How do you know if what you eat is healthy? Sometimes it is not easy as there are many interests to deceive you. More and more dietitians, nutritionists and doctors are speaking out against certain habits that we consider good, but which in reality are not. What happens is that we have long been told that foods like them wine is healthy, or we should take dairy because we need calcium in our diet. However, some of these recommendations are now outdated. For example, wine is alcohol, and according to many experts, the amount of heart-healthy substances it contains is not enough to mitigate the risk associated with ingesting a poison, such as an alcoholic drink.
As for dairy, it is true that they contain calcium. But also some nuts, vegetables, sardines … in short, we can meet the calcium requirement in the diet with other foods that are not excluded, for example from the prestigious ‘Harvard Dish’ paradigm of healthy eating. , from Harvard University in the United States. Therefore, to the question of how to eat healthily, we can answer: follow a healthy diet, such as the Mediterranean, but the traditional, that is, that of our grandparents.
And so explains Dr. Miguel Ángel Martínez-González, a great expert on the Mediterranean diet and one of the most prestigious professionals, explains. The specialist, epidemiologist, researcher and professor at the University of Navarra has published the book ‘What do you eat?’ (Ed. Planet), a guide that teaches us to understand why it is so important to maintain good habits, detect eating hoaxes, recognize the tricks they use to manipulate us, and ultimately eat foods that aren’t really healthy.
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The Mediterranean diet that is healthy
The specialist has HELLO! an interview in which he gives us the simplest and most reliable guidelines for eating healthier once and for all. The specialist, staunch advocate of the Mediterranean diet, urges us to eat real food. And how to distinguish them? With something as simple as looking at the label. The foods that we should always include in our diet are foods that are not, for example fruits, vegetables, legumes, and so on. And when we consume labeled products, let’s take a look at the ingredients list, which lists the ingredients from highest to lowest. Dr. For example, Martínez-González states that 70% by weight of soluble cocoa is sugar. And we already know that this ingredient should be anecdotal in our healthy diet.
He also recommends cutting out red meat and replacing it with lean meat, or, better, fish. Of course, when it comes to eating fruit, it better be whole. And preferably three servings per day. When we cook, we should do so with extra virgin olive oil without fear of gaining weight, as the studies conducted with this food indicate otherwise. That is, it does not contribute to weight gain. Just as nuts don’t, they are highly recommended and satisfying foods.
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The ‘no wonder’ of miracle diets
The specialist is very blunt in this regard and insists on avoiding any promise that will guarantee that he will lose pounds in record time or with unorthodox methods. The only thing these dietary guidelines can accomplish is that we lose weight quickly and badly, promoting the rebound effect, in addition to the problems it can cause to our health. The best thing, he insists, is to return to our grandparents’ diet, the real Mediterranean.
The author of the book ‘What do you eat?’ It invites us to think about our shopping cart and try to make sure that ultra-processed, packaged foods with many ingredients and many chemical additives are not our ‘daily bread’ and limit them to very sporadic situations. He gives an example of pizza as a food that ‘made us believe’ that it is healthy when in reality it is not.
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The trick to drinking wine in moderation
And we come to the topic of wine, tricky for many, but obvious to many experts who don’t ignore what it really is: an alcoholic drink. It is true that it is linked to our tradition, which invites us to socialize, another ‘ingredient’ of that Mediterranean style that has been praised for so many years. However, according to the specialist, wine does not reduce cardiovascular risk. And his recommendation is: if you don’t have heart problems: zero alcohol.
But it does invite you to drink coffee, it doesn’t matter if it is caffeine or decaffeinated as it indicates that there is a lot of epidemiological evidence that coffee reduces death from cardiovascular disease, reduces diabetes, prolongs life , and I would encourage the population to consume coffee.
The professor is also referring to the egg, a demonized yet healthy and highly recommended food. So much so that we could even eat eggs every day. And just like these ‘false truths’ there is more.
If you ten big lies Dr. Ángel Martínez-González, keep reading.
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