Pre-Lent & the “Last Supper Mentality”

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As the Church helps us to gear up for Lent through the Pre-Lenten period, I thought this would be a good time to explore the “last supper mentality.”

What is the last supper mentality?

Unfortunately, it does not have to do with the Mystical Supper, also called the Last Supper, where the Holy Eucharist was instituted and God revealed to us His redeeming love for man.

No, this is a name for a mindset that is common for us to adopt when food restriction is on the horizon.  

It’s that final indulgence (or overindulgence) right before starting a diet.

It’s our brain telling us “Eat! Eat now!” because that food won’t be available soon. So get it while you can.

It’s that “farewell to food” party.

To some degree, this is a natural reaction to deprivation. It can range from a thoughtful inclusion of meat on the menu in the final days before the fast…to an anxious and out-of-control episode of overeating. The latter is quite common in those who have chronically dieted in the past or those who find themselves caught in a cycle of restricting and overeating, restricting and overeating. 

One way it might be helpful

Research discussions around the effects of deprivation recognize that if one is eliminating food for moral, ethical, or in our case, religious reasons, some level of deprivation may be stirred, but often in these cases, our convictions take precedence over our deprivation.

But no matter the reason for the deprivation, we know that depriving ourselves of something often increases the craving for that food. Perhaps you can recall your own experiences of past Lenten fasts, and what your body was telling you it was in the mood for. But another way to frame an increased craving is this – fasting from food makes it more special. And food is special! This is one of the most basic messages fasting has to teach us. Food is not something to be tossed aside, wasted, or devoured, but it is a gift from God. Experiencing this reality is one element that makes Pascha and Bright Week so meaningful. After 40+ days of saying “no” to ourselves, we learn how to say “yes” to ourselves with sobriety and with a thankful heart.

One way it can be harmful

And yet, those with a history of dieting may experience the last supper mentality as a response to impending food restriction, resulting in an “eating backlash”  from not being able to touch favorite foods. For many, feelings of anxiety and fear can arise, sometimes anger and/or sadness from the anticipated loss of choice. (If these feelings arise for you around Lent, consider speaking with your priest). These feelings can then trigger overeating that feels automatic.

So today, I would like to offer some ways to avoid a harmful last supper mentality, no matter your history with dieting or fasting:

1. First, follow the Pre-Lenten fast. Two weeks before Lent, we observe a normal Wednesday and Friday fast. The week before Lent is a partial fasting period, where we abstain from meat, but fish, dairy, wine, and oil are all permitted on every day of the week. This prescribed lead up to Lent helps us to ease into the fast, avoiding the extremes often prescribed by fad diets. This gentle ramp-up in fasting helps us to avoid the dichotomy of a day of extreme indulgence immediately followed by a day of extreme fasting. 

In fact, our fast does not need to be extreme, at all. “The Church Fathers generally recommend "moderate" fasting: one ought not to allow the body to be weakened too much, for then the soul, too, is harmed. Nor ought one to undertake fasting too suddenly: everything demands practice, and each one should look to his own nature and occupation” (The Way of the Ascetics, by Tito Colliander).

2. Next, follow the prescribed fast, to the best of your ability, but do not make up your own rules. Do not try to turn the fast into a self-led restriction on foods you feel you should eat less of (i.e. choosing to give up sugar or chocolate, or processed foods, etc.) Follow the fasting guidelines of the Church and begin with abstaining from meat. This helps us to avoid falling into a dieting mindset which can tarnish the Lenten tradition with our own base ideas, relegate the fast to something purely physical, and diminish the Church’s wisdom on this ascetical practice. If you don’t know where to start, you can always speak to your priest or spiritual father about what a helpful fast can look like for you.

3. Next, work to make all food emotionally equivalent. Often, eating the forbidden foods as part of the last supper mentality is associated with being “bad” or even “sinful.” But in St. Paul reminds us that: “food does not commend us to God; for neither if we eat are we the better, nor if we do not eat are we the worse” (1 Corinthians 8: 8-9).

So, we must work to make food emotionally equivalent. This means placing the same (that is, zero) moral value on the foods we eat, and the foods we do not. All food is God-given, and when we view food as morally-neutral, we are better able to make choices about what we eat with thoughtfulness and control, rather than being driven by the physiological and automatic responses to deprivation.

4. Lastly, while Lent is a time to empty ourselves physically, it is also a time to fill up spiritually. By appreciating Lent for what it is, a treasure trove of opportunity to deepen our relationship with God through fasting, vigil, and prayer, we can focus less on ourselves and what we are going without, and more on all we have been given, and how we can share those blessings with others.  

So this Lent, let us seek to respond to temptations to fall into this “last supper mentality” by instead entering into the reality revealed to us at the actual Last Supper: As Fr. Alexander Schmemann writes on the meaning of the Last Supper, God “offered Himself as the true food of man, because the Life revealed in Him is the true Life. The Last Supper is the restoration of the paradise of bliss, of life as Eucharist and Communion” with God.