Rules of fasting
During Lent, it is customary to follow certain nutritional rules.
Complete immersion in spiritual life during Lent is possible only if all recommendations and rules of the church are followed. It is allowed to consume foods that include vegetables, fruits, legumes, and cereals. On strict days, the diet includes food of plant origin. On the one hand, coffee is a drink based on coffee beans, which is also a plant and should not confuse anyone. On the other hand, on fasting days it is forbidden to enjoy those delicacies, the consumption of which makes one feel pleasure and enjoyment. Therefore, it is worth listening to the body by taking plant-based foods that do not cause addiction and desire. You need to eat food solely for the life support of the body, and not to satisfy your own temptations.
What foods should you not eat during Lent?
Lent is the most significant period for all believers and has a number of prohibitions when observing it. The first and last weeks are considered to be the strictest. At this time, people who completely devote themselves to prayer or lead a monastic lifestyle drink exclusively water. On days of dry eating, it is allowed to eat foods that are not subject to heat treatment.
For ordinary believers, foods of animal origin in the form of meat, fish (in some cases), dairy products, and eggs are prohibited. This includes various drinks: milk, yogurt, kefir, alcohol. Those who are wondering whether or not to drink coffee during fasting must decide whether this drink is a strong necessity. If a person has a real addiction to coffee, then you should think about giving up this kind of pleasure. The Lenten menu includes drinks that are necessary to maintain a person’s life support (water, compotes, decoctions), and not to please him. Therefore, the answer to the question of whether to satisfy the desire to drink coffee on days of spiritual cleansing or not is ambiguous.
During fasting, you are allowed to eat only a certain number of foods.
Religion's relationship to coffee
Not all people perceive religious fasting as spiritual cleansing. There are atheists who treat it as an opportunity to put the body in order - to cleanse it of toxins. If you can consume plant foods and herbal infusions, then coffee beans are a product of plant origin.
Here it is necessary to clearly understand that coffee is for a person. If he cannot live even a day without this drink, then for spiritual cleansing it is important to feel a state of humility. In this case, giving up caffeine will be a kind of sacrifice to God, giving up pleasant bodily sensations.
Some religions, such as Buddhism and its offshoots, do not allow energy drinks at all. This includes tea and coffee. According to their interpretation, a person should receive energy from prayer and God.
Stimulation of the nervous system with the help of alkaloids, even of plant origin, is unacceptable. Alcohol is also made from plant materials, but in many religions it is prohibited, especially in the East. Mormons in England also abandoned tea and coffee, believing that the prohibition was described in the Bible.
Is it possible to drink coffee while fasting?
Believers of the Catholic Church control the process of drinking coffee during Lent more strictly. Orthodox Christians do not have a clear prohibition on drinking this drink. This is food of plant origin, which means it can be consumed.
Before deciding to fast, you need to be aware of the purpose for which it is being done. If this is a time to unload the stomach or a way to lose weight, then you should not think about the correct use of coffee - you can drink it. It will bring neither benefit nor harm to such “church service”.
Important! A person who sincerely longs to cleanse his soul and draw closer to God must feel all the burdens of temptation that he has and get rid of them on his own.
Often priests condemn coffee addiction and classify the process of enjoying a coffee drink as gluttony. At the same time, people who are heavily dependent on coffee may reduce the number of cups they drink to a minimum, which will be a sign of limiting carnal desires. The main thing is to control what you can drink coffee with and not abuse it.
Along with restrictions on the consumption of your favorite drinks, there are other equally tempting delicacies: chocolate, sweets, sugar. If they do not contain forbidden products, then they can replace the absence of meat or other favorite forbidden delicacies. Those with a sweet tooth indulge themselves with various delicacies and do not feel deprived of the conditions of church restrictions. Because of this, many believers wonder whether it is possible to drink coffee with added sugar during Lent. The answer is simple - if a person does not abuse these products, then they will not interfere with his spiritual cleansing, and if it is an addiction, then the amount of pleasure should be reduced or completely eliminated.
Those who cannot completely give up coffee should reduce the amount they drink during fasting.
Is it possible to drink coffee during Lent?
A completely understandable answer to the question: “Is it possible to drink coffee while observing Lent?” given by the priest of one of the churches. He said: “If for someone coffee is just a drink, then you can drink it during fasting. And if there is dependence and an urgent need for the presence of this drink in everyday life, then it should be abandoned for the period of fasting. This is a sign of pacification of the flesh.”
If a person who is heavily dependent on a coffee drink was able to reduce the amount of its consumption to a minimum and, in addition, gave up his favorite coffee with cream, then this can be considered a sincere impulse for spiritual cleansing.
Coffee with milk during Lent
The habit of drinking a coffee drink with cream raises the question among many: what can replace milk in coffee? Vegetable substitutes in the form of coconut and soy milk products are good for this.
Coffee and religious fasting
Catholicism and Christianity
The most common type of fast for religious purposes; however, each religion has its own set of rules. Of the three Abrahamic faiths, Catholicism or Christianity is the most coffee-friendly . Although in the past it was common to abstain from meat on Fridays, as well as during Lent (the forty days leading up to the Easter holiday), most believers observe this fast only during Lent.
Judaism
Judaism, for the most part, allows coffee. The most important part of this religion is to follow a kosher diet, and one coffee is considered kosher. There are only two exceptions. Due to the decaffeination process, decaffeinated coffee is not considered kosher during Passover.
The Jewish religion has two holidays, Yom Kipper and Tisha B'Av, in which "Tzom Kal" or "light fasting" must be observed. This fast lasts 25 hours and does not allow the consumption of food or drink. It is highly recommended that the observer reduce coffee or any caffeinated drinks before these two fasts to make the fast more comfortable and avoid suffering from caffeine withdrawal headaches
Islam
Islam is much stricter. During Ramadan, the practitioner must fast from dawn to dusk for 29-30 days. This fast excludes the consumption of all food or drinks, even water. The rules are black and white; therefore, coffee is not allowed under any circumstances.
On what days is coffee prohibited?
Compliance with the rules of spiritual and bodily cleansing forces you to give up coffee during Lent. For those addicted to the aromatic drink, the question of whether you can drink coffee on the first day of fasting should not arise. Strict fasting days fall in the first and last week and exclude the possibility of drinking coffee. Water and herbal infusions are the main food during this period. This regime is observed by true laity, who coordinate this with the clergy and sincerely thirst for spiritual cleansing.
We have found out why you can’t drink coffee while you are fasting; now you need to find out how to enjoy the aroma of this plant in Lenten dishes.
Coffee, fasting and health
In recent years, we often hear that people fast not for reasons of faith, but in order to heal and cleanse the body, for a while excluding food of animal origin and gastronomic excesses in the form of fats, flour products and sweets from the diet. In this case, there are no prohibitions on coffee. Just a few rules to ensure that drinking the drink is beneficial.
- Drink natural, freshly prepared coffee, but not instant coffee.
- Don't drink coffee on an empty stomach
- The last cup should be drunk no later than 7-8 hours before bedtime.
- A safe norm for health is 300 mg of caffeine or 3-4 cups of coffee per day.
Lenten dishes with coffee
There are a huge number of coffee bean-based dishes that can be prepared during fasting. Of course, this does not apply to days of strict observance. On other less forbidden days, you can prepare Lenten aromatic coffee cakes, various variations of coffee pies (with prunes, dried apricots, raisins). Cooking lean coffee cake and coffee-chocolate cake in a slow cooker will not leave anyone indifferent who tries even a piece. Church believers know many recipes for monastery Lenten pies. The time of fasting will force you to look for a recipe and prepare Lenten coffee muffins, and a Lenten coffee gingerbread will be an indispensable source of energy and joy during the days of fasting.
Thus, the rules of fasting do not completely prohibit the consumption of coffee. Only a person’s inner desire to sincerely and righteously walk the path to spiritual purification prohibits him from enjoying this divine drink. “Everything is permissible for me, but not everything is beneficial; “Everything is permissible for me, but nothing should possess me” (1 Cor. 6:12), teaches the Apostle Paul.
Meals by day
How to eat during Lent 2021 by day? The first and final weeks are considered the most strict. These days they eat only vegetables, fruits and bread. On Good Friday you should refuse any food - this is a kind of cleansing of the body by fasting. On Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, cold food without oil is allowed, on Tuesdays and Thursdays - hot food, also without oil. And on Saturdays and Sundays you can add it to your dishes.
Vegetable messages
Vegetable cabbage rolls will fit organically into the Lenten menu. Take 10-12 cabbage leaves, boil them in salted water and beat off the roots. Sauté 2 carrots into strips and an onion into cubes in oil. Mix them with 200 g of boiled rice, 4 chopped cloves of garlic and fill the cabbage leaves with the filling. We fold them into envelopes, pour a glass of boiling water with 1 tbsp. l. tomato paste and simmer until done. You can cook cabbage rolls in vegetable broth and add tomato sauce only at the end. Add your favorite vegetables to the filling and the cabbage rolls will become even tastier.
Using recommendations on how to eat during Lent in 2021, you can easily create the right menu for every day. And if you want to share your own Lenten recipes, we will be only too glad. It is also very easy to cook during Lent with frozen vegetable and fruit mixtures. With them you can prepare a wide variety of dishes: stews, baked vegetables, soups, vegetable casseroles, as well as light and tasty desserts with berries and fruits. Have a delicious post!
Let's hit the salads
Now let's talk in more detail about what they eat on dry eating days. Mainly dry food, cooked without heat or oil. This is where fresh salads come to the rescue. Shred 400 g of white cabbage, add salt, knead with your hands and press with a plate for 15 minutes. When the cabbage gives juice, add a handful of crushed nuts, green onions and parsley to taste. Beat half of the avocado into a liquid puree and pour over the salad. This clever dressing will make it richer and tastier. A delicious salad can also be prepared from broccoli and cauliflower inflorescences: boil 150 g of each type of inflorescence in boiling water for 3 minutes, separate, and place in a salad bowl. Add your favorite spices, chunks of avocado, and the familiar avocado dressing. Pumpkin seeds will also work well in a salad. Bon appetit!
