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Do you live to eat or eat to live?
-Debasish Mridha
WE ALL WANT TO LIVE FOR A LONG time and enjoy radiant health. The simple solution is to adopt a healthy diet to put the odds on our side! Even Hippocrates, the father of modern medicine, said: "Let your food be your medicine, and your medicine, your food." Unfortunately, under the influence of our environment and with the industrial food, we have more or less lost this ability to separate the wheat from the chaff.
We are looking for the magic potion or the miracle diet that will have beneficial effects on our body. However, the recent advances in nutrition tend towards this conclusion: there is no universal solution, because we all have a different background and environment. Because of that, it is difficult to prove that such a product will have such effect on us. The key to the well-being of our organ is a wide variety of fresh and colorful products, from all groups of food that are sure to meet the needs and tastes of all of us.
One of the most important discoveries of the last decade is that of the gut as the second brain of the body. This ultrasensitive organ, which scientists have not finished exploring, has over 100,000 billion bacteria in contact not only with the immune system but also with the nervous system. They form the intestinal micro-biota, commonly called the intestinal flora, which has recently been considered by the scientific community as an organ. It bears a signature as unique as our DNA or our fingerprints. Inside our intestines, each has its own cocktail of warlike, allied and enemy bacteria, which react to everything we eat.
Among the main functions of our friendly bacteria: they help the digestion of food, promote the work of the immune system and signal the brain, for example in case of imbalance of the intestinal flora or to signal satiety.
A varied gut micro-biota is a guarantee of good health. But as age and our environment can impoverish it and, as a result, reduce our defenses against disease, we gain from giving it what it needs to remain effective. The more rich and diverse the intestinal flora, the better the immune system will tolerate beneficial microbes and eliminate organisms or pathogenic bacteria as quickly as possible.
If a simple magic wand fails to change our intestinal flora, there are however simple and foolproof solutions, starting with the addition to our menu of protective foods for the body. With a review of our habits at the table and taking supplements, we will quickly make a flourishing progress with our health.
Health and nutrition experts reiterate that it is good to eat vegetables and fruits, which are rich in vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and water. The more colorful and varied they are, the better we protect our cells against free radicals and cancer. As a bonus, they are low in calories, which helps maintain our healthy weight.
Other strong fighters against healthy glitches is dietary fiber. They are found in vegetables and fruits, but also in whole grain products, as well as in legumes. They are not digested by our body, but rather form a gel (in the case of soluble fiber) or a sponge (insoluble fiber). They absorb water and release nutrients, such as fats and sugars, more slowly, which helps prevent diabetes and cholesterol.
Do not neglect, proteins! They are essential for the preservation of our musculature, which needs reinforcement as we get older. They are found in meat, but also in its substitutes, such as eggs, legumes and tofu.