About diets, vegetarianism and oxygen starvation

2024 Author: James Gerald | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 14:00

They say that in the coming season, white and all sorts of its shades are in fashion: we wear light turquoise T-shirts, lace - pale pink, accessories - cream colors. However, one should not assume that this trend applies to everyone without exception. I would not take the remark about the pallor of the face as a compliment.

Unexpected Guest

My friend, a very energetic person, once complained of the appearance of fatigue, which she initially attributed to stress. There are many methods of dealing with stress, and a friend chose the one that is closest to her in spirit - jogging in the fresh air. The fruits of innovations were not long in coming: sound sleep and nerves of steel - anyone will envy this. But this did not help the general well-being. The feeling of fatigue and the desire to rest became her constant companions and made it impossible to enjoy a good mood, which also appeared as a result of new sports habits. Once a friend admitted that just half an hour of any physical activity, whether it be a regular hike for bread or a walk with her beloved dog, makes her fall exhausted upon returning home. In the end, the girl went to the doctor. After an examination, including a blood test, it turned out that her friend had anemia, and the level of hemoglobin in her blood was so below normal that the doctor was amazed at the "vitality" of her body!

Anemia? What's that?

I will remind you what it is. One of the constituent parts of blood is red blood cells - erythrocytes. They are involved in transporting oxygen to every cell in your body. And not only to keep you young and beautiful, but also to keep you alive. I think you yourself know that. Red blood cells contain hemoglobin, an iron-containing protein. Thanks to it, oxygen is carried by blood cells throughout the body. Now imagine that for one reason or another, red blood cells are unable to carry oxygen. Oxygen starvation of the whole organism or some individual organs sets in. "Horror! After all, without oxygen, all living things perish!" - exclaim those of us who are really capable of imagining it.

It is oxygen starvation that threatens you with a hemoglobin level that has fallen below the established medical norm.

There are many types of anemia. Each type depends on the reasons causing it, and the physiological characteristics of your body. We will only talk about those conditions that are increasingly common among modern women and which you yourself are able to prevent. These are anemias caused by a lack of intake of substances necessary for the production of red blood cells.

"I don't eat that!"

How is it that iron-containing hemoglobin is in our body in an insufficient amount? It is known that most of the vitamins and minerals we need we get from food. Therefore, here you need to look for a "buried dog".

I have many friends, so let me cite one of them as an example again. Lena stopped eating meat as a teenager. This happened after she realized that the three furry rabbits, which the family had brought in, were being prepared for a terrible fate. I am eternally grateful to my parents for the fact that they did not heed my pleas to buy big-eared friends. In this way, I managed to avoid a moral trauma similar to that experienced by Lena.

Someone became interested in vegetarianism, following the fashion, someone became a supporter of one of the advertised diets where meat is excluded from the diet, while some simply do not like this product. However, in any case, refusing meat, you endanger your health if you do not think about how to replace the missing nutrients.

Meat products are a source of iron, and in a form that allows it to be absorbed better and faster. If you can't stand meat, try to maintain the supply of iron from foods such as dried fruits, green vegetables, buckwheat, brown bread and legumes. Remember to use them in combination with vitamin C, which improves the absorption of iron from plant foods.

For example, you can diversify your diet by serving sauces based on lemon juice. Green vegetables - broccoli, sorrel, spinach, parsley - go well with them. However, even raw, they are rich in vitamin C. Remember that coffee, tea and dairy products impair the absorption of iron from plant foods.

Lack of vitamin B12 or folate can also lead to low hemoglobin levels. This is often the case among low-carb dieters, as the main sources of folate are cereals, breads, legumes, starchy vegetables and fruits. But the followers of other diets are in danger of anemia.

As you yourself probably noticed, most diets are based on the principle of restricting the use of one or another food group. This often results in imbalances in dietary nutrient balance. This affects the absorption and production of the aforementioned vitamin B12, folic acid and hemoglobin, and against the background of the imbalances that have arisen, anemia will not keep itself waiting long.

What to do? Forget about the strict diets that you torture yourself with. To be healthy and slim, it is enough to learn how to cook tasty and wholesome food and at the same time adhere to the principle "eat in order to live, not live in order to eat."

Conclusion or nutritional advice

Set yourself a goal: to provide your body with all the nutrients it needs, even if you limit yourself to something. Choosing the right diet on our own can be difficult for many of us, since it requires sufficient knowledge about the constituent elements of different food groups. The way out here can serve as an appeal to a nutritionist. If you do not have the opportunity to consult such a doctor, then in this case there is also a way out - try to diversify your diet as much as possible. Make up your menu for the week so that it does not boil down to repeating the same dishes day after day - alternate, combine, fantasize.

As an example, I will give some data on the iron content in foods that should appear on your table as often as possible. 100 g of the following will allow you to get iron: dried apricots - 11 mg, legumes - 5-6 mg, meat and yolks - 6-7 mg, liver - 16 mg, buckwheat - 6 mg, wheat bran - 10 mg, greens (spinach, sorrel, onion, parsley) - 4 mg, but subject to the complete assimilation of the elements, take this into account. The daily dose of iron ranges from 10 to 15 mg per day, and for pregnant women it reaches 30 mg.

The end of summer and autumn provide us with many opportunities to take care of a sufficient intake of iron in the body. And you can do this without harming the figure, and without even breaking the vegetarian diet. The counters of shops and markets are littered with fresh vegetables, nuts and dried fruits. Well, how can you not resist and cook some kind of salad or some other "yummy"? For example, pilaf with prunes and dried apricots! How about a beetroot salad with walnuts or garlic? Or both? Who is the chili bean stew? Or simply indulge in a dessert made with dried pears, apricots and wine.

In conclusion, let me remind you of such a product as "Hematogen". We were fed with it in childhood, but even now you can easily indulge yourself with a piece or two of this sweet tile.

In a word, do not go to extremes and do not lose your head on your shoulders in your attempts to save the figure and lives of our smaller brothers. All restrictions must have a reasonable limit, dictated by your need to stay healthy for many years. So be healthy!