Vegetables and fruits in diets

Almost all vegetables, fruits, fruits and berries can be used in dietary nutrition. True, there are exceptions here. This refers to sorrel, radish, legumes and some other herbal products, which are often excluded from the diet of patients. It is necessary in all cases to find the most acceptable methods and methods of compliance with the requirements of the diet, but not at the expense of enriching it with vegetables and fruits.

It is from supplying with fresh vegetables and fruits that the maintenance of normal digestion and high resistance to unfavorable factors affecting human health depends.

In the prevention of atherosclerosis and the fight against the development of neuroses, stress conditions as an elementary means of struggle, a particularly important role belongs to the systematic inclusion in the diet of fresh vegetables and fruits.

It can reasonably be argued that if there is no vegetable and fruit in the diet, then there is no normal digestion. Studies of domestic scientists( IP Pavlova, I.P. Razenkov, N. I. Leporskiy and others) showed that vegetables and fruits are among the strong pathogens of the secretory activity of the digestive glands.

The most important property of of fruits and vegetables is their ability to stimulate the release of enzymes. Thus, vegetables and fruits provide good digestion of proteins. There is the most complete assimilation, and hence, the satisfaction of the need for protein with a minimum of its content in the diet.

Vegetables and fruits are important in regulating metabolism. The best way to normalize fat metabolism and combat obesity is to switch to food mainly vegetable food as part of the dairy and vegetable diet.

Today, high lipotropic properties of vegetables and fruits have been reliably confirmed. In the prevention of atherosclerosis, they should therefore be used in the widest possible way.

An extremely important health factor is the normal state and optimal functional capacity of the intestinal microflora. The development of putrefactive processes in the intestine can lead to the development of meteorism and self-poisoning of the body. Autointoxication disrupts the activity of many systems, primarily digestive, nervous and cardiovascular.

The famous Russian scientist II Mechnikov attached so much importance to autointoxication from the intestine, which he considered the main obstacle in achieving longevity. The experiment conducted by II Mechnikov in animals showed that in animals, in the food of which putrefactive products were introduced from the human intestine, developed aortic sclerosis developed.

It is proved that one of the causes of atherosclerosis is a systematic auto-toxication by putrefactive products absorbed from the intestine. The best way to normalize the beneficial intestinal microflora and prevent the intensification of putrefactive processes in the intestine is the daily inclusion of fresh vegetables and fruits, sauerkraut, and sour milk drinks into food.

Still, the main importance of fruits and vegetables in human nutrition is that they contain an indispensable, vitally necessary, biologically active complex of substances that the body can not be provided with other food products. This complex includes vitamins( C, P and carotene), a number of organic acids( malic, citric, etc.) and a group of mineral salts that ensure the maintenance of acid-base balance in the body.

Biologically active complex of fruits and vegetables creates the optimal internal environment in the body.

As is known, the main physiological role of vitamin C is to maintain the normal state of the capillary walls and maintain their elasticity. With a lack of vitamin C, there is increased fragility of small vessels and a tendency to hemorrhage.

The second most important property of vitamin C is the normalization and improvement of the internal environment of the body in the fight against all unfavorable factors. Under the influence of vitamin C, the activity of protective mechanisms increases. The regulating effect of vitamin C on cholesterol metabolism has been proved, its role in the prevention of atherosclerosis has been revealed. Vitamin C has many other aspects of physiological effects, which testify to its paramount importance.

Another important vitamin of vegetables, fruits, fruits and berries - vitamin P includes a group of P-active substances called bioflavonoids, or polyphenols. The number of them exceeds 150 items.

The basic physiological role of bioflavonoids lies in their capillary-strengthening effect and in the reduction of the permeability of the vascular wall. Vitamin P, for example, normalizes the state of capillaries and increases their strength. The expressed connection, parallelism in the biological action of vitamin C and vitamin R. Both vitamins are effective in the treatment of scurvy and the elimination of other phenomena of C-vitamin deficiency. Vitamin P has an antihypertensive effect - the ability to lower and normalize blood pressure( this allows you to use it for the treatment of hypertension).

That's why vitamins C and P are homogeneous in their biological action. They are synergistic. When assessing the vitamin activity of these or other products, it is necessary to take into account the content of both vitamins in them.

When the total content of vitamins C and P is taken into account, the idea of ​​the vitamin activity of many foods becomes more clear. Earlier, for example, carrots were considered a weak source of vitamin C. However, the high content of vitamin P in it changes this view. Carrots can be seen not only as an unsurpassed source of carotene, but also as a product of average CP activity.

Or another example. Grapes, extremely poor in vitamin C( 6 mg%), at the same time contains a significant amount of vitamin P( 290-430 mg%).Thus, it is not so little value in the vitamin food product.

As we see, to determine the C-vitamin value of vegetables and fruits, it is necessary to take into account the content of not only vitamin C, but also the content of bioflavonoids( vitamin P).High pepper sweet red and green, sea buckthorn, parsley greens, brussels sprouts, dill, etc., need a high content of vitamin C and vitamin P. The need for vitamin C is 70-100 mg per day, in vitamin P it is 35-50 mg per day.

The third vitamin that comes only in fruits and vegetables is carotene, which in plants is usually associated with protein. The most active is beta-carotene. The main biological significance of carotene lies in its ability to transform into the body in vitamin A. However, carotene performs an independent and important role in the function of the adrenal glands and the formation of the hormone of the adrenal cortex. The need for carotene is 3-4 mg per day( 2 times more than vitamin A).

The content of carotene in some products( in mg%) is: fresh red carrots - 9;carrots dry - 40;fresh apricots - 1.6;dried apricots( dried apricots, dried apricots) - 3.5;rose hips are fresh - 2,6;dog rose dry - 6,7;sea ​​buckthorn - 10;sweet red pepper - 2;sweet green pepper - 1;salad - 1,75;tomatoes - 1,20;dill - 1;parsley greens - 1,7;onion green - 2;potatoes, cabbage - 0.02;sorrel - 2,5.

Vegetables and fruits have many common properties, however, each individual kind has some specific features. Let's talk about this in more detail.

Well-known high food properties of potatoes as a "younger brother" of bread and its closest substitute. The valuable protein of potatoes and its remarkable carbohydrates have long been highly appreciated. There is evidence of a favorable balance of amino acids in potato proteins. With a low protein content in potatoes( 2%), it still plays a role in meeting the protein needs of the body. It turned out that carbohydrates of potatoes are less used for fat formation( formation of excess body weight) than carbohydrates of bread products( especially bakery products from flour of higher grades).

Potatoes are the main supplier of potassium. Its content in potatoes is 568 mg%.With the normal consumption of potatoes( 300-400 g per day), about 2 g of potassium enter the body, which satisfy 60-70% of the requirements in it. Uninterrupted supply of potassium is important, as it increases the excretion of water and sodium from the body, and improves the functioning of the heart muscle. Potassium diets can be considered as preventive for atherosclerosis and hypertension.

Due to its high biological and dietary properties, all its species occupy a leading position. Many attribute cabbage to a product identical in biological value to lemons. Indeed, the most important biological component of lemons - vitamin C is represented in it in the amount of 40 mg%, and in cabbage of white-headed vitamin C contains 50 mg%, in red - 60, in Brussels - 120 mg%.

In lemons, vitamin C persists for a long time( up to six months or more).In cabbage, the same thing happens. With the right preservation of cabbage in unbroken, unfrozen, uncleaned heads, vitamin C remains almost entirely throughout the whole winter. Excellent vitamin C is preserved in sauerkraut.

Cabbage contains other biologically active substances that are not yet fully understood. It contains, for example, tartronic acid, which affects fat metabolism, delaying and reducing the conversion of carbohydrates into fat. However, tartronic acid is unstable to heating. Cabbage, subjected to heat treatment, loses it. That is why it is necessary to use widely in food dishes( salads) from raw white cabbage.

Cabbage contains another, biologically active substance, which has a dietary and curative properties. It is vitamin U, which has a curative effect in accelerating the healing of stomach and duodenal ulcers. The name of the vitamin and received from the Latin "ulcus" - an ulcer. In its chemical structure, vitamin U is a methionine derivative - S-methylmethionine sulfonium chloride, which is found in cabbage juice. In a complex with other medical products, it was used in certain periods of peptic ulcer treatment.

It has recently been established that vitamin U has an anti-sclerotic effect. The Brussels sprouts are highly active in biological activity, in which vitamin C and other biologically active substances are about twice as large as in cabbage. A particularly valuable type of cabbage is broccoli, which combines all the biologically active components of cabbage and asparagus.

In conclusion, it is necessary to note the dietary importance of cabbage. Such fiber can be split and digested during digestion. Simultaneously, it has a sufficiently pronounced stimulating effect on the motor function of the intestine.

Cabbage fiber( as well as the fiber of most vegetables and fruits) promotes the excretion of cholesterol from the body, and also has a normalizing effect on the vital activity of the beneficial intestinal microflora.

Beetroot has a number of dietary properties. First of all, it is necessary to note the features of the biological effect of its coloring substance - anthocyanins. The latter are not so widely represented in food products and are found in the shells of dark-colored fruits and berries( in dark grapes, cherries, etc.).

The most real source of anthocyanins in nutrition is precisely beet, which is consumed in all periods of the year.

Beet coloring matter - anthocyanins contain bioflavonoids - betaine and betaine. The first has lipotropic properties, and the second - hypotensive effect, normalizing blood pressure. Beetroot, thus, can be considered as a food product used in nutrition for atherosclerosis.

The beet contains a significant amount( 0.9%) of fiber, more than in the radish( 0.8%), cucumber( 0.7%) and cabbage( 0.7%).

Beet Fiber has a beneficial effect on digestion, stimulating motor function of the intestine. This is largely due to the high content of pectin in the beet( 4.8-7.2%), which is 2-3 times more than in such an acknowledged source of pectin substances as apples( 1.6-5.6%).

Beets are also rich in potassium( 288 mg%) and iron( 1.4 mg%), which are well absorbed and most fully used in the body. It is generally known that sugar is high in beet( 9%).It is in the beet as much as in melons.

Despite this, according to the organoleptic properties, table beets are not perceived by sweetness as much as a melon. This is due to the special composition of sugar beet and the presence of concomitant substances that to some extent inhibit the sweet taste. Thus, beets are a food product, especially shown in the diet of people of mature and elderly age in the form of vinaigrette and other dishes.

Eggplant - not often used in our food, and in vain. After all, they are distinguished by high biological activity.

Eggplants have high taste properties and at the same time exhibit some dietary properties.

Under the influence of aubergines the level of cholesterol in the blood decreases, which at the same time intensively enters the bile and is taken out of the body together with it.

It is very important not to miss the eggplant season. It is necessary that during the season the eggplants are used in one form or another in everyday nutrition.

It is excellent in taste and active biologically eggplant caviar. In it all the dietary properties of eggplant are preserved, if properly stored, it can last for a long time. However, it should be borne in mind that a violation of the rules for the preparation and storage of eggplant caviar can lead to its spoilage and lead to the occurrence of food poisoning.

Tomatoes are most often subjected to improper evaluation and unreasonable consumption restriction. It is often said that tomatoes are dangerous because of their supposedly negative impact on salt metabolism. Violations of salt metabolism were justified as if by a high content in tomatoes of oxalic acid. However, a detailed study of its content in different types and types of tomatoes did not confirm this. Oxalic acid in tomatoes was an insignificant amount, not exceeding 5 mg%, less than in potatoes and beets( 40 mg%), 8 times.

Many organic acids, especially apple and lemon, are well represented in tomatoes. The salts of organic acids that make up tomatoes during digestion leave a significant supply of alkaline mineral components in the body and thus contribute to alkalizing the body and preventing acidotic( acidic) shifts. Thus, tomatoes maintain the necessary acid-base balance in the body.

The low content of purines( 4.2 mg%) in tomatoes is an important link in the structure of a non-purine diet for the prevention of atherosclerosis.

These vegetables contain folic acid, which plays an important role in hemopoiesis, and also promotes the formation of choline, a substance that normalizes cholesterol metabolism in the body.

Thus, tomatoes can be widely used in nutrition of people of mature and advanced age, as well as patients with impaired metabolism of wetted acid( gout).

In all the seasonal periods of considerable useful role, can play tomato canned food, and first of all tomato juice, which can fully replace fresh tomatoes.

Meat and meat products, in addition to their high nutritional value and important role as a source of valuable, irreplaceable protein, have an important dietary value. It is mainly determined by the content of extractive substances in meat, as well as collagen and other sticking substances.

Especially active dietary role is played by nitrogen extractive substances - creatine, cornosine, anserine, purine bases( purines).

The main value of extractive substances is their taste and stimulating effect on the secretion of digestive glands. Their presence is largely determined by the taste of meat dishes, especially broths and fried products, in which the formed crust includes a complex of flavoring, extractive substances, concentrating in it in the process of roasting. In addition, in this crust there are highly active in flavoring products of the decomposition of fat used in frying.

Meat of adult animals is richer with extractives than meat of young animals. Strong broths can be obtained from meat of adult animals. Extractive substances are vigorous pathogens of digestive glands( especially gastric).That is why strong broths and fried meat are excluded from the diet with gastritis, gastric ulcer and duodenal ulcer and other diseases of the digestive system. If you remove extracts from meat dishes, then they can be more widely used in dietary nutrition.

Release of meat from extractive substances is made by its boiling( extractives pass into the broth), and also by cooking meat dishes by the steam method.

Pork meat is the most rich in extractive substances, the least of them in mutton, the middle position is taken by beef.

High content of extractive substances is characterized by white chicken and turkey meat. Especially a lot of them in byproducts - the brain and liver.

Fat of meat has its own dietary side, which consists in the fact that solid saturated fatty acids predominate in the composition of this product. The more these fatty acids, the more refractory and hard to digest.

In addition, solid saturated fatty acids have atherogenic properties, contributing to the development of an atherosclerotic process.

In conclusion, it should be noted that if there is a lot of extractive substances in the meat broth, then they are 5 times less in the bone broth.

In this regard, bone broth can be used more widely in dietary nutrition, including in the diet of people of mature and advanced age.

Meat is an essential source of vitamins. Thus, meat of all kinds of slaughter animals refers to products of high biological and dietary importance.

Organic acids are an important component of nutrition. They have not only taste, but also play an important role in digestion processes, and also participate in some aspects of metabolism.

An especially valuable property of organic acids is their ability to normalize the acid-base balance. Despite their organoleptic properties, organic acids are suppliers of alkaline equivalents and thus participate in "alkalizing" the body.

Usually, the structure of food shows a predominance of sources of acid components. To maintain acid-base balance requires the uninterrupted supply of alkaline nutrients to the body. These include all types of vegetables and fruits, as well as milk and dairy products.

Organic acids affect the digestive processes, being strong causative agents of pancreatic secretion and stimulants of the motor function of the intestine. The intake of organic acids is mainly due to fruits, vegetables, bread and bakery products, milk, fermented milk products, cheese, confectionery, ice cream, etc.

The need for organic acids is determined in the amount of 2 g per day. However, the actual consumption of organic acids in the composition of the diet is approximately 3-4 times greater than that determined in the norms of demand.

Organic acids in vegetables and fruits are found in a wide variety. The fruits contain mainly apple, citric and tartaric acids. In fruits, malic acid predominates, in berries - lemon. Citrus fruits contain a significant amount of citric acid( in lemons 6-8%), in the grapes there is mainly tartaric acid( 0.2-0.8%).A small amount of tartaric acid is found in red currants, gooseberries, lingonberries, strawberries, plums, apricots, etc.

Some fruits contain amber, oxalic, formic, benzoic, salicylic acids in small amounts.

Amber acid is found mainly in immature apples, gooseberries, currants, grapes;salicylic - in strawberries, raspberries, cherries;formic acid - in raspberry.

Oxalic acid is of great dietary importance, which adversely affects some aspects of salt metabolism. It forms unfavorable connections, which contribute to the violation of salt metabolism.

The most often restricted and excluded are vegetables and fruits with a high content of oxalic acid( sorrel, spinach, rhubarb and figs).The content of oxalic acid in sorrel is 360 mg%, in spinach - 320, in rhubarb - 240 and in figs - 100 mg%.The source of oxalic acid to a small extent can be daily consumed products. For example, potatoes and beets contain 40 mg% of oxalic acid.

Oxalic acid can form in the body from carbohydrates, and( in a small amount) in the process of metabolism of ascorbic acid.

To ensure the correctness of its nutrition, it is necessary to follow the principles of rational balanced nutrition and, first of all, to ensure its high biological activity. Inclusion of vegetables, fruits, sour-milk products, cottage cheese, and cream in their food will allow the most realistic increase in the biological properties of nutrition and achieve a healing effect.