Diana Gluhak Spajic is master of nutrition, entrepreneurs and nature lovers. He is currently a PhD at the Faculty of Food Technology and Biotechnology, a course for nutrition. She founded her own company and launched the Healthy Meal Standard project and with us, besides the project, she also talked about her profession, diets, and some future projects. Here's what Diana says:

 ♦You started the Healthy Meal Standard initiative. What is it all about and how's that project?

- The Healthy Meal Standard Initiative was launched in 2014, as a preliminary project and was first introduced to the public in 2015, when only three categories existed. At the moment, there are as many as 20 standards in the Healthy Meal Standard, such as the Healthy Meal Standard menu for people with diabetes, high blood pressure, obesity, people with allergies to histamine, gluten, lactose intolerance, elderly people, children, pregnant women and breastfeeding women, people with kidney and liver disorders, athletes, vegetarians, vegans and more.

Healthy Meal Standard is a symbol of healthy eating, that is, the first system in the world that creates the conditions for a proper diet adapted to the needs of its users. Users can be all public institutions that meet basic requirements, which are valid and certified HACCP, and there have been no problems associated with HACCP in the last 6 months and there may be additional conditions for each standard.

An example is the Healthy Meal Standard for people with celiac disease, where the introduction of our system is aberrant, HACCP must be tailored to the European celiac disease recommendations. Ultimately, a standardized nutrition works preventively, reducing the risk and the cost of poor eating habits for people with special nutritional needs . The Healthy Meal Standard is the first in the world to follow the recommendations of world and national nutrition guidelines when introducing nutrition for a particular group of needs.

It is important to note that by the end of this year, 3 elementary schools in the city of Sisak will be certified for feeding children fit for their age and diet for special needs, where the city of Sisak becomes the first city to invest and actively take care of the diet of children who have certain problems associated with eating!

♦How did you realize that you want to deal with nutrition, what attracted you to this field?

- Nutrition was not my first choice, but if we were real, the fourth. My first love and family long-term job was a fashion design. I enrolled the Textile faculty at the top of my list, but my expectations were not met, and after only three months I letf that school. One very short option was a military school, where I eventually enrolled the Food Biotechnology Faculty, the focus of biotechnology, and later nutrition. Nutrition has attracted me by surprise because it has united all the structures that were interesting to me- biochemistry, physics and genetics, which is appealing to me today still.

HOW TO GET VALUABLE INGREDIENTS IN FOOD

 

Diana Gluhak reveals some tricks with which we can preserve valuable ingredients from the food .:

TOMATO: The more red the more lycopene, which is a very important antioxidant and it should be taken when hot days are ahead, if they want to have a nice skin. It is best to heat it first because the most lycopene is in its skin. In order to absorb the lycopene, it is not enough to have tomato sauce in its own juice, you also must add olive oil.

MRKVA: It's rich in carotene. It's not enough just to peel and eat carrots. It is necessary to flourish and pour a little  olive oil over.

GREEN  VEGETABLES: Olive oil is also good when it comes to green vegetables, such as rucola, spinach and green salad. But  another ingredient makes the magic: lemon juice. This vegetable is rich in iron, but it is not very available for absorption. Lemon will release the so-called "herbal iron" inside it. Here it is important to emphasize that we do not combine green leafy vegetables with cheese because it will not release either calcium from cheese or iron from salad.

CHEESE: It's best to combine it with boiled egg. To extract calcium from the cheese, we need vitamin D. So, or we can take a bowl with cheese and get out on the sun, or we can eat an egg that has a vitamin D in its egg yolk.

BROCOLLI: Rich in sulfaryophane, in antioxidant and is generally good for the liver. Broccoli does not have to be cooked for more than 3 minutes and when eating, it should be well packed to release its active ingredient. Combined with nested vegetables rich in selenium, this will be an extremely healthy portion.

♦ What are the most important qualities that a nutritionist or dietitian should have?

This is an extremely difficult question because nutritionists are working and can work in many areas: the Advisory Service, in tourism, in the hospital, in the food industry to create new products, to check the regulations and correctness of the declaration and many others. Each of these branches needs improvement in the labor market, it is necessary to sharpen some other skills, but what they all should have in common is a great ability to adapt, curiosity and critical thinking, relying on scientific facts, and consistency and will to philosophical discussion.

♦Is there an area about which you would like to know more, to follow the constant changes in knowledge which are reached in this area?

"In view of my interest are nutrigenomics and epigenetics, one of the favorite areas I'm trying to keep up with, and this is also the area I mastered. Epigenetics is a simplified science exploring how external, environmental factors, including nutrition, affect the expression of our genes. Actuall, credible genetic analysis and nutrition recommendations are not yet possible, but we hope it to become reality in the future.

♦An example of interesting diet is "keto", where a "healthy" fat is recommended, while fruits, for example, should be completely avoided according to the rules. What do you think of this diet?

- No extremes in the diet are recommended, unless there is an adverse health explanation for them. Ketogenic diet is often recommended for people suffering from epilepsy, but today it becomes questionable. The popular dietary ketogenic purpose is to stimulate weight loss but is so rigorous (less than 5% of the total carbohydrate intake of total energy) that it should not be recommended for commercial use, especially because fruits (except lemons and grapefruit) are completely excluded, as well as most grains and their products. Every "popular" diet aimed at expelling entire groups of foods should place a large question mark above them.
People who want to reduce their body mass can do so with less rigorous approaches such as increased body activity and decreased calorie intake of food.

♦ Today, we have an endless supply of various products full of sugar and other unhealthy ingredients. It's hard to resist and abstain from these foods. How to win this battle?

- Education, education and education. In primary and secondary schools, unless there is the enthusiasm of teachers / professors in biology, chemistry or hour of classroom teaching, there is no contact with the proper diet . In this regard, it is difficult to expect from adult consumers that, without basic knowledge, they know at any time what product is good for them or not. The battle can be obtained by bringing scientific facts into an interesting but accurate form to consumers, who will at some point remember and accept certain information.

♦ Are you into some other projects currently? Do you have any plans?

There are always new projects, but I think the most valuable work is that one that we work on ourselves, to ultimately help others. Some of the new projects are related to 3D printing, finished and semi-finished products, and also completed PhD at the Faculty of Food Technology and Biotechnology in Zagreb.