Cleanse Clinic: What to eat during Lent

“I am fasting for lent, giving up meat, dairy products, sweets, fats or any other food, and yet I am gaining weight!!!” Yeah it is a surprising and an unexpected result that may shock many of us after all that hunger and deprivation. Let’s find out the truth behind gaining weight while fasting.

When you fast, the metabolism slows down, and you burn fewer calories. And in the long fasting phase, the body feels deprived or really hungry, so it may store all the food you are taking and keep them as a reserve for next hunger or fasting period. So consuming one big meal only once all day may be a reason for your metabolism to slow down, and for your body to store more fat, and therefore you may gain extra weight.

On the other hand, not only the quantity of food and calories affect your weight. The quality of food eaten also plays an important role in boosting the metabolism, and affecting your weight. For example, when you eat French fries, chocolate, pancakes, croissants as meat-free foods, simple sugars, saturated fats and Trans fats will be directly stored in your body, and losing weight will never be achieved.

So to keep a healthy weight or lose extra weight during fasting, you have to eat small frequent meals to keep your metabolism high, and you should also focus on whole grain cereals, brown rice and pasta, unrefined starches rather than white pasta, white rice, refined flour, and simple sugars. And you also have to avoid a high carbohydrate diet, by focusing on plant sources of protein (such as soy, tofu, all types of beans, quinoa…) and controlling your carbohydrate intake.

Here’s a one day sample menu for a healthy Lent diet:

Breakfast: 25 grams wholegrain bread + thyme (Zaatar) + 1 teaspoon olive oil + 1 cup of raw vegetables.