Complete Food and Food Education

Complete food and nutrition education

Food education, understood as sharing knowledge of basic concepts such as the calorie intake of macronutrients or the importance of feeding in a balanced and balanced way, should be taught from an early age. But given that lifelong learning has become one of the salient features of our society, taking up some simple concepts of food education is never wrong; how right it is to make people who indifferently use the terms “nutrition” and “nutrition” reflect on the fact that they underlie profoundly different concepts. Otherwise there would be no over-fed and under-fed subjects, as unfortunately sometimes happens.

From these issues, there is often a tendency to slip on the diet discourse, perhaps because for a few years now even in Italy more than one in three people are overweight, or obese (see wanting the data of the World Health Organization – WHO). And the diet theme, declined in various ways, is always a topic of interest but which at the same time can spark many controversies among the supporters of the different types of diet.

Having said that, both we and the nutritionists we work with believe that the diet based on the so-called Mediterranean diet – intangible heritage of humanity according to UNESCO – always remains among the best. However, we suggest to all those who want to undertake a diet aimed at reducing (or increasing) weight which, before starting any diet, it is good practice to speak with a doctor or biologist nutritionist or at least consult your doctor. Complete foods, on the other hand, are fairly recent foods, and many still do not have clear ideas on what they are. Some confuse them with replacement meals, and in fact they can certainly replace one or more meals, even if the purpose is not necessarily “dietary”.

Let’s say that they are new generation substitute meals, in the sense that unlike traditional ones, these foods are complete because they contain all the macronutrients (carbohydrates, proteins, fats and fibers) and all the micronutrients (therefore vitamins, minerals): of they usually have a complete amino acid profile and a low glycemic index. Returning to the diet theme, let’s start by saying that it is always a question of energy balances. But instead of talking about KJoule, since we are talking about energy derived from food, we will talk about kilocalories (Kcal). So with an evident effort of simplification we can say that it is a question of balancing the Kcal that we introduce into our body with nutrition and those that we consume for living.

For the sake of simplicity, what we consume on a daily basis can be attributed on the one hand to the basal metabolic rate (MB), or the amount of energy we spend at rest) and on the other hand to the energy expenditure related to movement. The basal metabolic rate is different from person to person, as is the energy expenditure related to movement, evidently related to the more or less active / sporting or sedentary lifestyle. Always with a simplification effort we can say that the Kcal consumed by our basal metabolic rate, combined with those consumed for physical activities, represent the daily energy consumption.

To maintain our weight unchanged we must find a daily balance between the Kcal that we consume with food and drinks and those that we spend with energy consumption. Another aspect to consider is that an overweight person may have slightly sluggish MB (who consumes little at rest) and therefore a diet should always be concerned not to “lazy” him further with an excessively low-calorie approach. But suppose now that I am too thin and want to gain some weight, let’s say a couple of kilets: to accumulate weight I would have to introduce more Kcal than I consume.

Let’s say that I decide to take 400 Kcal a day more than I need. In a month it would be about 12,000 Kcal, which translated into body weight would correspond to almost 2 kilograms.

The same obviously applies if I wanted to lose the pounds in question, with the difference that the 400 Kcal should not exceed those ingested but the exact opposite. I should consume 400Kcal more than what I ingest.

I can achieve this in several ways:

a) I reduce the Kcal ingested daily by 400
b) an increase of 400 Kcal in daily consumption by changing habit / lifestyle and starting to do some physical activity daily.
c) I reduce the Kcal taken by 200 and at the same time increase the consumed ones, perhaps by inserting a long walk in a beautiful park in my daily habits.

At this point a tool that helps us calculate calories could be helpful, such as the following: https://www.calculator.net/calorie-calculator.html

The secret to losing weight and not quickly recovering the lost kilograms is always to lose weight very slowly (1 or 2 KG per month) and to find a sustainable food model in the long run, therefore free from too many “sacrifices and restrictions” which, even on a psychological level, they are difficult to sustain for prolonged periods.

And what do complete food have to do with it? Complete foods, including Bivo, which is the first complete food made in Italy, can help achieve the goal of healthy weight, because they contain everything that our body needs in a balanced way, and allow us to know exactly how many calories we are introducing with every single meal. In the case of Bivo, the nutritional proportions are those typical of the Mediterranean diet (calculated as a percentage of the calorie requirement), and the intake of lipids and proteins is of complete plant origin.

For example, if we take a bag of Bivo vegetable flavor (which provides 455 KCal) we notice that 225.6 KCal derive from carbohydrates (56.4 grams x 4 KCal per gram), 84 KCal derive from proteins (21 grams per 4 KCal per gram ) and 126 KCal derive from fats (14 grams per 9 KCal per gram). The total, however, is 435.6 KCal, and the attentive reader may wonder why he does not fuck with the 455KCal indicated on the label. The missing calories are in fact provided by the 9.2 grams of fiber which, although they contribute with a modest caloric intake, are fundamental for promoting intestinal transit and a sense of gastric satiety.

Finally, balancing the nutritional elements of Bivo ensures that you do not run the risk of “falling asleep” your basal metabolic rate, which could happen with an excessively low-calorie or perhaps not perfectly balanced diet.