Sick from hunger. How people swell from hunger Name of the disease when they swell from hunger
Fasting is a condition in which the supply of essential nutrients stops. During fasting, the body goes through several stages, each of which has its own impact on its condition.
Hunger is a strong stress, if it is not stopped in time, any living creature will die.
Long-term fasting is one of the methods for losing weight and cleansing the body of accumulations of waste and toxins. To understand the essence of such a diet, you need to understand the internal processes, understand what happens to the body without food.
Common symptoms of starvation in the body include:
- pain in the gastrointestinal tract;
- headache;
- increased salivation;
- digestive tract disorders – diarrhea or lack of bowel movements;
- dizziness, fainting;
- nausea, vomiting;
- loss of ability to concentrate;
- sleep disturbance, irritability;
- there is a smell of acetone from the oral cavity;
- muscle weakness;
- rapid weight loss;
- decreased blood pressure and heart rate;
- pale skin;
- decreased immune defense;
- swelling of tissues;
- heart failure.
Signs of starvation develop gradually. The longer the body is without food, the more symptoms are added, the more pronounced they become.
When the beneficial substances in food stop flowing, the body begins to ensure performance at the expense of reserves. The “economy mode” is turned on so as not to waste the energy the brain needs. In order for vital organs to function, metabolic processes slow down. A person spends less energy, which allows him to stay in this mode for a certain amount of time. We can say that the body feeds itself.
Changes in the body by day
After the body stops receiving the necessary nutrients, certain changes happen to it every day. Taking into account information about the development of consequences, fasting by day can be placed in a table.
A day without food | What will happen in the body |
1 | If fasting began in the evening, the next day the person feels slightly unwell due to lack of food intake. Minor pain in the stomach and intestines. No physiological changes are observed. Loss of 100-200 grams of body weight. |
2 — 4 | Strong food excitement. There is obvious discomfort in the digestive tract. Nervousness, irritability, loss of concentration, and apathy towards the environment appear. The glycogen reserve is depleted, fats are dissolved for energy. Loss from 1 to 2 kg per day. |
5 — 8 | The feeling of hunger is dulled. A characteristic white coating forms on the tongue. Cloudiness of the urine and an acetone odor from the mouth are observed. The person feels weakness and pain in the joints. For proper brain function, fatty acids are used. Loss of up to 1 kg of muscle mass per day. |
9 -12 | Acidotic crisis is the most difficult period of the body’s transition to autonomous supply. Loss of up to 300 grams of body weight. |
13 — 20 | The body is being rebuilt. All processes slow down. Blood biochemistry changes. Blood pressure decreases, heart rate slows down. Symptoms of illness go away. Tongue coating is eliminated. The person’s psychological state is normalized. Weight loss – 200 grams per day. |
20 — 30 | Adaptation stage. The body is already accustomed to passive functioning. Minimal energy waste. The sclera of a person's eyes becomes light and bright. Skin condition improves. |
30 + | A second acidotic crisis must occur, less pronounced than the first. If fasting is not stopped at this stage, there is a risk of exhaustion and subsequent death. |
The longer a person goes without food, the more dangerous he is. If the fasting person is physiologically weak, changes can occur every hour.
How does the duration of fasting affect
Hunger is stress for any living organism. Regardless of how many days it lasts, without the supply of nutrients, all vital systems are rebuilt, trying to save supplies for as long as possible. A person feels physiological and psychological malaise.
For physiological state
The state of the body and a person’s sensations are directly related to the duration and type of diet used. With a one-day (for some people two-day) fasting, no changes occur other than the feeling of hunger. There are no symptoms of discomfort. There is no pathological effect. The body has enough nutritious proteins to survive the period.
The photo on the Internet shows the result of uncontrolled starvation, which led to the disease - anorexia.
Long-term therapy affects physiological processes:
- loss of body fat and muscle mass;
- decreased secretion of glands;
- decrease in blood pressure;
- bradycardia;
- oxygen starvation of tissues;
- decreased immune defense;
- decreased muscle tone;
- drowsiness;
- depletion of blood composition;
- decreased libido;
- menstrual cycle disorders in women;
- heart failure.
With a dry diet (without water intake), dehydration develops, which is dangerous for the body. If you follow this technique, you must be under the supervision of a doctor.
Not only the physiological component suffers. Refusal to eat affects the psycho-emotional state. At the stage of refusal to eat, depression, apathy, irritability, and anxiety are observed. A person becomes indifferent to himself, the people around him and circumstances. Consciousness is occupied by the thought of the desire to satisfy hunger.
Without the support of qualified specialists, a person may refuse therapeutic fasting at the initial stage. At the same time, having passed the crisis line, the condition returns to normal. The likelihood of failure after this stage is extremely low.
In what cases is fasting harmful?
Despite numerous reviews about the benefits of therapeutic fasting, it is important to understand that such an event can have a harmful effect on individual internal organs or the entire body. For some people, fasting is contraindicated; it can lead to life-threatening consequences.
Fasting is harmful if:
- lasts more than 40 days on a wet diet;
- dry diet lasts more than 5 days;
- a child is starving;
- a pregnant woman is starving;
- the person has diabetes;
- starving old man;
- the fasting person has a cancerous tumor;
- a woman suffers from adenomyosis;
- neurological, cardiovascular or liver disease are present;
- an emaciated person or anorexic person is starving;
- there are diseases of the gastrointestinal tract, including stomach ulcers;
- the conditions for proper entry into the diet were not met;
- without experience resorts to long-term fasting;
- the conditions for correct exit were not met.
To avoid harm, you should consult a nutritionist and gastroenterologist and undergo a diagnostic examination.
The body is universal and thoughtful. But various external factors can negatively affect its normal functioning. Hunger can restructure its work and lead to unforeseen circumstances.
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You don't eat anything, but fat is stored? The mechanism of fat accumulation during fasting and long breaks between meals can be explained quite simply.
After eating, a glycogen depot is formed in the liver, which ensures the maintenance of a constant level of sugar in the blood for 4-6 hours; when the depot is depleted, and the body constantly needs sugar, in response to deficiency, a fat depot is created in the abdomen and sides, this is a reserve "for a rainy day". During fasting, the body also stores fat in this area; in addition, muscle tissue is destroyed, and basal metabolism decreases (the number of calories that the body will spend during the day on the life support of all cells of the body without adjusting for physical activity).
Calculation of the basal metabolic rate
MT - Body Mass
For example, calculating the basal metabolic rate for a 25-year-old woman weighing 70 kg:
14.7*70+496= 1525 cal/day
Another formula for calculating basal metabolism is called the Harris-Benedict formula and is described in our article “Sports, nutrition and weight loss.”
Depending on your level of physical activity, in order to understand how many calories per day you need, the basal metabolic rate must be multiplied by:
- 1.2 - completely sedentary work, car
- 1.4- more than 7 hours sitting, no car, 2 workouts per week
- 1.6- 3 workouts per week
- 1.8- 5 workouts per week
- 2.0 - miner, athlete.
Let's assume the physical activity ratio is 1.4. Therefore, the woman from our example needs 2135 calories per day.
Why does basal metabolism decrease during headaches? Why does the body end up gaining another 2-3 kg after such a diet?
Let’s say the body needs 2000 calories per day. You decide to lose weight and instead of eating 2000 calories, you eat only 1000 calories. This is stress for the body, it doesn’t understand that you want to lose weight, it “divides 1000 by sex” into 500 lives, and saves 500 feces in case they stop feeding you completely. Does your body need 2000 calories, but only receives 500? The body compensates for the calorie deficit by destroying (actually eating) its own cells, primarily muscles.
As a result, after a month of fasting, the ratio between fat and active cells changes: there is more fat, because half of what is eaten is stored in reserve, and active cells remain only in the amount that can feed 500 calories.
The excess weight was lost “at any cost”, the volume remained practically unchanged, but the muscles and strength decreased, and even the brain began to think worse. The diet doesn’t work, we get upset, we start eating the old 2000 cal/day, and the body thinks that it’s “lucky” and takes advantage of this moment to create more reserves. Now this is already 1000 calories, which means that you are guaranteed to gain another 2-3 kg. If we stubbornly continue to starve, we will begin to recover from bread and water, because... the basal metabolic rate will be critically reduced.
conclusions
When you want to lose weight, eat at least the amount of your basal metabolic rate; the calorie deficit per day, adjusted for physical activity, should not exceed 500 kcal. It is recommended to lose weight gradually - lose no more than 2 kg per month, no more than 500 grams per week. This rhythm is most optimal and allows you to achieve sustainable results.
One-time fasting is fasting days when a person consumes only water or lactic acid products (kefir). It is usually carried out once a week, it does not cause much harm, but you will not be able to lose weight, this is a fact.
The effect of fasting on the body
Fasting for a longer period, more than one day - this is where problems can appear, and quite serious ones. Many people today have heard, and some have resorted to, methods of absolute fasting, which supposedly cure all diseases. Over the first few days, a person loses about half a kilogram per day, then a very sharp need and palpability of a lack of vital elements appears. The person’s condition worsens, the body, not receiving food from the outside, begins to withdraw it from the inside, muscles weaken and begin to ache, the skin loses its elasticity, and wrinkles appear. Nausea also appears during fasting, and other unpleasant consequences.
Health effects of fasting
Immunity decreases, a person feels a constant feeling of hunger, many experience diarrhea, cramps, and a sharp drop in blood pressure. General weakness increases, nausea appears, the stomach hurts after fasting, and people who refuse food for more than three days develop a strong smell of acetone from their mouth during fasting. This occurs due to the breakdown of fats and their release into the blood. The smell lasts throughout the entire period, and may decrease slightly. The skin becomes white, a coating appears on the tongue, heartburn during fasting - the reasons are clear. After 2-3 days, adaptation to hunger occurs, and the body goes into self-eating.
Many supporters of fasting may object and say that these are all temporary phenomena, but they do not explain why the stomach hurts from hunger. Then the person experiences lightness, good mood, peace of mind and a surge of energy; vomiting during fasting no longer bothers him; he no longer thinks about what fasting can lead to. All this is scientifically explainable. The fact is that when you refuse food, the level of ketone bodies in the body begins to rapidly and actively increase. What it is? These are organic substances that the liver begins to secrete, since fatty acid oxidation does not occur. An excess of this substance affects the human brain and gives a false feeling of lightness. In this state, you forget what diarrhea is during fasting, the body adjusts to a positive wave.
All experts believe that long-term fasting is always a huge stress for the body, which can lead to unpredictable consequences; primary ailments such as acetone during fasting, pain, unpleasant symptoms or belching during fasting fade into the background.
For many, after a 10-day fast, cells begin to die, and if we are talking about dry fasting - that is, a person does not even drink water, the consequences may not be reparable. With a long-term refusal of food, a person experiences constant headaches, the temperature may rise sharply, he gets a fever or chills, and suffers from diarrhea after fasting.
The harmful effects of fasting
A fasting person's immunity is weakened, which will be very difficult to improve in the future.
By switching to normal food after fasting, lost proteins are replaced by fats, which will lead to sudden weight gain.
Many people noticed mental retardation.
The heartburn that appears during fasting continues.
Frequent causeless nervous breakdowns.
Constant general weakness.
Frequent nausea.
In some cases, fasting leads to changes in hormonal levels, leading to infertility.
Poor circulation, which often leads to fainting.
Fasting also affects the condition of a person’s hair, it begins to fall out very much, nails also become fragile and constantly break, and diarrhea torments.
You especially have to think about what fasting leads to in teenagers (everything can end sadly).
The skin of the face and body becomes flabby.
The muscles of the whole body begin to ache.
When fasting, it is useful to know.
How fasting affects the body
Hunger, one day or for several days, is stressful for health. Having experienced it, our complex organism remembers this situation forever. In the future, at the slightest shortage or complete absence of food, he begins to actively store fat so as not to experience stress again. Thus, after every even smallest lack of food, the body begins to make urgent reserves, which affect the size of our hips and waist. As a result, a person who has been hungry for a day or two does not lose any kilograms at all, but only wonders: why does his stomach hurt from hunger?
Any one-day, hungry or semi-starved diets end in the rapid accumulation of fat deposits, and this, as you understand, is cellulite, which is hated by the entire female race. So, before you go on a long or short-term fast, think carefully about all the consequences arising from it.
Sleep disturbances often occur - some people lose sleep, others, on the contrary, experience excessive drowsiness.
After fasting, many people develop diseases such as stomach ulcers, problems with the digestive system, including acetone during fasting.
Serious disorders and disorders of the nervous system.
Often, starvation turns into the disease of the century - anorexia. A person begins to lose weight catastrophically, sometimes leading to death. Chasing a beautiful figure, very often young girls are exposed to this disease, dreaming of conquering all the podiums of the world, becoming a star in show business, and why their breath smells when fasting does not bother them much. They independently refuse food in order to get the desired result, and, unfortunately, do not think about the tragic consequences.
The dangers of starvation
Refusal to eat food for the human body is something not natural for the human body, and, in principle, for any living creature. In nature, no one goes hungry of their own free will; this can only be for a reason beyond the control of a living being, that is, simply due to the lack of food. And only a person can exhaust and torture his body in this way for some of his own purposes, which often do not even justify such sacrifices.
Read more.
Mild swelling at the end of the day in young women, in people who have to work standing (salespeople, hairdressers, etc.). - There is no reason to worry. When we stand for a long time, the pressure in the capillaries of the legs increases. This explains mild swelling at the end of the day in completely healthy people. Relaxing on the couch with your legs elevated and plant-based creams and gels that relieve tired legs will help.
Edema in women is accompanied by drowsiness, bad mood, melancholy, headache, and increased appetite. There is a time dependence - once a month. - Premenstrual syndrome is to blame. In many cases it is accompanied by swelling: the ankles swell, the eyelids swell and the face becomes puffy. Gums and joints may swell. After the “critical days” these phenomena disappear.
Asymmetrical swelling of the legs. They mainly affect women. There is a clear boundary between the edematous and normal parts. Even if the other leg then swells, the asymmetry is visible. -
Most likely, you have problems with the veins - thrombophlebitis, varicose veins. It is necessary to check the blood vessels of the legs. The second option is inflammation or a congenital defect of the lymphatic vessels.
Sudden swelling, redness, pain after an insect bite, after you have tasted unusual food or smelled a flower, as well as a reaction to taking medications. -
A severe allergic reaction is Quincke's edema. Accompanied by itching, tension, fever, it usually goes away on its own after some time. The danger is swelling on the face, mucous membranes of the mouth, throat - there may be an attack of suffocation. Antihistamines and other antiallergic treatment are urgently needed.
Swelling - initially on the legs, quite dense - occurs gradually, imperceptibly, is often accompanied by an enlarged liver, and mainly appears in the evening. - Most likely, the “motor” is playing pranks - this is a signal of heart failure. Swelling in the legs, in the lumbar region, enlarged liver - all these are signs of stagnation in the systemic circulation.
Swelling quickly increases, the whole body swells, the process begins with the face and eyelids, the swelling is soft, watery, mobile, and often appears in the morning. - Typical renal edema. Exacerbation of urolithiasis, pyelonephritis and other inflammations, diabetic kidney damage, etc. cannot be avoided without them.
They develop due to diet, digestive disorders, prolonged pain in the epigastric region, and after intestinal surgery. There is often a decrease in protein in the blood. - Normally, proteins perform an important function - they prevent swelling from developing by retaining water. When they decrease, swelling begins in the body. With fasting or an incorrect diet, the intake of protein from food decreases; with intestinal diseases, the absorption of proteins into the blood decreases.
Swelling on the hands and feet; the skin over the swelling is rough and dense, unlike, for example, cardiac edema. A hole does not form when pressed. General health is unimportant - drowsiness, lethargy, low temperature, low heart rate, sexual dysfunction. - Perhaps this is myxedema - a condition with severe dysfunction of the thyroid gland - hypothyroidism. Sometimes it occurs after part of the thyroid gland is removed.
Treatment
1. An excellent diuretic is an infusion prepared according to the following recipe. 50 g of fresh birch leaves are poured into 500 ml of boiling water, infused in a warm place for 5–6 hours and filtered. Take 150 ml 3 times a day.
2. For swelling, it is recommended to drink tea from birch leaves. 2 teaspoons (with top) of birch leaves are poured into 250 ml of boiling water and left for 10 minutes, wrapped warmly. Tea should be drunk warm, drinking up to 3 glasses a day. After the swelling disappears, you can stop taking the tea.
3. For swelling of the hands and feet, grate peeled beets and potatoes, apply the pulp to the swollen areas, wrap in cellophane and tightly wrap the “compress” with a cotton cloth or terry towel. Keep for at least 20 minutes.
4. Pour 400 ml of boiling water over 1 tablespoon of dried and chopped bean leaves, leave for 1 hour hot, strain. Take 1/2 cup hot infusion orally 3-4 times a day, regardless of meals, for rheumatism and as a diuretic for renal edema.
5. Throughout the summer, horsetail can be harvested, but now is the most favorable time for this: at the beginning of July, the horsetail, as they say, has reached its standard size and juiciness. Traditional medicine recommends brewing crushed horsetail with boiling water and drinking it as tea (daily dose - 1 glass). At the same time, thin people are advised to take 1 tbsp. a spoonful of dry herb per glass of boiling water, and for those whose weight exceeds 70 kg - 2 tbsp. spoons per 300 g of boiling water. This tea is useful for both the prevention and treatment of kidney diseases, bladder diseases, kidney stones, pulmonary tuberculosis, and edema of various etiologies. For hypertension, horsetail is recommended to be taken in a mixture with hawthorn.
6. Collect fresh birch leaves at the end of May or beginning of June and dry them so as to preserve their green color and aroma. Pour enough leaves into the bath so that the patient does not lie hard, strip the patient naked, put him in the bath and cover his body so that it is not difficult for him to breathe. The patient should remain in this position until he begins to feel numbness throughout the body, after which he can leave the bath. The procedure is accompanied by profuse sweating. If certain parts of the body are affected by dropsy (legs, stomach), then only these parts of the body are covered with birch leaves. In case of dropsy of cardiac origin, the patient should consult a doctor before taking a dry birch bath. This procedure is also very effective for rheumatic pain, joint pain and radiculitis.
7. Seven ways to prevent swelling
1. Try to reduce your fluid intake a couple of hours before bed to a few sips.
2. Eliminate salty foods.
3. Avoid feather pillows. It is possible that you are allergic to feathers or down.
4. Start the day with a cold water rinse. A more radical way is ice cubes. By lightly and carefully rubbing your face with them, you will exercise your skin and improve blood circulation.
5. Pat your eyelids with your fingertips. This can increase the outflow of fluid from the tissues around the eyes.
6. Make a lotion or, if time permits, a mask (see below).
7. Take a mild diuretic. Nowadays pharmacies have quite a lot of special fees. If you prefer pills, consult your doctor first.
FOLK RECIPES
How to get rid of swelling
ON THE FACE
Potato mask
Grate raw potatoes, squeeze lightly, place on a gauze napkin and apply to face for 10 minutes. Or use a cotton swab dipped in potato juice to apply a lotion under the eyes.
Pumpkin mask
Bring two tablespoons of finely chopped pumpkin in a small amount of water over low heat until smooth. Add 1/2 teaspoon honey, mix well. Place the resulting mass on gauze and apply to the face for 5 - 7 minutes.
AROUND EYES
Rose and rosehip lotions
Dry the plant petals and fill small gauze bags with them. When you need a compress, dip two bags in hot water for one or two minutes, and then, when slightly cooled, place them on your eyes. Rose or rose petals can be replaced with dill herb or parsley leaves.
Tea brewing
Warm bags are applied to the eyes for 15 minutes. Compresses made from tea leaves not only act on the bags, but also soothe the eyes. The tannin contained in tea smoothes the skin and reduces puffiness under the eyes.
ON FOOT
Medicinal fee
Mix 1 teaspoon each of Adonis spring herb and motherwort, valerian root and calendula flowers. Add 1 dessert spoon each of corn silk and St. John's wort. Mix everything and let it brew in 1 liter of boiling water.
Take 1/2 cup with honey 4 - 5 times a day.
Parsley cocktail
Wash and finely chop 800 grams of parsley. Place in a saucepan, pour in a liter of fresh unpasteurized milk and place on low heat. You need to let the milk boil until half the original amount remains. Strain and take 1 dessert spoon of broth every 2 hours. The product helps when a regular diuretic no longer has much effect.
Salon treatments
Mesotherapy
Microinjections are used, which have a lymphatic drainage effect.
Lymphatic drainage
The circular massage alternates with deep pressure, which activates the lymph and rids the body of fluid and toxins.
Vacuum peeling
The upper layer of the epidermis “wears off,” which increases blood circulation and lymph flow, and as a result, the outflow of excess fluid.
Makeup artist secrets
To minimize the signs of swelling of the upper eyelids, apply dark shadows to them, advises Irina Shvets, from the eyebrows to the crease of the eyelid. Further to the border with the eyelashes - shades of a lighter color.
Tint the lower part of the eyelid with very light shades of shadow. And along the border of the eyelashes, draw a strip of darker shadows.
IMPORTANT!
What tests should you take if you have swelling?
General and biochemical blood tests. They will show the amount of protein, glucose level, etc.
Urine analysis - for the presence of protein, sugar, red blood cells, white blood cells.
ECG and ECHO to find out if there is heart failure.
Doppler examination of blood vessels - check the veins for blood clots and inflammation.
DATA
Edema is an excessive accumulation of fluid in tissues. It is believed that they manifest themselves externally when fluid retention in the body is more than 5 liters.
In heart patients, swelling first appears in the legs and lumbar region. If you have kidney problems, the eyelids, face and hands swell first.
At the beginning of the disease, swelling may not be visible to the naked eye. You need to look for them on the inside of the leg, near the protruding bone, and on the lower leg - on the front of the bone.
Edema often occurs in completely healthy people due to improperly selected diets or fasting.
"TVNZ"
After a long protein fast, a person’s stomach becomes bloated. This occurs due to protein-free edema, as well as due to the accumulation of gases and undigested food in the intestines.
Protein-free edema
Water has the property of moving towards a high concentration of substances (this movement is called). For example:
- Jam contains a very high concentration of sugar.
- Microorganisms (bacteria and fungi that could “spoil” or “sour” the jam) are in a dehydrated state because water moving towards high concentration, comes out of the microorganisms into syrup.
- Dehydrated, bacteria and fungi cannot multiply quickly, so jam can be stored for a long time without refrigeration.
Similarly, if the content of soluble proteins (albumin and globulins) decreases in a person’s blood due to protein starvation, then water leaves the blood into the tissue fluid, where the concentration of various substances, including proteins, is greater. The tissues swell (swell) due to excess water.
The accumulation of fluid in the abdominal cavity is called ascites, and it can have many different causes. Ascites associated with a lack of proteins (hypoproteinemic ascites) is, thank God, rare in our civilized area. In Africa - more often, it is one of the components of kwashiorkor.
Bloating
The abdomen becomes bloated due to the accumulation of gases and undigested food in the intestines. – What kind of food are we talking about if we are talking about fasting? - About swan, nettles, tree buds and other tasteless things that people use eat when hungry due to lack of normal food.
- Such food (dream?) is very poorly digested, because, unlike herbivores,...
- In addition, with prolonged protein starvation in humans, the production of digestive enzymes (all of which are proteins) decreases.
- During fasting, all muscles - the skeleton, internal organs, and even the heart - are used by the body as a “protein reserve” (death “from hunger” usually occurs from heart failure). “Thinning” intestinal muscles weaken and can no longer effectively mix food and push it along the intestines.
It turns out that quinoa “gets stuck” in the middle of the intestines and lies there, almost undigested.
- Due to weakened intestinal movements, gases accumulate inside it (and they, together with food, should gradually move towards the anus and move out with a characteristic sound).
- Food stuck in the intestines rots (eaten by bacteria and fungi), and during the decay process additional gases are released.