Nutrition

Essential to maintain an optimal level of health is to maintain a correct diet. To follow a correct diet, it is not enough to have an adequate supply of nutrients (carbohydrates, fats, proteins and vitamins and other elements), but to also maintain orderly and sufficient eating schedules.

A healthy diet is conceived as one that provides sufficient and adequate nutrients (not excessive), at regular intervals of time, through various meals distributed during the day, every day.

In general, the ingestion of food divided between three and six meals a day is recommended: in the morning (breakfast), mid-morning, at noon (lunch or lunch), in the middle of the afternoon (snack), in the evening (dinner) and at night. the night. Although the existence of all these schedules and their rigid follow-up is not essential, it can be recommended as a guideline to follow with flexibility.

Among these feasts, all the recommended foods and nutrients should be distributed which, without exceeding the individual daily needs, should be sufficient for the proper maintenance of the body structure and the activity carried out.

The composition of the diet also follows flexible recommendations according to the state and the particular conditions of the person, but in general the daily ingestion of vegetables, fruit, cereals and legumes, dairy, meat and / or fish is recommended in sufficient quantity. Vegetarian diets and other minority diets can be healthy, but strict professional control must be followed in their maintenance to avoid nutritional deficiencies that could compromise health.

Miracle diets don't exist. Thus, to maintain a correct nutritional level indefinitely over time, a rich and varied diet must be maintained, adapted to individual needs and containing all the necessary nutrients, vitamins and elements.

Short-term diets can achieve a specific reduction of a few kilograms of weight, but they are usually harmful in the medium and long term, by promoting deficiencies of necessary nutrients. In the same way, the kilograms lost through one of these diets are usually quickly recovered when it is stopped. In order to maintain a stable weight, the habit of maintaining a healthy and correct diet is necessary, in addition to regular physical exercise.

Vitamin and mineral supplements are not necessary for people who maintain a healthy and balanced diet and are only indicated in precarious nutritional conditions or in people with specific deficiency diseases.

For those people who do not follow a correct eating pattern, changes may seem difficult to achieve, since habits and customs often seem difficult to modify; However, after an adaptation of a few days or a week making small gradual changes in the daily meal planning, the physical and psychological state of the person may have presented ostensible changes that really make it very difficult to want to go back.

The specific recommendations that can be followed in general will be:

• Dairy: eat skimmed or semi-skimmed dairy, in a daily amount of 3 to 4 servings.
• Meat, fish or eggs: grilled or baked, between 1 and 2 servings a day.
• Limit fat intake: it is recommended to make very limited use of butters, margarines, creams and sauces.
• Fruits and vegetables, between three and five servings a day.
• Alcohol, soft drinks and sugary drinks: limit their use to the maximum.

Thus, it is necessary to bear in mind the general recommendation to ingest three to five pieces of fruit, vegetable fiber, foods with sufficient calcium and proteins daily.

The general recommendation is to maintain a varied and healthy diet, with a low proportion of refined fats and sugars in general and with a caloric content appropriate to individual needs, added to the daily performance of some regular and sustained aerobic physical exercise.