Nutrition during fasting: recommendations and recipes. Lenten diet - we fast deliciously Diet for those who fast

Fasting for a believer is a special time, a time of prayer and deep thoughts.

During this period, a person’s diet changes greatly, and serious restrictions are imposed on him. With improperly organized nutrition during fasting, a deterioration in the general condition and even exacerbation of certain diseases is possible. On the other hand, fasting is a time of cleansing, including physical cleansing. Therefore, from a medical point of view, fasting is a completely reasonable event, only with the caveat that you need to approach it thoughtfully.

Let me make a reservation right away that you can find out about the spiritual meaning of fasting by contacting your spiritual mentor. Here I want to look at the post from a nutritionist's point of view.

Basic principles of proper nutrition during fasting

The main rule is the exclusion of all animal foods: meat, fish, poultry, milk and dairy products, eggs. Respectively, The basis of the diet will be plant products– grains, legumes, vegetables, fruits, nuts, mushrooms.
Try not to let your diet. Don't skip breakfast, don't forget about snacks.
In the absence of animal food, which is rich in protein and promotes a long-term feeling of fullness, frequent bouts of hunger are possible. During this period, there is a great temptation to overeat baked goods and sweets. However, there is no talk of any cleansing in this case. To avoid feeling hungry, eat regularly and include in your daily diet foods rich in complex carbohydrates and containing plant protein - whole grains and legumes.
Particular attention should be paid during the period of fasting soy products. There are a great variety of them now - soy milk, tofu cheese, all of this should be included in your diet.
Sometimes it's not so difficult to start a post correctly as to end it. It would seem that everything is over, the prohibitions have been lifted, you can eat forbidden foods. However, I want to warn you against overeating after fasting. Gradually begin to include animal foods in your diet after fasting. and be sure to combine it with plant foods - vegetables and grain products.

Lenten menu for the week

MONDAY

Nutritionist's comment:

I would like to start the Lenten menu with a traditional breakfast in an unusual design. Oatmeal contains complex carbohydrates, dietary fiber, vegetable proteins and B vitamins.

To maintain health, an adult should consume at least 400 g of vegetables daily (preferably more). Unfortunately, few people can boast of such a diet. One way to enrich your menu with vegetables is light vegetable salads. These salads are “light” both in execution and in terms of calorie content.

In addition to vegetable protein, lentils contain folic acid and iron.

In the recipe for green beans, butter must be replaced with olive oil.

TUESDAY

WEDNESDAY

THURSDAY

Fasting is a great time to improve the health of your body. And in order to achieve precisely this goal, and not the opposite, it is necessary to take nutrition seriously during this period. Nutrition during fasting should also be balanced. It must contain the required amount of useful substances.

If you do not consider fasting from a religious point of view, then it is something between a raw food diet, vegetarianism, and a low-protein diet. The task of those practicing fasting is to ensure that all the necessary nutrients harmoniously enter the body.

Many people believe that church fasting differs mainly from regular eating in that it abstains from meat. But this is not entirely true.

Here are the basic rules that apply to all church posts:

During fasting, you cannot eat eggs, meat, or dairy products.
Fish dishes can only be consumed on certain days, namely on Palm Sunday and the Feast of the Annunciation. It is allowed to add a little vegetable oil to food on holidays and on weekends.
Smoking and drinking alcohol are prohibited during this period.
Only on weekends and holidays can you drink a small amount of red wine, which symbolizes the blood of Christ.
During fasting, one meal is practiced.
That is, you can only eat once a day. The exception is holidays and weekends, when you can eat twice a day.
A ban is imposed on the use of substitute products.
For example, you cannot cook soybeans in an attempt to replace meat products.

The benefits of the Lenten menu

And if we consider fasting as a diet, then how will such a diet be beneficial for the body? Proper lean nutrition means, first of all, limiting yourself to protein foods.

The temporary absence of animal protein foods in the diet helps normalize metabolism. It becomes easier for the body to get rid of waste and toxins. This leads to the fact that a person generally feels better.

Proper lean nutrition is very useful for diseases such as pancreatitis and cholecystitis, such food reduces the load on the digestive organs. But at the same time, there are groups of people for whom lean foods are contraindicated.

For whom is fasting not beneficial?

Such restrictions are undesirable for:

pregnant women and nursing mothers;
for children;
for people who have diseases such as: diabetes mellitus, duodenal ulcer, stomach ulcer, chronic gastritis;
elderly people;
people who are in poor health, for example those who are going through a post-operative period, or those who have had an infectious disease.

How to fast correctly?

Meal in Lent

In order to fast correctly and turn fasting into the most beneficial diet for the body, you should adhere to the following rules:

It is correct not to overuse raw foods so that you do not have problems with the digestive system.
Food can not only be boiled, but also baked, stewed, and steamed. You can also eat pickles.
How to compensate for the lack of animal protein?
To ensure that your body does not starve for protein, it is correct to eat more plant protein. It is found a lot in beans, lentils, peas, sunflower seeds, pine nuts, and pumpkin. These are all great alternatives to animal protein.
How to make up for the lack of fat?
Here again plant foods come to the rescue. Healthy fats can be found in foods such as walnuts, pine nuts, avocado, sunflower and sesame seeds. It will also be very useful to enrich your diet with different types of oils.
How to compensate for calcium deficiency?
With dairy products, which are prohibited during fasting, we limit the intake of calcium into the body. Calcium can be found in the following plant foods: legumes, green vegetables, seeds, nuts, and various types of cabbage.
How to compensate for iron deficiency?
Iron can be found in foods such as yeast, red and white cabbage, dark chocolate, and rye bread.

Christmas post

For example, let’s look at one of the posts, namely the Nativity Fast. The Nativity Fast is needed in order to cleanse yourself before the start of the new year, this is preparation for the Nativity of Christ.

Saints compare the Nativity Fast with Moses' forty-day journey through the desert. It is believed that during the Nativity Fast a person can be cleansed of all the bad things he has had during the whole year. The Nativity fast fills a person with a feeling of humility and love. The Nativity fast does not have the strictest rules - in its diet you can find dishes that contain butter or fish.

Here is the fasting meal by day:

First day:
The Nativity fast involves eating vegetable foods without oil on the first day.
Second day:
It is allowed to eat fish, as well as drink a small amount of grape, apple or rowan wine. It is allowed to eat plant foods and add vegetable oil to it.
The third day involves dry eating.
You are allowed to eat bread, fruits, dried fruits, honey, vegetables, and nuts.
On the fourth day, you are allowed to eat fish, drink a small amount of wine, and eat plant foods with the addition of oil.
The fifth day involves dry eating.
On this day you are allowed to eat fruits, dried fruits, raw vegetables, honey and nuts.
On the sixth day, you are allowed to eat fish dishes, drink a small amount of wine, and eat vegetable foods with oil.
On the seventh day it is allowed to eat fish dishes, also drink a small amount of wine, and vegetable food with oil is allowed.

This is approximately what the correct Lenten menu looks like during the Nativity Fast. It's only the last week before Christmas that the rules become stricter.

Summer post

Perhaps everyone knows about the Nativity Fast. Not everyone knows about the existence of Petrov’s summer fast. Petrov's summer fast always begins on Monday, a week after Trinity. And Petrov's fast always ends on July 12, in the name of the memory of the apostles Peter and Paul.

This post, like others, is designed to cultivate will in a person. A will that can defeat egoistic desires and subordinate the desires of the body to its spirit.

So, Great Lent will begin, which will last 48 days.

How to eat properly while fasting?

This is a very important question, since Lent occurs during the most difficult time for the body - the time of transition from winter to spring, when all life processes undergo a restructuring, and the body experiences a deficiency of vitamins. Therefore, in order not to harm the body and use fasting to improve your health, you need to take nutrition very seriously during this period.

If we consider fasting from the point of view of nutrition, we can highlight both positive and negative aspects.

Unfavorable factors arise due to the fact that it is forbidden to eat “small” foods during Lent.(from the Old Russian “skorom” - fat) products of animal origin - meat, milk, butter, cheese, cottage cheese, eggs, fish. Thus, a person does not receive enough digestible iron, zinc, vitamin B12 from food (due to the exclusion of meat from the diet), which can lead to the development anemia and hypovitaminosis. In addition, there may be a lack of vitamin D, which is found in fatty fish, due to which calcium is poorly absorbed and bones become brittle. This process is further aggravated by the fact that dairy products are excluded during fasting, and the body may experience a lack of calcium intake.

Another negative side of fasting is the fact that by excluding protein foods from your diet, a person is deprived of almost all sources of tryptophan, an essential amino acid that is a precursor to serotonin. And this can lead to worsening spring depression, decreased immunity, activity, bad mood, lethargy and apathy.

It must be emphasized that children, pregnant and lactating women experience deficiency of various growth factors, such as complete protein, zinc, iodine, vitamins B6, B2. So it is contraindicated for all of them, and even elderly and sick people, to strictly fulfill all the requirements of Lent.

Few people can observe Lent, as required by church regulations- with its strict restrictions not only on food, but also on drinking, with rare meals - 1 or 2 times a day, periods of dry eating, etc. Yes, this is not necessary, because strict observance of fasting is the “privilege” of monks and clergy. For the rest, it is enough to adhere to less stringent restrictions. First of all, spiritual cleansing is important.

Therefore, Lent is an excellent opportunity to diversify your diet. new natural products of plant origin and delicious healthy dishes. After all, vegetables, mushrooms, fruits, berries, cereals, nuts, honey are allowed! And such natural food of plant origin is very useful for the body of a modern person, especially a resident of a metropolis, since it is the main source of a large amount of dietary fiber, potassium, vitamin C and B-carotene, and has a low content of cholesterol and saturated animal fats. It is these products that contain all those biologically active components that are sorely lacking in many city dwellers who are accustomed to eating semi-finished products, “fast food”, surrogates and sandwiches in constant rush.

How to organize your diet and what foods should be included in your daily diet during the fasting period?

Since there is a ban on meat, poultry, fish, dairy products and eggs, to prevent protein deficiency, plant-based protein should be included in the diet - that’s all soy products(their range is very wide from meat to yoghurt), legumes, nuts, seeds, various cereals and cereals, wholemeal products.
Every day you need to include various cereals, pasta and potatoes in your diet for one more reason - they are excellent sources of energy, will give you strength and vigor, and restore good mood and joy of life.
In addition to protein and starchy foods, you need to eat vegetable oils daily, about 1-2 tablespoons per day.
Vegetables and fruits in quantities of at least 500 grams daily.
To prevent exacerbation of spring depression, dishes made from brown rice, millet, buckwheat, soybeans, lentils, as well as dates, bananas and peanuts are needed.
Be sure to take a vitamin and mineral complex every day.
Remember the importance of drinking enough clean drinking water - at least 1.5 - 2 liters per day.
For those with a sweet tooth, honey and dried fruits remain, which are a source of important vitamins and microelements.
Try to eat at least 4-5 times a day, at a certain time, and chew your food thoroughly, because... This will allow your body to quickly adapt to a new plant-based diet.
Try to diversify your diet during fasting and do not eat dishes and foods that you dislike; they will not be beneficial for your body.
When breaking your fast, be moderate in your consumption of meat and fatty foods. Gradually and carefully reintroduce it into your daily diet. Remember that by the end of fasting, the level of enzymes that break down protein in the body is minimal, and the products of protein decay in the intestines can take you out of your normal work schedule for 2 days. It is no coincidence that the cult product of Easter is a boiled egg. This is a balanced product that stimulates the activity of the digestive system after many days of abstinence.

And remember that Lent is a period of not only food restrictions, and time for a spring joyful mood, awakening to oneself and to new dreams, plans, goals. This is a time of love and respect for all living things, free from anger and hatred, deception and evil. This is a time of spiritual cleansing!

Health and prosperity to all of you!

Do you want to learn how to create a healthy diet yourself? Take advantage of the help of our specialists!

Do you want to lose weight? Make an appointment with a nutritionist right now!

The system of posts has existed in the world for a very long time. On fasting days, a person must take care of his soul, first of all, cleanse himself both from the burdens of eating meat and from bad thoughts, bad feelings and actions.

Of course, the second aspect, from the point of view of true Christianity, is more important and important. But today I propose to talk about the physical aspect of fasting, namely, about the peculiarities of nutrition during fasting. What you can eat during Lent and what you can’t. Are there any relaxations in the Lenten calendar in terms of nutrition? What are the benefits of fasting for a normally eating person?

Let's start with the last one.

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Nutrition during fasting - what does it do for our health?

What is the significance of the transition from meat to lean food? , Why is this important for the body during fasting?
Fasting, in our understanding, is a limitation, a renunciation of something. In terms of nutrition, this means, first of all, avoiding animal products. It is these products that give our taste buds maximum pleasure, but they also force our body to work with constant “overload”...

According to some studies, eating meat protein causes constant detoxification in the body, a kind of self-poisoning! Therefore, when we give up eating meat for a while, we begin to experience something like “drug withdrawal.”

From biologist researcher Yu.A. Frolov . there is even a whole theory about this. In short, the body, stupefied by a CONSTANT toxic release, when switching to natural food (in his research - to raw food, we are talking about a raw food diet) seems to “sober up”. The toxic release into our blood abruptly stops and the body begins to gradually “recover” from toxic shock... All these are not blatant statements, but the results of a study of blood cells under different types of nutrition.

When consuming large amounts of high-protein foods, such as meat, milk, cheeses, etc., the body does not have enough enzymes to completely digest it, resulting in a process of constant rotting in the large intestine. This process not only causes distensional (bursting) pain in the abdomen due to increased gas formation, but also causes the entry of rotting products (toxins) into the bloodstream, which is a serious burden for the liver and kidneys, which neutralize these substances.
What can we say about harmful cholesterol, which forms atherosclerotic plaques and deposits in blood vessels with frequent consumption of fatty animal foods.

And due to the fact that we have undoubtedly become more satisfying and richer in our lives than our ancestors lived some 100 years ago, such products are found in our diet almost every day and more than once a day.
It is from this influence that our body rests during the days of Lent! And it is extremely beneficial for the health of all organs and systems! Therefore, do not deny your body such a “diet” these days.

On the contrary, set yourself up for purification and lightness.

Such an attitude, as well as the awareness that you are not “doing nonsense in splendid isolation,” but are following ancient Orthodox traditions together with thousands of other people at the same time, will give you the necessary determination and the necessary strength.
During fasting -

all body systems are cleansed
the functioning of internal organs improves
immunity increases, overall well-being improves

If this type of nutrition is new to you, then your health will not improve immediately; a possible crisis will pass within one to two weeks.

The seven weeks of Lent are quite a long period. If you have never restricted yourself in food, you may not need to fast all these days. As a test, start limiting your menu to Wednesdays and Fridays. Look at the body's reaction - are there any weaknesses and ailments these days?

If you are not feeling very well, return fish or dairy products to your diet. But still try to give up meat for the entire period of fasting.

If your health does not improve, try giving up one thing - either meat or dairy products.

But, as a rule, one or two weeks is enough for the body to make adjustments and your well-being will improve much over time.

There are serious diseases in which fasting should be introduced with caution, as doctors advise. For example, diabetes, or stomach problems.

Meals during fasting and raw food diet - can they be combined?

Sometimes a person is inspired by the idea of a lean diet and decides to switch not just to plant foods, but also to raw foods, without heat treatment. So to speak, get healthier “in full”, because so much tempting and interesting information is now being given out about the benefits of a raw food diet...

This is where problems with the gastrointestinal tract can appear and worsen quite unexpectedly.

I am writing based on my personal experience - this is exactly what happened to me a year ago. I decided to combine fasting with the start of a raw food diet, and everything was done at once. Yesterday I still ate, relatively speaking, sausages in dough, and today I’m already sitting on nothing but apples... Not very good, I’ll tell you. After 2 weeks, my stomach began to hurt and “revolt” from such unceremonious treatment. Moreover, before that I didn’t even know where my stomach was located!

Therefore, my sincere advice is to do everything gradually and step by step, not to get carried away. You can eat some vegetables and fruits raw (salads, snacks between meals), and some - in the form of porridges, oven-baked vegetables, etc.

Any freshly squeezed juices from any vegetables and fruits are very good - excellent food and drink in one, no digestive problems, and only continuous vitamin and mineral benefits for the body!

Raw radishes, turnip radishes, and mushrooms in any form are heavy food for the stomach.

During fasting, it is better to eat in small portions, but more often.

Drink a lot of clean, raw water, but try to eliminate coffee and tea from your diet altogether - they drag with them the habit of eating it all with candy, cookies, cake, etc.

Why do you need to drink a lot of water? For enhanced removal of toxins, which are inevitable when switching from a regular meat-eating diet to vegetarianism. The body is cleansing itself - help it get it all out!

Excellent drinks, besides water, are vitamin teas with raspberries, rose hips, and herbs.

And a special warning -

Easter holidays ending Lent

When fasting ends, you are allowed to eat so-called fast food. In practice, this means that you can eat everything, but also festively, that is, especially tasty, especially rich and “quite official.” Here a person can seriously suffer if he takes everything literally and one day suddenly attacks such foods as fatty sweet cottage cheese (Easter), rich baked goods (Easter cakes). wine, eggs, etc. You can even get simple indigestion!

Therefore, eat everything, but little by little, as if tasting it. Believe me, even if you try just a little bit of each dish from the holiday table, you run the risk of truly overeating. Just take care of yourself and everything will be fine.

Nutrition during Lent is limited to plant foods - grains, vegetables, fruits, mushrooms and nuts. These are the permitted foods during fasting.
There are special days when you can eat fish and even red wine. There are special days when you cannot even consume vegetable oil, and on the strictest days - the first and last days of fasting - it is recommended not to eat any food at all.

If you are interested in strict adherence to Orthodox traditional nutritional recommendations on each day of Lent, you can use the special Fasting Calendar 2017, which contains all the restrictions and relaxations in the daily Lenten diet.

If you want to benefit from these fast days and weeks of restrictive eating, you need to remove all the “loopholes” in your head regarding those products that may technically be of plant origin, but at the same time be extremely harmful. We are talking about different chips, crackers, cakes, etc.

They definitely need to be removed from the menu.
Look how many delicious fruits, nuts, and dried fruits are at your disposal! Take the same dates - a complete set of balanced beneficial micro and macro elements, vitamins, tasty glucose and fructose. They will help you not to become depressed about giving up regular sweets, they will cheer you up and prevent you from depleting your reserves of minerals and substances that are necessary and important for your health.

An important rule for any post(and not only fasting!) - do not abuse it! Even the healthiest and most wonderful plant food can have negative effects on your health if you consume too much of it!
Treat food not as a source of boundless pleasure, but as a kind of “fuel” for the body.

List of Lenten Products

Cereals. Any.
Vegetables and mushrooms. Also any.
Peas and all legumes.
Vegetable fats. We are talking about any vegetable oils.
Fermentation products. From traditional cabbage to soaked grapes.
Greens in any form (fresh or dried) and in any quantity.
Soy and soy products.
Bread and pasta.
Olives and olives.
Desserts include jam and marmalade, dark chocolate, marmalade, halva and kozinaki.
Any fruit. Both ours and exotic ones, including dried fruits (raisins, candied fruits, etc.)

Orthodox Lent 2017 - Daily nutrition calendar

Days of fasting, from a nutritional point of view, are interpreted differently. There are particularly strict fasting days - days on which it is not recommended to eat at all. This is the first and penultimate day of the 40-day fast. Below, in another version of the Lenten calendar for 2018, these days are marked.

Some days they recommend eating, literally, “bread and water.” Apparently, these are the strictest recommendations of all possible. For the average person, it is quite enough to simply not eat any products containing animal food. The same bread should be made without eggs and butter.

The concept of “dry eating” is also introduced - this is the consumption of bread, herbs, vegetables (raw or pickled), fruits and dried fruits, olives, honey, berry or fruit decoctions, kvass, herbal teas.

Here is a detailed calendar of fast days 2018, where every day has its own nutritional characteristics. You can follow these recommendations if you want to more accurately reproduce Orthodox Christian traditions during this period.

Questions about individual products in the post

Bread. Those who often fast, especially those belonging to the older generation, completely refuse bread, explaining that it contains butter and eggs... Tell me, knowing the modern food industry, do you also think that they put butter and real chicken eggs in your loaf of bread? However, there is an alternative - they are now producing a lot of bread. containing nothing of the kind by definition. They may well replace our usual bread, which, by the way, is not very healthy anyway and many advise giving it up altogether, regardless of the calendar..
Pasta. They contain only flour, water and salt. The composition should not contain egg powder. For lean nutrition - this is it. Only they will have to be flavored not with butter, but with sunflower or other vegetable oil.
Varenniki, Lenten dumplings. If you like such dishes, you can continue to eat them during Lent with appropriate changes: dough without eggs, filling without butter, meat, cottage cheese. Replace with cabbage, carrots, mushrooms, potatoes and similar vegetable fillings.
"Meat" products from soy. The idea itself is not bad. It seems that the rules have been followed and the usual piece of sausage can be eaten... But just think, how is the usual taste of meat achieved where the meat has never “spent the night”? Due to dyes, flavor enhancers and flavors, in short, due to chemistry.. Is it worth it? Decide for yourself.
Mayonnaise. Now they make the so-called “lenten mayonnaise”. Lenten, which means no eggs, which means they were replaced with something again and it’s unlikely to be something natural...
Lenten baked goods and sweets. Yes, now you can find one in our stores or. This probably has a right to exist. But I would better advise replacing this with natural sweets - the same, dried fruits, halva, marmalade, kozinaki.

Balancing your diet while fasting

How to balance your list of products during fasting so as not to get health problems due to a lack of any substances?

We replace animal protein with vegetable protein. On some days you can also eat fish, but this is an exception to the rule. The rest of the time - mushrooms, beans, peas, nuts, lentils.

Iron deficiency in the absence of meat, you can make up for it with apples, buckwheat, bananas, and cocoa.

Vitamins and minerals are perfectly absorbed from freshly prepared fruit and vegetable juices. Make it a rule to drink one glass of fresh juice a day, and you will not suffer from vitamin deficiency.

The main thing is the right attitude! Don't take everything too seriously or even tragically. Thousands and even millions of people around the globe for years do not eat meat, do not drink milk, and do not even cook or fry any of their food. In order to get any harm from such a diet, for example, the same vitamin B12 deficiency that people love to scare raw foodists and vegans with, you need to live on such a diet continuously for more than one year! This is definitely not a threat to you and me.

And the only things that “threaten” us are vigor, slimness, excellent health, and even, perhaps, relief from certain diseases.

Are you fasting this year, 2017? What are you eating at this time? How do you feel mentally and health-wise? In general, what do you think about the system of Orthodox fasting specifically in terms of the health of the body?

How you should eat and what you can eat during Lent is a very important point, as spring begins and the body rebuilds to new conditions. At such moments, he needs vitamins, so recipes for dishes that will be served during fasting must be carefully selected.

Pros and cons of fasting

The most important disadvantage is that it is forbidden to consume meat, fat, fish, chicken and quail eggs, milk, cottage cheese, butter, and so on. It is these products that can supply our body with useful substances and vitamins. In addition, along with fish, vitamin D enters the body, which makes our bones stronger. Of course, during fasting a person receives much less calcium, but it can be easily replenished.

Fasting eliminates the possibility of protein consumption, so for a certain time a person is deprived of tryptophan and some amino acids. This can affect mood, immunity and activity.

It is not necessary to strictly observe fasting; this is the privilege of the ministers of the Church; for others, it is enough for others to adhere to less strict rules for a certain time, because spiritual cleansing comes first.

Of course, there are also advantages, the diet helps cleanse the body of toxins, this is a reason to diversify your diet with natural products. Eating vegetables, mushrooms, nuts, various cereals, berries, honey is encouraged; all this is very useful for humans, especially for those who live in big cities. Plant foods are rich in potassium, vitamin C, B, and practically free of cholesterol and fat, which is why it is so necessary for residents of megacities who are accustomed to eating fried and baked foods.

What foods to include in your diet during Lent

Since any source of protein is excluded from the diet, it can be replaced. Now there are many substitute products in stores, such as soy milk, meat, yoghurt. In addition, you can eat beans, nuts, and various cereals; they can quickly fill the protein deficiency in the body.
The most important foods that help replenish energy are porridge with water and potatoes. Every housewife should have recipes for lean porridges, because they are very healthy and easy to prepare.
Vegetable oils are no less important. They can be added to any dishes or salads.
During fasting, you are allowed to eat fruits and vegetables, so you can safely consume 500 grams at least every day.
To ensure that your mood is always high and to avoid spring depression, an excellent breakfast option would be boiled brown rice with fruit, lentils or bananas.
Spare no expense and go to the pharmacy for a vitamin-mineral complex. It will help strengthen health and immunity.
And of course, we can’t forget about water. Drinking several glasses of clean water daily will help avoid digestive problems that may arise during Lent.
The range of permitted sweets will be much smaller than usual. You can limit yourself to nuts, dried fruits and honey.
It is better to have recipes for the first and second on hand, since you will need to eat at least 4 times a day. It is important to chew food thoroughly and reduce portions slightly. This way we can monitor our figure while dieting.
If you don’t like certain foods that are allowed during fasting, then you shouldn’t force yourself.
After the fast has ended, you need to be as careful as possible when consuming meat, fish, dairy and fermented milk products, since the body has already become accustomed to it. You need to approach your usual diet more carefully. It is important to remember that for children, the elderly and people with digestive problems it will be very difficult to start fasting, so the diet can be slightly simplified. Now we will look at recipes for various dishes that will become the main decoration of the table during Lent.

The most important thing on the table is the first course, so you need to prepare it according to all the rules, observing the nuances.

Ingredients:

290 gr. homemade sauerkraut
240 gr. fresh mushrooms
some black peppercorns
90 gr. fresh carrots
90 gr. fresh onion
20 ml. tomato paste
bay leaf
greens to taste
salt, seasonings if desired
290 gr. young potatoes

Preparation:

You can use vegetable broth or water, or prepare the base in a cube, it all depends on your taste preferences.
Wash the potatoes, peel and cut into not very thick strips. Transfer it to boiling, salted water.
While the potatoes are boiling, chop the onions and carrots, lightly fry in vegetable oil until they are golden brown.
Chop the mushrooms, you can leave them in large pieces if desired, and send them for frying. After a few minutes, add the cabbage, after squeezing out the liquid from it.
When the vegetables and mushrooms are cooked, add them with a small amount of high-quality tomato paste to the broth with potatoes and cook until the cabbage soup is completely cooked.
If desired, you can add spices, bay leaf, and ground black pepper to taste.

Of course, the preparation of this dish has its own nuances. Mushrooms are known to have a richer flavor when added to soup in their dried form, so don't be afraid to substitute fresh mushrooms. The cooking process will also change a little: before putting them in the broth, you need to fill them with warm water for several hours so that they soften slightly.

Nutrition during fasting is no less important than spiritual cleansing, therefore, a lot of time and attention should be given to this.

Solyanka Lenten

Recipes for dishes that can be eaten during Lent can be found on the Internet, but in this article we have collected the most delicious and simple dishes.

Ingredients:

180 gr. pickled cucumbers
180 gr. fresh tomatoes
10 gr. flour
60 gr. black olives
90 gr. white onion
90 gr. fresh carrots
180 gr. fresh or dried mushrooms
salt, black pepper to taste
greens if desired

Preparation:

Put the broth on the fire, add salt and bring to a boil. While the water is heating, prepare the remaining ingredients.
Cut the pickled cucumbers into strips, preferably thin, but so that they hold their shape and do not fall apart.
Finely chop the onion, grate the carrots and fry in vegetable oil until golden brown.
Soak the mushrooms first, if using dried ones, then add them to the vegetables and fry for about 5-10 minutes.
Add chopped pickled cucumbers to the frying pan and simmer a little, then add to the broth along with the olives cut into rings.
Pour a little flour into a dry frying pan and heat it until it has a delicate, creamy color and a light nutty aroma, then sift and pour into the hodgepodge, cook for another 10 minutes until fully cooked. If desired, add black pepper, herbs and seasonings.

Having considered the soups that can be consumed during Lent, you can move on to the main courses. It is in the first week that it is especially difficult for those on a diet, because the body is not accustomed to being deprived of meat or dairy products, so it is important to take a thorough approach to nutrition during fasting and try to prepare food that will be rich in vitamins and nutrients.

Carrots with honey

Surely, this combination will seem strange to you, but in fact, carrots baked with honey are a very tasty dish, especially if you prepare it correctly.

Ingredients:

690 gr. fresh carrots
290 ml. natural orange juice (can be replaced with store-bought)
30 ml. natural honey
50 gr. leek
1 clove of garlic
a little spice to taste
carnation
salt, sugar, ground black pepper

Preparation:

Peel the carrots and cook until done or half done in salted water. Cool, cut into not very thin rings.
Prepare the sauce by mixing honey, orange juice and finely grated garlic.
Chop the leek into thin strips and add to the sauce. You can also send chopped herbs and spices there to taste.
Pour the prepared mixture over the carrots, mix thoroughly and transfer to a baking tray.
Preheat the oven to 180 degrees and bake the dish for 20 minutes until fully cooked.

It must be said right away that carrots with honey are a rather unusual dish, so only lovers of such exquisite combinations will like it, but it is definitely worth the effort and time spent. If you like to bake vegetables in a sleeve, then you can slightly change the cooking method and thereby save time. In this case, you won’t have to cook the carrots, you just need to chop them, mix them with the sauce and bake them in a sleeve.

You can also find recipes on the Internet for cooking carrots in a slow cooker; this will be needed if you have digestive problems. This method will help preserve more vitamins and nutrients in the product. Of course, recipes for main courses during Lent are very important, but it’s time to move on to desserts. The list of sweets will be much smaller, because the products from which the dessert will be made can be counted on one hand, but if you show your imagination, you can pleasantly surprise your family and guests.

This dessert is worthy of attention; do not hesitate to prepare it during Lent.

Ingredients:

handful of hazelnuts
75 gr. dried apricots
75 gr. prunes
75 gr. any dried fruits
sugar if desired
water if necessary

Preparation:

Cut the prunes and dried apricots into thin strips and add a small amount of warm water, mix, add granulated sugar if desired and leave to soak.
Heat a frying pan and lightly fry the nuts, then remove the skins.
Place the prunes, dried apricots and dried fruits into the bowl of a blender and grind.
Divide the mass into as many pieces as there are nuts, then press each nut into the mass and give the candy a neat, round shape.

Of course, recipes can be changed at your discretion, you can add fruits, berries, it all depends only on your imagination. Instead of hazelnuts, you can use almonds, ordinary peanuts or cashews, but they must be roasted first so that you can easily remove the skin later.

Recipes for making classic apple strudel usually include butter and eggs, but all this is missing, so you can safely call this dish lean and eat it during Lent.

Ingredients:

380 gr. wheat flour
140 ml. water
a little olive oil
a little vinegar
4 medium apples
60 gr. raisins
some walnuts
some almonds
1 banana
cinnamon
some cranberries if desired

Preparation:

Stir water, salt and vinegar. Sift the flour through a sieve several times, then add it to the water, knead the dough, gradually adding olive oil.
The dough should be left for some time while the remaining ingredients are prepared. Peel the apples and cut into pieces.
Grind the nuts, rinse the raisins thoroughly, mix everything in one container, add cinnamon.
Roll out the dough into a very thin layer, add the filling and pinch the edges. Bake until fully cooked.
While the strudel is in the oven, you need to prepare the syrup.
Mix cranberries with banana, if desired, you can add any sweet syrup to taste, transfer the mixture to a blender and grind until smooth.
Place the saucepan on the fire along with the syrup, bring it to a boil, after which you can serve it with strudel.

It is very important that there are no seeds or any lumps in the sweet syrup, so before serving, you need to rub it through a sieve several times. In addition, instead of cranberries or bananas, you can use any other fruits and berries, in any case it will turn out very tasty.

All these recipes are great for Lent; the dishes will delight your family and friends.