccountDeleted]

There is a difference between being concerned about physical health and well-being and being concerned about being able to maintain one's exercise gym regimen or jogging schedule. I certainly agree that sleep, food and physical exercise of some sort is needed but a well balanced life does not have to include a preoccupation with the fitness of the body either. One can be perfectly healthy simply by living a balanced lifestyle.

 

I would also be careful about throwing around the 'cult' word too easily. It takes a lot to make a cult, especially a destructive one. There are religious communities that have very traditional practices that might even seem cult-like in some ways but they also have a lot of things that differentiate them from cults as well.

[Cherie]

That is a good question. I know of a few communities who are now trying to find more ways to eat more healthfully and incorporate some kind of exercise into their daily schedule, most especially since obesity is a huge problem nowadays, and many of their new Sisters are overweight. I personally know of a Sister who lost a VERY substantial amount of weight (in a healthy way; she was obese when she entered) after she entered the convent. This particular community was concerned--reasonably so, not inordinately so--about maintaining and achieving the health of the Sisters, so healthy meals and time for exercise were a priority. Not more of a priority than prayer and things of the spiritual realm, but still a priority.

[Gabriela]

There is a difference between being concerned about physical health and well-being and being concerned about being able to maintain one's exercise gym regimen or jogging schedule. I certainly agree that sleep, food and physical exercise of some sort is needed but a well balanced life does not have to include a preoccupation with the fitness of the body either. One can be perfectly healthy simply by living a balanced lifestyle.

 

I would also be careful about throwing around the 'cult' word too easily. It takes a lot to make a cult, especially a destructive one. There are religious communities that have very traditional practices that might even seem cult-like in some ways but they also have a lot of things that differentiate them from cults as well.

 

nunsense, you keep bringing up the gym. Who ever said anything about a gym? When I expressed a concern about exercise, I was talking about sisters who do not even have time to go for a 30-minute walk, and their monastic work consists of sitting at a desk. I wasn't talking about "keeping buff", as one sister I spoke to described it (apparently thoroughly misunderstanding what I was asking).

 

One of the beautiful things about religious life is that people who are called to that life thrive like never before. But as someone mentioned, different people have different needs. If I do not stretch, I have terrible lower back pain. If I don't go for walks, I have upper back, shoulder, and neck pain. If I don't get enough protein, I have no energy whatsoever and I gain enormous amounts of weight at lightning speed. Everyone's body is different, and all I am asking is whether people know of communities that are flexible enough to meet various dietary, sleep, and exercise needs.

 

No one's implying that one joins religious life to get into the best physical shape of their lives. I think everyone in here would agree that one joins religious life to get into the best spiritual shape of one's life. But some of us believe that, in order to do that, we need a bare minimum of physical health, and for some of us, that bare minimum requires a little more maintenance than for others.

[AnneLine]

Yeah, weight and exercise is a balancing act...  for people in the world and for people in religious life.

 

And... I tend to think our culture tends to be a little weight obsessed. We're either too heavy or not heavy enough.

 

I tend to gain weight if I look at food, and I also have a history of back problems.  I was a little concerned what would happen myself.  I'd heard all the horror stories about sisters and nuns either eating nothing... or having a ton of fattening food, and knowing how busy they were, I wondered if we'd have time for any kind of exercise....

 

 This is how it worked in my community (an active/conteplative one):

 

Within a few days of our arrival, our Postulant Mistress told the postulant sisters rather bluntly that some of us wanted to pick and choose on the food, and were getting obsessed about our 'diets' and whether we'd gain/lose weight.  We were firmly told that we now were in religious life, and this was to stop. The superiors would work with us to come up with a healthy balance, but that we were simply to eat what was put before us, and that they also would work with us to be sure we got the exercise we needed; if we needed something special, we should mention it. 

 

Shortly after that, we were required to be weighed, and they told us if they expected us to gain/lose weight.  It was checked at regular intervals.   We also were told what we were to eat.  We were given a very appropriate list of things we were to consume at each meal, but the amount was left up to us, but we were to take some of each dish that was offered.  It usually meant at the main meal, we ate the following:  a small salad or soup, a small to medium portion of a main dish, a serving of potato or rice or noodles, a vegetable, a fruit, a piece of bread, a pat of margarine/butter, a glass of water and a glass of milk.  Coffee or tea if it was served... often it wasn't.   Sometimes a cookie or comparable sized desert (tiny sliver of cake); ice cream on major feasts.  If you had a physical reason to skip one or more of those (or to have a larger or smaller portion of one or another), you needed to ask a permission.  Most reasonable requests were accommodated. (Because I don't process carbs really well, I was permitted to skip the bread and often the starches, and almost all of the sugared stuff except on major feast days... and occasionally they had me supplement my food with additional fruit or protein.  Judging from how it worked out for me, I think they knew what they were doing.... and that makes sense, because they had nutritionists who had designed our food intake... they ran a hospital among other things, so they had people who could help with a sister's unique needs.  Whatever they were doing, all of our sisters seemed to have their weight stabilized by the time I discerned I should leave (6 months).   I lost almost about 25 lbs while I was there.. .because the food was mostly healthy and in appropriate portions... and no way to get at unhealthy stuff. ;)

 

In addition to a balanced diet, they had us doing a lot of physical stuff all day long, including lots of stairs and walking between buildlings... and we also had volleyball or comparable exercise nearly every day at least once.   If someone needed to do some stretching or some loops around the building for extra walking, I would think it could have been accommodated...

 

Each community is different... but really I don't think there is much reason to worry about most religious communities on this front....  But, this is part of the application process -- you just need to talk to them about it....

 

Praying for you... stuff like this makes discernment a tricky challenge....

Edited January 3, 2013 by AnneLine

[Lilllabettt]

I lost 60 lbs during the couple years I was in the convent. It got to be too much (after I got sick I stopped eating) ... but I was overweight when I entered and for the most part the lifestyle was absolutely conducive to healthy living.  I typically lost a couple pounds a week ... just by skipping dessert on those days it was available. That said, I was never assigned a sedentary duty. But I think anyone who made a deliberate effort to be healthy could accomplish it quite easily. I think very conservative communities might have more of an issue ... there was an attitude in some places back in the day that you shouldn't give a second thought to  what was going on with your body.

 

AnneLine ... wow ... that is great that the Sisters were so knowledgeable about nutrition. But honestly if my weight/food-intake had been managed so tightly I would have run away screaming.

Edited January 3, 2013 by Lilllabettt

[AnneLine]

^^^  he he he,  Well.. I'm not there, I'm here!  (not the only reason, but yup.... ;)  )

 

BUT... when I do want/need to lose weight.. .I know the outline they gave us works, and it does work..... 

 

and an additional thought... I was quite surprised a few years back when I had a diabetes scare (an unnessesary one, I might add....) the diet the diabetes educators proposed to us was almost identical with the one the Sisters had advocated 30 years earlier.  Hmmm.... could explain a lot.... lots of fruit and veges and complex carbs, reasonable lamounts of protein... yup...that makes sense....

Edited January 3, 2013 by AnneLine

[cmaD2006]

There is a difference between being concerned about physical health and well-being and being concerned about being able to maintain one's exercise gym regimen or jogging schedule. I certainly agree that sleep, food and physical exercise of some sort is needed but a well balanced life does not have to include a preoccupation with the fitness of the body either. One can be perfectly healthy simply by living a balanced lifestyle.

 

I would also be careful about throwing around the 'cult' word too easily. It takes a lot to make a cult, especially a destructive one. There are religious communities that have very traditional practices that might even seem cult-like in some ways but they also have a lot of things that differentiate them from cults as well.

 

Nunsense -- it is not a word that I use easily.  It is something to watch for.  That's all I'm saying.

[Gabriela]

This just showed up in my inbox this morning: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Bmc0ERKfjP0

 

I thought maybe there was a reason. ;-)

[inperpetuity]

I love the picture of the Poor Clare rollerblading!  I've always wanted to roller blade, maybe when I enter the convent, but wait, I would have to get them before I enter and then ask if I could bring them. :hehe:

Edited January 3, 2013 by inperpetuity