7 tips to change your approach to eating
On the occasion of World Nutrition Day, we reached out to our nutritionists for advice on how to change our approach to eating. Every year since 1979, 16th October has been World Nutrition Day, established by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations to raise awareness of hunger-related issues and promote action for a better future for food, people and the planet. This year's motto is "Water is life, water is food".
Despite the original idea of World Nutrition Day, we are currently facing paradoxically opposite challenges in the Czech Republic, as Mgr. Erika Čermáková, a PhD student at the Institute of Public Health, Masaryk University Faculty of Medicine. "One of the main problems is the excess consumption of foods with low nutritional value but high energy content. The long-term unfavourable trend of increasing numbers of people with obesity carries with it a number of health risks and potentially life-threatening complications," says Dr. Čermáková.
She believes it is essential that our diets are not only planet-friendly, but also beneficial to our health. And although her own work focuses on the topic of intermittent fasting, she believes that instead of extreme approaches, we should favour gradual and sustainable changes in our diet and approach to eating.
How do we do that? Here are 7 recommendations
Plan ahead
Before you go shopping, it's a good idea to review your household supplies and only buy food that you actually need and can use in the preparation of your pre-planned meals. If you go shopping with a shopping list, you can more easily limit your purchases to less suitable foods and focus on foods that are more beneficial to your health. Keep food in your fridge and pantry sorted by expiration date so that food you've already bought doesn't escape your attention and you don't waste food unnecessarily.
Prefer local food
When preparing meals, it is advisable to choose local and seasonal foods that do not burden our planet with long transport times and support local agricultural production. This choice can have a positive impact on dietary diversity, which is one of the important factors in ensuring that all the necessary nutrients are available.
Cook at home
If you cook your own food at home, you can arrange your meals for several days in advance and reduce buying ready-made restaurant meals sold in plastic boxes. At home, you can use reusable plastic boxes to divide food into multiple portions and avoid throwing away leftovers. It also makes it easier to control the composition of your meals, which can be more reflective of your current nutritional needs.
Reduce waste
When visiting a restaurant, bring a food box with you. If the portion is too big for you, you don't have to force yourself to eat it. You can pack some of the food and take it away. When reheating home-cooked food, always reheat the portion you plan to eat. This avoids unnecessary food waste and also allows you to eat the exact portion you plan to consume.
Grow your own fruit and vegetables
If you have the opportunity, you can start growing your own fruit and vegetables. This will not only ensure that you get enough nutritionally rich food, but also create an opportunity to engage in the natural physical activity that is typical of the inhabitants of the so-called blue zones, where the inhabitants live long lives. Food grown in this way does not have to travel halfway around the world for you and you can avoid any packaging of food before consumption.
Drink tap water
In most places in the Czech Republic, tap water is of high quality and puts less strain on our environment than drinks packaged in PET bottles. In addition, it will benefit our health if our drinking regime consists mainly of water and we can give up sweetened or alcoholic drinks.
Focus on a varied diet rich in plant-based food sources
You don't have to become vegan right away to save the planet. Meat and other animal products are important in our diets, and simply skipping them can carry a number of health risks. To reduce the overall production of animal foods, think about getting enough whole grains, which are rich in fibre, in your diet. This not only affects hunger but also regulates the amount of nutrients absorbed, which can be beneficial when trying to reduce weight. It is also important to think about consuming sufficient amounts of fruits and vegetables throughout the day, which, in addition to fiber, are rich in vitamins, minerals and other bioactive nutrients. We should not forget about legumes, which can appear on our plate several times a week. To reduce the overall consumption of animal products, it may be easier to go meat-free one or more days a week.
