The Great Lent of 2014 has already ended. It consisted of 42 days as a memory of Jesus fasting in the wilderness for 40 days. These days, all believers abandoned eggs, meat, milk and other products of animal origin. The fast, which began on March 3, ended on April 19, and the next day, April 20, all Orthodox people celebrated Holy Easter. If this year you for some reason did not manage to be restrained in food these days, but for the future you want to know how to eat fast, this article is for you. Time flies quickly, we do not have time to notice how 2015 will come, and once again the opportunity will appear to cleanse the soul and body. In the coming year, Lent will last from February 23 to April 11 and end on April 12 with Easter. Let's start preparing for it today and right now we will find out how to eat in fasting.
Daily Nutrition
According to the church charter, on days of abstinence it is completely forbidden to eat “fast-food” products: eggs, meat, cheese, milk, butter, cottage cheese, sour cream. Those observing strict fasting also refuse fish. The first day of fasting is called Clean Monday - on this day you can’t eat anything at all. It is forbidden to eat on Good Friday - the penultimate day of fasting. At all other times, it is allowed to eat, but according to certain rules. On Monday, Wednesday and Friday you can eat only once a day (in the evening) and only raw cold food: fruits, bread, vegetables. This is called dry-eating. On Tuesday and Thursday it is allowed to eat boiled hot food, but without oil and also only once a day (in the evening).
On Saturday and Sunday it is allowed to use grape wine and vegetable oil in cooking. But on Saturday of Holy Week (the last day of fasting, it is also called Great Saturday), this rule does not apply: oil should not be used. And you can eat twice a day - day and evening. It is worth saying that on Great Saturday, many believers prefer to completely refuse food.
Some people from the menu on Lent completely exclude fish. In fact, you can eat it, but only on the feast of the Annunciation of the Virgin and Palm Sunday - the day Jesus entered Jerusalem. And on Lazarev Saturday, it is allowed to eat caviar.
Holy Week
This is the name of the last six days of fasting, dedicated to the remembrance of the Way of the Cross of Jesus to Calvary, as well as the Resurrection. At this time, you need to be even more restrained in food, and therefore believers completely switch to dry eating. It should be noted that during Lent it is necessary to limit oneself not only in food, but also in emotions. You need to get out of the stream of everyday fuss, read the Gospel, confess, attend a liturgy. Before Holy Week, one should reconcile with those offended and visit relatives.
What to eat in fasting? Menu
Proper nutrition is the foundation of health. The human diet should be rich in fats, proteins, carbohydrates, trace elements, vitamins and be diverse. The menu during Lent should meet all of the above requirements. But how to achieve this? What foods can help balance your diet? We’ll talk about this a little lower, and now we’ll talk about how to eat during Lent so as not to harm yourself, because the most important task of abstinence is to gain physical and spiritual health.
So, for a start, balance your strength. If you do not consider yourself to be deeply religious people, it is not necessary to strictly observe the requirements regarding the number of meals per day. Those who wish to simply cleanse their body should continue to eat regularly, four to five times a day. Frequent meals will make it easier to transfer a change in diet. The total calorie content of the products that make up the daily Lenten menu should not change in comparison with the energy value of dishes consumed on ordinary days. The number of calories received per day should vary between 1600-2000. Do not forget to consume liquid - one and a half to two liters daily. Useful will be green tea, freshly squeezed juices, mineral still water.
The balance of fats, carbohydrates, proteins
During fasting, the intake of carbohydrates inevitably increases, and, as you know, their excess is one of the main causes of metabolic disorders, which entails the development of a number of diseases, including diabetes mellitus, obesity. In addition, with high-carbohydrate nutrition, the body's susceptibility to allergens and infectious pathologies increases. That is why it is so important to know how to eat in a fasting.
You should not forget about the need to include in your diet foods rich in proteins and fats, but only of plant origin. You can replenish the menu with proteins due to legumes, peas, buckwheat, soy, seitan, mung, chickpeas. Fats are found in pumpkin and sunflower seeds, nuts, and all types of oils: sesame, cedar, flaxseed, and pumpkin. On days of abstinence, the consumption of alkaline food increases. Want to know how to eat during fasting in order to maintain the acid-base balance in optimal condition? Everything is simple: you need to eat more various pickles, salty, jelly.
Meat substitute
And meat lovers what to eat in the post? The menu can be supplemented with soy products, because they are superior to meat products by forty percent in protein content. Soybean oil is a good source of vitamins P, PP, B1, B2, A, lecithin, which lowers cholesterol in the blood and nourishes nerve tissues. It would seem that everything is fine - a wonderful substitute for meat has been found, but our task is to tell you how to eat properly in fasting, which means that you can’t but say that soy in large quantities is very harmful. Vegetable protein is absorbed much worse by the body, so you should not get involved in it much. And one more thing: when buying soy products, carefully study etiquette - many products are made from genetically modified products.
You can make up for the lack of meat by eating nuts. They contain up to fifteen percent of the protein, as well as eight of the ten essential amino acids. It is enough to eat ten to twenty nuts a day - do not forget that they are very high-calorie (in one hundred grams seven hundred kilocalories).
What you can eat in fasting to strengthen strength
Vitamin B12 plays a crucial role in strengthening immunity. As you know, most of it is found in calf and beef liver, however, such products are prohibited in fasting. Nevertheless, there is a way out: you can also get cyanocobalamin from sprouted wheat, greens. The body needs iron for normal operation, we all know that its main sources are fish and meat, but not everyone is aware that it is also found in cereals, fruits, vegetables. Vitamin A can also be found in fruits and orange and red vegetables, and it is noteworthy that it is absorbed best if consumed foods have been pre-cooked.
Why bother with fasting?
Abstinence from heavy food of animal origin allows you to cleanse many organs and systems (lungs, liver, blood, kidneys), remove excess fluid from cells, which helps to renew the body, reduce blood cholesterol levels and thereby strengthen the walls of blood vessels. Vegetables and fruits contain many healthy fibers, so switching to plant foods helps normalize the intestinal microflora. As a rule, during fasting people do not purchase products containing flavor enhancers, preservatives, flavorings, which, of course, also has a positive effect on health.
Can everyone fast?
Of course, the decision to fast is commendable, but priests and doctors warn that not everyone is allowed to abstain from certain foods. For some people, rejection of animal products for age or medical reasons is strictly contraindicated. Therefore, before you think about how to eat fast, go to a specialist consultation and find out if you can fast at all. For example, children under seven years of age and adolescent girls should not be limited in products of animal origin during puberty - they need to fully eat for development and growth. It is also forbidden to exclude meat and fish from the diet for older people. Moreover, they should increase the amount of protein on the menu, because in old age the reproduction of cells is much slower, and protein is required to maintain their viability in a much larger volume.
Fasting is not harmful
In addition to these categories of people, pregnant and lactating women, people with gastrointestinal diseases (ulcers, cholecystitis, enteritis, gastritis, pancreatitis), diabetes mellitus, and gout should be released from fasting. Also, it is impossible to fast emaciated citizens who have only recovered from a disease or underwent surgery, since they have weakened immunity. It is allowed not to refrain from animal food to people engaged in hard physical labor, and travelers on the road. If you have contraindications for fasting, but still want to keep it, coordinate the diet with the doctor, specifying the necessary concessions. For example, you can not exclude cottage cheese and eggs from the menu as products that contain complete proteins.