Products that are prohibited from being eaten during fasting are all products for the production of which raw materials of animal origin were used. First of all, the ban applies to meat and any meat products, as well as poultry and eggs. Milk and everything connected with it are prohibited: butter, sour cream, cottage cheese, fermented milk products and drinks, cheeses. During fasting, it is prohibited to eat pasta, white and rich bread, cakes, cookies, waffles and any pastries that contain butter, eggs and milk. Don’t forget, there is also mayonnaise, because eggs are also used to prepare it.
Some foods, such as fish and vegetable oil, can only be eaten on those days of fasting that are considered non-strict, although vegetable oil does not have animal origin. The ban also applies to chocolate and fast food, which are high in fat. During fasting, you should not drink alcoholic beverages, including beer.
Post by day of the week
On some days of the week, fasting may be more strict, and on some days, including those falling on Sunday, some relaxations may be allowed. So, Monday, Wednesday and Friday are days of strict fasting and dry eating. On these days, you can only eat foods that have not been subjected to heat treatment; adding vegetable oil is also excluded. On days of strict fasting, you can only eat black bread, vegetables and fruits, washing them down with water or unsweetened compote. If you make salads these days, you can only use lemon juice mixed with a little honey for dressing.You should not go hungry while fasting, especially if you have not denied yourself food before. This is fraught with problems with bile secretion and erosive processes in the gastrointestinal tract.
Hot dishes can be eaten on Tuesdays and Thursdays, but on these days it is prohibited to add oil to them. But Saturday and Sunday are days of relaxation, when you can finally fry fish or vegetables in vegetable oil and add it to salads.
Proper nutrition during fasting
And during fasting, your diet can be healthy. Replace any animal protein missing in your diet with products that contain plant-based proteins. First of all, these are mushrooms and legumes: lentils, beans, peas, chickpeas. The missing fats are found in nuts, and iron in apples, buckwheat, and bananas.Remember that while observing religious fasts, you should not immediately fall into the sin of gluttony upon completion; this is harmful not only to the soul, but also to health.
Nursing mothers and sick people are allowed to eat milk and products made from it during fasting. The church allows those who suffer from diabetes, kidney failure, anemia and weakened immunity to eat meat, without considering it a sin.
Strict fasting, during which believers observe a special Lenten menu, runs from February 27 to April 15, 2017, until Easter, which falls on April 16 this year.
Lent this year began on February 27, the last day will be on April 15. It will last 48 days, or 7 weeks. Lent begins with Clean Monday - on this day the church prescribes complete abstinence from food. On the following days, Orthodox Christians are allowed to eat once on weekdays (in the evening), and on weekends - twice.
The first week is called "Fedorov's week." These days it is customary to remember all the defenders of the Orthodox faith. In the second week, the memory of St. Gregory Palamas is venerated. The third week is the Worship of the Cross, and during the fourth week the theologian John Climacus is remembered. In the fifth week, the memory of the Venerable Mary of Egypt, patroness of repentant women, is venerated. The sixth week is marked by Palm Sunday - the day of the Lord's entry into Jerusalem. Next begins Holy Week - the strictest week of Lent before Easter. In the last week, you need to strictly adhere to fasting, take communion and repent. And finally, on May 1, the Holy Resurrection of Christ is celebrated - Easter.
Lent 2017, what you can eat
There can be no question of any unauthorized fasting according to the regulations or even close to the regulations if there are diseases associated with the stomach or metabolism. In modern conditions, even monasteries rarely fast with dry eating. If you have never fasted, first of all you should first talk to your priest: he will give you individual recommendations. If you have any serious illnesses, then you should not observe Lent in all its severity.
For everyone else who intends to adhere to strict food restrictions, you should remember that you cannot eat during Lent 2017. During absolutely the entire Lent, it is forbidden to eat all products of animal origin: meat, sausages, fish, seafood, white bread, pastries, candies, mayonnaise, eggs, milk and dairy products (sour cream, cottage cheese, feta cheese, ayran, matsoni, kefir, cheese, yogurt and butter), as well as strong alcohol. Allowed to eat during Lent: fruits, vegetables, dried fruits, sauerkraut, salted and pickled vegetables, mushrooms, nuts, cereals, legumes, water porridge, jelly, tea, dried fruit compotes, kvass.
Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday there is dry eating, when you are allowed to eat food only in raw form. On Tuesday and Thursday, hot food (boiled, baked, stewed) is allowed, but without vegetable oil. On Saturday and Sunday, you can include vegetable oil and a little grape wine in your food menu. Moreover, priests advise drinking it in a ratio of three parts water to one part wine.
Let us remind you that according to the strictest canons of Lent, you cannot consume: meat and meat products, products containing milk and dairy ingredients, including milk powder. As well as products containing eggs; fish (except on some days), vegetable oil (except on some days) and alcohol (except wine on some days). This fast is particularly strict, requiring abstinence from meat, wine, cheese, milk and eggs.
Lenten menu for Lent 2017 by day
1st day - abstaining from food
Day 2 - boiled food without oil
Day 3 - raw food without oil
4th day - boiled food without oil
Day 5 - raw food without oil
6th day - boiled food with butter and wine
Day 7 – boiled food with butter and wine
Day 1 - raw food without oil
Day 2 - boiled food without oil
Day 3 - raw food without oil
4th day - boiled food without oil
Day 5 - raw food without oil
6th day - boiled food with butter and wine
7th day (Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary) - boiled food with oil and wine.
Day 1 - raw food without oil
Day 2 - boiled food without oil
Day 3 - raw food without oil
4th day - boiled food without oil
Day 5 - raw food without oil
6th day - boiled food with butter and wine
Day 7 – boiled food with butter and wine
Day 1 - raw food without oil
Day 2 - boiled food without oil
Day 3 - raw food without oil
4th day - boiled food with butter
Day 5 - raw food without oil
6th day - boiled food with butter and wine
Day 7 – boiled food with butter and wine
Day 1 - raw food without oil
Day 2 - boiled food without oil
Day 3 - raw food without oil
4th day - boiled food without oil
Day 5 - raw food without oil
6th day (Lazarus Saturday) - boiled food with butter, wine, caviar
7th day (Palm Sunday) - fish allowed
Day 1 - raw food without oil
Day 2 - raw food without oil
Day 3 - raw food without oil
4th day - boiled food with butter, wine
5th day - do not eat anything
Day 6 - boiled food without oil
Recipes for Lent 2017
One of the difficulties of celebrating Lent is that in our time the traditions of Lenten cooking have been lost. But if you prepare delicious Lenten dishes for your family, perhaps they will begin to fast, seeing that it is not as scary as they previously thought. Recipes for lean dishes are easy to find on the Internet today, but basic advice can be given now.
Porridge
If you regularly cooked porridge for your family, then you can cook it during Lent, just not with milk, but with water, and do not season it with oil, but serve it with sauce, or sweet: based on jam or jelly, berries, steamed and chopped dried fruits, nuts, honey, cocoa, vegetable corn cream, or unsweetened: vegetable, mushroom; in both cases the variations using spices are very interesting. Don’t forget about the variety of the main component - cereals: rice, buckwheat, pearl barley, oatmeal, semolina... whole, crushed, flakes. Play with the consistency of the porridge: from a spread close to puree soup to crumbly “grain to grain”. Additional components can not only be served as a sauce, but also added during the preparation of porridge.
Crumbled buckwheat with mushrooms and onions
3 glasses of water, 1.5 glasses of buckwheat, 2 onions, some dry porcini mushrooms. Pour water over the kernel, cover with chopped mushrooms and put on high heat, closing with a lid.
When it boils, reduce the heat by half and continue cooking for 10 minutes until thickened, then reduce the heat again to low and cook for about 5-7 minutes. until the water has completely evaporated. Remove from heat and wrap warm for 15 minutes. At the same time, fry finely chopped onion and add salt. Add the fried onions to the porridge and stir evenly.
Mushroom pilaf
For pilaf, thick-walled dishes are preferred, they heat up evenly and release heat slowly. The ratio of the main components: rice\carrots\mushrooms (frozen, fresh or soaked dry) is equal, i.e. for half a kilo of rice there are exactly the same amount of carrots and mushrooms.
You can partially or completely replace mushrooms with soy meat, but it should be remembered that soy meat itself does not have the same taste as mushrooms, and when using it, the dish should be seasoned with the help of flavorings and spices.
Heat the cauldron and the oil in it (do not skimp on oil for pilaf: its taste improves significantly), fry the mushrooms and carrots, add salt and spices, cover the top, without stirring, with a layer of washed rice and carefully pour in water (1.5 volumes of rice), so that the rice turns out covered with water with a margin of more than a couple of centimeters. Close the lid tightly, trying not to open the lid further unnecessarily.
When we hear that the contents of the cauldron are boiling, reduce the heat to a minimum, at this time we will prepare the garlic: we will need several small cloves. They are placed directly into the cap of rice (the rice has already swollen and absorbed all the water above it) whole and lightly pressed down, immersing it in the rice, after which the cauldron is turned off, but the pilaf continues to cook due to the residual heat.
After ten to fifteen minutes you can mix everything and serve. Homemade pickled cucumbers or tomatoes or sauerkraut are a good addition to pilaf.
Sweet barley porridge with poppy seeds
Rinse the barley and begin to cook in plenty of water over moderate heat, skimming off the foam. When the cereal begins to secrete mucus, drain the excess water and cook until the cereal is soft and thick, stirring.
Prepare poppy seeds (less than half a glass of poppy seeds per glass of cereal): pour boiling water over it, let it steam, after 5 minutes. Drain the water, rinse the poppy seeds, add boiling water again, and immediately drain it as soon as droplets of fat begin to appear on the surface of the water. Then grind the steamed poppy seeds, adding a little boiling water.
Mix prepared poppy seeds with thickened, softened barley porridge, adding honey, heat over low heat for 5-7 minutes, stirring continuously, remove from heat, add jam.
Rice with vegetables
Heat oil in a frying pan, fry onions, carrots, and bell peppers. Then add lightly boiled rice, salt, pepper, a little water and simmer for another 15 minutes. Bring until cooked, the rice should absorb all the liquid. Then add green peas, parsley and dill.
2 full glasses of rice, 100 g of vegetable oil, 3 onions, 1 carrot, salt, pepper, 3 sweet peppers, 0.5 liters of water, 5 tablespoons of green peas.
Soups
It’s great if soups are common in your family diet. Most of them have very nice Lenten options or are easy to adapt to Lent. The main point of the technology of lean soup: timely laying of the components, so that by the end of cooking they are all ready at the same time, first harder, then more tender, for example, for borscht, beets and carrots are laid before potatoes and cabbage. Lightly frying the vegetables pleasantly improves the taste of the soup. Most lean vegetable soups gain better flavor and aroma when a clove of chopped garlic is added at the very end. Don't forget about other spices, herbs, and bay leaves.
You can also use ready-made mixtures or cubes for broth, you just have to monitor their composition: whether non-lenten components have been added. It is also possible to prepare vegetables separately, grind all or part of the components into a soup puree, serve with croutons or crackers, or even, in the Oriental style, with unleavened rice (here it makes sense to cook soup with a very pronounced taste, spicy or salty).
Adaptation to fasting soup-kharcho
Pour half a glass of rice into two to three liters of boiling water. Fry 3-4 onions, add them to water with rice, bay leaf, allspice (crush the peas). After 5 minutes, add half a glass of crushed walnuts.
After another short time, add half a glass of tomato paste (in a more classic version: tkemali plums, which we don’t find here, or half a glass of pomegranate juice): dried herbs (basil, parsley), red pepper, a little cinnamon, suneli hops (key for taste soup seasoning).
After another 5 minutes, you can turn it off completely, adding fresh herbs and chopped garlic, and let it brew. In an even more adapted version to the Russian environment, potatoes can be placed in boiling water before rice.
Rassolnik
Soak a small amount of pearl barley for several hours (no more than half a glass for a standard three-liter pot of soup). Boil it lightly. Place potatoes cut into cubes into boiling water with barley. Separately, fry the onion and add carrots to the rice and potatoes.
Later, when the potatoes are ready, add chopped pickles and season with brine (it’s good to stew these cucumbers in the brine a little before). At the end of cooking, add chopped garlic, bay leaf, dried or fresh herbs. Can be served with soy mayonnaise, if available.
Korean soup
For this soup you need to have a special soy seasoning: chai. It has a very thick consistency, dark brown color, specific taste and smell. The Japanese have an analogue called “Mizo”.
For a lean version of this soup, three or four onions are fried with the addition of two or three tablespoons of chai; you can also add steamed soy meat here. After this, water is added (up to three liters), after boiling the potatoes and a little later the “profile” vegetable.
It could be fresh or dried Korean cabbage, or chopped zucchini, or a couple of green radishes. The soup is cooked until the vegetables are ready. The tai should give the saltiness and spiciness, but if it seems insufficient, you can add more salt and red pepper. Serve with unleavened rice, cooked in a thick-walled bowl, ratio of rice to water: two to three, gradually reduce heat.
Lentil soup
Soak the lentils for a couple of hours, set to cook, peel and cut the potatoes, carrots and onions fried in oil. Successful additions and spices to this soup: coriander, thyme, garlic, herbs. Pairs well with soy meat (fry with onions and carrots), tomatoes, olives (their brine is added directly to the soup) and soy mayonnaise when serving.
Pea soup with pearl barley
Soak the peas overnight in cold water and, adding washed pearl barley, cook in the same water. Cut the carrots, onions and parsley into small cubes, fry in oil and combine with the peas when they are half cooked. Salt and sprinkle with herbs.
1 liter of water, 1 cup of peas, 1 tablespoon of pearl barley, 1/2 carrots, 1/2 onions, 1/2 parsley root, 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil, herbs, salt.
Borscht with mushrooms
Prepared mushrooms are stewed in oil along with chopped roots. Boiled beets are grated or cut into cubes. Potatoes, cut into oblong pieces, are boiled in broth until soft, other products are added (flour is mixed with a small amount of cold liquid) and the whole thing is boiled for 10 minutes. Greens are added to the soup before serving. If tomato puree is added, it is stewed together with mushrooms.
200 g fresh or 30 g dried porcini mushrooms, 1 tablespoon vegetable oil, 1 onion, a little celery or parsley, 2 small beets (400 g), 4 potatoes, salt, 1-2 liters of water, 1 teaspoon flour, 2 -3 tablespoons of herbs, 1 tablespoon of tomato puree, vinegar.
Salads
Preparing salads during strict fasting can greatly diversify the table. During Lent, of course, fresh vegetables are less available than during summer fasts, but you can widely use preparations: frozen, dried, pickled vegetables and fruits, tofu, add cooked rice or other cereals. To dress salads, sunflower oil, soy mayonnaise, sauces are used, or ingredients that are juicy enough are selected so that the salad is tasty without additional ingredients.
Lenten seaweed salad
Dried seaweed is soaked, boiled, washed thoroughly. Separately, chopped onions are fried, mixed with prepared cabbage, seasoned with soy sauce, ajinomoto, and other spices to taste.
Korean salads
Many Korean salads have lean components and therefore are quite suitable for a Lenten meal. You can buy them ready-made or prepare them yourself. To prepare salads, you need a special grater (only an experienced hand can cut it as thinly as necessary).
Here are a few classic options: 1) carrots (shredded thinly), 2) carrots and green radishes (the second one is smaller, chop both products), 3) cabbage (cut into 2x2 cm squares, add either chopped carrots or beets, but very little of the latter, only for color). Prepared vegetables are salted, mixed, crushed, allowed to stand until juice is obtained, the juice is drained or squeezed out.
Heat odorless sunflower oil in a frying pan. At this time, season the vegetables with vinegar, red pepper, ajinomoto, and coriander. Finely chop the garlic and place it in a heap on the vegetables, pour the heated oil directly onto the garlic, and mix everything. Let stand and cool.
Salad of cabbage, carrots, apples and sweet peppers
The washed white cabbage is cut into strips, ground with a small amount of salt, the juice is drained, mixed with peeled chopped apples, carrots, sweet peppers, seasoned with sugar and vegetable oil. Sprinkle with finely chopped herbs.
300 g cabbage, 2 apples, 1 carrot, 100 g sweet pepper, 4 tablespoons vegetable oil, 1 teaspoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon sugar, herbs.
Beet caviar
Finely chop the onion, grate the carrots on a coarse grater. Fry everything in vegetable oil until golden brown. Then add grated fresh beets. Five minutes before cooking, add salt to taste and tomato paste.
1 onion, 1 carrot, 3-4 medium beets, 100 g vegetable oil, 1/2 cup tomato paste diluted with water, salt.
Rice salad
Boil rice in salted water. Chop the vegetables, mix with cooled rice, salt and pepper, add sugar and vinegar to taste.
100 g rice, 2 sweet peppers, 1 tomato, 1 carrot, 1 pickled cucumber, 1 onion.
Second courses
Peppers, eggplants, stuffed zucchini
Peel peppers, eggplants, young zucchini from stalks and seeds (cut off the peel from zucchini) and stuff with minced vegetables, which includes finely chopped onions, carrots, cabbage, taken in equal parts, and 1/10 of the total volume of parsley and celery.
All vegetables used for minced meat must first be fried in vegetable oil. Also fry stuffed eggplants, peppers and zucchini. Then place in a deep metal bowl, pour in 2 cups of tomato juice and place in the oven for 30-45 minutes. for baking.
Simple stew
Cut raw potatoes into large cubes and in a wide frying pan, in vegetable oil, as quickly as possible (over high heat) and fry evenly on all sides until golden brown. As soon as the crust has formed, place the still half-baked potatoes in a clay pot, cover with finely chopped herbs, onions, salt, add boiling water, cover with a lid and place in the oven for 1 minute. The finished stew is eaten with cucumbers (fresh or salted) and sauerkraut.
1 kg of potatoes, 1/2 cup of vegetable oil, 1 tablespoon of dill, I cm. a spoonful of parsley, 1 onion, 1/2 cup water, salt.
Potatoes in garlic sauce
Wash the peeled potatoes and dry with a towel. Cut each potato in half. Heat more than half of the vegetable oil in a frying pan and fry the potatoes until golden brown. Then prepare the garlic sauce. To do this, grind the garlic with salt, add 2 tablespoons of sunflower oil and stir. Pour garlic sauce over fried potatoes.
10 small potatoes, half a glass of sunflower oil, 6 lobes of chenok, 2 teaspoons of salt.
Potato cutlets with prunes
Make a puree from 400 grams of boiled potatoes, add salt, add half a glass of vegetable oil, half a glass of warm water and enough flour to make a soft dough.
Let it sit for about twenty minutes so that the flour swells, at this time prepare the prunes - peel them from the pits, pour boiling water over them. Roll out the dough, cut into circles with a glass, put prunes in the middle of each, form cutlets by pinching the dough into patties, roll each cutlet in breadcrumbs and fry in a frying pan in a large amount of vegetable oil.
Potato fritters
Grate some of the potatoes, boil some, drain the water, add salt and add finely chopped onion and fried in vegetable oil. Mix the entire potato mixture, add flour and soda and bake pancakes from the resulting dough in vegetable oil.
750 g grated raw potatoes, 500 g boiled potatoes (mashed), 3 tablespoons flour, 0.5 teaspoon soda.
Compotes
Dried fruit compote
Wash the fruits, and then separate the apples and pears, as they take longer to cook.
Rinse the sorted fruits 3-4 times and place in boiling water. Cook pears and apples for 35-40 minutes, other fruits - 15-20 minutes. Add sugar at the end.
200 g of dry fruits, 5 tablespoons of sugar, 1.5 liters of water.
Rhubarb compote
Rinse the rhubarb stems in warm water. Remove the skin from the thickened ends with a knife. Then cut the stems into pieces 2-3 cm long, put them in a bowl, cover with cold water and leave in it for 15 minutes. Boil sugar syrup. Remove the prepared rhubarb from cold water and immerse in boiling syrup, add lemon zest and cook for 10-15 minutes.
200 g rhubarb (stalks), 150 g sugar, 4 glasses of water, 8 g lemon zest.
When the dough rises, add salt, sugar, three tablespoons of vegetable oil, another half a kilogram of flour and beat the dough until it stops sticking to your hands.
Then put the dough in the same pan where you prepared the dough and let it rise again.
After this, the dough is ready for further work.
Apple charlotte with black bread
Apples (preferably sour varieties, such as Antonov) - 3 pieces, granulated sugar - 100 g, cinnamon, cloves and vanillin to taste, almonds (I took hazelnuts because there were no almonds) -20 g, dry white wine - 20 g, mashed black bread - 1 glass (I took 2 glasses, it seemed to me that a glass was not enough), vegetable oil - 20 g, zest of 0.5 lemon, orange peels - 20 g. Peel the apples, cut into slices, remove the grains , put 2 tablespoons of sugar, add cinnamon, crushed nuts, orange peels, white wine.
When the dough has cooled, dilute it with a glass of boiling water. When the dough is lukewarm, add 25 g of yeast dissolved in half a glass of water.
In the morning, add the rest of the flour, salt dissolved in water to the dough and knead the dough until the consistency of sour cream, put it in a warm place and bake in a frying pan when the dough rises again.
These pancakes are especially good with onion toppings.
Pea pancakes
Boil the peas until soft and, without draining the remaining water, grind, adding 0.5 cups of wheat flour per 750 g of pea puree. Form pancakes from the resulting dough, roll in flour and bake in a frying pan in vegetable oil.
Unleavened dough products
What are the characteristics of unleavened dough prepared during Lent? We cannot put an egg in it to strengthen it. Because of this, our actions depend to a greater extent on the “character” of the flour, on the strength of its gluten.
If the flour is good, and you tried to make a very tight dough (water:flour ratio = 1:3 by volume, and don't forget to salt - adding salt also strengthens the dough a little), you will get an excellent dough for dumplings.
But a situation may well arise when the quality of the flour leaves much to be desired, there is not enough strength to knead the dough, and there is no masculine strength to help. Then you can pour more water (1:2.5), but be prepared for the fact that the dough will “float” during the cooking process, dumplings or other products will be slippery and falling apart. Treat this with prayer and patience and with humility (it will always healthy) eat.
In the future, when using the same flour, you can “overcome” the weakness of its character by changing the cooking method: steam it (it will be something like manti), or fry it in oil (like chebureki).
Both of these methods require a softer dough. Interesting dough variations are obtained by replacing water with brine or another liquid. There are methods that use hot water, which produces a dough with a special taste, with a slight sweetness, and this dough requires more water.
The dough can be used directly for noodles, dumplings, for a side dish or as a component for soup, or as a shell for filling: fried cabbage or other vegetables, mashed potatoes, mushrooms, onions, herbs, fresh or frozen berries with sugar, boiled and twisted dried fruits, bean or pea puree and even porridge: for example, millet or buckwheat.
Dumplings with apples
For the filling, take 800 g of apples, 1/2 cup of sugar. Peel the apples, remove the core, cut into strips, sprinkle with sugar, prepare dumplings from a not very thin dough and boil them. When serving, sprinkle the dumplings with sugar or honey.
Dessert
I would like to start talking about desserts with the simplest, something that does not need cooking: fresh fruits or washed and steamed dried ones (dried apricots, raisins, figs, dates, prunes), nuts of various types, halva, kazenaki, marshmallows, various jams consistencies.
Lenten ones include many candies and jelly candies, marshmallows (technologically they can be lean). Among the desserts prepared, we note jelly, jelly, and fruit salads. The latter are either prepared from predominant juicy fruits or seasoned with syrup prepared from canned fruits or prepared independently. We will consider baked goods and flour desserts separately.
Apple dessert
Mix chopped baked apples with boiled rice and add ginger and curry. Baked apples can also be served without rice with powdered sugar and cinnamon.
Cereal dessert with dried fruits
Cook a regular compote of dried apricots, raisins or other dried fruits without seeds. When the fruit is ready, add semolina (or other small grains) in a thin stream with stirring, evenly, in a small amount.
Citrus jelly
4 oranges, lemon, 100 g sugar, 15 g agar-agar, half a glass of water. Dissolve agar-agar and sugar in warm water, add the zest of half an orange, the juice of oranges and lemon, mix, strain, pour into molds and into the refrigerator. When serving, the molds are lowered briefly under water so that the jelly can easily separate.
Fruit salad
Boil the pasta until tender, drain in a colander and rinse with cold water, season with vegetables. oil and stir. Cut the grapes in half and remove the seeds. Cut bananas into slices.
Peel the apple from the core and cut into thin slices. Add tangerines or oranges in slices or half-slices. Sprinkle the fruits with cinnamon sugar and lemon juice. Finely chop the figs and dates, chop the nuts.
Place the canned fruit in a colander, mix with the pasta and other ingredients and add a little canned fruit syrup. Mix everything, sprinkle with coconut and/or chocolate chips.
Of course, the main purpose of fasting is the spiritual growth of a person, the correction of sins, and the cleansing of the soul from passions. It is not for nothing that there is such a saying - fasting is not in the belly, but in the spirit. Therefore, before talking about the “food” component of fasting, I will cite one wonderful saying of St. Basil the Great: “Do not limit the benefits of fasting to abstinence in food, because true fasting is getting rid of evil deeds... Forgive your neighbor’s insult, forgive him his debts. You do not eat meat, but you offend your brother... True fasting is the removal of evil, abstinence of the tongue, suppression of anger, excommunication of lusts, slander, lies and perjury. Abstinence from this is true fasting.”
Thus, fasting should not be considered a diet for weight loss. This article will talk about how to rationally design your menu so as not to violate the rules of food abstinence during Lent and not to harm your health.
Speaking about proper nutrition during Lent, it is worth noting that the measure of abstinence in food varies from person to person. Some are healthy, while others have chronic diseases that require a therapeutic diet. Some study, some do hard physical labor. For pregnant and nursing mothers, fasting is also usually relaxed. It is best to discuss the measure of abstinence in food during Lent with your confessor.
Now we are in Lent, which means excluding meat, fish, poultry, dairy products, and eggs. There are days of dry eating, days of eating food without oil. During less strict multi-day fasts - Christmas and Peter's fast - fish and fish caviar are blessed on some days.
Among fasting people, there is a controversial attitude towards eating soy products and seafood (bloodless sea reptiles) during fasting, as well as eating foods such as Lenten mayonnaise, Lenten sweets and cakes, etc. Again, if there are doubts and questions, all controversial issues are better decide with your confessor. If eating squid and soy cheese is a delicacy and a temptation for you, of course you should refuse such food. However, one should not condemn one’s neighbor for eating such products - perhaps a person has the blessing of a confessor to eat certain products.
Basic principles of proper nutrition during fasting
- During fasting, most of the fasting person's diet consists of carbohydrate foods, and very little protein is consumed. Meanwhile, protein is essential for human health; it is the “building material” of our body. Animal protein is excluded during fasting, but vegetable protein is allowed. Sources of vegetable protein - nuts, seeds, legumes, mushrooms, cereals, bread, soy products. Sea reptiles - shrimp, squid, mussels, etc., are also very rich in protein.
- If a person leads an active lifestyle, it is mandatory to eat foods that are a good source of energy and give a feeling of fullness for a long time - these are pasta, potatoes and cereals. But keep in mind that instant porridge is “fast” carbohydrates! This porridge quickly fills you up, but it also “burns” quickly, and after just a couple of hours you may feel hungry. Choose rolled oats with a cooking time of 15-20 minutes. If you don’t have time to cook in the morning, you can pour cold water over the rolled oats in the evening, and just heat the porridge in the morning.
- It is useful to season salads with olive oil, 1 tablespoon of oil per serving.
- Moderate consumption of dried fruits during fasting is beneficial - dried apricots, prunes, dates, and nuts. You can add them to your morning porridge or take them with you for a snack. Dried fruits and nuts are high in calories, so they fill you up quickly.
- Instead of sugar, use honey - you can add it to your morning porridge, tea, or use honey as a natural sweetener in baking. Dark chocolate, marmalade and dried fruits in moderation are preferable to sweet, lean flour products that can be found on store shelves. These foods tend to be high in fat, and consuming them can lead to weight gain.
- A very important principle of proper nutrition during fasting is the daily consumption of fresh and/or thermally processed vegetables and fruits. Vegetables and fruits are great for a snack - for example, if it is a vegetable salad (you can, if desired, diversify it by adding mushrooms, legumes, squid, nuts, croutons), seasoned with olive oil and 1 fruit.
- It is important not to starve and try to plan your meals so that there are no long breaks between meals. In this case, the digestive system will quickly and better adapt to a plant-based diet and the risk of such “troubles” as gastritis, constipation and indigestion will be reduced. For those people who follow the monastic rule, eating no more than 2 times a day, and observing days of complete abstinence from food, it is better to prepare in advance. Even before fasting, you should gradually reduce the frequency of meals to make it easier for the body to adapt to the new regime.
- If you are overweight, it is important to follow these rules to avoid gaining weight while fasting.
- First of all, it is necessary to minimize the amount of carbohydrate food in the evening meal. Since carbohydrates provide a lot of energy, and in the evening after school or work energy is usually not spent, it will be stored as fat “in reserve.” Therefore, in the evening it is better to give up pasta, potatoes, rice, cereals, flour products, bread and sweets. For dinner you can eat a variety of vegetable and legume dishes. These can be vegetable and bean salads, vegetable casseroles and cutlets, stews, vegetable caviar, baked and stewed vegetables, grilled vegetables, vegetable and bean soups (without potatoes, cereals and pasta). It is recommended to have dinner no later than 3-4 hours before bedtime! If you consider it obligatory to have a snack after dinner (for example, if dinner took place 5-6 hours before bedtime), then have a snack no later than 2 hours before bedtime.
- If it is acceptable for you to consume sea reptiles and soy products, you can also include them in your menu in the evening.
- On days when fish is allowed, an excellent dinner option would be fish + any vegetables (except potatoes).
- In the evening, you can eat a few nuts with tea (not sweet). Sweets should be excluded for dinner.
- Eating potatoes is acceptable for lunch or breakfast, but not every day. Rice and pasta are preferred over potatoes. It is better to eat cereals for breakfast, fruits and dried fruits - before 7 pm. Diversify your diet with frequent consumption of vegetables, both raw and cooked.
- Pay attention to moderate consumption of vegetable oil - the most high-calorie product known!
- Eating a variety of soups is encouraged, both for lunch and dinner (for dinner, vegetable/bean soups without cereals, pasta and potatoes).
- Further, in the examples of the Lenten menu, you will see the mark (diet breakfast/lunch/dinner), this means that this nutrition option is suitable for people with excess body weight. On days of dry eating there is no such mark, since the diet on such days is itself dietary.
DISH RECIPES for LENT BREAKFAST/LUnch/DINNER on dry eating days
Oatmeal and fruit smoothie: Fill the rolled oats with cold water overnight. In the morning, add 1-2 teaspoons of honey and diced fresh fruits - banana, kiwi, orange. Beat with a blender, adding water if necessary. You can use other fruits and any berries to make smoothies. If desired, you can add dried fruits and nuts.
Fruit and nut salad: 1 apple, 1 banana, 1 orange cut into pieces, mix, season with lemon juice, cinnamon and 1 tsp. honey Add any dried fruits and nuts if desired. If desired, you can add any fruits and berries to this salad.
Oatmeal muesli with soy milk: Pour muesli with soy milk, wait 10 minutes until the flakes swell.
Carrot - apple salad: Grate the apple and carrot, mix, season with lemon juice, 1 tsp. honey, garnish with nuts if desired.
Strawberry-pear-carrot salad: Grate 2 carrots on a coarse grater, add strawberries and pears cut into large cubes (peel the pear and remove the core), add 1 tsp. honey and 1 tsp. lemon juice. Mix.
Vegetable salad: chop the tomato, cucumber, radish, corn, leek, lettuce, dill, parsley, sesame seeds, mix. To this salad you can add grated celery root, young zucchini, and croutons. Season with lemon juice.
Hearty salad: Mix canned beans, corn, green peas and diced tomato. You can add croutons, avocado and garlic if desired.
Cabbage and pea salad: Chop white cabbage, mash with salt with your hands, add diced fresh cucumber and green peas, sprinkle with lemon juice, mix.
Wheat salad: Grind the salad leaves, add wheat sprouts, diced avocados, corn, pine nuts, olives. You can add crackers. Mix.
Avocado salad 1: Cut the avocado into cubes, mix with chopped lettuce, croutons and sprinkle with lemon juice.
Avocado salad 2: Cut the avocado into cubes, mix with chopped fresh cucumber, dill and corn, sprinkle with lemon juice.
Carrot and pumpkin salad: Grate carrots and pumpkin, season with 1 tsp granulated sugar or 1 tsp. honey Sprinkle with lemon juice.
Avocado and tomato sandwiches: Grease black bread with crushed garlic, place sliced avocado on top, and sliced tomato rings on top of the avocado.
Sandwiches with avocado pate: Mash the avocado with a fork, add a little lemon juice, dried basil, a pinch of salt and paprika. Stir until smooth and spread on bread. You can sprinkle sesame seeds or roasted pine nuts on top.
Examples of a lean breakfast on dry eating days:
— Any salad/smoothie from the list of dishes + tea/coffee/cocoa with dried fruits/nuts.
— Oatmeal muesli with soy milk + tea/coffee/cocoa with dried fruits/nuts.
— Corn flakes with soy milk + tea/coffee/cocoa with dried fruits/nuts.
— Vegetable salad from the list + fruit salad/smoothie from the list + tea with lemon.
— 2 sandwiches with avocado + tea with dried fruits/nuts.
— Vegetable salad from the list + fresh fruits 1-2 pcs + tea with honey and lemon.
Examples of a lean lunch on dry eating days:
— Any salad/smoothie from the list of dishes + 1-2 sandwiches with avocado + tea with honey and dried fruits/nuts.
— Any salad/smoothie from the list of dishes + 1-2 slices of bread + 1-2 fruits.
Examples of a lean dinner on dry eating days:
— Vegetable or bean salad from the list of dishes + 1-2 sandwiches with avocado + tea with lemon and nuts.
— Vegetable or bean salad from the list of dishes + bread + tea with lemon and nuts.
— Vegetable or bean salad from the list + bread + fresh fruit 1 piece + tea with lemon.
DISH RECIPES for LENT BREAKFAST/LUnch/DINNER on days without oil
Oatmeal, boiled in water with 1 tsp. honey, a handful of fresh berries/fruits or dried fruits (prunes, dried apricots, raisins, dates) or nuts.
Baked apples with oatmeal, berries and nuts: Take out the core of the apples, put oatmeal in the middle, 1 tsp. honey, berries and nuts. Place in a mold and bake in the oven at 200 degrees. 15 minutes.
Millet porridge in water with pumpkin and/or prunes: Rinse the millet, pre-soak the prunes in warm water. Cut the pumpkin pulp into cubes. Place everything together in boiling water and cook until thick. At the end of cooking, add salt to taste. Before serving, add 1 tsp. honey and garnish with nuts if desired.
Lenten thick borscht: Pour water into a large saucepan, add spices: bay leaf 2-3 pcs, cloves 4-5 pcs, allspice 2-3 pcs, black pepper 1-2 pcs. and 1-2 medium-sized peeled potatoes, cook over medium heat. Pour 2-3 ladles of water into a separate small saucepan, add a finely diced onion and grated carrot, and cook over medium heat. Grate 1 large beetroot, sprinkle it with 1-2 tsp. lemon or 1 tsp. vinegar, mix and place in a small saucepan 10 minutes after the carrots, without stirring. The beets should be slightly covered with water. Remove spices and cooked potatoes from a large saucepan. Mash the potatoes in a separate container with a pestle and return to the pan. Separately, cut 3-5 raw potato tubers into cubes and place in a large saucepan. When the beets are matte, place the contents of the saucepan into a large saucepan. You can take either sauerkraut or fresh cabbage. Lightly rinse the sauerkraut with water and place in a saucepan. Chop raw cabbage and place in a saucepan. Add 2-3 tablespoons of tomato paste, mix thoroughly. Add salt to taste and cook until done. 5 minutes before readiness, add chopped parsley and dill.
Mushroom soup with potatoes: Pre-soak dry mushrooms in hot water. Pour water into the pan, add spices: 2-3 bay leaves, 2-3 allspice, cook with spices for 5-10 minutes, remove spices. Cut 4-5 potato tubers into cubes, place in a saucepan, and add salt to the soup. Chop the onion and carrot into cubes and place in a frying pan with 2 tbsp. water, simmer for 5-10 minutes. Chop the mushrooms as desired, put them in a frying pan with the onions and carrots, and simmer for another 10 minutes. Place the contents of the frying pan into the saucepan with the soup, stir, and cook until tender. 5 minutes before readiness, add chopped parsley and dill.
Bean soup with potatoes: Pre-soak the beans overnight in cold water with 1 tsp. baking soda. In the morning, drain the water, rinse the beans, put them in a pan with water and cook until almost done. When the beans become almost soft, cut 4-5 potato tubers into cubes, place in a saucepan, and add salt to the soup. Dice the onion, grate the carrots, place in a frying pan with 2 tbsp. water, simmer for 5-10 minutes and place in a saucepan with soup. Salt the soup, add spices to taste and cook until done. 5 minutes before readiness, add chopped parsley and dill.
Vegetable stew: Chop the mushrooms into large pieces and fry in a non-stick frying pan. Place vegetables (you can take a frozen mixture of vegetables, or any of your own, diced, if desired) into a frying pan with the mushrooms, add salt, add spices, 1 tbsp. tomato paste and some water. Simmer covered over low heat until done.
Mashed potatoes with mushrooms: Boil the potatoes and mash with a small amount of potato broth. Chop the mushrooms, add salt and simmer in a frying pan. Serve the dish sprinkled with chopped dill.
Potatoes with pumpkin and mushrooms in the sleeve: Chop potatoes, pumpkin, fresh mushrooms as desired, add salt and add spices/herbs to taste, mix. Place the mixture into the sleeve. Pierce the sleeve in several places with a toothpick (so as not to burst during cooking). Bake in the oven at 180 degrees for 40-50 minutes. Serve sprinkled with fresh herbs.
Examples of a lean breakfast on days without oil:(diet breakfast).
— Oatmeal porridge with water + green salad + tea with lemon/coffee.
— Baked apples with oatmeal, berries and nuts + vegetable salad + tea/coffee.
— Millet porridge on water with pumpkin and/or prunes + green salad + tea/coffee.
Examples of lean lunches on oil-free days:(diet lunch).
— Lenten borscht + 1 slice of bread + vegetable salad + tea with lemon + nuts + tangerine.
— Mushroom soup with potatoes + sandwich with avocado pate + tea with lemon and nuts + apple.
— Bean soup with potatoes + 1 slice of bread + green salad + tea with dried fruits.
Examples of meatless dinners on days without oil:
— Rice with vegetable stew + vegetable/bean salad + compote.
— Mashed potatoes with mushrooms + vegetable salad + tea with lemon and nuts.
— Potatoes with pumpkin and mushrooms in the sleeve + bean salad + tea with lemon and nuts.
— Vegetable stew + bean salad + tea with lemon and nuts. (diet dinner).
DISH RECIPES for LENT BREAKFAST/LUnch/DINNER on days with oil
Apple pancakes: Sift 1.5 cups of flour, mix with 0.5 tsp. baking powder, 4 tbsp sugar, a pinch of salt, 2-3 tbsp vegetable oil. whisk or mixer until smooth, adding water to the consistency of thick sour cream. Peel and core 1 large apple, grate on a fine grater and add to the dough, mix. Heat a frying pan, grease with vegetable oil and bake the pancakes over medium heat on both sides. You can serve with honey, fresh berries and fruits, jam.
Lenten yeast pancakes. Place a dough of 1 tbsp. flour, 1/2 cup water, 1 tbsp. granulated sugar and a packet of dry yeast (1-2 teaspoons, depending on the final amount of dough). Place the dough in a warm place (you can put the bowl with the dough in a bowl of hot water and cover with a dry towel) for half an hour. The dough should fit well. Next, add 2-3 cups of sifted flour, a pinch of salt, 1 tbsp. granulated sugar, 3-4 tbsp. vegetable oil and a glass of water. Beat the mixture with a mixer, adding water until it reaches the consistency of liquid sour cream or fermented baked milk. Place the finished dough in a warm place for 20 minutes, covered with a dry towel. When the dough has risen, check it. If it becomes too thick, add a little water and mix thoroughly. It is good to heat the pans, and periodically grease them with vegetable oil, bake pancakes. Serve with honey, fresh berries, fruit, jam.
Granola: Mix 1.5 cups of rolled oats, a handful of hazelnuts, almonds, pumpkin and sunflower seeds, coconut flakes, diced dried fruits (optional) thoroughly with 2 tbsp. honey, 2-3 tbsp. r oil. Place parchment paper on a baking sheet, spread the mixture and bake at 160 degrees for 40 minutes. Stir every 5 minutes. The mixture should acquire a pleasant golden brown color. Don't dry it out! Cool, add coconut and raisins, stir. Can be stored in the refrigerator for several days. You can serve it with soy milk.
Pea soup: Soak the peas overnight with 1 tsp. baking soda. In the morning, drain the water. Boil the peas in new water until half cooked. Cut the potatoes into cubes, fry the carrots and onions in vegetable oil. Add the roast and potatoes to the soup. Salt and add spices to taste. Cook until done. Serve with croutons.
Lenten soup - kharcho with mushrooms: Soak dry mushrooms in boiling water for half an hour. Fry onions and carrots in a frying pan. When the onions turn golden, add the mushrooms and a little water. Simmer covered for 10 minutes. Place the contents of the frying pan into boiling water and add rice, cook for 10 minutes. Salt the soup to taste, add 2 tbsp. tomato paste and chopped dill and parsley. Cook for another 5-7 minutes, bringing to a boil.
Baked eggplant with tomato: Cut the eggplant into rings, pour salted water for 1 hour (to remove the bitterness). Cut the tomatoes into slices. Squeeze out excess water from the eggplants and lightly fry in a frying pan with vegetable oil. Grease a baking sheet with vegetable oil, place eggplant slices, tomato slices on top, and a drop of lean mayonnaise on top (can be replaced with mushroom caviar). Bake in the oven at 200 degrees. 15 minutes.
Pots with vegetables and mushrooms: Cut the eggplant into cubes and soak in salted water for half an hour to remove the bitterness. Cut the tomato and onion into cubes. Cut the champignons into large slices. Fry the onions in a frying pan, when the onions are browned, add the mushrooms, fry for 5-7 minutes, add the eggplants with tomatoes and lightly fry. Cut carrots into slices. Drain water from canned beans. Place all the ingredients in pots and fill with salted water so that the water slightly covers the vegetables. Place the pots in the oven and cook at 200 degrees for about 1 hour.
Lahanorizo: Fry onion and grated carrots in vegetable oil. Chop 300-500 grams of white cabbage, add it to the carrots and onions and fry over high heat until caramelized, stirring continuously. Add 2-3 tbsp. tomato paste and spices. Add salt to taste, stir and reduce heat.
Add ½ cup rice and 1 cup water to the cabbage. You can add more or less rice as desired. Simmer covered until the rice is ready.
Examples of a lean breakfast on butter days:
— Apple pancakes + green salad + tea with lemon.
— Lean yeast pancakes + green salad + tea with lemon.
— Granola + green salad + coffee with soy milk. (diet breakfast).
Examples of a lean lunch on butter days:(diet lunch).
— Pea soup + green salad with butter + tea with lemon + apple.
— Lenten kharcho soup + raw vegetables + sandwich with vegetable caviar + tea with lemon.
— Thick lean borscht + green/bean salad + tea with 2-3 pieces of marmalade.
— Lahanorizo + sandwich with vegetable caviar + fruit salad + tea with lemon.
Examples of meatless dinners on days with butter:
— Spaghetti with vegetable stew + bean salad + tea with lemon.
— Boiled potatoes with 1 tsp. aromatic oil + baked eggplant with tomato + vegetable salad + compote.
— Lahanorizo + vegetable salad + tea with lemon and nuts.
— Pots with vegetables and mushrooms + bean salad + tea with lemon and nuts. (diet dinner).
DISH RECIPES for LENT LUNCH/DINNER on days with fish
Potato soup with red fish: Pour water into a saucepan, add diced potatoes. In a frying pan with 1 tbsp. oil, fry grated carrots and diced onions. After 10 minutes of boiling the potatoes, add fried potatoes and pieces of red fish to the soup. Add spices and salt to taste, chopped dill and parsley. Cook for another 10-15 minutes.
Potato soup with squid meatballs: Meatballs: Cook potato soup. When the soup is almost ready, use a teaspoon to make meatballs: take squid puree into a spoon and form a ball the size of a walnut on the spoon. Carefully lower the spoon with the minced meat into the soup, hold it for a few seconds until it “seizes” and turn the spoon over, our meatball will no longer fall apart. This is how we make all the meatballs. Bring the soup to a boil and the soup is ready!
Salad with rice and fish: Boil the rice, cool, add boiled pink salmon in pieces (or canned food), green peas, green onions, dill, vegetable oil, salt to taste and mix.
Squid cutlets: These cutlets can be frozen for future use. We take squid carcasses. If it has skin, remove it with a stocking and remove the insides. Using an immersion blender or meat grinder, puree the squid. Salt and pepper to taste, add 2-5 tbsp. breadcrumbs (breadcrumbs are only needed so that you can form cutlets from the squid mass), chopped dill, mix. Form cutlets and roll them in breadcrumbs. Freeze for future use, or fry in a pan.
Fish cutlets: Pass the pulp of any fish through a meat grinder (or take ready-made minced fish), add 2-3 tbsp. Breadcrumbs, salt and pepper to taste. In a frying pan, fry diced onions and grated carrots. Mix with minced meat. Form cutlets.
Tuna and tomato salad: Cut the tomatoes into cubes, add pieces of tuna (canned), chopped lettuce, dill and green onions. Drizzle with olive oil and stir.
Examples of a lean lunch on days with fish.(diet lunch)
— Potato soup with red fish + bean salad + 1 piece of bread + compote.
— Potato soup with squid meatballs + green salad + 1 slice of bread + tea with lemon.
— Boiled rice + baked fish + green salad + tea with lemon and nuts.
— Vegetable soup + salad with rice and fish + 1 slice of bread + compote .
Examples of Lenten dinners on days with fish.
— Buckwheat porridge + baked fish + raw vegetables + tea with lemon.
— Fish cutlets + boiled rice + vegetable salad + tea with lemon.
— Tuna and tomato salad + lahanorizo + tea with lemon and nuts.
— Vegetable stew + fish cutlets + a piece of soy cheese + tea with lemon (diet dinner).
— Squid cutlets + vegetable stew + vegetable salad + tea with lemon. (diet dinner).
— Grilled vegetables + red fish steak baked in the oven + tea with lemon and nuts. (diet dinner).
When adhering to proper nutrition during Lent, it is important to know one more thing. Excluding certain foods from the diet can lead to a deficiency of important vitamins and minerals. For example, when you give up milk and fermented milk products, the intake of calcium into the body, from which our bones are “built,” is significantly reduced. And if you refuse meat food, you may experience a deficiency of iron, which is necessary for blood formation and oxygen “nutrition” of the body. Therefore, to compensate for this deficiency, you can supplement your diet with nutritional supplements and multivitamin complexes, the use of which must be discussed with your doctor.
Do not forget that the end of the post should not be “abrupt”. Our body needs time to adapt to “heavy” food and rebuild metabolic processes. At the end of the fast, you need to include fast food in your menu as carefully as possible - first introduce dairy products and eggs, after a while - fish and meat. And it is very important not to overeat.
I wish the readers good health!
Endocrinologist Akmaeva G.A.
By voluntarily giving up food and not taking part in entertainment, a person fasts. Usually Christians make this decision, knowing what they can eat during Lent and adhering to the correct diet, they can, even without fast food, maintain vigor and strength for work and a full life.
Some beginning Orthodox Christians sometimes make the mistake of thinking that fasting means a complete refusal to eat. Not at all. To begin with, you should avoid all kinds of events where a person is just having fun without doing anything:
- no holiday celebrations;
- do not watch entertainment programs;
- avoid all kinds of negative actions and misconduct;
- don't make love;
- do not swear;
- do not discuss anyone or gossip.
Only after this should you eat the specified food during Lent, refusing the fast food.
What to eat during fasting - list of staple foods
Anyone who wanted to fast should not hesitate to familiarize themselves with the list of the most popular foods allowed for consumption.
You can eat the following during Lent:
- Almost all varieties of cereal products: from semolina to pearl barley.
- All possible vegetables.
- Dishes of fruits and berries in any form (raw, fried, baked, boiled, canned).
- Nuts, whatever is available.
- Any mushrooms.
- Spices from plants and vegetables (ground and whole pepper, herbs, cardamom, cloves, cinnamon, etc.).
- Honey and other bee products.
It is mandatory to eat during the fasting period, because no one forces you to undergo a strict survival test. This is just a certain test for the believer. In order for the body to function properly these days, it will need protein. What sources can there be if food of animal origin is prohibited?
It's simple. Vegetable protein will be a lifesaver. The diet includes peas, beans and other available legumes. They will help you fast deliciously. It won’t be difficult to cook a nice soup from vegetables, some cereals, chickpeas and season it with your favorite spices. However, even such a dish should be eaten in moderation, using it only to satisfy hunger.
When is it permissible to eat fish during fasting?
This product is prohibited in some cases. This applies to days during strict fasting. To avoid mistakes, you need to know how to use it correctly.
The inclusion of fish products in the Lenten diet is not prohibited if the fast itself coincides with a major church holiday. Usually this
- Annunciation
- Lazarev Saturday
- Sunday before Easter
- Transfiguration
During the Nativity fast, fish is allowed on the dinner table on Saturday and Sunday. On these same days of the week you can eat it during Peter’s Fast, plus on Thursday and Tuesday.
If your health is too weak, it is better to eat fish on all days, having previously discussed this with the priest.
Meals on different days of the week
There are certain rules that dictate eating differently on different days. In some cases they don't eat at all. Sometimes relaxation is possible.
The strictest fast falls on three odd days:
- Monday
- Wednesday
- Friday
If you have the strength, it is better to refuse food or eat raw foods without adding any vegetable oil.
The main thing is what the meal will consist of:
- bread, preferably rye;
- jelly or compotes, without sweet additives;
- fruits vegetables.
Days allowing boiled or fried food without vegetable oils are Thursday and Tuesday.
On weekends, you are allowed to pamper yourself with soup prepared using sunflower or any other vegetable oil. Fish is not forbidden.
Some rules for eating during Lent
For that. To observe the strictest fast, first of all you need to calculate your strength. The health status of the person who is going to endure it plays a big role. Sometimes mothers who are breastfeeding babies are allowed a small amount of meat products. The same applies to those suffering from serious illnesses.
What do you give up during Lent?
- seafood;
- meat;
- any fish;
- milk and everything that is made from it
- egg;
- any baked goods containing additives from the above;
- sauces, mayonnaise of any kind, if they contain milk or eggs, egg powder;
- alcohol.
An important rule: do not eat food on Fridays and on the first day. The first and final weeks are the most difficult. They drink only water and eat fruits and vegetables. At other times, honey is allowed, and in some cases, fish dishes with vegetable oil.
Can I have sweets?
Sometimes the question arises: is it permissible to drink tea with sweets or chocolate? Yes. If bitter, without milk and in small quantities. It is not forbidden to eat kozinaki, dried berries, and marmalade.
More strict Orthodox Christians, especially monastics, are against the use of honey. However, clergy do not prohibit it. According to their advice, in order to have a good source of vitamins, it is better to eat linden honey or buckwheat.
Approximate one-day menu
For those who decide to fast, we can recommend a proven meal plan:
- In the morning, have breakfast with porridge (250 g) from any cereal, boiled in water and a piece of bread, preferably black.
- You can have lunch with a light salad of tomatoes, cucumbers, lettuce leaves, salted and sprinkled with lemon juice.
- They have an afternoon snack with fruit and berry compote.
- It is recommended to have dinner with a stew made from a combination of potatoes, carrots and cabbage.
By abstaining physically and spiritually, a person becomes closer to the Creator.
Dietary restrictions during Lent cleanse both soul and body. But you should approach this wisely. If you have health problems, you should not exhaust your body with hunger strikes and diets. Today the church makes exceptions for those who cannot limit themselves for health reasons. Therefore, what you can’t and what you can eat during Lent concerns only people who are ready for it not only morally, but also physically.
Fasting varies in severity. People of higher rank and those staying in monasteries eat a little differently than those who abstain from harmful foods at home. But at the same time, any believer can “submit” to strict restrictions at will.
Fasting is divided into several degrees:
The fast lasts 40 days, and during this time all kinds of entertainment and quarrels are prohibited. For those who comply with the strictest rules, there are several additional responsibilities:
- In the first and last week, fruits, vegetables and bread are allowed. You can only drink water.
- On other days, it is recommended to eat nuts with honey and plant foods.
- On the first day and subsequent Fridays of fasting, you can only eat raw plant foods and drink water.
Such a fast should only be maintained by trained people who do not have health problems and whose body can tolerate abstinence from an abundance of food without harmful consequences.
You need to prepare for restrictions in advance. You cannot eat enough before fasting and then starve. This may make you feel worse. It is necessary to exclude prohibited foods from the diet gradually, several days before the great event. You should not abuse alcohol and tobacco products.
In the first days, hunger can be very strong, since permitted plant foods do not contain enough protein to saturate the body. You'll have to snack more often and don't forget about breakfast.
There is a myth that during fasting you are only allowed to eat cereals, raw vegetables and fruits. Many people do not dare to make such serious food restrictions, believing that such a meager diet is too harsh. In fact, the menu these days can be varied. The main thing is to be able to cook proper and tasty dishes. Desserts, casseroles, sandwiches, dumplings, salads, cereals, soups - all these delicacies are available to fasting people.
Before you start fasting, it is recommended to undergo the sacrament of communion. You need to contact the priest in advance, and he will tell you what you can eat during Lent before communion and what after.
It is worth following all the prescribed rules in order to be completely cleansed. The restrictions before communion last 3 days and holding out is not difficult for an Orthodox Christian. But if for some reason this was not observed, you must repent to the priest during confession, and the priest will forgive this sin.
The most important thing in this short-term restriction is not to overeat. You should eat only when you really feel hungry.
Products that can be consumed:
- fish and seafood (boiled or baked);
- mushrooms;
- nuts and candied fruits;
- vegetables (raw only);
- fruits and dried fruits;
- porridge with water;
- yeast-free bread;
- tomato paste;
- pasta (not made from wheat flour);
- dark dark chocolate;
- natural marmalade and pastille;
- seeds;
- compote;
- kvass;
- jelly;
There are countless fasts, the main one being the Great one. There are also one-day fasts with a strict menu. There is a special calendar in which you can see what you can eat during fasting.
Proper nutrition by day
For those who want to fast correctly, there is a set daily menu that says what you can eat during fasting:
It would be better to give up white bread for the entire period of restrictions and switch to black bread. It is recommended to season vegetables with lemon juice.
Special days of fasting
According to the canons of the church, there are several special days during the year when one must also fast:
- the first Monday of fasting - hunger;
- Palm Sunday - you can have fish, wine and caviar;
- Good Friday - hunger;
- Wednesday in the fourth week - wine is allowed;
- Christmas Eve - hunger;
- Martyrs' Day - you can have oil and wine.
The menu recommended by the church is actually quite varied. Many housewives come up with more and more recipes with each period of restrictions. Meals during fasting should be moderate, but do not exclude delicacies and tasty dishes:
Fasting is not only possible, but also must be delicious. Food during Lent can be varied, the main thing is not to deviate from the recipe and not to use animal fats.
Tomato soup
To prepare this delicious soup you will need:
For bruschetta, take yesterday's yeast-free bread, a couple of cloves of garlic, olive oil and salt.
Preparation:
When the soup is ready, you can puree it with a blender or eat it like this. The taste will not change, but the consistency will become more pleasant.
Since meat is not allowed during fasting, and on some days even fish, cereals come to the rescue. From oatmeal you can make hearty, tasty cutlets that are indistinguishable from meat cutlets.
You will need:
- a glass of oatmeal;
- potato;
- carrot;
- spices to taste.
Preparation:
- pour boiling water over oatmeal and leave to swell;
- peel and grate vegetables;
- combine cereals with vegetables, add spices and mix;
- Form cutlets and fry on both sides in a frying pan greased with oil.
If desired, you can add mushrooms to the cutlets.
Sweets made from seeds
There is a recipe for an incredibly tasty treat with seeds. He will definitely not leave anyone indifferent.
You will need:
- 200 g sesame or sunflower seeds;
- 2 tablespoons honey;
- a pinch of cinnamon;
- salt to taste.
The preparation here is quite simple. You just need to fry the seeds in a dry frying pan and mix with the rest of the ingredients. Serve the sweetness on bread or instead of jam for tea.
You need to understand that giving up your usual food for such a long time sets the body up for change. Therefore, you should not overeat on the first day after expenses. Easter is, of course, a sacred holiday, when it is customary to set a rich table. But eating a hearty meal after abstinence can affect your well-being. You need to gradually add familiar foods to your diet, without immediately switching to fried meat. It is better to give preference to less fatty foods.
You must make a decision whether to fast or not, taking into account all your physiological abilities. And the main thing is to remember that it is important not only to begin and maintain the fast with dignity, but also to finish it with dignity.
