Fasting as a Natural Detox
Looking at its nutritional characteristics, fasting can indeed be an opportunity
for natural detoxification.
Abstaining from meat, cheese, and dairy products significantly reduces the intake of "bad" saturated fats and toxins found in animal products. On the
other hand, consuming seafood, nuts, and plant-based oils helps provide high-quality monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats.
Additionally, the increased consumption of fruits, vegetables, legumes, olive oil-based dishes, nuts, and whole grains leads to a higher intake of fiber, which supports digestive and cardiovascular health and reduces the risk of colon cancer. It also results in a more consistent and increased intake of vitamin C, bioflavonoids, and other micronutrients that enhance immune function, protect the heart, and slow down aging.
While fasting can be beneficial, eliminating dairy, meat, poultry, and eggs for 40 days may lead to nutrient deficiencies if not managed properly.
For a healthy adult, avoiding these foods for 40 days is not necessarily harmful. However, some individuals—such as children, teenagers, pregnant
women, athletes, and those with very low body weight—may experience negative effects from reduced intake of high-quality protein.
1. Combine Legumes with Rice
A major dietary challenge during fasting is the limited intake of high-quality proteins usually obtained from animal products. These proteins play a crucial role in muscle maintenance, growth, and overall health.
They are related to many organ systems and contribute to the smooth development and maintenance of muscle tissue and more. Children and adolescents, pregnant women, athletes, people with very low body weight are population groups that can be affected by low intake of biological value protein.
A combination that can help significantly is that of legumes with rice.
Legumes contain specific amino acids, which are the raw materials for protein formation. However, they lack some that are essential to upgrade the quality of the protein we get from a legume.
We will find these in rice. So if you combine the two foods, the result is complete and comes quite close to the quality of meat protein. Fako rice, chickpea rice, beans with rice should not be missing from the fasting diet.
2. Make seafood salads
Seafood is perhaps the most essential fasting source of nutrients. It provides us with iron, vitamin B12, and good quality protein, which may otherwise be lacking during the period of Great Lent.
Include them in your diet at least 2-3 times a week. Shrimp, octopus, cuttlefish, mussels, and squid can add a little something extra to a salad or be a delicious and nutritious addition to a risotto or pasta dish.
Furthermore, traditional dishes such as octopus with spaghetti, cuttlefish with spinach can make a difference in a fasting diet.
3. Drink a freshly squeezed orange juice with the lentils
Iron is an essential nutrient for maintaining cell function and providing energy to the body. It is found mainly in red meat, where it is best absorbed.
In people with increased iron requirements, inadequate iron intake, even for a short period of time, can cause problems. Children and adolescents, pregnant women, athletes, women with low iron or people with a history of anemia may experience effects from low iron intake.
Thus, many may think that during fasting we will meet our iron needs by eating plant sources such as lentils, for example, but this is not entirely accurate.
Lentils and plant-based foods in general contain iron in a form that is not well absorbed by the body. In general, the issue of iron absorption from a food is influenced by various factors and special attention should be paid to it.
The solution is to include foods in our diet that help improve iron absorption.
These are those that contain high amounts of vitamin C, such as freshly squeezed orange juice or a combination of citrus fruits (orange, tangerine, blood orange). Therefore, when you are going to eat a dish with legumes such as lentils, combine it with a fruit such as an orange.
4. Choose the right bread for your snack or meals
Bread is perhaps the champion of fasting. During this period, its consumption increases dramatically and we should take advantage of this.
As we already mentioned, during fasting, ingredients that may be missing are iron, but also calcium and vitamin D (due to the absence of dairy products).
Now you will tell me what relationship bread can have with these nutritional components.
The answer is that if the appropriate choice of bread is made, it can be the ideal "vehicle" for transporting such ingredients that can contribute to health promotion.
In recent years, nutritious bread options have appeared on the market, such as toast bread, which is a source of iron, calcium, vitamin D and folic acid and, whether in the form of a sandwich or as an accompaniment to our meals, can contribute to the daily intake of significant amounts of ingredients that could otherwise be missing.
So, during fasting, make a smart and appropriate choice of bread, so that through it you can absorb many essential nutrients so that you don't lack anything during the period of Great Lent and beyond.
5. Put some sesame seeds on your salad
Salad, whether as a side dish or as a main meal, can, under certain conditions, be a source of calcium, which we lack during fasting. And how can this be done? Sprinkle your salad with one or two tablespoons of sesame seeds.
Sesame seeds are an excellent source of calcium, and a tablespoon or two in your meal can cover a significant percentage of your daily calcium needs. In addition to being delicious, they will make your salad even healthier and more filling due to the good fats and fiber they contain.
6. Add mushrooms to the pasta sauce.
Mushrooms are one of the most dietary foods in nature. They contain mainly water but also a significant percentage of protein. That is why they are quite filling and when we eat them, it is often like eating meat.
During fasting, a very common dish is a classic spaghetti with sauce. Unfortunately, it doesn't fill us up, as the absence of minced meat, cheese, and protein in general from such a meal doesn't make us feel very full, resulting in us eating larger quantities.
Adding mushrooms along with the rest of the vegetables to a red sauce for pasta will make the meal much tastier and more filling and will also give us more protein, which we miss so much during fasting.
Source: vimatisko.gr
