Eating healthy and well is not that easy. Especially because of the number of legends that surround our diet. We talked about it with Dr. Joshua Wolrich, who clears all our doubts about the nutrition myths you didn’t know and still follow in your diet.
Not only for us, but also for the nutritionistsit is difficult to decipher all the information that comes to us from the diets that work and those that don’t and the food theories and beliefs that come out every day that seem to be true but others not so much. For this reason, to clear up doubts, we have chatted with the doctor Joshua Wolrich, author of the book The Diet Trap to banish myths about whether food should be considered medicine, whether sugar is as harmful as it is painted to be or whether an alkaline diet cures diseases. In addition, it gives us the best clues to get a healthier and happier relationship with food and with our body. And the ultimate guide to stop trying to cut stuff out of your diet and focus on increasing your intake of the foods we know are really good for you.
FOOD IS NOT MEDICINE
We are used to seeing how in recent years food is considered as medicine. For example, we take vitamin C sometimes in large amounts and almost no one is usually deficient in this vitamin unless they don’t eat any fruits or vegetables. No one denies that what we eat can play a role in our well-being, but this does not deny the need for modern medicine. There is a big difference between preventing a disease and reducing the chance of it developing. Eating a healthy diet that is high in vegetables is good for our health and often ends up being low in saturated fat, which is one of the biggest dietary factors that benefit our risk of cardiovascular disease. But as the doctor assures us, “the reality is that there are many things and not just one influence our risk of developing cardiovascular diseases, and even more, something like cancer, so it is important to clarify that diet can reduce the risk , but it definitely doesn’t completely prevent it.”
VEGAN DIET OR MEDITERRANEAN DIET
The Mediterranean diet is probably more nutritionally balanced than the vegan diet, but what we choose to eat is influenced by much more than just nutritional content. And all this is very important for our diet and for our health in general. But what is true is that “the Mediterranean diet is often considered the gold standard from a nutritional point of view, but studies have shown that when the diet is copied in other areas of the world (outside the Mediterranean) you don’t see the same health benefits…suggesting it’s not just the nutrition itself, but the culture that surrounds it that’s important when it comes to our food.”
WHEN CARBOHYDRATES ARE NOT THE PROBLEM
Carbohydrates have been a demonized target, before it was fats. And it is that we are now in a stage in which the stigma of the weight is total and our sense of self-esteem is linked to the number of kilos that appear on the scale instead of accepting the fact that the weight in which we live. And it is that the weight as Joshua Wolrich assures “is influenced by more than 100 complex factors that interact and many feel better believing that carbohydrates are the problem even if they are not.”
SUGAR IS NOT AS BAD AS IT IS PAINTED
Sugar has simply been a source of energy in our diet but its global consumption has increased due to industrialization and changes in our food environment, although it is not as toxic or poisonous. “The main problem is that when we consume a lot of sugar, it is not only bad for our teeth, but it ends up displacing other, more nutrient-dense foods.”
ALKALINE DIETS DO NOT HEAL
As far as alkaline diets are concerned, Wolrich does not deny the benefits of certain foods that would fall into this category, but as he himself assures us, “we cannot change the pH of our body with food and this is a trend that we really do not It works,” he concludes.
COMMANDMENTS FOR A HEALTHY DIET
A healthy diet can be different depending on who you talk to and what is going on in your life at this particular time. But we should never blame ourselves for not being able to follow a diet to the letter. But we could summarize in these seven recommendations:
Eat more fruits and vegetables.
Eat more sources of fiber (cereals, seeds, nuts and legumes).
Include oily fish, lean white meat, eggs, and plant sources of protein (such as tofu).
Includes olive oil (extra virgin, if you can afford it).
Includes dairy (yogurt, milk and cheese).
Cut down on sugar, saturated fat, and red and processed meat.
Don’t even think about crushing yourself if there are days when you eat chips and sweets.
With information from Telva.