More and more of our compatriots are trying to observe fasts. Of these, Great Lent (February 7 - April 23, 2011) is considered the most strict and significant. How to eat right these days?

For those who will be fasting for the first time, Lent is likely to be a serious test. In vain, such a nutrition system is no worse than any diet. Moreover, as a result of restrictions, the body will be cleansed of toxins, blood vessels - of cholesterol plaques, metabolic processes and the state of the blood will improve. In addition, for newcomers, as well as for the sick, the elderly, pregnant women and those who during the year (for example, poor families) ate poorly and irregularly, the Church gives relief.

And besides, do not forget that fasting is not a healthy diet. Abstinence from fast (fatty) food helps to cleanse physically. But even more important is spiritual cleansing, requiring repentance and good deeds.

Days of strict fasting

So Lent lasts seven weeks. The first six (until Friday of the sixth week) are called Holy Forty Days, they pass into the seventh, strictest week - Holy Week. The most severe days of fasting are the first two and the last. At this time, it is recommended to completely abstain from food, but drink at least 1.5-2 liters of boiled (preferably warm) water per day, any berry or lemon juice (this is advised by doctors so that the body does not dehydrate).

On Clean Monday (the first day of fasting), a complete abstinence from food is customary; on Friday in the first week, you can only eat sochivo (boiled wheat, sometimes rice or lentils sweetened with honey or sugar).

Can't eat in post

Animal products (meat, fish, milk, eggs, butter), rich white bread, buns, sweets, mayonnaise.

Is it possible

Any vegetable food (greens, fruits, vegetables, dried fruits), pickles (sauerkraut, pickled and pickled cucumbers, tomatoes, etc.), crackers, dryers, mushrooms, nuts, black and gray bread, kissels, cereals on the water.

Nutrition rules

On Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, dry eating is prescribed - only uncooked food without oil (water, bread, fruit and vegetable salads, compotes), on Tuesdays, Thursdays it is allowed to eat hot, but also without oil (lean soups, vegetable stews, cereals). And on Saturdays and Sundays, and on the days of memory of the most revered saints, it is allowed to add vegetable oil to food.

On major holidays Palm Sunday) you can even cook fish dishes and afford some wine.

An important addition: according to the rules established by the Church, eating is allowed once a day, in the evening. But few people can afford such a regimen, so it is better to eat often (three to four times a day) and little by little.

Brewer's yeast - a storehouse of vitamins

When switching to a fasting table, many experience a feeling of hunger, they want to eat all the time. Usually these sensations appear if the diet lacks vitamins and proteins with essential amino acids. In this case, brewer's yeast, containing both protein and vitamins, will be very useful to us.

Brewer's yeast is rich in protein (almost 50%), including all essential amino acids and B vitamins, as well as choline, vitamins E and D, the deficiency of which is experienced by most people even outside the fast.

Today, brewer's yeast is offered for every taste: in powders, tablets (sold in pharmacies) or liquid (at breweries). For obvious reasons, it is fresh, and therefore more active liquid yeast that is used for medicinal purposes.

. Replenishment of the diet with protein, essential amino acids

Take 3 brewer's yeast tablets twice daily after meals with 1/4 glass of water. The course is 1–1.5 months.

Spring depression, mental fatigue, state of weakness, chronic fatigue syndrome, meteosensitivity

Take 1 hour. a spoonful of dry brewer's yeast powder (or 5-6 tablets) twice a day after meals with water. Course - 3 weeks.

Attention! Individual intolerance, belching, increased flatulence, inflammatory kidney disease, gout, dysbacteriosis, especially intestinal candidiasis, and thrush can serve as a contraindication to taking brewer's yeast.

LENTEN MENU

Salad "Freshness"

Grate a small radish, carrot and apple, add 3-4 garlic cloves, 1/4 lemon, 1/2 teaspoon lemon zest and salt to taste. Mix everything, sprinkle the salad with lemon juice.

Salad of celery greens with walnut dressing

Finely chop a few large stalks of celery, put them in a salad bowl and pour over the peanut sauce. To prepare the sauce, crush 0.5 cups of walnut kernels with 2-3 cloves of garlic until an oily mass forms. Add 1 teaspoon of vegetable oil and a slice of gray bread previously soaked in water and squeezed out, a pinch of salt, mix everything well.

Beets in a sweet marinade

Boil the unpeeled small beets, cool, remove the skin and cut into slices. Boil 1 cup water with 1-2 tbsp. tablespoons of granulated sugar and 1 teaspoon of cumin, add 2 tbsp. spoons of apple cider vinegar and lemon juice to taste, cool and pour beets with this syrup. After 1-2 days the dish is ready.

Sauerkraut soup

Squeeze the juice from 500-600 g of sauerkraut, put it in a saucepan, add 1 tbsp. a spoonful of tomato paste, pour a glass of boiling water, close the lid and simmer for 20-30 minutes (cabbage should be soft). 5-10 minutes before the end of the stew, add fried in 2 tbsp. tablespoons of vegetable oil 1 grated carrot, 1-2 finely chopped parsley roots and 1 onion. Boil water in a two-liter saucepan, put cabbage with vegetables there, add bay leaf and black pepper and cook for another 5-7 minutes. In ready-made cabbage soup, you can add 2-3 cloves of garlic, mashed with salt.

Mushroom and potato fritters

Grate 5 peeled potatoes, mix with 300 g of finely chopped fresh mushrooms, salt. Spoon the fritters into the hot oil in a frying pan and fry them on both sides until golden brown. Serve with any lean sauce. If the pancake batter is too runny or doesn't turn over well, add a little flour or ground breadcrumbs to the mixture.

Mushroom and Cabbage Casserole

Shred a medium fork of white cabbage and simmer until semi-soft. Finely chop 500 g of mushrooms and 1-2 onions, lightly fry in 1 tbsp. a spoonful of vegetable oil, salt. Lay all products in layers in a form so that there is cabbage on top and bottom. Pour the dish with a mixture of 1 cup of water, 1-2 tbsp. spoons of flour, 2 tbsp. tablespoons of vegetable oil, grated nutmeg on the tip of a knife, 1 tbsp. tablespoons of ground crackers and salt to taste. Put the casserole in the oven, when it is covered with a golden crust, the dish is ready.

Lent is for many people one of the holiest events of the entire year. It is believed that it is during this period that you can cleanse not only your soul from the sinfulness that has “accumulated” over the year, but also rid the body of obscene substances by drastically changing your daily diet. Due to the high importance of this event, many people, especially believers, are wondering if it is possible to eat bread, fry eggs, play computer games, or even bathe in the sauna during fasting.

How much does soul cleansing cost?

Especially believers during fasting adhere to the strictest rules in order to properly prepare themselves for the important Easter holiday for them. A sharp restriction of oneself in the use of food, to which the stomach has become accustomed for a year, as well as the rejection of some other amenities, can lead not to sacred enlightenment, but to depression. That is why you must always remember first of all about your health, and only then - about obligations to higher powers and the purification of your sinful soul.

Great Lent: A Beginner's Guide

Beginners, for whom Lent is a completely unusual thing, will have a particularly difficult task: how to resist all the sweets that shops sell before the Easter celebration? The question of whether it is possible to eat bread during fasting does not even occur to such people, since all they try to do is to refrain from another bar of chocolate. Of course, it’s hard to completely refuse bread, since for many Slavs it makes up about thirty percent of the daily diet. Many people like to eat sandwiches on both cheeks in the morning, eat soup during the day, eating bread, and spread sweet jam on buns in the evening. It is not easy to give up all these pleasures if there is no real motivation. As practice shows, the best way to stop eating bread is to convince yourself that you have a lot of excess weight. In this case, the question no longer sounds like: “Is it possible to eat bread during fasting?”. It transforms into: "Why have I been eating bread all this time?"

A new marvelous and diverse world of breads

Most priests, without thinking twice, will answer the question of whether it is possible to eat bread during fasting, but the remark will not be positive. The fact is that the classic post involves the complete elimination of any animal products, and eggs are most often added to bakery products, as in any dough. However, this does not mean that the unfortunate one who wants to cleanse his soul will have to get rid of anyone that he finds in the breadbasket or refrigerator. Knowledgeable people they can tell you what kind of bread to eat in fasting, so as not to break the tradition and not worry about a slight but constant feeling of hunger. This opens up a whole world of possibilities for the believer, because he is able to simply replace his favorite sweet product and rolls with something lighter. If you do not try to immediately remove all prohibited foods, and before that prepare your body, you may be able to get rid of any type of bread, but it is undesirable to change the diet so radically. The body will not thank you for this, and the number of sins will not decrease.

Banned white bread

For those who are serious about strict observance of Great Lent, there will be one more not very pleasant news: white bread cannot be consumed during fasting either. This immediately takes away the opportunity for Europeans to "participate" in the cleansing before Easter, as the white product is all they have ever known. Of course, they have a different religion not at all because of the lack of black bread on store shelves, but the fact is that foreigners accustomed to white bread would hardly be able to assimilate with us, adjusting to the peculiarities of our faith. White should not be consumed under any pretext, especially if they decide to seriously observe the tradition. It contains butter and eggs, and all these products are under a temporary ban in preparation for Easter. In order not to add this small sin to your already rather big list, it is advisable to refrain from eating white bread or replace it with something else. Of course, crackers from this product are also prohibited.

"Black" alternative for bread lovers

On the other hand, you can still use fasting with almost one hundred percent certainty that you are not doing anything reprehensible or objectionable to higher powers. However, in any case, you should read what this product is made of - sometimes margarine can be seen in the list of used products, and people try to remove it completely during Lent, like butter. However, brown bread will be a good alternative to almost any type of muffin. Is it worth mentioning that it will cost the fasting sinner cheaper, and will lie longer, and in general will be much more beneficial for digestion and the body. Typically, supermarket shelves have huge sections for white bread and sweet buns, and black is subjected to severe racial discrimination and lies somewhere in the corner or at the very bottom of the shelf. Great Lent is the perfect time to make black bread feel like someone needs it.

Vain

e and mercantile reasons for refusal

Some adherents of the maximalist point of view in all spheres of life believe that bread should be completely removed during fasting. It is not entirely clear what logic they are guided by. Perhaps in this way they want to confirm their independence from food and deny gluttony. Or maybe the real problem is much more prosaic and consists in the fact that even bread products are now beginning to rise in price. If a person is guided by the principle “we don’t hire, but I’ll save”, he risks adding something else to his sinful to-do list - greed and pettiness. However, there is a separate category of people who are ready to completely remove bread from the diet, not only during the Great Lent, but also try to survive without it in the future. These are the people who have not been helped by any diet for a long time, and jogging only knocks their breath and the sole on their sneakers. By completely removing the bread, they can not only cleanse themselves before Easter, but also find the figure of their dreams.

How to get closer to the Almighty: simple steps

It must be remembered that the real meaning of fasting is not to properly limit oneself in eating and finally lose weight before the period of thousands of sweet pastries. The main goal of fasting repentant sinners is still spiritual enlightenment, purification, with the help of which they allegedly open a new page in their lives. For these people, the idea of ​​whether it is possible to eat bread in fasting will be ridiculous, ridiculous and rather inappropriate. They are here, you see, waiting for enlightenment, purifying their souls with prayers, going to church and spraying the walls with holy water, and you ask them such things. The main thing is not to take all the advice of such people too seriously, since real religious fanatics can assure you that during fasting, the stomach does not need anything at all, except for sunlight, and With such an approach, the Kingdom of Heaven, of course, will come much closer, but not quite in the sense in which the unfortunate sinner would like it.

Everything needs a measure

You should not think about whether bread can be fasted if you have already sinned with a chicken cutlet or cake. If you really find it very difficult to give up certain foods and you feel a physical need for them, you should not intentionally expose yourself to suffering. Of course, some religions preach great martyrdom, but certainly not in this format. If a penitent sinner even thinks about the beautiful cake resting on the shelf in the refrigerator, his thoughts will be too far from the purification of the soul. In everything you need to know the measure, and Great Lent is no exception, even if you swore to yourself to observe all its postulates. It should be remembered that health and maintaining a normal psychological state always come first. We still have time to save the soul, but spoiling the stomach and mood of others because of our religious beliefs is not at all worth it. Make fasting a fasting period, but don't overdo it.

03.12.2008 11:10:32 Anna, St. Petersburg
Hello, please tell me, is it possible to eat dryers in the post if they include eggs? It turns out that it is impossible if there are eggs. But after all, there are drying without eggs, and the taste is no different from drying with eggs. That is, if I eat drying with or without eggs, they will be the same for me. (taste). Therefore, I think that they can be eaten. But, for example, it is impossible to cook soup on a chicken cube (which does not include anything modest), because the taste of chicken is imitated. That is, judging by the composition, it is possible to eat, but according to taste sensations it is impossible.
Similarly, dumplings with potatoes, sometimes with eggs, sometimes without eggs. And the taste is the same. So it's not clear whether they can be eaten or not?
Perhaps I was very unclear. I beg you to answer my question, because for me it is very important. Thank you.
The fact is that when I carefully study the composition of the products, it seems to me wrong, and if I eat drying with eggs, I suffer that it was impossible to eat it.

Dear Anna!

Everything must be approached rationally and with reason.

Fasting is, first of all, a spiritual cleansing from the filth of passions and sinful attachments in order to draw closer to God. A necessary condition for achieving this is restriction in food.

Bread, plain loaves, oatmeal cookies, gingerbread, cracker cookies are considered lean, all other buns, cookies and other products, on the packaging of which it is written that they contain dairy products, it is better not to eat during fasting and fasting days, except In addition, during Advent, the fish is blessed, except on Wednesday and Friday.On the other days - Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday - it is allowed to eat food with vegetable oil.

During fasting, the following simple rules are required. This is an exclusion from the diet of all meat, fish and dairy dishes, as well as products containing animal fats and proteins. But you can and should eat as many raw vegetables and fruits as possible, and always greens. Fried foods should be kept to a minimum and overcooked foods should be avoided once and for all, especially those cooked in recycled or long-simmering oil. During fasting, you should consume liquids as much as possible: kvass, kissels, compotes should take their rightful place on your table.

A person, starting to observe fasts, immediately notices the result: instead of being angry at the government and reforms and envying the well-fed and rich, we feel peace of mind, peace, and most importantly, confidence in our rightness, because we know that, unlike the well-fed and rich, by fasting, we save our souls.

And over time, you will feel that fasting has already become your need and it is actually not so difficult to observe it.

Before you start fasting, you need to think very carefully about your diet. No one is forcing you to eat only dry crusts and crusts, and please, let's do without such extremes. So it really doesn’t take long to earn gastritis, and some other bad things, especially if your faith is not yet very strong and you cannot hold on to spiritual food alone, as the saints and ascetics did. Be prudent, do not earnestly "mortify" your flesh. Better learn to live with your body in friendship, listen carefully to its signals, understand what it really needs.

So, what can you eat during fasting? Of course, the most welcome guests on the table at this time are fruits and vegetables. There is the largest amount of vitamins, minerals needed by our body. So in the summer on your table every day let there be salads from fresh vegetables, and in winter - sauerkraut, pickles, carrots, beets.

We eat during fasting and boiled and stewed vegetables. But here, too, we must remember that the less heat treatment, the better - more useful substances will be preserved in the finished dish. Therefore, it is better to lay the vegetables already in boiling water, and then make sure that they are not digested. Do not cook vegetables in a large amount of water, and do not allow a strong boil when cooking.

And remember that it is not at all necessary to be limited to one potato and cabbage. The whole variety of the fruit and vegetable world is open before you, do not forget about zucchini, peppers, cauliflower, corn, green peas. The more varied, the better.

You can also cook vegetable soups by adding cereals - rice, barley.

A very important component of the lean table is porridge. Of course, boiled in water, not in milk, and without the addition of butter. But this does not mean that porridge will necessarily be tasteless. Remember that there are many fasting foods that can be added to porridge for flavor. These are raisins, nuts, carrots, and mushrooms, which can be combined with buckwheat, rice, and other cereals. Experiment, give scope to your culinary imagination!

It is believed that by not eating meat, eggs, dairy products, a person deprives himself of the required amount of protein. This is true, but only if you approach the post illiterately. Remember to include plant-based protein in your diet and you'll be fine. These are mushrooms, and eggplants, and legumes, and, of course, soybeans. Now on the shelves there are a lot of various products from the so-called " soy meat”, which, when properly prepared, flavored with spices and sauces, perfectly replaces real meat. Nutritionists argue that soy protein in its composition and biological value is an equivalent substitute for meat and fish protein.

Bakery products are not prohibited on fasting, and on non-strict fasting days - vegetable oil, and the whole variety of fish products. And how many different dishes can be prepared from all this, you will see by getting acquainted with the culinary recipes set out in the section All about Lent.

Just remember that you can’t overeat in fasting in any case - even if you are limited to strictly lean foods. Remember that fasting excludes any abuse - spices, spicy, salty, sour, sweet, fried foods. It is better to give preference to boiled dishes, as well as steamed or grilled. Keep your food varied but simple. And you, of course, will be able to feel and appreciate this joy and sanctity of the simplest food.

Let the refusal of milk and dairy products not scare you - for some time it is necessary to do this, and such a ban on the period of fasting is not only not harmful, but useful. According to some studies, milk, as a product intended by nature for baby food, is not very well absorbed by the body of adults. So slowly weaning from milk, at least during fasting, will not hurt you.

We will appreciate the significance of fasting even more if we remember that fasting consists not only in replacing fast food with fasting food, but also in limiting oneself in excesses and whims, for example, sleeping less, abstaining from delicacies, from smoking tobacco and etc.

He remembers that the Church also requires spiritual fasting from us. During fasting, we should take special care to suppress and eradicate our bad inclinations, habits and desires.

On this occasion, St. John Chrysostom spoke like this - can't you fast? But why can't you forgive the insult to your friend? Change your temper: if you are angry, try to be meek; if vindictive, do not take revenge; if you like to slander and gossip - refrain, etc. Do more good during fasting days, be more sympathetic to people, be more willing to help those in need of your help, pray harder, warmer, etc. In all these directions, fasting opens up a wide field for you to work on yourself - just be willing to work!

Orthodox Christians observe Great Lent to express their love for Christ. Forty-eight days of bodily and spiritual humility express the humility and repentance of the laity.

The whole period is divided into Forty and Holy Week. The first forty days are devoted to the parable of the awakening of the Savior on a lonely mountain near Jericho. The last, Holy Week, is designed to remind believers of his last seven days. It precedes the feast of the Holy Resurrection of Christ (Easter).

Humility of the flesh is the first step to humble the spirit. Starting a limited diet, you need to limit yourself spiritually. During abstinence, Christians are cleansed of bad emotions, do not experience envy, anger and other negative emotions. Without spiritual purity, the whole ceremony becomes just a diet. In addition, dietary rules may be relaxed for health reasons.

Recently, it has become fashionable to fast, true believers know that there are many fasts and fast days during the year. However, many people prefer to fast during Lent, which is the longest and therefore the heaviest. Many who have withstood the fast rejoice in their victory and completely do not pay attention to how they begin to eat after fasting. An abundance of fatty, protein-rich foods can be detrimental to your health. Therefore, it is extremely important to know how to get out of fasting without harm to the body.

In almost a month and a half, your body gets used to working in an economical mode and, of course, on day 49 it is not ready to immediately begin to absorb kebabs, eggs, salads with mayonnaise and often alcohol. With such a celebration of the end of the fast, you introduce your body into shock. During fasting, your metabolic processes slow down, the synthesis of enzymes slows down and the body consumes internal reserves. It often happens that during fasting people lose weight.

Orthodox believers are now preparing to observe the Advent fast. This is one of the most serious and long fasts leading us to the great feast of the Nativity of the Savior. It lasts from November 28 to January 6 (on the night of Christmas), that is, only 40 days. It is also called Philip's Fast or Forty Days (as well as Great Lent). It is the last multi-day fast of the year.

Christmas Lent Rules

During the period of fasting, the Orthodox are prescribed the following rules:

It is forbidden to eat meat, eggs, dairy products (including cheese, butter); fish is allowed on Saturdays, Sundays, as well as on Tuesdays, Thursdays on the days of the great saints, temple holidays, on the day of the Entrance of the Mother of God into the Temple (December 4); fish is also allowed on Monday, Wednesday, Friday only on the condition of the upcoming all-night vigil (on the patronal feast); You can cook food in vegetable oil on Tuesday, Thursday, and without it on Monday, Wednesday, Friday.

Dry eating in fasting

What is dry eating in fasting? Unknowing people, based on the phrase, will decide that this is nothing more than eating dry food. But no. It means something else under the concept of "dry food". In this case, food should not be cooked in water, should not be lubricated with other liquids, such as vegetable oil, vinegar. Food baked in the oven, in the microwave or in a slow cooker can be consumed during such a period of fasting.

What foods are consumed on days of dry eating during fasting? Fasting people should focus on such foods in their diet as:

Bread (rye, bran);
vegetables;
fruits;
berries;
dried fruits;
any greens;
honey;
nuts.

Priests answer questions about fasting

Why in Orthodoxy are there so many restrictions on pleasures, food, sexual relations? It seems that no harm is done to others, the commandment to love one's neighbor is not violated. Why is it necessary to “kill your body”, your desires? Why such lack of freedom?

Our body is not killed by restrictions on food and other pleasures, but by excess in them. And besides, even if we do not harm others and do not violate the commandment to love our neighbor, we still need to love God. This is where certain restrictions on pleasure come from, because love, when it exists, is manifested in action, in our actions.

Some fasting people are not averse to snacking on hastily so-called teenage food - chips, crackers, soda. Can you use them every day?

Of course not. There is also a lot of salt. Somehow they conducted an experiment: they soaked these crackers in water, and then evaporated them. Try it yourself and see what's left? And chips that are fried in rancid oil? Goodbye liver, goodbye stomach, hello gastritis and pancreatitis. In general, in everything you need to know the measure. If you drink one bottle of soda a week, then probably nothing bad will happen, but if you drink a day, anything can develop, because it also has very aggressive components.