The latest research in the field of dietetics and healthy nutrition has not made any significant innovations in the usual understanding of proper nutrition. Recently, scientists at the Moscow Center for Cardiology and the Research Institute of Nutrition, with the assistance of the Center for Prevention Medicine, have put forward a concept known as the “10 Steps to a Healthy Diet.” This is an interesting new concept: without discovering anything new, it affirms simple previously known principles that are easy to follow and maintain good health. At the same time, eliminate the problem of excess weight forever.
In the concept of proper healthy eating, the basic rules of healthy eating are formulated, which include several steps:
1. The basis of a balanced and well-constructed diet is diversity in food. The advantage should be given to herbal products. There is no food product that satisfies the body’s need for all or at least most of the necessary substances. Therefore, in your diet should be the maximum variety.
2. Against the background of a general preoccupation with dietary products, it may seem strange that potatoes, pasta and bread should be the basis of the daily diet. Potato and bread categorically should not be refused. These are not just carbohydrate foods. They contain groups of compounds, dietary fiber important for digestion, vitamins B and C necessary for the body. Dietitians advise against excluding bread from the daily diet, preferring black bread from second-grade flour, preferably coarse and bran. Despite the fact that carbohydrates are part of the potato, they are less in starch than in the same amount of fat or alcohol. Dietitians dispute the claim that carbohydrate foods such as potatoes, pasta, bread, and cereals lead to weight gain. But they argue that the lack of these products in your menu will definitely lead to problems in the digestive tract and intestines.
3. A healthy diet is built taking into account the use throughout the day about half a kilogram of vegetables and fruits, including potatoes. Preference is given to vegetables. Numerous vitamins and minerals are very important for our body, but only those found in natural products. These sources are, of course, vegetables and fruits. Essential substances such as antioxidants, minerals, iron, well-known folic acid, calcium, phosphorus, vitamins – can be obtained on a variety of fruit and vegetable tables in your daily diet. What is part of dietary supplements is just an attempt to get what is not there in the right quality. With a variety of vegetable diets, you will postpone or completely eliminate the threat of vascular and heart diseases, hypertension, atherosclerosis.
4. For the full functioning of the body, especially for children, women and adolescents, a daily intake of calcium is necessary. Need a daily intake of products containing this invaluable mineral. Eat milk, yogurt, hard cheese, kefir, yogurt, cottage cheese. An important factor to consider: these foods should contain a small percentage of fat and salt. In case of lactose intolerance or for other reasons, when a person cannot eat dairy products, it is possible to get calcium from sea fish, leafy vegetables of dark green color and other products.
5. Proteins from red meat are not healthy. Animal fats need to be reduced to a minimum. You should not refuse meat at all. Fatty varieties should be replaced with white meat, chicken, fish; partially replace the meat with legumes that contain complete protein. Meat should be eaten a little. If it is not possible to completely exclude various sausages and sausages from the diet, then they should be consumed to a minimum.
6. The daily diet should include fats, preferably vegetable. Do not forget about those found in meat, dairy products, especially butter made from cream of cow’s milk. Fatty acids are involved in the regulation of the nervous system, the functions of the skin, kidneys, vision and immunity. The norm of butter is not more than 30 grams per day, as well as up to 20 grams of vegetable oils.
7. The expression is known: sugar is a white death and they should not get carried away. However, doctors say that they should not be neglected either. Its amount should not exceed ten percent of the total number of calories. Do not forget about the so-called “hidden” sugar contained in soda, bread and even sausage.
8. Salt is also sufficient in finished products, especially sausage, canned food, cheese, as well as bread. The salt is necessary for the body, but it should be remembered that its amount should not exceed one teaspoon per day, including salt, which is hidden. A large amount of salt causes the development of hypertension. Instead of the usual salt, it will be useful to use iodized or sea salt.
9. Keep your weight normal, watch for it. Everyone knows that overweight provokes pathologies such as hypertension, diabetes mellitus, and cardiac pathologies. There is a well-known scheme for determining the norm of your weight for all known mass index. Normally, it should balance from 18.5 to 24.9. With a sufficient level of physical activity and a balanced diet, maintaining a regimen of rest and activity, it will be possible to maintain health and youth for a long period of your life.
To calculate your body mass index, you need to divide your weight by height squared. The resulting figure will show you whether you should worry, think or not worry at all about extra pounds. For example, your height is 1 meter 62 centimeters. In the square, this will be 1, 62 times 1, 62 = 2,624. Your weight is 82 kilograms. As a result of dividing 82 by 2, 624 we get 31.25. If you go back to the indicators of the ideal index, then your result is beyond it. In this case, we are already talking about a significant excess of the norm. Immediate measures should not be taken: the best way to return weight to normal is a healthy diet and physical activity not as temporary measures, but as a new way of life. Do not panic. Become aware of the problem and start joyfully solving it. Review the diet, get rid of stereotypes of proper nutrition. Do not rule out potatoes, pasta and bread. Useful weight loss is slow and steady.
10. Minimize if you are not ready to completely eliminate the use of alcoholic beverages. Even if you drink a little high-quality drink, but daily, then your body needs at least one day a week to completely eliminate alcohol. Alcohol addiction is developing rapidly, and its companions – a deficiency of minerals and vitamins, a metabolic failure, a devastating effect on the brain, cardiovascular and nervous system, intestines, liver, kidneys and pancreas will not keep waiting for the consequences. In a word, alcohol is not a friend of health, but its enemy.
We examined ten principles of a healthy dietetics, which in themselves are not new, not complicated. Performing them, you will rejuvenate your body, improve the metabolic processes in it, you will feel better, more alert, younger. A healthy diet can be tastier than you might expect. The main thing is to set goals and go towards their fulfillment, even if slowly but surely. When it comes to healthy eating, then giving it attention and time, you will never regret it.