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LENT: Foods to eat when fasting

egyptionorthobeautegyptionorthobeaut
edited December 1969 in Personal Issues
hey guys, i started fasting yesturday and i don't know what to eat. cause everything at school is all with dairy in it or is meat. and even some salad dressings have dairy in them (just discovered that when i was really close to eating it). and my parents don't even want me fasting (i am too young to go for 55 days). and i want to be able to prove to them that i can do it. to do that i need some eating tips. it is my first time and i don't want to mess up. can anyone PLEASE help me? ??? :)
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Comments

  • Marianne87Marianne87

    to prove to them that i can do it

    You don't fast to prove to people/ parents or whoever that you can do it. It's either you know what the meaning of fasting is or you don't fast at all...there is no use if it's just proving to someone. Fasting is for self control...if you can't do that then don't at all...
    About the food part...there is a lot of vegeterian foods in school...and you can eat any of that...but if you just are doing it for other people and not yourself then it's better for you not to fast at all.
  • egyptionorthobeautegyptionorthobeaut
    no actually what i mean by "prove it to my parents" is to fast but not so i can prove to them that i am not young or anything but to show them that i can fast cause i have faith in God and i know that he can help me get through it. if i only did it just to show my parents then that is just a waist of time and God will be upset with me. i am doing it so i can show my parents that my faith in my Lord can get me through anything. but they see it as i will like die if i fast. and i just want to show them that i will "not die" if i do. by doing that i want to show them that there are a lot of diff. foods i can eat. not as a challenge. do you get me?????? :)
  • icontrol2002icontrol2002
    You can always make your food at home, instead of getting it from school. You can eat the usual FOOL and TA3MEYA! :P Or make your own fasting salad, and chick peas.
  • egyptionorthobeautegyptionorthobeaut
    [quote author=icontrol2002 link=board=10;threadid=3354;start=0#msg49111 date=1141170731]
    You can always make your food at home, instead of getting it from school. You can eat the usual FOOL and TA3MEYA! :P Or make your own fasting salad, and chick peas.


    Thank You icontrol2002. but i would feel wierd if people see me with Fool and Ta3meya. they are really good but every one would be like "ewww, what's that, it looks nasty" and i wouldn't be able to eat it in peace. would you do that???
  • Unknown
    you could eat fries, bring your own lunch, have some chips, take a pb and jelly sandwich.

    and its true tat you dont fast to prove anything. thats actually the wrong way to look at it, no offense.
  • icontrol2002icontrol2002
    If your question was would I bring fool and ta3meya to school...the answer is yes is will...I do it all the time. People shouldn't criticize other people's cultural food. Plus you shouldn’t care what people say about what you eat...if it's healthy and it tastes good that's all that matters.
    You can always wrap it in a sandwich ::)
    Another alternative would be eating fries or potato if you like ;D

    GBU
  • egyptionorthobeautegyptionorthobeaut
    [quote author=CopticChica21 link=board=10;threadid=3354;start=0#msg49120 date=1141177409]
    you could eat fries, bring your own lunch, have some chips, take a pb and jelly sandwich.

    and its true tat you dont fast to prove anything. thats actually the wrong way to look at it, no offense.

    Thats ok. i see where you and Marianne87 are going with this. but i am still saying that i did not mean anything like that. i hope you understand.
  • Marmoura99Marmoura99
    About the fasting food... it's hard to find different things to make everyday, but there are options. There's always foul and ta3meyah, but everyone gets tired of those. You can always buy pizza dough, put on your favorite pizza sauce and put on soya cheese and veggies. My brother and I love that! Also, you can make stir fry. All you have to do is steam some frozen veggies and put on some soya or teriyaki sauce. Serve with rice or noodles. For dessert, you can cut up a variety of fruits to eat as a fruit salad. I know it's hard sometimes, but you just have to be creative... anything goes! And as you said, God will help you through! :D

    God Bless all of you!!!
  • Marmoura99Marmoura99
    Hey everyone,
    I just found this really good website that has recipes for Orthodox lenten fasting... amazing variety. Check it out!
    http://aggreen.net/food/recipes.html

    Let me know what you think ;)!
  • Unknown
    Your not just fasting just for fasting, but your are fasting with the goodness of your heart, and because you LOVE GOD, you ought to remember that your not young, I know lots of children from the ages of like 9-13 that fast the entire fast they are fasting, eat vegetarian foods if there is, if there isn't ask for some, or you can make your own meals, leftovers from yesterday's egyptian dinner, you can ask Abouna or your FOC, if you could fast at home and just let go of your fast a little, (kind of slack off a little) in school! Just saying that you can fast this fast, will help, hey I fast the whole fast, talk to your parents about letting you take the risk of fasting the entire fast!

    Forever,
    Coptic Servent
  • whywhy
    [quote author=egyptianorthobeaut link=board=10;threadid=3354;start=0#msg49113 date=1141173162]
    [quote author=icontrol2002 link=board=10;threadid=3354;start=0#msg49111 date=1141170731]
    You can always make your food at home, instead of getting it from school. You can eat the usual FOOL and TA3MEYA! :P Or make your own fasting salad, and chick peas.


    Thank You icontrol2002. but i would feel wierd if people see me with Fool and Ta3meya. they are really good but every one would be like "ewww, what's that, it looks nasty" and i wouldn't be able to eat it in peace. would you do that???


    lol...u crack me up...

    well lucky for me i go to a coptic orthodox skool and 1/3 of the skool is eating fool or ta3meya....

    and even then i dont feel that it is appropriate ...lol...
  • mnc_hnnmnc_hnn
    wow lol that link, i neva thought bout finding sumthin like this woooo

    thnx
  • Unknown
    Fasting is a commitment and sometimes it isn't easy..so if you have to fast without eating at all, then by all means do..if you have to bring your own food regardless of what others think, they by all means do..if you choose to fast, you have to follow through regardless of anything..if you're not willing to sacrafice a few luxuries, then perhaps you shouldn't start fasting yet. But like someone already said, it's more important spiritualy than just for food..abstaining from sin would be 8979796 times more worthy..but we make sacrafices for food so that perhaps we can gain the strength to sacrafice for abstaining from sin..
  • egyptionorthobeautegyptionorthobeaut
    this is my third day fasting now and my parents are really mad at me. i don't know what to do. they said that "you will collapse if you don't eat any dairy or meat" and today there were really close to MAKING ME eat pizza. i told them no. and i don't know how i can persuay them that i will be alright. i won't die. food is food. also it is making me nervous and wonder if i will last my fasting days. i know i can though
  • Unknown
    I think you are doing a wonderful job of persuading and staying with your goal/commitment for you to fast, temption is the #1 thing about fasting, you have to remember that you will get tempted anywhere by anyone, don't let anyone force you to quit, remember God will be proud of you for fasting! Tell them or actually persuade your parents to let you buy soy milk, it's as healthy as the regular milk you drink, and tell them that you are older and you'll take responsiblity for your actions, tell them that you can eat vegetarian foods, like soy burgers!

    Forever,
    Coptic Servent
  • whywhy
    well i had the same problem with my parents where my mum wanted me to drink milk....

    SO SHE WENT TO ABOUNA....abouna asked me what i ususally eat in the fasting....he was ABOUT TO SAY drink milk,,,,


    when i told him in front of my mum...that i would really love to not drink milk becasue that way i could feel the effects and happyness of fasting...that i was prepared and i wanted to be given the opportunity and thatfoul is rich in PROTEINS and GOD is RICH in Love for me...


    and that this was a good way for me to show him i love him back and asked them that they wouldnt deprive me of that...

    WELL NOT IN THOSE WORDS>>>BUT THAT IS WHAT I SAID!!

    so go to your FOC and tell him everything and ask him to go talk to your parents and explain to them how much you want to NOT EAT DAIRY PRODUCTS!!
  • Unknown
    Why do you think you're too young anyway? My brother's 11 and he's already fasting..my sister's 9 and she's starting soon aswell..I mean, you're not like 5..you're 15 right? So what's the dealio? Let them know that you don't want them babying you through spirituality and that it really means something to you to finally sacrafice something for Christ..

    You can DEFINITELY persuade them by taking a STRONG stand..don't go psuedo-spiritual on them and just sit there in silence..speak out your mind..tell them that this hurts your spirituality and that it's not a good advocation to stop fasting for those reasons..be VERY strong minded..
  • Christ4LifeChrist4Life
    What if your FOC himself forbids you to fast because he thinks it will hurt you physically?

    just curious...
  • icontrol2002icontrol2002
    You should always obey you Father of Confession whether you like it or not.
    To be truly obedient, you do not have to agree with the request. And the more you accept the request, the more reward you will get for your obedience.
    In the same manner, you do not score points for being obedient in things that you like or agree with, you score points when you practice obedience in things that you disagree with or don’t like to do.

    -this is from "The Pursuit of Virtues"
  • Unknown
    [quote author=Christ4Life link=board=10;threadid=3354;start=15#msg49237 date=1141333191]
    What if your FOC himself forbids you to fast because he thinks it will hurt you physically?

    just curious...


    Then you listen to him..when it comes to physical health, priests advice people to keep to their health even if it means breaking the fast so that they can be healthy to further serve Christ..and they can fast from other things..not necessarily what they NEED.
  • Unknown
    I have about three things to say. I think that your FOC should decide how you should fast and not your parents of YOU becuase if your FOC says no, then he knows that you cannot handle this.

    My second thing is that you could sit ur parents down adn tell them about the bible and its reflections about how to fast and how to fast, but I was reading a book from the Pope and it said that ur FOC has to be aware.

    Oh, actually two things cuase that all i have to say
  • egyptionorthobeautegyptionorthobeaut
    [quote author=MarMar91 link=board=10;threadid=3354;start=15#msg49259 date=1141355285]
    ya, that book by His Holiness that i posted earlier is very good and i making it a goal of mine to read it.. all of it, i have already started, here is the link again...:

    http://www.michaelminasi.com/The spirituality of fasting.pdf

    you can skip around if you'd like.. the table of contents is page 114.. lol.. Egyptians put the table of contents in the back of the book..lol


    hey that was a great website. thank you MarMar91
  • Christ4LifeChrist4Life
    yes... i have another book thats Pope Shenouda's and after reading the whole book i find the book of contents...
  • egyptionorthobeautegyptionorthobeaut
    i think i read that a couple years ago. i am not sure if that was the one though???
  • mnc_hnnmnc_hnn
    i find it a bit hard to read on a computer i don't like it just starring on the monitor for ages it makes my eyes swell and go red lol

    which would u prefer to read the bible online or from a proper book?
  • whywhy
    bible online
  • PopeKyrillosPopeKyrillos
    i was just at a resturant and they had lots of seyami food which was really cool, ( i think it's just because their greek and i think they are fasting too lol) anyways well ya there really is lots of stuff u can eat in the fasting time. idk if all schools have this but my middle school has microwaves which is really nice because now i just bring in macoroni and salad. another thing is ramen soup that is really nice how u can cook it at home and just pop it into the microwave to heat it up. we actually just had a discussion about fasting in school and some people said that they bring in snacks and like no main thing and i started to do that and i even felt as if i ate a whole meal. so basically what i'm trying to say u don't always have to eat big things because one aspect of fasting is not just to eat vegiterian stuff it's to try to eat less too. I hope this helps a little

    PK
  • Unknown
    God said that not everybody that say "O Lord O Lord" will be accepted into the kingdom of Heaven....therefore not everyone that fast the Lent will be accepted so it is not how many days you fast or how long u been fasting or what did u fast from... but whether you fasted from your heart or just fasted because it is time to fast...Talk to your father of confession and listen to what He says...and fast from not only food but also lust, cursing, judging and any bad evil thought ,....tempetation is our enemy during any kind of Fasting and it is the devil's weapon...our weapon is Praying and Fasting to our Lord most High Jesus Christ.
  • Unknown
    22years just honestly put everything into perspective a whole lot differently, but we CANNOT use that on our power. We still have to fast the whole thing, I think that just means that if you cannot fast DO NOT WORRY for when you can start fasting God will accpet it, but dont NOT fast for forever and then be like oh im gonna start at this time bcuase it doesnt matter when i start becuase you don;t know if this day will come and you dont know if you will even be healthy and you don't know naything about that.
  • mnc_hnnmnc_hnn
    i've got a question,

    how did some saints fast like for 20days without eating anything at all

    and others who ate only somekinda plants which grew near where they dwelled

    i mean were they not humans? and even if u said they were spiritually strong why is it only them? and why can't i or any1 of us fast like they did?

    and after fasting for very long periods of time how can their body cope with all this and withstand living conditions?
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