Wellbeing Lifelong

“The diet of eating… well”. That’s how the Spanish author defines her principles when it comes to nutrition.

This is my favourite book about the subject, and Patricia Pérez is not even a certified nutritionist! Her tone, warm and funny; the way in which she explains how our body works and how the different types of food interact with it, makes it a joy to read, while learning and laughing on the way.

Her passion for health and well-being is contagious and by the end of it, I started to make healthier food choices just based on factual information. When you know the answer behind the WHY, it is much easier to live a healthy lifestyle, and this is what this book did for me.

Things I learnt: Give your body the nutrients that it needs, in the shape that it is easier for your organs to digest and absorb. It is not about counting calories or restricting yourself. Better eating habits make you healthy first, and being healthier makes you lose weight as a result.

Thumbs up! To put it simple: Feeding your body with healthy food helps you to come back to your healthy weight.

• Natural and quality food (no processed)
• Good fats and proteins
• Fruit and veg, ideally from the season
• Whole grains – As Wikipedia says, a whole grain is a cereal grain that contains the germ, endosperm, and bran, in contrast to refined grains, which retain only the endosperm.

Thumbs down! These types of food produce toxic molecules that take longer time to dissolve, which stresses our cells and makes it harder for them to clean up our body from artificial stuff.

• Saturates and refined foods
• Fizzy or artifical drinks
• Cold cooked meat – pork, salami, chorizo, bacon, sausage, ham… Those are not ideal, especially for cellulitis. Unfortunately, as a proper Spaniard, I love them! So I try to keep the intake low and go for prosciutto and cooked ham for my breakfasts – which have less additional preservatives
• (Too much) Red meat

Other tips…

• Eat slowly and chew, chew, chew
• Do not ‘cold down’ your stomach with cold drinks when you are eating or digesting
• Exercise moderately – a 30 minute walk can be enough