We all know the slogans “eat, move” or “eat 10 fruits and vegetables a day”, but in concrete terms, how do you apply these good tips to have a healthy and balanced diet? We give you the 10 nutritional recommendations from ANSES the national food safety agency to change your bad habits.
Choosing the right fats
Eating fat is essential to being fit, having energy, and being healthy. But be careful, this does not mean eating fries, pizzas, and other fried foods at every meal! We must limit trans fats present in ultra-processed foods, which are responsible for bad cholesterol. Conversely, we must favor foods rich in good fats: omega 3. They are found in oily fish such as salmon, trout, herring, cod, mackerel, walnuts, flax, rapeseed, or hemp oils, nuts, chia seeds, cabbage, and eggs.
Fortunately, manufacturers and distributors are now making efforts on the composition of their products, like Intermarché, which is committed to helping the French eat better by improving more than 6,500 products within 5 years, both in terms of content and containers. To offer quality products, more durable, better for health and law, ays at the fairest price.
Limit sugars
Sugar, we often consume it without knowing it! We must therefore be careful not to have too much carbohydrate intake. Because, beyond the sugar cube that goes with coffee, we consume a lot, often without really being aware of the quantities we absorb. For example, a glass of apple juice (without added sugar) is equivalent to 5 sugar cubes (21g), a can of soda is equivalent to 9 sugar cubes (36g) and a flavored yogurt is equivalent to 5 sugar cubes (18g). We must not forget that unlike fat, sugar has no nutritional benefit because our body produces it naturally from proteins and fats ANSES therefore recommends limiting yourself to one glass of fruit juice or sugary drink per day, even for industrial juices that are 100% juice and without added sugar, to favor freshly squeezed juices that are richer in vitamins and to remember that a glass of fruit juice cannot be counted in the 5 fruits and vegetables per day.
Eat less meat
Even though our consumption is decreasing more and more each year, we still eat too much meat . Often at both lunch and dinner. ANSES recommends limiting ourselves to 500 g per week for beef, lamb, and pork,k. And for cold cuts, the recommendation is even more drastic, only 25 g per day (the equivalent of half a slice of ham). On the other hand, we should eat fish at least twice a week, alternating between oily fish (salmon, trout, sardines) and lean fish (cod, sole, ray, sea bass). On the other hand, we avoid preparing them smoked, salted fried, or cooked at very high temperatures because they no longer have much nutritional value.
Eat more legumes
Currently, we consume an average of 11g per day, which is still too little. An intake that is still too low. Legumes are a great source of fiber, protein, vitamins,, and minerals, they protect against diabetes, and heart disease and can,cer. So we don’t hesitate to include chickpeas, broad beans, split peas, white or red beans, and llentilsin our menu more often.
Eat more whole grains.
If we find cereals almost everywhere in our diet (flour, bread, rice, pancakes, breakfast cereals, pizza, pasta), it is more interesting to favor whole grains. They are much more filling than others and help avoid snackinthey containain more vitamins and minerals and improve digestive comfort . Finally, they would have a real impact on the reduction of chronic diseases such as diabetes or cardiovascular diseases.
Be careful, they must be consumed organic because whole grains are chemically treated for preservation.
Eat 10 fruits and vegetables a day.
For a long time, ANSES recommended eating at least 5 fruits and vegetables per day, a goal that was too low for many specialists. 5 portions of 80 g of fruits and vegetables only represent 400 g / day. We do not hesitate to set the bar a little higher to aim for 10 fruits and vegetables per day, by favoring vegetables in particular to limit sugar.
We rely on raw vegetables at the start of the meal (salad, green vegetables) which improve digestion thanks to the enzymes they provide.
Beware of pollutants
ANSES warns that there is a problem with chemicals… The Agency’s work has also highlighted the difficulty in identifying food combinations that can cover the nutritional needs of the population while limiting exposure to contaminants. For a limited number of contaminants, including inorganic arsenic, acrylamide,e and lead, exposure levels remain worrying. As mentioned in the conclusions of its recent opinions on total diet studies (EAT2, infant EAT), efforts to reduce the levels of contaminants of concern are therefore still necessary. They will ultimately ensure that the population’s food choices are governed by nutritional constraints and not by levels of contamination in the diet.
In short: if you eat more fruit and vegetables, the risk of chemical contamination becomes worrying. ANSES considers that there is no solution… except eating ORGANIC.
Get more sun
The French population is generally chronically deficient in vitamin D. To remedy this, we are relying on greater exposure to the sun (be careful, no UV cabins, which have just been confirmed to be harmful from the first minute) or we can turn to supplementation with food supplements.
Less cooking of strong
For some time now, rapid cooking at high temperatures has been increasingly discouraged because it degrades vitamins and trace elements and leads to the creation of toxic components.