On the occasion of World Food Day, Dr. Luis Ricardo Rodrigo Sáez, specialist in Digestive System and member of Top Doctors explains the importance of food for our health, as well as some advice for people with hypertension or celiac disease.
What foods can help us prevent diseases?
A balanced and well-balanced nutrition in its composition, provided in its various nutrients, vitamins and trace elements (minerals), as well as in the amount of calories it contains, is undoubtedly a fundamental basis for maintaining good health and preventing diseases including all those related to obesity and overweight, such as diabetes, hypertension, osteoarthritis and many others, all infections in general. All this, together with physical exercise, moderate, but practiced daily, will help us to maintain an adequate weight and prevent a number of diseases of various types and locations.
How to use food as “natural medication”.
Some vegetables and fruits improve overall health and as general recommendations we can point out that it is healthy to eat lots of fresh and organic vegetables in juice or salad, consume fresh, raw or undercooked foods of animal origin. Stay away from refined and industrially processed foods. Avoid white flour, sugars and sweeteners with unhealthy components. Do not abuse carbohydrates and fruits of high glycemic index and drink plenty of water, away from meals so as not to alter the digestive processes.
They are not specific for the treatment of any particular ailment, but headaches improve with the removal of gluten from the diet usually and heartburn, by eating a light and varied diet usually.
What foods can help us not to suffer from fluid retention?
The first and fundamental thing is to reduce salt consumption, but it is also highly recommended to drink a glass of water on an empty stomach to prevent fluid retention. It is also very convenient to increase the consumption of foods with diuretic effects, such as pineapple, artichokes, watermelon, tomato and asparagus, among others. It is also important to distribute meals in 5 or 6 portions a day, to chew food well and for no reason to skip breakfast.
Dietary advice for people with hypertension
It is recommended to follow a diet without salt or very low in sodium (depending on their blood pressure levels), which is also characterized by being abundant in fresh products of vegetable origin (fruits, vegetables, cereals, potatoes, nuts), low in products rich in refined sugars and red meat. It is also recommended to consume olive oil as the main source of fat, not neglecting the intake of fresh cheese, yogurt, chicken and fish, in moderate amounts, which is also considered an ideal diet for the prevention of all cardiovascular diseases in general. All this should be associated with the definitive suspension of tobacco consumption and minimize the consumption of alcoholic beverages.
Dietary advice for people with celiac disease
The best and only advice that celiac patients should receive is to strictly follow a gluten-free diet continuously and permanently, avoiding all possible contaminations, including mainly cross-contamination. This is easy to do when eating at home, but it is much more difficult when having to eat outside the home, in restaurants and cafeterias, especially on domestic trips and even more so when visiting exotic countries or countries with difficulties in finding gluten-free food. As is well known, gluten is contained in a number of cereals, mainly wheat, but also rye, barley and some varieties of oats, as well as spelt flour and spelt, so avoid all foods containing or cooked with flours derived from these cereals. The celiac and/or gluten-sensitive patient should consume only foods containing or made with corn or rice flour. The only two alcoholic beverages that contain gluten are beer and whiskey, but recently there are some varieties of gluten-free beer.
Is it possible to replace medication with a specific food series or a specific diet?
In principle it is not advisable, nor is it possible. Medications are necessary and essential for the treatment of various diseases, for which they are recommended, but they must be taken under prescription, recommendation and medical supervision. Self-medication should always be avoided. Good nutrition is a necessary and essential complement for a good recovery. Each plays an important role in the treatment of disease, but it is clearly neither possible nor advisable to attempt a substitution of drugs for so-called “miracle diets”, which in reality are not and can create more problems than solutions.