Easter. Information project. What dishes can you cook and eat during Lent? Lenten menu

Orthodox church calendar of fasts and meals for 2019 with an indication and brief description of multi-day and one-day fasts and continuous weeks.

Church Orthodox calendar of fasts and meals for 2019

Fasting is not in the belly, but in the spirit
Popular proverb

Nothing in life comes without difficulty. And in order to celebrate the holiday, you need to prepare for it.
In the Russian Orthodox Church there are four multi-day fasts, fasting on Wednesday and Friday throughout the year (except for a few weeks), and three one-day fasts.

In the first four days of the first week of Great Lent (from Monday to Thursday), the Great (Repentant) Canon, the work of the brilliant Byzantine hymnographer St. Andrew of Crete (8th century), is read during the evening service.

ATTENTION! Below you will find information about dry eating, food without oil and days of complete abstinence from food. All this is a long-standing monastic tradition, which even in monasteries cannot always be observed in our time. Such strictness of fasting is not for the laity, and the usual practice is abstaining from eggs, dairy and meat foods during fasting and during strict fasting also abstaining from fish. For all possible questions and about your individual measure of fasting, you need to consult your confessor.

Dates are indicated according to the new style.

Calendar of fasts and meals for 2019

in 2019

The Savior himself was led by spirit into the desert, was tempted by the devil for forty days and did not eat anything during these days. The Savior began the work of our salvation by fasting. Great Lent is a fast in honor of the Savior Himself, and the last passionate week of this forty-eight-day fast is established in honor of the memory of the last days of earthly life, the suffering and death of Jesus Christ.
Fasting is observed with particular strictness during the first and passionate weeks.
On Clean Monday, complete abstinence from food is accepted. The rest of the time: Monday, Wednesday, Friday - dry food (water, bread, fruits, vegetables, compotes); Tuesday, Thursday – hot food without oil; Saturday, Sunday – food with vegetable oil.
Fish is allowed on the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary and on Palm Sunday. Fish caviar is allowed on Lazarus Saturday. On Good Friday you cannot eat food until the shroud is taken out.

in 2019

On Monday of the Week of All Saints, the Fast of the Holy Apostles begins, established before the Feast of the Apostles Peter and Paul. This post is called summer. The continuation of fasting varies depending on how early or late Easter occurs.
It always starts on All Saints Monday and ends on July 12th. The longest Petrov fast consists of six weeks, and the shortest one is a week and a day. This fast was established in honor of the Holy Apostles, who, through fasting and prayer, prepared for the worldwide preaching of the Gospel and prepared their successors in the work of saving service.
Strict fasting (dry eating) on ​​Wednesday and Friday. On Monday you can have hot food without oil. On other days - fish, mushrooms, cereals with vegetable oil.

in 2019

From August 14 to August 27, 2019.
A month after the Apostolic Fast, the multi-day Dormition Fast begins. It lasts two weeks - from August 14 to 27. With this fast, the Church calls us to imitate the Mother of God, who, before her resettlement to heaven, constantly remained in fasting and prayer.
Monday, Wednesday, Friday – dry eating. Tuesday, Thursday - hot food without oil. On Saturday and Sunday, food with vegetable oil is allowed.
On the day of the Transfiguration of the Lord (August 19), fish is allowed. Fish day in Assumption, if it falls on Wednesday or Friday.

in 2019

Christmas (Filippov) fast. At the end of autumn, 40 days before the great feast of the Nativity of Christ, the Church calls us to winter fasting. It is called both Filippov, because it begins after the day dedicated to the memory of the Apostle Philip, and Rozhdestvensky, because it occurs before the feast of the Nativity of Christ.
This fast was established in order for us to offer a grateful sacrifice to the Lord for the collected earthly fruits and to prepare for a gracious union with the born Savior.
The charter about food coincides with the charter of Peter's Fast, until the day of St. Nicholas (December 19).
If the Feast of the Entry into the Temple of the Blessed Virgin Mary falls on Wednesday or Friday, then fish is allowed. After the day of remembrance of St. Nicholas and before the forefeast of Christmas, fish is allowed on Saturday and Sunday. On the eve of the feast, you cannot eat fish on all days; on Saturday and Sunday - food with oil.
On Christmas Eve you cannot eat food until the first star appears, after which it is customary to eat sochivo - wheat grains boiled in honey or boiled rice with raisins.

Solid weeks in 2019

Week– week from Monday to Sunday. These days there is no fasting on Wednesday and Friday.
There are five continuous weeks:
Christmastide– from January 7 to January 17,
Publican and Pharisee– 2 weeks before
Cheese (Maslenitsa)– week before (no meat)
Easter (Light)– week after Easter
- week after Trinity.

Fasting on Wednesday and Friday

Weekly fast days are Wednesday and Friday. On Wednesday, fasting was established in memory of the betrayal of Christ by Judas, on Friday - in memory of the suffering on the cross and death of the Savior. On these days of the week, the Holy Church prohibits the consumption of meat and dairy foods, and during the week of All Saints before the Nativity of Christ, one should also abstain from fish and vegetable oil. Only when the days of celebrated saints fall on Wednesday and Friday is vegetable oil allowed, and on the biggest holidays, such as Intercession, fish.
Those who are sick and engaged in hard work are allowed some relief, so that Christians have the strength to pray and do the necessary work, but eating fish on the wrong days, and especially the full permission of fasting, is rejected by the statute.

One-day posts

Epiphany Christmas Eve– January 18, on the eve of the Epiphany. On this day, Christians prepare for cleansing and consecration with holy water on the feast of Epiphany.
Beheading of John the Baptist- 11 September. This is the day of remembrance and death of the great prophet John.
Exaltation of the Holy Cross- September 27. The memory of the Savior's suffering on the cross for the salvation of the human race. This day is spent in prayer, fasting, and contrition for sins.
One-day posts– days of strict fasting (except Wednesday and Friday). Fish is prohibited, but food with vegetable oil is allowed.

Orthodox holidays. About meals on holidays

According to the Church Charter, there is no fasting on the holidays of the Nativity of Christ and Epiphany, which happened on Wednesday and Friday. On Christmas and Epiphany Eves and on the holidays of the Exaltation of the Cross of the Lord and the Beheading of John the Baptist, food with vegetable oil is allowed. On the feasts of the Presentation, Transfiguration of the Lord, Dormition, Nativity and Intercession of the Most Holy Theotokos, Her Entry into the Temple, the Nativity of John the Baptist, the Apostles Peter and Paul, John the Theologian, which occurred on Wednesday and Friday, as well as in the period from Easter to Trinity on Wednesday and Friday Fish allowed.

When marriage is not performed

On the eve of Wednesday and Friday of the whole year (Tuesday and Thursday), Sundays (Saturday), twelve days, temple and great holidays; in continuation of the posts: Veliky, Petrov, Uspensky, Rozhdestvensky; in continuation of Christmastide, on Meat Week, during Cheese Week (Maslenitsa) and on Cheese Week; during Easter (Bright) week and on the days of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross - September 27.

• You just read the article Church Orthodox calendar for 2019. If you want to know more about Orthodox posts, then pay attention to the article.

Text: Evgenia Bagma

Lent is a multi-day strict fast. But only those who have been fasting for more than a year, or church ministers, are able to observe all its instructions. What is strict fasting and is it obligatory to keep it?

The meaning and severity of fasting

Lent lasts 48 days, and believers must be prepared to observe this strict fast. However, its observance should not turn into self-torture, because its religious goal is self-restraint for the sake of obedience to the Church and fidelity to Christ. In this way, Orthodox fasters cultivate their willpower, deny themselves certain things, and thereby demonstrate loyalty to God and readiness for the trials that may befall them. The forces that are released during strict fasting (since a person spends less time at the table, visiting and having fun), an Orthodox Christian should spend on spiritual life, helping others. If a strict fast becomes unbearable for the fasting person, he feels unwell, and his body experiences stress, then the meaning of such fasting is lost.

During these 48 days, the severity of fasting on certain days may vary. So there are several degrees of strictness of fasting - from the easiest days to the most difficult. Maslenitsa is one of the easiest days - you can eat everything except meat products, i.e. and milk, and eggs and fish. A little more difficult - fish days. The next most difficult days are the days on which hot (boiled, cooked) food with vegetable oil is allowed, then - without oil. Finally, dry eating is a diet consisting of cold food without oil and cold drink. The strictest days are those on which you should completely abstain from food.

Who can observe strict fasting?

Strict fasting is difficult for an ordinary secular person, so usually only monks, church ministers, or experienced fasters can do it. If you decide to observe a strict fast, you should consult with your confessor, doctor, or independently determine the degree of strictness for yourself, depending on how you feel. If you are observing a strict fast for the first time, you should not immediately strictly follow its prescriptions and instructions; reduce the amount of animal products and vegetable oil gradually. Otherwise, days of strict fasting will negatively affect your health.

Sick people, elderly people and children, as well as pregnant women are usually exempt from strict fasting. Relaxations are also allowed for those who are on the move. Doctors do not recommend giving up fish to schoolchildren, students and those engaged in active mental activity.

Strict fasting is a difficult test for a modern person who is not accustomed to limiting himself in anything and who abuses animal food. Therefore, when starting days of strict fasting, you should listen to your body and sensations. Strict fasting should not become stressful, but, on the contrary, bring you benefits and cleansing - both physical and spiritual.

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 would like to offer you some delicious ideas on 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 foods (vegetables, fruits, cereals) are allowed, and all products of animal origin 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.

We prepare our own baked goods and bread from buckwheat, oatmeal, rice, barley, corn flour, rye flour, and spelled flour.

• 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 and mushrooms to them, pour all sorts of delicious sauces over them and eat them 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 twist 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

From nuts we prepare: nut sauces (sweet and salty), nut muffins, nut cutlets, make kozinaki and halva, prepare delicious nut milk, add to pates and fillings, sprinkle our porridge with chopped nuts 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 crushed seeds on our porridges and add to other dishes.

We prepare plant-based milk (sweet and unsweetened), urbechi from seeds, cheese from seeds, tahini (tahini, tahini) from sesame seeds and a paste 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 those that you like: olive, flaxseed, camelina, and hemp, grape seed oil and walnut oil, sesame.

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 of fasting. This also includes legumes, nuts, greens and seeds.

All of these foods are very nutritious, containing plenty of protein, healthy fats (nuts and seeds), and vitamins and minerals.

During fasting, all these products are MANDATORY in the 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 oatmeal 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 to do this: rinse it, pour a fairly large amount of 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 made from buckwheat flour. It's very tasty and unusual!

Prepare sweet pilaf from rice: add steamed raisins, nuts, seeds, any fresh berries or fruits to boiled rice, pour over 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 a sauce you prepare yourself. It’s as easy as shelling pears to make a sauce from the same seeds or nuts. You can make vegetable sauce, 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 at high temperatures, and then also treated with sulfur dioxide, etc., but you know 100% that you are not doing harm to yourself by consuming their.

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.

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. They are “world champions” in the fight against cancer. 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 an excellent 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. You can make sandwiches with tapenade from wild mushrooms: grind 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 there 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. What about mushrooms 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 butter is a controversial 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 (walnuts are perfect for this snack, but you can use any nuts, depending on 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: we scroll everything in a blender with adding water to the desired paste-like consistency.
• You can do the same with seeds - prepare a paste, and every morning spread a thin layer on 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 (the proportions are arbitrary, to your taste), grind through a meat grinder or in a blender, adding as much water as you like. to obtain a paste of the desired consistency.

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 to do 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 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!

We have all wondered more than once about what we can eat during Lent and how to diversify the table so as not to harm the body. After all, it is known that Lent will help you cleanse yourself only if you follow the rules of food intake and provide yourself with adequate nutrition.

If you decide to stick to it, it doesn't mean you have to starve. Be prudent and try not to harm your body by devoutly “mortifying” the flesh. Even during fasting, you can provide yourself with nutritious, healthier nutrition.

Lent: permitted foods

In order for you to feel the joy and holiness of eating in your soul and body, your food should be varied but simple.

Vegetables and fruits: boiled, stewed, baked - should become the basis of your diet. Let there be carrots, potatoes, beets, sauerkraut and cucumbers on your table. Don't forget corn, peas, peppers, apples, pomegranates, bananas and citrus fruits. The more varied the better.

During fasting, you should not overuse spices, salt, sugar and fried foods. Give preference to food cooked in a steam bath or grilled.

Helpful advice: When boiling vegetables, throw them into already boiling water and do not allow them to boil too much. This way you can save them large quantity useful substances.

Porridge: porridge should become another important component of your diet. Do not forget that they should be cooked only in water and you will have to do without adding oil. But you will have an additional reason for culinary experiments.

Helpful advice: add nuts, carrots, mushrooms and onions to your porridges; dried fruits and raisins are suitable for sweet porridges.

Instead of meat, milk and eggs: If you include vegetable protein in your diet, then your body will not suffer at all from the lack of meat. Plant protein is found in eggplants, peanuts, lentils, soybeans and all legumes. Nowadays, “soy meat” is available for sale, which, subject to the production technology, may well replace the real thing.

By the way, nutritionists confirm that soy protein in its composition can compensate for the protein contained in meat and fish.

Lent: prohibited foods

During the entire fast you should avoid the following foods:

• Meat and meat products
• Fish and fish products (except on non-strict days).
• Bird
• Milk and dairy products
• Sweets
• Fast food
• Alcohol

Strict and non-strict days of fasting

The first 4 days, as well as the last week before Easter, are considered the strictest days of fasting. Clean Monday (the first day of Lent) and Good Friday (the last Friday before Easter) are among the strictest days of Lent, when you cannot eat at all. But on the first Friday of Lent, boiled wheat, sweetened with honey or sugar, is allowed.

On other days, meals follow a specific schedule:

• Monday Wednesday Friday: bread, water, vegetables, fruits, compotes
• Tuesday Thursday: hot food without oil
• Saturday and Sunday: food with vegetable oil and all variety of fish products.

Relaxation of fasting is allowed for pregnant women, sick and elderly people, as well as travelers.

Fasting is abstinence from certain types of food in order to reunite with God, therefore at such a time it is assumed not only to limit food, but also to renounce external impressions and pleasures.

Proper nutrition during fasting: essence and features ^

The essence of fasting is to abstain from everything that can bring pleasure: festivities, festive gatherings and, of course, certain foods. When people are just getting ready to fast, they are often interested in the question: what can’t be eaten during fasting?

• First of all, animal proteins, which are found in meat and meat products, fish, poultry, and eggs, are strictly prohibited.
• You should not consume cheeses, sour cream, kefir, yogurt and other dairy products, as well as milk chocolate, pasta, white bread and alcohol.

In fact, nutrition on fasting days completely excludes any protein foods, but on non-strict days it is allowed to eat fish and vegetable oils, which contain mainly fats.

Now let’s learn more about what you can eat during Lent:

• Any vegetables and fruits;
• Legumes;
• Porridge;
• Confectionery and bakery products prepared without eggs and dairy products;
• Nuts;

Nutrition rules during fasting

It’s not enough to just find out what you can eat during Lent; it’s also important to follow some food rules:

• You cannot overeat, even if it is permitted foods, otherwise the whole essence of fasting is lost;
• It is necessary to give up all carnal pleasures, because... spiritual limitations are of great importance;
• The first and last weeks of the Great Orthodox Lent are considered the strictest, when you can eat crackers, kutya, and drink water. On the first day - only water.

What you can and cannot eat: sample menu ^

What is possible during a strict fast?

The Great Fast is considered the strictest: its duration is 40 days, during which a person must refrain from watching entertainment programs and attending such events, and also observe the following rules:

• On the first day of fasting and on Friday, any food is prohibited;
• In the first and last week you can eat vegetables, fruits and bread, and drink water;
• The rest of the time you are allowed to eat honey, nuts, marmalade and any food of plant origin.

Fasting on Wednesday and Friday: what you can eat

Many people prefer to fast on Wednesdays and Fridays throughout the year: on these days, small indulgences in food are allowed if they do not fall during other fasts.

What you can eat during fasting on Wednesdays and Fridays:

• Fish;
• Vegetable oils;
• Fruits and vegetables.

Is it possible to eat sugar during fasting?

Despite the fact that sugar contains albumin, its use during Lent is not prohibited by the church. What other sweets are allowed:

• Bitter (dark) chocolate is one that does not contain milk and is filled with prohibited ingredients. Many delicacies are made on the basis of dark chocolate - almonds in chocolate glaze, paste using soy milk, and glazed cookies;
• Dried fruits - all without exception. The abundance of offers can satisfy any gastronomic taste. Want even sweeter? Prunes in dark chocolate - for real gourmets;
• Kozinaki are any nuts pressed using molasses, sugar or honey. Homemade kozinaki should be prepared without butter;
• Marmalade, marshmallows, marshmallows, pectin jelly. Gelatin is made from animal collagen, which is found in bones, cartilage, tendons, and pectin is of plant origin. The most popular pectin is apple pectin;
• Honey is considered to be a lean product, because it is a product produced by insects and does not contain animal proteins or fats. For some, honey becomes the only consolation in this difficult time of spiritual and physical restrictions.

When can you eat fish during Lent?

Fish is on the list of prohibited foods, except for the following cases:

• Petrov fast: Tuesday, Thursday and weekends;
• Dormition Fast: only on the Feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord;
• Nativity fast: on weekends, i.e. on Saturday and Sunday;
• Lent: on the feast of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary and on Palm Sunday.

Is it possible to eat vegetable oil during fasting?

Vegetable oil is one of the main products included in the list of permitted products: it is added to prepare vegetable dishes, mushrooms and baked goods. There are only a few days when it is prohibited:

• Monday: dry eating is observed in honor of angelic powers;
• Wednesday: in memory of the betrayal of the Savior;
• Friday: as a sign of sorrow over the crucifixion of Christ.

Is it possible to eat honey during fasting?

Honey is not a plant product, but the modern church allows it for consumption. Only Old Believers and some monks are against this, but in most cases clergy do not exclude it from their diet. Which honey is better to choose:

• Buckwheat: contains many amino acids and vitamins;
• Acacia or linden.

Is it possible to eat bread during Lent?

• During fasting, the use of this product is allowed only if it does not contain vegetable oils, eggs and milk.
• In this case, white bread and any other varieties of it are prohibited if ingredients included in the list of restrictions were used in their preparation.

Is it possible to eat sweets during Lent?

• Sweets are allowed during fasting, but they should be eaten in moderation.
• Lean chocolate, candied fruits, dried fruits, chocolate-covered nuts, caramel, lollipops, and chocolate grilled vegetables are allowed for consumption.

Orthodox fasting: how to eat for the laity

The calendar of proper nutrition during Lent looks like this:

• Good Friday: nothing can be eaten until the shroud is taken out;
• Lazarus Saturday: you can eat some fish caviar;
• Palm Sunday: fish is allowed to be added to caviar;
• Annunciation: all permitted products, as well as fish.

Sample menu for strict fasting days:

• We have breakfast with tea with a slice of black bread, eat a portion of porridge;
• We have lunch with vegetable salad and lean soup;
• For an afternoon snack we drink compote and eat fruit;
• We have dinner with stewed vegetables.

What role does nutrition play during fasting?

According to church clergy, observing all food prohibitions during fasting is secondary: first of all, a person needs to cleanse himself spiritually and try to find the path to God.

That is why you need to fast not for the sake of fashion trends or the cleansing of the body that occurs thanks to fasting, but in order to receive spiritual enlightenment. Without true faith in God and keeping the Commandments, the whole essence of fasting is lost.

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