Proper diet. The secret to frequent meals

The correct diet involves determining a number of indicators: the time of meals, the number of meals, the intervals between them, as well as the distribution of the diet.

Diet is a fairly broad concept and is based on several components:

1. Multiplicity of food (quantity).

2. Meal times and intermediate intervals.

3. Diet distribution according to chemical composition, calorie content, by food set and weight.

4. A person’s behavior while eating is his behavior.

Meal times

The main criterion determining given time, is the feeling of hunger. It can be identified by the following sign: when thinking about unattractive food (for example, the image of a piece of stale black bread), saliva appears; at such a moment, the tongue, rather than the stomach, primarily needs food.

You can confuse the feeling of hunger with the following conditions: the stomach “fails”, the stomach “sucks”, cramps occur. All this indicates the unloading of the organ after overflow, the needs of the stomach and the food appetite center (a number of brain structures that coordinate the choice, consumption of food and initial stages digestive processing).

It is necessary to distinguish between the concepts of hunger and appetite when organizing a proper diet. Hunger indicates the need for energy, appetite indicates the need for pleasure. The surest impulse to eat should be hunger, since the deceptiveness of appetite leads to excess weight.

Number of meals

It is believed that four meals a day is the most optimal for a healthy person. Its advantages lie in an even load on the digestive tract, in the most complete processes of food processing, its digestion and assimilation, and in maintaining a constant internal environment.

Intervals between meals

The optimal intervals with the correct diet are considered to be intervals from 4 to 6 hours, they provide normal work digestive system.

Long breaks between meals lead to the following consequences:

1. Overexcitation of the food center is observed.

2. Large volume released gastric juice, irritating the gastric mucosa and leading to inflammatory processes.

The disadvantage of short intervals is the small amount of time for full implementation. digestive processes. This can provoke disorders of secretory and motor functioning gastrointestinal tract.

Regularity of meals is extremely important. Because a conditioned reflex is formed that awakens a feeling of hunger at a certain time. This, in turn, causes stimulation of the food center and triggers the reflex secretion of gastric juice.

When choosing a certain diet, it is necessary to strictly adhere to it, since food stress does not affect beneficial influence on the body.

Ration distribution

According to the chemical composition, the distribution of nutrients can be as follows:
subject to severe physical labor: 1 (protein): 1.3 (fat): 5 (carbohydrates).
with sedentary or sedentary life: 1 (protein):1.1 (fat):4.1 (carbohydrates)

There are several caloric content different points view on the issue of food distribution:

1. Breakfast is the maximum - 40 - 50%, approximately 25% remains for lunch and dinner. This is due to the higher vital activity of the body of most people in the first half of the day.

2. Food is distributed almost evenly: 30% for breakfast and dinner, 40% for lunch.

3. Dinner is the maximum, it is allocated 50%, for breakfast and lunch - 25%. This is due to the fact that optimal absorption of food requires the required volume of blood and a state of complete rest, which are present in a sleeping person.

If diseases occur (peptic ulcer, myocardial infarction, cholecystitis, etc.), five to six meals a day are recommended.

Human behavior while eating

While eating, it is best to concentrate on the food and also remain in good condition spirit. This means you need to isolate external stimuli, such as a book, TV, etc. Because focused thoughts provide better results - optimal digestion and absorption. Negative emotions are also detrimental to nutrition.

An important component of mealtime behavior when organizing correct mode nutrition – chewing thoroughly, when pieces of food are crushed to a liquid state where there are no inhomogeneities.

From a physiological point of view, this is extremely important, since the splitting nutrients occurs only in a dissolved state, and not in the form of a lump, the coefficient increases useful action digestive tract. Lumps slow down the digestion process, causing risk putrefactive fermentation. In addition, food richly processed by saliva in a liquid state allows you to reduce the amount of food consumed due to the increased percentage of absorption. The body's energy expenditure is also reduced due to better quality pre-treatment and less food.

Fractional nutrition involves gradually losing fat reserves. At the same time, the loss of extra pounds occurs without disrupting the body’s functioning. Therefore, a person does not experience any discomfort, and the body does not lose nutrients. Due to these properties, fractional meals are considered the most humane way to lose weight. At fractional meals You can easily lose up to five kilograms in a month. However, with fractional meals you need to pay attention physical exercise and active recreation, they help enhance the weight loss effect. ABOUT fast weight loss you can read in this publication.

The transition to fractional meals is not painless for all people. In order not to experience discomfort, you need to follow some rules when switching to fractional meals:

1. You need to start by creating a menu. IN daily diet need to include a variety of foods.
2. You also need to gradually reduce food portions. First you need to eat half of your usual portion of food. When the body gets used to it Food portions should be reduced to the size of a glass. This is the amount of food that provides the body with everything it needs. useful substances and is not put aside in reserve.
3. Next, you need to change your diet. During the day you can eat up to eight times, but not less than four.
4. You can not change your usual diet for several days. You can include in the menu familiar dishes and drinks. You can read more about the weight loss menu by following this link.

The main thing about fractional meals

Switching to fractional meals helps normalize the digestion process, improve metabolic processes and improve your figure and health. When eating fractional meals for weight loss, you need to follow the basic rules:

1. The interval between meals should not exceed four hours. Optimal interval time between meals is 2–3 hours.
2. During the day you need to eat up to six times. An ideal diet should consist of three techniques food and a few snacks. You need to consume food even if you have no appetite. After all, refusing one meal leads to overeating the next.
3. Food portions should fit in the palm of your hand. You need to consume food until you feel full. When the body is full, under no circumstances should you continue to consume foods. Be sure to read our article “Rules of a balanced diet for weight loss.”
4. You can eat a wide variety of foods throughout the day. You can even enjoy something tasty. However high-calorie foods should be consumed in the first half of the day. It is also worth making sure that the total amount of calories is 1200–1600 kilocalories.
5. The most high-calorie foods should be reserved for breakfast. which are rich in carbohydrates.
6. For lunch and dinner, you should give preference to hot dishes. They help normalize the digestion process.
7. For snacks, you should give preference to fruits and vegetables, as well as dairy products and sugar-free muesli.
8. To speed up the process of losing weight, you only need to choose lower-calorie foods and exclude high-calorie foods.
9. It is also worth using a calorie table to control the number of calories consumed. The table will help you control the ratio of high-calorie and low calorie foods. Read our special article “rules of proper nutrition for weight loss.”
10. Water plays an important role in fractional nutrition. You need to drink it often, half an hour before meals.

Small meals are the perfect way to lose weight excess weight without significant effort and unpleasant consequences. This nutritional system improves the functioning of all organs and helps normalize metabolism. People who switched to fractional meals have forgotten what excess weight is.

Rules for fractional meals

The concept of “diet mode” includes:

• 1) the number of meals during the day (multiplicity of meals);
• 2) distribution daily ration according to its energy value, chemical composition, food set and weight, write for individual meals;
• 3) time of meals during the day;
• 4) intervals between meals;
• 5) time spent on eating.

A proper diet ensures the efficiency of the digestive system, normal absorption of food and metabolism, wellness. For healthy people 3-4 meals a day are recommended at 4-5 hour intervals. Eating 4 meals a day is most conducive to mental and physical work. The intervals between small meals can be 2-3 hours. Eating food earlier than 2 hours after the previous meal is not advisable. Eating between main meals interrupts the appetite and disrupts the rhythmic activity of the digestive organs. At fast food food is poorly chewed and crushed, and is not sufficiently processed by saliva. This leads to excessive stress on the stomach, worsening digestion and absorption of food. When you eat in a hurry, the feeling of fullness comes more slowly, which contributes to overeating. The duration of meals during lunch is at least 30 minutes. In the first hour after administration rich food drowsiness occurs and performance decreases. Therefore, during a break from work, the food consumed should not exceed 35% of the energy value and weight of the daily diet, and should not include difficult-to-digest foods (fatty meat, legumes, etc.). The dinner should not contain foods that burden the secretory and motor functions of the digestive organs, causing increased gas formation, intestinal bloating (flatulence) and nocturnal gastric secretion (fried foods, foods rich in fat, coarse fiber, extractives, sodium chloride - table salt). The last meal should be taken no later than 1½ - 2 hours before bedtime. It should be 5-10% of the daily energy value of the diet and include products such as milk, fermented milk drinks, fruits, juices, bakery products.

Systematic eating disorders (dry food, rare and generous receptions food, disordered eating, etc.) worsen metabolism and contribute to the occurrence of diseases of the digestive system, in particular gastritis. Eating a lot of food at night increases the possibility (serves as a risk factor) of myocardial infarction, acute pancreatitis, exacerbations peptic ulcer and other diseases.

Changes can be made to the considered basic requirements for the diet, taking into account the nature and time (shift work) of work, climate, and individual characteristics of a person. At high temperature air appetite decreases, the secretion of the digestive glands is inhibited, motor function the gastrointestinal tract is disrupted. Under these conditions, you can increase the energy value of breakfast and dinner, and reduce the energy value of lunch to 25-30% of the daily value. It has been established that the need for food intake is associated with individual characteristics daily biorhythm body functions. For most people, an increase in the level of these functions is observed in the first half of the day (“morning type”). These people normally accept a hearty breakfast. For other people, the level of body functions is reduced in the morning, and it increases in the second half of the day. For them, a hearty breakfast and dinner should be shifted to later hours.

In sick people, the diet may vary depending on the nature of the disease and the type medical procedures. The Ministry of Health has established at least 4 meals a day for treatment and prevention and sanatorium-resort institutions. The same regime is desirable in sanatoriums. Eating 5-6 times a day is necessary in case of exacerbation of peptic ulcer, cholecystitis, myocardial infarction, circulatory failure, condition after gastric resection, in postoperative period etc. With frequent, fractional meals, a more even distribution of the energy value of the diet is necessary for breakfast, lunch and dinner. With 4 times nutrition easy The 2nd dinner is preferable to the afternoon snack, since the night break between meals should not exceed 10-11 hours. With 5 meals a day, an additional 2nd breakfast or afternoon snack is included, with 6 meals a day - both of these meals. Some patients may receive a small amount of food and at night (in the case of “hungry” night pain due to peptic ulcer disease). Patients whose temperature rises in the evening and their health worsens should receive at least 70% of the daily energy value in the morning and afternoon hours. In hot weather, you can increase the energy value of dinner by 5-10% at the expense of lunch. An approximate distribution of the energy value of daily rations in hospitals is presented in.

Features of the diet in sanatoriums are related to drinking mineral waters and balneological (mineral and sea ​​baths) procedures. Balneological and mud procedures are better tolerated 2-3 hours after a meal, somewhat worse on an empty stomach, and worst of all after a meal, especially a massive one (after lunch it is worse than after breakfast). Thus, an interval between meals and procedures or a reduction in the amount of food eaten before procedures is desirable. Therefore, at balneological resorts, the 1st breakfast before taking the procedures should be light - 5-10% of the energy value of the diet (tea, bun), and the 2nd breakfast should be 20-25% of the energy value of the diet. The diet in sanatoriums can be either 4 times a day or 5-6 times a day. It depends on the profile of the sanatorium and local conditions. For example, in sanatoriums for diseases of the digestive system, 5-6 meals should be organized.

In sanatoriums and dietary canteens, it is necessary to link work and nutrition regimes. In the “Recommendations on the principles of organizing dietary (therapeutic) nutrition at the place of work, study and residence of the population in the system Catering"(given by the ministries of trade and health of the USSR on 17.12.79 and 24.01.80, respectively, and the Department of the All-Union Central Council of Trade Unions for State social insurance 11.02.80) an approximate distribution is given dietary rations with 4 meals a day (). These recommendations also apply to sanatoriums.

Food taken into the stomach is digested in 4–5 hours. All this time, the digestive glands are working, and after the end of the digestion process, another hour is needed so that they rest and can produce again. required amount digestive juice containing mucus, enzymes, a little of hydrochloric acid, for subsequent digestion of food.

We have a simple equation: 4 – 5 hours + 1 hour = 5 – 6 hours. This is the required interval between meals. If after the main meal we want to have a snack (seeds, cookies, etc.), what happens in the body?

A new portion of food enters the stomach at a time when the previous portion has not yet been processed. In this case, the digestion of the first portion is suspended. The stomach, having not had time to digest the previous portion, is not ready to accept a new burden, because it does not yet have sufficient energy to process new food. Due to long stay When food starts fermenting in the stomach, the blood becomes clogged and is carried throughout the body to our cells. Braking mental activity, mood worsens, irritation and anger appear (especially in children).

When snacking occurs over and over again, digestive organs weaken, diseases of the gastrointestinal tract (GIT) appear, and the entire body is overstrained. Reduced susceptibility to infections that cause inflammatory processes up to peptic ulcer disease. The gastrointestinal tract becomes clogged, and a person begins to resort to grueling, expensive and unsafe cleansing, often putting himself in the hands of not very literate people, or using dubious literature.
Research has found that taking one serving of ice cream between meals slows down the digestion process by 3 hours, and one serving of banana - by 5 hours.

Think about it: main meals and snacks are the ongoing work of the gastrointestinal tract! Let's remember the story. During their rise, the Greeks and Romans generally ate once a day. Dr. Oswald writes: “For more than a thousand years, single meals were the rule in two countries that had the ability to mobilize armies of men who marched for days with a load of iron ammunition, not counting clothing and provisions that would overwhelm a modern porter.” And he writes: “Among the factors that have been put forward as an explanation for their physical, mental and moral decline was the sensual obsession with food that came with power and wealth.”

Although more healthy eating must include two or Three meals a day, the above conclusion gives us the right to think about how the frequency of food consumption affects the person as a whole.

Diana Kirovich,
St. Petersburg, Master of Public Health

For those who want to lose weight, fractional meals are attractive, first of all, because they do not impose the traditional prohibitions of strict diets. In addition, such a nutrition system does not require special preparation...

The main feature of fractional nutrition is that food must be taken not according to the usual pattern - breakfast, lunch, dinner - but much more often and in small portions. This way, the time between meals is not long enough to allow you to get very hungry, and when you don’t severe hunger, there is no “brutal” appetite that forces us to overeat or lean on denser and high-calorie foods. As a result, on fractional meals a person involuntarily begins to consume fewer calories, and, consequently, loses weight. In this article, we will introduce you to the basic rules of fractional nutrition, which will help you transition to a new “gastronomic” regime without harming your stomach and mood. So…

1. You need to eat 5-6 times a day. At the same time, food portions should be small. It has been proven that if you constantly feed the body, you can “indoctrinate” the regulatory system fat metabolism that there is always food, and the body will stop making strategic reserves. The absorption of nutrients is accelerated, and much less is deposited on the waist.

2. Interval between meals. The largest should not exceed 4 hours. The minimum interval must be at least 2.5 hours. If the feeling of hunger appears before the prescribed interval of 2.5 hours, it means previous appointment the food was not nutritious enough - in this case it is necessary to reconsider its quantity and energy value.

3.Eat at the same time. This will help the body digest food as efficiently as possible.

4. Properly distribute daily calories. If you eat six times a day, 25% of calories should be for breakfast and dinner, 35% for lunch, 5% for 3 snacks. If there are five meals a day - every time daily calorie content should be 20%.

5. Drink water. With fractional meals, you need to consume at least 1.5-2 liters of water per day.

6. Do not mix water with food. Water should be drunk either before or after meals. The interval between eating and drinking should be from half an hour to an hour.

7.Preference must be given healthy food: whole grain bread, dairy products, cereals, fruits, vegetables, fresh meat and fish. Avoid processed foods and sausages.

8. Volume of food. Energy value diet should remain at the level daily requirement. The serving should not exceed the size of a palm or the volume of a glass.

9. Hot breakfast. It's better to start the day with it. Also don't forget about hot food for lunch and dinner. Between hot meals you can have a snack 2-3 times. What is important: morning meals should contain maximum amount carbohydrates from daily value. And during the day and evening you should try to eat foods containing proteins and fiber.

10. Snacks. Ideal foods for snacking: grain bread or crispbread, vegetable and fruit salads, just snacking vegetables and fruits, low-fat cottage cheese, natural sugar-free yogurt, sugar-free cereals and muesli. Chips, chocolates, seeds, and nuts are not suitable for snacking - they contain too much fat.

Proper nutrition. Menu for the week: