June 10th, 2008 -- Posted in Calories, Carbohydrates, Cereals, Energy, Nutrients, Nuts, Vitamins |
There is no food that contains all the essential nutrients. For example, wheat flour and comprehensive lack of vitamins A, B12, C and D, and contain very little calcium. However possess a lot of dietary fiber. The calf contains very little or nothing of calcium, vitamins A, C and D and fibre but possesses iron and vitamin B12. In making both food groups, we received the elements from both, but we need to add citrus salads or make vitamin C, and milk or cheese containing vitamin D and calcium. So, combining the completion of various food groups to form a balanced diet.
According to the role in the body, foods are classified as:
- Foods rich in plastic or trainers substances essential for the formation and maintenance of our structure: protein and calcium.
- Food energy-rich substances that provide energy to the body: fat and carbohydrates.
- Food regulators rich in vitamins and minerals essential for occurring chemical reactions of metabolism.
From a practical point of view, the classification of functional foods is not possible to establish guidelines or patterns of simple food for the general population. It is necessary to group the foods they share responsibilities and provide similar amounts of nutrients. In Spain, since the education programmed in Food and Nutrition (EDALNU) in the sixties, was adopted a model for classifying foods based on 7 groups.
Group 1: milk and dairy products: cheeses and yogurt.
Group 2: meat, eggs and fish.
Group 3: potatoes, vegetables and nuts.
Group 4: vegetables.
Group 5: fruit.
Group 6: bread, pasta, cereal and sugar.
Group 7: fats, oils and butter.
A balanced diet should provide:
4-6 servings per day of food groups 3 and 6: bread, pasta, cereals, potatoes, vegetables
3-4 servings per day Group 4: vegetables
2-3 servings per day of group 5: fruit
2-3 servings per day of Group 1: Milk
2-4 servings per day in Group 2: meat, eggs, fish
40-60 grams per day of fat
We must not take the same daily rations of food each group but there are several that for two reasons:
1. Nutrients are characteristic of each group vary widely among the same foods.
2. The natural toxins and pollutants are distributed in all groups. The more varied the food is, the lower the possibility of taking in harmful quantities.
Diabetes Program EDALNU Properties Function
Group 1
Lacteal Rich with high-quality protein and calcium plastic or biological trainers
Group 2
Meat,
Fishing,
Eggs
Rich in protein feeding stuffs high-quality protein and iron and some vitamins. Algunos are rich in saturated fat plastic or trainers
Group 3
Potatoes,
Pulses
Tubers
And nuts
Group 4
Vegetables
Vegetables rich in vitamins and minerals and fiber Regal
Group 5
Fruit
Fruit Rich in vitamins, minerals and some fiber-rich sugar and Regal
Group 6
Cereals and vegetables
Starchy food Or hydrocarbons
Grains and derivatives
Sugars and Sweet
Sugary drinks
Pulses
Tubers
Nuts
Rich in carbohydrates mixed: energy and plasticity
Carbohydrates rapid absorption
Rich in protein and fiber
Rich in protein, fat (except chestnuts), and minerals
Group 7
Gras
Rich in vitamins fat, fat-soluble and essential fatty acids Energetic
Alcoholic beverages
The food pyramid
It is the graphic representation of the recommended daily servings of each food group. This is the best guide qualitative and it is clear that the bases for food are cereals, tubers, legumes and vegetables (carbohydrates) together with milk and derivatives. The animal protein outside the dairy are recommended from fish, white meat and eggs. The red meat and liver should be present only with weekly / fortnightly.
May 31st, 2008 -- Posted in Carbohydrates, Fat, Nutrients, Vitamins |
The correction of the diet in terms of energy and nutrients has been explained in the preceding paragraph to talk about balanced diet. However, in the case of diabetic those recommendations have been something different and have varied over time, depending on knowledge about the disease, advances in nutrition and treatment options. In a first time is extremely limited input from carbohydrates, as the therapeutic options were limited and thus sought to attenuate hyperglycemia.
On the contrary, then advocated diets that are extremely rich in carbohydrates, particularly complex and with great input fiber. At present, the Association American Diabetes (ADA) recommends customizes the contribution of carbohydrates depending on the type of diabetes, nutritional status, lipid profile, especially triglyceride levels. But yes, provided that the highest fat intake is made in the form of monounsaturated fatty acids (oleic acid). These recommendations are reflected in the following table:
Macro nutrients International guidelines of the Association American Diabetes
Protein 10-15% 10-20% (in the absence of nephropathy)
Saturated Fat <7% <7%
Polyunsaturated
5-10% 10%
Mono unsaturated
15% 15%
Carbohydrates 50-55% 60-70%
Even if it seems different, the recommendations of the ADA for diabetes are no different from the guidelines of a balanced diet for the general population, if it respects a minimum intake of carbohydrate 40% of calories.
May 31st, 2008 -- Posted in Calories, Carbohydrates, Fat, Nutrients, Protein |
Nutrition is the set of processes by which the living being used, transforms and incorporates into its own structures substances it receives from the outside world. This way you get energy and can repair and build organizational structures, and regulate metabolic processes. These chemicals, called nutrients found in food: proteins, carbohydrates, lipids, vitamins, minerals, trace elements and water. Human beings need to live energy (calories), water, and about forty nutrients from 8 to 10 essential amino acids derived from proteins, essential fatty acids, carbohydrates, thirteen vitamins and eighteen elements of the periodic table, in addition to hydrogen, carbon , Nitrogen and oxygen, all obtained from food.
The concept of balanced diet :
The diet is the set of substances we eat normally and that allow us to maintain an adequate state of health and an ability to work. A diet is correct when quantitatively provides adequate energy, allows the maintenance or achievement of ideal weight and provides all the vitamins and minerals in amounts not less than 2 / 3 of the recommended dietary intake (RDA) (DSA hyper caloric below 1500 calories not guarantee).
Nutrients are any substance contained in foods and that it is necessary to live and keep us in health. Nutrients are those essential that the body can not synthesize (from others) and, therefore, depends entirely on your food intake.
The nutrients that provide energy and are called macronutrients are:
1) Protein
2) Fat
3) Carbohydrates.
The percentage contribution of the macronutrients the total calories should read:
– 50 to 55% carbohydrates
– 30-35% fat. (15-20% monounsaturated)
– 10-15% protein.
Table 1. Food balanced:
Nutrients energy Kcal. contributing per gram Needs gr / kg / day rate on total calories
Protein 4 0.8 - 1 10-15%
Fat 9 1 30-35%
Carbohydrates 4 3 - 5 50-55%
If deepened a bit more on the needs of these nutrients energy, we can say:
a) The proteins provided by 8 to 10 essential amino acids. The needs of a healthy adult and sedentary are approximately 0.8-1 g / kg / day of proteins. At least 50% of the protein must be ingested animal, richer in essential amino acids. The rest must be complete vegetable protein, which have the advantage of being poor in cholesterol and saturated fat (20g protein found in 100 grams of meat = 100 = 1.5 grams of fish eggs middle = 80 grams of vegetable in = 100 grams of raw nuts = 75 g pulp = 250 grams of rice = 200 grams of bread).
b) Carbohydrates. The recommended daily intake to a healthy adult and sedentary is 3 to 5 g / kg / day, or approximately 200-300 g / day. There are 2 kinds of carbohydrates in foods:
Simple: they are mono-and disaccharides sweet taste and rapid intestinal absorption. The refined sugars should not represent more than 10% of total energy.
Complex (Polysaccharides): little sweet taste and intestinal absorption slower. Starch is the most abundant.
c) Fats, which provide us with essential fatty acids. Depending on the degree of unsaturated (double bonds) of these fatty acids, and the length of its chain (number of carbon atoms), the fatty acids in food presented different properties:
1. The saturated fatty acids (no double bonds) are most important: the butyric (8:0) = lauric (12:0), myristic (14:0), palmitic (16:0) and stearic (18:0). All animal fats are rich in them, which give them the solid, but some vegetable fats like coconut and palm hearts are as well. These saturated fatty acids are the most adversely affect the levels of cholesterol and other lipids, and complex mechanisms are the most beneficial arteriosclerosis. Myristic and palmitic are the most aterogenicos.
2. The polyunsaturated fatty acids (several double bonds in their chain) of food are essentially within two rounds:
a) Omega 6: (when the first double bond is in sixth place) whose main representative is linoleum acid (essential), which is in the seed oils. Its consumption can lower levels of total cholesterol, replace the saturated fat. The double bonds can oxidize ( “rancidity”), and also saturated in the presence of hydrogen and a catalyst, changing its configuration to cross. For mechanism of saturation are obtained margarines.
b) Omega-3: fish, mostly blues, are polyunsaturated fatty acids essential omega-3. Representatives most abundant in this series are lanoline (18:3), docosahexaenoic (22:6) and eicosapentaenoic (20:5). They are hipotrigliceridemiantes (down triglyceride levels that so often are high in the diabetic.) And have an action antiagregante and vasodilator.
The consumption of polyunsaturated fatty acids present in seed oils, nuts and blue fish has been proved beneficial (especially when they replace saturated fat) in preventing atherosclerosis, but its excess (especially when providing supplements to pharmacological high doses) can have harmful side effects, such as to promote the oxidation of cellular events that underlie events such as ageing, atherosclerosis, and even predisposition to cancer.
3. The mono unsaturated fatty acid (a single double bond: C18: 1) is the most abundant oleic acid, present in olive oil, avocados and olives, and in smaller amounts in other foods such as eggs and pork. The olive oil exerts interesting changes in the lipid profile: decrease of LDL cholesterol, with maintenance and / or promotion of HDL, reducing the oxide particles and lipoproteico decline in the aggregate (the effects of different fats on the lipid profile are reflected in Table 2). Resist higher temperatures without altering its composition and thus is the most suitable for cooking and especially frying.
The influence of total calories and the type of fatty acid on the lipid profile are summarized in the following table:
Table 2: effect of different types of fat on serum cholesterol and triglycerides.
Total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol HDL Triglycerides
Total fat —
Cholesterol —
Saturated Fat —
Monounsaturated fat or —
Polyunsaturated fatty or —
Excess calories —
c) 13 vitamins
Hidrosolubles: 8 B vitamins and vitamin C.
Liposoluble: vitamins A, E, D and K.
d) 20 minerals: calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, iron, manganese, zinc, copper, cobalt, chromium, molybdenum, iodine, fluorine, sodium, potassium, chlorine, sulfur, selenium, nickel, tin and silicon.