What and when can you eat during Lent? When can you eat fish during fasting? What can you eat at night

Christian faith teaches people to lead a modest lifestyle and not to be carried away by gluttony. The days when Christians fast are not days of tormenting themselves with hunger, but days of spiritual purification, repentance for sins and humble prayer for their forgiveness. Abstinence from gluttony is a natural part of this process and every Christian knows what can you eat in fasting.

How to eat healthy while fasting

The Holy Church of Christ defined as one day posts, and multi-day. Every Wednesday and Friday, a Christian refrains from eating meat and dairy foods. This is done as a sign of memory of the tragic days in the earthly life of Jesus Christ. As we know from the Bible, on Wednesday he was betrayed into the hands of the Roman soldiers by Judas, and on Friday he was crucified on the cross. There are four multi-day fasts during the year.

Great post. This is the longest and most rigorous post. It lasts for seven weeks preceding the Day of the Holy Resurrection of Jesus Christ. Charter Orthodox Church allows during Great Lent to use vegetable oil only on Saturdays and Sundays. On the day of the Annunciation and the Entry of the Lord into Jerusalem, the use of lean fish. On the rest of the days of Great Lent, Christians eat only vegetable food and bread.
Assumption post. This fast lasts from August 14 to 27 and is dedicated to the memory of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The severity of this fast is similar to the severity of Great Lent. On the Day of the Transfiguration of the Lord, August 19, Christians are allowed to eat fish. On other days, the diet consists only of lean dishes.
Christmas post. This fast is also very long, namely, it lasts 40 days until the very Nativity of Christ, which we always celebrate on January 6 in a new style. The Nativity Fast is less strict than the Great or Dormition Fast. So during this fast, with the exception of Monday, Wednesday and Friday, it is allowed to eat fish and vegetable oil. On the eve of Christmas, Christians fast especially strictly and limit themselves in almost everything. AT last day before Christmas, Christians do not eat anything at all until the first evening star rises in the sky. Only after its appearance, you can eat dried fruits soaked in water. This dish is called "sochivo", hence the name. last day before Christmas - "Christmas Eve".
Petrovsky post. This post is dedicated to the memory of the Great Apostles Christian Church Peter and Paul. It is similar in severity to the Nativity Fast. It begins a week after the Feast of the Holy Trinity and lasts until the feast day of the Apostles.

Before you start fasting, be sure to make it clear to yourself that you are not going to starve, but want to stop eating fatty foods for a while. The ridiculous idea of torturing yourself with hunger will not lead you to anything good. This is how you can earn gastritis, especially since the power of faith in most of us is not as powerful as that of holy people who could manage only spiritual food for many weeks and did not feel any weakness at the same time. Do not forget about the main purpose of the post and do not focus your attention on the secondary. If a person constantly experiences a feeling of hunger, then it will interfere with him in his spiritual purification. Instead of thinking about God and about your lifestyle, you will only be worried about food, and instead of feeling deep repentance, only irritability and impatience will arise.

What can you eat while fasting

Let's figure it out together when it comes post do's and don'ts eat. Let's say right away that any fruits and vegetables can be eaten in any form and in any quantity every day. That is, your stomach will never be empty during fasting. In addition, the consumption of pure fruits and vegetables without any accompanying products leads to the maximum absorption of all vitamins and minerals. useful substances that are present in these priceless gifts of nature. During summer post Of course, you need to eat all kinds of salads from fresh vegetables. During the winter fast, at your service are all kinds of pickles and, of course, vegetables and fruits, which in our time people have learned to store all year round.

During fasting, you can not only eat dishes from raw vegetables, but also boil them. Of course, boiled vegetables lose about ninety percent of their nutritional value. Vegetables should be boiled in as little water as possible and should not be overcooked. It is not necessary during fasting to go in cycles only in potatoes and cabbage. The Lord gave us a lot of delicious vegetables and you can alternate them during fasting. These are zucchini, pumpkin, cauliflower, green pea, corn, beans and many other tasty and healthy vegetables and fruits. The more varied your plant foods on fasting days, the better.

The first dishes during fasting should be prepared without meat, but this does not mean that they will not be tasty and satisfying. You can always add various cereals to the soup, which are both healthy and high-calorie foods.

Do not forget that during fasting, Christians are allowed to eat almost any cereal. It is unlikely that after a plate of delicious porridge, someone will feel hungry. Although porridge these days is allowed to cook only on water and without adding oil to them. But you can add raisins, nuts, dried apricots, mushrooms or carrots to the porridge. At the same time, it will become both tastier and healthier.

There is an opinion that by refusing to eat meat, milk and eggs, a person thereby deprives himself of the protein that is so necessary for normal operation organism. This opinion is only partially correct. The fact is that the Lord gave us a mass of plant cultures rich in proteins no less than meat, milk and eggs. During the period of fasting, they must be included in your daily ration. Mushrooms, eggplants, all without exception are rich in proteins. legumes and of course soy, which contains the most protein and other nutrients. Nowadays, in the culinary departments of stores, you can always buy excellent soy dishes, which are almost the same in taste and calorie content. meat products. Why not take advantage of this while fasting?

Many people, speaking about nutrition during fasting, forget about non-strict days, which, by the way, during fasting are much more than strict days. These days you can eat buns, bagels, cookies, vegetable oil and any fish meals. Can you still be hungry? Of course not! Another thing is that during fasting you can not overeat these dishes. The essence of nutrition at this time is only to satisfy the feeling of hunger, but not in the excessive eating of lean foods.

The main thing is that during fasting your food should be simple and not oversaturated with various spices. Try to cook more boiled dishes and steamed food. Proper nutrition during fasting, combined with sincere prayer, they turn fasting not into suffering, but into powerful spiritual pleasure.

Now let's talk about what absolutely not to eat during fasting. Definitely forbidden to eat meat, poultry, eggs and all dairy products, even kefir. On strict days, fish and vegetable oil are prohibited.

Many people have a question, how can you cook the same salad or fry vegetables without vegetable oil. Meanwhile, to prepare a salad, you can use lemon juice or marinade. You can fry vegetables easily and without oil. To do this, you need to have a frying pan with a Teflon coating. In the summer, oil is absolutely necessary for making salads, since fresh vegetables already very juicy.

Temporary refusal of dairy products brings nothing but benefits to the body. Nutritionists have long argued that, in essence, milk is a product for children, and for adults it is generally in pure form not recommended as their body does not absorb it well.

During fasting it is forbidden to eat sweets. Probably it is not necessary to say once again that sweets are far from the dishes that the body needs for the body. Of course, during fasting, it is unacceptable to use alcoholic beverages. Even a glass of good wine is already a sign of idleness. The time of fasting does not imply such a state of the soul of a Christian, for fasting is not a holiday, but, if you like, the work of the mind and soul.

Finally, you need to spend a little time on how you need to end the fast and switch to your usual diet. In no case, after the completion of the fast, one should greedily pounce on a heavy meat food. The body has lost the habit of it during fasting, so in the first days after fasting, try to eat less meat. No need to abuse spices and very salty foods. Everything that you gave up during the fast should return to your diet gradually, but by no means immediately.

I decided to write an article about what you can eat in fasting, what dishes you can cook on a fasting table.

After all, you want to eat tasty, varied, healthy and not boring, so that every day you don’t eat the same thing, right?

I want to offer you some delicious ideas on how to feed yourself and your family during the fasting period.

From this article you will learn:

What can you eat in the post - menu for lean nutrition

So, many people know that fasting can be strict and not strict.

Moreover, during the same fast there are certain differences in the daily diet.

Accordingly, the dishes that are consumed are different.

Strict fasting and not strict - what is the difference between them?

All posts vary in their degree of severity.

Strict post:

during strict fast only plant foods are allowed (vegetables, fruits, cereals), and all animal products are completely excluded. Food can be thermally processed or raw (these are days of dry eating).

Less strict post:

when allowed on some days vegetable oil in dishes from plant foods.

Not a strict post:

fish and vegetable oil are allowed these days. Otherwise, all food is plant-based, meat, milk and eggs are not consumed at all.

Lent is considered the strictest. The rest are less strict.

What can be cooked in the post?

Many believe that fasting is exclusively carrot cutlets, sauerkraut and “empty” rice… But, in fact, everything is not so scary at all, friends!

How do you like lasagna, spaghetti, pizza, various pancakes, dumplings, pancakes, pies and pies? It is not necessary to cook from white wheat flour if we don't want to get better! You can cook from buckwheat, corn, oat, pea, etc.

And how do you like various delicious sandwiches with hearty pates, vegetable and mushroom caviar, jelly, mushroom aspic, sweet cereals, dumplings with different fillings and “lazy” dumplings (gnocchi, dumplings, dumplings), juliennes, various salads with such a hearty composition, that they fit to call the main dish and dumplings?

Borscht, cabbage soup, soups, mushroom and nut dishes, and even “scrambled eggs” without eggs!

And how many sweets you can cook, it's generally incomprehensible to the mind!

And sweets, and kozinaki, and pies, and cookies, and even cakes with cream!

Including - cakes without flour, without eggs and without sugar, this is already "aerobatics", but you can also learn this!

And it's far from full list those dishes that are called lenten ...

And if fish is allowed, it’s generally a holiday: it’s fish soup, cutlets, meatballs with rice, fish pastes (pates), steamed, fried, grilled and oven fish.

With vegetables, stuffed, stewed with mushrooms and onions, various fillings with fish for pies and pancakes ... You can’t list everything!

What products can be used in the preparation of lenten dishes?

Cereals:

millet, wheat, barley, barley, rice of all varieties,. More buckwheat, bulgur, couscous, spelt, corn grits. As well as oatmeal, and cereal from several types of cereals.

We prepare from them:

porridge, add to vegetable dishes, make cutlets, zrazy, fillings for pies and pies, prepare cereal soups and various casseroles.

From buckwheat, oatmeal, rice, barley, corn flour, rye flour, spelled flour we cook our pastries and bread.

Vegetables - absolutely everything

We prepare from them:

soups, vegetable stews, vegetable purees, puree soups, various fillings, vegetable sauces and meatballs.

We add them to pates, make salads from raw and boiled vegetables, casseroles, stew, bake, boil, fry, steam them.

We add cereals, mushrooms to them, pour them with all kinds of delicious sauces and eat just like that, cut into pieces.

Berries, fruits and dried fruits - absolutely everything

We prepare from them:

fruit purees, marshmallows, compotes, fruit drinks, kissels, jams and jams for tea. We twist and freshly squeezed juices, add to pastries, prepare fillings for pancakes and pies, add to cereals. We eat just like that, whole or cut into beautiful pieces.

Greens - any

From it we prepare:

“green” salads, add to smoothies, cut into salads from boiled and raw vegetables, sprinkle generously on our prepared dishes, make “green” toppings for our pancakes and pies.

Legumes:

peas, beans of all kinds, beans, chickpeas, mung beans, lentils.

Cooking from beans:

soups, mashed soups, add to salads, boil and mash, add to vegetable stews, cook bean pastes, fillings, etc.

Nuts - whatever you like

We cook from nuts: nut sauces (sweet and salty), nut muffins, nut cutlets, make gozinaki and halva, prepare delicious nut milk, add to pates and fillings, sprinkle our cereals with chopped nuts and add to any other dishes, pastries.

We make cheese from nuts. Cooking nut pastes and nut urbechi. We bite just like that

Seeds:

sunflower, sesame, flax, poppy, chia seeds, hemp seeds.

We prepare from them:

we add to pastries, make gozinaki, sauces for dishes (sweet and salty), sprinkle our cereals with crushed seeds and add to other dishes.

Cooking vegetable milk (sweet and unsweetened), urbechi from seeds, cheese from seeds, tahina (tahini, tahini) from sesame seeds and pasta-mix for sandwiches from various seeds.

Mushrooms are everything

We fry them, stew them, bake them, cook them on the grill, steam them.

We cook them with various fillings, make pastes from them, cook julienne, add them to vegetable dishes, soups, prepare mushroom soups, mushroom fillings, add them to cereals, salads.

Vegetable oil - any you want

For salads, cold dishes and snacks, and in ready-made dishes, it is best to use vegetable oils of the first cold pressing. They have both taste and aroma - just divine!

Choose the ones that you like: olive, linseed, camelina, and hemp oil grape seeds and walnut oil, sesame.

As well as mustard oil, coconut, rice, from sunflower seeds and from pumpkin seeds.

For frying-cooking-stewing, 100% oils and refined ones are suitable, they are odorless and can be cooked on, as well as coconut oil.

Where to get protein in a lean diet?

Mushrooms are our "meat" for the period fast food. This includes legumes, nuts, herbs and seeds.

All of these foods are highly nutritious a large number of squirrel, healthy fats(nuts and seeds), as well as vitamins and minerals.

During fasting, all these products are MANDATORY in daily diet. In this case, you will not have any "protein starvation".

What kind of cereals are prepared for fasting?

Our Russian porridge is not just food, it is a whole "philosophy"! Of course, we are not talking about fast, instant cereals, which "filled in and immediately ate."

Although, this is also an option: simple cereals or a mixture of cereals, filled with boiling water or vegetable milk, yes with the addition of berries, nuts, fruits and seeds - why not a hearty, delicious breakfast?

And porridge with vegetables, mushrooms - why not a wonderful and hearty dish for dinner?

The main idea here is this: porridge is never NOT tasty. The porridge just needs to be cooked properly.

Here's an example: barley. Do not love? You just don't know how to cook it!…

Here you need to know the secret of delicious barley. Try to do this: rinse it, pour enough large quantity boiling water, wrap in a warm blanket and let it brew all night, 8-10 hours. If all the water is not absorbed, then drain it, fill it again with a small amount of water and boil it for 10 minutes.

Fry separately the onion, cut into beautiful rings and grated potatoes, add spices and mix with the finished barley.

You can also add mushrooms if you like.

No one will refuse such porridge!

A similar story with buckwheat porridge. Do you like it with milk? Please: grind seeds or nuts with water in a blender, strain, and you will have the healthiest milk in the world! Any porridge is good with vegetable milk, and buckwheat is especially good. Make it sweet or savory, whichever you like.

An excellent option for buckwheat porridge is buckwheat with onions, carrots and other fried vegetables.

Buckwheat with mushrooms and onions - who would refuse it, right?

Very tasty buns, pancakes are prepared from buckwheat flour and “Grechaniki” are fried.

In stores, look for spaghetti or any other pasta from buckwheat flour. It is very tasty and unusual!

Prepare sweet pilaf from rice: add steamed raisins, nuts, seeds, any fresh berries or fruit, drizzle with sweet nut sauce or honey. This is a meal!

And rice with mushrooms and vegetables? Why not swim? A very tasty and satisfying dish, the absence of meat and you will not notice ...

Any porridge can be served with a sauce prepared by yourself. It's easier than ever - to prepare the sauce from the same seeds or nuts. You can make vegetable sauce, tomato sauce, sweet fruit and berry sauce.

Be sure to add spices to any cereal. This will enrich the taste of your cereals, give them an incredible flavor and make them healthier and easier to digest.

Dried fruits in the post

Of course, dried fruits are eaten in fasting.

The amount of vitamins in them, of course, falls, but the amount of sugar increases.

But, despite this, the benefits of dried fruits are still all in doubt, because all trace elements are stored there in the necessary and sufficient quantity.

They are commercially available, they are not so expensive in price, especially since there are a lot of them and you can’t eat them. Of course, it is better to buy those that have not been processed, that have been dried and stored without being exposed to "chemical attack."

They are not as beautiful and glossy as those that were first soaked in sugar syrup and dried under high temperature, and then also treated with sulfur dioxide, etc., but you know for 100% that you do not harm yourself by using them.

You can eat dried fruits and just like that, say, with tea. To do this, it is better to pre-soak them in water. They will become juicy and soft, and will look like fresh ones.

From any dried fruit you can make a delicious dessert-delicacy.

Especially good in this dessert will be: figs, cherries, large prunes.

Need juice from red berries. If it’s not the season, then feel free to get your blanks from the shelves and get started! Add the following spices to the juice: vanilla, cinnamon, cloves, cardamom, nutmeg, black pepper and sugar. Add dried fruits cut into large pieces, mix and boil it all over very low heat: first without a lid for 50-60 minutes, then under the lid for another 40 minutes. Look, it may take less time. The main thing is that the syrup becomes thick.

Such a dessert can be served with tea, served with porridge, and just cracked with a spoon ...

The use of dried fruits is not limited to this.

Many amazing things are done with dried fruits: for example, they are added to the stuffing for stuffing tomatoes, sweet bell peppers and eggplant. They are stewed with red beans and fried onions.

It turns out unusual, original and piquant.

How to cook mushrooms in the post?

If we do not take into account the “newfangled” soybeans, then mushrooms are exactly the “meat” that will be on our table during the entire post.

Mushroom soup, potatoes with mushrooms and onions, vegetable stew with mushrooms, mushroom julienne, mushroom caviar, potato cutlets stuffed with mushrooms, with mushroom sauce (zrazy), mushroom risotto and dumplings with mushrooms…

All this, of course, can be prepared quite calmly from dried mushrooms and from frozen ones. Not only bored champignons and oyster mushrooms will do. Honey mushrooms, chanterelles, boletus, porcini mushrooms - everything is good!

AT recent times You can also find Japanese shiitake mushrooms. He is the "world champion" in wrestling cancer. In addition, they are incredibly tasty, the Japanese know a lot!

And the huge, just giant portobello mushrooms? It tastes like pure chicken! And they are often sold in ordinary supermarkets, ask!

Mushrooms have a fantastic variety, and this is a great occasion for daily "mushroom experiments" in order to cook mushrooms often, cook a lot and tasty.

Here are some options for you:

You can make sandwiches with tapenade from forest mushrooms: grind capers with olive oil, add lemon juice, season with salt and pepper. It turns out such a paste that is perfectly smeared on toasted slices of bread, and between two slices - slices of mushrooms fried to a crisp.
And from the good old oyster mushrooms, a salad “emerges” by itself: mushrooms, apples, celery stalks, lettuce and large dark grapes fried to a beautiful ruddy. Everything is poured with lemon juice dressing with mashed pine nuts, salt, pepper and a dash of cinnamon. Mmm…
And champignons fried with soy sauce, honey, sesame seeds and green onions? Served hot, immediately, they are incredible!

How to eat nuts and seeds in fasting?

Nuts play an important role in our lean diet.

They can not only sprinkle cakes and add to a salad of beets and garlic ...

During fasting, when almost every protein counts, nuts are simply an irreplaceable thing!

If the nuts are fresh, then this, consider that “almost a panacea” in autumn-winter period when all sorts of colds and SARS pester us.

Nuts are just so nice to nibble on and make nut pastes out of them. It does not have to be peanuts, very tasty pastes are obtained from absolutely any nuts! It is even better to make from nuts, moreover, from raw ones. Still, peanut butter is an ambiguous product ...

Although, if you really want to, then you can, but not much. It is very easy to cook at home: roast peeled peanuts in the oven, twist it in a meat grinder twice, add salt and water to the desired consistency.

Or immediately twist everything in a blender - peanuts + salt + water.

The same principle is used to make raw nut paste:

Do you want something sweet? No problem: add honey and cinnamon.
Do you want something unusual? Please: add pepper, quite a bit of honey and spices. A very original taste is obtained from nut paste!
Want something more satisfying? Then combine lightly roasted nuts in a blender (perfect for this appetizer) walnuts, but you can use any, be guided by your taste), fried onions, salt, pepper and water. Very, very tasty, hearty and fragrant snack! It smells so that you immediately need to spread it on your bread and eat it until the homemade “grind”, otherwise you won’t get it, believe me!
If you want to make something "more impressive" for a snack, then you can add boiled beans and a little bit of garlic to this recipe. Again: we scroll everything in a blender with the addition of water to the desired pasty consistency.
You can do the same with seeds - cook pasta, and spread it every morning thin layer on a piece of bread, crispy toast, cookies (sweet or salty) or whole grain bread. Hearty, tasty, healthy, what else do you need, right?

Make sweet pastes, make salty ones, whatever you want!

Who said tahini has to be salty?

Are you afraid of experiments? Then prepare sweet tahini: sesame seeds(can be raw, or fried in a dry frying pan, with roasted seeds it turns out many times more aromatic) + honey + cinnamon + salt.

This is such an amazing thing, folks! To say it's delicious is an understatement! Therefore, immediately, as soon as you cook, grab yourself a spoonful of bread, and only then call your family, although you won’t have to call them, I’m sure: the aroma of roasted sesame seeds is such a thing that they themselves will resort to, believe me!

Here is another very original idea for a snack: raw almonds, lemon juice, a little honey, fresh basil leaves, salt, a little garlic and ginger (proportions are arbitrary, to your taste), scroll through a meat grinder or in a blender, adding so much water to get a paste of the consistency you need.

Then you take apples, carrots, celery stalks, cucumbers and whatever else you can think of, cut into pieces and eat them, dipping them in the prepared sauce.

Very tasty, unusual, nutritious and mega-healthy snack! Be sure to cook, you will definitely like it!

I really like to cook various pastas and pates from seeds and nuts, it helps out so much when there is no time, but you need to eat something quickly, preferably healthy!

And do not be afraid of the calorie content, you, even if you want, will not be able to eat a lot, it's very satisfying!

Such pastes can not only be spread on bread, they can be used as fillings, and add to your own porridges, and spaghetti instead of sauce.

Store nut or seed paste in the refrigerator.

Lenten first courses

Friends, try to do this, and buckwheat soup will become your "favorite" for the lenten period, honestly!

And how do you like the idea of kharcho soup, gazpacho, pickle? You can continue the list. All this can be cooked without meat, and all this is quite tasty and nutritious!

So, friends, this is what I wanted to tell you today. I really hope that you will take some ideas for yourself and apply them.

If you liked the ideas from this article, then share with your friends on social. networks, friends and co-workers at work.

Write in the comments what you can eat in the post, your ideas for lean nutrition. What are you cooking? I will be very interested, I'm always looking for something new and cool.

And other readers will also be interested to know, write!

See you soon, my dears!

Alena Yasneva was with you, Health and Delicious Lent to everyone!

If you are fasting and would like to know what you can eat during this period and what is prohibited, we suggest that you familiarize yourself with the list of products. Do not think that by fasting, you will starve and not eat up. A properly selected menu and knowledge of the main products containing fats, carbohydrates and proteins will allow you to easily observe the holy cleansing, and even lose those extra pounds.

In fasting, you can eat any fruits and vegetables:

Potato
Cabbage, including sauerkraut
Mushrooms
Radish and radish, turnip
Beet
Carrot
Onion and garlic
Greens and leaf lettuce
Eggplant and zucchini
Bell pepper
Cucumbers, including pickles
Pumpkin
Apples
Pears
Bananas
Tangerines, oranges, grapefruit and lemon
Persimmon
Plum and grapes
Peaches and apricots
Any berries

Vegetables and mushrooms can be boiled, stewed, baked without adding butter. Great amount salads and snacks will come from vegetables. Fruits can be eaten fresh, or baked, make salads. The addition of vegetable oil is allowed only on Saturday, Sunday and holidays.

In the post you can eat any cereals and cereals:

Buckwheat
Oatmeal
Millet
Pearl barley
Lentils, peas and beans
Corn porridge
Manka

You can also eat dried fruits, nuts, pasta, cookies and bread (without eggs and egg powder). You can cook delicious pastries, pies, most importantly without the addition of animal fats and eggs. Fish is allowed twice during the entire fast: on the Annunciation of the Most Holy Theotokos and on Palm Sunday. If you find it hard to fast without fish, then it is better to replace it with soy products. Even on holidays you can drink a small amount of wine.

In fasting, you can not eat products of animal origin:

Meat and all meat products
Bird and eggs
Milk and all dairy products (sour cream, cottage cheese, yoghurts, kefir, cheeses and milk drinks)
Baked goods and pasta with eggs, butter
Mayonnaise
Chocolate
Fast food food because it has a lot of fat
Fish and vegetable oil, excluding weekends and public holidays
Alcohol, with the exception of a small amount of wine on a holiday

In fact, modern priests, speaking about fasting, note that this is a restriction that a person must make for himself. For some people, it is enough to give up only meat, while eating dairy products, while someone needs to adhere to fasting according to all the canons.

Pregnancy is a period that requires careful monitoring of the state of health. The expectant mother should remember that the development of the child depends primarily on her well-being. It is very important to get enough rest and eat right.

Why is there so much focus on nutrition? And are there any diets for pregnant women?

Restrictions during pregnancy

Until recently, there were strict nutritional requirements during pregnancy. Gynecologists closely monitored weight gain and urged not to feed the child, allergists for some reason forbade eating honey and citrus fruits. With even minor swelling, pregnant women were not allowed to drink more than 1 liter of any liquid per day.

But do these strict restrictions have any justification? And is it worth following such recommendations?

Modern nutritional requirements for pregnant women

To date, it has been proven that there is no direct relationship between the nutrition of the mother and the weight of the child. The baby in any situation will absorb exactly as much nutrients how much he needs this moment. And even if future mom for some reason, he limits himself in food, first of all, the child will be provided with food. Its development will not suffer, unlike the health of a woman.

Baby weight gain depends on various factors, including diseases endocrine system mother. That is why, with an increase in sugar levels (diabetes mellitus of pregnant women), children weighing 4–5 kg are born, regardless of the constitution and nutrition of the mother.

Diet for weight gain

Do I need a diet with a significant increase? What to do if the weight is growing rapidly? There is no single answer to this question. Previously, 11-15 kg was considered a normal increase throughout pregnancy. Today, these boundaries have expanded.

It is assumed that the body of a pregnant woman is able to control its own needs. But sometimes it's better to use common sense. Constant desire there is - normal condition during pregnancy, especially in the early stages. But you need to eat not buns and cakes, but full snacks.

It is advisable to eat not 2-3 times a day, but 4-6 and do it in small portions. Such fractional nutrition useful not only during pregnancy, but also after childbirth.

In the case of a significant weight gain, the main emphasis should be on plant foods - vegetables and fruits, meat, cottage cheese. And the quantity carbohydrate food reduce in your diet. This is especially true for easily digestible carbohydrates- potatoes, bread, chocolate, sweets and sugary drinks.

You need to know that sometimes under the mask of hunger can hide common desire drink. And a glass of plain water will help get rid of annoying sucking in the spoon.

Balanced diet

In order for food to be properly absorbed, it is necessary to properly distribute their intake throughout the day.

The most high-calorie should be lunch. At this time, you can eat whatever you want. If possible, the menu includes the first course - soup or soup-puree. They are well absorbed and do not overload digestive system. If the desire to eat persists, lunch is complemented by a second course - boiled, stewed, baked meat with a side dish or vegetable salad.

Breakfast in terms of calories and volume is usually inferior to the lunch meal. In the early stages of pregnancy, many women do not eat breakfast at all due to severe toxicosis - nausea or vomiting. To alleviate the condition, you can drink a glass of water in the morning with a few drops of lemon juice. Helps someone Orange juice. And sometimes it’s enough to gnaw on a raw carrot or an unleavened cracker.

By evening, toxicosis usually decreases. Although there are also reverse cases. You need to strive to have dinner not late, 3-4 hours before bedtime. Usually at this time you can eat porridge or other side dish, with meat or fish. Perfect for evening menu cottage cheese dishes.

Since sometimes hunger haunts pregnant women throughout the day, snacks are welcome. They will be appropriate between main meals. As a second breakfast you can do vegetable salad or a protein omelette, eat fruit, cottage cheese, mild cheese. For an afternoon snack, kefir or yogurt with cookies are usually consumed.

For the normal development of the child and wellness mother's diet should be balanced and varied. During pregnancy, the following products are recommended:

Lean meats (beef, veal, turkey, quail, chicken, lean pork).
Offal - liver. It is used in limited quantity, no more than once or twice a week, to prevent excess vitamin A.
Kashi from different cereals. Especially recommend buckwheat, rice and oatmeal. Wheat and semolina can interfere with iron absorption.
Durum wheat pasta.
Vegetables in any form, except fried. Especially useful raw vegetables in salads and steamed.
Fruit. Seasonal - in any quantity, citrus and exotic - very moderately.
Dill, parsley, celery are allowed in the preparation of various dishes.
Dairy and dairy products. Milk, kefir, yogurt, butter, sour cream, low-fat cheese, pregnant women can use as they wish.

It is important that foods rich in folic acid, vitamin E, iron, and calcium are present in the diet.

Foods containing folic acid and vitamin E

Folic acid is needed for correct formation nervous system child. It is usually prescribed in the form of tablets. But do not forget that it is present in conventional products. folic acid rich:

spinach;
salad;
parsley;
legumes;
citrus.

Vitamin E is also needed during pregnancy. It is found in eggs, wheat germ, soy, various vegetable oils(sunflower, corn, peanut).

Foods rich in iron

Pregnancy is a time of increased iron consumption. A woman should not only maintain her reserves, but also provide the baby with this trace element. So that the level of hemoglobin does not decrease and anemia does not develop, foods rich in iron are definitely needed in the diet. However, not only the percentage of this element in food is important, but also the degree of its digestibility.

Iron is best absorbed from meat, fish and other seafood. In the diet of a pregnant woman must be present:

beef tongue;
beef;
turkey meat;
liver;
fish.

From meat and fish you can make casseroles, stew or eat boiled. Among herbal products The leaders in iron content are legumes - lentils, peas, beans. From cereals, it is better to give preference to buckwheat and rice.

Vitamin C, which is found in vegetables and fruits, helps to absorb iron from food. To this end meat dishes it is better to drink orange or tomato juice. Contrary to popular belief about the high iron content in pomegranates and apples, there is not too much of it.

Foods containing calcium

During pregnancy, a woman should take care of the increased intake of calcium in the body. After all, it is spent on construction skeletal system baby. With insufficient intake of calcium from food, the expectant mother develops brittle nails, hair grows dull, teeth deteriorate. This trace element is best absorbed from dairy products, although it is inferior to some plants in terms of calcium content.

During pregnancy, you need to eat cottage cheese, sour cream daily, hard cheeses or cheese, drink milk and kefir. Cottage cheese can be made independently, and bought in a store must be subjected to heat treatment.

From plant foods, preference is given to spinach, cabbage, parsley. Canned fish can also be attributed to sources of calcium.

Prohibited Products

Are there foods that are forbidden to eat during pregnancy? Since pregnancy is not a disease, there can be no absolute ban on certain foods. But there is a list of products, the use of which during the bearing of a baby is highly not recommended.

First of all, this applies to such unhealthy foods as chips, spicy crackers and similar snacks. They contain many chemical flavors and additives that can harm the baby and mother. During pregnancy, sugar substitutes such as aspartame, sucraltose, neotame should not be used.

You can not overly lean on sweets. It leads to speed dial weight and creates a feeling of fullness to the detriment of others, necessary for the body products. Do not eat in in large numbers products, fermenting in the intestines - legumes, cabbage dishes. During pregnancy, this can cause severe pain in a stomach.

Since constipation during this period is not uncommon, the problem cannot be aggravated. It is necessary to give up bread and flour products and eat more vegetables and fruits.

It is strictly forbidden to eat mushrooms bought from hands - dry or pickled. However, during pregnancy it is better to abandon any mushrooms, their protein is too hard to digest. Also, do not use raw eggs, sushi, steaks with blood.

During pregnancy, it is undesirable to eat fried and fatty foods, rich broths, use plenty of spices and seasonings.

Drinking mode

You can drink during pregnancy without restrictions, if you do not forget about common sense. During this period, the woman's circulatory system works with a vengeance to provide normal nutrition mother and child. If there is not enough fluid in the body, it begins to function idly.

Edema in a pregnant woman is not a reason to forbid her to drink. Almost always they are associated with other reasons:

Increased vascular permeability.
Poor kidney function.
Decreased protein levels in the blood.

The restriction of drinking in no way affects the solution of this problem - the liquid will be lost in the same volume. But there will be less of it in the body, which means that they will begin to develop in the placenta dystrophic processes the health and development of the child will suffer.

The expectant mother should be alert if the desire to drink becomes constant and obsessive, and thirst is practically not quenched. This condition is called polydipsia and indicates the onset diabetes pregnant women (gestational diabetes).

Close observation also requires a situation where a woman drinks much more often and more than she urinates. If there is a sharp increase in body weight, we are talking about the onset of gestosis - dangerous complication second half of pregnancy.

Drinks during pregnancy

What can and can not you drink during pregnancy? Are there any drink requirements? During this period it is better to drink green tea, compotes, fruit and vegetable juices, morses. At home, you can make your own yogurt, cook jelly.

Herbal teas should not be drunk without the permission of the attending physician. Some herbs can cause uterine contractions or harm the development of the baby. Chamomile decoction is considered safe, it can be freely consumed like a regular drink. Black tea and coffee are not recommended to drink because of the tonic effect.

Do not drink alcohol during pregnancy, even if small quantities. Alcohol has a negative effect on the child and is removed from the mother's blood for a long time. Also at this time, you can not abuse energy drinks, since their influence on the development of the baby has not been studied by anyone.

In general, the diet during pregnancy is not too different from balanced nutrition in ordinary life. But the expectant mother should remember that the health of the child now depends on the quality of her food, and not allow gross errors in the diet.

When we try to stick to our chosen diet, we turn great attention to what we eat. But at the same time, we absolutely do not think about when exactly it is better to sit down for dinner table, how many times during the day we should eat and what will happen if we decide to tight .

The standard number of meals per day is three. And that's if you're lucky. Some mistakenly believe that if they stop eating altogether or limit their meals to once a day, they will lose weight twice as fast. But usually such experiments lead to nothing but stress and health problems.

It is advisable to eat every 3-4 hours. This allows you to improve fat burning, prevents the release of an excess of insulin into the blood, allows leptin (the hormone that regulates energy metabolism) to work its magic and control appetite and metabolism. It also keeps the production of cortisol, the stress hormone, under control.

Don't skip breakfast! Our grandmothers were right when they said that the day should start with a good hearty breakfast. It gives energy to start a long productive day. If you skip breakfast, very soon the feeling of hunger takes you by surprise and you begin to interrupt the feeling of hunger with everything that comes to hand. And in offices, sweets and cookies are usually on hand.

Don't eat three hours before bed. Eating before bed increases body temperature, increases blood sugar and insulin levels, and reduces the production of melatonin and growth hormone. All of these factors affect sleep and the natural fat burning that occurs when we sleep. Besides, bad dream leads to the fact that we can overeat the next day.

If it so happened that you had time to eat before going to bed, it is advisable to use light food With low content and and high content.

Start your day with protein. To improve appetite control, it is better to eat proteins for breakfast, and leave carbohydrates for lunch or dinner. Tomato omelette is a great quick breakfast!

Never get started strength training on empty stomach. For such activities, your body needs energy for optimal results. But cardio can be done 30 minutes before meals.

This does not mean that you need to fill up right before training. Just do not start classes if you have not eaten anything for a long time and you have a feeling of hunger. Before the workout itself, you can have a snack with bananas, nuts or dried fruits - high in calories, quickly absorbed, gives the necessary energy and relieves hunger.

Focus on food. While eating, it is undesirable to be distracted by something that does not concern your lunch. Focus on the main occupation, feel all the shades of taste, relax, finally, and rest. Your lunch is an island of peace and tranquility in the midst of the stormy ocean of the working day.

Squirrels go first. Eat first when eating protein food and then everything else. Proteins send a signal to your brain that your body is full. This way you will eat exactly as much as you need.

Take alcohol after meals. If you decide to have a drink at dinner or any other drink, it is better to do it after you have eaten, and not during. Alcohol after meals increases the production of hormones that control appetite and digestion.

And if you decide to drink white wine in the evening, keep in mind that it increases your appetite and the chance that you will want to have a snack is very high.