With the arrival of heat and summer many people have decided to resume their diet or take care of their dietary and eating habits. It is now time to implement some tips and readjustments, which can be key to realistically and stably reorient dietary habits.
Experts recommend:
- Include in lunch and dinner, on a daily basis, a plate of vegetables and greens: it can be as a salad or cooked vegetable, as a first or only dish, on some occasion. It is recommended to maintain this choice in social meals. Even if you add some other more caloric or not so healthy food, you will have satiated an important part of your hunger with a good choice based on vegetables.
- Attention with the calories drunk: Now that summer is approaching, the excuse to disobey the diet is to “quench the thirst”. With this argument, people drink soft drinks, juices, alcoholic beverages or gazpacho, among many others; it is true that some of them can provide nutrients, but it is also true that they add many calories that we are not aware of. The only way to quench thirst is water. Some recommendations: eat whole fruit rather than juices; gazpacho, best in a bowl and with a spoon; dilute beer or wine with soda, to increase and lengthen the amount, without adding alcohol or calories. Of course, forget drunk yogurt, ice cream shakes and any format that avoids chewing.
- Remove the extras from the menu:Look at the extra foods you take and that have ended up becoming habitual: beer in the appetizer, ice cream, a drink, junk food on more occasions than they should… It does not mean giving them up if it is a great effort, but they should be reserved for social or special meals, respecting the work week free of excesses.
- Avoid processed products: Avoid the intake of convenience foods, sausages, cheeses, industrial pastries… Simplify.
- To consume “grain”: It is advisable to replace all foods containing refined flour with whole cereal grains. Do not believe to the letter the label, even if it indicates “integral”, since with that denomination one can find breads and products with only 10% of integral flour. It is recommended to eat legumes, brown rice or, at most, steamed, whole corn, wheat… or preparations that indicate that the dough is made with whole grains.
It is important to emphasize that this advice is valid for all people, but each patient is unique, so that the expert in Nutrition and Dietetics will be the best advisor to achieve the desired progress in their diet and dietary habits without endangering their health.