Features of Functional Nutrition

Nutrition is one of the most important factors affecting life expectancy.

Functional nutrition means obtaining the necessary amount of minerals, amino acids, vitamins, carbohydrates, proteins, and fats from food for full vitality.

There are 3 components of functional nutrition that can influence health and longevity. These are:

• Caloric intake
• Nutritional structure
• Individual food products

Caloric Intake

The number of calories consumed with food should not differ significantly from their expenditure by our body.

The indicator that determines the need to limit or increase caloric intake is the body mass index. To find out your body mass index, you need to divide your weight (in kilograms) by your height (in meters) squared. For example, if your weight is 80 kg and your height is 1.8 meters, then your body mass index will be 24.7.

Body Mass Index = Weight / Height²

Body Mass Index = 80 / (1.8 * 1.8) = 80 / 3.24 = 24.7

A body mass index of 18.5 to 25 is considered normal.

A body mass index below 18.5 indicates underweight.

A body mass index of 25 to 30 indicates overweight. Anything above 30 is already varying degrees of obesity.

With a body mass index over 30, you should seriously consider permanently limiting the average daily caloric intake to 80% of the calculated norm (which is about 2,500 kcal, but should be determined individually), while maintaining the recommended nutritional structure.

With a body mass index below 18.5, weight gain is required.

Nutritional Structure

What combination of foods in the daily diet can be considered optimal for functional nutrition?

There is a widespread belief that vegetarianism is the healthiest type of diet. Modern scientific research suggests that there is no conclusive evidence for such conclusions.

On the contrary, there is evidence that vegetarians, due to their diet, are deprived of some vitamins and essential substances, resulting in various diseases. The most dangerous are mental disorders.

Vegetarians form a heterogeneous group consisting of semi-vegetarians (consume plant foods, dairy products, eggs, and fish), ovo-lacto-vegetarians (consume plant foods, dairy products, eggs) and vegans (consume only plant foods).

According to vegetarian ideologists, people who follow a vegetarian diet have better health and live longer than non-vegetarians because people who consume milk, dairy products, meat, eggs, and fish are at risk for their health.

In fact, the healthiest people in Europe are residents of Iceland, Switzerland, and Scandinavia, who consume a large amount of animal-based food.

Meta-analysis of several prospective studies did not reveal significant differences in mortality caused by colorectal cancer, stomach cancer, lung cancer, prostate cancer, breast cancer, or stroke between vegetarians and "ignorant" healthy people.

Vegetarians showed a decrease in mortality from ischemic heart disease, probably due to lower levels of total serum cholesterol, lower prevalence of obesity, and higher consumption of antioxidants.

It is quite obvious that sufficient consumption of fruits and vegetables, rather than the exclusion of meat, creates health benefits.

Vegetarianism is not functional nutrition, but a form of dietary restriction. In a modern overfed society, dietary restriction is a plus, but only if it does not lead to a deficiency of nutrients.

Consuming a small amount of meat could increase the life expectancy of vegetarians.

Articles on this topic:

Vegetarianism — Benefit or Harm?

What is the Harm of Vegetarianism?

So-called “separate nutrition,” where protein foods are consumed separately from carbohydrate foods, is also very popular and considered correct.

However, this viewpoint has no scientific basis. If such nutrition were rational, evolution would have created two digestive tracts — one for protein food and another for carbohydrate food.

We discussed the harm of separate nutrition in detail in the article “Separate Nutrition: Misconceptions and Facts.”

Any diet is not complete, balanced, and functional nutrition. For normal vital activity, proteins, fats, carbohydrates, vitamins, and microelements are required in certain proportions.

Among the known diets, the so-called “Mediterranean diet” is closest to the optimal one. Read more about it here ☛.

Today it can be stated that the diet of a person who wants to live as long and healthy a life as possible should include vegetables, fish, meat, dairy products, fatty foods, cereals, and much more.

Diversity is what is most important in nutrition! The more diverse your table, the more complete and functional your nutrition.

Perhaps the longevity of the Japanese is related to their diet. Thus, the traditional Japanese table consists of many small diverse dishes, both vegetable and fruit, as well as carbohydrate and meat, fish, and seafood dishes. In other words, the traditional Japanese table represents a great food variety that provides functional nutrition.

General Recommendations for Functional Nutrition

It would be wrong to recommend any strict norms for the consumption of products — there is not enough justification for this.

You can eat everything, taking into account the overall caloric content.

The main principle of functional nutrition is as follows. The basis of the diet should be 2/3 plant foods, to which a small amount of animal products is added: fish and seafood, a little meat (100–150 grams 2–3 times a week, preferably white meat), eggs, plant and animal fats (olive oil, coconut oil, butter, or better ghee, lard), cheese, cottage cheese, sour cream.

If you are a vegetarian, it is advisable to include at least fatty fish, butter, and eggs in your diet.

The most harmful ways to cook food are high-temperature methods (frying, baking, grilling), which form a crust on the surface that contains carcinogens and glycated proteins.

The most useful ways to cook food are boiling, stewing, and microwave processing.