Healthy Diet to Start 2023
The 2023 year has arrived and with it come good intentions and two of the most repeated resolutions in the first week of January: healthy diet, do more sports, lose weight and improve your diet.
Regarding the amount of food that we should eat, the expert indicates that it should be moderate as a whole. In fact, she points out that studies on calorie restriction have shown that a frugal diet is associated with greater longevity and slower aging processes.
What foods should we have in the pantry and the refrigerator?
When a person makes the decision to change their way of eating, they have to gradually introduce the changes. Doing it all at once can destroy the good intentions and motivation with which we embark on the quest to improve our health.
The first step that must be taken, according to Gámez, is to review what we have in the pantry and the fridge: we must make less healthy foods disappear (sugary soft drinks, sausages, butter, batters for fried foods, etc.) and gradually replace them by vegetables, fruits, legumes, nuts and fish.
So what foods should be included in our meal plan? Rubén Bravo, an expert in nutrition and gastronomy from the European Medical Institute of Obesity (IMEO), like Gámez, highlights the following:
Healthy Diet Legumes and Nuts
Although legumes and nuts are often excluded from diets for weight loss and control, if consumed in moderation they have health benefits.
“On the one hand, nuts are foods with a high fat content (hence their consumption should be moderate), but they are also an interesting source of heart-healthy fats (monounsaturated and polyunsaturated) accompanied by fiber, protein and a range of minerals and essential vitamins for our well-being. Of course, we must consume the varieties that are sold raw (without added salt or fried varieties either)”, clarifies the specialist, who also stresses that legumes are one of the pillars of the Mediterranean diet. “They are ideal given their nutritional profile: almost no fat, zero cholesterol, a good supply of fiber, slow assimilation carbohydrates and vegetable proteins. The consumption of legumes should be three times a week, ”she adds.
Healthy Diet Fruits and Vegetables
Fruits and vegetables are the fundamental component of every meal. Due to their contribution of water, fiber, vitamins and minerals as well as specific phyto-nutrients, they constitute the basis of human nutrition.
Healthy Diet Carbohydrates
Bravo indicates that cereals are mainly included in this food group. In addition, he recommends opting for the integral option, since it provides more fiber, vitamins and minerals than the refined ones.
This group includes bread, pasta, rice, dough, etc.
Healthy Diet Omega 3
Gámez specifies that it can be obtained through oily fish, walnuts or flax. “Omega 3 is an essential nutrient for our well-being at many levels (neurological, cardiovascular, ocular, etc.),” she adds.
Healthy Diet Omega 3
Regarding proteins, the IMEO spokesman opts for those that are mainly lean, that is, low in fat. Here we find most fish and meat such as chicken or turkey.
“We must also include an amount of dairy. And if someone is lactose intolerant he should choose the lactose-free option”, she specifies.
Healthy Diet liquids
For many people, water is no longer their beverage of choice and they have become accustomed to drinking flavored beverages. “They do not realize that these drinks have a very high caloric intake and on many occasions they are the precursor or the great factor that is incurring in that they do not lose weight or that their analytics are not too good even though the meals do them well”, Bravo warns. The expert emphasizes that the vast majority or all of the liquids that are drunk during the day should be water. “The glass of wine for dinner or the juice for breakfast have to be sporadic decisions,” he says.
