What foods should you not eat while fasting? When is it permissible to eat fish during fasting? What is allowed to eat during strict fasting?

Orthodox fast These are the days when people are cleansed in spirit. But at the same time, the body is also cleansed, because everything in every person should be pure - soul, body, and thoughts. On fasting days, you need to be attentive to your psychophysical state. A person who has decided that he is ready to limit his diet, in principle, knows which foods are allowed to be consumed in a given period and which are not.

Basic canons of nutrition during fasting

You need to figure out what you can still eat on fasting days, and what foods you need to exclude from your diet. So, the following are subject to mandatory exclusion:

1. Meat products;
2. Milk as well as butter, cottage cheese and cheeses;
3. Eggs and mayonnaise;
4. Fatty sweets and baked goods;
5. Fish and vegetable oil (on strict fasting days);
6. Alcohol and tobacco.

These foods should not be eaten during Lent. There is an opinion that if a person does not eat meat, eggs, or drink milk, then he is deprived of protein, which is so necessary for the body. But with the right approach to a lean diet, this is absolutely not the case.

There are many foods that are rich in protein. If you diversify your lean diet with mushrooms, eggplants, legumes and soybeans, you can get required amount squirrel. After all, even nutritionists have proven that soy can easily replace fish and meat.

And yet, before fasting, you should find out whether it will become dangerous for the body, because not everyone may find abstinence from certain foods useful.

What is allowed to eat during strict fasting?

In Christianity, fasting days vary in severity. On one day one thing may be allowed, on the second - another. And there are days when you can’t eat at all. Most strict fast among Christians - the Great.

It lasts 40 days, during which any entertainment activities are prohibited. In addition, there are some canons that must be adhered to:

1. It is forbidden to eat any food on Fridays, as well as on the day of the beginning of Lent;
2. The first and last weeks are marked by the permission to eat vegetables, fruits and bread. Water is allowed as a drink.
3. On other days, honey, nuts and any plant foods are allowed.

What can you eat during fasting on non-strict days:

1. Eggplant;
2. Zucchini;
3. Fish;
4. Lentils;
5. Oatmeal;
6. Any fruit salads, of course, without filling them with sour cream.

The main food during fasting is herbal products. These are mainly cereals (the best of course are buckwheat, wheat, barley and oatmeal, since these are native Russian types of cereals, and they are also rich in fiber and minerals).

Of course, you shouldn’t forget about the vitamins contained in vegetables and fruits. The main thing is that fasting does not cause a violation of the diet. You should not skip breakfast, and you also need to remember that it is advisable to snack more often during Lent.

Due to the fact that the lean diet lacks animal protein, which gives the feeling that a person is full for a long time, you want to eat something substantial, especially in the first days. But in this case, you can forget about cleansing.

The best option here is regular nutrition, as well as the inclusion of whole grains in the diet, and of course beans.

It is important to remember that you need to prepare your body for any food restriction. For him, it will be the most severe stress if a person overeats every day and suddenly suddenly stops eating. There will be no benefit from such an attempt at cleansing.

Features of nutrition after fasting

Some people think that if the fast is over, then they need to make up for all the days and eat everything at once, and even more.

At the same time, without thinking at all that in this case there will not only be no benefit from abstinence, but even, on the contrary, only harm. How to eat after the end of fasting?

The first days should be like a gradual “fading” of fasting. It is not recommended to eat these days:

1. Meat (except perhaps chicken, turkey or fish);
2. Mushrooms, especially pickled ones;
3. Don't get carried away with baking;
4. High-calorie sweets such as cake, pastries with butter or butter cream;
5. Sausages and smoked meats.

Since the body, during the period of fasting, becomes weaned from animal food, you need to start eating it little by little, as if re-accustoming yourself. You should not eat fried meat or fish. It is advisable that the food be boiled and should be eaten in small portions, little by little.

It is better to limit salt in the first days after fasting. Don't get carried away flour products in butter and egg. Dishes made from cereals will be much healthier (rice, buckwheat, millet or oatmeal - no of great importance) with fruits, to which it is advisable to add more greens. After all, the body needs vitamins during this period.

The Sacrament of Communion - how to prepare for it, what can you eat?

The shortest duration of fasting before Communion is three days. It happens that a person cannot withstand these restrictions due to illness or even hard, exhausting work, while the body requires a lot of calories.

In this case, at confession, which necessarily takes place before communion, the priest must repent of this sin as well. What you cannot do is tell the priest that you have been fasting if the fast is not maintained.

So what can you eat during this fast? Almost the same things are allowed as on other fasting days:

1. You can eat vegetables and fruits;
2. Cereal porridge;
3. Boiled or baked fish;
4. Bread;
5. Nuts.

You can also eat sweets, such as dark chocolate, kozinaki, but it is better to limit the consumption of these products. The main thing is to remember that when consuming even those foods that are allowed, you need to know when to stop and not overeat.

The benefits of fasting for a person or “why fast”

Eating according to all the rules during fasting is very beneficial for human health. Allowed food will give the body necessary substances, and the absence of foods that are prohibited will not allow the body to waste energy fighting toxins, etc.

Lenten nutrition inherently normalizes the functioning of the entire body, but its main benefit is this:

1. Improved digestion;
2. Getting rid of dysbacteriosis;
3. Cleansing the liver and normalizing its work;
4. Complete cleansing of the body. Slags and toxins are completely removed;
5. Eating every day will prevent you from gaining excess weight.

Some people, fearing excess weight, do not touch, for example, pies with potatoes fried in oil, even vegetable oil. If you pay attention to fast days, then on weekends this food is completely permissible and is not at all harmful to health.

Why is this happening? It's simple. Even if you allow yourself to enjoy your favorite pies on a day off, all the substances the body does not need will be eliminated from the body over the next five weekdays.

Little joys after fasting

Only those people who actually held Lent, after its end, can fully experience the pleasure of everyday food. In the first days, after forty days of abstinence, ordinary food tastes unusually “sweet.”

Those foods that seemed ordinary before fasting seem like the most delicate nectar. Not everyone can experience such sensations. Only those few who truly abstained from forbidden food are capable of this.

After all, you no longer need to ask yourself the question: can I do this today, now? After all, no matter how hard a person tries, there is not always enough time for cooking, and on fasting days tomorrow you won’t be able to eat what you ate today.

That’s why it turns out that all food often consists of water, nuts and dried fruits.

To fast or not?

In any case, regardless of whether a person fasts or not, one should know moderation in everything. After all, if you exhaust yourself constant hunger, the body will not receive the substances it needs and will use internal resources that are not endless.

But in the end, it will simply “get tired” of working and stop. Are there any benefits from such fasting? The answer is obvious - no. The same can be said about overeating. Excess will be deposited in the body, and as a result - obesity, heart disease and other internal organs.

So whether to fast or not is everyone’s business. The main thing is not to go to extremes.

Products allowed during Lent traditionally include cereals, grains, vegetables and fruits, berries, mushrooms, legumes, spices, honey, as well as pickles and preserves stored over the summer.

Lent is seven weeks of strict restrictions affecting all aspects of a person's life. Of all the religious prohibitions, the ban on eating savory foods is, if not the most important, then at least, very significant. Of course, one cannot agree with those who are ready to compare fasting with a diet, but those who underestimate food prohibitions, considering them an empty formality, are deeply mistaken.

After all, by fasting in food, we fight our temptations, strengthen our willpower, learn to be content with little, and through all this we develop spiritually.

So, Lent is a test that lasts 48 days and involves a radical change in our eating habits, giving up many foods and overall reduction amount of food consumed.

Products prohibited during Lent

Under strict ban During Lent, eggs, animal and poultry meat, milk and all dairy products.

You will also have to give up fish on all days of fasting, except Lazarus Saturday, Palm Sunday and Annunciation. On weekdays, wine and vegetable oils(and that means all fried foods). Clean Monday, all Wednesdays and Fridays, and especially Good Friday, are considered the strictest days, when many believers generally refuse to eat food and drink only water.

It is very important to exclude from the diet all products that contain even the slightest proportion of components of animal origin.

Thus, the list of foods prohibited during Lent can be continued for a very long time. This list will include rich pastries, milk chocolate, mayonnaise, butter, and even chewing gum(since it may well contain gelatin of animal origin). Before buying products for the Lenten table, carefully study their composition.

There is another very important prohibition, which is often forgotten or not given due importance. We should deny ourselves those foods that we eat not for satiety and benefit, but for pleasure. Of course, such products include harmful sweets, chocolate bars, carbonated drinks, fast food... then everyone can independently continue this list.

Products allowed during Lent

Anything that can be prepared from ingredients plant origin, you can safely serve it on the Lenten table. Undoubtedly, the basis of a Lenten diet should be vegetables in all their diversity and splendor (raw, stewed, boiled, salted, canned, in soups, salads and side dishes, casseroles and pies). You should only refrain from fried vegetables.

Lovers of nourishing and nutritious food during Lent they can safely cook porridges from buckwheat, rice, pearl barley, corn, millet cereal. It is important to remember that milk and butter cannot be added to porridge, but mushrooms and vegetables can be added. For example, champignons, onions, carrots, Bell pepper, herbs and spices added to boiled buckwheat, will turn it into a very tasty delicacy. And you can safely add dried fruits, berries and nuts to sweet cereals.

"Lenten Market"

You can buy it in stores today a large number of products allowed during Lent and designed to further diversify our menu: soy sauce, coconut milk, ketchup and tomato paste, buckwheat pasta, Korean salads.

Those with a sweet tooth can treat themselves to bitter dark chocolate, marmalade, halva and other delicacies that do not contain prohibited foods.

Fasting without harm to health

For our body normal operation and maintaining immunity, you need to get everything you need from food nutrients. Therefore, it is unacceptable to turn a fast into a hunger strike, which will undermine vitality and will negatively affect the health of even a strong body. It is important to learn how to diversify your menu and fully replace foods prohibited during Lent with permitted foods rich in protein and vitamins.

Having excluded meat and dairy products from the menu, be sure to replace them with protein-rich products of plant origin: mushrooms, beans, peas, lentils, nuts, sprouted wheat grains, soy products.

By refusing meat food, we deprive our body of the main source of iron. To replenish its reserves among the foods allowed during Lent, we choose those that are rich in iron. These include apples, buckwheat, bananas and cocoa.

Simple and healthy food, prepared from foods that are allowed to be consumed during Lent, will help the body overcome spring vitamin deficiency. The main thing is to remember to diversify your menu, then fasting will only benefit you and will contribute to general strengthening health.

Lenten delicacies are questionable

Having dealt with the main prohibitions and restrictions on the use of foods during Lent, one can, however, notice some ambiguous and controversial points in their classification.

Thus, we do not face a direct ban on the consumption of overseas fruits, coffee, tea or seafood. However, we must remember that fasting is a time to limit yourself and fight your bad habits. For example, drinking caffeine is more of a habit than a need for the body. Perhaps you should give up that extra cup of coffee for the benefit of others healthy drinks: chicory, herbal decoctions, natural juices, compotes, fruit drinks.

Sea delicacies can hardly be called lean product. The absence of bans on them is due only to historical feature. In the 17th century, when the customs of observing Lent were finally formed, there were no such delicacies in the Russian diet at all and it was pointless to ban them. Today, everyone has the right to choose for themselves whether to classify seafood as products prohibited during Lent or to consider them permitted and consumed without restrictions. Most often, sea delicacies are equated with fish products, that is, it is permissible to use them only on certain days of Lent.

Separately, I need to say a few words about such a product as caviar. Today this is a rather expensive delicacy, but among our ancestors, caviar, especially pike and crucian carp, was the most common dish even during Lent. Modern traditions equate caviar with fish, and thus it is also prohibited.

In conclusion, we say that everyone is free to decide for themselves how and when to eat. But in Lately All more people tries to follow the rules and customs of Lent. This is very pleasing, as it indicates that our people are reviving love and respect for the religious traditions of the past, the desire to improve themselves and the world around them, the desire to develop strength and spirit and constantly improve.

Lent 2019 is very close and it’s worth figuring out what you can eat by day. Lent is considered the strictest of all existing in Orthodox calendar. To keep it properly, you should not only impose restrictions on food, but also give up fun and pleasures. It is held in honor of the fact that Jesus fasted in the desert for forty days, in memory of the life of Christ, his crucifixion and resurrection.

Few people have thought about it, but in fact, Lent does not consist of 40 days, but it is customary to fast for 48. In 2019, it begins on March 11 and will continue until April 27.

The days of Lent have their own name and meaning:

1. Pentecost - this is what all the first 40 days are called.
2. Lazarus Saturday is the name of the Saturday that comes before Palm Sunday.
3. The entry of the Lord into Jerusalem is the day that comes a week before Easter and is also called Palm Sunday.
4. Holy Week- the last six days of Lent, which always take place before Easter.
Many people who are just going to fast for the first time believe that Lent is a kind of Orthodox diet, but in fact, the main goal is considered to be cleansing the soul.

• Who is prohibited from fasting
• Menu of Lenten dishes

Who is prohibited from fasting

1. There is a category of people who are allowed not to fast, these are those who have chronic diseases Gastrointestinal tract, oncology and others. Therefore, before fasting, you should consult a doctor. Direct contraindications include pregnancy, anemia and underweight.
2. If children in your family also fast, then you should not observe complete failure from dairy products. On the contrary, it is advisable that the child does not eat sweets, due to restrictions meat dishes There's nothing wrong either.
3. If you are a traveler or work for heavy industries, then you don’t have to adhere to fasting in all its canons; relaxations in the consumption of milk and even broths with meat are allowed. But you should turn to a clergyman for a blessing.

Rules of conduct during Lent

In addition to the fact that there are rules for abstaining from food, Easter post you need to behave correctly. The recommendations sound like this:

1. Before you start fasting, you should visit the church and take communion, and also receive a blessing from the priest.
2. During the entire period of Lent, a person should not use foul language and should definitely refrain from loud conversations.
3. Do not refuse to help people, even strangers.
4. Decline to visit mass events and under no circumstances organize celebrations that are accompanied by noise.
5. Smoking and drinking drinks that contain alcohol, as well as carnal pleasures are prohibited.
6. Make time to attend the liturgy.

Before you begin to adhere to the food restrictions that Lent implies, you should definitely consult with your doctor, and also after receiving permission from him and the priest to fast. Start physically and mentally preparing your body in advance so that it does not get severe stress while you are fasting.

Rules for meals during Lent

If we talk about the strict monastic observance of Lent in 2019, that is, not much can be done during the day, and you should eat food only once a day, then before going to bed in the evening. The only exception is on weekends; in addition to the evening meal, it is also allowed to eat after waking up in the morning.

Some restrictions, in addition to when to eat, also apply to eating hot food. Only on Tuesday and Thursday you can eat non-cold food. On Monday, Wednesday and Friday it’s the other way around. For the laity, the rules and recommendations are slightly different; they are allowed to eat small portions several times a day.

Only two weeks of the entire Lent are considered the strictest, these are the first and last 7 days.

Allowed foods during Lent

In order to have a balanced diet during Lent and not have to constantly feel hungry, you should draw up a nutrition plan in advance and stick to it. This way you can cook varied foods and eat with pleasure.

Bread can be eaten both black and cereal;
all types of cereals;
vegetables in any form, they can be fresh, pickled, lightly salted or salted;
berry and fruit jam;
mushrooms;
legumes;
dried fruits, honey and nuts;
fruits;
fish is allowed only twice during the entire period of fasting, these days are the feast of the Annunciation and Palm Resurrection.

Meal plan for dry days

Basically, the days of Lent are dry eating. During this period, you should eat food that has not been cooked over fire. It is allowed to eat on such days:

Lenten bread;
honey;
water;
vegetables and fruits in fresh;
dried fruits;
greenery;
nuts;
It is allowed to eat cereals that are prepared cold, that is, cereals are infused in water.

Menu on raw food days:

1. Vegetable or fruit salads with nuts, honey or lemon juice without oil (sunflower oil is allowed to be eaten on certain days).
2. Cold porridge.
3. Bars made from ground nuts, dried fruits, honey and bran.
4. Gazpacho or okroshka without eggs, meat and sour cream.
5. Kissel from ground mixture flaxseeds and sesame seeds, which are not boiled over fire, but are poured with boiling water or cold water.
6. Tea and instant coffee.

Meal plan for the first and last week of Lent

As has already been described above, the first and last weeks of Lent are considered the strictest. These days in terms of nutrition are subject to adjustment with the Church Charter with special care.

1 week of fasting:

Monday, you should completely abstain from eating. Allowed to drink water;
Tuesday, in addition to water, eating bread is not prohibited;
Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday – days of dry eating;
Sunday is the lightest day during Lent. It is allowed to eat hot lean food and add vegetable oil to it. You are also allowed to drink some real red wine that does not contain alcohol.

Holy Week:

Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday – dry eating;
Friday – complete abstinence from food, only water;
Saturday – dry eating after the 1st star.

Menu of Lenten dishes

Options Lenten dishes there are a lot of them on the Internet, so the question of what you can eat every day during Lent 2019 should not arise. The simplest thing you can prepare is salads, just mix the vegetables you like with lemon juice, for example or soy sauce.

It is also possible to prepare porridge, just pour boiling water or cold water over the cereal and let it brew. Diversify these dishes with fruits.

When it comes to soups, give preference to those that cook quickly and are not subject to heat treatment, such as tomato soups and vegetable okroshka.

Be sure to drink a lot of water, you can add tea to your diet, only tea that does not require boiling.

I decided to write an article about what you can eat during Lent, what dishes you can prepare for the Lenten table.

After all, you want to eat tasty, varied, healthy and not boring, so that you don’t eat the same thing every day, right?

I want to offer you some delicious ideas, how to feed yourself and your family during the fasting period.

From this article you will learn:

What can you eat during Lent - menu for Lenten nutrition

So, many people know that fasting can be strict and not strict.

Moreover, during the same fast there are certain differences in daily nutrition.

Accordingly, the dishes that are consumed are different.

Strict fasting and non-strict fasting - what are their differences?

All posts vary in their degree of severity.

• Strict post:

During strict fasting, only plant food(vegetables, fruits, cereals), and all animal products are completely excluded. Food can be thermally processed or raw (these are days of dry eating).

• Less strict post:

when vegetable oil is allowed in plant-based dishes on some days.

• Not a strict post:

on these days fish and vegetable oil are allowed. Otherwise, all food is plant-based; meat, milk and eggs are not consumed at all.

Lent is considered the strictest. The rest are less strict.

What can you cook during Lent?

Many people think that fasting means only carrot cutlets, sauerkraut and “empty” rice... But, in fact, everything is not so scary at all, friends!

How do you like lasagna, spaghetti, pizza, various pancakes, dumplings, pancakes, pies and pies? It is not necessary to cook with white wheat flour if we do not want to gain weight! Can be prepared from buckwheat, corn, oatmeal, pea, etc.

How about various delicious sandwiches with hearty pates, vegetable and mushroom caviar, jelly, mushroom aspic, sweet porridges, dumplings with different fillings and “lazy” dumplings (gnocchi, dumplings, dumplings), julienne, various salads with such a satisfying composition, that they can be called the main course and dumplings?

Borscht, cabbage soup, soups, dishes made from mushrooms and nuts, and even “scrambled eggs” without eggs!

And how many sweets you can prepare, it’s completely incomprehensible!

And sweets, and kozinaki, and pies, and cookies, and even cakes with cream!

Including cakes without flour, without eggs and without sugar, this is already “aerobatics”, but you can also learn this!

And this is not a complete list of those dishes that are called lean...

And if fish is allowed, then it’s generally a holiday: fish soup, cutlets, meatballs with rice, fish pastes (pates), steamed fish, fried, grilled and oven-baked.

With vegetables, stuffed, stewed with mushrooms and onions, various fillings with fish for pies and pancakes... You can’t list it all!

What products can be used in preparing Lenten dishes?

• Cereals:

millet, wheat, pearl barley, barley, rice of all varieties, . Also buckwheat, bulgur, couscous, spelt, corn grits. As well as oatmeal and cereals from several types of grains.

• We prepare from them:

porridge, add to vegetable dishes, make cutlets, zrazy, fillings for pies and pies, prepare cereal soups and various casseroles.

From buckwheat, oat, rice, barley, corn flour, rye flour We use spelled flour to prepare our pastries and bread.

• Vegetables - absolutely everything

We prepare from them:

soups, vegetable stews, vegetable purees, puree soups, various fillings, vegetable sauces and cutlets.

We add them to pates, make salads from raw and boiled vegetables, casseroles, stew, bake, boil, fry, steam them.

We add cereals, mushrooms to them, water them with all kinds of delicious sauces and eat it just like that, cut into pieces.

Berries, fruits and dried fruits - absolutely everything

We prepare from them:

fruit purees, pastilles, compotes, fruit drinks, jelly, jams and confitures for tea. We also swirl freshly squeezed juices, add them to baked goods, prepare fillings for pancakes and pies, and add them to porridge. We eat it just like that, whole or cut into beautiful pieces.

• Greens - any

We prepare from it:

“green” salads, add to smoothies, cut boiled and raw vegetables into salads, generously sprinkle on your prepared dishes, make “green” fillings for your pancakes and pies.

• Legumes:

peas, beans of all kinds, beans, chickpeas, mung beans, lentils.

• From legumes we prepare:

soups, puree soups, add to salads, boil and puree, add to vegetable stews, prepare bean pastes, fillings, etc.

• Nuts – all the ones you like

We prepare from nuts: nut sauces (sweet and salty), walnut muffins, nut cutlets, make kozinaki and halva, prepare delicious nut milk, add to pates and fillings, sprinkle chopped nuts on your porridge and add to any other dishes and baked goods.

We make cheese from nuts. We prepare nut butters and nut urbechi. We gnaw just like that

• Seeds:

sunflower, sesame, flax, poppy seeds, chia seeds, hemp seeds.

We prepare from them:

We add it to baked goods, make kozinaki, sauces for dishes (sweet and salty), sprinkle our porridge with crushed seeds and add it to other dishes.

We prepare vegetable milk (sweet and unsweetened), urbechi from seeds, cheese from seeds, tahini (tahini, tahini) from sesame seeds and pasta mix for sandwiches from various seeds.

• Mushrooms - absolutely everything

We fry them, stew them, bake them, grill them, and steam them.

We cook them with various fillings, make pates out of them, cook julienne, add them to vegetable dishes, soups, prepare mushroom soups, mushroom fillings, add them to porridges, and salads.

• Vegetable oil - any you want

For salads, cold dishes and snacks, and in ready-made dishes, it is best to use first cold-pressed vegetable oils. Their taste and aroma are simply divine!

Choose the ones you like: olive, flaxseed, camelina, and hemp oil grape seeds and walnut and sesame oil.

As well as mustard oil, coconut oil, rice oil, sunflower oil and pumpkin seed oil.

For frying, boiling and stewing, 100% and refined oils are suitable, they are odorless and can be used for cooking, as well as coconut oil.

Where to get protein in a lean diet?

Mushrooms are our “meat” for the period lean nutrition. This also includes legumes, nuts, greens and seeds.

All these products are very nutritious, contain large amounts of protein, healthy fats(nuts and seeds), as well as vitamins and minerals.

During fasting, all these products are MANDATORY in daily diet. In this case, you will not have any “protein fasting”.

What kind of porridges are prepared during Lent?

Our Russian porridge is not just food, it is a whole “philosophy”! We are, of course, not talking about quick, instant porridges that you “poured and ate right away.”

Although, this is also an option: simple cereals or a mixture of cereals, doused with boiling water or vegetable milk, and with the addition of berries, nuts, fruits and seeds - what’s not a hearty, tasty breakfast?

And porridge with vegetables and mushrooms is not a wonderful and satisfying dish for lunch?

The main idea here is this: porridge is never NOT tasty. The porridge just needs to be cooked correctly.

Here's an example: pearl barley. Do not love? You just don’t know how to cook it!…

Here you need to know the secret of delicious pearl barley. Try this: rinse it, fill it enough big amount boiling water, wrap it in a warm blanket and let it brew all night, 8–10 hours. If all the water is not absorbed, then drain it, add a small amount of water again and cook for 10 minutes.

Fry separately the onion, cut into beautiful rings and grated potatoes, add spices and mix with the prepared pearl barley.

If you want, you can add mushrooms too.

No one will refuse such porridge!

It’s a similar story with buckwheat porridge. Do you like it with milk? Please: grind the seeds or nuts with water in a blender, strain, and you will have the healthiest milk in the world! Any porridge is good with vegetable milk, and buckwheat is especially good. Make the porridge sweet or salty as you wish.

An excellent option for buckwheat porridge is buckwheat with onions, carrots and other fried vegetables.

Buckwheat with mushrooms and onions - who can refuse it, right?

Very tasty buns, pancakes are prepared from buckwheat flour, and “grechaniky” are fried.

In stores, look for spaghetti or any other pasta from buckwheat flour. It's very tasty and unusual!

Prepare sweet pilaf from rice: add steamed raisins, nuts, seeds, any fresh berries or fruit, top with sweet nut sauce or honey. This is delicious!

What about rice with mushrooms and vegetables? Why not pilaf? A very tasty and satisfying dish, you won’t even notice the absence of meat...

You can serve any porridge with sauce that you prepare yourself. It’s as easy as shelling pears to make a sauce from the same seeds or nuts. You can make sauce from vegetables, tomato sauce, sweet fruit and berry sauce.

Be sure to add spices to any porridge. This will enrich the taste of your cereals, give them an incredible aroma and make them more healthy and easily digestible.

Dried fruits for fasting

Of course, dried fruits are eaten during Lent.

The amount of vitamins in them, of course, decreases, but the amount of sugar increases.

But, despite this, the benefits of dried fruits are still beyond any doubt, because all trace elements are stored there in the necessary and sufficient quantities.

They are available for sale, they are not so expensive in price, especially since you can’t eat too many of them. Of course, it is better to buy those that have not been processed, that have been dried and stored without being subjected to “chemical influence.”

They are not as beautiful and glossy as those that were first filled with sugar syrup and dried under high temperature, and then they are also treated with sulfur dioxide, etc., but you know 100% that you are not harming yourself by consuming them.

You can eat dried fruits just like that, say, with tea. To do this, it is better to first soak them in water. They will acquire juiciness and softness, and will look like fresh ones.

You can make a delicious dessert treat from any dried fruit.

Particularly good in this dessert will be: figs, cherries, large prunes.

You need juice from red berries. If it’s not the season, then feel free to take your preparations off the shelves and get started! Add the following spices to the juice: vanilla, cinnamon, cloves, cardamom, nutmeg, black pepper and sugar. Add dried fruits cut into large pieces, mix and boil it all over very low heat: first without a lid for 50-60 minutes, then under the lid for another 40 minutes. Watch, it may take less time. The main thing is that the syrup becomes thick.

This dessert can be served with tea, served with porridge, or simply cracked with a spoon...

The use of dried fruits is not limited to this.

Many amazing things are done with dried fruits: for example, they are added to the filling for stuffing tomatoes, sweet bell peppers and eggplant. They are stewed with red beans and fried onions.

It turns out unusual, original and piquant.

How to cook mushrooms during Lent?

If we do not take into account the “newfangled” soybeans, then mushrooms are exactly the “meat” that will be on our table during the entire Lent.

Mushroom soup, potatoes with mushrooms and onions, vegetable stew with mushrooms, mushroom julienne, mushroom caviar, potato cutlets stuffed with mushrooms, with mushroom sauce (zrazy), mushroom risotto and dumplings with mushrooms...

All this, of course, can be easily prepared from dried or frozen mushrooms. Not only boring champignons and oyster mushrooms are suitable. Honey mushrooms, chanterelles, boletuses, porcini mushrooms – anything goes!

Recently, you can also find Japanese shiitake mushrooms. He is the “world champion” in wrestling cancer diseases. In addition, they are incredibly tasty, the Japanese know a lot about them!

And the huge, simply gigantic portobello mushrooms? It tastes like pure chicken! And they are quite often sold in regular supermarkets, check them out!

Mushrooms have a simply fantastic variety, and this is a great reason for daily “mushroom experiments” in order to cook with mushrooms often, cook a lot and taste delicious.

Here are some options for you:

1. Wild mushrooms can be used to make sandwiches with tapenade: grind the capers with olive oil, add lemon juice, season with salt and pepper. The result is a paste that is perfectly spread on toasted slices of bread, and between two slices are slices of mushrooms fried until crisp.
2. And from the good old oyster mushrooms a salad “emerges” by itself: mushrooms, apples, celery stalks, lettuce and large dark grapes fried until beautifully golden brown. Everything is topped with a dressing of lemon juice with crushed pine nuts, salt, pepper and a little cinnamon. Mmm…
3. And champignons fried with soy sauce, honey, sesame seeds and green onions? Served hot right away, they are incredible!

How to eat nuts and seeds during fasting?

Nuts play a fairly important role in our lean diet.

You can not only sprinkle them on cakes and add them to beetroot and garlic salad...

During Lent, when almost every protein counts, nuts are simply irreplaceable!

If the nuts are fresh, then consider it “almost a panacea” in the autumn-winter period, when all sorts of colds and ARVI bother us.

It’s just so nice to chew nuts and make nut butters from them. It doesn’t have to be peanuts; very tasty pastes can be made from absolutely any nut! It’s even better to make it from nuts, and from raw ones. Still, peanut paste- an ambiguous product...

Although, if you really want to, then you can, just not a lot. It can be prepared very easily at home: fry peeled peanuts in the oven, grind them in a meat grinder twice, add salt and water to the desired consistency.

Or blend everything at once in a blender - peanuts + salt + water.

Use the same principle to make raw nut paste:

• Do you want something sweet? No problem: add honey and cinnamon.
• Do you want something unusual? Please: add pepper, just a little honey and spices. The nut butter has a very original taste!
• Want something more filling? Then combine lightly roasted nuts in a blender (perfect for this snack walnuts, but you can use any, be guided by your taste), fried onions, salt, pepper and water. Very, very tasty, filling and aromatic snack! It smells so good that you immediately need to spread it on your own bread and eat it before your family “grinds it”, otherwise you won’t get it, believe me!
• If you want to make something “more substantial” for a snack, you can add boiled beans and a little garlic to this recipe. Again: blend everything in a blender with adding water to the desired paste-like consistency.
• You can do the same with seeds - prepare a paste and spread it every morning thin layer for yourself a piece of bread, crispy toast, cookies (can be sweet or salty) or whole grain bread. Nourishing, tasty, healthy, what more do you need, right?

Make sweet pastes, make savory ones, whatever you want!

Who said tahini has to be salty?

Aren't you afraid of experiments? Then prepare sweet tahini: sesame seeds (can be raw, or fried in a dry frying pan, with fried seeds it turns out much more fragrant) + honey + cinnamon + salt.

This is such an awesome thing, friends! To say that it’s delicious is to say nothing! Therefore, as soon as you prepare it, grab yourself a spoonful of bread, and only then call your family, although you won’t need to call them, I’m sure: the aroma of fried sesame seeds is something that they will come running to, believe me!

Here's another very, very original idea for a snack: raw almonds, lemon juice, a little honey, fresh basil leaves, salt, a little garlic and ginger (proportions are arbitrary, to your taste), grind through a meat grinder or in a blender, adding enough water to get a paste of the consistency you need.

Then you take apples, carrots, celery stalks, cucumbers and whatever else you can think of, cut them into pieces and eat them, dipping them in the prepared sauce.

Very tasty, unusual, nutritious and mega-healthy snack! Be sure to cook it, you will definitely like it!

I really love preparing various pastes and pates from seeds and nuts, it’s so helpful when you don’t have time, but you need to eat something quickly, preferably healthy!

And don’t be afraid of the calorie content, even if you want, you won’t be able to eat a lot, it’s very filling!

Such pastes can not only be spread on bread, they can be used as fillings, added to your own porridge, and to spaghetti - instead of sauce.

You need to store nut or seed butter in the refrigerator.

Lenten first courses

Friends, try this and buckwheat soup will become your “favorite” for the Lenten period, honestly!

What do you think of the idea of ​​kharcho soup, gazpacho, pickle soup? You can continue the list. All this can be prepared without meat, and it’s all quite tasty and nutritious!

This, friends, is what I wanted to tell you today. I really hope that you will take some of the ideas for yourself and apply them.

If you liked the ideas from this article, then share with your friends on social media. networks, friends and co-workers at work.

Write in the comments what you can eat during Lent, your ideas for Lenten nutrition. What are you cooking? It will be very interesting for me, I'm always looking for something new and cool.

And other readers will also be interested to know, write!

See you later, my dears!

Alena Yasneva was with you, Health and Delicious Fasting to all!

On the picture: vegetable salads V Lenten menu- it’s not only tasty, but also healthy

What foods will help maintain health during fasting and how not to gain weight during fasting?

What can't you eat during Lent?

According to Orthodox traditions, during Lent it is forbidden to eat any products of animal origin.

The large list of products includes: meat, poultry, fish, milk and dairy products (sour cream, cottage cheese, kefir, cheese, butter, yogurt, etc.), as well as eggs.

Regarding seafood (shrimp, mussels, squid, oysters, etc.), various denominations have not come to a common agreement. Thus, according to the Greek statute, seafood is equated to mushrooms, since they have plant and animal cells. And you can eat seafood occasionally.

In the photo: Greek regulations equate seafood to mushrooms, so you can occasionally eat seafood

Vegetable oil (sunflower and olive) is allowed only on Saturday, Sunday and holidays.

You should also exclude mayonnaise, beloved by many, during fasting.

You cannot drink any alcoholic beverages during fasting.

You should also exclude sweet foods from your diet. White bread, a variety of baked goods made from wheat flour and sweets.

What can you eat during Lent?

You can eat any products of plant origin: potatoes, cabbage, pumpkin, carrots, cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers, turnips, radishes, beans, mushrooms, nuts, various berries, fruits and dried fruits.

In the photo: salad from sauerkraut, bell pepper, onions and cranberries

In our stores you can also find “Lenten Menu” brands, which were developed with the participation and blessing of the Danilov Patriarchal Monastery.

Not everyone can withstand dietary restrictions throughout the entire period of fasting, especially if you decide to fast for the first time.

Doctors pay attention to this fact: during Lent, some may... gain weight.

It would seem: you deliberately refuse meat and other animal products, but you gain several kg in weight per month.

Reasons for gaining weight during fasting

1. Fast carbohydrates

Reason for fullness in fasting: large number fast carbohydrates.

You feel hungry, which is quite natural, and drink tea with sugar and bagels, eat instant vegetable soups, snack on white bread with homemade jam. All this leads to the release of insulin, and this hormone is known to synthesize fat and increase appetite.

You feel hungry, consume fast carbohydrates, are hungry again and eat again. Eventually - excess weight.

2. Don't forget to have breakfast

Be sure to have breakfast. Brew yourself in the morning oatmeal, eat buckwheat, millet, bulgur, egg, couscous, spelt and polenta.

In the photo: what could be better than tasty and boiled buckwheat porridge?

Try making a salad with quinoa - a very fashionable plant today that comes from South America. The Incas called it "golden grain."

Quinoa contains a lot of protein and about 20 amino acids. This plant also contains a lot important microelements: iron, calcium and phosphorus.

Pictured: quinoa and vegetable salad

Even chefs of fashionable restaurants prepare warm vegetable salads and soups with quinoa.

Remember that at breakfast you should eat a third of the daily value.

If you didn't have time to have breakfast, then at lunch and dinner you will eat much more than your body needs.

The norm of calorie consumption for women is no more than 1500 kilocalories, for men engaged in physical labor - 1900 kilocalories.

10 x weight (kg) + 6.25 x height (cm) – 5 x age (years) – 161.

3. Frequent snacking

Many people believe that when they feel hungry, they can snack on nuts and dried fruits. Yes, these products are very rich in various microelements, but they are also very high in calories. 100 g of nuts contain on average up to 600 kilocalories.

In the photo: the Lenten menu may include dried fruits and nuts. But remember that this is a high-calorie food, so in order not to gain excess weight, you should not eat them daily

The same applies to oil. Do not generously pour vegetable (olive) oil onto all dishes. As doctors note, the rate of oil consumption is no more than 1 tablespoon per day.

4. Food at night

Have dinner at least 4 hours before bedtime. Salad with vegetables and herbs, durum wheat pasta with vegetables, fish or seafood on non-strict fasting days, beets, cereal porridge with pumpkin - all this contributes to normal digestion.

And don’t forget about greens: parsley, dill, mint, green onions, arugula, pea pods, spinach help cleanse the body of toxins.

And the lack of fats and proteins can be compensated for with fish oil, which is now available in capsules. You can also buy it in pharmacies fish fat with wheat germ oil, sea buckthorn and rose hips.

In the photo: Omega-3 fish oil with wheat germ, sea buckthorn and rose hip oils