Contradictions of healthy eating

It is strange, but a fact: some recommendations on proper nutrition contradict each other. Which of them should I follow? Marina Leonidovna Zhdanova, a nutritionist at the capital's Center for Aesthetic and Restorative Medicine "Emerald", helped us to understand the paradoxes of modern dietetics.

The first contradiction
City residents are advised by nutritionists to reduce the caloric content of the diet in order to avoid obesity. But even the set of products that we are used to, often does not provide us with the necessary vitamins and minerals.

Indeed, knowing these two facts can confuse a woman who cares about her nutrition. But if we approach this situation analytically, we will see that there is no contradiction here.

In recent years, nutritionists are actually increasingly saying that it would be nice for city dwellers to "cut down" the daily caloric content of the diet. However, this does not apply to all residents of the city, but only to those who are engaged in intellectual work.

If the work is "sedentary", a woman does not have time to go to the gym, she drives a car and goes up to her sixth floor by elevator, then she spends a little energy. Those 2500 calories that were recommended to consume a couple of decades ago are simply not consumed and turn into fat deposits. That is why doctors advise to reduce the caloric content of the diet to 2000, or even up to 1800 kcal. Not for weight loss, but in order not to gain extra weight.

The statement about vitamins and minerals is also true – sometimes they are not enough even in a diet that contains not 2500, but all 5000 kcal! At the same time, we most often blame modern agriculture for the shortage of essential substances. The soils are supposedly so depleted that there can be no vitamins in the products. And very rarely do we think about the fact that we ourselves are not eating exactly what we should be eating. However, this is exactly the problem, and reducing the caloric content of the diet may not aggravate it, but solve it.

For any person, it is important not only how many calories he gets, but also what nutrients enter his body every day. It is believed that with moderate physical activity, the ratio of proteins, fats and carbohydrates should be 1:1:4. If a person is engaged exclusively in intellectual work, this ratio changes – 1:0.8:3. That is, we must preserve the amount of protein consumed, and reduce the consumption of fats and carbohydrates. Of course, at the same time we will have to reduce the usual portions of food, but not by much. The main thing is to change the composition of the diet.

Instead of French-style meat under a thick layer of mayonnaise, we choose grilled meat. At the same time, we get the same amount of iron and B vitamins, and fat and calories are an order of magnitude less. We replace white bread with whole–grain black bread - vitamin E is added in the body, and carbohydrates are less. Instead of a side dish, we eat vegetables a couple of times a week – and again, plus vitamins, minus carbohydrates.

The second contradiction
It is believed that low-fat foods contribute to weight loss. At the same time, the biggest fans of low–calorie food – Americans - remain one of the most obese nations in the world.

That's really who you don't need to focus on in this matter, so it's the Americans! Their love of low-calorie food and their weight, in my opinion, are not related in any way.

Many people know an anecdote about how an American woman walks into a cafe and asks for a double portion of French fries, two large hamburgers and a pork chop, and then adds: "And a diet coke! I'm on a diet!". Low-fat foods during weight loss will give a clear result only if the rest of the menu is the same low-calorie. The type of nutrition of the average American is far from this.

However, many of our ladies who are trying to lose weight and switch to low-calorie low-fat food complain that the weight is only growing. This phenomenon is most often explained simply. After seeing cottage cheese with a fat content of 0%, losing weight ladies buy not one, but two packs. Low fat content in our minds is strongly associated with low calorie content. And this means that you can relax, give up restrictions and eat more than usual.

This is the main mistake. Let's count it. 100 grams of fat cottage cheese on average contain 155 kcal, low–fat - 85 kcal. Being conscious ladies, we eat half a pack of fat cottage cheese, and when we relax, we kiss it. And 85 plus 85 turns out as much as 170. 15 kcal more than in a pack of ordinary cottage cheese. And so more than once a day. Is it any wonder that the arrow of the scales does not go down? Especially when you consider that women, in addition to zero cottage cheese, also lean on low-fat kefir and low-fat cakes.

So it is not necessary to make claims about the non-decreasing weight of fat-free products. If you eat them in the same quantities as their fat-containing counterparts, and do not snack on their high-calorie cookies, you are guaranteed to start losing weight.

The third contradiction
Doctors urge us to fry in a non-stick frying pan with almost no oil added. But recently there was information that Teflon can contain substances harmful to health and can cause a variety of diseases.The fact is that when heated, Teflon releases a special toxic acid that can negatively affect health.

In particular, this acid is accused of impairing the functioning of the respiratory system, disrupting the immune defense of the body and, most sadly, provoking the development of malignant tumors.

We will not panic. Firstly, in the history of world medicine, a variety of products and substances have been blamed for the occurrence of cancer. And the final "verdict" was passed only on radiation and smoking. Secondly, the negative impact of the Teflon frying pan on human well–being has not yet been noted - experiments, as always, were carried out on laboratory rats.

Therefore, it is not worth throwing out a frying pan with a non-stick coating. Moreover, it really helps us at least partially solve many problems. These include high cholesterol, obesity, diabetes mellitus, and heart disease. Such pans allow us to seriously reduce our daily fat intake, making food less caloric.

However, using Teflon cookware, it's still a good idea to take some precautions.

First, once and for all, forget about baking sheets with non-stick coating. The fact is that harmful acid vapors begin to be released when we heat Teflon above 200 degrees Celsius. A frying pan on the stove does not always reach this temperature, but a baking sheet in the oven – in almost every case. So for baking it is better to use dishes without non-stick coating. And even better – bake meat or fish in foil on the grill.

And secondly, in no case do not use frying pans from which the Teflon coating has started to "peel off" or you have scratched it when washing. And the problem here is not the Teflon itself. Just under it, as a rule, is aluminum or its alloys. And these are harmful substances that can simply lead to food poisoning.

The fourth contradiction
Nutritionists advise to periodically spend fasting days. But this is a great stress for the body. In addition, such days lead to a violation of the balance of nutrition or to disruptions in the diet.

First of all, I would like to note that diet and fasting days, in principle, should not be combined. One-day unloading is recommended for those women who are not ready to limit their diet for a long time. And a combination of diet and fasting days can be provided only in cases where the menu is therapeutic. This happens in the treatment of obesity, diabetes mellitus, metabolic syndrome. But in this case, the fasting day should be carried out with the permission of the doctor and under his supervision.

As for stress and eating disorders, everything is correct here. However, these contradictions are easily removed if you follow the rules of "unloading". First of all, on a fasting day, you reduce the caloric content of the diet by about half. Therefore, it is not recommended to arrange "unloading" more than once or twice a week. And in order for stress to become easier to bear over time, it is best to spend it on strictly defined days. Then your body will get into a rhythm.

It is better to make the first fasting days "full" – combine boiled meat and fresh vegetables, seafood and stewed vegetables, low-fat cottage cheese and berries. After a few weeks, you can switch to "mono-unloading": kefir, apple, watermelon days. At the same time, it is advisable to alternate them – if there was apple food in one week, then arrange a kefir day for yourself on the other.

If fasting days are arranged once a week for several months, it is quite possible to lose weight noticeably. But most importantly, they allow the digestive tract to rest, reduce the risk of liver and gallbladder diseases, and improve the condition of the skin.

The fifth contradiction
Chewing between meals is harmful. But many nutritionists advise to make snacks several times a day.Doctors have really been paying a lot of attention to snacks in recent years.

And this is mainly due to the conditions in which modern women work.

Everyone knows that it's best to eat often and a little. It is desirable that we have 5-6 meals a day. But let's look at the schedule of a woman working in an office. In the morning she has breakfast, goes to work and works until lunch. Eats a second time. And the next meal – dinner – she will have only in 6-7 hours when she returns home.

Now imagine that she was late at work and was able to have dinner only at ten o'clock in the evening. There's nothing good about it. If she had lunch at two, then by the time of dinner she is already experiencing a brutal hunger. This is absolutely normal, because in eight hours everything has already been digested, and the blood sugar level has dropped significantly. As a result, after returning home, the woman simply overeats. There is no need to talk about the consequences of such a diet.

If our lady had managed to have a snack between lunch and dinner, then blood sugar would not have decreased so much. And this would not only improve her well-being, but also allow her to maintain a normal appetite. So snacks are needed: one – as a late breakfast, and the second – between dinner and lunch, around five in the evening.

"Be healthy" based on the materials of the magazine "Women's Health"

Portal "Eternal youth" www.vechnayamolodost.ru08.12.2008