Good traditions and customs, patterns of behavior and communication - all this is embedded in the concept of "spiritual culture". It is preserved and transmitted from generation to generation, first of all, thanks to the family. One of the main places in the life of any family is the issue of nutrition. After all, a rare day does without visiting the grocery store, without thinking about what to cook for breakfast, lunch or dinner. And, looking at the shelves with the products, we relate our desires not only to the possibilities of the purse, but also to the knowledge that is stored in our memory called "food culture." More and more people understand that a proper understanding of the food culture in everyday life is a pledge well-being, mental and physical health.
Culture of nutrition is:
- knowledge of the foundations of proper nutrition;
- knowledge of the properties of products and their effects on the body, their ability to choose and prepare correctly, making the most of all useful substances;
- knowledge of the rules for serving meals and eating food; knowledge of the culture of consumption of ready meals;
- economical attitude to food.
The most important principles of rational nutrition:
Correspondence of caloric content of food to the daily expenditure of energy by man. Violation of this correspondence causes various violations in the body. It should be remembered that a regular decrease in the calorie content of the products consumed leads to a decrease in body weight, a significant decrease in working capacity and general activity, an increase in predisposition to various diseases. Extremely dangerous in this case, the super-calorie content of daily portions, from which a person derives potential energy more than he needs for normal functioning of the body. Systematic increase in calorie content of food leads to a significant increase in body weight, obesity, which also entails health problems.
Satisfaction of the needs of the body in the right amount and the ratio of nutrients. For optimal assimilation of food, it is necessary to supply the body with all food substances in certain proportions. When compiling food rations, first of all, the balance of proteins, fats and carbohydrates is taken into account. For an adult healthy person, their ratio should be 1: 1.2: 4.6. Taking into account the physiological state of the organism, the nature and working conditions, the sex and age of the individual, the climatic features of the region, scientists have developed standards of physiological needs in food substances and energy of various population groups. They make it possible to make a diet for each family. However, it is important to remember that the diet should contain the optimal amount of nutrients balanced among themselves, i.e. have the proper chemical composition.
Diet. It includes the time and frequency of meals, the intervals between them, the distribution of caloric intake by meals. The optimal for a healthy person is four meals a day, but three meals a day are also allowed, depending on the working or study conditions. Each meal should last no less than 20 - 30 minutes. This enables you to eat slowly, chew your food well and, most importantly, do not overeat. Certain hours of food intake allow the digestive system to get used to a stable regime and to allocate the right amount of digestive juices. With four meals a day, you should distribute caloric intake by meals as follows: 1st breakfast - 18%, 2nd breakfast - 12%, lunch - 45%, dinner -25%. Suppose that with three meals a day breakfast is 30%, lunch - 45%, dinner - 25%. But remember: regardless of the diet, the last meal should be 1.5 - 2 hours before bedtime.
With three meals a breakfast usually consists of a hot dish (meat or fish with cereal or vegetables, a sandwich and some hot drink - coffee, tea, cocoa).
Lunch should return the body energy, which he spent during the working day. When digesting a large amount of food there is an increased allocation of gastric juices, so the lunch menu requires snacks: salads from vegetables, salad, salted fish, etc. The production of gastric juice is also helped by the first hot dishes, which are rich in extractives: meat, fish, and mushroom broths. In the second hot dish should contain a large amount of protein, there is an increased calorie content. Finishing lunch is best served with a sweet dish that will inhibit the secretion of gastric juice and cause a pleasant sense of satisfaction from eating.
For dinner, dishes from milk, cereals and vegetables are preferred. Do not eat meat dishes, because they are slowly digested.
Particular attention should be paid to moderation in nutrition, which is expressed not only in the frequency of food intake, but mainly in the quality side of nutrition: the chemical composition of food corresponds to the needs of the organism. In order to eat sensibly, everyone should have an idea of the composition of the products, their biological value, the transformation of nutrients in the body.