Doctor: Calorie composition is often overlooked when fulfilling daily nutrition

Jakarta (ANTARA) – Nutrition Consultant Clinic Nutrition Specialist in Nutritional Metabolic Disorders Dr. Ida Gunawan, MS, Sp.GK (K), FINEM said that people often ignore the composition of calories in fulfilling their daily nutrition, especially when eating snacks.

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He, who is a member of the Jakarta Association of Specialist Nutritionist Clinics, told ANTARA via his electronic message some time ago that people often think that snacks in small form contain small calories. Likewise with soft drinks, which are seen as having few calories.

“But, the fact is often snack-snack the ones on the market there, the tiny ones, taste good, are sweet, the calorie content is often quite high,” he said.

In addition to the number of calories, the composition or type of food is also something that people often ignore. According to him, some people view the fulfillment of carbohydrates only from rice, so they often eat carbohydrates in excessive amounts.

People in Indonesia, continued Ida, who practices at Pondok Indah Hospital – Puri Indah, also often think they haven’t consumed carbohydrates if they haven’t eaten rice. The source of carbohydrates is actually not always rice but can also be potatoes, sweet potatoes, corn, taro, cereals and bread.

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“But he was eating at the time french fries for example. Then the snack is fried cassava, snack its potatoes and so on. Even though all of that is a carbohydrate composition,” said Ida.

Likewise with proteins. According to Ida, people always think protein is synonymous with eggs or meat. Even though protein comes from animal sources, it is also found in vegetables such as tofu, tempeh and nuts.

“If we are already consuming from meat, it means we have got a source of animal protein. So we also have to get a source of vegetable protein,” he said.

Vegetable sources are not only tofu and tempeh, but also include other legumes and these are found in many Indonesian foods, such as gado-gado. When someone eats gado-gado, it means that they have got vegetable protein from the peanut sauce.

Furthermore, it is related to fat, which is often considered synonymous with fried foods. Ida said that there is also a lot of fat in other foods which is known as hidden fat. For example cookiesbutter or butter in it is a fat element.

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“Or in meat, especially red meat or skin, chicken skin and so on, there is also a fat content there,” said Ida.

He also reminded that vitamins and minerals are often lost or reduced due to food processing that people do. Certain fruits, for example, are rich in vitamin C in intact condition.

However, when the fruit is converted into juice, only the liquid is taken or the amount of fiber is only thought through with such refined processing, the vitamin and fiber content is sometimes reduced in amount.

“Often we think ‘oh the important thing is I’m eating enough vegetables and fruit, which means I have enough vitamins and minerals’. In fact, we often forget that vitamins and minerals are often lost or reduced in amount due to the processing we do,” said Ida.

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Vitamins are organic substances in small amounts in natural foodstuffs and include essential nutrients for the body. There are 13 essential vitamins namely vitamins A, C, D, E, K, and B vitamins (thiamine, riboflavin, niacin, pantothenic acid, biotin, B6, B12, and folate) with different tasks to help keep the body working properly.

Next, regarding the meal schedule. Some people think it’s enough to eat twice a day, for example at 10:00 and then when they get home from work. According to Ida, this is not good enough for health. He suggests that people split their meal times and eat regularly approximately every three hours starting with breakfast, three hours later with a snack, then lunch, a snack then dinner.

This aims to prevent such a large increase in calories. When a person consumes large amounts of calories with such a large carbohydrate composition, the body will automatically regulate it with enzymes that must be excreted at once in large enough quantities.

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