The pillars of health (2/3) : food

After discussing the importance of sleep for a whole range of health benefits, we tackle another big piece (vegetable or not, it's up to you): food.

This subject is touchy in many ways because we hear everything and its opposite on the one hand, and inflation - the famous one - puts much less butter in spinach than difficulties in eating properly on the other.

Whether we have financial trouble or not, food is for a part of the population far from being the main subject. Yet "how to eat better? " and "how to eat well for cheap and not too caloric? " are two questions that often come back.

There are many sub-themes related to food that could be addressed but the idea here is to find basic principles and have a few rules in mind rather than a useless shopping list.

Why would we want to eat well?

• To promote the proper digestion of food, therefore good health.
• To, conversely, to avoid the accumulation of toxins, i.e. waste that the body cannot evacuate.
• To have (find?) The pleasure of eating, with yourself and others.

Basic rules for digesting "good as it should"

1. Eat fresh, hot and cooked

Eat fresh:

• Seasonal and rather local products (even better if it's organic, but often expensive).
• Avoid canned products and prepared dishes, they have no nutritional quality and are far too salty or sweet. Vegetable jars are more acceptable as a backup solution (but beware of additives).
• Avoid cooking for the week! The more time a dish spends in the fridge and the more moisture it accumulates (which slows down digestion) and the less nutritious it is: batch-cooking is very practical but not ideal.

Eat hot and cooked:

• Especially cooked in fact because the vintage requires a powerful digestive capacity so as not to create various gases that brighten the following hours...
• A hot dish will be much better received by the entire digestive process.
  
  

2. Eat with spices and fat

Spices are our friends! Do not hesitate to limit salt a little and favor curry-type mixtures. I rather recommend "sweet" mixtures because we are much less used to the various peppers to which we often refer when we say "eat spicy".

A great mix when you have some digestive disorders is CuCoFe, for cumin, coriander and fennel. This trio can serve as a base in absolutely all your dishes, to then add a little ginger, turmeric, etc.

Be careful, it's not chocolate powder! Spices have real nutritional properties, ½ teaspoon per person and per meal is more than enough.

Fat is also our friend! I'm talking about the fat added after cooking, this is where we can fully enjoy the qualities of the oils. To put it simply, I kept three: olive, coconut and sunflower. They can work as much for cooking as after.

• Olive oil is royal when it is not heated, just to decorate the dish, an excellent source of fat.
• Coconut oil is perfect for cooking, be careful not to abuse it because it brings a lot of moisture to the body.
• Sunflower oil is not the most perfect oil but it has the advantage of being very affordable.

You can alternate the three without problems, or even cook with a little coconut or sunflower and add the olive to the final plate.

Note: sorry, butter is not suitable for cooking...

3. Eat the right amount

"Hmmm, I still have a small place left..." Stop!! This is the right time to stop. In fact, the ideal is that there is about ¼ of the stomach left that is empty to allow optimal digestion.

How do we know when to stop? The little burt that comes out alone!

4. Eat only when you have digested the previous meal

It seems stupid but digestion takes on average 3-4 hours to be done entirely, sometimes less but often more when we talk about digestive problems. Eating over a food bowl that has not already been digested will create stagnation in the piping and allow the creation of toxins that will clot the system.

5. Eat in conscience, quietly and in good company

If you are prone to digestion difficulties, eat on the go at prandial rush hour (nice word!) In the street is not ideal. It is also not recommended to take advantage of the meal to embark on a debate that will require a lot of energy, even less if the subject creates tensions!

In this case, it is better to eat alone than poorly accompanied, and not replace it with the phone or another screen!

"Eating in conscience" from there, I focus on what I eat. Telling your plate a little good appetite to start and thank you for finishing costs nothing and does good J This allows you to better feel satiety and better assimilate food.

Neither too fast, nor not enough: there is nothing worse than swallowing your meal in 2 minutes, it may create indigestion. Conversely, taking 1 hour to eat will no longer promote regular digestion.

6. Eat without feeling guilty

When you have eating disorders or simply do not have enough budget to have a "perfect" diet, it is absolutely counterproductive to feel guilty about what you eat. It's even worse to do it as you eat.

Eating, in addition to being vital, must be a moment of pleasure that fills us positively.

But don't forget to eat what the body demands, not the head...

Another aspect, the rules proposed so far are guides to digest well, you must not become an extremist and allow yourself not to succeed in following everything!

7. Eat in accordance with food combinations

Well, here, it's a big thing in the big thing... The subject is rather unknown to us at home, and yet there are foods that are poorly digested when combined. Here is a list of the eating habits we have:

• Animal and vegetarian proteins: we avoid associating them with each other (goodbye cassoulet) or with dairy products (butter passes).
• Cheeses: in itself cheese is incompatible because it mixes salt and milk... but there is a phenomenon of habituation that makes it accepted rather well at home! Otherwise, with fruit, protein or yogurt it doesn't pass.
• Milk: apart from dates or almonds, we completely avoid combining fruits (bye-bye smoothie) and milk. Alone or in the morning porridge it's ok! Otherwise, turn to a vegetable milk of rice or oats.
• Yogurt: avoid with fruit, milk, protein and solanacea (potatoes, tomato, eggplant, pepper, chili)
• Fruits: they are better eaten alone and outside meals! Otherwise, associate them between fruits of the same family (citrus, apple/pear, berries). Banana and melon are the ugly little ducks because they are really not very combinable with anything else...
• Honey: the only thing to pay attention to is not to cook it! Above 40° it will create toxins, so we avoid.

Here again, you must open your mind, be aware of what you digest or not, and also of the phenomenon of habituation that means that food consumed since childhood remains well accepted by the body, even if the combination is not ideal. (Welcome back cassoulet, pancakes, paella, bread-butter, etc.)

But in all this, what do I eat??

A little bit of everything! We come out of the theories of "5 fruits and vegetables per day" or others "and a dairy product for a balanced breakfast" which are advertising maneuvers more than anything else.

Here are some proposals:

• Breakfast is if you need it, we can put aside the cereals and bread-butter-jam that are too sweet and will make you have the slab quickly. A muesli with seeds, heated and with a little fresh cheese and honey (they are added at the end!), it will fit better in the stomach. Or even salty, this morning I made an omelet with 2 eggs and a grated beetroot, it was great!
• Lunch must be the most consistent meal. It is not mandatory to have 'protein + cereal + vegetable' each time, we adapt!
• Dinner should not be too heavy or taken too late.
• Meals must remain simple! A pesto pasta with zucchini and diced feta or parmesan, royal right?
• Here in Europe and depending on the season, carrots, zucchini, beets, cabbage and some squash are very affordable, the same for mushrooms, there is something to enjoy.
• In terms of cereals, you can give your intestines rest by making days when you do not consume gluten using quinoa, buckwheat, millet, rice. All of them can be very affordable and it allows you to revisit your usual dishes in many different ways!
• Plant-based creams make it possible to deal with the wrong combination of fresh cream and protein, watch out for soy cream (and milk) which is very heavy to digest, those of oats and rice are better.
• Legumes are perfect for making dinners without animal protein, often too heavy to digest in the evening. Coral lentils and mung beans are the most digestible. Be careful to soak your legumes (except coral lentils) at least 8 hours, it reduces the cooking time and promotes digestion. Chickpea is very good, especially in hummus, but sometimes poorly digested.
• Eggs are a good quality animal protein, it is even rather affordable to get them organic, which is difficult with meat. Sardines and mackerel are also a nice alternative.
• With all this, we must avoid breaking down too much on the dessert when we have paid close attention to the rest… sometimes you realize that you don't even need to take it!

I finish by thinking about an important thing: water!

We avoid engulfing glasses and glasses while eating! Same just before/after, there is nothing worse for the "digestive fire". 15 minutes before, 1 hour after is a range inside which it is better to avoid drinking too much. And please, above all: no ice water!!!

Finally, bon appétit!