"My healthy diet", a plan to lose weight and gain health
The San José Hospital incorporates into its Nutrition and Dietetics Service Dr. María Felisa Medina Cabrera, a graduate in Pharmacy from the University of Navarra, a PhD from the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria and a degree in Human Nutrition and Dietetics from the International University Isabel I of Castile.
What is the relationship between the type of diet and lifestyle habits with health and well-being?
Eating is considered healthy when it provides, through a varied series of foods, all the necessary nutrients to stay healthy, feel good and energetic. This implies that the diet must satisfy the needs of carbohydrates, proteins, lipids, fiber, vitamins and minerals, according to the circumstances of each person.
The concept "well-being" refers to the attitudes and behaviors that improve the quality of life and help us reach an optimal state of health. Many factors influence, among which stand out, and are in our hands, the things we do or stop doing, and what we eat or stop eating. Without a doubt, the type of diet constitutes a relevant aspect for our state of health.
"You can lose weight without dieting"
To enjoy a healthy life, although there are factors that do not depend on us, there is one in which our personal decision is crucial: to achieve a healthy diet and lifestyle that will lead us to a healthy weight.
What is the healthy weight?
The World Health Organization estimates that a healthy weight is the one that places the Body Mass Index (BMI) between the values 18.5 and 24.9. In addition to the BMI, we can use two parameters that are very easy to measure and that can tell us where we are: neck and abdomen circumferences.
- Body Mass Index. BMI is obtained by dividing weight in kilograms by the square of height in meters. Lower values indicate a too low weight, those higher than 25 are considered overweight and, above 30, obesity.
- Neck circumference. When the circumference of the neck exceeds 42 cm in men and 40 cm in women, it can cause numerous disorders, perhaps the most important being sleep apnea and snoring, which make oxygenation difficult when the muscles of the neck back of the throat relax and temporarily restrict oxygen entry. Sudden drops in oxygen levels raise blood pressure and put pressure on the cardiovascular system, raising the risk of developing heart problems, such as high blood pressure (hypertension) and heart failure. Fortunately, this accumulation of fat in the neck is the first to be reduced by losing weight.
- Abdominal circumference. This is measured at the level of the navel and is an index of abdominal adipose tissue. For women, the appropriate value is less than 85 cm. Values greater than 88 cm can pose a high risk of suffering from cardiovascular diseases - atherosclerosis, arterial hypertension -, type 2 diabetes, "fatty liver", metabolic syndrome and dyslipidemia - cholesterol and triglycerides. After menopause, abdominal fat tends to accumulate and cardiovascular and dysmetabolic risks approach those of men. For men, exceeding 98 cm is a higher risk than normal, and exceeding 102 cm is a high risk factor for cardiology and metabolic alterations.
How to avoid cellular obesity and its associated diseases?
When we think of an obese or overweight person, we imagine a subject with visible accumulations of fat in their body distribution. Normally, this has been happening little by little, due to the accumulation of cells in the body that have been gaining weight and acquiring a greater volume and mass, which is called cellular obesity.
These cells, with excess saturated fatty acids inside, have difficulty accessing the oxygen they need and begin to deteriorate and become ill. For this reason, it is increasingly common to find people who are in the range of "normal weight" or healthy weight and who, however, suffer from dysmetabolic diseases, such as hyperinsulinemia, insulin resistance, predisposition to type 2 diabetes, hypertriglyceridemia, high values of cholesterol in the blood and premature damage to the coronary arteries.
"Our nutritional program improves the quality of life"
In short, fattening is a chronic inflammatory process that leaves its mark on the blood and causes the aforementioned pathologies. To stop the deterioration produced by this cellular obesity, it is important to follow a diet, understood as a lifestyle and conscious eating, which begins in the head and continues in the mouth.
The Mediterranean diet, how does it benefit us?
The Mediterranean diet represents a type of diet and lifestyle that provides, in a balanced way, antioxidant and anti-inflammatory substances that can help maintain a healthy state. In this regard, it should be noted that Spain is the third country in the world with the least deaths attributable to diet, with the Mediterranean diet being the one recommended worldwide to prevent and reduce cardiovascular problems.
Personalized program "My healthy diet"
When foods considered unhealthy are frequently consumed, such as soft drinks, chips, dressings and sauces with saturated fats, sweets, alcoholic beverages or excess red meat, among others, the tendency to be overweight and obese increases. Thus, in many cases, a situation of anxiety or stress occurs that seeks relief or compensation through the intake of food, especially sweets, which can lead to a vicious cycle: more anxiety, more feeling of hunger, less mobility and more obesity . That is the time to consider whether to continue in such a vicious circle or choose to take control of our lives and seek solutions that are in our hands and help us improve.
Faced with the fact of thinking that having tried many times, followed innumerable diets, gained weight and lost weight, and then gained weight again ("yo-yo effect"), and of believing that we are already in a certain way "back", there is the possibility of attending the Nutrition and Dietetics Service of Hospital San José, whose personalized program "My healthy diet", coordinated by Dr. Medina Cabrera, takes into account the particular case of each patient, their pathologies and personal circumstances, as well as their tastes , so that, normally, without having to follow any special diet, the guidelines and proper follow-up will allow the patient to integrate dietary guidelines for life that will provide multiple benefits to their health and well-being.
CONTACT
Hospital San José - Nutrition and Dietetics Service
C / Padre Cueto, 26 - Las Palmas GC
928 263 708/720
