Rational balanced nutrition is understood as physiologically complete nutrition of people, in which the energy, plastic and biochemical needs of the body are fully covered. Thanks to this nutrition, the internal environment of the body (homeostasis) is constantly ensured, the functional activity of all organs and systems and their resistance to the effects of various unfavorable environmental factors are maintained.
In other words, with such nutrition the body develops and functions correctly, and various diseases are prevented.
Good nutrition is the key to health
Satisfying hunger is one of the basic human instincts that guarantees the maintenance of life. That is why it is extremely important what we eat, at what time and in what quantities. The foods you eat directly affect your health. Improper nutrition is fraught with damage to both individual human organs and the entire body. Such disastrous results can be caused by food that is defective in its composition, or by its lack or excess. Therefore, it is very important to pay due attention to your nutrition.
Healthy menu for every day
The rules of healthy eating discussed above are very simple, but if you are not used to them, they can be difficult to master. Thus, difficulties may arise with what to cook for lunch, what to snack on, what foods can be combined and which ones should not, etc.
To prevent such difficulties from becoming a problem for you, we offer you a wonderful menu option for the week (there are several dishes to choose from, so making your diet varied will not be difficult). As usual, we will consider breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks.
Breakfast:
- Porridge (rice, buckwheat or oatmeal) with low-fat milk
- Kefir with fruits or cottage cheese with herbs
- Scrambled eggs with tomatoes or two boiled eggs
- Cheesecakes baked in the oven
Dinner:
- Porridge (pumpkin with rice)
- Chilled tomato soup, as well as liver stewed in sour cream
- Zucchini boats with cheese and meat, cooked in the oven
- Cabbage salad and fish bits
- Onion soup, lettuce and a piece of turkey stewed in tomato sauce
- Stewed vegetables and fish roll with spices and garlic
- Lenten soup (without potatoes), salad of tomatoes, green onions and parsley and a piece of boiled meat
Dinner:
- Cottage cheese casserole with a little jam
- Vegetable stew with seasonings
- Sweet salad of apples and grated carrots with a spoonful of honey
- Assorted fruits (such as grapefruit, orange and cranberry)
- Greek salad with some tofu
- Seafood skewers (shrimp, scallops and champignon caps, drizzled with oil and sauce, salted and baked in the oven - all skewered on thin sticks or skewers dipped in water)
Snacks:
- A glass of natural yogurt, kefir or milk
- 30-40 g dried fruits or nuts
- A few berries, a piece of melon or watermelon, a few plums, a pear or an apple (can be baked)
Remember that this is just an example of a healthy daily menu, and you can create your own if you wish. Imagine, experiment, swap dishes and add new ones, guided by personal preferences and budget. Eat what you like, following the rules we talked about above. And, of course, don't forget about exercise and drinking water.
Next, we invite you to get acquainted with a wonderful menu aimed at weight loss. This topic is very relevant in our times, and we simply could not help but touch on it.
What is the essence of proper nutrition?
The most important thing is to follow the regime, adhering to certain principles, and make sure that the products entering the body are fresh and of high quality.
When forming your daily diet of proper nutrition, rely on simple rules :
1) Every day you must eat five food groups :
- cereals, grains;
- fresh fruits;
- meat, offal, eggs;
- vegetables;
- dairy products.
In order for nutrition to be healthy, it is important to control the balance of substances entering the body. By eating one product from each group daily, you can easily achieve this.
2) It is necessary to separate foods for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
For breakfast, it is better to eat dairy products, grains or cereals. For lunch - meat and fresh vegetables. For dinner - lighter but satisfying foods (fish, stewed vegetables, fermented milk products).
3) You can’t refuse snacks
Snacks are second breakfast, afternoon snack, late dinner. The names are different, but the essence is the same. You can snack on fruits, juices, vegetables, and dairy products.
What is a diet and why is it necessary?
Excess, as well as lack of food, leads to unhealthy changes in the body. Physical and mental activity decreases. The body ceases to resist the external negative influences of the environment and the person begins to get sick and rapidly age, problems with appearance, hair and nails appear.
There are several points of view regarding how to eat properly. Some insist that it is necessary to give up meat, others consider it correct to eat only raw foods, and so on. On the other hand, any restrictions cannot be regarded as a benefit. The human body requires a wide range of substances and minerals, some of which can be obtained only from protein foods, others from fats, and others from plant foods. Therefore, proper nutrition can be regarded as a varied diet, rather than diets and restrictions.
The menu must be selected so that all the necessary substances enter the body, namely:
- Squirrels. It is a building material for all cells and tissues. You can get it not only from meat, but also from plant foods, mainly from legumes.
- Fats, which are extremely necessary for the body, as they are responsible for transporting energy to the muscles. It is better to give preference to fats of vegetable origin.
- Carbohydrates. This is actually the main energy source.
With a balanced diet, micro- and macroelements and vitamins can be obtained from foods without resorting to the use of synthetic analogues.
Principles of proper nutrition
Breakfast
You should always have breakfast, no matter what. Make it a habit. Same as brushing your teeth in the morning. A proper breakfast will give you a tremendous boost of energy for the whole day. If it’s hard to eat in the morning (“you can’t get a piece of food down your throat”), try not to overeat in the evening. Those who do not fill their stomachs at night have breakfast in the morning with great pleasure.
Water
Don't neglect simple clean water. You need to drink a lot (at the rate of 30 ml per 1 kg of weight). Be sure to drink a glass of water in the morning on an empty stomach. Drink it between meals. This may not be easy at first. Then introduce gradually. In just a couple of weeks, water will become your favorite drink.
Frequent meals
You need to eat in small portions, but often. Excellent option: breakfast, second breakfast, lunch, afternoon snack, dinner, second dinner. It turns out that there are three main meals and two additional ones. An ideal nutrition plan that keeps you full throughout the day and protects you from overeating or undereating.
Last meal 2-3 hours before bedtime
Not eating after six in the evening if you go to bed at two in the morning is fundamentally wrong. This approach has nothing to do with proper nutrition. Eating after six is not only possible, but also necessary for those who fall asleep very late. Don't overeat 2-3 hours before bedtime - that's what's really important.
Fats are not harmful
Fats are vital for any body. By eliminating them completely, you risk facing serious health problems. It is necessary that the body receives at least one gram of fat per kilogram of body weight.
Carbohydrates aren't scary
There are two types of carbohydrates: fast and slow. Slow ones charge the body with energy. If you eat them in small quantities, you may simply not have enough strength, and high fatigue will be noticeable. Consume carbohydrates per day at the rate of three grams per kilogram of weight.
Breakfast
For Twitter founder Jack Dorsey, the best breakfast is a glass of water. And that's okay. Because science has not yet decided on the need for breakfast. Some studies show that it is quite possible to do without a morning meal. Others say that breakfast can improve concentration and memory, reduce daily calorie intake, and reduce the risk of heart disease and diabetes.
What
According to most nutritionists, the basis of breakfast (60%) should be complex carbohydrates - bread made from coarse flour, unsweetened whole grain cereals and legumes: they take a long time to digest and provide energy to the brain and muscles for the first half of the day. The other two components are proteins and fats: they provide a feeling of fullness. Fiber is also essential if you want to feed your gut bacteria and avoid snacking before lunch. This combination can be achieved in different ways.
- Sugar-free yogurt (protein), nuts (fat), berries (fiber and glucose), sprouted grains (carbohydrates)
- Omelet (protein), toast (carbs), avocado (fat and fiber), one piece of fruit (fiber and glucose)
- Just a sandwich of whole grain bread (carbs) with cheese (fat) and lettuce (fiber)
The main thing is to avoid the notorious corn flakes and orange juice. The cereal contains a lot of calories (357 per 100g) as well as added sugar. Juice, even natural juice, contains almost the same amount of sugar as Coca-Cola, and there is no dietary fiber that could inhibit its absorption. Because of this, it causes first a jump and then a sharp drop in blood glucose levels, that is, a feeling of fatigue and hunger. It's better to drink coffee: it has a slight antidepressant effect.
When
There is evidence that food reduces levels of the stress hormone cortisol. This hormone causes you to wake up, experience morning stress and accumulate dangerous visceral fat around your waist. It reaches its peak at 8–9 am. So, if you're comfortable, eat within that window.
Before or after training? Depends on the intensity. If it's a light warm-up or stretching, it's best to do it before breakfast. But not to burn fat - studies show that this does not affect weight, but because it is easier and more comfortable. Another thing is intense training. It is better to eat an hour and a half before jogging, cycling or strength training - this reduces your appetite for the next meal.
How many
In the media you can often find a recommendation of 400–500 calories. This is about a quarter of what we eat in a day. But nutritionist Daniela Jakubovich, in her book “The Big Breakfast,” recommends a different proportion: eat one half of all daily calories for breakfast, and divide the rest between lunch and dinner. There are two studies (one with women, one with men) that show that eating a big breakfast actually helps reduce hunger throughout the day if you're on a diet. In general, the good thing about breakfast is that you don’t have to count calories for it: thanks to the satiety hormone leptin, which is at its peak in the morning, you are unlikely to want to eat more than your body needs.
Proper nutrition. Sample menu
Breakfast
Must include: slow carbohydrates, proteins and fats .
Slow carbohydrates: any porridge, whole grain bread (may be marked “without flour”). Proteins: meat, fish, seafood, eggs (you can make an omelet or scrambled eggs), legumes, tofu. Fats: cheese, dairy products, any fatty fish, vegetable oils, nuts, avocado, flaxseed oil, olive oil, fish oil.
Lunch
Cottage cheese, cottage cheese casserole, cheesecakes, kefir, vegetables, fruits, berries - any product of your choice.
Dinner
Must include: meat, cereals and vegetables .
Instead of meat, you can eat liver, fish or seafood, and replace cereals with durum pasta. Vegetables can be consumed in any form: fresh, in salad, baked, steamed or grilled.
Afternoon snack
Cottage cheese, cottage cheese casserole, kefir, vegetables, vegetable salad, nuts and fruits until 16:00, sandwich: bread and chicken or liver pate - any product of your choice.
Dinner
Must include: protein and fiber .
Protein: chicken, turkey, seafood, lean fish, eggs, omelet, cottage cheese. Fiber: Green vegetables, steamed or grilled vegetables, but not starchy ones.
Late dinner
Any fermented milk product of your choice.
BJU ratio
There is, as such, no single correct formula for the ratio of proteins, fats and carbohydrates. The average and, as experts in the field of medicine and nutrition say, the optimal ratio will be the following:
- fats 20-30%,
- proteins 30%,
- carbohydrates 40%.
However, the ratio depends on the degree of physical activity, the intensity of mental work and, in general, on the lifestyle that a person leads. Anyone who is losing weight needs to monitor the caloric content of their diet, because they need to spend more than they receive - then the body gradually burns previously made reserves.
The source of protein is meat and dairy products. A sandwich with a slice of boiled meat, an omelet or a boiled egg, as well as milk porridge are excellent dishes for a morning or evening meal. By the way, an omelet can be prepared not from 1, but from 2-3 eggs. But only on the condition that you don’t eat any more eggs in the next 4-5 days.
Many people eat cottage cheese or dishes made from it for breakfast or dinner. And they are right, because it is not only a source of protein, but also a product rich in calcium.
Fats are another mandatory attribute of a full breakfast. This applies to everyone, including those who are on a diet. Their source can be vegetable or butter.
The most useful are flaxseed, olive or corn - it is best to season the salad with these oils. When buying butter, do not be tempted by the low price. Under the guise of a quality product, unscrupulous manufacturers may well slip in an ordinary spread. It contains so-called trans fats, which are very harmful to the body.
When talking about carbohydrates contained in food, we should understand complex carbohydrates. The best source of carbohydrates is porridge. For example, brown rice, buckwheat or oatmeal are excellent options for a healthy and tasty meal. Moreover, we are not talking about instant porridges, but about dishes cooked in the traditional way, from real, whole grain products rich in fiber. You can add milk, berries or butter to the finished porridge - this is a matter of taste and personal preference.
Test your knowledge
If you want to test your knowledge on the topic of this lesson, you can take a short test consisting of several questions. For each question, only 1 option can be correct. After you select one of the options, the system automatically moves on to the next question. The points you receive are affected by the correctness of your answers and the time spent on completion. Please note that the questions are different each time and the options are mixed.
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Kirill Nogales
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