Fasting & Lents: Health Benefits & What To Eat

fasting

Fasting is a willful abstinence from eating. Sounds easy. In this article we are going to discuss health benefits (if any), intermittent and religious fasting (lent). Let’s answer the questions of what is fasting, when to fast, what to eat and whether it is healthy at all. 

Fasting

In general, fasting refers to a person who have completely digested and absorbed their meal. In many cases digestion finishes in 3-5 hours and absorption in 8-12 hours. For many people fasting starts in or earlier than 12 hours after their last meal. 

Many studies confirm that fasting for a specific interval, say 16 hours, is healthy and leads to a metabolic state that has a lot of advantages. This is called intermittent fasting.

Obviously, there is also another type of fasting – religious, which is also called Lent. 

Christians observe Lent in 2021 between 17th February and 3rd April. It is prohibited to eat animal meat during Lent.

Lents are not unusual for Islam, Judaism and Buddhism.

Obviously, we at Living Vino agree with many studies that confirmed that eating animal meat isn’t healthy and may lead to various diseases. With this view, fasting and lents are good for your health. 

Intermittent Fasting

Let’s get back to intermittent fasting. It is all about setting some periods of time when you do not eat. It is not a diet but rather an eating pattern you set for yourself in order to reap the benefits of such fasting. Common intermittent fasting methods involve daily 16-hour fasts or fasting for 24 hours, twice per week. 

Intermittent fasting could be also adjusted, as it was done in 5:2 method, when you simply eat three times less two days a week.

So if you want to try, you have options what sort of eating pattern to adopt. 

Health Benefits

Why to do it at all, you ask? When you fast, several good things happen in your body on the cellular and molecular level. The main thing is that your body adjusts itself to make body fat more accessible for burning. It is good for your energy levels and also to burn off some unwanted stored fat. Your body cells also start their repair processes. It is very healthy.

Studies also confirmed that the levels of growth hormone increase as much as 5-fold. This has benefits for fat loss and muscle gain, just to name a few benefits. 

If you are pre-diabetic or simply concerned, intermittent fasting improves insulin sensitivity and levels of insulin drop dramatically.

There is evidence that there are changes in the function of genes related to longevity and protection against disease.

To sum up, intermittent fasting may help with weight loss, insulin resistance, reduce inflammations help with heart and brain health and prolong your life more than 36%.

Additionally, we also think it helps you to train willpower, listen to your body and be in charge.

What’s not to like?

Fasting in Georgia

You may think it is hard to fast in Georgia. We at Living Vino, being a healthy plant-based whole foods restaurant obviously disagree!

Traditional Georgian dishes are well suited for fasting and lents.

Dishes like lobio (red kidney beans), lobiani, oat cutlets (similar to our vegan burger patties), badrijani (eggplant rolls) and many more. 

We at Living Vino offer cauliflower wings served with lobio, various vegan burgers made with veggie cutlets, eggplant stew Adjapsandali style, but also vegan kharcho, hummus and falafel. You can buy falafels and veggie cutlets in a frozen form too! See below.

We also offer Healthy Meal Plans that are perfect for fasting and lents; and they are delivered to you so you can eat healthy! Learn more here.