In the heat, you can help the body and arrange fasting days. We will tell you how to do it
Why are fasting days needed
A healthy lifestyle is gaining popularity every day. An important component of health is proper nutrition. In addition to choosing a diet and creating a meal schedule, proper nutrition can include fasting days. The stomach and intestines are stressed daily by digesting solid food, and a day without solid food will give them the opportunity to rest and relax. But the quality of digestion depends on the state of the digestive tract.
A fasting day does not mean a complete refusal to eat: instead of heavy solid food – lumpy potatoes, fried meat, richly oiled buns, you can switch to light liquid food – kefir, broth, smoothies.
Smoothies are especially interesting in this regard – vitamin cocktails made from freshly squeezed vegetables and fruits with the addition of yoghurts and spices. They can be prepared on the basis of dairy products – milk and kefir, as well as freshly squeezed juice. It may seem to some that it is difficult to spend all day on liquid food, but smoothies are quite nutritious and dull hunger for a long time. In addition, their incompletely liquid structure (there may be fruit fibers and pieces of pulp in the drink) creates the feeling that something has been chewed. So you won’t have to suffer from a permanent feeling of hunger with such a diet.
How to prepare for a fasting day
When introducing smoothie fasting days into your life, you should pay attention to two things. In order not to get a digestive upset when switching from a regular diet to a liquid fruit-vitamin diet, it is worth starting to prepare for the fasting day in advance. The changes should be gradual: preparation will be required both for the fasting day and for the exit from it. It is better to give up heavy and junk food a day, and in a couple of days – start adding more greens and fruits to the diet in order to reduce stress for the body when changing the type of diet. Fasting days do not need to be arranged immediately after the holidays: contrast nutrition will affect the condition not the way you want it. And after a fasting day, you should not rush to your favorite junk food – you need to start the first day with soft dishes, such as mashed potatoes, light cereals and steamed cutlets.
It is desirable to get the maximum benefit from the fasting day. This means that canned store juices are a half measure, since they do not retain all the nutrients contained in fruits due to a long shelf life. Better to get a full blender and start making smoothies and cocktails yourself. Freshly squeezed juices contain a maximum of vitamins and nutrients: they strengthen hair and nails, tone the skin and give a feeling of lightness in the body. And the consumption of fruits and vegetables normalizes metabolism, which will provide a long-term effect even after one day of fasting.
A properly prepared smoothie can include fruit gruel and ice cubes. Without a powerful blender, manual cooking of all the ingredients can take about half an hour: it is better to take a closer look at devices that can easily grind solid foods. These blenders can be found at Kitfort and Moulinex. Bosch also has a range of VitaPower blenders. In addition to the high power, it is important that the gadget has a sturdy titanium bowl and reliable stainless steel knives in case you have to grind ice.
Fasting day for smoothies: recipes
On a fasting day, you can schedule five meals. In the morning, it is better to drink a carbohydrate cocktail to get a boost of energy to start the working day, and leave protein-milk smoothies for the evening – they will saturate the body with materials for building and restoring muscles at rest.
Breakfast
In the morning, you can make a coffee ice smoothie. This will require a banana, freshly boiled (but cooled to 40-50 °, so as not to destroy the vitamin compounds with boiling water), espresso, yogurt, and ice. A powerful blender will also come in handy, not afraid to work with solid foods. This drink will contain a lot of carbohydrates from bananas and caffeine from coffee beans, which will allow the body to “turn on” and tune in to a working mood in the morning.
Lunch
Lunch: Carrot smoothie that will fill the body with vitamins. You need to beat a medium-sized carrot, a green apple in a blender, add a little spinach to taste, 20 grams of grated ginger – and lunch is ready. Carrot puree will relieve hunger until lunchtime, and there it is already not far from the five-hour smoothie.
Dinner
Lunch is the main meal. Therefore, it makes sense to prepare a particularly nutritious drink. You can take 4-6 small pears with the core removed, a bunch of parsley (about 75-100 grams), beat in a blender. If it turns out too thick, the smoothie can be diluted with low-fat kefir or water. Such a drink will saturate the body with fiber well.
Snack
Smoothie 5 o’clock. Traditionally in England, tea starts at five o’clock. And since the fasting day is entirely about smoothies, you can make an unusual green tea smoothie at five o’clock. To do this, you need to beat the “berry set” in a blender – raspberries, blackberries, blueberries and half a glass of chilled green tea. Add honey, banana, and soy milk to taste, and the teaspoonful five-hour smoothie is ready.
Dinner
Dinner provides the body with the nutrients it needs for a good sleep recovery. A protein smoothie based on Greek yogurt is just what you need. Half a glass of Greek yogurt, a cup of papaya, lemon juice, banana and spices to taste, stir until smooth.