Man during fasting. How is the polluted “heart” cleansed during fasting? Fried crispy potatoes with garlic

Only a few people keep Great Lent from the first to last day. Most of these "dared men" are deeply religious people, and only a few percent of those who fast are sitting on strict diet for cleansing and weight loss. The post has its pros and cons. Doctors give some advice on how to fast with minimal harm to the body.

If you comply not only great post, but all other fasts during the year will not require any diets. Building is guaranteed! However, diet and fasting are completely different concepts. Those who fast purify, first of all, the soul, not the body.

There are many medical indications for fasting. This is an opportunity to relieve stress, normalize metabolic processes, gain self-confidence. On the other side, modern man it is difficult to restrict yourself in food, and if you ate high-calorie foods and fast food before fasting, such a drastic change in diet can be a real psychological problem for you.

Benefits of fasting

Positive sides fast food due to the fact that a person will not consume animal fats, sausages, meat and sausages for some time. Reducing these products on the menu will be an excellent prevention of cancer, as well as diseases of the large intestine.

Avoiding animal fats and replacing them with vegetable protein helps reduce the risk of lipid metabolism disorders, which can lead to many ailments. This is coronary heart disease diabetes, stroke, obesity, hypertension. Restriction of meat in the diet helps to reduce the risk of metabolic syndrome, which is considered a precursor of serious diseases and is accompanied by dizziness, as well as decreased performance.

During fasting, of all organs, the liver, overloaded with toxins, rests the most. A healthy diet makes it possible to create a minimum load on the work of the most important organ.

Thanks to light, lean foods, the amount of dietary fiber and fiber in the food consumed increases. They enhance colonic motility, create good conditions for the development of beneficial microorganisms, eliminate the processes of decay and fermentation in the intestines. In addition, fiber eliminates toxins, constipation and helps prevent colon cancer.

Refusal of alcohol, which is prerequisite observance of Great Lent, is beneficial digestive system and has a beneficial effect on the entire body as a whole.

Cons of fasting

However, a long fast has its drawbacks, sadly. In the spring, the work of the excretory systems intensifies in the human body, and nutrition at this time of the year should be as varied as possible. The menu should contain trace elements, carbohydrates, vitamins and proteins, but during fasting all these substances and elements are clearly not enough.

If you fast for many days, make sure that fish, fruits, vegetables, bran, cereals are included in the diet every day. The ratio of carbohydrates and proteins should be ideal!

On some days of fasting, shrimp, squid and fish are allowed, and this should not be neglected. On the days of strict fasting, you need to include in the menu a lot rye bread, and legumes. Compensate for the lack of protein will help and soy products which are now available everywhere.

We must not forget about drinking mode. Water is necessary to maintain the normal functioning of blood vessels and the heart. Keep in mind that after a week of fasting, an imbalance occurs in the body - only for a healthy person, limited nutrition will not be harmful.

The period when, after fasting, you have to readjust to ordinary food is considered the most dangerous. Sudden changes in the diet give the maximum load on the digestive tract. In the first days after the end of the fast, it is very important to introduce new foods gradually and in small portions. On the first day, add 200 grams of fish or lean meat to the diet, on the second - dairy products and lean meat. At night, you can drink a glass of fat-free kefir.

For Easter, do not abuse Easter cakes - they can cause indigestion. Eat all foods in small portions for two weeks after fasting.

Who can't post?

If you have a decrease in immunity or chronic diseases, Lent will not do any good. Even diversifying the menu, you will not be able to give the body everything it needs. You must first consult with a therapist. Fasting should not be observed by pregnant women and adolescents under 16 years of age.

As for the joints and skin, the passion for animal fats and proteins, which are hard-to-digest food for our body, does not affect their condition in the best way. Salts accumulate in the joints (degenerative disc disease develops, or ossification of articular cartilage due to excess salts), the skin becomes covered acne due to increased secretion of the sebaceous glands, which are trying to get rid of excess fat, and looks unhealthy.

Subject to all the nutritional standards adopted during fasting, about a week later, complete cleaning body from toxins and metabolic products. Due to the activation of the liver, including its hematopoietic function, local blood circulation improves, which means that tissues are better saturated with oxygen. The body gradually gets rid of not only toxins, but also excess fat reserves - this is also very beneficial for overall human health. Although it should be noted that fasting food does not contribute to weight loss. The main food in fasting (from high-calorie foods): potatoes, pasta, bread, cereals. These are high-carbohydrate foods that can increase your waist size if you don't limit yourself in their quantity. Therefore, you should not consider fasting as a diet.

To enhance the cleansing effect of fasting, doctors recommend regularly visiting the bath for those people who have no contraindications to this. The bath helps to clean the skin pores and stimulates the excretory function of the skin, which means that toxins will be removed faster and better. Of course, fasting can and should be done when the body is able to cope with this load (and changing the usual diet is always a burden at first). Patients who are prescribed a special diet, it is better to fast with appropriate restrictions. For everyone else, fasting will be very useful, not only in the spiritual, but also in the physical sense.

The most important harm during fasting causes a complete exclusion from the diet of proteins and fats. In fact, to maintain life and obtain energy, only carbohydrates remain for a person. A fasting person has to sit on a strict carbohydrate-vegetable diet for a long time. Any woman who has ever tried to lose weight with the help of the so-called "buckwheat" diet knows perfectly well how it ends: hair begins to fall out, nails exfoliate, the digestive system comes into complete disorder.

Strict fasting has a similar effect on the body. The greatest load falls on the pancreas, which is forced to process only carbohydrates in immoderate amounts. The result of this diet is increased production of cholesterol. It leads to the formation of plaques in the blood vessels, which is fraught with problems with the cardiovascular system.

The second dangerous enemy is the lack of fats and animal protein. Due to the deficiency of these important elements, essential for metabolism, the body begins to “eat itself”, borrowing protein from muscle tissue. Since such important elements, like zinc, calcium, iron, sulfur, etc., the skin and hair become dry and thin. The deficiency of these substances can be observed in hermits and associates of the church, who exhaust themselves with fasts for months. Their skin resembles the thinnest parchment, their hair is sparse and lifeless.

But fasting is not useful for ordinary laymen either. At the end of it, the hair becomes very dull, brittle, problems with the nails and stomach begin, the skin acquires an earthy color and often begins to peel off. In women, even with such a strict diet, the opposite effect begins: due to the lack of animal protein and trace elements contained in meat and fish, increased production of subcutaneous fat begins. The consequence of this is the set extra pounds. And for a man, an imbalance of vitamins and metabolic disorders are not very good. The consequences of religious zeal can be obesity and diabetes.

Therefore, if you are going to fast, coordinate this with your confessor so as not to harm your body.

Many people say, why should we fast? Why should we limit ourselves in some way and infringe? About these people who say this, even though they consider themselves believers, we can safely say that they are of little faith, proud, rebellious and proud. They do not trust God and do not consider it necessary to obey him in everything, preferring to live as they want - according to their human sinful will. It is in the way a person relates to fasting that the strength of his faith, love and trust in God is manifested. But still, why did the Lord command us to fast? Let's take a closer look at this and once again make sure of the great love of the Lord for each of us. Try for the rest of your life to learn the following: if God forbids something or commands you to strictly fulfill it, then this is not because He wants it to be so or in order to show His power over a person, no, the Lord does all this only because of His great love and concern for people. We need to understand that the Lord treats us both maternally and at the same time paternally, doing everything for our good and protecting us from any trouble. For example, we are not offended by our mother when she does not allow a three-year-old child to play with fire, play with a sharp knife, makes us dress warmly on a frosty day, or at our father when he makes us learn lessons, go to school every day - we understand that our parents do all this only out of love for us.

So God gave the Laws of God in order to SAVE a person from many mistakes, including tragic fatal ones, so that Trouble does not happen to a person and he does not suffer. That is why it is necessary not only to believe in God, but also necessarily to Him — to trust and obey Him in everything! Therefore, we must follow the Lord's command regarding fasting.

Imagine, for example, you won’t clean your house, wash your floors, wash your clothes and don’t do it for a month, two, three, a year, another, third – what will happen then? Everything in your house will be covered with dirt and a thick layer of dust, worms will start, there will be a big stench and any rot and infection will be divorced. This is how we inside, in our body, accumulate waste from food and the life of the body for decades in the form of toxins, salts, fats, various harmful toxic substances and even poisons that are deposited in the body: in the liver, in the kidneys, on the walls of blood vessels, in various tissues, in the joints, the stomach and intestines are heavily polluted - all organs, including the heart, begin to work worse and do not cope with their functions. After all, it is no secret and everyone knows that with age we grow old and weaken, our body's reserves of vitality are sharply reduced, we are more and more physically tired and our body can no longer independently cope with the "Dirt" that accumulates in the body, moreover many poisons our body is simply not able to piss off and they accumulate in the body. In addition, today our food is very poor in quality, unhealthy, it has a lot of harmful chemicals, transgenes, hormones - that's why our body is so clogged, slagged, covered with mucus and starts to rot - that's why we all have such a nasty breath - we everything is slowly fading away. Well, where there is dirt, various pathogenic bacteria and viruses settle there. The human immune system is greatly weakened and becomes unable to fight various infections. All this leads to the fact that all kinds of diseases and toxic poisoning of our body begin.

The Bible says: "Why do you need a man to die at the wrong time"! Indeed, why? We are all going to die someday, why rush to the other world ahead of time, why do we really have few things to do and cares in this world? Yes, and the Lord does not want us to die at the wrong time, He wants us to be healthy and live in joy and love with our neighbors. See how God, even here, through his command to observe obligatory fasting, shows great concern for us, because observing the Fasts a person gives the opportunity to have a good rest and restore his strength to his body. During fasting, our body at the same time begins to very effectively cleanse itself of toxins, excess and unnecessary fats, mucus, rot, poisons, our body, as it were, rejuvenates, becomes strong and recovers.

Therefore, people who FAST - gradually STOP getting sick with many diseases, BECOME - strong, efficient and significantly - PROLONG their lives. That is, fasting helps a person a lot and heals his body: it restores nervous system, the cardiovascular system recovers and strengthens, our liver, intestines and kidneys are cleansed, the immune system strengthens and begins to actively work and protect our body. The spiritual benefits of Fasting are also great. During Lent, it is necessary to be more calm, take care of yourself, do not quarrel, do not shout, do not swear, do not drink, do not smoke, do not get irritated and angry, forgive everything to people and not be offended, try with all your might not to condemn people, it is necessary to abstinence in marital life - all this gradually brings up good habits in us and helps to get rid of bad behavior, that is, we become good people. And most importantly, by observing the Fast in everything, we thereby learn to fulfill the Will of God! Therefore, let's trust the Lord, let's obey him in everything and strictly according to our strength and ability to observe all the Fasts assigned to us.

Many Orthodox believers keep the Fast. But how do they follow it? Yes, they do not eat meat, they also do not consume milk and dairy products, everything seems to be fine, but there is no sense in their fasting. Because they only abstained from certain food, but they DID NOT THINK TO OBSERVE THE MAIN, Spiritual Fast - just like before Lent - they swear, swear, gossip, condemn and offend people and do not forgive themselves, PROUD, GREEDY, selfish and envious, stubborn and uncompromising, DO evil to people, drink, smoke - that's why there is NO use from such a post - they only get WORSE.

After each Lent, a person should become BETTER, KINDER, HONEST, but in life, everything happens exactly the opposite.

Many believers, as they call themselves, still CONTINUE after Lent - Swearing, shouting, getting annoyed with their neighbors, offended, condemning, swearing, always dissatisfied with something, jealous and grumbling, drinking and smoking - many believers like them call themselves. Only sins all around, not Fasting, well, who needs such a Fasting? God does not need such a post! That is why our believers observe the Fasts and pray and go to church for years, but there is no benefit and sense, as there was no - and no! How were bad people- so they remained! Do not deceive God and yourself too. It’s better to eat meat, as they say, plenty than to swear, swear, get angry and offended! There will be much more benefits for the soul!

One priest said this about fasting: “It is NECESSARY and necessary to observe fasting, but the main thing is that during Lent a person not only does not eat meat, eggs and dairy products - it is much more important that he does not eat his neighbors! He did not get angry, did not grumble and did not condemn anyone, did not swear and did not take offense at anyone, did not grumble at God! This is the kind of fasting that is pleasing to God.”

No matter how fast you observe, even the strictest, if it passes without sincere repentance, then the Lord will not accept it. Such a Fast will not lead to salvation or consolation. Most importantly, purify your heart inside and correct your character flaws and give up your bad habits. The one who Consciously Deviates and does not observe the Fast - he does not Care about his salvation!

Fasting strengthens and IMPROVES a person’s character, EDUCATES GOOD habits in us, RELIEVES us from resentment, irritability and anger, from impatience and intemperance, teaches us to endure and endure difficulties, increases willpower.

Prayer is powerless if it is not based on Fasting, and Fasting is also fruitless if it is carried out without prayer. On a fasting person, that is, on a humble person, demons do not dare to attack.

True Post in broad sense- there is precisely Obedience to God, - that is, strict observance of the Commandments of God, the conduct of a righteous and pious life.

“Beware of measuring and considering Fasting only as a simple abstinence from food,” says St. Basil the Great. “Those who abstain from food, and behave badly at the same time, are likened to the devil, who, although he does not eat anything, does not stop doing his evil deeds, does not stop sinning.”

Fasting will be pleasing to the Lord if we also have a GOOD disposition towards people during it; and the enemy is trying to put impudence, anger, irritability, despondency into us and thereby do more harm to the soul than good, therefore the Lord will never accept such a fast.

Fasting has tremendous beneficial power. This is a sword that cuts passions. The grace-filled power of fasting comes from obedience to the Divine Will — In Fasting, a person cuts off his sinful will, subordinating it to God's Will. It is very IMPORTANT during Lent - DO NOT WATCH TV.

To the question: “Does it matter to God what kind of food a person eats?” - Ambrose of Optina answered: “It is not food that matters, but God's Commandment about fasting. Adam was expelled from Paradise not for overeating, but for eating only the forbidden, that is, for not obeying and not obeying the Lord. Why even now on Thursday or Tuesday, you can eat whatever you want, and God does not punish for this, but punishes for Wednesday and Friday, because we do not obey His command to fulfill this Commandment about Fasting. What is especially important here is that through obedience to God, a person learns to SELF-DISCIPLINE.

It is necessary that all believers STRICTLY FOLLOW all the decrees of the Orthodox Church, and observe all Fasts and fast days - Wednesday and Friday, and never violate the rules of the Orthodox Church on Fasting. The examples of Germans, Frenchmen, Poles and other foreigners who do not observe the Fast, assuring that there is little or no sin in food, misled the Russian Orthodox people, they set an example for them not to respect the Fast. If this were true, then our first parents would not have been expelled from Paradise for eating the fruit of the forbidden tree, and this tree was a fig tree. But the power of sin did not consist in the fruit of the tree, but in the violation of the prohibition and in disobedience, disobedience to the Will of God. So now sin does not consist in food, but in violation and disobedience - the rules of the Church, which were established by the Lord Himself.

The essence of Lent is SELF-DISCIPLINE of the human personality. It must be remembered that Fasting without prayer and repentance is just an ordinary HUNGER STRIKE. Don't be confused.

The purpose of Fasting is to tame bodily passions, impulses and inclinations, and thereby humble a person. If God allowed a person any disease, then this goal has already been achieved. What else can Fasting give him?

The main purpose of Fasting is to humble yourself before God and learn to obey Him completely - LEARN Obedience.

Every prayer needs humility, so fast and you will receive from the Lord what you ask. Prayer is inseparable from Fasting, and Fasting is inseparable from prayer.

No one, even on his deathbed, can be allowed to eat meat on Wednesday and Friday, except on Easter days and those when it is allowed by the Church.

Holy Orthodox Church, established the Posts, not in order to undermine human health and cause any harm to him, of course not, because the Lord Himself loves His creation and never does any harm to a person, everything that God gives, all this serves only for the benefit of man, so God blesses Fasting to a person only for his benefit, primarily spiritual. Fasting, especially in our time, when various chemical substances, which have a harmful effect on the human body, and cause severe and even fatal diseases, and Fasting sharply limits the intake of such harmful substances into the body and, moreover, it also cleanses the human body well of any accumulated poisons, toxins, toxins. Therefore, Fasting serves to balance the nutrition of a person, enrich his diet with vegetables and fruits, and strengthen the dominance of the spirit over the body in a person.

Saint John of Damascus says that humility and thanksgiving are more useful for a weak and sick person than unbearable bodily exploits. Fasting is necessary only for healthy people. Healthy man must observe all the Fasts, must fast.

A sick person - SHOULD NOT observe the Fasts - because the disease itself for him is already a kind of Fasting. And besides, a sick person needs additional strength to recover, which is why he must eat well. The Lord demands obligatory reasoning from people, a reasonable approach to everything, in everything you need to look for a golden reasonable mean.

The main reason for breaking the Fast is LACK OF BELIEF, and lack of faith is due to the fact that people are proud, selfish, dishonorable, deceitful, rude, they treat people BADly and indifferently, and therefore the Lord DESERVES them real faith and the fear of God. That's why all people of little faith are disobedient to God - disobedient!

The main food during Lent should be bread, potatoes, buckwheat, peas, etc. You can look at everything else only as a flavor seasoning. Then, during Lent, a person will feel strong and vigorous, only fat will disappear.

The obligatory weekly Fast before communion of the Holy Mysteries of Christ is imposed only on those people who do not observe fasts, do not observe the fast days Wednesday and Friday. All those who are fasting, all those who are preparing for the Communion of the Holy Mysteries must completely abstain from all food and all drink from midnight the day before.

Many of the people do not like that the Church requires abstinence in sexual relations during all Fasts and fasting days Wednesday and Friday, the Church also requires people to abstain from Sexual intimacy on the night from Saturday to Sunday, all Sunday, and on every major Orthodox holiday. Many holy elders warned people quite harshly about their responsibility for violating these rules and God’s severe punishment of those people who do not want to recognize anything and do not want to keep the rules established by God and the Church of Reverence, honoring and keeping all Fasts and fast days, Sundays and major days. Orthodox holidays.

God is not mocked! For people who - DO NOT KEEP Fasting and fasting days Wednesday and Friday and have Sex these days - children are born WEAK and Sick, childbirth IS HARD and it happens - children die.

Women who - DO NOT KEEP the holy days of Sunday and major Orthodox holidays - have sex these days - die during childbirth.