Diet - what it is, the most popular types and methods of weight loss

Nutrition must be suitable for human health status. Many different diseases affect biological processes in the body, requiring changes in nutrient requirements. Diet programs are used to achieve these changes. Diet is an indispensable part of nutritional therapy prescribed by doctors, affecting disease progression, recovery process, and eliminating obesity and overweight in the body.

diet foods

Diet - what is it (therapeutic diet, diet for weight loss)?

"Diet (from Greek diaita, Δίαιτα) is the controlled consumption of food and liquids, intended to achieve a specific goal. The term "diet" can be used invarious ways: (official) hospital diet, weight loss program, health maintenance or change, long-term diet system (supported by lifestyle or philosophy). "Thisis how wiki describes the diet (Wikipedia. org).

Nutritional principles in the diet:

  • Use high quality raw materials;
  • reduce heat treatment of products;
  • reduce consumption of hot spices;
  • increase consumption of green vegetables (dill, parsley, lemon instead of vinegar);
  • depending on the disease - increase/decrease certain nutrients;
  • frequent meals (5 times a day, for diabetes - 6 times a day);
  • emphasis on the taste of food - increases appetite in the patient.

Diet is a broad concept. Such a diet program does not imply starvation or sudden changes that lead to a worsening of the condition.

Types of diets

The goal of changing your diet may be to lose weight - some nutrition programs focus on weight loss. This term refers to the circuits most widely known to the public. The next reason for compliance with dietary restrictions is the presence of illness. Such programs are prescribed by doctors; They should not be monitored independently without making a diagnosis (especially in unhealthy people). Other diet goals are more specific. These include improving hair, nail and skin quality. There are also diets to build and enhance muscle mass, diets to improve overall immunity, etc. v.

The diet is involved in detoxifying the body. This is also a change in diet, a restriction but only short-term.

Medical diet (table)

During illness, it is important to ensure not only the technical preparation of the diet, but also professional contact with the patient. Even in the context of dietary changes, a person can still make food choices with the advice of a nutritionist.

What is a diet in medical terms? Today, the classification of diet programs (table) is usually as follows:

  1. NPO (N) - hunger strike.
  2. 0S - tea room. Tea, unsweetened or sweetened. Prescribed for patients who cannot eat or drink by mouth.
  3. Number 2 - gentle. Recommended for patients with digestive disorders and acute vascular disease.
  4. Number 3 - basic, reasonable diet. Compliant adult and older pediatric patients do not require dietary restrictions.
  5. 4S - low fat. Prescribed for acute pancreatitis, cholecystitis during the transition to eating.
  6. Number 4 - low fat. Recommended for chronic diseases of the liver, pancreas and gallbladder (usually after switching from the more stringent 4S).
  7. Number 5 - no residue. Observe for disorders in the lower gastrointestinal tract.
  8. Number 6 - low protein intake. Suitable for patients with chronic kidney failure.
  9. Number 8 - low in calories. Indicated for obese people who do not need gentle nutritional adjustment, patients with hyperlipidemia, type 1 and type 2 obesity (diet contains more than 5000 kJ per day so compliance with the diet is relatively easy).
  10. Number 9 - diabetes. Recommended for patients with diabetes.
  11. 9S - mild diabetes. Diabetes version of the gentle diet.
  12. Number 10 - no salt. Usually not part of the nutritional system, since all diets involve cooking food without adding salt (the finished dish is salted as necessary).
  13. Number 11 - nutritious. For patients with increased energy needs and increased body weight.
  14. Number 12 - newborn. If necessary, prescribed for children 1. 5–3 years old.
  15. Number 13 - children's room. Compliant age range 3–15 years old.
  16. Gluten-free - gluten-free diet. For patients with gluten intolerance (celiac disease).
  17. Low-phosphorus dialysis diet. Observed by patients undergoing hemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis.

Nowadays there are also vegetarian options.

salad in the diet

The most popular weight loss diets

A low-calorie diet is a nutritional program aimed at reducing body weight, which is an important method for treating overweight and obesity. Its most common purpose is to remove excess fat. An effective diet plan for weight loss will uniformly reduce fatty tissue in the body. But it is often observed by people (mainly young girls) who are not overweight but feel the need to lose weight due to fashion draining you.

Weight loss can be caused by loss of not only fat but also water and muscle. Therefore, there is no direct relationship between fat content and body weight. Muscle loss during weight loss can be reduced through exercise and proper food choices. Improper diet is dangerous to health. It can also have the opposite effect (after losing weight, fat deposits are formed again - the so-called "yo-yo effect").

Humans need nutrients: proteins, fats, carbohydrates, vitamins, minerals, water. Essential amino acids (protein components) are important for cell production, especially muscle cells. Essential fatty acids are involved in the formation of brain cells. Vitamins and minerals are essential for many functions. The total amount of energy varies depending on a person's age. For adults, the optimal intake is 1200–1500 kcal/day.

Among the most famous diet programs for weight loss are the following diets.

Duncan's diet

This is a weight loss diet published by French nutritionist Dr. Pierre Dukan in the book "I Can't Lose Weight". It is based on 4 stages with different durations:

  • first - 2–10 days;
  • Monday - 14 days;
  • third - depending on the number of kilograms lost (1 kg = 10 days of the third phase);
  • fourth - continuous.

Each phase has allowed and prohibited products. This plan is developed from the most intense phase (only foods containing protein are consumed) to the final phase (everything is consumed while adhering to a protein diet once a week). A necessary part of the weight loss process is a water drinking regimen.

diet box

This nutrition program is based on eating food in limited quantities but more often.

The box diet works on the principle of regular food intake. The goal is to get into the habit of eating small amounts of food regularly, not overeating, and eating large portions 3 times a day.

Paleolithic diet

The Paleolithic program, also known as the Paleo diet or the Stone Age diet, is often considered a lifestyle. A person following a Paleo diet closely resembles the diet believed to have been practiced by prehistoric humans during the Paleolithic period, the longest period in human history, lasting about 3 million years. During this period, people did not know agriculture, they obtained food by hunting and gathering. But hunter-gatherer diets were and still are high in calories. It also contains more carbohydrates than the average modern diet.

Proponents of this dietary pattern argue that the human digestive process is not evolutionarily adapted to agricultural products (grains, dairy products).

So, when following a paleo diet, agricultural products are excluded or limited from the diet:

  • cereal;
  • pea's tree;
  • bread;
  • milk;
  • cheese;
  • semi-finished products, etc

The menu mainly includes meat, fish, vegetables, fruits, mushrooms, nuts, eggs. It also includes fats (butter, coconut, olive oil, lard).

Breuss diet

The Breuss Diet is a nutritional program named after its author, Rudolf Breuss, an Austrian electrician and healer (sometimes called a doctor, but he never studied at a school). specialized university). This diet was originally an alternative medicine method that helped cure cancer. Its essence lies in the fact that the "tumor starves", its life depends only on the solid components of food.

Thanks to the "side effects" of weight loss, the Breuss diet plan began to be applied to get rid of excess pounds.

It includes 42 days of abstinence from solid food. Only selected vegetable juices and herbal teas are intoxicating. The juice is industrially produced from biologically grown vegetables. It can be prepared at home, but industrial juice is pasteurized and, in addition to plant ingredients, contains lactic acid bacteria.

High-protein diet

Also known as a "protein", "cyclic ketone", "ketone" or "keto" diet. This is a scientifically proven method that brings good weight loss results in just a few weeks. Dr. Russell Wilder used it for medical purposes in 1921. The father of its modern version can be considered Professor George L. Blackburn, who studied the process of burning stored fatin the human body.

With conventional forms of weight loss, the body can lose up to 40% of muscle mass. But muscle is the main source of fat burning. Therefore, after finishing the diet, the metabolism cannot cope with the amount of energy in the diet that was present before the change in diet. The yo-yo effect occurs. Professor Blackburn defined the state of ketosis and the ability to trigger it in the body. Its main benefit is weight loss by burning stored fat and preserving muscle mass, which minimizes the risk of the yo-yo effect.

Fast food is prohibited in the diet

Mayer's diet

This is a weight loss technique developed by Dr. Franz Xavier Mayer. It involves limiting the consumption of calories, proteins, fats, fruits and vegetables. Dry hard bread with water is consumed. Chewing bread increases salivation, which helps improve digestion. Drinking alcohol causes diarrhea and removes harmful residues from the body.

Nowadays, the popularity of this method is decreasing (for obvious reasons).

Separate food

This scheme is based on the assumption that proteins require an acidic environment in the stomach, while carbohydrates require an alkaline environment. Therefore, foods rich in protein should not be consumed at the same time as foods containing carbohydrates. This helps prevent neutralization of digestive juices, thereby avoiding disruption of the digestive process. When neutralized, neither fats nor proteins can be effectively broken down; Carbohydrates ferment and proteins rot, creating toxic residue.

So, separate nutrition is not such a diet. This is a lifestyle change, diet adjustment. Its basis is a combination of proteins and neutral foods or carbohydrates and neutral foods (or only the consumption of neutral foods). It is also important to maintain a regular diet and consume foods in smaller portions. By reducing energy consumption, separate meals are also considered a weight loss method.

IMPORTANT! Informative article! Before use, you should consult a specialist.