Shirataki Noodles

A reader writes:

About 7 years ago, I started a new job, going from working my fanny off for 8 – 10 hours straight to sitting at a desk all day.  Naturally I proceeded to put on about 50 lbs in a year or so. 

Ouch! I hope that’s an exaggeration! (Though in actuality, 50 lbs in a year is only an excess of 486 calories a day, which only goes to show that most people aren’t overeating by 486 calories a day or they’d be putting on 50 lbs. in a year. As I’ve written before, most of the time most people tend to eat what they need to maintain their current body weight–whatever it is–and don’t overeat in the sense of contantly putting on more weight.)

After several attempts at trying to lose it the old fashioned way (eat less, excersize, etc.) and failing, I have decided to go low carb. 

Good for you!

I’ve been doing some research on it, including some of your archives.  A while back (last August) you posted some commments about japanese shirataki noodles [HERE], but you also said that you didn’t know of an online source for them.  There seems to be some sources for them now.  One is here:

http://www.asianfoodgrocer.com/browseproducts/Shirataki-Noodles.html

I’m wondering, how far does a 7oz package typically go?  One meal?  Two?

Oooo. That’s a tough question. It’s going to depend on how much you typically eat in a meal. What I can tell you that may be of some help is that Shirataki noodles always come packed in water. This means that they’re already soft when you get them. It’s not like buying 7 oz. of dry spaghetti and having it swell up when you boil it.

You should cook them, but they won’t swell up when you do so.

They may, however, swell up in you. Shirataki noodles are basically pure fiber–a particular kind of fiber called glucomannan, which is known for swelling up to dramatic size. Once your digestive enzymes start breaking down the noodles into their component fibers, they may swell up real good.

As a result, I recommend that you do not pig out when you first eat shirataki or you may find yourself wishing you weren’t feeling so bloated. I’d only eat a very small portion first (like an ounce) and see what effect it has. Eat more the next day after you’ve done this test.

My guess is that, longer term, 7 oz. or shirataki would probably be at least two meals (maybe more). The serving size listed on the package (if it isn’t in Japanese) may also be of help.

I used to get these little tied up bundles of shirataki noodles that were about the size of a large shrimp (not a huge Aussie prawn!), and they swelled up quite a bit in me, so I only ate one per day. Unfortunately, the local Japanese market no longer carries those, though they still have shirataki in lots of other forms (not all of which are noodles; they also have dumplings and cakes made out of it).

One thing I will note about shirataki: They don’t have the same texture as regular pasta. They’re more "springy."

If you’re looking for an easily available low-carb pasta that has a more regular texture, you might want to try Dreamfields (see forthcoming post).

Reception of the Eucharist

A reader writes:

I am a Cradle Catholic who was married at a young age and divorced against my will two to three years later.  He was an unbaptized person but we were married in the Catholic Church. 

Allow me to intrrupt for a moment to note that this marriage is presumed valid until such time as it might be annulled. The brevity of the marriage is not itself a sufficient sign that the marriage was invalid from the beginning, but it may possibly be revealing of an underlying problem that was sufficient to invalidate the marriage at the time it was attempted. You may wish to investigate the possibility of an annulment for this marriage.

I was devastated and stopped practicing the Catholic faith…mostly because I felt unwelcome in the Church (my perception and not necessarily the truth but I was young).  I eventually was received into another church.

Twelve years ago I married another Cradle Catholic, divorced, who had not been married in the Church or before a minister.  Ten years ago, the grace of God lead me to a strong reconversion to my Catholic faith and have been practicing faithfully and raising our son in the faith.  I now relate more to the faith of a convert.  I never received the Eucharist out of respect for Church Law.

Praise God for your reversion and your desire to live in a way pleasing to God that is respectful of the Church’s law!

About 4 years ago I sought priestly counseling because I was very confused about how my marriage was making me feel in the context of my evergrowing faith.  My husband is agnostic but does not fight me and supports our parish and my raising our son in the faith. 

Again, more to be thankful for.

In addition he is in an advanced stage of Parkinson’s, partially paralyzed now from a surgery and cognatively compromised at times. 

I am very sorry to hear this and will pray for him. I encourage others to do so as well.

I am living a celibate life. 

Permit me to make a minor terminology clarification. Properly speaking, celibacy is the unmarried state. You mean that you are living continently. Sorry if this seems nit-picky, but I have a bugaboo about this.

The lack of being able to share our faith and relate together to living the Cross has been an increasing sorrow to me over the years and If I had the faith then that I have now I would never have been able to date or marry him without sharing the most important thing in my life. 

I understand entirely.

On the other hand I truly believe that God is taking care of him by having him with me — I could never leave him alone at this stage of his life.  And I believe Jesus is stretching out His loving arms to him.

Again, very understandable, and very loving.

 

An annulment is not a likely possibility for us. 

It sounds to me as if, seeing as how you wish to remain with your present husband (for as long as he has), that the thing to do would be to pursue an annulment on your first marriage and then, if necessary, having this marriage convalidated or "blessed," in colloquial terms. Then your marital status would be fully in accord with Church law.

I had expressed to this priest my aching for the Eucharist and he told me that he was giving me permission under the "seal" of confession to receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation and the Eucharist. I have been doing so but more recently I have been having doubts and recently asked him again if he can really make an exception for me.  He reiterated that it was definitely within his authority as a priest to do this.  Then the statement came out recently from the Vatican about the sacriligious receiving of the Eucharist by divorced and remarried Catholics.  I have been sick to my stomach and have continued daily Mass and Rosary devotions but I have not received the Eucharist. I do not one want to profane the Sacrament.  And yet everything I read in the New Testament of Jesus is that he was most merciful toward sinners who knew they were sinners.

Purely and simply, my question is is it within the priestly authority to forgive and allow the receiving of the Eucharist under the "seal of confession?

Without knowing the exact way that the priest explained matters, I couldn’t comment directly on what he said, but in general priests have no ability, under the seal of confession or otherwise, to give people permission to receive the Eucharist if they are living in a way that would prevent them from being able to do so. If he implied such an authority on his part, he was wrong.

That being said, it is not clear to me that you are prohibited by Church law from receiving the Eucharist. You have said that you are living continently. This might be simply because of your husband’s current health, but as long a you are willing to live continently until such time as the two of you could licitly engage in conjugal relations (if ever) then your will is in conformity with God’s law (i.e., continence until such time as relations are morally permitted).

That being the case, you could simply go to confession and be absolved (if you haven’t already done so) and then begin receiving the Eucharist. You wouldn’t need any further permission beyond that.

If you are able to obtain an annulment on your first marriage and, if needed, a convalidation on your present one then conjugal relations would again be permitted. That would become more of a pressing issue if your husband had a dramatic improvement in his health than it may be now, but you might want to pursue the option for other reasons anyway.

In any event, if the conditions I mention about your living continently are met then you should be able to receive absolution and then the Eucharist.

Hope this helps!

20

"Tatooine" Planet Found!

Reuters runs a story out of Cape Canaveral indicating that astronomers have located a planet with three suns:

"The planet, a gas giant slightly larger than Jupiter, orbits the main

star of a triple-star system known as HD 188753 in the constellation

Cygnus ("The Swan")."

Okay, so Tatooine wouldn’t be a gas giant, and it only had the two suns… it’s still cool! For scientists, the finding adds another layer of mystery to the problem of how planets are formed. There is an "artists conception" picture with the story, even though knowledge of the planet is largely theoretical.
Now, if they could only find Magrathea…

GET THE STORY

“Tatooine” Planet Found!

Tatooine_1Reuters runs a story out of Cape Canaveral indicating that astronomers have located a planet with three suns:

"The planet, a gas giant slightly larger than Jupiter, orbits the main
star of a triple-star system known as HD 188753 in the constellation
Cygnus ("The Swan")."

Okay, so Tatooine wouldn’t be a gas giant, and it only had the two suns… it’s still cool! For scientists, the finding adds another layer of mystery to the problem of how planets are formed. There is an "artists conception" picture with the story, even though knowledge of the planet is largely theoretical.
Now, if they could only find Magrathea…

GET THE STORY

Cohabiting Sleepovers

A reader writes:

I have a cousin who was baptized and raised Catholic.  A couple years ago, she married her non-Catholic husband in a civil ceremony.  From all that I understand, their marriage is invalid because she did not receive a dispensation to get married outside the Church and she has not formally left the Catholic faith. 

Correct.

Recently they mentioned coming to visit my family and stay with my husband and child at our house.  As lovingly as possible, we invited them to stay with us and tried to impart that they were very welcome here… BUT, having learned that they are in marriage not seen as valid by the Church, we asked that they not sleep in the same room in our house.

A reasonable request.

I’ve not gotten a response from my cousin, but have gotten a one from her husband – he’s not coming because of my comments on the validity of their marriage. 

Understandable from his perspective. As a non-Catholic, he cannot be expected to understand these matters and feels insulted. Unfortunately, while he may not recognize the situation he is objectively in, he is in it, and it is a kindness to him to make him aware of this unpleasant fact.

We feel (and told them) it would be scandalous for us to allow them to sleep together in our home and not an example we would like to set for our son.

Excellent. I don’t know the age of your son (obviously a baby is not going to be scandalized by this the way a sixteen-year old is), but it is good parenting to be thinking in these terms.

 

My (Catholic) husband supports me and feels the same way.  Were we in error in asking that they refrain from sleeping together in our house because of the concerns we have about the validity of their marriage?  We mentioned they could stay in a hotel or with my parents (who support me, but don’t agree with asking them not to sleep together) but felt that would be avoiding an issue that is very important to all our souls and where they may end up for all eternity.

You didn’t do anything wrong. The fact is that your Catholic cousin has put not only herself and her husband  but the rest of the family in a problematic situation by her actions and it sounds as if you have been very thoughtful and charitable in trying to deal with it.

It was very hard to ask them this as repercussions and strains are expected to erupt – maybe even broken relationships.

Understood. These things happen in life, and it sounds as if you have been trying to deal with the matter in a frank and charitable way, and God will reward you for your efforts to honor his law in this way. In particular, he will make it up to you (if not in this life then in the next) for crosses that you have had to bear while following him in this matter.

20

Midnight Madness

For laffs and for lack of anything better to do that evening, I decided to try and pick up my pre-ordered copy of Harry Potter and The Half-Blood Prince at the “Midnight Magic” party my local bookstore was throwing to celebrate the release.  By the end of the evening, I wasn’t laffing and I was wishing I’d found something better to do with my time.  The only perk was actually getting the book.

The procedure called for picking up wristbands to claim your spot in line at 6 PM.  By the time I got there after work, people were already queuing up.  The bookstore’s café offered itty-bitty samples of Starbucks-esque coffee to the hot and cranky crowd, which was nice.  I nearly choked on my vanilla frappacino when a small boy of about eleven said solemnly to the brother he’d been roughhousing with, “Violence is never the answer…. Except in virtual reality, where violence is definitely the answer.”

Worried about parking hassles if I waited too long to come back to the store, I returned to the store around eight, figuring I’d grab one of the comfy armchairs and spend the evening reading.  With the exception of being continually distracted by hordes of screaming children running around the store in capes, Potter glasses, and homemade wands, I managed to get a lot of reading done.  About a half-hour before the sale, my eyes were drooping, so I decided to cruise around the store checking out the games and crafts stations.  The crowds made it impossible to see what was going on at those stations, of course.

Around fifteen minutes to midnight, I noticed a large group of people starting to crowd around the registers.  Interrogation of individuals in the crowd yielded the information that this was how we were expected to get the books.  Despite assurances that wristbands would be checked, it became obvious that the wristbands were a polite fiction.  I could have cruised into the store at 11:45, told the clerk distributing wristbands that I had pre-ordered, and then worked my way through the crowd to the register to present myself as first in line.  Fortunately for me and for the store, I was out within ten minutes with my copy, so there was no need to complain about the situation.  Next time though, when Year 7 is released, I’ll go the next day to pick up my copy.

This past weekend was spent reading Year 6.  All in all, very good.  I’m still bleary-eyed from the last couple of late-night reading marathons.  Despite the frustrations with the "Midnight Magic" brouhaha, the new Harry Potter book was well worth the wait.  It’s difficult to discuss my specific thoughts about the book without revealing huge, honking spoilers that would disappoint those who haven’t yet read the book, so that post will have to await a future date when more people have had a chance to finish the book themselves.  In the meantime, all I can say is that the climax is problematic, but I am hopeful that Rowling can play it out in Year 7 without destroying one well-loved character and another character for whom I’ve always had a grudging admiration.

Ratzinger's Nice! . . . Who Knew?

Actually, a lot of us knew.

Ratzinger is and always has been a cool guy, but the media’s lust for portraying every story in terms of conflict and hyperbole has led many to view him as a theological "rottweiler." The media and the secular intelligentia still view him in that light, but many–including many of the faithful–have been won over by his humble, gentle manner now that he’s pope.

HERE’S SOME INTERESTING ANALYSIS FROM SANDRO MAGISTER OF B16’S GOVERNING STYLE IN HIS FIRST THREE MONTHS IN OFFICE.

Ratzinger’s Nice! . . . Who Knew?

Actually, a lot of us knew.

Ratzinger is and always has been a cool guy, but the media’s lust for portraying every story in terms of conflict and hyperbole has led many to view him as a theological "rottweiler." The media and the secular intelligentia still view him in that light, but many–including many of the faithful–have been won over by his humble, gentle manner now that he’s pope.

HERE’S SOME INTERESTING ANALYSIS FROM SANDRO MAGISTER OF B16’S GOVERNING STYLE IN HIS FIRST THREE MONTHS IN OFFICE.

Blasphemed Among The Gentiles

Last week I pointed out that LifeSiteNews.Com has been waging an anti-Harry Potter campaign based on a thank you note written several years ago by Cardinal Ratzinger or an assistant of his. LifeSite presented the story under the headline "Pope Benedict Opposes Harry Potter Novels"–which was problematic for REASONS THAT I EXPLAINED (ALSO HERE).

In one of the posts, I wrote:

Some of the people seeing the LifeSite-inspired headlines on this
subject will be non-Catholic fans of Harry Potter, and in their
estimation the Catholic Church will have the Church’s credibility
lowered one more notch.

Thanks, LifeSite.

"It is written, ‘The name of  God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you’" (Romans 2:24).

Now, some might be dubious of this, but it’s no joke. On this matter, let me point to what the Pontificator has written:

I know this news is going to make life a lot harder for the papists in
the Pontificator household. The lone Episcopalian holdout in our home
is the Pontificator’s Greatest Progeny (PGP). She also just happens to
be one of the world’s great experts on Harry Potter. No doubt
Ratzinger’s recently published two-year old, non-authoritative,
private, and perhaps uncritical comments will be noted in her diary as
one more reason why she should not convert to Rome. Friends, I think a novena and all that other good Catholic prayer stuff may be in order
here [SOURCE].

Amen.

And I hope LifeSite meditates on the scandal that will be caused by their opportunistic manufacture of this "story"–just "coincidentally" timed with the release of the latest Harry Potter novel.

Now, before I forget, let me issue THE BIG RED DISCLAIMER: I am not
a fan of the Harry Potter novels. In order to be able to comment
apologetically on the Harry Potter phenomenon, I read the first novel
and watched the first two movies. I was not at all impressed with them
as literature, and I recognize that they can have a harmful spiritual
effect on some readers, especially among the young. I also recognize
that they are not an apologia for paganism and that a reader who is
secure in his faith will not be magically turned into a neo-pagan by
reading them.