Minimum
Calorie Requirement in A Day:
Dieting does not certainly imply taking Calorie as
less as possible. Even at the time of sleeping we
spend Calorie. At the time of taking low Calorie diet,
one must ensure that Vitamins, minerals, folic acid,
and calcium, iron are taken adequately. Some fat in
diet is also essential. Extreme low Calorie diet is
injurious to health. Standard Calorie intake per day
should be 12 - 15 Calories for each pound ( or 453 gms)
of ideal body weight. The ideal intake varies due age,
gender and nature of work. It was also found out
through research that the diet should at least contain
1,100 - 1,200 Calories. Lower than 1100 Calorie intake
would be having insufficient minerals, vitamins,
calcium and iron. As a result of that a person may
suffer from fatigue, intolerance to hot and cold, hair
loss and menstrual irregularities etc. What ever may
be the standard, the Calorie intake should be in
commensurate with the Calorie utilization of a person.
Balance Diet ensures not taking excess Calorie than
the requirement and again ensures at least the minimum
Calorie to keep the physiological system and normal
activities on. To know your daily Calorie consumption
Click Fitness: Daily Calorie Consumption chart at
health fitness .
To have an idea about the Calorie content in different
food stuffs, it is important to read the following
chart at least once and keep it with you for your
further reference. One could understand which items
should be taken and how much from the chart.
Calorie
content in Food Items
Restrictive
Food Items List
Components of a
Balanced Diet:
The main nutrients of our diets are carbohydrate,
protein and fat. Apart from these human being require
several minerals (like calcium, iron, iodine etc.),
Vitamins ( like Vitamin A, different types of Vitamin
B, Vitamin C) and fibers also in our balanced diet.
Calorie Content in Carbohydrate, Protein and Fat:
1 gram of fat yields 9 Calories of energy where as 1
gram of carbohydrate or protein yields 4 Calories of
energy. But there is a problem to use these data in
choosing a diet. Most foods item does not consist of
one category. It is in general admixture of from among
the three category: carbohydrate, fat and protein. As
for example egg has protein and fat. Pulse and milk
has high protein but does not contain protein only.
Honey is also mixture of different class of food. On
the other hand there are some items that contains
purely one category. As for example butter and oil
contains 100% fat. Protein, Carbohydrate and Fat food
are essential ingredients for human nutrition. Still,
protein food is considered better than fat food and
carbohydrate food in the sense that it has lower sugar
content than carbohydrate and lower fat content than
fat food like butter, oil etc. Among the three, it is
better to take as less fat as possible. Apart from the
above three nutrients there must be adequate minerals,
vitamins and fiber in every diet.
Role of Fiber in Fat control:
Sufficient fiber is a must in every diet. Pure fiber
does not have any calorie value. Fiber helps in fat
control. Fiber disturbs the absorption of fat by the
body. Fiber is found in plants only. There are two
types of fibers soluble fiber and insoluble fiber.
Soluble fiber is good for heart. Examples: dried
beans, oat bran, barley, apples, and potatoes.
Insoluble fiber is good for weight lose. Example:
Wheat bran, whole grains, seeds, fruit and vegetable
peels. fiber such as oatmeal, wheat germ, Raisin Bran,
Bran Flakes.
Balanced Diet at a glance:
From the above discussion we got a lot of information.
Still, it is difficult to keep track on our diet on
the basis of above information for our day to day
dieting. If someone follows the food items maintained
below he may lead to a near balanced diet. So,
emphasize on the following food items as much as
possible.
1. Sufficient Fruits
2. A lot of Vegetables
3. Boiled & Roasted foods
4. Milk (skimmed)
To be more precise and to ensure a balance diet we
should know a little more. Let us discuss Food
Guide Pyramid in this regard.
Again, all these
thing is for a normal person. At the time of preparing
diet for a person with blood sugar and/ or blood
cholesterol the dietitian would have to take into
consideration some more aspects at the time preparing
his or her diet.
Fat
Substitute Food
Some opinions
regarding Dieting:
"I
used to like salty food but at the same time it was
also true that I was not very choosey about the
selection of my food. I had to undertake a lot of
travel with my colleague. During the course of
traveling I did not always had the opportunity to take
the food of my choice. I am a compromising personality
and in fact I did not insist on my choice. And in the
process , I took sweet foods almost frequently. One
day I found that I developed blood sugar. And I was
asked not take all sweet foods and those stuff (may be
salty food) which grows under the land surface. I have
heard that blood sugar may affect the kidney and thw
heart."
-------- Mr. Jean Paul, 12 Colosal Street, Berkley -1.
"I was severely overweight. I started dieting
four months ago. Till then I was taking very few
calories. In fact, now I eat and drink as less as I
can. I lost my weight. I lost my energy and enthusiasm
to my work also. Now I am in a fix what to do."
--------- Ms. Sanita Fox, 56C/3 Edission Road, Perth -
2, Australia.
"I did not like mutton that much. But I took that
almost regularly as and when my mother or wife in my
home prepared mutton. Now, I developed blood
cholesterol. Physician asked to maintain a lot of
restrictions otherwise I would suffer from heart
problems."
--------- Sk. Abu Bakkar Sayed, 49/2A Mansion
Building, Ipu, Indonesia -34.
All of the above quotations are hypothetical
but not far from reality.
We should know what foods and drinks we are taking.
What should be the minimum and maximum Calorie intake
and fat intake per day? It is possible that if we know
all those, we may set aside some particular foods we
dislike and in the process we would take lower Calorie
and fat to maintain our fitness. Before starting
discussion we should know what is a balanced diet.
References:
1. "Beauty And Body Book" by Chho Dev.
Published by Hind Pocket Books, New Delhi.
2. "Healthy Eating Based on the Food Guide
Pyramid" by Renee Cloe, ACE, Certified Personal
Trainer.
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