Nutrition must be adapted to the person’s health status. Various diseases affect the biological processes in the body, so it is necessary to change the need for nutrients. Diet programs are used to achieve these changes. Diet is an integral part of therapeutic nutrition prescribed by a doctor, affecting the course of the disease, recovery, elimination of obesity and excess body weight.
Diet - what is it (therapeutic diets, diets for weight loss)?
"Diet (from the Greek diaita, Δίαιτα) is the controlled consumption of food and liquid, aimed at achieving a specific goal. The term "diet" can be used in several different ways: hospital (official) diets, programs for losing weight, maintaining or changing health, long-term dietary systems (supported by a lifestyle or philosophy). "This is how the wiki describes the diet (Wikipedia. org).
Principles of dietary nutrition:
- use of high-quality raw materials;
- reduction of 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, for diabetes - 6 times a day);
- emphasis on the taste of food - increasing appetite in patients.
Diet is a broad concept. The dietary program as such does not imply hunger or sudden changes leading to deterioration of the condition.
Types of diets
The goal of changing your diet may be to lose weight—a number of nutritional programs are focused on weight loss. This term refers to the circuits most widely known to the public. The next reason for observing dietary restrictions is the presence of illness. Such programs are prescribed by doctors; It is not recommended to follow them independently, without making a diagnosis (especially by an unhealthy person). Other diet goals are more specific. They include improving the quality of hair, nails, and skin. There are also diets for building, strengthening muscle mass, food schemes for overall improvement of immunity, etc.
Diets are associated with detoxification of the body. This is also a dietary change, a restriction, but a short-term one.
Medical diets (tables)
In the presence of an illness, it is important to ensure not only technological preparation of the diet, but also professional contact with the patient. Even in the context of dietary changes, a person should be able to make food choices in consultation with a nutritionist.
What is a diet in medical terms? Today, the classification of dietary programs (tables) usually looks like this:
- NPO (N) - hunger strike.
- 0S - tea room. Tea, unsweetened or sweetened. Prescribed to patients who are unable to take food orally.
- No. 2 - gentle. Recommended for patients with gastrointestinal disorders and acute vascular disease.
- No. 3 - a basic, rational diet. Complied with adult patients and older children who do not require dietary restrictions.
- 4S - low fat. Prescribed for acute pancreatitis, inflammation of the gallbladder during the transition to oral food intake.
- No. 4 - low fat. Recommended for chronic diseases of the liver, pancreas, and gallbladder (usually after switching from the more strict 4S).
- No. 5 - residue-free. Observed for disorders in the lower gastrointestinal tract.
- No. 6 - low protein. Suitable for patients with chronic renal failure.
- No. 8 - low-calorie. Prescribed to obese people who do not require gentle nutritional adjustments, patients with hyperlipoproteinemia, obesity type 1 and type 2 (the diet contains more than 5000 kJ per day, so compliance with the diet is relatively easy).
- No. 9 - diabetic. Recommended for patients with diabetes.
- 9S - diabetic gentle. Diabetic version of a gentle diet.
- No. 10 - unsalted. Usually not part of the nutrition system, since all diets involve cooking food without adding salt (the finished dish is salted as needed).
- No. 11 - nutritious. Intended for patients with increased energy needs and increased body weight.
- No. 12 - infant. If necessary, prescribed to children aged 1. 5–3 years.
- No. 13 - children's room. Complied with ages 3–15 years.
- Gluten-free - a diet devoid of gluten. Intended for patients suffering from gluten intolerance (celiac disease).
- Low phosphorus dialysis diet. Observed by patients undergoing hemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis.
Today there are also vegetarian diet options.
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 eliminate excess fat. An effective diet plan for weight loss should evenly reduce fatty 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 due to the fashion dictates of exhaustion.
Weight loss can be caused by the loss of not only fat, but also water and muscle. Therefore, there is no direct relationship between fat content and body weight. Muscle loss during weight loss can be reduced through exercise and proper food choices. An improper diet poses a health hazard. It can also have the opposite effect (after weight loss, fat deposits are formed again - the so-called "yo-yo effect").
People 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 the age of the person. For adults, the optimal intake is 1200–1500 kcal/day.
Among the most famous diet programs for weight loss are the following food plans.
Ducan's diet
This is a weight loss diet published by French nutritionist, Dr. Pierre Dukan in the 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 - constantly.
Each phase has allowed and prohibited products. The scheme is developed from the most intense phase (only foods containing protein are consumed) to the last phase (everything is consumed while observing a protein day once a week). A necessary part of the weight loss process is drinking regimen.
Box diet
This nutritional program is based on eating food in limited quantities, but more often.
The box diet works on the principle of regular dosing of food. Its goal is to get into the habit of eating small amounts of food at regular intervals, without overeating, and eating large portions 3 times a day.
Paleolithic diet
The Paleolithic program, also called 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 prehistoric man during the Paleolithic era, the longest period in human history, lasting 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 the human digestion is not evolutionarily adapted to agricultural products (cereals, dairy products).
Therefore, when following a paleo diet, agricultural products are excluded or limited from the diet:
- cereals;
- legumes;
- bread;
- milk;
- cheese;
- semi-finished products, etc.
The menu consists mainly of meat, fish, vegetables, fruits, mushrooms, nuts, eggs. It also includes 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 method that offered a cure for cancer. Its essence lies in "starvation of the tumor", its life only from the solid component of food.
Thanks to the "side effect" of weight loss, the Breuss diet plan began to be used to get rid of excess weight.
It consists of 42 days of abstaining from solid food. Only selected vegetable juices and herbal teas are drunk. The juice is produced industrially from biologically grown vegetables. It can be prepared at home, but industrial juice is sterilized and, in addition to vegetable components, contains lactic acid bacteria.
Protein diet
Also known as the "protein", "cyclical 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 medical purposes already in 1921. The father of its modern version can be considered Professor George L. Blackburn, who studied the burning of stored fat by the human body.
With conventional forms of weight loss, the body can reduce up to 40% of muscle mass. But muscles are the main fat burners. Consequently, after the end of dietary restrictions, metabolism cannot cope with the amount of energy in the diet that was present before the diet change. A yo-yo effect occurs. Professor Blackburn identified the state of ketosis and the possibility of its activation in the body. Its main benefit 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 the consumption of calories, proteins, fats, fruits, and vegetables. Dry hard bread with water is consumed. Chewing bread causes increased salivation, which improves digestion. Drinking causes diarrhea, which removes harmful deposits from the body.
Today, the popularity of this method is declining (for obvious reasons).
Separate 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 foods should not be consumed at the same time as carbohydrate foods. This helps prevent the neutralization of digestive juices, hence avoiding disruption of the digestive process. When neutralized, neither fats nor proteins can be effectively broken down; carbohydrates ferment and proteins rot, producing toxic residues.
Therefore, separate nutrition is not a diet as such. This is a lifestyle change, dietary adjustment. Its basis is a combination of protein and neutral foods or carbohydrate and neutral foods (or consumption of only neutral foods). It is also important to maintain a regular diet and consume food in smaller portions. By reducing energy consumption, separate meals also serve as a method of losing weight.
IMPORTANT! Informational article! Before use, you should consult a specialist.