Fridays during Lent

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elizabethpro
elizabethpro Posts: 11 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I am a practicing Catholic and do not eat meat on Fridays during the season of Lent. Previously this wasn't too much of a problem because I would eat a lot of pasta or pizza on those days. Now that I am using MFP I am a bit stumped. I am not very creative in the food department. I do not eat salad or fish (I think they taste awful). Any recommendations?
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  • sdado1013
    sdado1013 Posts: 209 Member
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    you need protein from somewhere. look into vegetarian options. beans, protein shakes ect.
  • brynnsmom
    brynnsmom Posts: 945 Member
    edited February 2015
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    Sometimes my husband and I will have a big baked potato for dinner topped with broccoli and cheese and other fixings; that doesn't sound like much but really it is filling if you pair it with a bowl of soup. We also like to make shrimp po-boys. Quiche is another good option - I have a spinach bacon version that's awesome but tastes just as good minus the bacon and adding a few other veggies. I also like the original vegan Boca Burgers, but they're not for everyone.
  • Bridesmomma107
    Bridesmomma107 Posts: 16 Member
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    Egg salad sandwich made with 1 egg and 1 egg white, grilled cheese made with 2% cheese and tomato soup made with skim or 2% milk, omlets, mushroom stroganoff, homemade veggie lasagna, veggie soup (mushroom, broccoli, mixed veggie, etc), whole grain spaghetti. That's all I can think of at the moment.
  • AngryViking1970
    AngryViking1970 Posts: 2,847 Member
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    How about vegetarian chili? That's what we're having tonight.
  • AshC1023
    AshC1023 Posts: 109
    edited February 2015
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    I usually don't eat meat on Friday's year round, but since I married a non-Catholic man I've slipped a bit on that.
    Crab, imitation or otherwise, makes a great dinner on Friday's. Imitation is a fish, but not fishy tasting at all - I hate strong fish. Catfish, shrimp, scallops (wrapped in bacon is best on the grill IMHO but that loses the point on no meat), crawfish is good too.
    Crab meat with butter is fantastic, kind of sweet and not fishy. That's my go-to usually if it's not a good time to go fishing.

    What about Sushi? Doesn't have to be the raw fish type, they have others like avocado rolls and all without fish stuffs in them.
  • Sallybally55
    Sallybally55 Posts: 97 Member
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    My boyfriend is a super catholic and I'm in the same boat with cooking during the season. Does not liking seafood include shrimp? He eats shrimp but not salmon I don't like white fish.. it can be tricky.. Wednesday we I made Bang Bang Shrimp from SkinnyTaste and he loved it!

    Also- we are doing homemade veggie pizza tonight and the calories really aren't that bad (not sure what your goals are).

    However I'm interested to hear responses too!
  • I_Will_End_You
    I_Will_End_You Posts: 4,397 Member
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    Not Catholic, but as a pescatarian, I love me some Lent!!

    There are a lot of good, meatless soups that are lower calorie. And seriously....ALL salads taste awful? Odd....
  • hellonikki123
    hellonikki123 Posts: 13 Member
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    I'm Catholic but I am also a vegetarian so this is never an issue for me. Here are some things I enjoy eating for dinner/ lunch. Hope these suggestions help!

    -Black bean pasta! It has 21g of protein. Just be careful with your portion size.
    -Spaghetti Squash is another great pasta substitute. Plus, it's super low in calories. I'd add vegetarian meatballs with this dish to assure you aren't hungry later.
    -Vegetarian Chili. There are tons of great vegetarian chili recipes on pinterest.
    -Lentils are great and there are tons of ways to cook them. I love to cook lentils, carrots, onions and garlic in vegetable broth then add baked sweet potato and spices at the end.
    -Veggie Wraps are great. For lunch today, I had a coconut wrap with hummus, black beans, tomato, salt and pepper.
    -If you want to go exotic, tofu or vegetable curry is great. The fat in the coconut milk will keep you feeling full and the homemade versions are not bad as far as calories.
    -Indian food is great because there are tons of vegetarian options.
    -Omlettes and quesadillas are an option.

    Most Americans do not suffer from protein deficiency so I wouldn't put any energy into worrying about that (especially since it's only 1 day per week for 40 days...). I'd also like to add that I the dietary guidelines for Americans were just updated, and according to the NYT, the advisory panel included a vegetarian diet as an example of a healthy eating pattern. :) They also noted that a plant based diet is more sustainable and environmentally friendly.
  • erickirb
    erickirb Posts: 12,293 Member
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    Why not eat what you did other years... just less of it?
  • BarbieAS
    BarbieAS Posts: 1,414 Member
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    sdado1013 wrote: »
    you need protein from somewhere. look into vegetarian options. beans, protein shakes ect.

    I think if, 1 day per week for 6-7 weeks she's a bit shy on her protein macro, and the rest of the time she's consistently meeting it, the world isn't going to end. No need to resort to shakes and such (though beans are yummy) unless that's something she wants to do otherwise.

    OP - what about maybe some of the following?

    Rice and beans dishes, or burrito-bowl type options with grilled/sauteed veggies and avocado
    Lasagna where you sub out some or all of the noodles with zucchini and/or eggplant
    Go ahead and have pizza or pasta, just have less and/or load it up with veggies to make it a little more filling
    Egg or egg white omelets or frittatas with veggies and cheese? Breakfast for dinner!
    I also like the broccoli and cheese baked potato and quiche and vegetarian chili suggestions.
    Hummus platter with pitas and veggies
    Asian veggie stir-fry with rice or rice noodles. Do you really think ALL fish is gross? Shrimp would be a really good addition to that. Actually, I may have just that for dinner now, haha.
  • GuyIncognito123
    GuyIncognito123 Posts: 263 Member
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    For Lent we've turned our Fridays into tofu Fridays. Tonight I'm BBQing some funky Italian sausage flavour tofu dogs. 36g of protein for two of them.
  • WinoGelato
    WinoGelato Posts: 13,454 Member
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    erickirb wrote: »
    Why not eat what you did other years... just less of it?

    This.
  • GuyIncognito123
    GuyIncognito123 Posts: 263 Member
    edited February 2015
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    Not this, because one of the options for observing Lent is no meat, no dairy or eggs on Fridays. You can't have less, you have none.
  • WinoGelato
    WinoGelato Posts: 13,454 Member
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    GuyIncognito123 wrote: »
    Not this, because one of the options for observing Lent is no meat, no dairy or eggs on Fridays. You can't have less, you have none.

    OP indicated she couldn't follow her previous choices of pizza and pasta because she's now on MFP. I take that to mean she thinks she doesn't have the calories to fit them in, not that they aren't allowed for Lent.


  • AshC1023
    AshC1023 Posts: 109
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    I think what he means is whatever you ate for Lent other years is fine, like the vegetarian pizza or whatever, just in smaller portions. If the OP was ok with eating pizza every other time during Lent (assuming with cheese, maybe not) then it's also ok, but to go easy on the portion, rather than half the pizza.
  • GuyIncognito123
    GuyIncognito123 Posts: 263 Member
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    I read it differently, as following the "no meat or dairy" would rule out pizzas and the majority of pastas and being a Lent requirement not a calorie requirement. Too many rules for Lent ;-)
  • AshC1023
    AshC1023 Posts: 109
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    If calories are the issue, you could always squeeze in the pizza. You know it's Friday, you know you want to have pizza or pasta for dinner, so go easier on calories throughout the day to fit them in. Use MFP to figure out how much you can have without blowing over your goal - I do this a lot in the mornings if I know we want to do something for dinner that I know is calorie dense. I won't torture myself with "oh I can't eat that because XYZ" it's more of "I can eat that, but only in XYZ portion, or if I want a larger portion, I need to make up for it at breakfast or lunch".
    - OR, exercise more on Friday's to fit in what you want to eat for Lent. Proper prior planning prevents p*ss poor performance - or so they say.
  • SingRunTing
    SingRunTing Posts: 2,604 Member
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    We eat pizza, just like we do on every other Friday of the year. You can eat pizza and lose weight at the same time.
  • BarbieAS
    BarbieAS Posts: 1,414 Member
    edited February 2015
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    GuyIncognito123 wrote: »
    I read it differently, as following the "no meat or dairy" would rule out pizzas and the majority of pastas and being a Lent requirement not a calorie requirement. Too many rules for Lent ;-)

    The OP states she's a practicing Catholic. There may be other Christian denominations which may follow a more strict rule, but the Roman Catholic canon states that on Fridays during Lent (excluding Ash Wednesday and Good Friday, when you must fast) you must abstain from eating "meat" (which, for these purposes, is the flesh of a warm-blooded animal or fowl). I've never seen dairy or eggs restricted; in other Eastern churches and such I've seen fish restricted or a full fast required, but never a vegan requirement. I'm not a religious scholar so I'm certain it does exist somewhere, but certainly it wouldn't be common enough to infer that that's why the OP couldn't eat pizza, no? Particularly because she said that she USED to eat these foods but now that she's using MFP she's having trouble?
  • elizabethpro
    elizabethpro Posts: 11 Member
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    Thanks for all the responses! There are some really great ideas here :) I'm excited to try spaghetti squash and tofu dogs. I hadn't even thought of omelettes or of a baked potato with broccoli on it . Sometimes my mind goes a bit too narrow and only thinks about what I can't have (delicious meat). For those of you commenting that aren't familiar with lent the "requirement" is no meat on Fridays from Ash Wednesday (which was 2/18 this year) through Easter Sunday. I had previously consumed a lot of carbs on Fridays during this season but if I stick with previous years I would be going over what MFP has suggested. I had been very good at staying at or under my goals but I did not plan ahead to lent...sigh. Also I must say, this is pretty exciting to expand my food options :)

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