This
is a correct, scientifically balanced diet as far as a hypocaloric diet
can be, but which acquires its perfect balance when, in sticking to it,
the caloric supply is increased, just as will be specified later on. This
is also an optimum distribution of meals throughout the day and for each
meal the number of calories is set out, along with the groups from which
the food items may be chosen. In this way the person following such a diet
has ample choice possibilities. However much it can vary, it will respect
(or at least not deviate far from) the ideal amounts of the energy nutrients
and should also introduce the right quantities of vitamins and mineral
salts. It may also be used as the basis for a “normal calories” diet, increasing
the energy supply by adding food elements preferably from Groups 3-4 and
with the addition too of wine and some desserts; we shall thus have a balanced,
varied and, to a certain degree, personalized diet. For as long as the
subject has the will to stick to the prescribed diet, however much the
self-management and food choice, it is quite difficult for “the rules”
not to be infringed upon. Indeed, hypocaloric diets often have to be followed
for long periods of time and so one cannot (indeed should not) avoid some
breaches.
Birthdays, various anniversaries,
work dinners or dining with friends, religious feasts, etc., are also opportunities
to “backslide” that produce weight-gains and often demoralize the subject
and create the excuse to interrupt the hypocaloric slimming dietetic regime.
To avoid such a drawback,
I have put together and proposed a “day after” diet that I have called
the “compensation diet”.
It consists in a day of
hypocaloric intake kept within 600-700 calories but which is sufficiently
balanced in its smallness.
Here is how it is made up:
Breakfast:100 g. partially
skimmed milk (1.8% fat) with coffee at will, one toasted slice.
Lunch:
One course only:
one 80 g. can of tuna in olive oil, drained.
Side-dish: 250 g.
tomatoes or beans.
Bread: 40 g. white
bread or 50 g. wholemeal bread.
Afternoon:An apple.
Dinner:One course only:
100 g. chicken breast or a 100 g. hamburger.
Side-dish: 250 g.
of mixed green salad.
Dressing: one teaspoon
of extra-virgin olive oil.
Bread: 40 g. white
or 50 g. wholemeal.
(750
kcal)
Stuck to for an entire day,
I describe this as “external” compensation. Provision is also made for
an “internal” compensation, i.e. to be followed within the same “exception”
day, and may be according to this scheme:
Breakfast:100 g. partially
skimmed (1.8%) milk with coffee at will and one toasted slice
One of the two main meals
One course only:
one 80 g. can of tuna fish in oil, drained.
Side-dish: 250 g.
tomatoes or beans.
Bread: 40 g. white
or 50 g. wholemeal.
The other main meal:
Enjoy the celebration feast!
This method either allows
the weight to be maintained or limits the gain to a few hundred grams;
a weight-loss is rarely obtained but it encourages and allows the patient
to avoid feeling “haunted” by a diet that goes on “forever”.
Making use of such a compensation
diet therefore allows for some exceptions, both in the course of a weight-loss
dietetic regime and in the case of a normal-weight individual whose only
need is to maintain that weight.
After having followed a
weight-loss diet and having achieved the desired weight, the question is
posed of how to maintain this,- one of the most complex problems in the
therapy of obesity. This is a difficult phase and must be carried out with
commitment, application and special attention. In fact, if the feeding
habits and life-style did not also undergo some changes during the period
of the hypocaloric diet, then all of the previously shed weight will be
re-gained within a more or less short time and perhaps with “interest”.
The faster the loss of weight, the more easily this happens. Furthermore,
it is an eventuality that is found, I would say almost inevitably, if the
weight-loss was achieved through more or less fasting, by taking substitute
meals and (especially), as already alluded to, by resorting to drugs (amphetamines,
anorexants, hormones, diuretics, drug cocktails, etc.).
The maintenance methodology
is based on the presupposition, experimentally tested, that for every 700
kcal below the organism's needs that are introduced, an average of 100
g. of body weight are lost. One could then proceed in the following way:
the total weight lost expressed in grams is divided by the number of days
involved in the diet and the result is the weight-loss per day. Multiplying
this by 7, we will have the daily quantity of introduced calories that
was below bodily requirements.
Using the equation:
700 kcal : 100 g. = X
: weight lost per day
We shall have
X = 700 x daily weight
loss / 100
Reducing to lowest terms:
X = 7 x daily weight
loss
Where “X” is the number of
calories introduced everyday that is below bodily requirements.
Adding the result obtained
to the kcal value of the previously prescribed diet, we shall get the daily
requirement for body weight maintenance. For instance, if someone has slimmed
down by 10 Kg. after following a 1,200 kcal diet for 100 days, the weight
loss will have been 100 g. per day and that means 700 kcal less than bodily
needs will have been ingested each day.
Therefore, theoretically,
adding these calculated 700 kcal to the basic 1,200 kcal of the hypocaloric
diet, we have 1,900 kcal which ought to represent the daily requirement.
If this calculation is also made on the weight loss over the last month
of the diet, we shall have some further information that might be useful
for a more correct maintenance prescription.
I realize that this is a
theoretical reckoning in that it presupposes that the weight loss graph
is linear and not a hyperbola, as usually occurs in real life: a faster
weight-loss at the beginning and then continuously slowing down until remaining
at a constant weight level in keeping with the calorie intake.
But at least there will
be a reference point on the basis of which maintenance can be effected,
that will cover a period of 30-40 days; for this purpose, food items from
the Groups least represented in the personalized hypocaloric diet will
be utilized.
So then, after having achieved
the weight considered ideal, usually previously decided on and possibly
agreed with the patient, one will proceed in the following way: in the
first ten days, the calories in the diet will have to be augmented by a
certain quantity, in relation to the pregressive caloric deficit, and utilizing
food items from Groups 3 and 4; the calories are subsequently increased
in degrees, every ten days, getting them from the other food Groups and
then from outside of these Groups too; this process continues until the
point of “balancing the energy books”, i.e. input = output.
It will, however, be necessary
to maintain weight checks even after stabilization is achieved (once a
month for two years), ideally at the same dietetic studio or public/private
center, and full medical check-ups spaced out over time. |
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Italian
zinc,
copper, and highly bioavailable iron, i.e. easily absorbable and utilizable).
As regards eggs, an acceptable consumption for healthy subjects would be
one egg 2-3 times a week. From the nutritional point of view, it is convenient
to include the dry legumes in this group (beans, chickpeas, peas, lentils,
etc.), thus extending the choice and alternative possibilities. This is
because these legumes also supply nutrients that are characteristic of
meats, fish and eggs, such as iron, other oligoelements and appreciable
quantities of good biological quality protein.
energy
source and because an excessive amount in the diet is linked to cardiovascular
diseases. However, it should be kept in mind that they do enhance the flavor
of food and supply essential fatty acids and the liposoluble vitamins,
whose absorption they encourage. Vegetable fats are preferable (especially
extra-virgin olive oil) compared to the animal fats (such as butter, cream,
lard, bacon fat, etc.). 
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