Grishin Nutritionist: We have to starve, but intermittent fasting is far from right for everyone

According to dietitian Edvardas Grišinas, it is necessary that each of us not eat late at night and very early in the morning so that the body can rest from the calories it constantly receives. However, it is far from everyone to take a real, strict and prolonged intermittent fast. The dietitian recounted the mythical intermittent fasting in the program “Hello! with Dr. Morozov ”.

– Is hunger our nature? Do we need to do that?

– We are really more likely to sit now, eat a lot, be inactive. If we look back, people were almost always used to being hungry, usually at night. Today, we often don’t even do it at night: we eat late, get up early, and sometimes have breakfast at 5 in the morning. Therefore, if you asked me if a person should starve for a certain time, I would say yes, especially today, it would be beneficial and beneficial for the human body.

Fasting is a way to reduce your calorie intake. Is this weight management tool appropriate?

– Yes, an effective way to lose weight if a person suffers from a caloric deficit. If you think that you will miss breakfast and lunch, but you will be able to eat a good “drink” of meat in the evening, your digestion will be disturbed, in the long term you may experience reflux, dysfunction of the esophagus of the stomach, other disorders. When intermittent fasting, keep in mind that several rules apply. But yes, it is an effective way to lose weight, although not the only one, more versatile and effective.

– We are talking about short-term hunger. However, the Internet is full of other recommendations, such as: “Everyone should try to fast for up to 10 days. You start to feel both tastes and smells, to hear better, and even to see. “Is it really necessary for everyone to try a 10-day fast?

– Definitely would not agree with that statement. But that after 10 days of starvation I will start listening to something else … Maybe I would start listening to my duodenum, who knows there … Again, if necessary and recommended to everyone, definitely not. Everyone has their own goal, why they want to try intermittent fasting. And sometimes this is more related not to an improvement in physical health, but more to a search for an improvement in emotional state.

– Probably one day is enough for such “enlightenment”, when you prove to yourself that you can and, after receiving serotonin in the brain to win, you are happier. Another frequently heard claim is that “when toxins and slags start to be cleaned, you feel light, your eyes clear, and energy is produced.” Are we really so overwhelmed by constant eating that we need to let the energy from the gut go to the brain?

– Well, our body does not store various toxins and slag. The body handles them on its own, which requires the kidneys and liver. The bad opinion is that the liver is a reservoir of toxins that accumulate worms and other nasty things. The opposite is true: the liver is a source of polyphenols and antioxidants. We don’t have to believe that we will clean all kinds of scum due to intermittent hunger.

– Like our colon is not covered with stalactites and stalagmites, which must be washed with saline solution. Another claim is that starvation destroys diseased cells.

– It should be noted that this is a physiological process and it always occurs. The cells of each organ die and regenerate over time. But if fasting is observed, this regeneration occurs more quickly and thus partially destroys damaged cells that our body does not need. Most of the studies that looked at how long it took to starve for recovery to occur were done in rats. As a result, the same cannot be said to occur in the human body. However, studies show that it would take about a day for cell regeneration to begin.

– It’s basically one discharge day a week, you don’t have to starve for 10 days to feel “enlightened”.

– Definitely not necessary. Furthermore, cell cleaning is always done at night if a person does not eat at 10 at night and at 5 in the morning.

– I face this statement every day, which I do not like very much: injured and sick animals do not eat. Hippocrates said that when a patient is fed, his illness is also fed. Can we prevent these diseases by going hungry or by curing the disease by going hungry?

– We can hypothetically, but can everyone? No. When we starve, we actually marinate pathological cells, but we also don’t feed healthy cells. That is, if a person crosses the line when there is a strong calorie deficit, he does not get enough muscle substances, the weight will begin to fall, the immune system will weaken. Damaged cancer cells will survive longer. There is a fine line between intermittent fasting and getting the necessary nutrients.

– Periodically, once a week or two, the person starves for 2-3 days. Then when it’s back to normal, you feel the symptoms, so you see a doctor. One of them is the spasms of the gallbladder, since it is used to producing bile. Should I slowly return to mode after those days of downloading?

– There are certain rules about what foods a person should eat after a long fast. We start with liquids, gradually returning to complex foods. But we must ask ourselves why we are starving if we don’t feel very well after that.

– In short: who would you really advise to fast? We’re not just talking about sticking with the regimen and not eating late at night and very early in the morning.

– Intermittent fasting is not scientifically justified as a method of diet therapy. And in general, it is not scientifically justified if the person himself does not want it or the way of life does not allow it. I recommend it to those who want it, not to follow a different diet. Then you can give it a try. But I never recommend intermittent fasting when you see a person for the first time as the best form of diet therapy. Who I would definitely not recommend: people who have diseases of the gastrointestinal tract, the same inflammatory diseases of the gastrointestinal tract, irritable bowel syndrome, suffering from oncological diseases.

– I have never counseled people with serious metabolic diseases such as diabetes and use insulin.

– Each nutritional intervention must be supervised by nutritionists, nutritionists, as it can cause serious problems. Abroad, intermittent fasting is already recognized as one of the means to control diabetes. But if you don’t teach a person to eat after taking insulin, it can end badly.

– Thanks for the conversation.