Correct feeding
Food education lays the foundation for a correct dietary regime, essential for the body to maintain its state of health and well-being.
The rules of good nutrition education should be followed by all: paradoxically, in industrialized countries a good chunk of the population registers an insufficient intake of some indispensable micro-nutrients, since it has the tendency to "overeat and hurt".
In this article we will deal with very sensitive topics and illustrate some essential rules for a correct nutrition education.
Nutritional value of foods
Rules of food education
To follow a correct nutrition education, you should learn from some very important basic rules:
- THE FOOD PYRAMID: WHAT IS RIGHT TO EAT
The food pyramid represents an ideal composition of the Mediterranean diet, in which in the various transversal sectors all the foods that should be taken are inserted: the frequency of intake of the foods represented in the figure should decrease as we approach the vertex.
The base of the pyramid consists of physical exercise and sports, essential to the body. Then follow the cereals, their derivatives and potatoes; going up again you will find fruit and vegetables, then beans, legumes and nuts.
Cheeses, yoghurts and dairy products appear in the next level, preceded by olive oil and olives. According to the right food education, the foods listed so far should be consumed every day.
Going up the pyramid we encounter fish, eggs and poultry, which should only be taken a few times during the week, followed by lean meats, sweets and red meats, which should be consumed a few times a month.
- RESPECT THE RIGHT PROPORTIONS OF NUTRIENTS
According to the rules of proper nutrition education, carbohydrates should cover 45-65% of daily caloric needs, proteins 10-30% and lipids 20-35%.
The caloric intake deriving from the consumption of 1 gram of carbohydrates or proteins is equivalent to about 4kcal, while 1 gram of lipids supplies 9 kcal to the body: the daily energy requirement is estimated at around 2500 kcal, with the distinction between men (2000 -3000 kcal) and woman (1500-2500 kcal).
- TAKE A LOT OF FRUIT AND VEGETABLES
The daily intake of an abundant ration of fruit and vegetables (4-5 portions) should become a habit for a correct diet: in addition to containing a substantial amount of mineral salts and vitamins, fresh vegetables are rich in phenols, indoles, coumarins, flavonoids and other phytochemicals, which contribute to maintaining the health of the organism and preventing the formation of some cancer cells.
- LIMIT THE "EMPTY CALORIES"
Sugars, alcohol, refined grains and fats are part of a group of foods whose calories are defined as "empty"; this is because they bring a lot of energy but very little nutritional quality: according to the rules of food education, the intake of these calories should be reduced to a minimum.
As for sugar, many foods hide it in large quantities: carbonated drinks and ketchup are two examples. To give an idea, a can of fizzy drink hides behind its bubbles a quantity of sugar that is equivalent to seven teaspoons.
It is also necessary to dispel a myth: the integral sugar should be limited because, although it contains more mineral salts than refined sugar, it still brings an excess of calories.
By "lipids that supply empty calories" we mean those animal fats, hydrogenated and rich in additives, typical of industrial processing. In their place, it is a good rule to use extra-virgin olive oil, which provides a good amount of vitamin E and oleic and linoleic acid.
Flour and non-integral rice provide little protein, salts and vitamins, but very starch: the refining process to which they are subjected deprives them of their original properties.
Minerals, vitamins and fiber are well represented in whole foods; consequently it is a good habit to prefer them to the refined in one or two daily meals.
- NO TO PRESERVED FOODS AND PRE-COOKED
The preserves and pre-cooked foods offered by the market are excluded from the list of foods provided by a good dietary education: in fact, they often contain harmful additives to the body, are poor in micronutrients and have a glycemic index higher than fresh food.
- YES TO FULL GRAINS
It is a good habit to consume whole grains: they have a high satiating power, therefore they supply energy for many hours. Indeed, those who take many whole foods tend to gradually lose the habit of eating sweets, sugars and refined foods.
- LIMIT THE CONSUMPTION OF MEAT
Colon cancer, arthritis, kidney stones and cardiovascular diseases are examples of pathologies attributable also (and not only) to the quantity of meat taken, which, according to nutrition education, should be consumed on no more than three weekly occasions. Cereals and legumes, fish or eggs can very well replace meat.
- SHORT COOKING OF FOODS
To avoid denaturation of proteins and the loss of contained vitamins, vegetables should not be cooked for very long times.
- EATING LITTLE AND OFTEN
You should not take food in greater quantities than the actual need of the body; in this regard, techniques can be adopted to mitigate the feeling of hunger. The intake of whole foods and vegetables is a simple but valid aid, as it leads to the ingestion of very voluminous and low-calorie foods. It is also good to eat often during the day, but in small doses to avoid the so-called "stomach hunger cramps".
- MUCH MUCH LONG
The digestive processes can be helped with chewing: in fact, based on food education, chewing foods for a long time means preparing food already, facilitating digestion. In addition, eating slowly avoids taking more snacks between the various meals of the day, but not only: it has been shown that those who eat faster eat large quantities of food compared to those who eat calmly.
- THE IMPORTANCE OF BREAKFAST
Among the principles of food education, breakfast is certainly not missing, the most important meal of the day. At night the organism is forced to fast for a long time: after 10 hours, to satisfy glucose production, the metabolism no longer draws glycogen from the liver, but from muscle proteins. The organism is in a limit condition of reserves: this mechanism leads to the formation of ketone bodies, with consumption of muscle proteins and loss of electrolytes to buffer the increase in blood acidity.
Just to avoid the formation of these substances, a regular breakfast is absolutely necessary.
Indeed, some studies have shown that obese people tend to skip breakfast: at lunch, this is a real binge, because the body itself requires nutrients. A good breakfast must provide about 15 or 20% of the caloric intake of the day and according to the rules for good nutrition education is a good way to maintain weight control.
