what products are considered "unhealthy" food? What should be discarded?
- All foods high in saturated fat. These are all meat products except chicken, turkey, rabbit, and lean beef. Fatty meat foods should be limited. I'm not saying to completely eliminate it - there must be some small joys - but you need to remove it from regular consumption. Further - to reduce the consumption of fatty dairy products. If you like yogurts, then go to 5%, and choose sour cream with no more than 10% fat. It is advisable to completely abandon products with a high content of trans-isomeric fatty acids - this is practically all confectionery: cakes, sweets, waffles, chips, and everything that crunches. You should also not abuse a lot of juices - they contain an extremely high amount of sugar. And honey is among them: it is believed that a tablespoon of honey in the morning is very useful.
How can we replace our usual products?
- Fruits and vegetables should be in the first place in the food pyramid. It is enough if every day you have in your diet a vegetable salad of tomatoes, cucumbers, herbs, and at least two large fruits. The easiest and most affordable option is two apples. But it is better that it was an apple and another fruit, for example, an orange. But, not grapes, because they have a lot of free sugar.
In second place in the pyramid is cereals. It is very simple here - these are morning cereals and grain or even ordinary bread, but with reduced salt content. And finally, legumes. Unfortunately, they are not the main element of gastronomic culture. A lot of beans are growing, Peas and legumes contain a large amount of vegetable protein - and these are essential amino acids.
And, of course, fish. It is advisable to eat fish at least twice a week. And it is preferable to choose fish from cold seas. The share of sugar and confectionery in the diet should not exceed 10%.
- How many calories should you consume per day?
- 2000 kilocalories is enough for an adult per day. Between the ages of 30 and 60, the average man consumes 3,500-4,000 kilocalories. If you balance your diet, most of them can be safely cut in half the amount of food consumed.
- How did it happen that men eat twice as much as they need?
- During the period of rapid growth, a teenager, and then a young man, eats a large amount of food: it is easily digested and does not leave any unpleasant consequences in the form of fatty deposits. But after 10-20 years, such a large amount of food as in adolescence is not needed. And eating habits have been formed, the volume of the stomach is increased - this is all a powerful factor in the formation of excess weight. If a man does not feel the measure and eat, as in a period of rapid growth, then by the age of 20 he may have fatty deposits, primarily visceral ( approx. - internal), in the abdominal cavity, omentum, mesentery, in the liver. In other words, a small tummy appears. Further, by the age of 35-45, this is already a stereotypical portrait of a man who suffers from abdominal obesity (approx. - excess fat in the upper half of the body and on the stomach). The result is moderate hypertension and, in general, there is a high risk of cardiovascular disease.
- It turns out that it's enough just to eat less to live healthier and longer?
- And still, it is necessary to reduce the consumption of sugar and salt. The WHO has established the following safe consumption rates for sugar and salt: 50 g and 57 g per day, respectively. 60% of men, according to epidemiological studies of the Statistics, consume salt almost 2 times higher than 11 g per day. And this statistic does not take into account additional salting, so the final excess can be much higher. However, salting is the main, but not the only mechanism of excess salt intake. The main thing, after all, is the excessive consumption of salty and very salty foods. First of all, sausages, bakery products, smoked meats, canned food. Salt is the main preservative.
- Why is excess salt so harmful?
- There is a clear relationship between the salt content in food and the prevalence of arterial hypertension. Of course, different people react differently to salt, there are more or less sensitive to salt, but all the same, the change in blood pressure is most often caused by an abundance of salt in the diet. Salt retains fluid in the body, thus increasing the hydrodynamic pressure in the vascular system. With age, a person inevitably begins to deteriorate most of the functions of the body, including the kidneys - the so-called renal glomeruli become desolate. In about 20% of people over 60 years old, they are already desolate for natural reasons. The kidneys work worse, salt is excreted more slowly, and this, in turn, is one of the main mechanisms of increasing blood pressure in the elderly.
- How and what can you replace salt?
- Spices. In countries that eat a lot of spicy foods - in Latin and Central America, China - the prevalence of arterial hypertension is fundamentally lower. The Mediterranean alternative is herb and lemon. You need to slowly change your culture of consumption. And you will experience completely different taste sensations.
- In my opinion, salt is easier to give up than sugar. How to reduce its consumption? How to calculate how much sugar a person consumes per day?
- Sugar is found in many industrial products - it is the same honey, juices, syrups, preservatives. Hidden industrial sugar is not easy to calculate, but at least you need to give up adding additional sugar. Start at least by stopping drinking tea and coffee with sugar. It is advisable that the sugar you consume comes only with fruit. This will be enough.
everyone should monitor their diet, but whom should you contact for help?
- First of all, to primary care doctors - district therapists, who provide up to 60% of all medical care. In addition, helping in weight control and proper nutrition is the function of medical prevention centers: these are medical examinations, screening programs, and preventive counseling, millions of people, visit health centers every year. And there should be the active promotion of a healthy lifestyle. Dealing with public health issues is also the responsibility of the media, which must provide social advertising for at least 5% of the airtime in accordance with the law.
- What are we doing in this area now?
- As part of the preparation of the Strategy for the formation of a healthy lifestyle, prevention, and control of non-communicable diseases,
And, in general, we have to a consensus on many points. The most difficult question now remains related to the addition of trans-isomeric fatty acids to the production, because the production of, for example, margarine is based on this. And margarine, in turn, is the main product that is used in the manufacture of almost all products containing trans-isomers. we must refuse to add margarine prepared according to old technologies is not quickly, but is being resolved. It is no less important for our country when it comes to the bakery industry. We are faced with the task of achieving a gradual reduction in the salt content of bread. Already now it is possible to introduce a small part of bakery products with the amount of salt-reduced to the required value.