Everyone knows that our ancestors adhered to traditions and every fasting day was considered a joy. This time was special. Historically, fasting is a restriction of a religious person in something with the goal of repentance. Some Christians use the spring of soul metaphor. It characterizes the internal state of a person who has set a goal to sacrifice himself to God. The Lord set an example for believers when he spent 40 days in the wilderness and ate nothing. Spring in nature means awakening, a new life, and fasting is also a time for self-testing, self-improvement, and prayer. Some people can independently, without external help, look for flaws, shortcomings, correct them.
In Christianity, a special time is given for this, called fasting days. During periods of beef, active spiritual work is performed, passions are eradicated, the soul is purified. To do this, you must often go to the temple, pray in the morning and in the evening, do good deeds, give alms, visit the weak, prisoners, and learn humility.
What is a fasting day for?
In the practice of Christianity, there are 4 multi-day fasts (the Great takes place in the spring, Assumption and Petrov in the summer, Christmas in the winter) and separate fasting days - Wednesday and Friday. During long posts, the first and last weeks are the main ones. At this time, a person needs to be extremely attentive to himself and loved ones. Important for the fasting is the internal state, actions, actions, spoken words.
What should abstinence consist of?
Many mistakenly believe that you need to limit yourself only to food. Self-control is a very complex action that requires considerable effort. It is for tracking these changes that the Lord created the state in which a person abides. If a Christian fully complies with external conditions, but visits entertainment venues, watches entertainment programs, behaves inappropriately, this can be called an ordinary diet. In this case, the Lord will see guile, and there will be no spiritual development. It happens the other way around when a person consumes prohibited foods, but fasts in the shower. An example is a stomach or bowel disease when a strict diet is needed. This desire and perseverance will be appreciated from above.
What you can eat and what you can’t
So, now let's figure out what kind of food you can eat in fasting and which not. There is a simple rule about nutrition. It is allowed to eat foods of plant origin and it is forbidden to eat animal products.
Prohibited
What can not be used categorically:
- Meat, meat products, poultry.
- Fish (but on some days of fasting it is allowed).
- Eggs, as well as the products in which they are included.
- Dairy products, butter, dairy products, sour cream, cheeses.
Allowed
You can eat these products:
- Different vegetables, pickles.
- Fruits, dried fruits, nuts.
- Porridge on the water.
- Legumes, soy products.
- Mushrooms.
- Bread, lean pastries.
- Fish (only on permitted days).
During fasting, you need to diversify your diet to the maximum, since the body is used to proteins and fats. It is necessary to eat all plant products, for example, juices, soy products, sweets, chocolate. In addition to basic ingredients such as vegetables and fruits, a variety of modern products must be introduced.
Be sure to try eggplant, celery, spinach, broccoli, arugula, chickpeas (from the legume family). Ordinary vegetables from the garden can be prepared in a special way, experiment, add various greens and seasonings.
For any housewife, cooking a new dish is a special ritual during which a woman plunges into her element. To do this, you can create a personal diary and enter each recipe. Lenten days will brighten up communication with loved ones, as a joint meal brings together. Ways to prepare dishes that really turned out great, try to recommend to your friends, share experiences. It is important to remember that the body must be supported by those products, which include protein and glucose, fats.
Every day lean recipes
The most common ingredients in a lean kitchen are vegetables, they are suitable for both side dishes and gourmet dishes. There are a lot of recipes. Suppose, from ordinary potatoes it is easy to make excellent cutlets, as well as salad or casserole. From boiled vegetables - vinaigrette.
Recently it has become fashionable to make mashed soups. They are very nutritious, quickly and thoroughly absorbed. This method of cooking will appeal to young children, people of advanced age. The use of this product is not difficult. The recipe is very simple, because all the selected ingredients must first be boiled, and then chopped with a blender. Next, the resulting mixture is added to the broth.
Depending on the components, the calorie and nutritional value of the dish may vary. In some countries, this is the most common cooking method. Here is a recipe for such a soup.
Mashed potato and white bread soup
To make the dish rich in vitamins and minerals, take parsley, celery and carrots, onions. We rinse them under running water, clean, cut into small pieces so that the cooking process takes less time. We put on the stove and cook for 30 minutes over medium heat. Now we express the broth in a separate container and set it aside.
So, the turn came to the potato. We clean it, wash it, divide each tuber into 4 parts, and lower it into a decoction. We do the same with white bread. Yes, it needs to be cut and boiled with potatoes.
Then we take some wheat flour. Mix it with vegetable oil and place in a pan with potatoes and bread. Cook until tender, then decant the broth. You can use a colander to separate the potatoes and bread from the broth.
The cooking process is drawing to a close. We grind all the ingredients that were previously cooked in a blender and send it back to our broth. The highlight of the soup will be croutons-croutons, which must be fried in advance in a pan with butter. If the dish turned out to be thick, it is necessary to dilute it with boiled water.
Variety of diet
What else can you eat in fasting, except for fruits and vegetables? Of course, porridge cooked on water. Cereals are very beneficial. In the first place is buckwheat, rich in vitamins and minerals that can be absorbed by the body in the shortest possible time. It can be cooked with fried onions, mushrooms, broccoli, spinach. The list of cereals is huge, we list some of them:
- rice;
- pearl barley;
- millet;
- wheat;
- barley;
- corn;
- semolina.
Also, cereals can be combined, for example, rice and millet. To make the taste not so fresh, add margarine or spread. In the morning, you can eat cornflakes or chocolate balls with honey and juice. Muesli during fasting days will be an excellent reinforcement during working days. The same can be said about dried fruits, which serve as a snack. In supermarkets, at any time of the year, a lot of frozen vegetable mixtures, fruits, berries are sold. Such products will make an excellent filling for lean pies, pancakes, dumplings.
Homemade pickles and marinades, compotes and preserves will help diversify the diet. Sauerkraut or lecho will be a great addition to pasta, potatoes or Greek. Today in stores you can find many products, for example, mayonnaise, cookies, waffles, on which there is an inscription "lean".
Fasting Tips
In modern Orthodox practice, many priests recommend that parishioners consult with their doctor before fasting . Here are a few medical tips that will be helpful. For digestion in the first couple of days it is better not to use chips, crackers, sweet nuts, carbonated drinks, strong coffee, tea. Also in recent days, the Orthodox can not abruptly switch to permitted products. Do not pounce on eggs, cakes and smoked meats. It must be remembered that there is such a sin as gluttony. Sometimes we don’t notice how we get pleasure from eating food, we eat with greed even during beef. It is worth controlling your sensations.
Lenten days. Wednesday and friday
It is known that in each calendar circle the time of beef falls on different dates. The fasting days of 2016 are a special time for the Orthodox. We also noted that Wednesday and Friday throughout the year are equally important in this regard. But there are also weeks without begging, for example, before Pancake Week, Pancake Week itself, Trinity, Bright, Christmas time. You can always look at the calendar of fasting days to get the necessary information.
Wednesday became lent in connection with the memory that Judas betrayed Christ on the eve of Passover. With their real sins, people betray the Savior who suffered for us. A fasting Christian remembers this event and laments. To realize the seriousness of the historical date, a fasting day is observed almost every week. Friday is the fasting day when Christ died for the sins of the world. He was publicly crucified on the cross as a robber. So that believers do not forget about the great event, on Friday it is necessary to especially refrain mentally and bodily. Orthodox fasting days are called upon to take care of the spirituality of believers.
Important goal
Skillfully and wisely built posts and fasting days. They alternate with idle time. This sequence calls us to renew our souls, to strive for repentance, compassion, and mercy. Then again allowed to have fun and rejoice. It was such a way of life that helped our ancestors to remain in good mood, to be healthy mentally and bodily. Despite the limitations and abandonment of familiar affairs, the result will not be long in coming. Harmony is always and in everything - the basis of a correct lifestyle. All Orthodox on a fasting day - the best wishes, strength, patience, joy.