Eating well: the keys to nourish oneself intelligently

Living a long and healthy life, we dream of it… Maintaining our energy, boosting our good mood, and stabilizing our weight? This seems incompatible with the urgency of daily life. However, with a little organization, good ingredients, and some practical recipes, including homemade jars, eating healthily can even become a real delight for the whole family.

FOCUS ON LEGUMES

Since January 2019, the National Nutrition Health Program (PNNS) advocates for the consumption of a portion of legumes, “which can be considered as substitutes for poultry,” at least twice a week. “Very nutritious, particularly rich in fibers, legumes also constitute a “prebiotic,” meaning a food for beneficial intestinal bacteria.”

Legumes are also “an excellent source of protein and, when consumed with whole grains, they provide all the essential amino acids necessary for the well-being of the body.”

THINK ABOUT FIBERS

Promoting satiety and intestinal transit, reducing the risk of cardiovascular diseases, obesity, type 2 diabetes, and colorectal cancer, fibers are our best friends (and those of our bacteria).

Where to find them? In vegetables, fruits, and legumes.

CELEBRATE FRUITS AND VEGETABLES

Full of fibers, vitamins, and antioxidants, low in calories… Fruits and vegetables have it all! Not to mention that they contribute to satiety and are easily digested, especially when cooked.

LIMIT MEAT

While eating meat is bad for the planet (livestock is responsible for 14.5% of greenhouse gas emissions according to the Food and Agriculture Organization), it is not very good for our health either. According to Luigi Fontana, “it is proven that the consumption of red or processed meat (cold cuts, editor's note) increases the risk of dying from several diseases, particularly cancer. We need to eat less and we need to eat it better, which means we should prioritize indigenous breeds from small farms that respect animal welfare.”

CRUNCH ON SEEDS

Nuts, hazelnuts, almonds, flax, sunflower, pumpkin, sesame… Everywhere on the planet, humans crave seeds rich in lipids, vitamin E, zinc, iron, antioxidants, omega-3, magnesium, etc. Among their virtues, there is a feeling of quick satiety, a reduction in cardiovascular diseases, a slowing of oxidation, a lowering of bad cholesterol and blood pressure. Let’s adopt them!

REDUCE SUGAR

Fortunately, there are healthier alternatives, from French honey to date or coconut sugar, which have much lower glycemic indices. In practice, we eliminate white sugar from our cupboards, we cut the amount of sugar in cake recipes by half, we finish meals with a fruit, we switch to alternative pastries,