I just thought of this while I was at church. I'm a calorie counter, and I'm pretty strict about it. On sunday, as soon as I took communion, I had a little *oops! i need to count that* moment--but then wondered if that was really even necessary (and continued to go back & forth)--"maybe it doesn't count because it's holy food"--"i should count it anyway"--"but it's so small it's not worth counting" etc.

And it made me curious, how strict are you fellow calorie counters? I've been making all my own food this summer, which has really given me an opportunity to develop my obsessive counting & measuring skills

I'm pretty sure they're generally made out of wheat flour and water, depending on which denomination you follow.

They're so small I really don't think that you'd have to count them, especially since it's once a week or twice depending on when certain religious holidays fall.

What could that possibly be at most? Like 25 calories... at most?.... An entire week?

I'm going to make a little comparison. I meditate from time to time. Were I to ingest some small wafer during my meditation time, it would almost defeat the purpose to then be meditating on whether or not that wafer had x number of calories.

It's a peaceful time. Let it remain peaceful and worry free.

Haha, i'm not actually terribly worried, but at my church they give us a small chunk of bread, along with ~1/2 ounce of wine. I was just wondering if I'm the only one that knows how many calories are in the gum and mints I have.

I'm with Lovely. I very strictly count everything else I eat but I made an exception for communion. For me it's not the calories that concern me but the sugar in the grape juice (I would prefer wine!). I figure if I can't make an exception to my diet to take communion, who exactly am I putting first? And really, nutrition labels are up to like 25% wrong anyway, so a tiny bit of bread and wine (or wafter and grape juice in my case) is firmly in the noise.

I think the calories would be so minimal that it is hardly worth counting. If it worries you that much count 25-50 calories from the rest of your day.

I wouldn't count it or worry over it. I'm not part of a communion religion and so I do not have to worry about that, but I do occasionally have to eat a cheerio or two to encourage the toddlers to eat when I am taking care of them in the church daycare. I don't worry about it. It's never more than 5 whole cheerios and I figure that being there and helping those babies onto the path to God and keeping them safe and happy while their parents celebrate God is more important than knowing THAT precisely how many calories I have each Sunday. I, however, am not nearly as strict in my counting as you are, so my take on it may not work for you.

Sure I would count it, you figure a half an ounce of wine is about 12 calories, and a bite of bread maybe 15 cals? I'd count it as 30 calories. As long as it's not stopping you from consuming it, I don't see a problem with just adding that amount to your daily cals whenever you take communion.

I'm pretty strict about counting everything, and I worry about calorie counts being inaccurate so I usually round up.... a 220 cal lean cuisine I count as 250, 90 calorie fiber one bars I count as 100 cals and so on.

I probably would count it, when I was doing calorie counting and using Fitday, I made myself a custom food which was just a generic 50 calories and I'd add that in if I was having something like what you have for Communion. It's not that i'd freak out if I happen to go 50 calories above my target for that day (I did a range anyway), it was more just the idea of wanting to keep track of everything and not fool myself into thinking that nibbles here and there didn't count.

And yes, I do keep track of my gum! I like the ones that are 2 small pieces for one serving, so then I can have just one piece at a time and twice as many servings!

This made me LOL. I say don't bother counting. I agree, if taking communion is important to you then just do it and let it be a positive thing not something to obsess over.

Around here, there's a sweet called Anisi Honey Wafers. The the taste and texture of the wafer part of it reminds me of a Communion wafer, right down to the "sticks to the roof of your mouth" bit. The Anisi wafer is about the size of a paper plate, and has ninety calories. And that's with honey cream in the middle of the wafer!

So, really, I can't imagine it's more than about 5-10 calories for a Communion wafer. If that. Of course, those are the wafers from a Catholic Mass. Some parishes used actual bread, and so did the one Lutheran-y service I went to in college. But if you've got the classic styrofoam-textured version, all the above applies.

the calories don't count if it's Blessed and Holy!

I wouldn't count it, I think that takes the focus away from what communion is, a time to ensure that you are right with God. If you're really concerned, do a few jumping jacks or "twitch" your leg while you're sitting there listening to the sermon.

Well I have to say this makes me feel good because I had this thought too while I was losing (eventually I decided not to care about it) but I thought I was so obsessed that I'd even had the thought! It makes me feel better to know others have considered it too. Anyways I never counted it, I think it's probably the only thing I never counted! Although like another poster I round everything up so I'm sure it didn't make any difference.

lol. If you are Catholic (I am), I figure we stand up, sit down & kneel enough to wear off whats in that host! Now when we young and went to Catholic School and went to mass every morning before school, well, maybe that would add up. I always skip the wine

I know I'm late jumping into this thread, but when I saw this...I just couldn't keep from replying.

Personally, I think there comes a point when being "strict" can move from being helpful to being harmful. It's one thing to know how many calories are in your major meals for the day, and your snacks. But knowing how many calories are in your gum? In your mints? Actually wanting to figure out how many calories are in Communion bread? I'm going to be completely honest here -- that really worries me, and strikes me as potentially harmful behaviour and thinking.

I know how easy it can be to slip into the mindset of having to know *exactly* how many calories you're taking in (I suffered from an eating disorder in university) but sometimes it's really worth it to step back and take stock of what you could potentially be doing to yourself. What's the point of looking good physically, if you're driving yourself nuts mentally with all these calculations of the calories in things that in the long run, don't even matter.

Communion (and church in general) is supposed to be a peaceful place where you can let go of your troubles and your worries. If you're sitting there thinking, "How many calories did I just take in?" you're probably not getting as much out of it as you want.

Just my two cents.