Meals during Lent. What is impossible and what is possible? Easter fast: a calendar of do's and don'ts

Julia Shapko

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The longest, most important and strictest of the fasts for all Orthodox is post Great whose purpose is spiritual and physical training for the Easter holiday.

For 40 days and nights the Lord fasted in the wilderness, after which he returned to the disciples in the power of the Spirit. great post- there is a reminder of that 40-day fast of the Savior, as well as the introduction of the Orthodox to Holy Week and further - to the Bright Resurrection of Christ.

What you need to know about food in Lent?

The essence of Lent - when does Lent begin and how many days does Lent last?

The beginning of the main fast for Christians is seven weeks before Easter. The fast of 48 days is divided into certain parts:

• Forty-cost. It is 40 days and recalls the days spent by Jesus in the wilderness.
• Lazarus Saturday. This day falls on the sixth Saturday of Lent.
• Entry of the Lord into Jerusalem . 6th Sunday of Lent
• Holy Week (all last week)

The time of Great Lent is spiritual and physical components.

Weaken post only the elderly, pregnant, sickly and traveling, and only with a blessing.

What food can be eaten in Lent, and what can not - when can you eat fish?

What is allowed/prohibited in certain days Great post?

Universal food calendar for Great Lent

How to make a lenten menu by day to observe Great Lent - advice from nutritionists

Great Lent requires serious restrictions both in food and in the usual way of life.
Definitely post goes to the body good if the menu is set up correctly.

Key principles of Great Lent considered: a ban on animal food(they can be replaced with legumes, beans, nuts), emphasis on vegetables with fruits, a minimum of spices and salt, a maximum of compotes, jelly and decoctions, small portions with a slight feeling of hunger after dinner.

For first courses - pickles, beetroots, vegetable soups, cereals.

For the second - vegetable salads, side dishes (cereals, potato dishes, cabbage rolls with vegetables, etc.), berries and jelly for dessert.

Approximate Menu for Tuesday/Thursday of Lent

Fast days - hot dishes are allowed, vegetable oil is prohibited.

Don't forget the main thing: the essence of fasting nutrition is self-restraint. Therefore, culinary delights should not be carried away. Overeating with lean dishes is also not welcome.

If you are fasting and would like to know what you can eat during this period and what is prohibited, we suggest that you familiarize yourself with the list of products. Do not think that by fasting, you will starve and not eat up. A properly selected menu and knowledge of the main products containing fats, carbohydrates and proteins will allow you to easily observe the holy cleansing, and even throw off overweight.

In fasting, you can eat any fruits and vegetables:

1. Potato
2. Cabbage, including sauerkraut
3. Mushrooms
4. Radish and radish, turnip
5. Beet
6. Carrot
7. Onion and garlic
8. Greens and leaf lettuce
9. Eggplant and zucchini
10. Bell pepper
11. Cucumbers, including pickles
12. Pumpkin
13. Apples
14. Pears
15. Bananas
16. Tangerines, oranges, grapefruit and lemon
17. Persimmon
18. Plum and grapes
19. Peaches and apricots
20. Any berries

Vegetables and mushrooms can be boiled, stewed, baked without adding butter. Great amount salads and snacks will come from vegetables. Fruits can be eaten fresh, or baked, make salads. Addendum vegetable oil allowed only on Saturday, Sunday and holidays.

In the post you can eat any cereals and cereals:

1. Buckwheat
2. Oatmeal
3. Millet
4. Pearl barley
5. Lentils, peas and beans
6. Corn porridge
7. Manka

You can also eat dried fruits, nuts, pasta, cookies and bread (without eggs and egg powder). You can cook delicious pastries, pies, most importantly without the addition of animal fats and eggs. Fish is allowed twice during the entire fast: on the Annunciation of the Most Holy Theotokos and on Palm Sunday. If you find it hard to fast without fish, then it is better to replace it with soy products. Even on holidays you can drink a small amount of wine.

In fasting, you can not eat products of animal origin:

1. Meat and all meat-containing products
2. Bird and eggs
3. Milk and all dairy products (sour cream, cottage cheese, yoghurts, kefir, cheeses and milk drinks)
4. pastries and pasta with eggs, butter
5. Mayonnaise
6. Chocolate
7. Fast food food because it has a lot of fat
8. Fish and vegetable oil, excluding weekends and public holidays
9. Alcohol, with the exception of a small amount of wine on a holiday

In fact, modern priests, speaking about fasting, note that this is a restriction that a person must make for himself. For some people, it is enough to give up only meat, while eating dairy products, while someone needs to adhere to fasting according to all the canons.

Do you know how many fasting days recommended by the church in a year? According to some data, depending on the variations and more or less strict adherence, there are from 180 to 280, that is, most of them. The number is truly impressive! A fasting diet, moreover, must be observed along with other possible abstinences. But this does not mean that during a strict or non-strict fast, a tasty and satisfying lunch or dinner is impossible. In the world there are many worthy of culinary attention, and a diet during fasting can be not a burden, but a joy!

Strict and non-strict

As is known, according to folk wisdom, "fasting is not in the belly, but in the spirit." In Russian Orthodox tradition there are as many as four multi-day, extensive fasts (Veliky, Petrov, Uspensky, Rozhdestvensky), as well as an almost weekly fast on Friday and Wednesday (with the exception of a few weeks), three one-day fasts. As a rule, “fasting” is divided into strict and non-strict, and a raw food diet and temporary abstinence from food are also practiced (for hermit monks and ascetics mainly). But you must still remember that a fasting diet is not a panacea for all ills. In addition, the confessors themselves allow non-observance of fasting for pregnant women, the elderly, the sick various ailments, children.

What can and cannot be eaten?

It is forbidden to eat any products of animal origin (including eggs and caviar), as well as bread products. Vegetable products, teas, jelly, cereals are allowed (but only on water, not on milk and without oil). In non-strict - you can eat fish and seafood, vegetable oil. So such a diet in the post - for weight loss is very suitable.

Vegetables fruits

It's definitely allowed as a foundation meal. The fasting diet for the most part consists of these important good nutrition our body products. In addition, they contain trace elements and vitamins, useful to man and necessary - especially in the context of insufficient intake of habitual animal proteins during fasting.

Mushrooms, nuts

They are traditionally a source of protein during fasting. Mushrooms of all kinds and various degrees of processing are allowed: dried, salted, fresh. And nuts - just a huge variety. However, do not forget about a reasonable rate: a glass of peeled walnuts at one time - a serious challenge for the stomach and liver! The maximum norm for the use of nuts, due to their nutritional value and energy value, is 50-100 grams per day.

Kashi

A diet in a post for weight loss is not complete without cereals from various kinds cereals and cereals. Basically, any. However, in last years"Slip" in the press articles about the dangers of a particular cereal. But, rather, it is a matter of the amount of consumption and the compatibility of products. Particularly useful: oatmeal, buckwheat, millet, Wheat groats(better - crushed), rice. Do not forget to cook porridge on water during fasting, and not, as many are used to, on milk or with the addition of cow's butter. They are prohibited during fasting!

Diet in Lent

The tradition of observing this fast determines the expression of love and devotion to the Savior and anticipates the feast of His Resurrection. All forty-eight days of humility, bodily and spiritual, Christians fast strictly. Indeed, without the purification of the spirit, the entire rite of fasting becomes an ordinary diet. So, keeping this in mind, during this period, you especially need to take care of the purity of your own thoughts, eliminate anger and bad emotions.

The diet itself in the post before Easter should also look more strict than, for example, on Christmas. On many days, it is recommended to eat food that has not undergone heat treatment (raw food). So, for example, you need to eat on the first four days of a seven-week fast. And in the first - it is desirable to abstain from food altogether. On the first Friday, on the contrary, food sweetened with sugar or honey is welcome. On Palm Sunday you can eat fish and seafood. On Lazarus Saturday - caviar.

Note: open church calendar for this year and look at what date this or that holiday falls during Lent (because many of them are “floating”, that is, in different years they fall on different dates of the month). And already in connection with this information, adjust your menu.

Diet in fasting before Easter. Some recipes

Well, in general, the principles of nutrition are most likely already clear to you. Now let's talk about the dishes that can be cooked. They are of great variety. Truly, looking at the existing abundance, you understand that a person, with a certain skill, can do without animal-based food. Since there are many recipes, and the article is small, we will give only a couple of the most common ones.

The vinaigrette

Ordinary, familiar to everyone, probably from childhood, vinaigrette is a very popular dish during fasting. It contains a lot of vegetables, in which there are vitamins and trace elements, some amino acids. In addition, it is a fairly light-calorie food, quickly absorbed by the body.

We will need: large beets, three pickled cucumbers, three big potatoes, carrot. Boil all vegetables separately, peel and cut into cubes. Mix thoroughly and add a little vegetable oil (but if the fast is strict, you can use cucumber pickle instead of oil - a few spoons).

Rice porridge with dried apricots and nuts

Boil a cup of rice until fluffy. without bone) pour boiling water over and finely chop. We crush walnuts in a mortar. We mix everything and eat with pleasure. When allowed, you can add a tablespoon of honey to the porridge and stir. You can also add raisins here.

Before Easter, the longest and strictest fast begins, during which the use of many products is prohibited. But fasting is not only dietary restrictions! This is an immersion in one's spirituality, rethinking one's actions and correcting mistakes. Fasting is such a period in a person’s life when he needs to show patience and understanding, wisdom and meekness when communicating with relatives, friends and strangers. What else do you need to know about fasting before Easter?

Fasting is important not only physically, but also spiritually.

Features of the Easter fast

Fasting is not a diet. Yes, many products are prohibited for consumption - and therefore fasting is not available to some groups of people:

• Pregnant women and nursing mothers;
• Children and adolescents under 14 years of age;
• People suffering chronic diseases gastrointestinal tract, stomach ulcers, gastritis, pancreatitis, cholecystitis, anemia, diabetes and immune system disorders;
• Those who are in the recovery stage after a serious illness or surgery;
• Those who are engaged in heavy physical labor, strenuous sports training or hard mental work.

What foods are prohibited for those who can and want to fast?

1. Any meat products and those that contain meat.
2. Any dairy and dairy products, including powdered milk and ice cream.
3. Eggs and all products containing eggs.
4. Any pastries and all confectionery, including white bread and rolls.
5. Alcohol, chocolate, fast food, mayonnaise.

Products that can be consumed in fasting:

• Plant foods are the basis of fasting. All vegetables and fruits are allowed in boiled, stewed and raw form, as well as dried fruits, pickled, salted and pickled vegetables, mushrooms, nuts and seeds.
• teas, herbal decoctions, fruit compotes and kissels.
• Porridges on the water, black and gray bread, crackers and dryers (bad and unsweetened).
• Fish, seafood, caviar and vegetable oil.
• From sweet - you can eat jam and fruits.

Fish is allowed during the 2nd, 3rd, 5th and 6th weeks of the fast on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. On Sundays, it is also allowed to eat fish and seafood. In addition, fish is eaten on Palm Sunday and the Annunciation. On Lazarus Saturday, the day before Palm Sunday, it is customary to eat caviar. It is best to cook fish in boiled, baked or stewed form - and certainly without creamy, sour cream and milk sauces and gravies. On Good Friday, it is customary not to eat anything at all, but to drink only water.

All meat products are prohibited, fish is allowed on certain days

If it is difficult for you to make a fasting day on the water, it is allowed to eat nuts, raw fruits and dried fruits, as well as raw vegetables without vegetable oil. On Holy Saturday (before Easter), boiled food without vegetable oil is allowed. On other days, you need to consume hot first and second courses daily - lean soups and borscht, cereals on the water, stewed vegetable stews. hot food necessary for normal functioning intestines and healthy peristalsis.

Do not worry about the lack of animal protein in the diet - it will be successfully replaced by protein from legumes. Dishes from peas, beans, lentils and soy will help to fill the body's need for protein. Jerusalem artichoke is very useful - it supplies the body with the carbohydrate inulin. Cereals, grains and potatoes are sources of starch, protein and carbohydrates. Cranberries are a supplier of benzoic acid, nuts are protein and fat, and rosehip decoctions, bell pepper, lemons and all citrus fruits are responsible for vitamin C.

Vegetable oils are rich in vitamins E, F, K, and their fats are well absorbed by the body. herbal products will not leave your body without the necessary trace elements, but the fasting diet lacks vitamins A and D, and does not contain vitamin B12 at all, so doctors recommend taking additional vitamins and microelements. Just do not prescribe them yourself - it is better to visit your doctor and listen to his recommendations.

The transition from fasting to celebrating Easter must be neat!

It is he who will decide what is appropriate for your age and physical condition. If you stick to the diet correctly, during fasting you can not only lose extra pounds, but also normalize blood pressure, cholesterol levels and many vital important processes. Attention should also be paid to leaving the post - after a strict diet, one should not lean on an abundance of meat and fish delicacies, pastries, sweets and fatty dishes flavored with sauces.

Such a powerful food impact can disrupt the work digestive system. On the first Easter day, it is allowed to supplement the lenten diet with 1-2 eggs, a piece cottage cheese casserole and a slice of sweet cake. In the first 4 days, it is forbidden to use chips, sweet straws, salty crackers, sweet and salty nuts, strong tea and coffee, as well as any carbonated drinks (especially sweet ones).

Also, do not eat fish and meat. fatty varieties, herring, smoked meats, bacon, thick creamy sauces, sour cream, confectionery with butter or butter cream. Eat any product in a minimal amount and try not to overeat. The same goes for alcohol - know the measure in everything. Easter lasts a whole week, and you will definitely try all the goodies, just not right away!

Fasting before Easter for the Russian people is a time of purification not only of their body, but also of the spirit. But far from all the Russian people attend church and understand the deep essence of Great Lent before Easter.

What is the significance of abstinence from certain foods for the purification of our spirit directly? Under in simple words"post" is understood as a transition from more nutritious food to less nutritious, one might even say light.

So, thanks to this “lightness”, we make ourselves more mobile and capable of spiritual life. Food has a tremendous impact on our body, but this can only be verified by our own experience.

Lent usually lasts 40 days. These 40 days symbolize the wanderings of Jesus in the hot desert.

General rules for fasting before Easter

Prayer and temple visits. Prayer is an inseparable part of Great Lent, so you should pray in the morning and evening to purify your spirit.

Visiting the temple in fasting should be on Sundays for better enlightenment

Refusal of temptations, including entertainment and confession. You need to confess at least once during the entire fast, this also helps to purify the spirit.

On Monday, Wednesday and Friday you only need to eat raw foods ie bread, vegetables, fruits, water. On Tuesday and Thursday, as well as on weekends, abstinence is not so strict: you can eat twice a day and you can also drink church wine. These days food is served hot.

Consider: fasting is always a great stress for the body, so before you start observing it, you need to carefully prepare the body for a new diet. It is better for pregnant women, children and the sick not to fast.

This abstinence from animal products is observed in memory of the feat that Jesus accomplished. For 40 days he wandered in the desert, refusing the temptation in the form of bread, remained faithful to the Father. That is why during this period of time, Christians adhere to especially strict rules.

It is worth observing the fast with particular strictness, at this time the rules are the same for everyone. On Good Friday and Great Saturday, you should not eat anything, but on common days should be eaten once a day.

Permitted products, as it would seem, are not so many. You can eat fruits and vegetables, both stewed, boiled, and baked, but in no case fried. Do not abuse salt, sugar and spices.

On your table there may be such vegetables as: carrots, cucumbers, beets, potatoes, corn. From fruits can be bananas, apples, citrus fruits, it is also worth remembering the pomegranate, it can also be eaten in fast days. The more varied your food, the better it will be for you. It is also worth including cereals in your diet, but always boiled in water.

At this time, you should definitely give up meat - this is the main component. For meat eaters, there is an excellent substitute for real meat - this is soy meat, from vegetable protein your body will not suffer at all, and perhaps even will only feel better.

The eternal restless question of beginners who are going to stick to the post “is it possible to eat bread?”. The answer to this question is completely ambiguous. On the one hand, bread is a flour product to which animal products such as eggs are added, but on the other hand, you can only eat certain types of bread.

Under strict prohibition there is white bread, as it contains butter and eggs, and these products are strictly prohibited in preparation for Easter. But black bread can be eaten - this is a great alternative to any type of muffin.

lovers flour products this type of product should be phased out, especially if they decide to observe abstinence in strict prohibitions.

The main feature of fasting is the rejection of meat products, as well as from eggs, white bread, sweets and dairy products.

Here is a list of foods that are desirable to eat during fasting.

• Mushrooms. They can be consumed in absolutely any form, most importantly, not fried.
• Corn. Whether oatmeal, buckwheat, barley - any cereal can be consumed.
• Pickles.
• Any green.
• Vegetable fats.
• Soy products.
• Bread from bran or black.
• To replace sweets - fruits, even citrus fruits, dried fruits, jams and honey.
• Olives are both black and green.

To understand how to properly replace and add these products to your new diet, let's give an example lenten menu.

Breakfast: oatmeal prepared only with water. You can add jam, honey, dried fruits to the porridge. Of the drinks, green tea is preferable.

Dinner: broccoli soup fresh salad from cucumbers, tomatoes, cabbage and grated carrots.

afternoon tea: fruit and apple compote.

Dinner: vegetable stew. From drinks, it is preferable to drink tea with jam, and for dessert, cranberries, which you can mix with honey to taste.

According to the monastic charter, on which the traditions of fasting of the Russian Orthodox Church in Lent, as mentioned earlier, you can not eat animal products, namely meat, eggs, butter, fish.

Also, you can't use alcoholic drinks, only 50mg of wine is allowed on certain days. In addition, during this period it is impossible to get married, because these days it is desirable to move away from intimacy altogether and devote time to prayers.

You can’t go to bars, discos and clubs, in other words, step back from entertainment in your free time, but devote this time to fighting your sins. You should also refrain from smoking, because the use of alcohol and nicotine addiction, the church also equates to sin.

Help get rid of nicotine addiction maybe daily prayer, and if a smoker cannot quit smoking at all, then the church advises to abstain from tobacco at least 2 times a week - this is Wednesday and Friday. However, it is allowed to have a haircut in fasting, it is considered that this is not forbidden in any way. But earlier it was customary for priests to have their hair cut before the fast itself.

AT last week post it is desirable to get a haircut in Clean Thursday, because it is on this day that it is customary for the Orthodox to complete the cleaning they have begun, wash and cut their hair. Cutting the ends of girls on Maundy Thursday promises the growth of stronger and healthy hair, and they also say that this leads to the improvement of the whole organism as a whole.

Take into account: also, you should not get a haircut on Good Friday, as this is considered the most mournful and strict day, on this day people even refuse to eat. You can also not do cleaning and washing.

Every truly believing person must adhere to certain rules in order to remain a righteous person.