Snacks or substantial lunches for business women?

Snacks are less harmful for health than substantial lunches
Many women are busy in the office and cannot devote an hour to having lunch, they instead prefer having snacks. Is it good for health or helps remain efficient all day long?  Head of the therapeutic department at the Central Military Hospital #6 in Moscow, Candidate of Medical Sciences Yury Bobyrev says snacks are less harmful for health than substantial lunches, although this may sound paradoxical to some extent.  For many years, it has been a good tradition to have substantial meals during the lunch break in the office. We try to avoid physical and mental overstrain, but at the same time we do not care that we overwork the gastrointestinal tract by having substantial lunches.

After substantial meals, the blood gets redistributed in the organism. Much blood is required to digest food in stomach and intestines thus depriving enough blood from heart and brain. This explains drowse and inertia which we feel after meals. Those who have substantial meals and rich feasts too often may one day fall ill with pancreatitis, cholecystitis and gastritis.

The bad habit of having snacks in motion or continuously chewing biscuits or nuts usually develops with housewives not busy women. Sometimes these women cannot remember when they last time sat down at table being hungry as they spend much time in the kitchen and catch up from time to time. This nutrition is heavy for the digestive system because stomach also needs some time for rest.

To get rid of the bad habit, try for some time chew sugar-free chewing gums to imitate continuous chewing and eating.

Doctors recommend having meals regularly every 4-5 hours and hot meals at least once a day. It is important to have particular emotional mood while eating; get relaxed and forget business.

Choose light products rich in vitamins for meals during the workday; these are vegetables, salads and vegetable pastes. Fresh fruits are also important during the day. Kiwi is especially good as it contains more vitamin C than lemons and more beta-carotene, pro-vitamin A, than carrot. The latter strengthens the organism against tumors and prevents ageing. Sea food will also perfectly do for meals during the workday. Sea fish and laminaria salad contain mineral substances, microelements and protein wonderfully assimilated in the organism. They are easy for digestion. Squids contain no purine substances metabolism of which gets upset with people suffering from kidney and joints diseases. Squid is recommended even for people suffering from acute gout. Any sorts of fish and meat contain much purine. Those who love meat should better eat veal and poultry during the workday. Eating meat with vegetables will diminish its negative effect. Pork is a really heavy product for the digestive system, but pork with vegetables is not that heavy for the organism. Even women with perfect figure should avoid eating cakes and ice-cream as a snack during the workday. Confectionery contains just empty calories, and organism thus gets no good food substances important for brain and muscles, including the heart muscle.

This is an old Russian tradition to have soups and borsch for lunch and this is a good tradition for keeping up. It makes sense to have just a salad or a slice of fish after having soup or borsch. Drink no beverages immediately after a substantial lunch as drinks dilute digestive juices and makes digestion problematic. Take just a couple of sips after meal and drink juice or other beverages two hours after meals.

Women are recommended to drink two-three cups of coffee a day but not too much. Female organism, unlike that of men, suffers no shifts of lipidic exchange because of coffee. Drinking coffee does not entail changes in the lipidic complex developing into atherosclerosis.