Nutritional changes. How small meals affect our health. Frequent mood swings

Human vitality is associated with water, because our body consists of it on average by 65%. Everyone knows that you need to drink water every day and as often as possible - its benefits have been said many times. But this amazing liquid can improve the body not only from the inside.

Hardening procedures, known to mankind since ancient times, are also very effective, allowing you to get rid of many, even incurable medicine, ailments. Many centenarians believe that the secret of their longevity, physical and moral health lies precisely in dousing cold water. It is about him that we will talk today, since it is necessary to carry out the procedures of cold dousing correctly - then the miraculous healing and healing properties of water will be revealed to you in full, and harm and aggravation of the disease will be avoided.

Why is it necessary to temper the body? What processes are launched in it at the moment of dousing with cold water?

Through hardening, the body learns to adapt without severe consequences tolerate extremely low or extremely high temperatures. Tempering is important, because usually to cope with low temperatures an unhardened person cannot and dies from hypothermia, even if he had life-saving equipment. To avoid this outcome, it is important to develop the natural ability of thermoregulation. This enhances the body's anti-cold and anti-stress resistance, mobilizes its protective capabilities, strengthens the nerves and improves blood flow in the tissues.

Hardened people are much less likely to get sick, and if they get sick, the recovery process is significantly accelerated. In the event of a life threat, a hardened organism is able to begin to reproduce heat through thermogenesis.

Tempering can be done in different ways, but the easiest and most affordable way is to carry out daily dousing with low temperature water.

Under the influence of cold water, skin receptors are irritated, which instantly transmit impulses to the brain and nervous system. As a result, stimulation of the hypothalamus begins. This tiny part of the brain is responsible for a number of important life processes - the work of blood vessels, the heart, the gastrointestinal tract, the course of metabolic reactions, the full value of sleep, maintaining body temperature, and emotional state. Activation of these processes through dousing is one of the most effective ways to remove the body from the state chronic sleepiness and fatigue.

How does the body react to temperature changes?

At the moment of direct dousing with cold water, the body suffers a shock - adrenaline begins to be actively produced, and the skin vessels narrow sharply. At the moment of their short-term contraction, blood is forced out of the skin into the body, saturating the internal capillaries, which gradually begin to die off after thirty years, especially if a person neglects physical activity. Dead blood vessels impair blood supply to organs and accelerate the aging of the body. That is why it is so important that they are periodically filled with blood, restored and renewed. Then the vessels dilate again. These manipulations with blood vessels lead to an increase in blood flow and blood supply to organs and tissues (as evidenced by redness of the skin), their supply of oxygen and useful substances. Dousing with cold water is a kind of gymnastics for blood vessels.

one more positive moment dousing is to increase the production of glucocorticoids by the adrenal glands - hormones due to which energy and vivacity appears in the body. After all, it is not in vain that after the dousing procedure, people begin to smile more often!

Is there an optimal water temperature for pouring?

For dousing, water with a temperature below + 11 ° C is best suited. From more high temperatures there will be no benefit.

The greatest effect will be achieved when dipping or dousing with water from +6°C and below. The duration of exposure should be at least half a minute, and ideally a minute or two. During this time, there will be a sharp jump in body temperature, heated from the inside, up to 42 °. And then she'll be back to normal. A person will hardly feel the temperature difference, but all pathogenic microbes will be destroyed during this time.

How to dare douche?

We promise ourselves that next week we will definitely start dousing, but as the deadline comes up, we come up with more and more excuses, we refer to household chores, being busy at work, bad feeling or just a lack of proper attitude. How do you get started anyway?

Perhaps someone you know will want to join the douche with you. And together it will be much easier to start, and not so scary.

You can motivate yourself by visiting a hardware store by purchasing a bucket for dousing. Then looking at it every time, you will remember given promise. This will also be a great incentive.

Dousing techniques

There are several ways to harden by dousing with cold water:

Lowering degrees.

You should not immediately jump into ice water(especially for beginners). Just start dousing with a comfortable water temperature, and then gradually bring it up to the required 10-11 °. More often this method is used when they begin to harden children. Although experienced "drinkers" do not recognize this method of hardening, because, in their opinion, it is not so effective and can complicate some diseases. For them, the following method is more acceptable.

Partial cold exposure.

Immediately begin to pour cold water over, but not completely the body, but its individual sections. You need to start from the feet, after a week, pour over your legs up to the knee, after another week - up to the hips, etc. After 5-6 weeks, you will already be able to pour over from head to toe.

Contrast douche and contrast shower.

The essence of these techniques is simple - first we pour ourselves with warm water, and then with water, which will be about 15 ° colder than the first.

Dipping in cold bath or hole.

At home, you can plunge into a bath filled with cold water. The duration of a complete immersion is 3-4 seconds. But diving into the ice hole better people with an impressive winter swimming experience.

Hardening in the bath

And finally, one cannot fail to mention the notorious Russian baths. After all, the question is whether contrast procedures while visiting the bath, rises very often. Our ancestors immediately after the steam room loved to dive into the hole. Now it has been replaced by a contrast shower or the same dousing with cold water.

The answer is simple: in the absence of contraindications for visiting the bathhouse and for cold dousing, such a hardening technique will only benefit! On the one hand, increased sweating in the steam room perfectly cleanses the body. And the subsequent cold dousing is a good shake for the whole body. Temperature contrasts are effective in the fight against cellulite and extra centimeters at the waist (women, take note!).

AT modern saunas there is even a special bucket into which cold water is automatically supplied. When you're ready, just pull the lever and you'll be splashed with cool water. Although this method contrast hardening Best suited for experienced dippers.

For beginners, it is better to follow these rules when dousing in the bath:

1. dousing should not be carried out after the first entry into the steam room, but at the end of the bath procedures, when the body is warm and sweaty;
2. it is better to pour water from a basin with a scoop;
3. the water temperature should also be reduced gradually;
4. cold dousing should be short-term;
5. pour over the head carefully so as not to cause an attack of jumps in intracranial pressure;
6. after dousing, you need to wipe yourself with a towel or allow the body to dry naturally.

A few tips for beginners to temper

The best period for familiarization with hardening is summer-early autumn. In winter, the body already spends a lot of energy on warming, and in the summer-autumn period it will be much easier for it to endure cold douches.

You need to start pouring yourself not with aggressive forms. Well suited method of lowering degrees, short contrast shower or partial cold exposure.

Initial temperature water procedures hardening should be about 20 °.

Before dousing, you need to tune in positively, drive away bad thoughts- then the water will be "charged" with positive, and its healing power will increase.

You need to shower in the morning. This will give you strength and vigor, which is enough for the whole working day. In the evening, you can put your feet in cool water- to relax, relieve fatigue, calm the nerves.

In winter, you can practice barefoot walking in the snow - this is both hardening and foot massage with simultaneous action on many biologically active points concentrated in this area.

Douche rules

phasing. Decreasing the temperature and increasing the dousing area should be carried out gradually.

Systematic. It is important to carry out a pouring session with a certain regularity.

Moderation. You need to pour yourself with the preservation of common sense - you should not immediately climb into ice water through force, delay the procedure of dousing or pour over during an exacerbation of diseases. At the time of dousing, the skin should turn pink, and not acquire a bluish tint.

It is better to leave the beginning of water procedures for the summer.

Make sure that the room is not drafty - otherwise you can get sick.

The room temperature should be maintained at 20°.

It is better to pour water from a bucket or scoop so that the water is smoothly distributed throughout the body. The duration of dousing is from half a minute to two minutes.

At the end of the dousing procedure, warm the body - rub yourself with a towel, and then put on dry clothes, drink tea. Douche should be enjoyed, and freezing will not contribute to this in any way.

Remember to think positively before pouring. A positive attitude, not the fear of catching a cold, is what matters.

Benefits of cold soaks

What is the secret of the benefits of dousing with cold water? Why is it that he is credited with the cause of longevity and the preservation of youth and human health?

As already mentioned, the benefit is primarily that a sharp short-term increase in body temperature kills many diseased cells and pathogens.

Thanks to the stimulation of the hypothalamus, the body begins to work more smoothly - it occurs in literally his "restart".

Increased blood flow leads to effective elimination"unnecessities" - toxins, slags, pesticides, radionuclides, nitrates. The tone of the veins increases, swelling disappears. That is why dousing with cold water is indicated for varicose veins.

launch metabolic processes and fat burning processes help weight loss.

Elimination of congestion.

At the moment of cold exposure, the positive charge of the body is weakened, which creates conditions for the reproduction of certain bacteria. And dousing with cold water helps to neutralize them, charging the body with negative ions.

As a result of dousing, the heart is strengthened, arrhythmia disappears.

Changes also occur in the composition of the blood - the amount of red blood cells and leukocytes.

Strengthens the body's resistance to radiation exposure, its radiation immunity is mobilized and activated.

Cold douches serve as a prevention of cancer, and in the presence of an illness, they help increase the chances of recovery.

How to start pouring on children?

It is best to introduce children to hardening procedures from the very beginning. early age before they go to Kindergarten. After all, it is there that they begin to constantly pick up all sorts of sores.

When bathing a newborn baby every day, start gradually lowering the water temperature - from 36 ° by only half a degree every 6-7 days. Watch how the child reacts - it is important that he, too, be comfortable in such water.

As they grow up, teach your children to wipe themselves with cool water (starting at 36 degrees and lowering the temperature by a degree every five days), and you can start pouring directly at preschool age. It is important to control emotions here - do not scare him and do not freeze him.

Follow these rules:

1. Children should be taught to bathe in the summer.
2. Preliminary consultation with a pediatrician is required.
3. Dousing children should also be carried out regularly.
4. The child should not be afraid of pouring - inspire him, study with him the benefits of dousing, reinforce the words with personal examples.
5. It is not necessary to pour water over children during the period of illness.
6. The temperature for dousing children under 8 years of age is most optimal at 20 °. Upon reaching the age of 13, you can reduce the water temperature to 16 °.

Contraindications for cold douches

Not everyone can use such a hardening technique without harm to health. If you think sensibly, then pouring is only suitable for healthy people- for the purpose of prevention and improvement of well-being.

But the list of contraindications for dousing with cold water is very large:

1. epilepsy;
2. thrombophlebitis;
3. atrial fibrillation;
4. increased intraocular pressure;
5. hypertension and hypotension;
6. tachycardia;
7. open form of tuberculosis;
8. chronic infections;
9. thyroid disease;
10. impaired blood flow to the brain;
11. post-stroke or post-infarction condition;
12. diabetes;
13. severe kidney disease;
14. SARS, colds and flu;
15. wounds or ulcers on the skin;
16. oncology.

With a strong desire, you can replace the cold douche with a rubdown - but with the permission of the doctor.

Instantaneous immersion in ice water often causes cardiac arrest. A spasm of the vessels of the skin, muscles and the whole body can occur. A sharp increase in blood flow can create excessive load to an unprepared heart. As a result - an attack of angina pectoris, a stroke, a heart attack, up to a cardiac arrest.

A man thousands of years ago was accustomed to endure the cold, so pouring and being in cold water were the norm for him. Modern people are very different - the slightest differences atmospheric pressure or temperatures affect their health not in the best way. Follow the rules of dousing, observe moderation, avoid hypothermia (with cold exposure for more than 2 minutes, vascular destruction and oppression begin immune system). And 5 minutes in twelve-degree water can be extremely life-threatening.

Pretty much every "fitness guru" touts these completely ridiculous eating patterns...

... "Make six small meals a day and you will accelerate your metabolism" ...

... "Eat several times a day to stay in an anabolic state and preserve muscle"...

... “Never skip breakfast! This is the healthiest meal of the day!”

Well, let me tell you one thing that is scientifically proven and not without real common sense:

Fractional nutrition will not affect your metabolic rate and muscle growth in any way, the effect of such a scheme is no different from eating several large meals.

All these tips about "several small meals a day" nothing more than a simple joke, and the reason why the entire fitness industry preaches this is very simple. They just make money from it because when people realize that it's quite a problem for them to eat several small meals a day, they come to the conclusion that they "should" buy protein powders and various meal replacement shakes to compensate. those "missed meals".

Here's the real truth about portion sizes and number of meals:

A few small meals a day won't harm your metabolism.

This is precisely the “master weapon” or the main reason why the fitness industry claims that you should eat several times a day in order to lose weight.

The only drawback of this model is that it has no scientific basis...

And, if you are looking for common sense in this, then, nevertheless, will frequent meals help you lose weight?

Here's what the science has to say about meal frequency and metabolism:

1. The researchers concluded that during the 24-hour period, more frequent, but smaller meals did not affect the energy balance.

2. In 179 different studies, it was found that frequent meals do not affect weight loss or metabolic rate.

3. One study showed that fractional nutrition does not help control appetite. This means that claims like "you are hungry and therefore overeat in the evening" have no basis.

4. Another study compared 3 different eating patterns: no breakfast, 2 large meals per day, and 6 small meals per day. All meals had the same calorie content. As a result, the researchers found that the eating pattern consisting of 6 small meals per day had the worst effects, and the metabolic rate was much faster in the other two patterns.

5. The study showed that during the 24-hour period when calorie content is reduced, the metabolic rate also decreases, but it has also been shown that the frequency of meals has nothing to do with this.

6. The study found that in a 36-hour period, among the same-calorie diets, the 3-meal meal plan outperformed the 14-meal pattern (by superior, I mean that the metabolic rate was higher in the 3-meal group).

7. One curious study showed that if you fast for 72 hours, your metabolism does not slow down. In fact, the researchers found that the metabolic rate increased during fasting. Only after 72 hours complete starvation metabolic rate dropped by only 8%. This means that the fasting regime exists, but it only kicks in after 72 hours of no calories, and in the end, it's a very small decrease...

8. In another similar fasting study, they found that patients who did an alternate day of fasting (eating unlimited during the day and fasting the next day) did not experience a decrease in metabolic rate during the experiment, which lasted 22 days (which means that they ate for 12 days and fasted for 12 days).

There are many more studies with similar conclusions, but I think that now I can prove my point ...

As you can see, several small meals a day have nothing to do with metabolism or weight loss, and it seems that eating less frequently and fasting increases the metabolic rate. Contrary to what someone told you.

Eating Frequency and Muscle Building

And here's another fad invented by the fitness industry that works for it, as people now think that if they don't eat every 3 hours, their muscles will melt. Protein Powders Help!

No, seriously, back in the affirmation "eat every 3 hours to keep muscle" there is no scientific proof.

It seems to me that the fitness industry has been lying to us all along (it's no secret that the fitness industry mostly gives us empty promises).

Here's what the science says about meal frequency and muscle building:

1. One good research clearly showed that intermittent fasting(fasting for 16-24 hours, and then taking total daily calories in a short period of time) does not increase muscle tissue breakdown.

2. Another study found that meal frequency really has nothing to do with muscle gain, it's all about how much you eat, not how often you eat.

Unfortunately, there isn't much research on muscle loss and meal frequency, but the research above should make things clear: muscle mass is directly related to how much you eat, not how often you eat.

The fact is that millions of people (including me) are now doing daily intermittent fasting and are still gaining large amounts of muscle, so the myth of the frequency of meals and loss of muscle mass has already been dispelled.

In a nutshell: it really doesn't make any difference how often you eat. The most important thing for building muscle mass is how much you eat. (instead of thinking about your daily calorie intake, think about your weekly calorie intake). So to get big, you need to eat more, but you don't have to eat more often.

Eating more often, but in small portions, is bad for your hormonal background

it real reason why I do intermittent fasting every day, and why I fast for 24 hours several times every month.

The fact is that our testosterone levels go down every time we eat something.

One study actually found that there was no difference whether it was fat only, carbohydrates only, protein only, or a mixture of the two. However, every time you eat, your testosterone levels drop.

Another important fact is that every time your insulin levels go up, your testosterone and growth hormone levels will go down. And if you eat small meals several times a day, then your insulin levels will rise several times a day. Thus, you get a double whammy on your male hormones.

And now what? Do I need to stop eating to raise my testosterone levels?

Not, this is not an option, because when there is a lack of energy in the body, your testosterone level also decreases.

And we can't forget that we still need to eat a ton of food to get all the vital building blocks needed for muscle building and hormone production.

So what best way minimize the decline in hormones, and at the same time eat enough and get all the vital nutrients for muscle building and hormonal health?

Answer: Intermittent fasting (no calories for 16-24 hours, after which all daily calories are eaten within 4-8 hours), or alternative fasting day (eating nothing for one day, but for next day you eat twice the daily amount of food).

The examples above seem extreme, but they are actually very flexible and easy to follow, much easier than eating small meals several times a day.

Thus, here is what will help maintain hormonal health: eat less often, but do not eat less food. This is why intermittent fasting and similar eating patterns are extremely beneficial for your hormones. One study found that intermittent fasting increased testosterone levels by 180% in healthy, non-obese men.

The breakfast is not really the best. important trick food per day

"Breakfast is the most important meal of the day"- so say all the mothers of the world (and mine is no exception), but in reality it is not so ..

And that's why:

When you wake up, you are already in a state of starvation (assuming you don't eat while you sleep).

So, you are full of energy, autophagy is happening - your body is being cleared of waste, and your hormones are working at their peak (testosterone levels are highest in the morning).

What happens when you eat a bowl of cereal or muesli in the morning? I mean, it's right and great, isn't it?

a) autophagy (cleansing your body's liver) stops or slows dramatically.

b) when you wake up your SNS (sympathetic nervous system) is suppressed, which means your cortisol levels are suppressed too. But as soon as you eat something, your PSNS (parasympathetic nervous system) is activated, you become sleepy, slow, and you become more resistant to fatigue and stress. PSNS activation also reduces testosterone levels due to an increase in cortisol levels.

in) your body no longer burns its own fat for fuel, but instead uses the glucose from that meal.

G) your internal biorhythms are interrupted (this is because the PSNS should only be active during sleep).

Although this may sound very complicated, in a nutshell, it simply means that human body was never adapted for breakfast. And if you submit primitive man Do you think he ate breakfast and a few small meals a day? I strongly doubt it.

Our body still functions the same way as that of primitive men, so why complicate things with breakfast, which is completely unnatural for the human body?

NOTE: Kellogg and other large cereal and muesli companies pay hundreds of millions of dollars every year to promote the idea of ​​" healthy breakfast" in mass media. This is the real reason why everyone thinks that breakfast is the most healthy intake food.

Conclusion

Here are some of the reasons why I do intermittent fasting and why I have never been positive about the idea of ​​several small meals a day.

There are absolutely no benefits to such a regimen, and it is indeed quite unhealthy if we consider it from a hormonal point of view.

The transition to proper nutrition

Any abrupt transition to unusual food is reflected in the well-being of a person. After all, now we know that the body is on new, unusual foods (sprouted grain, raw vegetables, fruits, etc.) should also supply specific enzymes, which are almost non-existent.

A different microflora should develop in the gastrointestinal tract. The intestinal is rebuilt hormonal system changing taste habits and need for food. There must be a restructuring of the whole organism, which is reflected not only in physiology, but also in the human psyche. Naturally, this process is extended in time. In addition, many systems have a large inertia, so you need to know physiological mechanisms underlying these processes.

In addition, you should know that when switching to proper nutrition from our usual - perverted - there is a number of changes in organs and systems that can manifest themselves in the form of painful crises. Know this and don't be afraid. Crises only indicate that you are on the right way, after such crises you rise to new level health.

As practice has shown, enzyme systems gastrointestinal tract are rebuilt on a new food for 3-12 months. The same thing happens with the intestinal microflora.

The intestinal hormonal system is highly inert; it takes 1–2 years to rebuild.

Changing the taste habits, behavior and psyche of a person requires an even longer time: 2-3 years. In about 3 years, all these mechanisms enter the required strength and work perfectly.

Criteria normal operation gastrointestinal tract are:

When you receive beetroot juice urine does not turn beetroot. This points to normal condition epithelium of the gastrointestinal tract;

The chair becomes easy and happens 2-3 times a day. This indicates normal gastrointestinal motility;

The consistency of the feces is semi-soft "sausage", odorless and without the inclusion of undigested pieces of vegetables, fruits, etc. This indicates normal absorption of water in the large intestine. And the absence of smell and pieces of vegetables indicates the development of a full-fledged, correct microflora;

Eating habits and needs are slowly changing. After 1-3 years, you will stop consuming "normal" food, because you will feel for yourself how it negatively affects the entire body.

Transition steps to the new kind food are as follows:

1) change the sequence food products: liquids before meals, fruits before meals, the first course is a salad, the second course is either carbohydrate or protein, but only one;

2) exclude all harmful products: refined and stimulants such as coffee, tea, sausage, cake, etc.;

3) change the proportion of raw and cooked food in favor of raw. Slowly accustom your body to raw food. Start drinking 100–200 g of freshly squeezed vegetable and fruit juices. Stew the vegetables first, and then less and less cook them, and in the end try to eat them raw. Alternate: once - stewed, once - raw;

4) start gradually (20–50 g each) to include raw vegetable dishes in your diet: sprouted wheat, soaked cereals, wild edible fruits and herbs. Soak porridge more than boil it.

In the same way, you should do the rest: eat fruit for breakfast; replace a lunch of first courses, bread, meat with a glass of freshly squeezed juice, raw or lightly stewed vegetables and cereals; replace dinner from the first and second courses, tea drinking with salad and nuts.

According to the season, you can arrange a “strawberry day”, “apple day”, “grape day”, “melon day”, “watermelon day”, etc.

If you follow this nutritional regimen, your taste habits will gradually and imperceptibly change. Food that at first seemed tasteless, even unbearable, will become pleasant and desirable.

Eat when you're hungry.

Half of the daily intake of food should be fresh raw plant foods.

Drink liquids and fruits before meals or make them separate meals.

Chew and moisten food well with saliva by eating slowly until the food turns into mush. Juices should also be moistened with saliva, so drink them in small sips.

The first dish is a seasonal vegetable salad (leaves, roots, fruits - triad salad); the second dish is also desirable according to the season - protein or starchy food.

Prepare raw plant foods, as well as second courses, immediately before consumption.

Avoid artificial and refined foods (sausages, cakes, biscuits, sugar, etc.). Do not use any stimulants: tea, coffee, alcohol.