The interest in leading a healthy lifestyle, taking care of the food, and knowing what we are eating grows every day. People still want to lose weight but not at the expense of health and if watching the diet and betting on a healthy and balanced diet in the long term.
But how can they lose weight and eat well? For Rubén Bravo, director of the Department of Naturopathy and Nutrition of the European Medical Institute of Obesity (IMEO), a healthy diet is based on a natural diet with fresh and unprocessed foods and avoids saturated fats and refined flours.
“It has to be balanced and provide the daily needs of both macronutrients and micronutrients. In addition, it must adjust to human biorhythms, providing more energetic foods (carbohydrates) in the diurnal activity period and more structural (proteins and healthy fats) in the nightly repair period, “explains the specialist.
The specialist points out that if a person’s goal is to lose weight, healthy diets, such as Alternate Days or Wine and Ham, are suitable for the body. In addition, it insists that these incorporate preventive food measures to reduce the risk of possible future diseases, such as cardiovascular problems or diabetes and slow aging.
Diets should be personalized and adapted to the personal characteristics of each individual, taking into account the age, physical activity performed weekly, body composition, if you have diagnosed any disease or may have it due to their genetic inheritance, as well as aspects such as food intolerances, their culinary tastes, the rhythm of life and emotional balance.
Guidelines for day to day
“The first recommendation I give is to go to a specialist to prepare a meal plan that meets the abovementioned requirements. We must understand that food is the strongest pillar that will sustain our quality of life and health throughout our lives, so it is well worth giving it the importance it really has, looking for the advice and indications of an expert “, says a specialist.
The director of the Department of Naturopathy and Nutrition of IMEO recommends following the following guidelines:
- Plan the meals and the shopping list, avoid improvisation, and try to make the purchase once a week.
- Make five meals a day, three main meals, and two snacks. Also, recommend eating slowly.
- In all daily meals, combine a protein + a carbohydrate (whole, fruit, or vegetable) + 1 healthy fat.
- Drink between 2 liters and 2.5 liters of water daily.
- Take between 5 and 7 servings of fruit and vegetables a day, selecting them in their fresh and natural form and avoiding packaging. Also, recommend eating the fruit with the skin and avoiding packaged juices.
- Always choose whole foods.
- Take between 0.9 grams and 1.5 grams of lean protein per kilogram of weight. The variation will depend on whether physical activity is performed and, if so, what activity is done, being 0.9grs for sedentary people and 1.5grs for those who perform an intense sport.
- Avoid sugar, sweeteners, or those foods that contain them.
- Have breakfast like a king, eat like a prince, and dine like a beggar.
- Do not abuse alcoholic beverages. You can take between one and two glasses of red wine daily for different meals.
- In the sausage group, choose between York ham, turkey, or Iberian ham / Iberian ham, always discarding the package.
- Take 3 to 6 walnuts daily.
- Cook with 2 or 3 tablespoons of extra olive oil a day.
- Avoid precooked and excessively processed foods.
- Take veal twice a week and fish or seafood 4 times a week.
- Eat one or two times a week legumes.
- Do not overcook food. Avoid the microwave
- Take 2 ounces of dark chocolate a day, distributed in snacks and dinner.
- Avoid fried and breaded.
- Take 2 servings of skimmed milk a day.