The doctor urged not to confuse Lent with a diet: seven weeks is too long

Meanwhile, through dietary and not only abstinence, one can gain not only extraordinary lightness, but also a number of chronic diseases. How is fasting useful or harmful for health, who is better off not observing it? These and other questions were answered by a well-known nutritionist, leading researcher at the Federal Research Center for Nutrition of the Federal State Budgetary Educational Institution of the Federal Research Center for Nutrition, expert of the National Association of Dietitians and Nutritionists Olga GRIGORYAN.

– Olga Nikolaevna, how do you, a specialist doctor, evaluate fasting from the point of view of food restrictions?

– Fasting is a certain period, which for some reason we usually fall in the spring, that is, not the most favorable time for dietary restrictions. I don’t know why our Orthodox religion chose this way. It is believed that at this time the Orthodox must observe very strict dietary restrictions – how should one punish oneself for sins, or cleanse oneself, or change one’s fate. In general, fasting implies limiting the consumption of animal proteins. But since this is a seven-week nutrition program, you need to think about how all these restrictions will affect your health. After all, any drastic change in the type of food is always a serious stress for a person. And it often happens that at first the fasting person does not observe changes in his condition, and then he begins to experience a deficiency in nutrients.

– Which ones in the first place?

– First of all, in amino acids. A person needs 22 amino acids, of which 8 are essential – and they are mainly found in animal products. Some are found in vegetable, but they are much more difficult to digest, therefore, in order to get them, it is necessary to properly prepare the products, so as to maintain the usefulness of food proteins. For example, use a light boil, until al dente; cook without salt, steam. And the serving matters too – it’s foolish to expect to get more protein from a larger serving; no need to eat vegetables for future use.

– Are there people, from the point of view of health, who will benefit from fasting?

– I would not consider that someone has evidence for fasting. I, as a nutritionist, consider such an extreme immersion in fasting wrong. It is most reasonable to adhere to certain principles in nutrition constantly. You can limit yourself to fatty foods, sweets – this is good for the body, and not only in fasting. And, of course, you must take into account the state of your health. There are people with diabetes, with hypertension. If you have unstable pressure, with a sharp change in nutrition, there may be problems, up to hypertensive crises. Any stressful state is accompanied by an increase in the hormone cortisol, which, in turn, leads to an increase in blood pressure, increased anxiety, sleep disturbance, increased excitability… Or, for example, a patient who takes hypoglycemic drugs suddenly switches to vegetarianism: it is not a fact that in this situation, drugs will be enough for him, because insulin is produced from animal protein. Therefore, a colossal hormonal failure in the body will definitely.

Who is strictly forbidden to fast?

– Firstly, children – in no case! For them, even the church makes concessions. As well as for travelers and patients. However, everyone should remember that all diseases grow from our plate, nutrition is extremely important – not only at certain periods of the year, but all the time. Cereals with a small amount of vegetable oil, vegetables that are eaten in fasting are good food, but without animal protein, you will begin to experience a deficiency of not only amino acids, but also vitamins and minerals. Moreover, these deficits will begin to be felt after 3-4 weeks of fasting. Manifestations can be different: disorders in the digestive tract, dull hair, gray skin tone …

– Can mushrooms replace meat and fish in fasting?

– Firstly, mushrooms are a difficult to digest product, like nuts. They must be properly prepared: mushrooms must be boiled and preferably mashed so that the pancreas and gastrointestinal tract are not very loaded. Nuts, on the other hand, need to be soaked for 5-6 hours so that the nutrients from them are absorbed. And, of course, neither mushrooms nor nuts can replace meat.

– How can you evaluate the immersion in fasting after the week of the Broad Maslenitsa, when people did not limit themselves in anything?

– This is a terrible story – first they loaded themselves with fatty and sweet foods, and then proceeded to long-term restrictions. Yes, these are well-established rituals, but in fact they are very harmful to health. In general, I think that this is a barbaric tradition – throughout the week there are constantly pancakes, and even with fatty fillings, butter, sour cream, fish, caviar. Poor pancreas! It is very difficult to digest pancakes, especially if you eat them constantly. This is a huge burden on the gastrointestinal tract, the intestinal microflora suffers, on the state of which our immunity largely depends. We are killing ourselves, and no enzymes will save us. In everything you need to know the measure, and the holidays should not be treated as gluttony.

– Well, it turns out, we ate, ate, and then again – we don’t eat anymore. Post started…

– Well, the first days are not scary, it will still be unloading. Unloading for a day, for two is normal. But not for seven weeks, seven weeks is too much!

— By the way, the last week of fasting involves a raw food diet. How do you feel about him?

– Raw food diet is one of the options for nutrition, which is not shown to everyone. With such a diet, the content of purines is increased (and their excess increases the risk of developing a number of diseases), so gout, arthrosis, etc., can worsen during the period of a raw food diet. In addition, the diet of a raw foodist is not balanced in animal protein. Perhaps at first there will be a feeling of lightness, inner purity, but the further you go, the higher the risk of adverse health outcomes. Extreme diets are not good for long. They sometimes say to me: well, cows eat grass all their lives, and nothing! But we are not cows! Without animal protein, sorry, there will be infertility in women, and in men, testosterone levels will decrease. The hormonal background is disturbed in people who refuse meat, in any case. And it is even more difficult to get nutrients from raw vegetables, such food is poorly absorbed.

– Who is generally contraindicated raw food diet?

– People with acute diseases of the gastrointestinal tract, pancreatitis, cholecystitis, stomach ulcers, erosions in the gastrointestinal tract, exacerbation of joint diseases. The raw food diet should not last longer than two days. Even in a healthy person with such a diet, flatulence, cramping abdominal pain, and a violation of the stool may occur; in the future, a deficiency of microelements will develop, which will result in hair loss, sagging skin (it needs fat-soluble vitamins, which are not found in raw vegetables and fruits). Summarizing the above, we can say that any dietary restrictions (intermittent fasting, eating at certain hours, etc.) have a rational grain, but when deciding on them, you need to take into account the state of your health, compensate for emerging deficiencies and not get carried away with them for too long. Fanaticism should not be here, measure and reasonableness are needed.