Exercising while fasting. How to create a balanced diet for an athlete during fasting

Loss of appetite is a signal from the body that something is wrong. A healthy person always needs food as a source of energy. Therefore, you should treat this symptom responsibly and find out its causes. Of particular concern is a decrease in appetite that lasts more than ten days.

Causes of poor appetite in adults

A person may lose interest in food due to several factors. But they all have a negative effect on the body.

Lack of appetite due to illness

Appetite decreases when various diseases appear:

• ailments from the gastrointestinal tract. They can be both inflammatory and infectious in nature;
• diseases of the heart, lungs, liver, kidneys;
• diabetes and thyroid diseases;
• rheumatoid arthritis and other autoimmune diseases;
• influenza and ARVI;
• oncology;
• neurological and mental disorders.

Wrong diet

The appetite of someone losing weight can also decrease significantly if they have an insatiable desire to get rid of excess weight in any way. An ill-conceived diet based on a small amount of calories exhausts the body.

A person becomes fixated on the fact that eating more food is a serious crime. Uncontrolled and long-term use of widespread methods of rapid weight loss can lead to anorexia, when any food causes painful aversion.

Incorrect fasting technique

The popularization of the so-called “miraculous” fasting, which supposedly improves health and eliminates even incurable diseases, often leads people to acquire additional problems, including loss of appetite. Most often this happens when they are treated independently, without the supervision of a nutritionist.

Protest fasting, uncontrolled by specialists, also brings painful consequences.

Eating at different times and eating Low-quality products or eating at fast food chains can lead to the production of toxins in the body. Their effect weakens a person and ultimately impairs appetite.

With this method of eating, the situation is aggravated by an unbalanced diet. Typically, protein intake is reduced and fat and carbohydrate intake is increased. Essential vitamins and microelements are often missing.

Digestion may be upset, and subsequently metabolism will be disrupted.

Chemical drugs

Side effects of some medications reduce appetite:

• antidiabetic;
• anesthetics;
• antibiotics;
• painkillers;
• cold medicine, etc.

Taking strong medications without medical advice can also be harmful. But usually after a certain time this effect goes away.

Due to strong feelings caused by the departure of loved ones, troubles at work, and domestic quarrels, a person often finds himself in a stressful state, which is fraught with a lack of appetite. Prolonged stay in such situations can lead to depression, which is also characterized by refusal to eat. Antidepressants prescribed by a specialist can help.

In addition to those mentioned, there are a number of other reasons for decreased interest in food. Nicotine, alcohol, drugs, excessive amounts of fatty foods, sweets and carbonated drinks suppress appetite. To these factors you can add low physical activity and prolonged use of herbal infusions.

Health hazards and possible complications

The lack of essential substances supplied with food is first manifested by poor health, a pronounced imbalance in nutritional balance.

1. People engaged in physical labor complain of fatigue.
2. Brain activity in students decreases.
3. Drowsiness, dizziness, and then exhaustion of the body are observed.

Psychopathological disorders in those who lose weight cause anorexia. Now this disease is often neurogenic in nature. In advanced cases, the body cannot absorb food, muscles atrophy, and all systems fail. Possible death.

If you don’t feel like eating for more than two weeks, you need to go to the clinic. Experts will determine what causes this reaction in the body.

What to do if you have no appetite

If the loss of appetite is caused by irregular eating, you need to start eating more often, but little by little. The body will learn to regularly produce enzymes to digest it. During this period, you should refrain from snacking.

There are several other ways to get out of the painful state of food aversion.

Physical exercise

Physical activity in the fresh air helps awaken your appetite. Even after a regular walk, a certain amount of energy is consumed, which must be replenished with food.

1. Simple gymnastic exercises in a room with an open window also stimulate the appetite.
2. It is important to ventilate both bedrooms and workrooms more often.
3. It is necessary to walk on weekends, as well as in the morning and evening, and in any weather, even rainy.
4. You need to drink more water, especially if your physical activity increases. After all, sometimes it is dehydration that causes loss of appetite.

Infusions of plants with healing properties increase appetite,
if taken correctly - 30 minutes before meals. In case of emotional breakdowns, teas are brewed with peppermint, chamomile, lemon balm, and dill.

Bitter infusions of calamus or dandelion roots, wormwood leaves, yarrow, black currant, and plantain can restore appetite. Before using them, you should consult your doctor. Almost every plant has some contraindications for use.

1. Juice from the leaves and stems of yarrow, mixed with honey, drink one teaspoon three times a day.
2. In spring, salads are made from dandelion leaves.
3. An infusion of two teaspoons of crushed dandelion rhizomes is prepared by pouring 200 g of cold water over them and leaving for 8 hours. Drink 50 g 4 times a day.
4. Grind one teaspoon of wormwood and pour 200 g of boiling water. After 30 minutes the infusion is ready. Drink 20 g three times a day 20 minutes before meals.

Food of plant origin

Some common vegetables and fruits are good appetite stimulants:

• onions and garlic are in the lead. Onions activate intestinal motility and strengthen the stomach. Garlic helps with exhaustion of the body;
• radish juice;
• citrus;
• grape;
• peaches;
• apricots;
• bananas;
• sour apples;
• sauerkraut.

Spices and herbs are also on this list. Use in reasonable quantities:

• pepper;
• horseradish;
• mustard;
• anise;
• fenugreek;
• rosemary;
• ginger;
• cinnamon.

Drugs to increase appetite

If the decrease in appetite is not due to illness, the attending physician will prescribe medications that will help cope with this problem. In addition to medications, a course of taking vitamins will be useful. These can be various multivitamin complexes, but it is desirable that they contain a high percentage of the most essential ones: C and B 12.

The presence of such a useful mineral as zinc in multivitamins is welcome. Its deficiency leads to a decrease in the sense of smell. And this feeling is very important for increasing appetite.

An effective food additive in this process is yeast. They contain a whole vitamin B complex.

In order for the desire to eat to arise systematically, it is strongly recommended to quit smoking or at least reduce the number of cigarettes smoked. In addition, it is advisable to stick to a daily routine.

One of the main reasons to sit down at the table is its beautiful setting, as well as deliciously prepared and nutritious food. When recovering from a crisis, it is advisable to eat foods rich in proteins.

Conclusion

Long-term loss of appetite is a serious health threat.

Appetite may be absent for a long time due to illness, irregular nutrition, stress, medication, non-compliance with diet rules and therapeutic fasting.

Loss of appetite threatens disruption of processes in the gastrointestinal tract, metabolic disorders, and irreversible changes in the body.

You need to eat regularly, increase physical activity, consume infusions of medicinal plants, vegetables, fruits, herbs, and prescribed medications.

In contact with

Usually, women who are losing weight desperately wish that they would lose their appetite. However, when this actually happens, even they begin to seriously fear for their health. The feeling of hunger can be dulled for completely different reasons.

If, in addition to this symptom, you experience sudden weight loss, you should urgently consult a doctor, especially if you do not follow and have not followed any weight loss diets.

The cause of this clinical manifestation should be clarified as soon as possible. This condition should not be regarded as something normal and transitory. Indeed, in some cases, this may be caused by some minor disorder, such as weather sensitivity.

However, you must investigate in detail and find out whether everything is as harmless as it seems at first glance. Remember that loss of appetite, especially long-term loss, should never be ignored.

So, what are the reasons for loss of appetite?

Causes of decreased appetite

The feeling of hunger is a physiological reaction of the body to a lack of nutrients. When the body feels an acute lack of them, a signal is sent to the brain about the need to replenish nutritional resources. This often occurs against the background of an elementary decrease in the level of glucose and other substances valuable for the body’s functioning in the blood. It is at this moment that a person wants to eat, and not selectively, but in general.

If there is a craving for a certain product without an objective feeling of hunger, this is already a psychological problem, and not a biochemical reaction of the body.

What to do if you lose your appetite? First of all, you need to determine - has it really completely disappeared, or do you just not want to eat what is being offered to you at the moment?

Loss of appetite comes in different forms:

1. Dulling of the feeling of hunger as such (even under the condition of an objectively long-ago meal, when a person himself realizes that it would not hurt for him to eat, but, roughly speaking, he “the piece doesn’t go down my throat”);
2. Complete lack of appetite for a long time (anorexia);
3. A sharp change in taste preferences (for example, disgust or dislike for a certain group of foods).

By the way, the last symptom is also quite alarming. For example, an aversion to meat food among meat eaters often indicates the presence of tumors in the body, and in the vast majority of cases - malignant. However, such drastic changes can also occur against the background of, for example, poisoning. Quite often, a person who has once been poisoned by mushrooms does not perceive them as an attractive product subsequently. The same can apply to other categories of food.

Objective reasons for suppressing the feeling of hunger in humans

Appetite naturally decreases when a person is sick. This applies to viral and infectious diseases, internal inflammation, and intoxication. At the same time, you lose your appetite and sometimes feel nauseous. This process is associated with the body’s natural reaction to foreign microorganisms, toxins and decay products.

The body spends all its energy on eliminating or neutralizing them, and therefore it simply does not want to spend energy resources on digesting food and does not send corresponding impulses to the brain.

For the same reason, during illness a person feels tired without the slightest physical effort.

If you are suffering from acute respiratory viral infections or acute respiratory infections, and you have suffered from appetite suppression, there is nothing to worry about, and you can regard this as a natural protective reaction of your body. The same goes for food or chemical poisoning, even minor ones.

In addition, the reason, if hunger is dulled, may be hidden in the following factors:

• Diseases of the gastrointestinal tract, in which appetite naturally decreases due to pain or discomfort;
• Endocrine system disorders (disorders of the thyroid gland, hypothalamus and adrenal cortex);
• Disorders of metabolic processes in the body (most often associated with oncological processes);
• Neuropsychic disorders, including neurotic and depressive states, psychoses, etc.

If you lose your appetite during neurosis, this should also be regarded as normal, since all functions of the nervous system suffer. The feeling of hunger, and sometimes the innervation, especially of the limbs, is dulled. Impulses are not released and projected in a normal manner - all processes in the body become inhibited.

True, this does not mean that there is no need to treat neurosis. You should contact a competent and experienced specialist for help with your problem. Remember that the nervous system controls almost every process in our body, which means that its neglected disorders can provoke serious diseases and syndromes that are very difficult to cure.

Specific pathological causes

If we talk about specific diseases that provoke suppression of hunger, the most common among them are the diseases from the list:

• Bronze disease (Addison's disease);
• Rheumatoid arthritis;
• Chronic polyarthritis;
• Gastroesophageal reflux;
• Depression;
• Stressful conditions;
• Dementia (dementia);
• Affective disorders, in particular seasonal ones;
• Schizophrenia and schizophrenic personality disorders;
• Peptic ulcer of the stomach and duodenum;
• Anorexia.

People prone to hypochondriacal and neurotic disorders tend to immediately look for cancer and other pathologies of this kind. In fact, such behavior may indicate the presence of neurosis rather than an actual pathology of a malignant nature.

It should be remembered that neurotic disorders can lead to serious internal pathologies, so they also cannot be written off as a potential health hazard.

Appetite disorders during pregnancy

Many women are interested in the question of what to do if they lose their appetite during pregnancy. In fact, it may also be due to physiological factors. For example, in the early stages of pregnancy, many women suffer from toxicosis.

Constant nausea simply cannot help but affect your appetite - who wants to eat when you only want to empty your stomach? Toxicosis is also a natural reaction of the immune system to the invasion of a foreign body (which is what your body thinks the fetus is).

With toxicosis, hunger is almost always dulled. And toxicosis itself can last quite a long time, although in some lucky women it is completely absent. It must be said that this condition in the later stages should be regarded as relatively dangerous. In addition to normal nausea, an increase in blood pressure and protein concentration in the urine (which leads to edema) may be added.

Gestosis, as late toxicosis is called, requires constant monitoring by an obstetrician-gynecologist supervising pregnancy. Otherwise, this condition can lead to premature birth, placental abruption, stillbirth and intrauterine fetal death. In especially severe cases, the violation can threaten the life of the mother.

In addition to toxicosis, a dull feeling of hunger in the first trimesters of pregnancy can be triggered by a deficiency of folic acid in a woman’s body. In this case, you should urgently begin to replenish its resources, since it is vital in the process of bearing a child. This can be done by adjusting the diet, as well as using multivitamin complexes. However, the latter must be prescribed by a doctor - amateur activity is inappropriate here. It is also important to verify precisely this reason for the violation.

When there is no appetite, any food seems absolutely tasteless. The amount of calories entering the body is very low, and therefore reserve energy reserves begin to be used up. As a consequence, weight loss occurs, and often this phenomenon is catastrophic. In medicine, this disorder is called anorexia.

Symptoms

It is generally accepted that a good appetite is an indicator of good health and excellent physical shape. In this situation, hunger and the feeling of fullness periodically change places, so a person can be in the optimal weight category for himself. But with poor appetite caused by anorexia, this balance is disrupted. Anorexia is caused by a number of factors. They can be both psychological and organic in nature. In certain cases, the patient may completely lose his appetite, and he does not feel hunger.

But, of course, don't panic if you don't feel hungry for several hours. This does not yet prove that a person is unhealthy. It is possible that during the previous meal a dish that was too high in calories was eaten. Therefore, the body has made an appropriate energy reserve, and for a certain time does not need to replenish energy.

Caution should be exercised if a person does not feel hungry for five to eight hours. The fact is that during this time there is a decrease in blood glucose levels, and as a result, weakness and loss of strength are felt. At this time, healthy people experience a feeling of hunger, and the stomach reminds of its existence.

After a person has eaten, the level of glucose in the bloodstream rises, and the brain receives a signal that the feeling of hunger has been satisfied and has given way to satiety. When the stomach assumes the appropriate state, it is distended by food and the glucose concentration is increased, hormonal interactions send a message that food intake should be stopped. The peculiarity is that each person subconsciously includes in his diet exactly those foods that the body needs most at a given time.

Experts have found that people who are actively involved in sports often add too much salt to their dishes after training. This suggests that the body strives to replenish salt losses, since a large amount of sweat was released during physical activity. Homeostasis is observed - regulation of internal balance. If hormonal regulation is disrupted, then appetite decreases, the feeling of hunger disappears, and body weight is quickly lost.

Causes of decreased appetite

Decreased appetite often accompanies diseases associated with the gastrointestinal tract. This may be constipation, as well as stomach upsets caused by consuming foods with excessive amounts of fat and spices. Lack of hunger may be caused by gastrointestinal infections. Usually these are gastritis, or infectious diseases, food poisoning from low-quality products. Often, appetite disappears when a person has an individual intolerance to celiac disease, lactose, or other food components. With chronic inflammation of the intestines, such as ulcerative colitis, Crohn's disease, diverticulosis, there is also no appetite, and the patient does not remember hunger.

Another reason for the loss of appetite can be diseases of the pancreas, gall bladder and liver. Among them are hepatitis, cholecystitis, cholelithiasis, cysts and tumors of the listed organs.

Reasons from the psyche are various fears and phobias, stressful conditions. Personal problems also have a significant impact, such as failures in love, betrayal of a loved one, as well as bulimia nervosa.

Other diseases include various manifestations of colds and flu, kidney and heart failure, and decreased thyroid function. The cause of lack of appetite can be neurological diseases, for example, Parkinson's disease or Alzheimer's disease. Anorexia is often observed in people who abuse alcohol, use drugs and nicotine. Some medications and chemotherapy sessions affect the treatment of cancer.

Also, a decreased feeling of thirst and poor appetite occurs in old age, but experts do not name the exact reasons explaining this fact. It is possible that this is due to insufficient production of hormones, which is observed in parallel with a decrease in metabolic rate.

What to do if you have lost your appetite

Of course, the first thing you should do in this case is to visit a doctor. Especially when not only the feeling of hunger disappears, but also body weight “melts”. Taking into account the signs, your doctor may advise you to consult other specialists.

It makes sense to visit an endocrinologist, therapist, as well as a psychologist, psychosomatic doctor.

Before starting a medical examination, the doctor will ask you in detail about your signs and symptoms. This is called taking an anamnesis. The specialist will not ignore those diseases that have bothered you in the past, and may currently exist.

Questions asked by the doctor at the appointment

When you visit your doctor with complaints of lack of appetite, you will need to describe your condition in detail and answer a number of questions.

1. When did you notice that your appetite had worsened? Do you have any idea that this is related to a specific incident in your life?
2. Has it ever happened that your appetite disappeared and then returned again?
3. What kind of stool do you usually have?
4. Do you follow a diet and how much food do you eat?
5. Are there additional signs that you haven't mentioned? For example, nausea, pain, heartburn, diarrhea, feeling of bloating, increased body temperature?
6. Do you often get overworked, feel emotional emptiness, sadness, or experience stressful situations?
7. Are such sensations new to you, or were they observed a certain time ago?
8. Do you currently have chronic diseases, and are you seeing a doctor about this?
9. Are you allergic to certain foods?
10. What medications are you currently using?

As you can see, there are quite a lot of questions, but you should carefully answer each of them, as this will help to create a more accurate clinical picture of the existing disease. Next, taking into account the information received and based on the results of the examination, the doctor will prescribe diagnostic procedures. Usually this is a blood, urine and stool test, as well as an electrocardiogram, ultrasound of the abdominal organs, and colonoscopy. If the doctor examining you suggests that a mental disorder may be causing your anorexia, a specialist psychiatrist will be involved.

Treatment

If symptomatic weight loss occurs, the main therapeutic goal is to return normal body weight. Emphasis is also placed on nutritional adjustments. The standard formula that determines body weight is used as a guide. The optimal index value is determined by the numbers 18 – 24. If the index value exceeds 25, then this is, of course, obesity. If less than 17, the person is clearly underweight.

But you should know that a BMI level of 13–14 is considered a life-threatening indicator. When the indicator is even lower, then additional artificial nutrition is required to save the person, which is carried out either through a gastric tube or parenterally. But first of all, the patient must be ready to cooperate, which is extremely important both in this treatment and in solving the problem of any other disease.

To recover, the patient must eat much more often and more than before. You should give preference to the most high-calorie dishes, but be sure to take into account other diseases from which he suffers.

If the doctor has identified an organic cause for loss of appetite, he will prescribe appropriate treatment in order to eliminate it. As an addition, medications that have a positive effect on appetite may be prescribed. Such preparations contain ketotifen, which stimulates the secretion of gastric juice and salivation.

Patients who have a distorted perception of their own body take much longer to recover because for a certain time they cannot understand that they need serious treatment. Psychological treatment allows the sick person to realize what exactly the disorder is and helps to gain joy from daily meals.

Prevention

To improve your appetite and sit down at the dinner table with pleasure, you should follow a few simple, but nevertheless very effective rules. Eat wisely, choose foods that contain a lot of fiber and vitamins. Your stomach will always be in good shape and will ensure proper and timely digestive functions.

Eat the foods you want, trust your own feelings. As already mentioned, your body knows perfectly well what it lacks at the moment. If you want something sweet or salty, don’t deny yourself, although, of course, there should be moderation in everything. Eat regularly, at least three times a day. Learn to savor every bite and enjoy your food. By eating right, you will be pleasantly surprised how quickly your normal appetite will be restored!

The normal functioning of the digestive system largely depends on the nervous system. Many diseases that are manifested by impaired digestion and absorption of food originate in deteriorated innervation of the gastrointestinal tract and come from mental disorders. For example, anorexia - lack of appetite - may occur due to some disorder in the mental environment. But there are other mechanisms that cause a decrease in the desire to consume food.

What are anorexia and bulimia

It is statistically difficult to determine the spread of the disease. One study found that 91% of women went on a diet at least once, while 22% either constantly restricted themselves in their diet or went on a diet more than five times. In adolescents, these numbers are significantly higher (up to half of girls and up to a third of boys). As can be seen from the figures, this disease is very common, and it also has a fairly high mortality rate. But not all people with a lack of appetite or decreased appetite are diagnosed with anorexia.

Anorexia is a syndrome of pathological lack of appetite in conditions of the body's need for food. Primary occurs due to organic or mental diseases; secondary, or medicinal, occurs as a result of taking anorexigenic medications.

A partial decrease in the need for food cannot be assessed as anorexia. Even if a person has not eaten for a long time, he may lack such a desire without certain obvious reasons. While being passionately engaged in some interesting activity, a person does not notice how he misses one or even several meals. Such states are transient, they pass quite quickly, and a person, after completing a long, exciting work, remembers a natural need and hurries to satisfy it.

But also a partial decline in the desire for food occurs in pathology. This condition is not a criterion for any disease and often does not carry with it any consequences. Suffering from acute respiratory infections, patients complain of poor appetite and general fatigue. After treatment of the underlying disease, all symptoms disappear. There is some information that with VSD and some other autonomic disorders, changes in food intake may also appear.

Bulimia is bouts of overeating and associated anxiety, which are usually followed by the use of various methods of weight loss: inducing vomiting, diarrhea (with the help of laxatives), fasting along with strenuous exercise. The self-esteem of patients is largely based on their figure and body weight.

Bulimia nervosa exists as an independent disease, but is often a symptom of other diseases. These may be endocrine pathologies, mental disorders, organic disorders of the central nervous system. These pathologies can also cause anorexia.

Causes

Complete loss of appetite often occurs in a variety of pathologies and can occur due to a person’s mental state. When your mood is low after an event, a temporary aversion to food occurs - this is not a symptom of the disease and should go away soon. There are also mental traumas that prevent a person from living normally for a long time, depress mood and partly manifest themselves as anorexia or bulimia.

Main reasons:

• mental;
• hormonal;
• malignant tumors;
• acute infections;
• neurological disorders;
• medicinal.

Most acute infectious diseases are accompanied by a loss of appetite up to anorexia in both children and adults. Together with general fatigue, lethargy, and weakness, they constitute symptoms of intoxication of the body. After some time, after an adequate course of treatment and liberation of the body from toxins, the main signs of the disease (cough, nasal discharge, sore throat - depending on the disease) along with the intoxication syndrome disappear, and a craving for food appears. Typically, patients on their way to recovery even experience an increased appetite. This happens due to the fact that the body needs more nutrients to restore functions.

Hormonal imbalances are a common cause of loss of appetite in women. During pregnancy, hormonal levels change and old tastes may change, new ones may appear, and the urge to eat increases or decreases. Pregnant women complain of loss of appetite, nausea and aversion to food. In addition to pregnancy, such symptoms appear in some endocrine diseases.

Malignant tumors have a significant impact on the general condition of the body. Due to the abundant entry into the blood of tumor decay products, severe intoxication occurs. Common symptoms of oncology are weakness, fatigue, change or complete lack of appetite.

The symptom appears after taking certain psychotropic medications. These are medications that directly affect the desire for food - anorexigens, or others whose side effects include eating disorders - hormone antagonists, antidepressants, psychostimulants.

What to do

Determining the cause is not always easy, because the symptom is not pathognomonic, that is, it does not directly indicate any disease. If you have certain health complaints, you should undergo a preventive examination. If it is unclear which specialist is needed, it is better to go to a therapist or general practitioner.