There are many theories of nutrition, each of which has its advantages and disadvantages. Let me mention a few theories:
◆ Balanced nutrition
◆ Adequate nutrition
◆ Nutrition optimization
◆ Therapeutic nutrition
Let me talk about therapeutic nutrition (diet therapy) in a few words. It is the diet prescribed to the patient for the treatment of this or that disease. The task of diet therapy is to influence the causes of the disease together with other methods of treatment, to promote the patient’s speedy recovery. Diet therapy is one of the most important components of complex treatment. It is usually prescribed in combination with other treatments (medicines, surgery, physiotherapy, etc.).
Therapeutic nutrition is also used for prophylactic (preventive) purposes, to increase the body’s defenses, to neutralize toxins that have entered the human body during production.
One of the principles of diet therapy is:
◆ Balance
◆ Diet
◆ Variety of food, it is necessary to satisfy the patient’s taste within the permissible limits
Monotonous food quickly bores and leads to an already decreased appetite, and insufficiency of the digestive organs impairs the assimilation of food.
◆ High organoleptic (taste, smell) properties of food
◆ Sanitary and epidemiological safety and quality of food
◆ Good assimilation of food, depending on its composition and method of preparation (cooking, stewing, frying, barbecue, etc.). Ensuring proper culinary processing while maintaining high food quality and valuable properties.
Therapeutic nutrition should be quite dynamic, which is dictated by the fact that any therapeutic diet is restrictive, therefore one-sided and incomplete. Due to this, prolonged follow-up of such a diet can lead to partial starvation of the organism, due to certain nutrients, and, on the other hand, to the disempowerment of the functional mechanisms disrupted during the recovery phase. That is why diet therapy is widely guided by the principles of thrifty exercise. The principle of saving is usually applied at the beginning of treatment. It can be mechanical, chemical, thermal. In the future, we need to move on to the principle of exercise, which is an extension of the initial strict diet in order to apply a complete nutrition regime.
Exercise is done with “gradual” (gradual restriction of nutrients) and “zigzag” systems. The zigzag system is a relative, abrupt and short-lived change in diet. Such diets and the days of their use are called contrast. There are 2 types of contrast diets (days):
- Overweight diets (“plus zigzags”) are used for training purposes.
- Unloading diets (“minus zigzags”) based on the energy value of food
Restricted or purposeful modification of the chemical composition of the ration, which provides the savings of damaged functional mechanisms, as well as the correction of metabolic disorders.
In the treatment of certain diseases (gastrointestinal tract, metabolic diseases), diet therapy occupies a unique and primary place among the treatment methods. In other cases, it creates a favorable background for the effectiveness of other therapeutic measures.
Therapist, nutritionist: Anna Serobyan