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.
Almond milk
Ingredients:
- raw almonds - 1 cup;
- water - three glasses.
Preparation
- Let's put the nuts in the water and forget about them for a day or at least 5 hours.
- Drain the water. We remove or leave the nut skin as desired; in the latter case, the color of the milk will be beige, as if it were melted.
- Again, fill the nuts with three glasses of water and grind them in a blender as finely as possible.
- Place a piece of gauze in a strainer, strain the resulting mass and squeeze thoroughly. The milk is ready, you can add it to your coffee without fear of spoiling it.
This milk must be stored in the refrigerator for no more than five days!
Fast with joy in your soul! Any priest will tell you that the Lord would be more willing to forgive you for eating a cutlet or the same cup of coffee during Lent than for anger, indifference, or hypocrisy. And therefore, while thinking about the little things, do not forget about the main thing.
Here the priest speaks very well and clearly:
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If you count all fasting days according to the Orthodox calendar, then there will be at least 200 of them. The longest is considered to be Lent, which has many restrictions and prohibitions on different types of foods and even drinks in the daily diet. Orthodox believers are often interested in questions about whether it is possible to drink coffee during Lent, and whether it is permissible to add sugar or cinnamon to it.
Adhering to restrictions on fasting days, people exclude animal products from their usual menu. Meat and products made from it, dairy products in any form, as well as eggs and animal oil are prohibited. Food of plant origin is allowed for consumption.
Coffee is made from coffee beans and then goes through a brewing process, so there are no strict restrictions on this drink. However, in Catholic Christianity, drinking this drink during fasting days is not allowed. The Orthodox Church also does not approve of drinking coffee during Lent. Church ministers explain their recommendations to give up the drink as follows:
- Fasting is not a strict diet. The meaning of fasting is broader and consists in the renunciation of earthly pleasures in favor of spiritual quests.
- Often the caffeine contained in the drink makes a person addicted. People cannot imagine the morning without the obligatory cup of aromatic drink. Such attachment can develop a tendency towards gluttony, which is one of the deadly sins. The point of fasting is to train fortitude, including the ability to give up uncontrollable cravings for coffee.
The consumption of the aromatic drink is prohibited during the period of strict fasting. This time falls on the first and last week of fasting. On such days you are allowed to drink only water.
Fast days of dry eating also exclude any opportunity to drink coffee. This time is intended for plant foods, and they should not be processed in any way. In addition to water, you can drink herbal infusions. According to the method of preparation, the coffee drink is classified as a decoction, that is, it undergoes heat treatment, so people who strictly adhere to the rules of fasting cannot drink it. Lenten coffee simply does not exist in this case.
Dry eating is most often chosen by monastic believers. For lay people, taking such vows is not mandatory. And even if a person decides to test himself in this way, he should coordinate his choice with his spiritual father.
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.
So what did we find out?
The laity is not expected to perform monastic feats, so coffee is not subject to church prohibitions, as are sugar, low-fat soy milk and other plant products. Formally, you can drink coffee during fasting.
If you adhere not only to the formal rules, but also to the spirit of Lent, then you should not drink coffee during Lent. Especially those of us who are sincerely attached to this drink. Fasting requires not only adherence to a diet, but also humility of desires.
On this issue we agree with the church ministers. If you have already decided to hold a fast, then you should do it not formally, but from the heart. Therefore, it is better to forget about your favorite drink before Easter, so as not to fall into temptation.
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 and blood test
Before performing a blood test, doctors will advise their patients to fast for 8 to 12 hours. This fast requires staying away from food and drinks other than water. While some people may consider plain black coffee without milk or sweetener to be nothing more than water, this is not the case.
The caffeine in coffee is absorbed by the body and can disrupt the body's fluid and electrolyte balance, skewing results. In addition, coffee consumption can affect the liver, causing the release of hormones into the bloodstream. In fact, coffee can stay in your system for up to six hours!
Before doing any blood tests, it is best to drink water to bring your body to its natural state. However, as with any medical test, it is best to follow your doctor's instructions.
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.
Fasting for health
The time of fasting can be used usefully, not only for reasons of faith. This is a great way to unload and cleanse the body. By eliminating junk food, you can improve your condition.
What can be said about coffee, looking at the issue from this position?
- It is not recommended to drink black drink on an empty stomach.
- We exclude instant coffee (see freeze-dried coffee). We use only natural coffee, preferably freshly ground (see expiration date of ground coffee).
- In the evening, do not load your body with caffeine (see which coffee is the strongest). Otherwise, you risk having problems sleeping.
