How to eat right in fasting? Menu for Lent

The great post of 2014 has already ended. It consisted of 42 days as a memory of the fact that for 40 days Jesus fasted in the desert. 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 Easter. If this year you for some reason did not succeed in these days to be restrained in food, but for the future you want to know about how to eat right in the post, this article is for you. Time flies quickly, we will not have time to notice how the 2015 will come, and again there will be an opportunity to cleanse the soul and body. In the coming year, Lent will last from February 23 to April 11 and end April 12 with Easter. We will start preparing for it today and right now we will learn how to eat in fasting.

Meal on days

According to the church charter, in the days of abstinence it is completely forbidden to use "fast" foods: eggs, meat, cheese, milk, butter, cottage cheese, sour cream. Those who observe strict fasting also refuse from fish. The first day of fasting is called Clean Monday - on this day you can not eat anything at all. It is forbidden to eat on Good Friday - the penultimate day of fasting. In 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: fruit, bread, vegetables. This is called dryness. 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, grape wine and vegetable oil are allowed in cooking. But on Saturday, Holy Week (the last day of fasting, it is also called the Great Saturday), this rule does not apply: you can not use oil. And you can eat twice a day - in the afternoon and in the evening. It is worth saying that on Great Saturday many believers prefer to give up eating altogether.

Some people from the menu on Lent completely eliminate the fish. In fact, it can be eaten, but only on the Feast of the Annunciation and on Palm Sunday - the day when Jesus entered Jerusalem. And in Lazarev, Saturday is allowed to eat caviar.

Holy Week

These are the six last days of fasting, dedicated to the remembrance of Jesus' Way of the Cross to Calvary, and also to the Resurrection. At this time, it is necessary to be even more restrained in food, and therefore believers are completely converted to dry eating. It should be noted that in Lent you need to limit yourself not only in food, but also in emotions. We must get out of the stream of everyday vanity, read the Gospel, confess, attend the liturgy. Before Holy Week, we should make peace with those who were offended, to 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 vary in variety. The menu on the days of Lent must meet all of the above requirements. But how to achieve this? What foods can help balance the diet? We'll talk about this a little later, and now we'll talk about how to eat in Lent, so as not to harm yourself, for the most important task of abstinence is to gain physical and spiritual health.

So, first, measure your strength. If you do not consider yourself to be a deeply believing people, it is not necessary to strictly observe the regulations regarding the amount of meals a day. Those who want to simply cleanse their bodies should continue to eat regularly, four to five times a day. Frequent meals will make it easier to transfer the change of diet. The total caloric content of the products that make up the daily menu for Lent 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 and 2000. Do not forget to consume liquid - one and a half to two liters daily. Green tea, freshly squeezed juices, mineral still water will be useful.

Balance of fats, carbohydrates, proteins

During the fasting, carbohydrate intake inevitably increases, and, as is known, their excess is one of the main causes of metabolic disorders, which entails the development of a number of diseases, including diabetes, obesity. In addition, with high-carbohydrate nutrition increases the susceptibility of the body to allergens and infectious pathologies. That's why it's so important to know how to eat right in fasting.

You should not forget about the need to include in your diet foods rich in protein and fats, but only plant origin. You can replenish the menu with proteins by means of legumes, peas, buckwheat, soya, seitan, masha, chickpeas. Fats are found in seeds of pumpkin and sunflower, nuts, all types of oils: sesame, cedar, linseed, pumpkin. In days of abstinence, the consumption of alkaline foods increases. Want to know how to eat during fasting to maintain the acid-base balance in an optimal state? It's simple: you need more to eat different pickles, sbitney, kissels.

Meat substitute

And lovers of meat than eat in fasting? The menu can be supplemented with soy products, because they are more than forty per cent higher in meat content. Soybean oil is a good source of vitamins P, PP, B1, B2, A, lecithin, which lowers the level of cholesterol in the blood and nourishes the nerve tissues. It would seem that everything is fine - an excellent meat substitute is found, but our task is to tell how to eat properly in fasting, and therefore, we must not say that soybean in large quantities is very harmful. The plant protein is absorbed by the body much worse, therefore it is not necessary to take a great interest in it. And more: when buying soy products, carefully study etiquette - many products are made from genetically modified products.

Replenish the lack of meat can be due to the use of nuts. They contain up to fifteen percent of protein, as well as eight of the ten essential amino acids. It is enough to eat ten or twenty nuts a day - do not forget that they are very caloric (in one hundred grams seven hundred kilocalories).

What you can eat in fasting to strengthen strength

In strengthening immunity, a vital role is played by vitamin B12. As you know, most of it is contained in veal and beef liver, but in post such products are prohibited. Nevertheless, there is a way out: you can get cyanocobalamin from sprouted wheat, greens. The organism 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 contained in cereals, fruits, vegetables. Vitamin A can also be found in fruits and orange and red vegetables, while it is noteworthy that it is best absorbed if the consumed foods have been previously thermally treated.

And why keep fast?

Abstinence from heavy food, having an animal origin, allows you to purify many organs and systems (lungs, liver, blood, kidneys), remove excess fluid from the cells, which helps to renew the body, reduce blood cholesterol levels and thereby strengthen the walls of blood vessels. Vegetables and fruits contain many useful fibers, so switching to vegetable food helps normalize the intestinal microflora. As a rule, during a fasting, people do not buy products containing flavor enhancers, preservatives, flavorings, which, of course, also positively affects health.

Can everyone fast?

Of course, the decision to observe the fast is worthy of praise, but priests and doctors warn that abstinence from certain foods is by no means all permitted. For some people the rejection of products of animal origin for age or medical reasons is categorically contraindicated. Therefore, before you think about how to eat properly in fasting, go to a consultation with a specialist and find out if you can even fast. For example, children of up to seven years of age and adolescent girls during puberty should not be restricted in products of animal origin - they need to eat fully for development and growth. It is also forbidden to exclude meat and fish from the ration of elderly people. Moreover, they should increase the amount of protein in the menu, because in old age, the reproduction of cells is much slower, and to maintain their viability in a much larger volume requires protein.

Fasting is not to Harm

In addition to the above categories of persons, pregnant and lactating women, people with gastrointestinal diseases (ulcer, cholecystitis, enteritis, gastritis, pancreatitis), diabetes mellitus, gout should be discharged from the post. Also, it is impossible to fast the depleted citizens who have only recovered from the disease or have undergone surgery, since they have weakened immunity. It is allowed not to refrain from animal food to people engaged in hardened physical labor, and travelers on the road. If you have contraindications to fasting, but still want to keep it, reconcile the diet with the doctor, stipulating the necessary indulgences. For example, you can not exclude from the menu cottage cheese and eggs as foods that contain high-grade proteins.