Calorie counting...... it's rubbish!

Myth: We MUST count the calories.

Reality: A tendency of calorie counting appeared in the West and reached Russia in 70th. People wishing to lose weight were afraid to get more calories than they needed. But soon this fashion came to naught, but even nowadays there are people who are still counting calories. This article is written for them. I think they will be surprised by the results of recent studies held in Denmark. They showed that calorie counting has no sense.

The group of volunteers were divided into two parts - one of them was put on a rigorous diet and counted calories and the other one kept unrestricted high-carbohydrate low-fat diet. The results were really astonishing: 65% volunteers from the second group lost an excess weight, while only 40% of the first group managed to do the same.

The modern nutrition theory was born from Germany at the close of last age. The German physiologist Voit decided to find out, how much food a man needs. He took an average monthly salary of a worker as an example and reckoned what can be bought on this money. He called it a physiological norm. Thus, he developed a theory of balanced nutrition.

According to this theory a man needs 3000-5000 kilocalories a day. But the experts in natural nutrition, particularly Galina Shatalova, insist, that 600 kilocalories a day are quite enough. Her opinion is objected: in Oswiecim people ate such a food, which didn't assimilate. But at the same time, it was rich in calories.

Shatalova proved that she was right by making a following experiment: she invited a group of incurable patients to walk 500 km along the desert together with her. They got 300-600 kilocalories a day and they were alive.But people didn't believe her. Then she offered 6 unbelieving Czech athletes to join them. They got 6000 kilocalories a day, as usually. Russian volunteers - 300-600. Three Czechs gave up the very first day. The rest managed to walk 134 km. They looked worn out, while the Russians felt OK. After they said good-bye to the Czech colleges, they walked 272 km more.

This example shows, that the importance of calories counting is exaggerated. The quality of food and ability to assimilate it are more important.

And do you know that calories can be "good" and "bad"? It is a division offered by Philip Lipets, a biotechnologist and a teacher at the Ohio Medical university.

The products, containing "good" calories are rye-bread, oatmeal porridge, beans, soy, sunflower seeds, nuts, caffeine-free drinks, white lean meat, perch, cod, ling, salmon, trout, halibut, shellfish, shrimps, crabs, not-fat milk, fresh juices (without sugar), fruit, vegetables (except potato and carrot).

"Bad" calories are contained in alcohol, sweets, honey, sugar, animal fat, fat milk, dark meat, smoked food (except lean meat), cakes, ripe bananas, dried fruits, cheeps, fast food, popcorn, corn, canned goods, overboiled products.

Secret of correct nutrition according to Lipets is very simple - eat more products containing "good" calories, and less products, containing "bad" calories.

Yoghurt and kefir are considered to be the most «ancient» fermented milk products. «If you want to live longer – drink sour milk». It is an ancient proverb of the Abkhazians, among who there are lots of long-living persons. There is everything in sour milk products that is necessary for life – vitamines, proteins, fats and carbs. Besides, many grown-ups can't use whole milk for food.

Breakfast, consisted of any sour milk product, can provide burst of energy, if you add some fruit or berries. It's important that sweet fruit and berries go well with fermented milk with sour taste, for example, kefir. And sourish berries may be added to sweetish products, such as yoghurt.

The new century has not only absolutely changed our way of life, but also the nutrition structure of a man. A constant lack of time, a pulse of life – all those things influence our state of health. We used to eating too much animals fats, there is a deficit of vitamines, microelements and mineral substances (especially, iron and calcium). But it's very important to build up our health, we must not forget about sour milk products and yoghurt, which refine our body.

The tips to drink sour milk and not to harm the health:

1. You must differentiate the sour milk products by quality and choose the most useful product for rational nutrition.

2. It's better to drink kefir or yoghurt in 2 hours after meal.

3. You must rinse your mouth after drinking sour milk.

4. You shouldn't heat up kefir or yoghurt.

5. It's better to abstain from drinking sour milk products together with medicine, containing caffeine. These drinks reduce the effect of aspirin and other drugs, containing acetylsalicylic acid.

6. Children, up to 8 month, should drink kefir and yoghurt.

If you want to live 100 years...

The international EER magazine published a list of 11 products which are the most useful for our health. This list makes us plan our meal in a new way. Thus, to provide our organism with vitamin C we don't need to overpower ourselves by eating sour lemons and swallowing a great amount of polyvitamins. Moreover, regular eating of these products helps to live a long and full life.

1. Fish. The ancient Japanese said: "Those who want to take care of their heart should eat more fish than meat". Three fish courses a week or 30 gr. fish a day reduce the possibility of heart-attack due to the fatty acids Omega-3 which the fish has. These acids work on cellular membranes. Statistics says that the Japanese and the Eskimos suffer from heart-attack much more seldom than the nations who can't eat fish products very often.

2. Apples. An apple a day keeps a doctor away. Actually, eating an apple a day you have less chances to be taken ill with Alzheimer disease. The substances contained in apples, particularly quercitine, have antiphlogistic function and reduce harmful effect of free radicals. In apples there are also vitamins and microelements, which help to develop immunity and to improve the functioning of the cardiovascular system.

3. Garlic is indispensable when treating cold. Besides, it helps to prevent from the stomach and bowels cancer and improves digestion. One of the most important properties of garlic is protection from vascular diseases. The substances, contained in garlic, clean out the vessels and prevent from blood-vessel occlusion.

4. Strawberry. The point is that you don't need to eat lemons to get enough vitamin C - you may eat strawberries as it has lots of vitamin C. But it is not the only virtue of strawberries - high level of iron increases immunity. Some dye-stuffs and essential oils hold in formation of special enzymes, provoking to cancer.

5. Carrot. Beta-carotene neutralises free radicals, destroying genic structure and provoking cancer. Besides, it acts upon skin condition and eye-sight. But you must remember, that beta-carotene dissolves in fat, that is why a carrot salad should be seasoned with oil or sour cream.

6. Hot chili pepper improves metabolism, forwarding losing weight. Capsicinum, conditioning on the bitter taste of pepper, stimulates digestive juices and protects from harmful bacteria in the stomach and bowels.

7. Sweet pepper is also health-giving. It contains not only vitamin C, but also a staining agent luteolin. Even in small quantities luteolin keeps back cancer development, cardiovascular diseases and age-related changes.

8. Banana is the most nourishing and rich in carbohydrates fruit. Bananas have different ballast substances, preventing from diabetes. Magnesium contained in a banana is 1/6 of a daily need.

9. Green tea. Miraculous characteristics of green tea can be explained by catechine which is contained in it. This bioactive substance blocks the development of atherosclerosis and prostate cancer. If you wish to lose weight, green tea is quite all right, but to burn your fat you should drink at least 4 cups of tea a day. There is no catechine in black tea - it is destroyed while producing the tea.

10. Soy has lots of lecithin and vitamins of group B, which intensifies thinking and functioning of the nervous system. Soy is also known as irreplaceable source of protein and can take the place of animal protein. Though soy is an unusual product for the European, the recent investigations prove its usefulness. It concerns particularly soy germs.

11. Milk belongs to the basic foodstuffs not without good reason. There are valuable proteins, easily digested fats and lactose. The most useful ingredient is calcium. The scientists stated that calcium, accumulated in youth, helps to avoid osteoporosis in old age. It is also necessary for nervous and muscular systems.

People always try to determine the most useful products. The Daily Mirror published the list in which there are brown rice, eggs, milk, spinach, bananas, chicken, salmon, bilberries, herbage and garlic. Some natural food can be used as medicine. For example, cherry juice helps to cope with exercise stress, American scientists from the Vermont university say. The dose recommended is a glass of juice or 45 berries. Specialists suppose that such an effect can be explained by the anti-inflammatory action of the antioxidants and substances, contained in cherry.

A plate model to plan your meal

A plate model for meal planning is widely used all over the world. The food plate model illustrates the types of food we need for a healthy diet and the proportions we should eat every day.

It was first described in 1970 in the Swedish magazine "Var Naring" ("Our Nourishment"). In the early 1980's, Swedish nutritionists Margit Eliasson, Brita Karlstrom, and Birgitta Melin; and Bengt Vessby, MD, wrote "Mat Vid Diabetes och Hjartkarlssjukdom: Bra Mat for Alla". It means "Food for People with Diabetes and Heart Disease: Good Food for Everyone", which was a patient booklet to help clients more easily select healthful meals with acceptable food proportions, without measuring.

The plate model is a simple way for people who have diabetes to plan meals. With the plate model, a nine-inch plate serves as a guide for the amounts (serving sizes) and kinds of food that you should choose. Using this model can help you to eat the right amount of carbohydrates. Carbohydrates naturally raise your blood sugar after eating. However, eating too much carbohydrate at one time can raise your blood sugar to a very high level.

Using the plate model may help you keep your blood sugar levels under control. Keeping your blood sugar within a normal range without large increases and decreases lowers your risk for developing certain long-term health problems. These include heart, kidney, eye, or nerve problems. Having been invented first for people having diabetes, this theory gained trust of people, who'd like to control their weight and level of carbohydrates, taking in.

First of all, let's view the proportions of food types we need to have every day.

Thus, we see that the biggest part of our daily meal consists of 33% carbohydrates (bread, rice, noodles, oats, breakfast cereals, chapattis, pasta, sweet potatoes, yams, beans, lentils and dishes made from maize, millet and cornmeal) and fresh fruit and vegetables - 33% as well. Vegetables are included in any diet. They contains vitamins, mineral substances, organic acids, dietary fibers and other ingredients. There is much carotene in a carrot, a tomato, parsley. White cabbage is rich in vitamin U. The largest amount of vitamin C is contained in a red sweet pepper. But in winter and early spring it is better to eat spring onions and cabbage to get enough vitamin C.

Fruit and berries are a well of digestible acids, volatiles and dietary fibers. Apples are rich in potassium salt, lemon and other organic acids, citrus plants - in vitamins C, P, carotene, mountain cranberries are full of organic acids (oxalic, benzoic, citric), raspberries - of salicylic acid and etc.

15% of your daily meal is milk and dairy food. Milk is a weak agent for gastric secretion, that's why it is recommended for people who has gastric problems or an ulcer. Milk and dairy products bring full protein into our organism and it is not less valuable that protein contained in fish and meat. Cheese is widely used in dietotherapy, but you must decline some sorts of cheese if you have problems with your health. Thus, hot cheese is not recommended to people suffering from colitis, gastritis, high blood-pressure, heart and kidney diseases.

12% is meat, fish, eggs and alternatives. For most people a healthy diet means eating only moderate amounts of meat, fish and alternatives such as lentils, nuts, beans and eggs, and choosing lower fat versions when you can. Trim visible fat from meat, choose lean cuts wherever possible and remove skin from chicken before cooking. Meat such as bacon and salami, and meat products such as sausages, beefburgers and pate are all relatively high fat choices, so try to keep these to a minimum.

The last category is fatty and sugary foods. Minimise them to 7% of your daily meal. A healthy diet means eating and drinking less of these types of food. Eat foods containing fat sparingly and look out for the low fat alternatives. Foods and drinks containing sugar should not be eaten too often as they can contribute to tooth decay. This group includes margarine and butter, cooking oils and sugar, so it means fewer fried foods, crisps, biscuits, pastries, cakes and sugary drinks and less mayonnaise, cream, chocolate and other confectionery.

No let's get back to a plate model. Look at the picture below.

A 9-inch plate is divided into 4 equal sectors. Two of them are vegetables and/or fruit. 1/4 is protein which is contained in meat, eggs, fish, etc. 1/4 is carbs, which is cereals, flakes, bread, etc.

That's how your meal should be balanced. Only strict self-control guarantees you success, improvement of your state of health, the way you feel and live.

Note: Talk to your doctor, nurse or pharmacist before following any medical regimen to see if it is safe and effective for you.