Diet – what it is, types and most popular methods for losing weight

Nutrition must be adapted to the person's health status. Several diseases affect the body's biological processes, which is why it is necessary to change the need for nutrients. Diet programs are used to achieve these changes. Diet is an integral part of therapeutic nutrition prescribed by a doctor, affecting the course of the disease, recovery, elimination of obesity and excess body weight.

diet food

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

"Diet (from the Greek diaita, Δίαιτα) is the controlled consumption of food and liquids, aiming to achieve a specific objective. The term "diet" can be used in several ways: hospital (official) diets, programs to lose weight, maintain or change health, long-term eating systems (supported by a lifestyle or philosophy). " This is how the wiki describes the diet (Wikipedia. org).

Principles of dietary nutrition:

  • use of high quality raw materials;
  • reduction of heat treatment of products;
  • reducing the consumption of hot seasonings;
  • increase the consumption of greens (dill, parsley, lemon instead of vinegar);
  • depending on the disease - increase/decrease in certain nutrients;
  • regular meals (5 times a day, for diabetes - 6 times a day);
  • emphasis on the taste of food - increasing patients' appetite.

Diet is a broad concept. The dietary program as such does not imply hunger or sudden changes that lead to deterioration of the condition.

Types of diets

The goal of changing your diet may be to lose weight – many nutritional programs focus on weight loss. This term refers to the circuits best known to the public. The next reason to observe dietary restrictions is the presence of diseases. Such programs are prescribed by doctors; It is not recommended to follow them independently, without making a diagnosis (especially by an unhealthy person). Other diet goals are more specific. They include improving the quality of hair, nails and skin. There are also diets for building, strengthening muscle mass, eating plans for general improvement of immunity, etc.

Diets are associated with detoxification of the body. This is also a dietary change, a restriction, but short-term.

Medical diets (tables)

When suffering from an illness, it is important to ensure not only the technological preparation of the diet, but also professional contact with the patient. Even in the context of dietary changes, a person should be able to make food choices by consulting a nutritionist.

What is a diet in medical terms? Today, the classification of dietary programs (tables) usually looks like this:

  1. NPO (N) - hunger strike.
  2. 0S - tea room. Tea, unsweetened or sweetened. Prescribed to patients who cannot take food orally.
  3. #2 – kind. Recommended for patients with gastrointestinal disorders and acute vascular diseases.
  4. No. 3 - a basic and rational diet. Complied with adult patients and older children who do not require dietary restrictions.
  5. 4S - low fat. Prescribed for acute pancreatitis, inflammation of the gallbladder during the transition to oral food intake.
  6. #4 – low fat. Recommended for chronic diseases of the liver, pancreas and gallbladder (usually after changing the stricter 4S).
  7. No. 5 - no residue. Observed for disorders in the lower gastrointestinal tract.
  8. #6 – low protein. Suitable for patients with chronic renal failure.
  9. No. 8 - low calorie. Prescribed to obese people who do not require gentle nutritional adjustments, patients with hyperlipoproteinemia, type 1 and type 2 obesity (the diet contains more than 5, 000 kJ per day, so compliance with the diet is relatively easy).
  10. No. 9 - diabetic. Recommended for patients with diabetes.
  11. 9S - gentle diabetic. Diabetic version of a gentle diet.
  12. No. 10 - no salt. It is generally not part of the nutritional system, as all diets involve cooking food without adding salt (the finished dish is salted as needed).
  13. No. 11 - nutritious. Intended for patients with increased energy needs and increased body weight.
  14. No. 12 - baby. If necessary, prescribed for children aged 1. 5 to 3 years.
  15. No. 13 - children's room. Complied with ages between 3 and 15 years old.
  16. Gluten-free - a gluten-free diet. Intended for patients suffering from gluten intolerance (celiac disease).
  17. Low phosphorus dialysis diet. Observed by patients undergoing hemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis.

Today there are also vegetarian diet options.

diet salad

The most popular weight loss diets

A low-calorie diet is a nutritional program that aims to reduce body weight, being an important method in the treatment of overweight and obesity. Its most common purpose is to eliminate excess fat. An effective weight loss diet plan should evenly reduce adipose tissue in the body. But it is often observed by people (mostly girls) who are not overweight but feel the need to lose weight due to the dictates of exhaustion fashion.

Weight loss can be caused not only by the loss of 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 appropriate food choices. An inadequate diet poses a health hazard. It can also have the opposite effect (after weight loss, fat deposits form again - the so-called "yo-yo effect").

People need nutrients: proteins, fats, carbohydrates, vitamins, minerals, water. Essential amino acids (protein components) are important for the production of cells, 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 the person's age. For adults, the ideal intake is 1, 200 to 1, 500 kcal/day.

Among the most famous weight loss diet programs are the following eating plans.

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 of different durations:

  • first - 2–10 days;
  • second - 14 days;
  • third - depending on the amount of kilos lost (1 kg = 10 days of the third stage);
  • the fourth - constantly.

Each phase has permitted and prohibited products. The scheme is developed from the most intense phase (only foods containing proteins are consumed) to the last phase (everything is consumed observing a protein day once a week). A necessary part of the weight loss process is the drinking regime.

Box Diet

This nutritional program is based on eating food in limited quantities, but more frequently.

The box diet works on the principle of regular dosage of food. Your goal is to get into the habit of eating small amounts of food at regular intervals, without overeating, and eating large portions 3 times a day.

Paleolithic diet

The Paleolithic program, also called the Paleo diet or Stone Age diet, is often referred to as a lifestyle. A person following a Paleo diet approximates the supposed diet of prehistoric man during the Paleolithic era, the longest period in human history, lasting about 3 million years. During this period, people did not know agriculture, they obtained food through hunting and gathering. But the hunter-gatherer diet was and continues to be high in calories. It also contains more carbohydrates than the average modern diet.

Proponents of this dietary pattern suggest that human digestion is not evolutionarily adapted to agricultural products (cereals, dairy products).

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

  • cereals;
  • legumes;
  • bread;
  • milk;
  • cheese;
  • semi-finished products, etc.

The menu mainly consists of meat, fish, vegetables, fruits, mushrooms, nuts, eggs. It also includes fats (avocado, 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 specialized university). This diet was originally an alternative medicine method that offered a cure for cancer. Its essence is in "tumor hunger", its life only from the solid component of food.

Thanks to the "side effect" of weight loss, Breuss's eating plan began to be used to get rid of excess weight.

It consists of 42 days of abstinence from solid foods. Only selected vegetable juices and herbal teas are consumed. The juice is produced industrially from organically grown vegetables. It can be prepared at home, but industrial juice is sterilized and, in addition to the vegetable components, contains lactic acid bacteria.

Protein diet

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

With conventional forms of weight loss, the body can reduce up to 40% of muscle mass. But muscles are the main fat burners. Consequently, after dietary restrictions are lifted, the metabolism cannot handle the amount of dietary energy that was present before the dietary change. A yo-yo effect occurs. Professor Blackburn identified the state of ketosis and the possibility of its activation in the body. Its main benefit is weight loss through burning stored fat and preserving muscle mass, which minimizes the risk of the yo-yo effect.

fast food is prohibited on a diet

Mayer's diet

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

Today, 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, protein foods should not be consumed at the same time as foods rich in carbohydrates. This helps prevent the neutralization of digestive juices, thus preventing disruption of the digestive process. When neutralized, neither fats nor proteins can be broken down effectively; carbohydrates ferment and proteins rot, producing toxic waste.

Therefore, separate nutrition is not a diet as such. This is a lifestyle change, a dietary adjustment. Its base is a combination of proteins and neutral foods or carbohydrates and neutral foods (or consumption of only neutral foods). It is also important to maintain a regular diet and consume food in smaller portions. By reducing energy consumption, separate meals also serve as a method for losing weight.

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