Basic nutrition for women

When we talk about nutritionally, men and women are not very different from each other. However, as in many matters, a woman's nutritional needs change completely when she reaches puberty.

An adult woman usually needs to eat fewer calories than men. Does this seem unfair? The reason for this is the composition of the body.

Where women tend to be leaner and have higher fat levels than their fellow muscle men.

Because muscles use more calories to preserve them more than fat, even when no activity is done, men burn more calories.

The average female needs 1,600 to 2,000 calories per day to maintain a healthy weight, but you may need a little more if you exercise a lot. When we say "Exercising a lot of exercise" we mean to participate in intense sports activity for 60 minutes on most days of the week.

If you are exercising so stressful that you cannot even speak a few words during exercise, then this is the intense level intended for the activity.

The second rule of a woman’s nutrition relates to her need for iron more than twice as much as men. The blood that a woman loses during menstruation each month usually leads to iron deficiency.

Studies have shown that women who suffer from iron deficiency have to do more to do the same amount of physical activity than women who do not have iron deficiency. Therefore, they feel overwhelmed and unable to do better athletic performance.

The recommended daily iron intake for women 50 years younger is 18 mg. Where red meat, low-mercury fish and chicken without skin are great sources of iron, spinach, legumes, lentils and oats are also important alternatives, especially for vegetarians.

To increase the amount of iron your body absorbs, you can mix it with vitamin C. It is as simple as eating a cup of natural orange juice with oats in the morning or adding a slice of broccoli to your dinner.

Both men and women can benefit from folic acid, whose benefits are also linked to fighting heart disease and preventing colon cancer. The recommended daily intake of folic acid for men and women is 400 micrograms.

But for pregnant or trying to conceive women, the recommended value increases to about 600 micrograms of folic acid. This is because folic acid can greatly reduce the chances of neonatal birth defects.

A new animal study of folic acid suggested that high levels of vitamin B might protect against congenital heart defects caused by alcohol exposure in early pregnancy, a condition known as fetal alcohol syndrome.

The researchers have not yet applied their results to humans, but despite this, we must not underestimate the importance of women obtaining an adequate amount of folic acid before and during pregnancy.

There are a lot of morning pills that can supply 100 percent of your daily need for folic acid, so you can get the amount you need even before noon.

As for nutritional supplements and medications, there are potential side effects with improper use of folic acid. Where recent studies suggest that excess doses of folic acid may increase the risk of colon and breast cancer.

But there is no danger from the natural increase of this vitamin, which is the type that you get from food such as green leafy vegetables, legumes and orange juice. Just avoid excessive consumption of folic acid from abnormal sources such as pills and supplements.