The problem of excess weight in recent decades is acute in the global community. This is especially true for developed countries. Millions of people are struggling with obesity. A beautiful body is the dream of every woman and most men. Junk food, nightly “feasts”, alcohol, sweet and fatty are enemies of the figure and well-being.
What is just not invented to find the desired harmony! People exhaust themselves in gyms, invent more and more sets of exercises and types of physical activity, propagandize and practice all kinds of toxins and even psychotherapeutic techniques.
But everyone understands that the main thing in losing weight is proper nutrition. That is why numerous diets are so popular. Each has a bunch of fans, with foam at the mouth proving its effectiveness. The same number of opponents, disappointed due to the lack of a visible effect. Someone goes to the opposite extreme and completely denies diets as such. As always, the truth is somewhere in between.
Diet - harm or benefit?
It is no secret that proper nutrition is the basis of any diet. Everyone has their own preferences in food matters. Someone does not like vegetables, dairy dishes or cereals, and the other cannot live without them. Some are allergic to eggs, while others are allergic to citrus fruits.
All diets, especially fast ones, have a general principle - they take a break from the usual heavy food. All of them are focused on unloading and cleaning our poor body. With all the criticism of diets, this is a useful procedure.
Most of them offer us to give up sweet and starchy foods, salt, soda and alcohol. Yes, it is not easy. But without labor there will be no result.
It’s best to choose balanced diets that include a lot of what you love or at least not reject. They are undoubtedly more optimal than tough specialized ones, sometimes depriving us of the substances necessary for health.
Talk about calories
One of the most important indicators that you should pay attention to when choosing a product is its calorie content. It means energy value, that is, the amount of energy that enters the body when a certain amount of food is eaten (usually 100 grams of a product is taken into account). As is known from physics, energy is measured in kilojoules (kJ). Calorie content of products is usually calculated in kilocalories (kcal).
In addition, there is the concept of nutritional value of a product - the content of carbohydrates, proteins, fats in it. Their number is also given per hundred gram portion.
For growth and livelihoods, each of us must receive a certain number of calories daily. The same amount may contain, for example, a large dish of vegetable salad and a slice of chocolate. Consuming a lot of high-calorie food, we gain excess weight, reducing either the mass of the food or its energy intensity - we are losing weight, which is no secret to anyone for a long time. Since the balance of basic nutrients and vitamins is extremely important for our health, you can not focus solely on calories.
Background for losing weight
There is a special table of proper nutrition (or calorie table), which lists almost all types of foods indicating the content of fats, carbohydrates and proteins, as well as water in a 100-gram serving. In a separate column, it contains the caloric content that interests us. The table is very, very detailed, it is difficult to find a product that would not be there. All of them are conveniently grouped by type - dairy, vegetables, etc.
The table of proper nutrition is a curious document! With careful reading, you discover a lot of interesting things. Let's see how much "weighs" in kilocalories. Those who read it for the first time may find something new for themselves.
Proper nutrition - calorie table
The Dairy Products section pleases with relatively low calorie figures. It is especially pleasant to read that in low-fat kefir only 30 kcal, in yogurt - 58, in one and a half percent yogurt - 51. We recall that we are talking about a hundred-gram portion of the product. The most high-calorie in this section is condensed milk with sugar - 315 kcal and milk powder - as much as 475!
We turn to fats, and here comes a slight despair. That's where the table of proper nutrition is not at all happy! It turns out that even in vegetable oil as much as 899 kcal per 100 g of product! In melted fat and oil, respectively - 897 and 887. It is comforting that we don’t eat it with spoons ...
Bakery products are relatively soothing. Rye bread - 214 kcal, wheat flour - 329. Cream crackers are the most high-calorie (397). Cereals in calorie content are fundamentally little different from bakery, although they are considered much more useful.
Give vegetarianism!
What is the right nutrition - the table clearly shows in numbers. Vegetables - this is where dieters have a paradise! The calorie figures are so low that you want to start eating exclusively pasture.
Judge for yourselves: salad - only 14 kcal per 100 grams, cucumbers - 15, radishes - 20, zucchini - 27, cabbage - 28. True, you quickly remember that you won’t eat a lot of them ...
The most nutritious is garlic (as much as 106 kcal). But eat it even less.
Fruits, mushrooms (except dried) and berries are also pleasing. An average of 30-40-50 kcal. The most “harmful” ones are dates, there are 281 in them. But we do not eat them too often. Dried fruits and legumes are an order of magnitude heavier in calories, the numbers are already three digits.
What about meat?
We turn to reliable sources of protein. Beef - only 187 kcal, but fatty pork - already 489! The most “light” product in this section is beef kidneys, they have only 66 kcal. Figures for sausages (which, as you know, are best avoided), vary from 170 to 500 or more kcal depending on the type. The section "fish and seafood" with indicators pleases, they are much lower than that of meat. Eggs are also not too high in calories - 157 kcal, but egg powder and dry yolk - already over 500.
Very nutritious nuts, and, of course, everyone's favorite sweets. The most “harmless” of them are marshmallows (299 kcal), pastille (309), honey (308). The most dangerous for the figure is almond cake (524) and chocolate (540).
A proper nutrition chart is an essential tool for anyone who wants to keep their weight under control. Especially diligent fans of a healthy lifestyle are recommended to print it and keep it handy, for example, hang it on the refrigerator.
Other numbers
In addition to calorie content, foods have an indicator such as glycemic index. It shows the degree of increase in blood sugar and, accordingly, the insulin response of the pancreas. Products with a high index are harmful, but simply dangerous for diabetics. An index higher than 50 is considered high, low - from 10 to 40, in the interval between them - products with an average index.
The nutritional value of food depends on the protein content, which should be about one and a half to two grams per kilogram of our weight per day. Most of it (from 60% and above) should be "extracted" by the body from plant products. Therefore - down with butter and margarine!
For those who choose the right food, the table will help with the necessary information. For example, a great source of low-fat protein is seafood and fish. Only here not everyone loves them ... But what can’t you do for the sake of a thin waist!
How to choose the right diet
The calorie table alone cannot provide proper nutrition. In the interests of health, foods must be chosen, avoiding simple carbohydrates and giving preference to complex (berries, vegetables, fruits) with a low glycemic index. The glucose they contain is broken down relatively slowly and enters the bloodstream over a long period of time, which helps maintain its optimal level.
The general assessment of products consists of the glycemic index, the content of fats and carbohydrates, and calories. It is expressed in points from 0 to 10, clearly demonstrates the recommended frequency of use and effectiveness in reducing weight. Nutritional value - a separate indicator, depends on the amount of minerals, vitamins, photocells and antioxidants in the composition (excluding fats and proteins). It ranges from 0 to 100 units.
The right diet throughout the day (breakfast is especially important) will provide the necessary well-being and prevent the development of obesity, diabetes and heart disease.
Diet Bormental
Among the many different diets from the point of view of caloric content, the so-called Bormental diet, known in Russia since 2001, when the author's method of losing weight was created (the brand was called "Doctor Bormental"), is interesting and very popular. Her concept is based on a low-calorie diet combined with psychotherapeutic techniques designed to eliminate the subconscious causes of overeating. In the network of Bormental clinics existing throughout the country, each individual who comes to lose weight is doing individual work.
In this case, the type of physique and general health condition are necessarily taken into account. The main principle of the diet is that almost everything is allowed! But within 1000 (maximum 1200 kcal) per day. So those who want to reduce weight will have to purchase a kitchen scale and a notebook for recording and counting calories. And the main reference material is the table (menu) of the proper nutrition of Bormental.
It should be noted that this power system does not imply increased physical exertion. Therefore, the Bormental table does not provide for proper nutrition for athletes.
What is this table and why is it so good? It lists not only well-known ingredients for cooking, but also a large number of common dishes for our table, which greatly simplifies the task of counting calories when cooking. Indeed, sometimes accurately determining their number in the composition of numerous components is a tedious and almost unrealistic task. But at the same time, the caloric content of absolutely everything eaten per day should be strictly taken into account, and it is not allowed to exceed the limit - this is the principle of diet. With such scrupulous planning, a table of proper nutrition for a week or two can be compiled, which will save time and effort.
However, the menu is very diverse - there are almost no prohibited products. One important requirement is to “take” protein (meat, eggs or fish) every day. Otherwise, with a low-calorie diet, the body will begin to replenish its reserves from its own muscles. You can eat ice cream or a slice of chocolate, but the rest on this day is within the remaining "limit" of calories. And those losing weight, the desire to eat chocolate quickly disappears ...
Thus, the Bormental table will provide proper nutrition for weight loss by demonstrating the concepts of "quality" and "quantity".
About Separate Nutrition
The so-called separate nutrition theory has many admirers . It is recommended to adhere to this system constantly, while you do not need to starve and carefully calculate calories.
The main principle of separate nutrition is the ban on combining animal proteins with starch. That is, meat or fish should not be consumed simultaneously with rice or potatoes, chicken with pasta, and sausage with bread. The usual side dish should be replaced with vegetable salad. This is the product compatibility table:
This approach is intended to facilitate the task of digesting food and improve its absorption, because proteins and carbohydrates require a different environment and a different amount of time for breakdown and processing. At the same time, products are divided into main groups - proteins (meat, fish, eggs, etc.), carbohydrates - (fruits, sugar, cereals, potatoes, all flour), fats (vegetable and animals).
With a separate approach, the food compatibility table governs proper nutrition. In it, vertically and horizontally, all their species are shown, at the intersection - squares of red, yellow or green.
They denote, respectively, poorly compatible, acceptable and well compatible ingredients. The right diet table offers us to make the most suitable for us.
About the young generation
It is known that bad eating habits seriously affect the health of children and adolescents. Nowadays, this problem is becoming more serious. The number of adolescents with diabetes, obesity and other serious diseases is growing. The diet of youth and children is hardly healthy. Here and soda, and chips, and pizza, and an excess of sweets.
All this leads to reduced immunity (against the background of a deficiency of nutrients) and, as a result, fatigue, dizziness, bad teeth and bones, and digestive disorders. For children and young people it is especially important that nutrition is balanced.
The table of proper nutrition for a teenager 13-15 years old necessarily includes vegetables, fruits, milk, sour cream, cottage cheese, low-fat cheeses, lean meat, poultry, fish, nuts, beans and cereals. Animal oils, fatty meat, sweet pastries, chips and other fast food, as well as a lot of salt and foods with high cholesterol are harmful to them. A proper nutrition table for a teenager suggests how necessarily rich in iron - because a young organism is growing rapidly.