Vegetables and fruit fasting (dr Dabrowska's diet) – a great way to rejuvenate, detoxify and support your overall health. Also a good alternative to ketogenic diet for weight loss.
I would like to share with you my recent experience with a vegetable and fruit fasting which I performed for the last 3 weeks. The principles of the diet got created by a Polish doctor Ewa Dabrowska who started seeing significant health improvement (especially in terms of metabolic health) within her patients. Within her 30 years’ experience she has created the entire vegetables and fruit diet and there are many hotel/spas in Poland serving such diet. My first experience with this diet was indeed in 2014 in a hotel in Polish mountains where I did the diet for 1 week.
Recently, to support my own health and longevity, I have decided to come back to the fast and perform it in a longer period – I did it for 3 weeks and at the moment I am at the stage of coming off the diet. I did it in the home conditions, preparing the meals at home and partially supported by a certified catering. I managed to read dr. Dabrowska’s book which provided a lot of information why the diet can be a great support for our health.
Vegetables and fruit fasting is low caloric and is associated with fat reduction in the body, especially dangerous visceral fat, which in the case of obesity produces hormones responsible for the formation of metabolic syndrome. Such diet can help with several chronic civilization diseases, such as type 2 diabetes, hypertension, ischemic heart disease, thrombosis, and lipid disorders. The patients who went through the fast report also other health improvement like pain reduction, scarring reduction, skin appearance improvement and others.. The diet obviously helps with body detoxification and weight loss.
The default length of the diet is 2 weeks and the maximum length is 6 weeks. It can be performed also on some days of the week only (intermitted fasting).
What are the rules of vegetables and fruit fasting:
- The diet is based only on non-starchy vegetables and small amount of low-sugar fruits like apples, grapefruits, lemons and berries
- 75% of food is served in a raw form while 25% of food can be cooked, steamed or baked
- Fermented food should be eaten everyday
- There are no animal based products, starchy carbohydrates (grains, starchy vegetables, legumes) or no fats added to the meals
- Coffee, strong tea and alcohol and not allowed during the diet
- The morning starts with water with lemon juice followed by fermented beet juice (“kvas”) with added marjoram and fresh garlic clove
- You can eat three meals which consist of: 2 raw salads (cup size) and a cooked meal, for the lunch there can be also added a dessert in a form of a small apple or a plum
- There is a preparation phase for the diet which takes one week before starting it
- There is also coming off phase after we stop the fasting – such period should be as long as the fast duration and is split in some phases, this can be a classical coming off with adding slowly more products or more keto diet if someone aims to lose more weight. This coming off period leads to introduction of fully balanced diet. Another option of coming off the diet is ketogenic diet.
The low-caloric vegetables and fruit fast triggers different mechanisms in the body which help to rejuvenate and detoxify cells. There are couple of processes which are activated:
- Autophagy - diseased and damaged cells structures are recovered in the recycling process and are used to rebuild new and healthy cells, a Japanese scientist prof. Yoshinori Ohsumi got a Nobel Prize (2016) for discovering the process.
- Sirtuins activation – sirtuins are proteins responsible for longevity, they have ability to recover genetic DNA. Thanks to this process, there may be an increase in ATP energy, mitochondria or tissue regeneration, along with balancing of biochemical processes because the norm is stored in the genes.
- Polyphenols, i.e. bioactive compounds present in huge amount in fruit and vegetables have also the ability to activate sirtuins, but also, through epigenetic, activate different beneficial processes in our body
- Polyphenols and fiber help to grow a healthy gut microbiome, so beneficial for immune system, blood sugar regulation, proper detoxification and vitamins production, similar function is played by the fermented food providing beneficial bacteria
- The abundance of raw food keeps them enzymatically alive which means these foods have enzymes within them to help digest 40 to 60% of that particular food
There are not many contradictions to start the diet: adrenal insufficiency, cancer, hyperthyroidism, organs transplant, pregnancy and lactation period, depression, heavy anemia, young age.
Below you may find couple of pictures of my meals – they look beautiful and colorful and indeed taste good. Even if you do not want to start such fasting incorporating part of the principles like more raw and fermented vegetables and fruit into your diet can bring benefits to your health.
The examples of the salads are:
Kohlrabi with lemon juice and salt
Grated carrot/pumpkin/celeriac/beet (or a mixture) with an apple
Yellow pepper + sour cucumber + onion + tomato + apple cider vinegar
Spiralized zucchini with spinach/parsley pesto
Baked slices of zucchini/aubergine + onion + tomato with spices
Grated broccoli with onion and pomegranate seeds + apple cider vinegar
Coleslaw salad with red cabbage, carrots, onion and red pepper
Grated kohlrabi and cucumber sprinkled with lemon juice
If you would like to find out if it is a suitable diet for you to help support your health and weight loss or would like to find out more details, please reach out to me and I can guide you through the journey.
With love,
Gosia