by Gabriel Panait M.D.

   The subject of nutrition has received a great deal of attention recently – turning into a “fashionable” concern at the beginning of the millennium. This preoccupation tends to fit the general profile of an obsession – or should I rather call it psychosis (another medical term denoting a serious mental disease).

   This “obsession” has received increasingly attractive - pompous names such as: ”healthy feeding”, “appropriate nutrition“, “intelligent feeding”. Although the first term – “healthy feeding” – is in the current use (I myself have the tendency to use it), I believe the most appropriate term should be “optimized nutrition”.

   The reasons why I am in favour of this term – are grounded on an empirical observation which I made using a very simple questionnaire – thus, most normal people who generally have a “decent” weight – do NOT have “unhealthy” , “inappropriate” or “bad” nutrition – but only “unoptimised nutrition”, which means that I noticed a rather balanced feeding – as far as both nutritional principles (glucides, lipids and proteins) and the distribution on food groups are concerned - with a moderate caloric surplus (200-300Kcal) and an insignificant raise of the lipids (fats) ratio.

   I must also point to the fact that “optimisednutrition” is close to the idealnutrition – which can NOT be achieved, in spite of the effort made by the physician or the patient. All we can hope for is to aspire to get as close as possible to the ideal nutritional pattern, without turning this effort into an obsession.

1. the state of health
2. the approximation of calorie needs,
3. a suggestion of a daily diet.