The holidays are over and it’s time to get back on a diet – here are the best tips from the experts
A new year has begun, and the time of the holidays is now behind us. If between Christmas and New Year we let ourselves go to some excess at the table, now we just have to get back in line and go back to a healthy and balanced diet, to preserve our well-being (and lighten the balance). In fact, paying attention to what we eat is the first step to staying healthy.
Diet against iron deficiency
There are many women who suffer from iron deficiency, a frequent condition especially at certain times in life. Not everyone knows, in fact, that during menstruation or in the period of gestation our body requires large quantities of this precious mineral. Having low levels of iron in the blood leads to symptoms such as tiredness, paleness, irritability, brittle nails and hair, greater vulnerability to infections. Proper nutrition can help avoid this problem, but which foods are richest in iron?
It is well known that red meat is one of the main sources of this element, however there are many other foods that we can include in our diet. Chicken and turkey, fish, oysters and clams are, for example, other animal products that provide good amounts of iron. While the vegetable foods that contain the most are legumes (in particular lentils, beans, peas and soy), spinach and tofu. It is also good to remember that, to improve the absorption of this mineral, it can be combined with a source of vitamin C.
Bitter food diet: what it is for
Radicchio, chicory and radishes, but also tea and coffee: all these foods have a particularly bitter taste in common, but this shouldn’t make us stop bringing them to the table. They are in fact rich in benefits for the body, as Angela Bassoli (associate professor of organic chemistry and the molecular basis of taste at the University of Milan) reveals. In some cases, the bitter taste is derived from precious substances such as polyphenols, important antioxidants that fight the formation of free radicals and protect against cardiovascular disease.
Bitter foods are also useful for weight loss: they stimulate the secretion of cholecystokinin, a hormone capable of determining the sense of satiety. By regulating your appetite, these foods can help you eat less at mealtimes, dampening the sense of hunger. Finally, at the intestinal level, they reduce gas formation and improve their expulsion, thus reducing abdominal swelling.
Vegetarian diet: because it prolongs life
Choosing to exclude products such as meat and fish from your diet can have many health benefits. The vegetarian diet, as long as it is well balanced, has in fact proved to be a cure-all on many occasions. To talk about it are the experts of the SSNV (Scientific Society of Vegetarian Nutrition), who answer the numerous questions regarding this type of diet. Is it really useful for the organism, so much so that it can be said that it extends life? And how can you adopt a diet that excludes products of animal origin?
The vegetarian diet allows at the same time to consume a greater quantity of plant foods, which provide valuable nutrients for health, and to eliminate the intake of substances – often present in animal foods – which can increase the risk of developing diseases such as hypertension. , obesity and diabetes. According to several studies, this type of diet even reduces the incidence of some forms of cancer. The important thing is that this dietary regime is balanced, so that you do not run into dangerous deficiencies.
