Mihkel Zilmer: stop flip-flopping on what you eat
On June 22, Tarbija24 published an article in which the well-known medical biochemist Mihkel Zilmer tries to draw readers’ attention to the basics of metabolism so that people would stop dieting senselessly. Fitness.ee recommends that everyone read it!
Mihkel Zilmer, a professor at the University of Tartu and a well-known medical biochemist, maintains that nutrition starts with the way we think and with settling on our own view of the world. According to him, the biggest problem today is that contradictory information is spreading and at times people no longer dare to eat anything at all. “My first recommendation is to stop flip-flopping when it comes to eating, because with a short-term eating preference you don’t actually change anything in your body,” says Zilmer.
What does the omnivorous human body need?
The basic processes of nutrition are the same for everyone. Eating should give us substances that support our metabolism, and metabolism is the basis of life. Healthy diets, by the way, do not exist. Humans are omnivorous – what does that mean? Vegetarian means eating only plant foods, but as soon as a plant eater adds even one animal food, they are already an omnivore. A very unhealthily eating one, perhaps, but an omnivore nonetheless.
The rule says that ¾ of what you eat in a day should be plant foods and ¼ could be animal foods. We get carbohydrates from the plant portion, but the animal portion is necessary too. Anyone can eat however they like, but if you eat a varied diet, you give your body more. There is no point in fooling yourself about nutrition and depriving your body of variety. Extremes are harmful to everyone, and after three to four years of eating only animal or only plant foods, anemia can start to plague you.
The professor explains that we need, and get, different nutrients from different foods. The list of necessary nutrients is actually short: 20 amino acids, 20 fatty acids, about 20 vitamins, 25–27 macro- and microminerals, water, carbohydrates, sucrose, starch. The human body doesn’t need much: it needs carbohydrates, proteins, lipids, water, vitamins, macro- and microminerals. It’s worth noting that our body is 60% water. In addition, the basis of our life is blood sugar, and especially in the morning, starch-rich foods should be eaten to get energy.
We also can’t do without dietary fiber, of which we need 25–30 g a day and which plant foods provide in abundance: barley, wheat, rye. Unfortunately, modern food is low in dietary fiber, and we should definitely eat more plant foods than we do now.
As for fatty foods, dietary fats should provide 25–30% of the required amount of fat per day. Eating fat-free food causes problems, and if a person ate fat-free food for even just three weeks, the condition of their blood vessels would worsen. It is not the case that fat-free or low-fat is sensible. Eating omega-3 fatty acids from fish reduces the risk of heart problems, which, for example, the peoples around the Mediterranean suffer from less because they eat more olive oil. Trans fatty acids (hydrogenated vegetable fat is one of them) are not harmful in small amounts, but they play a major role in the development of cardiovascular disease.
Read more on the Tarbija24 website: Mihkel Zilmer: stop flip-flopping on what you eat
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