Nutrition must be adapted to the person's health status. Various diseases affect the biological processes in the body, which is why it is necessary to change the nutritional requirements. Dietary programs are used to achieve these changes. The diet is an integral part of the therapeutic nutrition prescribed by the doctor, which affects the course of the disease, healing, and the elimination of obesity and overweight.
Diet - what is it (therapeutic diets, diets)?
"A diet (from the Greek diaita, Δίαιτα) is a controlled consumption of food and liquids aimed at achieving a specific goal. The term "diet" can be used in several ways: hospital (official) diets, weight loss, health maintenance or modification programs, long-term nutritional systems (supported by lifestyle or philosophy). This is how wiki describes diet (Wikipedia. org).
Basic principles of dietary nutrition:
- use of high-quality raw materials;
- reducing heat treatment of products;
- reducing the consumption of hot spices;
- increasing the consumption of greens (dill, parsley, lemon instead of vinegar);
- depending on the disease - increase/decrease of certain nutrients;
- regular meals (5 times a day, in case of diabetes - 6 times a day);
- emphasizing the taste of food - increasing the appetite of patients.
Diet is a broad term. The diet program itself does not mean starvation or sudden changes that lead to a worsening of the condition.
Types of diets
The goal of changing your diet may be to lose weight—many nutrition programs focus on weight loss. This term refers to the circuits most familiar to the public. The next reason for observing dietary restrictions is the presence of disease. Such programs are prescribed by doctors; It is not recommended to follow these independently without establishing a diagnosis (especially for an unhealthy person). Other dietary goals are more specific. These include improving the quality of hair, nails and skin. There are diets for increasing muscle mass, strengthening, diets for general improvement of immunity, etc.
Diets are related to detoxification of the body. This is also a dietary change, restriction, but short-term.
Medical diets (tables)
In case of illness, in addition to the technological preparation of the diet, professional contact with the patient is also important. Even with dietary changes, you should be able to make food choices in consultation with a nutritionist.
What does diet mean in medical terms? Today, the classification of diet programs (tables) usually looks like this:
- NPO (N) - hunger strike.
- 0S - tea room. Tea, unsweetened or sweetened. It is prescribed for patients who cannot feed themselves orally.
- Number 2 - gentle. It is recommended for those suffering from digestive system diseases and acute vascular diseases.
- Number 3 - basic, rational diet. For adult patients and older children who do not require dietary restrictions.
- 4S - low fat. It is prescribed for acute pancreatitis, inflammation of the gallbladder during the transition to oral nutrition.
- Number 4 – low fat. It is recommended for chronic liver, pancreas and gall bladder diseases (usually after switching from the stricter 4S).
- No. 5 - no residue. Abnormalities of the lower gastrointestinal tract were observed.
- Number 6 - low protein. Suitable for patients with chronic kidney failure.
- Number 8 - low calorie. It is prescribed for obese people who do not require a slight dietary modification, for hyperlipoproteinemia, type 1 and type 2 obesity (the diet contains more than 5000 kJ per day, so it is relatively easy to follow the diet).
- Number 9 - diabetic. Recommended for diabetics.
- 9S - diabetic tender. The diabetic version of the gentle diet.
- Number 10 - unsalted. It is usually not part of the nutritional system, since all diets involve cooking food without adding salt (the ready-made food is salted as needed).
- Number 11 - nutritious. It is designed for patients with increased energy needs and increased body weight.
- Number 12 - baby. If necessary, it is prescribed for children aged 1. 5-3 years.
- Number 13 - children's room. Adhered to ages 3-15.
- Gluten-free - gluten-free diet. Designed for patients with gluten intolerance (celiac disease).
- Low phosphorus dialysis diet. It can be observed in patients undergoing hemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis.
Today there is also a vegetarian diet.
The most popular diets for weight loss
A low-energy diet is a nutritional program aimed at reducing body weight, which is an important method of treating overweight and obesity. Its most common purpose is to remove excess fat. An effective diet for weight loss must evenly reduce fat tissue in the body. But it is often observed by people (mostly young girls) who are not overweight, but feel the need to lose weight because of the fashion of exhaustion.
Weight loss can be caused not only by fat, but also by water and muscle loss. Therefore, there is no direct relationship between fat content and body weight. Muscle loss during weight loss can be reduced by exercise and proper food choices. Improper nutrition is a health hazard. This can also have the opposite effect (after losing weight, fat deposits form again - the so-called "yo-yo effect").
Humans need nutrients: proteins, fats, carbohydrates, vitamins, minerals, water. Essential amino acids (protein components) are important for the production of cells, especially muscle cells. Essential fatty acids are involved in the formation of brain cells. Vitamins and minerals are essential for many functions. The total amount of energy varies depending on a person's age. For adults, the optimal intake is 1200-1500 kcal/day.
Some of the most famous weight loss diet programs include the following meal plans.
Ducan's diet
This is a weight loss diet published by French nutritionist Dr. Pierre Dukan in his book "I Can't Lose Weight". It is based on 4 stages of different durations:
- first - 2-10 days;
- second - 14 days;
- third - depending on the number of kilograms lost (1 kg = 10 days of the third stage);
- the fourth - continuously.
Each phase has permitted and prohibited products. The scheme is from the most intense phase (only protein-containing foods are eaten) to the last phase (we eat everything while having a protein day once a week). A necessary part of the process of losing weight is the drinking regime.
Box diet
This nutrition program is based on eating a limited amount of food, but more often.
The box diet works on the principle of regular dosing of food. Its goal is to eat small amounts of food at regular intervals without overdoing it, and to eat large portions 3 times a day.
Paleolithic diet
The paleolithic program, also known as the paleo diet or the stone age diet, is often referred to as a lifestyle. A person following a paleo diet approximates the supposed diet of primitive man during the Paleolithic era, the longest period in human history, which lasted about 3 million years. During this period, people did not know agriculture, they obtained food by hunting and gathering. But the hunter-gatherer diet was and remains high in calories. It also contains more carbohydrates than the average modern diet.
Proponents of this dietary pattern suggest that human digestion is not evolutionarily adapted to agricultural products (grains, dairy products).
Therefore, when following the paleo diet, agricultural products are excluded or limited from the diet:
- cereals;
- legumes;
- bread;
- milk;
- cheese;
- semi-finished products etc.
The menu mainly consists of meat, fish, vegetables, fruit, mushrooms, nuts, and eggs. It also contains fats (avocado, coconut, olive oil, lard).
Breuss diet
The Breuss Diet is a nutritional program named after its author, Rudolf Breuss, an Austrian electrician and healer (sometimes called a doctor, but he never studied at a specialized university). This diet was originally an alternative medicine that offered a cure for cancer. Its essence lies in the "starvation of the tumor", its life consists only of the solid components of food.
Thanks to the "side effect" of losing weight, the Breuss diet plan has been used to get rid of excess weight.
This consists of abstaining from solid food for 42 days. We only drink selected vegetable juices and herbal teas. Fruit juice is produced industrially, from organically grown vegetables. It can also be prepared at home, but industrial juice is sterilized and contains lactic acid bacteria in addition to plant ingredients.
Protein diet
Also known as the "protein", "cyclic ketogenic", "ketone" or "keto" diet. This is a scientifically proven method that produces good weight loss results in just a few weeks. Dr. Russell Wilder used it for medicinal purposes as early as 1921. The father of its modern version can be considered Professor George L. Blackburn, who studied the burning of stored fats by the human body.
With traditional forms of weight loss, the body can reduce muscle mass by up to 40%. But muscles are the main fat burners. Consequently, after the dietary restrictions are removed, the metabolism cannot cope with the amount of energy it had before the dietary change. A yo-yo effect occurs. Professor Blackburn identified the state of ketosis and its potential to be activated in the body. Its main advantage is weight loss by burning stored fat and preserving muscle mass, which minimizes the risk of the yo-yo effect.
Mayer's diet
This is a weight loss technique developed by Dr. Franz Xavier Mayer. It consists of limiting calorie, protein, fat, fruit and vegetable consumption. Dry hard bread is eaten with water. Chewing bread causes increased salivation, which improves digestion. Drinking causes diarrhea, which removes harmful deposits from the body.
Today, this method is declining in popularity (for obvious reasons).
Special food
This scheme is based on the assumption that proteins require an acidic environment in the stomach, while carbohydrates require an alkaline environment. Therefore, protein-containing foods should not be eaten at the same time as carbohydrate-containing foods. This helps to prevent the neutralization of digestive juices, thus avoiding disruption of the digestive process. When neutralized, neither fats nor proteins can be broken down efficiently; carbohydrates ferment and proteins rot, producing toxic residues.
Therefore, separate nutrition is not a diet in itself. This is a lifestyle change, a diet adjustment. It is based on a combination of protein and neutral foods or carbohydrates and neutral foods (or eating only neutral foods). It is also important to follow a regular diet and eat smaller portions of food. By reducing energy consumption, separate meals also serve as a method of weight loss.
IMPORTANT! Informative article! You should consult a professional before use.