FOR THE PAST FEW YEARS, THERE HAS BEEN A TREND OR AWARENESS OF EATING WELL. IT WOULD PERHAPS BE WISER TO SAY THAT THE AWARENESS OF MANY HAS LED TO A FAD THAT MANUFACTURERS HAVE HASTENED TO TAKE ON THEIR OWN.
I believe I have always eaten well, in the sense that industrial food had no place on our table when I was a child. We always made everything home, from the bread to the snacks to the dishes or the dressing for the salad. We always made sure to give pride of place to fruits and vegetables and provide us with a balanced diet on a daily basis.
So sure white flour and white sugar were the only ones used, but who knew about unrefined foods in the 80s? Apart from a few people considered crazy, these products were not widespread and organic stores were very rare. It was not until I was 20, 25 years ago that we started to learn about the impact of food on our body. The internet was not well developed, but journals are our friend. So we read, read a lot to understand what types of foods to promote to feel good every day ! Whole meal flour and unrefined sugar have made their way into my kitchen. The more years went by, the more we understood which products to favor .
What type of food to favor?
THE RULE IS VERY SIMPLE: WE MUST FAVOR THE LEAST PROCESSED PRODUCTS . THE CLOSER THEY ARE TO THEIR RAW STATE, THE BETTER THEY ARE.
Because each transformation causes them to lose part of their nutritional value: fewer vitamins and fewer nutrients… Our body needs some elements from us on a daily basis, and this is done through food. So avoid ready-made dishes to heat in the microwave.
The ideal is obviously to consume fresh products every day . But let’s not kid ourselves, our pace of life does not often allow it. We don’t have time to go to the market every day. We buy our vegetables once a week and we try to prepare as much as possible on weekends for the week. We freeze tomato purees or sauces and wash and cut our vegetables for quick preparations on weekdays.
Canning, for or against ?
For , but with good reason. They represent a small part of our cupboard: legumes or tomato pulp for example. Making an express hummus with a tin can still turn out to be faster than soaking our chickpeas the day before and leaving them to cook for at least 1 hour. Canned foods can help out and avoid eating unhealthy products.
The importance of labels Before buying a product, check its composition : the most important food that composes it takes the first place in the list. If in a cookie you have sugar, put the package back. If in a can, you have 10 ingredients, go your way. You don’t need any app to check if the product is good or not, just a little common sense . For example, jam is rated very poorly on certain applications because it generally contains half of sugar. And this is usually quite normal. But let’s be real, you are not going to spread half the pot!
Organic, yes or no?
We will say a big YES for my part, but with some reservations. We say NO to organic products that come from the other side of the planet because the standards are different from one country to another and we are not sure that they are well respected in certain countries. We say NO to over-packaged organic products from supermarkets because respect for the environment is a big part of our life.
Finally, we say NO to certain products that are protected by their envelope or very little treated (such as bananas), which will allow you to spend less. But we say YES because the amount of pesticides present in some products is scary.
The apple, for example, contains around thirty chemicals. As a reminder, an endocrine disruptor prevents the proper development of the hormonal system. It has adverse effects on growth and reproduction. So yes, the price of organic is sometimes very high. And despite what some may say, some people cannot afford this type of purchase. It’s not a choice between eating out or shopping, it’s just a matter of survival.
So simply do your best. You also have small producers in certain regions who offer untreated products that are not labeled organic . And their products are very good, Seasonal fruits and vegetables we believe that this is also a matter of common sense. If nature has decided to offer us tomatoes and zucchini only in summer, there is a reason. The needs of our organism differ from season to season. Summer or winter fruits and vegetables do not offer the same vitamins and nutrients. In addition, the environmental impact of consuming products out of season is catastrophic, regions having been devastated by greenhouse production of tomatoes or strawberries in Spain, to name just this country. And finally, these products are expensive when they are offered outside their season.
Conclusion
No need to direct yourself to complicated products that you will not know how to use because you have seen them advertised on social networks. No need to prepare complicated dishes to eat well. No need to frustrate yourself by forgetting to please yourself. Consume with common sense and especially homemade . Make it simple but good. A homemade cookie with sugar and white flour will always be better than an industrial product full of additives. Choose homemade , diversify your diet to benefit from the nutritional qualities of all foods and you will end up feeling good every day!
