Nutrition issues now occupy a leading place in all scientific and medical works. After all, the products that a person eats, greatly affect his health. Therefore, more and more people became interested in what a balanced diet is. The principles of good nutrition are described in detail in many medical articles, and if you wish, you can learn to eat so that food only benefits. But not only the composition of a person’s diet affects his health. Everything is important: how much he eats, when, what intervals between meals he observes, how he combines the products with each other. It is especially important to pay attention to this when feeding children, the elderly and those who suffer from any diseases.
Why is nutrition so important?
It is clear to everyone that food is a prerequisite for maintaining human life and health. What are its functions?
1. In providing the human body with energy. Therefore, the basics of a balanced diet must take into account the energy costs of a person. And the food consumed should make up for them, but no more. Otherwise, excess will be deposited in the form of fat.
2. With food, substances that are used by them for the construction of cells must enter the body. These are primarily proteins, minerals, fats and carbohydrates are also important.
3. Another nutritional function is to supply the body with vitamins necessary for the production of certain enzymes and hormones.
4. Recently, scientists have determined that immunity also depends on nutrition. What a person eats directly affects the body’s defenses and its ability to resist disease.
That is why it is so important to know what a balanced diet is. The principles of good nutrition necessarily take these functions into account.
The value of essential nutrients
Proteins are the most necessary substances for the body. They are used for building cells, producing hormones and as an energy source. A person needs to consume about 100 grams of protein per day, depending on gender and age.
Fats are the main source of energy. They should be approximately 35% of the daily diet. Moreover, vegetable fats containing unsaturated fatty acids and vitamins are more useful.
Carbohydrates also serve as a source of energy. They need to be consumed up to 500 grams per day, depending on the person’s energy consumption. But an excess of them can lead to obesity, because if they are not converted into energy, they turn into fat.
Vitamins and minerals are also necessary for normal human life. It is important to consider that they do not form in the body, but come only with food.
Good nutrition: concept and principles
Food should ensure the growth and proper development of a person, improve his health and contribute to the prevention of diseases. It should be balanced in terms of energy consumption, nutrient content in accordance with gender and age. Only in this case can we talk about rational nutrition. Each person should strive for this, only then he can enjoy his health. The principles of good nutrition include:
- moderation, which does not allow to consume more energy with food than it is spent in the process of life;
- Diversity is a very important principle of good nutrition. Humanity uses thousands of different foods for food in a wide variety of combinations. But they are based on proteins, fats, carbohydrates, vitamins and minerals. In order for all of them to enter the human body with food, the diet should be as diverse as possible;
- Diet is also very important for health. Moreover, this principle is especially often violated by people.
Why is moderation in food so important?
When compiling a diet, it is necessary to strike a balance between the energy spent and the food intake.
For this, the gender, age, weight of a person and his occupation are taken into account. Nutritional norms and principles measure energy expenditure in kilocalories. For example, for a person engaged in mental work, they are about 2500 kcal, and for athletes - 4000 kcal. If less energy comes from food, then the body spends its own reserves in the form of fat and glycogen. With prolonged starvation or inadequate nutrition, proteins also begin to be consumed, which leads to muscle dystrophy. But excessive intake of energy from food is also harmful. All that is not used up is deposited in the form of adipose tissue. Therefore, the
energy balance in nutrition is so important. The amount of food consumed and its composition should depend on age, body weight, physical activity and even the place of residence of a person.
Diet balance
A lot of things should take into account a balanced diet. The principles of good nutrition necessarily include knowledge of the quality composition of food. To ensure normal human life, it is necessary that all nutrients come with food in a certain ratio. On average, for an ordinary healthy person engaged in mental work, the following ratio is recommended: one part of proteins, one part of fats and four parts of carbohydrates. It is also important that a person consumes a sufficient amount of vitamins and minerals with food.
What you need to know about the composition of food and the amount of its main ingredients?
1. A person should consume about 1 gram of protein per kilogram of weight. On average, it turns out 50-80 grams. Moreover, the amount of animal and vegetable protein should be distributed approximately equally. According to studies, excessive protein intake leads to reduced performance and the development of fatigue. After all, a lot of energy is spent on its processing. Protein is found in meat and dairy products, nuts, legumes and buckwheat.
2. Fats are very important for providing the body with energy and participation in the construction of cells. In addition, only in their presence can certain vitamins be absorbed. On average, a person needs to consume about 100 grams of fat. Moreover, the most important are those that contain essential fatty acids and fat-soluble vitamins. These are mainly vegetable fats, which need to be consumed more than animals. But margarine and artificial oils should be discarded, as they are poorly absorbed.
3. Carbohydrates are the main source of energy. An average person needs 400-500 grams on average, most of which must be starch. With normal nutrition, 60% of all energy is produced due to carbohydrates. A person can get them from honey, fruits and berries, sugar, some vegetables and grain products.
4. Vitamins are a necessary tool for the formation of enzymes and hormones. Basically, they enter the body with food. Most of them are in fruits and vegetables, bread and cereals. With a lack of vitamins, some diseases develop and a decrease in immunity and performance is observed.
5. Minerals are very important for maintaining normal human activity. In order not to observe their deficiency, the human diet should be varied.
6. Fiber is essential for the normal functioning of the digestive tract, although it is not digested. It is very necessary to normalize the intestinal microflora and remove toxins from the body. Fiber is found in vegetables and fruits, legumes and cereal products. Only by consuming it in sufficient quantities can one maintain health and prevent the occurrence of certain diseases.
Meal mode
In addition to a quality composition, it is very important to observe the correct diet. Basically, it is regulated by hunger, but in some cases a person allows overeating. It has become a real scourge of modern humanity. Therefore, now the importance of a balanced diet is that people are taught not only to be guided by appetite, but also to adhere to some rules:
- you need to maintain consistency in eating at the time of day. In this case, the body produces a conditioned reflex and saliva and gastric juice are secreted by a certain time, which ensures better digestion of food;
- food should be fractional. Scientists have proven that two meals a day are dangerous to health. It is best to eat 3-4 times a day, but in small portions. Sometimes it’s advisable to add a couple more meals without increasing its total amount;
- Both breakfast, lunch, and dinner should be balanced in terms of nutrient content. It is necessary to select such products so that at each meal the body receives proteins, fats, carbohydrates, minerals and vitamins in their rational ratio;
- It is very important to choose the right time for breakfast, lunch and dinner, as well as to distribute the amount of food. It is necessary to try so that between the main meals 4-6 hours pass, and from dinner to sleep 2-3 hours are left. The main volume of food should be for lunch, in second place - breakfast, for dinner, you need to eat less.
The rules of nutrition in everyday life
Almost everyone is clear how important a healthy diet is to health. The principles of good nutrition are described in many medical works. But not everyone understands the scientific terms, and for the average layman, such ideas are difficult to apply in life. Therefore, you can formulate some rules that more clearly set out the basics of a balanced diet:
- do not overeat;
- monitor the quality of food: it must be unspoiled and not infected with microorganisms;
- eat as varied as possible;
- in cooking methods, give preference to cooking and eat more raw vegetables and fruits;
- when purchasing ready-made food, be sure to pay attention to the composition and calorie content indicated on the label;
- chew food thoroughly;
- you need to eat more often, but in small portions;
- consume enough water;
- try to exclude salt, sugar, coffee, alcoholic beverages, canned goods, cakes, refined products and smoked meats from consumption;
- try to include more often fresh vegetables and fruits, honey, herbs, nuts and cereals in the diet;
- You should sit at the table only in a good mood and do not be distracted by foreign objects during meals.
Separate food
Scientists have found that the digestion of food occurs under the influence of various enzymes. To ensure that its components are absorbed correctly and the complex digestion process is not disturbed, it is recommended to use certain rules in the diet:
- do not mix starch with acidic products;
- protein and starchy foods are best consumed at different times;
- sugar inhibits the secretion of the stomach, so it is undesirable to eat it with proteins and starches;
- It is advisable to drink liquid separately from solid foods;
- apples, grapes and other fruits should be eaten 1-2 hours before the main meal. A pear is better to eat after a meal;
- fats also delay the digestion process, so a large amount of them can lead to problems.
The Importance of Nutrition
Most people currently do not eat properly, which causes irreparable harm to their health. And this is primarily due to a lack of knowledge on this issue. And more and more people suffer from metabolic disorders caused by malnutrition. This leads to the appearance of nervous and mental diseases, vitamin deficiencies, liver and blood diseases. Therefore, a balanced diet and its principles should be known to everyone who wants to stay healthy. Violation of these rules leads to reduced performance, disease resistance and life expectancy. A person needs proper food not only to make up for energy costs and growth, but also to receive the necessary vitamins and minerals that are not synthesized by the body. Their balance contributes to the normal course of all life processes. Rational nutrition contributes to a more complete assimilation of nutrients.
Therapeutic and dietary nutrition
All recommendations related to food can only be applied to an ordinary, healthy person. Usually they do not take into account the individual characteristics of the body. Therefore, in the presence of any deviations in health, diets are used. The principles of rational and dietary nutrition are basically similar, but diets, in addition to satisfying hunger and entering the body with necessary substances, should contribute to improving health and help cure diseases. The following types of diets are available:
- medical;
- age;
- for weight correction;
- for pregnant and lactating women;
- sports;
- designed for people of certain professions.
Diets for certain diseases
The principles of rational and therapeutic nutrition provide not only a special regimen of food intake, but also the rejection of products that can be harmful to health. The diet plays a huge role in the treatment of most diseases. For some pathologies, it is necessary to increase or decrease the amount of proteins, fats or carbohydrates.
Nutrition for obesity should be balanced. It is necessary to strictly monitor the amount of calories consumed, to abandon sugar, salt, flour products, fatty foods and alcohol.
The principles of good nutrition for rickets include the introduction of a sufficient amount of foods rich in phosphorus and magnesium, vitamin D and calcium into the child’s diet. Feeding sick children give as early as 4 months. They need to introduce vegetable purees, mashed yolk, liver and meat into the diet.
Another disease in which it is very important to follow a certain diet is hypothyroidism. It is necessary to reduce the amount of carbohydrates, salt and liquid consumed. Useful, on the contrary, vegetables and fruits, dairy products, meat and rye bread. The principles of good nutrition for hypothyroidism include limiting fats and easily digestible carbohydrates, but increasing proteins.
Children's Nutrition Rules
Disadvantages in catering are most affected by children. This leads to a delay in their growth and development and to the appearance of various diseases. Therefore, it is so important to observe the basic principles of rational nutrition of children. It is necessary to ensure that the child’s diet is not overloaded with carbohydrates, so it is necessary to limit the use of sugar, pastries and confectionery. You also need to exclude carbonated drinks, convenience foods, sausages and fast food from children's nutrition. This food will bring nothing but harm. It is especially necessary to pay attention to the fact that in baby food there should be enough vitamins and minerals, especially calcium, iodine, iron, fluoride and folic acid. In the diet of the child should be a lot of fresh vegetables and fruits, dairy and grain products. He needs to eat nuts, honey, herbs and drink enough water.