First of all, leading a healthy lifestyle and eating in a way that your body functions collaborating with the best of your physical and mental health, is essential. Some processes are natural to aging, such as the difficulty in absorbing calcium, the drop in collagen production, among several other points that can change your appearance and your mood. And this is exactly where the importance of regulatory foods comes in.
Regulating foods are extremely important for people to mitigate some of the inevitable effects of aging. And not only the elderly keep an eye on them: because they influence several factors of the body, many people aiming at losing weight, gaining mass, improving the skin, among others, pay attention and use them in their diets.
What are regulatory foods?
As their name suggests, regulating foods are responsible for regulating several functions in our body, such as hydrating the skin, nourishing the hair, and regulating the intestines. So, in addition to understanding what regulating foods are and what their benefits are, it is important to differentiate them from building and energy foods, and to know what the main regulating foods are.
Among the main functions of regulating foods we have the detoxification of the body, help in the more effective absorption of carbohydrates, fats, and proteins, improvement in immunity by stimulating the formation of red blood cells and antibodies, supply of material for the formation of bone tissue and teeth, regulation of blood pressure, and antioxidant potential, among others.
Types of regulatory foods
As with the rest of the food types, regulating foods are divided into vitamins, minerals, and fiber. So let’s get a better understanding of how regulation occurs in each of these categories?
Vitamins
Vitamins are found primarily in all plant-derived foods. That is, vegetables, legumes, and fruits, with the exception of vitamin B12, which is found in animal-derived foods. We can divide vitamins into two main categories: fat-soluble vitamins: vitamins A, D, E, K, and water-soluble vitamins: B-complex vitamins and vitamin C.
Vitamins are extremely sensitive to light, heat, cooking time, exposure to air, etc. These factors affect the bioavailability of vitamins in food. Therefore, the recommendation is to consume food as soon as possible after preparing the recipe, or even without cooking, if it does not harm the hygiene of the vegetable.
Minerals
Minerals can be found in foods of both animal and plant origin. Today we know that all minerals can be consumed simply by changing the menu with plenty of vegetables, fruits, seeds, and nuts. It is divided into macroelements and trace elements according to the needs of the body.
The 11 elements that the human body needs most every day are called macronutrients. In this group we find Carbon, Hydrogen, Oxygen, Nitrogen, Calcium, Magnesium, Potassium, Sodium, Chlorine, Phosphorus and Sulfur. At older ages in life, it is always important to keep an eye on calcium and how it is being absorbed into the body.
Just like vitamins, the bioavailability of minerals depends on several factors, such as: formation of soluble salts; formation of insoluble complexes (for example, in phytate; presence of fiber), solubility, which depends on the pH of the medium value, interactions between minerals, interactions with the environment, for example, proteins, lactose, etc.
Fiber
Fiber is probably the best known class of regulatory foods. This is because they have the important and essential function of regulating our intestinal functions. Even long before the effects of age began to hit us, we have always heard that fiber is very important in the diet, especially when we are constipated.
Together with water, fiber is what forms the fecal bolus and allows the body to eliminate the elements that it was not able to absorb and/or digest. In general, we can also point out that there are two types of fiber: soluble and insoluble, and most fiber-rich foods have both. Studies indicate that between 25 and 38 grams is the ideal daily intake for a healthy adult.
Fiber also helps in the control of another disease well known to affect the elderly: diabetes. This is because it slows down the speed at which carbohydrates are absorbed into the body, regulating the amount of sugar in the blood.
Examples of regulating foods
Let’s now learn about the main examples of regulating foods so that you can start to adopt them in your daily life.
- Avocados: Besides being rich in high-quality fats, avocados also contain essential nutrients such as potassium, phosphorus, and vitamins A, C, and E. Therefore, it can help with energy production, eye health, and fighting free radicals. Its richness in vitamins makes it a powerful regulating food.
- Plum: This fruit is a powerful laxative that helps maintain healthy cholesterol levels, as well as strengthening the immune system and balancing the nervous system. An excellent regulating food in many ways!
- Banana: bananas contain several minerals, such as magnesium, phosphorus, and potassium. Therefore, it helps the nervous system, the absorption of nutrients, and even muscle contractions. In other words, it helps to prevent cramps. But be careful: for this function to work, consumption needs to be constant, not immediate.
- Strawberry: source of vitamins A, C, E, B5, and B6, strawberries also contain an important antioxidant flavonoid. So don’t cut this beauty out of your diet: you can consume it fresh, in juices, vitamins, fruit salads, etc. Ah, and prefer organic: the traditional strawberry crop is one of the champions in the use of pesticides.
- Tomato: it is rich in lycopene (pigment that gives color to the fruit) and several antioxidants. Tomatoes are still a source of vitamins A, C, and B-complex, and contain important minerals such as calcium and potassium, which are involved in muscle movement and bone integrity.
- Orange: Rich in micronutrients such as vitamin C and calcium, oranges have many benefits for us – from boosting our immune system to caring for our skin. If consumed with pomace, it is still a good source of fiber that supports intestinal and even cardiovascular health.
Building, regulating, and energy foods
Understanding what are the building and energy foods is essential not to confuse them with regulatory foods, and also to include them in your diet, since they are also very important for the healthy functioning of our body.
Constructive foods are those rich in protein and, as the name suggests, are essential for growth. In old age, building foods are very important for preventing the loss of muscle mass.
Finally, energy foods are those that in the process of digestion become sources of energy quickly, increasing our mood, concentration, and even helping in the regulation of serotonin.
Thus, it is very important to emphasize that vitamins, minerals, and fiber in excess can also be bad for your health. Therefore, it is important to always maintain a balanced diet and not to believe in miracle recipes that usually circulate on the Internet, they can even do us a lot of harm. If you have gastritis, for example, water with lemon in the morning, which many say has unproven therapeutic properties, can worsen your condition.
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