How to stay full and alert while fasting

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

Fasting is in full swing, but there is no more strength, after all, it is unrealistically difficult to figure out what to eat, except for carrots and a piece of bread with sweet tea? But in order not to undermine health due to a lack of trace elements and not die of hunger, you need to be able to balance your diet. How to make it satisfying, healthy and even tasty, read in this article.

During Lent, all products of animal origin are prohibited:

• meat, poultry, fish (allowed only on some days) and all their derivatives;
• dairy products;
• eggs;
• animal fat and butter.

Cooking oil is only allowed on weekends, and hot food is only allowed a few times a week.

All of these prohibitions make it difficult to eat a balanced diet. What is there! Even an ordinary salad in this situation is difficult to prepare. Starting to write this article, I broke my head, thinking of how to replace the butter in a salad. And my experience in cooking and drawing up different meal plans is serious. What can we say about ordinary people!

A diet can be called balanced if it contains the right amount of proteins, fats and carbohydrates. But in those products that first come to mind as an alternative to everything forbidden, there is clearly not enough fat and protein. After all, what does a person usually eat if they cannot eat meat, dairy, fatty and hot foods? That's right: bread, sweets, fruits, pasta, potatoes with mushrooms and porridge (on hot days). And such a diet is not right, no matter how vegetarian it is.

But it is not all that bad! These simple guidelines will hopefully help you make your lean menu tasty and balanced.

How to replace vegetable oil and fats in general

1. Nuts and seeds - an excellent replacement for other sources of fats. Add them to porridge, muesli on water, salads. You can even sprinkle them on vegetable soup! Very tasty.
2. Avocado … Yes, I am aware that the price for it has increased indecently, but you are already saving on meat. Therefore, I suggest at least occasionally indulging yourself with this super-useful product.
3. Coconut milk … It can be used to make an excellent dessert or breakfast (for example, for this), it can be added to hot dishes.
4. Coconut chips … Much healthier than regular and even dried fruits. Saturate for a long time, are rich in healthy fats and fiber. They can also be sprinkled on porridge and muesli.
5. Olives … They are rich in healthy fats and will perfectly complement a salad without oil.

How to replace dairy products

Plant analogs. For example, soy foods work well. In general, I am an ardent opponent of dairy products, so this ban on fasting is closest to me. Of course, life without cheese is a little boring, but besides it, there are so many tasty things. It's time to try something new. For example, vegetables with various pesto sauces. They will just go to wine, which, oddly enough, is allowed on some days of Great Lent.

Where to get protein

In plant foods rich in protein, and these are all legumes: peas, lentils, beans of all imaginable and inconceivable types, chickpeas … I suggest, on those days when hot food is allowed, to cook not porridge and potatoes, but a wide variety of legumes. So you will stock up on protein for future use, and also make up for the lack of B vitamins, which, by the way, is important. B vitamins are directly involved in the process of energy production by cells. That is, in a simple way, we need them so as not to bite our nose all day. Of course, there are many others that will help you stay awake, but that's a topic for another article.

Nuts are also a good source of protein. So keep sprinkling them on porridge, muesli and salads with a generous hand.

Rules to help you stay in line while fasting

1. Don't get carried away with fruits. 2-3 a day is your maximum. Fruits dramatically raise blood sugar and, if consumed excessively, harm the liver due to the large amount of fructose. It is best to combine them with nuts. This will slow down the release of sugar into your bloodstream and keep you feeling fuller longer.

2. Vegetables are your everything. Here you can come up with whatever your heart desires, both for dry water days and for hot dishes.

3. Cereals are a good thing, but in moderation and always accompanied by nuts, seeds and other permitted sources of fat from the list above. Buckwheat and oatmeal are preferred. The former has a very low glycemic index compared to other cereals, while the latter is rich in protein. This is why oatmeal is so loved by trainers, who often make meal plans for their clients based on it.

If you are lucky and they sell newfangled quinoa groats near you, then feel free to bet on it. It is good for everyone: it is rich in B vitamins, contains a lot of protein and at the same time has a low glycemic index.

4. Less bread, gentlemen! He, of course, is the head of everything, but … The presence of yeast and gluten in it makes it not the best product on your table. I do not call for rushing from one extreme to another and avoiding it altogether, but I know many people who did not just lose weight during fasting, but, on the contrary, gained a lot of weight. This is due to just bread, cereals and fruits in wild quantities. Don't repeat their mistakes.

5. On fish days, choose fatty fish: mackerel, sardine, herring, salmon, salmon. Why? I suspect that you are lacking fat in your diet, so I suggest replenishing your reserves, and at the same time enriching the body with unusually beneficial omega-3 fatty acids. It is in fish oil that these acids are the most valuable (they are also found in plant sources, but their effect is not quite the same).

6. Do not overuse sweets. Comments, I think, are superfluous here.

7. Drink more. If you have gone to the end and follow absolutely all the rules of fasting, then on days without food, I suggest either making vegetable juices or drinking as much water and herbal tea as possible. This will help you stay awake even during these challenging times.

And finally - interesting recipes that will help diversify the lean menu:

• "RECIPES: Grain bread with nuts and seeds";
• "RECIPES: Milk from walnuts";
• "4 new very Italian pasta recipes for runners";
• RECIPES: Vegetable Lasagna for Runners;
• "RECIPES: 5 vitamin salads";
• "RECIPES: 12 delicious eggplant dishes";
• "RECIPES: Smoothies, fresh juices and delicious breakfasts";
• "RECIPES: 19 green smoothies - a boost of vivacity for those who love themselves."

That, perhaps, is all. Good health to you!