What are our nutritional needs?
We are omnivores! Our diet is made up of carbohydrates, starchy foods, fresh and raw fruits, cooked or dried vegetables, meat, poultry, fish, dairy products and plenty of water of course, to be consumed regularly in normal quantities, every day . .
What should be avoided or limited are sugars, salt, fat and alcohol. But it is not forbidden to have fun! It’s all about finding the right balance of food.
The secret of a good diet: food diversity
To vary the pleasures and nutritional intake, the ideal is to cook your meals as often as possible. When preparing your meals, you can choose the foods you like and combine them with others for the preparation of dishes or desserts thanks to simple recipes. These actions promote the taste of eating well.
Cooking at home “homemade” also allows you to eat better: you eat healthily and above all you more easily meet your daily intake of lipids, proteins, carbohydrates, vitamins, mineral salts, fibers, calcium, which are not always covered by prepared industrialized products. Namely that raw vegetables such as carrots, tomatoes, salads, cucumbers…, and local seasonal fruits are rich in vitamins and so easy to prepare.
All you need to know about daily needs coverage
The recommended calorie amounts are 2400 to 2600 calories per day for men and 1800 to 2200 calories for adult women. Of course, a growing teenager, an athlete or, conversely, a sedentary senior will not have the same needs!
Nutrient intake is measured as a percentage of the overall caloric requirement, i.e. 55% carbohydrates , 30% lipids and 15% protein .
With practice, it is easy to dose the right daily portions for an adult:
- Vegetables: 120 to 240 g
- Meat/poultry: 120 g
- Fish: 100 to 150 g
- Starch: 150g
- Dairy: 125 g or 30 g of cheese
- Fruit: 120g
Food education is essential
Having food benchmarks and knowing how to make the right choices, it is built and it is educated. The key players are parents, catering professionals, food companies, doctors and teachers. Everyone has their role to play and must question themselves about what is good for themselves, for others, for everyone’s vitality and for the environment in order to propose a cross-cutting response to the causes and effects of our consumption on our health and our aging.
It is then up to the consumer to choose what is best for their needs with common sense and vigilance when purchasing food (origin, processing, composition, nutriscore , packaging). Today, everyone has the power to use their critical thinking by focusing on healthy nutrition to stay healthy
Upstream, it is essential to teach children the notion of taste , the interest of each food for their growth and their future habits. Parents, schools and canteen catering must participate in this taste education from an early age. A discovery and fun approach allows children and teenagers to put into practice their culinary awakening on a daily basis, which they will keep in adulthood.
The right daily rhythm: the 3 meals
Even if children are advised to have a snack to break up the morning or afternoon, the good rhythm of food for an adult remains three meals a day. Each meal must be assessed for its daily food intake and distributed as follows:
– 25% for breakfast . First meal of the day, breakfast is there to restart the body when you wake up. It will be balanced and complete to provide the caloric needs of the morning and avoid snacking (buttered bread or jam, fruit, yogurt and hot drink).
– 40% for lunch . Neither too heavy, to avoid difficult digestion and drowsiness, nor too light to limit snacking in the afternoon, lunch is an essential meal for the energy expenditure of mental and physical activity.
– 30% for dinner. Last meal of the day, dinner should not be forgotten because it is essential in the daily balance of our diet. The ration is then lighter because the metabolism needs less energy and this facilitates digestion and improves sleep.
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