Hare to eat? Talking about the food habits of a modern IT person

Habr's readers are mainly people of intellectual work and often our life is limited to the “work, home, rare gatherings with friends in a cafe or bar” scheme. And if there is still a caring employer who provides meals, cookies, snacks and drinks without restrictions, then everything - hello, overweight. Of course, among us there are fans of running, crosses, marathons, gyms and Iron Man, but they are still few.

On Habré they often write about exercise, standing tables and other devices, but today we will talk ... about food. Let's digress from work, think about our health and food habits, and at the same time find out whether we are exaggerating paint. Those who eat at the computer - enjoy your meal!


Treadmill, can not argue

Why did the hosting provider raise this topic? Well, first of all, we have already fed almost a thousand people with hamburgurgers and know a lot about high -calorie and terribly tasty food. And secondly, on November 30th we will have a tremendously loaded and important event: the Game Overnight old-school video game tournament will take place in the museum of Soviet slot machines. Night, the highest brain activity, fatigue ... All this requires an emergency food strike. We have a plan, but we want to tell why it can only be temporary.

What is food and why is it important to talk about?

Probably, each of us heard the saying: “I eat in order to live, but I don't live in order to eat”. Alas, in our time, this saying loses some of its meaning: around food courts, cafes with tasty and fatty foods, street fast food, coffee machines, shops with mountains of unusual delicacies and this vile phrase "think some kind of a sandwich". All you need to do in order to get food is to give money. Meanwhile, human food is not a source of quick pleasure, but above all - the process of assimilation by the body of the nutrients necessary to maintain life, health and efficiency. In general, just the story about what is needed solely in order to live.
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Let's discuss what nutrition is like (superficially, without any claims to “ex” on the anatomy exam).

A person eats food, which is a set of components (nutrients) and his digestive system performs mechanical and chemical processing of food eaten, that is, extracts nutrients from products and ensures their absorption.

Of course, a person who has eaten sausage does not grow sausage, that is, the incoming substances (proteins, fats, carbohydrates, vitamins and minerals) are not absorbed by cells and tissues in an unchanged condition. In the process of digestion, our food is converted into water-soluble compounds: proteins are broken down to amino acids, carbohydrates to monosaccharides, fats to glycerol and fatty acids. These compounds enter the blood and lymph from which cells and tissues are extracted. If something is missing and the body cannot synthesize the desired substance, diseases and painful conditions arise. As you can see, nothing unusual and magical - physiology and chemistry. Such a mini-factory for processing food and building materials.

At the same time, the quality of food determines the state of the whole organism and, most importantly, of the digestive system itself. And she, believe me, is a very beautiful creature! It can be said a masterpiece of engineering. The morphology of the digestive tract is complex and multi-component, no less difficult and its functioning. A person must take care that this whole colossus from the lips and teeth to, excuse me, well ... well , the very end is healthy: one failure causes a violation of the whole “mechanism”. At the same time, the digestive tract is also very delicate (but also very reliable!): It includes a minimum of cartilage and bones (that is, skeletal elements), but consists of soft tissues, epithelium, connective tissue, muscles, glands, lymphoid formations. And all this is enmeshed in vessels and nerves. In addition, the gastrointestinal tract is not isolated from the whole body (no organ is isolated), and its health directly affects the state of the body, appearance and even the processes of preserving youth / aging.


Therefore, a person must follow the diet. That, alas, in the conditions of our world is impossible - because of our regime (most of us organize a “second shift” for the PC), attitude to the quality of food (you often think about sitting on french fries with cheese sauce or nuggets with sour - sweet, m?). Of course, initially everything is not so fatal: up to a certain point, the body's compensatory mechanisms work and it absorbs only those nutrients that are required at the moment. But with frequent overeating and violation of the diet, with the entry of harmful substances (alcohol, nicotine, excess sugar) failure - a matter of time, and very short. And still compensatory mechanisms work poorly in childhood and old age, and during various pathologies. Therefore, consoling or encouraging children with a milkshake, it’s worth to think ten times and realize the reward with the help of fruits, nuts, some natural sweets, and even better - positive emotions.

What is fraught with excess weight? After all, often a full person feels great!

We will not go into medicine, we give the main groups of problems.

• Man is just hard. He walks and carries on himself all this superfluous, the whole organism works under the load. I wonder how is it? Take 10 kg of sugar, put on your back and drag. A good state of health for the time being, due to the fact that fat is not distributed immediately and not at one point. But the organs and tissues feel this fat, do not hesitate.
• Gradually, the body begins to change. All fat is permeated with blood vessels and the heart needs to work actively to pump blood through this completed line. In turn, the heart does not have enough blood and oxygen, which has gone to feed the fatty layer, it increases in size, the active muscle tissue is replaced by connective tissue, and the heart is weakened.
• In a complete person, immunity is reduced and the risk of diseases associated with metabolic processes (diabetes, infertility) and diseases of the musculoskeletal system (it hurts!) Increases significantly.
• There are atherosclerotic phenomena that lead to thrombosis, ischemia, heart attacks.

The person does not recover immediately. Many may notice that they eat like horses, and at the same time "not in a horse feed." But things are changing from the moment the pace of life gets a little slower and age a little more. You can not even notice how the pounds are actively delayed.

Regarding the diet now who is in that much: some experts advocate for a hearty dinner and a modest breakfast, some for fractional meals, and still others call for periods of hunger strike (a day or two within a week). Which one is correct? Each of the nutritional plans has its advantages and is closely related to the type of human activity. The main thing is to follow a few important rules, and how you write them into your work is a matter of your comfort.

• Observe the diet, based on the "settings" of the three main parameters: the number of meals, the intervals between intakes, the distribution of calories in receptions.
• The best will be 4 meals a day, which results in a uniform load on the digestion (you do not get drunk for the night and do not starve at the peak of labor activity during the day). The approximate distribution of food consumed: breakfast - 25%, lunch - 35%, afternoon tea - 15%, dinner - 25%. So you can control the secretion of gastric juice and save yourself from an ulcer.
• Observe the caloric norms for your task: to maintain weight, to reduce or increase its weight. Standards can be found on the Internet or any other application a la kalorizator.
• Keep a food diary, writing down there even seeds and cookies during a tea break with colleagues - you will quickly see how many vitamins you don’t receive and how many calories are overkill.
• Eat diverse, combine animal and vegetable products (if you do not have any mental preferences, today we are not about them, leave it to other resources).
• Do not eat for 2-3 hours before bedtime.
• Do not eat too hot and too cold food and drinks, it causes periodic irritation of the gastrointestinal tract and can lead to disastrous consequences. So, hot food should be 50-60 degrees, cold - not less than 10.
• Observe the drinking mode to maintain the water-salt balance: 2.3 l with standard sedentary work, 4 l when working with a load (repair, sports, summer cottage), up to 5 l with heavy work in air. The lack of water causes an increase in body temperature, nausea, increases blood viscosity, and excessive drinking impairs digestion, creates stress on the cardiovascular system, kidneys and sweat glands.
• Do not overeat - saturation occurs in 20 minutes, during this time you will have time to thoroughly “sort out” and instead of the expected performance and full strength you will feel drowsiness and heaviness.
• Well, the last piece of advice, simple but important, is to chew food thoroughly, because the digestion process starts physiologically purely from the moment you bit off a piece and it gets into your mouth.

You know what? To observe these rules 100% in the mode of operation of a programmer, engineer, system administrator, tester or manager (yes, anyone!) Is simply unrealistic, but getting close is pretty easy. Approach nutrition issues with caution and you will see a positive effect. And, probably, it is worth mentioning that a lot in nutrition and attitude to health depends on your inner, emotional state. Pay attention to this, turn on your willpower and do not stick work problems!

Experiment: you are what you eat

The author of this article gathered three colleagues with whom he closely communicates (all from the IT world, but not all programmers) and found with them their approximate usual eating plan based on the previous day. It turned out funny. So two guys and a girl.

Male, 34 years old, height 180, weight 105, activity - gym 3 times a day (basic cardio, not iron). He feels well, smokes, on the 4th floor he suffocates on foot.

• Scrambled eggs, 150 g, 288 kcal
• Cheese, 60 g, 212 kcal
• Cooked sausage with fat, 100 g, 301 kcal
• Black tea with sugar and milk, 400 ml, 172 kcal
• Bread wheat, 100 g, 242 kcal
• Chicken legs in breading, 200 g, 420 kcal
• Double cheeseburger, 150 g, 675 kcal
• Cola, 170 kcal
• Candy bars Mouth Front, 30 g, 155 kcal
• Cookies, 100 g, 458 kcal
• Sausage boiled chicken, 100 g, 223 kcal
• Boiled potato 250 g, 205 kcal

We have not yet counted butter in potatoes, sauces and mayonnaise. Total 3752 kcal, 2140 g of food


Because the first participant can

Man, 29 years old, height 168, weight 73, activity - gym 4 times a week, boxing 2 times a week. Easy to lift, hiking, has a diagnosis of PMK. Now on the right nutrition without artificial additives and sports cocktails.

• Walnut, 100 g, 654 kcal
• Bitter chocolate, 30 g, 162 kcal
• Activation 1%, 500 g, 195 kcal
• Dried apricots, 50 g, 108 kcal
• Dates, 30 g, 83 kcal
• Chicken breast, 100 g, 113 kcal
• Cottage cheese 0.3%, 200 g, 180 kcal
• Banana, 200 g, 190 kcal

Total 1685 kcal, 1210 g of food.

A girl on a diet, 35 years old, not married (this is important, did not give birth, tested - hormones are normal), height 160, weight was 90, now 72, on a diet. Ultra strict diet is not acceptable for health reasons. Home sport + light runs + weekend social dance.

• Buckwheat porridge, 300 g, 396 kcal
• Dates, 30 g, 83 kcal
• Steamed chicken breast, 200 g, 226 kcal
• Kefir 1%, 200 g, 80 kcal
• Vegetable stew - 300 g, 114 kcal
• Sour cream (cool to stew) 10%, 25 g, 40 kcal
• Apple - 200 g, 94 kcal
• Baked pepper, 200 g, 54 kcal
• Cauliflower cooked cabbage (test and half servings of sour cream), 300 g, 87 kcal

Total 1174 kcal, 1755 g of food.

By the way, we figured a healthy breakfast (porridge + coffee), a three-course business lunch, a snack of bananas and nuts, chicken breast and kefir as the approximate amount of food of an average office worker — 2369 kcal per 2560 grams of food. Pretty optimal composition for men. Girls, of course, need less.

What does this experiment mean?

• The specific caloric content of a gram of food in a girl is 0.67 kcal / g, all the necessary products are included in the diet, while the poor but fat diet of the first man has a caloric content of 1.75 kcal / g.
• The second man complies with the calorie standard, but due to snacks in the form of nuts and dried fruits, he loses much in quality, almost does not include vegetables, and therefore is devoid of fiber. Despite the diet, it is a direct way to liver obesity and problems with the digestive tract.
• For the calorie content of one type of food, you can “buy” a mountain of another - for example, our hero could easily exchange a cheeseburger for 600 grams of boiled breast (which are almost impossible to eat). And he would be satisfying and helpful (and with habit and tasty!). By the way, this is the idea of ​​exchanging a product for a larger volume of useful, not a bad step to start a diet - you immediately begin to think about quality and use a smaller volume, thereby not turning the stomach into an insatiable big bag.
• Nuts and dried fruits, which we take for snacking and keep on the table, are very insidious. Nuts are extremely high in calories and can lead to obesity due to a significant increase in caloric intake (whether it’s a joke, in the Caucasus turkeys before the new year are fattened with nuts, so that they are fat and with an enlarged liver). Dried fruits contain a lot of sugars, which again we eat unchecked. 5 pieces of dried apricots = 5 apricots. Will you eat 5 apricots at a time? And 5 or more pieces of dried apricots - easy. Equally insidious and juices. We will not eat 4 apples at a time, and a glass of juice - as nothing to do, and all the sugar in an easily digestible form with us.
• Sometimes we do not know how much the product weighs. For example, our heroine said that sometimes she could eat 2 small bananas, “well, maybe 150 grams”. We chose the smallest of the usual ones in the store - 380 g. As well as 5 office butter cookies can make 100 g. They are exactly on the dark side.
• It is necessary to monitor the volume of food and crush portions. Participants 1 and 3 violate this rule. Alas, 400 grams of cabbage at a time gradually stretched a very elastic stomach, and it will torment you with demands to fill it with something.
• It is better not to use pure sugar (in tea) and salt (in nuts, for example) - and so with an excess in the foods we eat.

Dude, it's time to come to your senses!

Who warns

Warns warns, but gluing stickers on the dangers of food does not prescribe, although it would at times be worth it. It turns out that there is also documentation on food, which sets out the basic rules for a healthy and long life. By the way, there is an excellent dietary system according to Pevzner , which was used and applied in sanatoriums - sometimes it is worth looking at it.

According to the recommendations of the WHO (World Health Organization), a healthy adult diet includes:

• Fruits, vegetables, legumes (such as lentils, beans), nuts, and whole grains (such as unprocessed corn, millet, oats, wheat, unpolished rice).
• At least 400 g (5 servings) of fruits and vegetables per day. Potatoes, sweet potatoes and other starchy root crops are neither fruit nor vegetables.
• Less than 10% of total energy due to free sugars, which is equivalent to 50 g (or about 12 teaspoons without top) for a person with a healthy body weight, consuming approximately 2000 calories per day, but ideally less than 5% of the total energy for an additional positive effect for good health.
• Most of the free sugars are added to food by the manufacturer, the consumer, and may also be contained as natural sugar in honey, syrups, fruit juices, and fruit concentrates.
• Less than 30% of total energy due to fat. Unsaturated fats (for example, contained in fish, avocados, nuts, sunflower oil, olive oil) are preferable to saturated fats (for example, contained in fat meat, butter, palm and coconut oil, cream, cheese, lard). Industrial trans fats (contained in processed foods, fast food, snack foods, fried foods, frozen pizzas, pies, cookies, margarines, and sandwich mixes) are not part of a healthy diet.
• Less than 5 grams of salt (equivalent to about one teaspoon) per day and the use of iodized salt.

Breaking these recommendations is easier than ever: 0.33 Red Bull will give you 36.3 grams of sugar, a little less Cola, and a few modest cookies - 28 grams. If you add morning tea or coffee and a daily drink with a couple of sweets, ogogo. But white sugar is also contained in bread, sausage, yogurt and almost any cooked food. Moreover, in restaurants, sugar can be used as a “harmonizer” of taste - for the sake of interest, add some sugar to the prepared borsch, another soup or goulash — you can sway as the taste starts playing. Glutamate does not work so delicately, it makes the taste roughly expressed, and sugar tastes good (read the pun, we are not philologists here).

The same story with salt, which is contained everywhere: from eclairs to salad. For example, a double cheeseburger contains 2.4 grams of salt and 7.4 grams of sugar. And this is just a burger! How to eat it without fries, sauce, cola and nuggets - yes the hand will not rise!

But what about all your favorite burgers?

Let's talk about them separately, since the RUVDS company has become the main one not only for hosting, but also for Habré burgers (which in itself sounds unusual).


You remember Habraburger (withdrawn from sale)?

To say that burgers are exceptionally good for health is just to be nonsense. So, before us is a burger. It seems that everything is fine: red (often beef) or chicken, vegetables, spices, bread, cheese. All of this is included in the diet plan of a normal healthy person who is not dieting and has not chosen the path of vegetarianism. But let's look at the burger more closely.

Benefit

As a matter of fact, there is a certain benefit in any food, especially if it is thoroughly chewed and not drunk with soda. For example, one burger with beef cutlet contains about 3 mg of iron, 35% of which your body will assimilate (about 1 mg - 1/8 of the daily norm of an adult man). By the way, iron from animal food is absorbed 15% better than from vegetable (for example, from pomegranate or apple). Plus, from the same high-quality meatballs, your body will get vitamin B12 (about 3 mcg, the daily rate) and protein, the most important building material for our body (on average, you will extract 30 g of protein from a good meat burger at a rate of 50- 175 grams per day). Add to this a little fiber from bread and vegetables. Talking about vitamin C from vegetables is not necessary - there are too few of them. But they are extremely necessary - vegetables cause an intense secretion of gastric juice, which will help to cope with heavier ingredients. This, of course, about the "professional" burgers, cooked at home or in good burger such as Burger Heroes. Fast food is less of a concern.

Harm

The damage to the burger is due to the high fat content of the meat (to a lesser extent), the sweetness of the sauces and buns, as well as the fat content and composition of the mayonnaise sauces. By the way, many types of pizza have the same trouble. Imagine, the fat content of very fat beef is from 15 to 20%, and the fat content of the beloved cheese sauce is 36%, the fat content of classical mayonnaise is 67%, the fat content of the “harmless” garlic sauce with dill is 32%. Again, in ketchup 23 g of carbohydrates (sugars) per 100 grams, in 70% bitter chocolate (which is still tasty) - 32 g. Plus, all the ingredients of the burger contain a huge amount of salt - in the end, sodium, which retains water in body and contributes to the "tying fat".

As you can see, the balance is largely on the evil side. Or not? In fact, a burger can always be made a little healthier. For example, we asked our friends from Burger Heroes to make a Sab-Zero burger with vegetable salsa (a sauce without fat and with a reduced white sugar content), baked vegetables and with a sauce with menthol. That is, traditional meat will be combined with vegetable filling. Baked vegetables will also contribute to better digestion. Why such a recipe? It's simple. Firstly, it is delicious. Secondly, our super championship will take place at night and sharpen heavy mayonnaise sauces and bacon at two in the morning - this is to sleepiness, which, you see, is not very necessary during a battle. Thirdly, such a burger will saturate for a longer period. Well, it still retains its main function of a tasty, fatty protein food - aromatic alpha-amino acid tryptophan stimulates the production of the hormone “happiness” serotonin and thereby improves the mood of participants. Everything is calculated to the last bite, and what you thought.


Everything is poison and everything is medicine. This phrase is a perfect illustration of how we eat. And if someone eats a burger or two during the Game Overnight night battle, then there will only be active brain work and a great mood. In general, everything depends on our consciousness, emotions and will.

And we are calling you to our old school tournament. Well, where else would you try menthol burger!