great fast
meals
Due to a family health crisis, I've been on a whole-food, plant-based nutrition plan since 2017, which is a lot like our Eastern Christian fasting regimen! It wasn't easy but it's not as hard as you might think. Let me share some of what I've
learned along the way with you!
Next up:
The Great Fast
March 3-April 11
What is True Fasting?
The Great Fast
We begin our preparation for Pascha by enduring Holy Week.
We begin our preparation for Holy Week by striving the 40-day Great Fast
We begin our preparation for the Fast by enduring the pre-Lenten Sundays!
SO MUCH PREPARATION! Well, the Resurrection is that important!
When we fast, it is NOT to make us suffer needlessly or to give up food meant to nourish us and give us what our body truly needs. It IS to free us from the slavery we have to food so that our souls can be free from distraction and we can focus on God better AFTER the fast is over. It helps us become just and merciful, like our God.
Think: if we can barely keep ourselves from minor distractions like the hamburger or the chocolate bar after dinner, how can we judge our brother who can't keep from major addictions like alcohol, drug abuse, habitual lying, etc. We become more compassionate AFTER we fail.
When we give up things for Lent, yes, there are rubrics that should be followed, but these are guidelines only. The individual needs to focus on what keeps him bound to the material and fast from it, no matter how trivial or permitted it may seem to someone else. The merit lies in the journey and in taking each step toward perfection fast by fast, year by year.
That said, we strive to refrain from eating any animal products: no meat, fowl, fish, eggs, or dairy. On weekdays we also fast from wine and oil. This is the goal. Let us strive to take one step further this season and remember to increase prayer and almsgiving.
Check out our Facebook group for added support, inspiration, ...and RECIPES! God bless your fast!
Watch ByziMom
Catherine Alexander from
Your Word From the Wise
as she interviews
Abouna Moses from
Holy Resurrection Monastery on how to observe the Fast
See the Video HERE
Plant-Based Nutrition Certificate, Completed October 2020, from the T. Colin Campbell Center for Nutrition Studies at Cornell University.
My book is out!...
As you may already know, my family has been advised by our cardiologist to adopt a perpetual fast in order to combat a family health crisis. We've adopted a whole-foods, plant-based, no oil diet...just like our Eastern Christian fast!...full time, and now that we've done it, I can help you get through 40 days of fasting too.
Here are a few of ByziMom's Great Fast Recipes:
Middle Eastern Meze: falafel, tzadziki, tabbouleh & dolmades
Fajita Night: sweet potato tortillas, unfried beans, oil-free vegetable stir fry, cashew nacho sauce, Mexican quinoa, etc.
What's for dinner tonight?
A Palm Sunday RECIPE from ByziMom.com
Willow Treats
As you know, Lazarus was a very well-known man in Bethany, and there must have been many guests at the funeral and many mourners with his sisters in the cemetery garden when Jesus came there to perform this miracle. What a spectacle it must have been! How often does someone see a man, especially one who had been dead for four days, wake up and come back to life? I’m sure they all RAN home (at top speed…I know I would if I saw someone come out of a tomb!) And I’m sure they told absolutely everyone they met about what Jesus had just done. People were so i impressed by this miracle that they all resolved that Jesus should be their king. They would meet Him as He entered the city for Passover! So, they began setting to work, organizing their friends to line the streets to greet Jesus and collecting palm branches and olive branches to wave at Him as a sign of honor.
We will go to Divine Liturgy and hear the Gospel account of the Entrance into Jerusalem. There, we will be given blessed palms and willow branches to carry and wave during the Liturgy to celebrate the feast! Then we will do something extraordinary. We will become actors as we re-enact Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem! We will pretend to be among those honoring Christ as we carry our willows and branches and leave our places to march in procession around the church, just as the people of Jerusalem processed through the streets with Jesus on that day! By this, we will mystically join the people of Jerusalem in honoring Jesus and show the passers-by that we are believers!
Did you know that our ancestors in the Carpathian Mountains of Eastern Europe lived in a much colder climate than it was in Jerusalem? There are no palm trees there, nor olive trees for that matter. At this time of the year, spring is only just starting to show any signs at all, and the only living thing outdoors may be a willow tree that is just beginning to flower. This is why the Slavic people bless and carry willow branches and not palms on Palm Sunday.
Here are some willows that you can eat. They are easy and fun to make. You can make up a bunch for your family or even double the recipe and make a whole basket of them to share with everyone after Divine Liturgy!
Ingredients
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A container of pretzel rods
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A large bag of chocolate chips, melted and spooned into a tall jar
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A bag of mini marshmallows (White ones are best, but the multi-colored ones are a pretty alternative)
Preparation
Melt the chocolate and pour or spoon it into a tall jar.
Dip each pretzel rod into the chocolate, leaving the end for holding, and set it onto a baking tray that has been lined with parchment or wax paper.
Arrange the mini-marshmallows by setting them in the chocolate to look like the catkins of a pussy-willow.
Allow them to dry and set completely.
Tip
Once they are completely dry, you can arrange them in a nice basket to take to Divine Liturgy on Palm Sunday and share with your friends afterward!
