The rules to follow for healthy eating: here is the vademecum

It is not necessary to adhere to any strict rules to eat in a healthy and balanced way. You just need to incorporate some simple principles and some common sense. Here are the tips from our expert, Flavia Bernini, biologist, nutritionist.

Healthy and balanced diet –

“The food style universally recognized as healthy and preventive is the Mediterranean model which provides a daily good percentage of carbohydrates, represented by potatoes and cereals, come bread and pasta, better if integral more 5 portions a day of fruit and vegetables. the proteins they can come from either animal sources, such as meat, eggs, cheese and fish, is vegetables, above all legumes which, in recent years, are assuming a role of primary importance. The main source of fat comes instead from extra virgin olive oil. The balance between the 3 macronutrienti, it can be made throughout the day, for example by choosing a first course at lunch and a second it will be always accompanied by vegetables, fruit and extra virgin olive oil to season, or in every single meal, as the so-called teaches us “Harvard plate” a graphic representation of the entire meal ideally placed in a single plate that, for half will be occupied by fruits and vegetables, per a quarter gives cereals, preferably whole, and for a quarter From one protein source of your choice“.

Eat everything, without exclusions –

“A healthy diet it does not require absolute elimination of any food category. On the contrary, the risk would be to provoke deficiencies and not meeting nutritional needs of our body. In the guidelines of the Mediterranean diet a small daily dose of simple sugars corresponding to approx 15% of total calories. Here, then, is that the classic square of dark chocolate with coffee, it is good for the body and the spirit. Because it is with too many restrictions that frustrations and unbridled food impulses appear”.

Varying tastes and flavors –

“For both health and visual and gustatory pleasure, do not hesitate to vary your menus as much as possible. Among the protein sources, those of plant origin, among those animals the consumption of fish, especially blue, such as mackerel, herring, anchovies, sardines, particularly rich in Omega3. We also learn to replace the usual pasta with other cereals such as rice, quinoa, spelled, barley and couscous. We favor whole grains, which are more satiating and are a panacea for balance and well-being of our intestinal microbiome. Finally, we learn to alternate the many types of fruit and vegetables, choosing from seasonal products that will provide the diversity necessary for our balance “

Limit baked goods, red meats, sausages and alcohol as much as possible –

“Cookies, cakes, snacks, but also crisps and snacks, easily exceed in calories, sugars and salt. Let us grant them, but in moderation. Even stronger attention should be paid to the consumption of red meat and sausages the excess of which was associated with a risk greater than cardiovascular diseases heart attack and cancer. Same goes for the alcohol which has been included in group 1 of carcinogens, ie substances for which there is sufficient scientific evidence of their ability to influence the onset of tumors, if taken in excessive quantities “.

Listen to yourself and manage quantities –

“The secret to a balanced diet: eat everything, but in moderation. We learn to listen to our body during meals, a eat slowly and often ask ourselves if we are really hungry or if we are using food as a form of instant compensation and gratification ”.