YOU ARE WHAT YOU EAT

On the one hand, we have probiotics, and on the other, prebiotics:

Probiotics are the actual bacteria in our gut; we can also provide them through our diet by eating yoghurt or kefir.

Prebiotics are foods (usually high in fibre) that act as nutrients for probiotics; they are found in whole grains, carrots, artichokes, asparagus, leeks, onions, garlic and soya.

If the microbiota is balanced, we feel good, happy, light and healthy.

It is said that eating well is an art; eating is one thing, feeding is another.

Eating the right proportion of nutrients that our body needs to function each day; a balance between proteins, carbohydrates and vegetables; and the amounts according to our activity and physical condition.

It is a mistake to think that if we eat salad every day and yoghurt for dinner, we are eating well; or if we eat meat every day for lunch and pizza for dinner.

We have to make sure that our daily dishes are three-coloured to ensure that we get all the food groups.

And it’s not a question of having a gift; it’s a question of sitting down and being inspired and learning about it, because we have to eat every day and for many years to come.

It is essential to sit down at the beginning of the week and plan the menus and the weekly shopping; to be able to have a variety of foods in our kitchens and thus guarantee balanced dishes; obviously we can improvise, sometimes it is when the most delicious and appetising recipes come out; but it is essential to ensure that each week we eat the right proportion of meat and fish, eggs, vegetables, pulses and essential and vital carbohydrates! And of course some indulgence? Who doesn’t enjoy a nice cup of chocolate with a croissant on a Sunday morning, or a sandwich with cocoa cream for an afternoon snack? And these small pleasures for our palate have to be there, because a very restrictive diet on the one hand, can trigger faults and emotional stress on the other hand.

Why have I already told you that food has a lot to do with our mood and emotional state as well?

And why is that?

Eating well feeds our good bacteria and they are responsible for generating chemicals, neurotransmitters, which carry messages from the gut to the brain relentlessly.

When this production of chemicals fails, mood is negatively affected; that’s why we need to take care of our gut for good mental health, energy and mood.

Have you ever come home after a stressful day and all you feel like is sweet food or a bag of crisps to calm you down?

Eating sugar or ultra-processed foods, such as crisps, pastries… cause a hormone called dopamine to be produced in large quantities; it is the hormone that generates the feeling of well-being, pleasure and motivation; but this is momentary; and that is where the loop begins; you are going to need more and more to avoid losing this feeling.

And what can we do to avoid creating this need? 

• maintain a balanced diet
• complete main meals; with the right amount of protein, fats and carbohydrates to satiate our bodies
• have a healthy microbiota; in this case, if it works well, it is in charge of producing this dopamine! This is why we have told you above about its importance and what to eat so that it is strong and can naturally produce this hormone that helps us to be satiated.

Even so, here are some foods that satiate you and avoid these peaks of cravings for sweets or snacking between meals:

– chocolate +85% dxC_

– Toast with dried fruit and banana cream

– Toast with avocado and sesame seeds

– Nuts and dried fruit

– Whole fruits: It is very important to successfully feel satiated by eating whole fruits instead of fruit juice, as a glass of juice may contain between 5 or 7 whole fruits, and to feel satiated you may have to drink about 2 glasses, which would be equivalent to at least 10 fruits. On the other hand, when eating whole fruit, we are satiated with one or two pieces, so we will be satiated with less sugar intake.

We have to be constant, educate our palate and our stomach well; you will have heard that we have a biological clock inside us, which, if it works correctly, tells us when we have to eat.

Habits are made; and how important it is to maintain an order with meals;

having breakfast after an overnight fast of between 8 and 10 hours.

main meal with a good supply of all the food groups and portions in accordance with the type of physical activity of each person.

lighter but not nutrient-depleted dinners

drink plenty of water during the day

And to all this, we must add sport and physical activity, which will stabilise our metabolism and help our body to better optimise the energy it obtains from food.

How important it is, the relationship between nutrition and good sports practice!

If you eat well, your workouts will be good for you! 

Metabolism is all the processes in our body, such as immunity, detoxification, hormonal balance, body temperature… if our metabolism is healthy, all these processes work properly; too much sport, especially too much cardio, cancels out the proper functioning of our metabolism; to compensate for this exercise, you need to eat well!

And to recapitulate; what does eating well mean? 

Eating high quality, locally and seasonally produced food, rich in nutrients and as minimally processed as possible; we understand that this does not mean eliminating food groups such as meat, dairy, carbohydrates ….. This can be confused with a super healthy diet, but in the long run, it will generate very important deficiencies that can lead to severe problems of malnutrition or metabolic dysfunction, due to a deficiency of essential nutrients, which end up with a lack of energy production, both for physical mobility and for our cells.

There are times or we may have some specific illnesses that require the elimination of some food groups, but only temporarily; once this is solved, we will be able to eliminate them.

There are times or we may have some specific illnesses that involve eliminating some food groups, but this is temporary; once the problem has been solved, we must introduce them again little by little, so as not to create an even bigger gap or other long-term deficiencies.

Remember; we are what we eat and our energy, our mood and state of mind, the vitality and light we give off, the quality of our skin, our nails and our hair; in short, our BEING depends on it!