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Re-Organize Your Diet
and improve your lifestyle
Cristian Ortile
Translated by Clarissa Cassels
âYou are free to choose your lifestyle but not the final resultâ
Herbert MacGolfin Shelton
Reorganize your Diet
All rights reserved. 2016
cristian.ortile@gmail.com
No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted without the prior permission of the publisher.
It is forbidden to reproduce to others this publication by any means
(photocopying, electronic) either free or by payment.
This manual offers information and interesting points in general, regarding health and the correct way of eating. Therefore it should not be a substitute to doctor's advice, in consideration of the vast diversity of people interested and the variety of diseases, and it does not intend to prescribe a diet that can suit anybody.
The publisher and the author accept no responsibility in the case of inappropriate use of information.
Introduction
If we want to improve ourselves the first thing we need to confront is our diet.
Why is this?
First of all a correct diet has a positive impact on our level of physical energy, on our life expectancy, on our mood and our concentration but it is also able to improve the quality of sleep and it has a more efficient effect to prevent (and cure) health issues.
Whatever our objective might be, to start practising a sport, to be more into our job, to have the right determination to reach a certain goal or simply to feel good within ourselves, the first step is to improve what we put into our body, because what we eat ends up becoming part of ourselves and if we eat badly sooner or later we feel unwell.
To eat in a healthy way nowadays has become more complicated than one might think; we can easily go to the supermarket next door and fill up our trolley with all sorts of food dictated by TV adverts that decide what is healthy.
But are these foods really healthy??
We are literally submerged by TV adverts and programs, newspaper articles, blogs and specialized magazines in which we are told what to eat or what not to eat, what makes us lose weight or not, leaving us even more confused.
We end up growing up with the wrong habits and our views of what is right or wrong to eat are just part of teachings and prejudices that we have built up over the years.
Really it's all quite unclear.
Therefore out of curiosity I started to read some books about diet and what at first left me perplexed is the contradictions of the experts among themselves, leaving one confused and not knowing what to cook.
Even the most famous scientists had different views so how could I see clearly?
The more I was reading books with opposite views, to my great surprise I realized that their views were not so distant from each other, it was just just that some theories were based more on the positive effects of a type of nourishment while other theories were advising against.
At the beginning the gap between the two ways of thinking seemed wide but the more I analysed the more it was coming closer like water passed through a funnel.
So motivated by the need to clarify myself I did an in-depth research through books, food and diet courses. Finally, from these, I concluded in describing the two most up-to-date and correct diets with advice for daily use, properties of each food and nutrients which are fundamental for us-
This is why this practical booklet was started.
Summary
Which diet to chose?
Nutritional Value
Our body, our car
Challenge n°1
2) Carbohydrates (what are they and what do they do?)
Complex carbohydrates
Gluten
Fruit and honey
Simple carbohydrates
Challenge n°2
3) Protein (what are they and what do they do?)
Protein structures
Vegetable protein
Animal protein
Today's farming
Meat
Milk
Eggs
Fish
Becoming a vegetarian
Challenge n°3
4) Fats (what are they and what do they do?)
Saturated fats
Unsaturated fats
Omega 3 and omega 6 fats
Hydrogenated fats
Challenge n°4
5) Vitamins Minerals and Fibre
Fruit and vegetables
Chart
When to eat them
The colours of fruit and vegetables
Spices
Food supplements
Anti nutrients
Challenge n°5
Carbohydrates and protein
Protein and protein
Carbohydrates and carbohydrates
Flour and yeast
Pulses and cereals
Eggs, meat and fish
Dairy
Vegetables
Fruit
Jam and cereals
Challenge n°6
Fresh produce
Frozen produce
Dry produce
Packaged and vacuum packed
Fermentation
Mistakes in preservation
Challenge n°7
8) Cooking food
Raw
Steamed
Stewed
Barbecue
Oven
Microwaved
Fried
Challenge n°8
The Food pyramid
Challenge n°9
10) Food Guide
Every day
In small quantity
2-3 times a week
1-2 times a week
Occasionally
Rarely
11) Organic and organic produce
Organic?
What to watch out for
Breakfast
Snacks
Lunch
Dinner
13) Basic rules
14) Part 2, Vegetarian Recipes
What to have in the house?
Easy and simple recipes
Breakfast
Lunch
Salads and sauces
Dinner
Sweets and puddings
Chapter 1
What diet to choose?
Nutritional value
Our body, our car
Challenge n°1
âThe majority of the food we eat is not the result of a choice but of influenceâ
Allen Carr
(It is easy to control weight if you know how to do it)
What diet to choose?
The Greek word 'diaitea', from which the word diet comes from, means lifestyle, therefore a dietary way of life that we human beings follow.
Nowadays, when we talk of diet we think of two to three months, maybe before the summer, in which period of time we follow a short regime with rules on what to eat or not to eat.
Very often the person that decides to lose weight decides on the basis of stories one hears or personal interpretations ending with no results or even worse causing a health risk. Moreover, the advent of the internet has contributed to the publication of many revolutionary diets mainly not scientifically based but only theoretical.
Nutritional value
When we buy a product we find on the packaging a list of the nutritional values of the food in question.
What are they and what is this for?
They are purely theoretical indications but a useful way to understand what we are eating and the positive or negative aspects of our diet. To start with we don't have a food composed just of carbohydrates or protein but we have a bit of both in every food. Therefore, the nourishment is considered carbohydrate if it is present in its majority and vice versa, if protein is in prevalence.
In the list below and in the food list under carbohydrates you always see written âof which sugarsâ and under fats âsaturated fatty acidsâ.This is because sugars and saturated fats are part of carbohydrates and fats that we have to watch for and limit their consumption.
When we say âothersâ we are talking about vitamins and minerals, other very fundamental elements for our health, which are present in small quantities in nearly all food and of fibre, especially present in vegetables to aid the functioning of the bowl.
It is now easy to understand that every food that we consume has positive and negative aspects to it.
It is not good enough to eat carbohydrates for lunch or proteins in the evening just because we hear it is the way to do it, we must be careful about the type of carbohydrates or proteins we eat.
The quantity of each nutrient varies according to the food, if it is from animal source there will be more proteins but also saturated fats, while vegetables will have more carbohydrates, water and more unsaturated fats (good âfatsâ)
Our body, our car
Our fuel is carbohydrate.
Anybody who has read any health or dietary book has found this assonance.
All very true and from here we already understand how fundamental carbohydrates are in giving us the energy we need to face the day ahead.
To simplify even further, let us pretend for a moment that our body is really like a car; carbohydrates are, like we said, our fuel, while proteins (the bricks which hold our body) are the luxurious interiors and the smart bodywork, while fats are the seat belts and the tyres and they are there to protect us.
All these elements are fundamental for the car to function and work properly.
No one is part more important than the other, but each must be seen in the right context.
One can have a new and beautiful car, with all the unimaginable security systems, but without fuel the car will not move. If we put in only a little fuel we would need to stop often for fuel. With too much fuel we would feel too heavy and if we introduce the wrong fuel we would need to go to the mechanic.
For this reason carbohydrates are the basis of a healthy diet, which should be 50-60% of what we usually eat. With these proportions the chances of the car breaking down are reduced.
Therefore if we don't take care of our car soon it will start getting ruined, with scratches and bumps, it will get rusty a little at the time and it would be too late to restore it to its original splendour.
To stop that from happening we need very little, a small bit of maintenance each day to keep it beautiful and sparkling and even if years go by the charm remains the same.
This short metaphor is to say that proteins are fundamental but are needed in much smaller quantities than we are made to believe. Each day they should make up 15% of what we eat.
Fats, on the other hand, are our safety systems; driving without safety belts or with worn tyres are a great risk to our health.
Good fats help to protect our body, while bad fats act against the good ones and put us at risk by making us more vulnerable.
They should constitute 30% of our food intake.
After this short lesson in mechanics let us now move on to getting to know these three fundamental nutrients, of which there are positive and negative aspects.
Challenge °1
At the end of each chapter we will find this section which presents the challenge to eat well and to carry it through to the end.
They can be taken as a weekly challenge and we can try to follow them throughout the week or as a daily challenge where we try to incorporate one of those meals that we are advised to take.
This first week we read this manual to get some idea of how it works, then from next week onwards we try to carry the weekly challenge on to the end of each chapter.
Chapter 2
Carbohydrates (what are they and what do they do?)
Complex carbohydrates
Gluten
Fruit and honey
Simple carbohydrates
Challenge n°2
âWe don't know either where our food comes from or where it ends up, we are provisional carriers, distracted consumers and most of the time not aware of it, the ultimate goal is our immediate satisfactionâ
Paola Maugeri
(My life at zero impact)
Carbohydrates
As already seen, whether it is a Mediterranean, oriental or vegetarian diet, a healthy diet is based on carbohydrates which are our the most important source of energy and should constitute 50-60% of what we eat.
During digestion all carbohydrates are broken down and transformed into glucose, which is simple sugar.
This, through hormones like insulin, is carried to the blood and it gives us the energy we need.
The level of sugar in the blood (so called glycaemia) must remain constant to avoid ailments and health issues in the future, for example diabetes.
Carbohydrates can be divided into two types: complex (starch) and simple carbohydrates (sugars).
Complex carbohydrates release sugars into the blood in a slow and gradual way, giving us constant energy, meanwhile simple carbohydrates have a fast release and cause our energy levels to fluctuate rapidly, making them go up and down very quickly, creating a dangerous escalation for our health.
Complex Carbohydrates
Our diet must be based on complex carbohydrates.
We are talking about whole wheat cereals, even better if in the form of grains, as a whole, so to maintain their nutritional properties, otherwise lost in the process of refining.
Grain, or wheat, that we normally consume as pasta, bread and pizza, is the main cereal in our diet and it is an optimum food to be consumed wholemeal because the refining process that produces white flour impoverishes the nutritional value of the wheat.
Moreover grain is full of minerals and anti anaemic agents.
On the other hand, being the most popular, it is also the most manipulated type of grain, so it is advisable to insert in the diet varied types of organic and wholemeal wheat.
There are many types of cereals and it is important to vary them each day, because there are many different nutritional values that complement each other giving our body all the necessary nutrients.
In addition, if we eat the same food every day a form of addiction is created which causes less nutritional advantages because our body becomes too accustomed to it, with the risk of becoming intolerant in the future (such as with gluten-rich foods).
Every cereal contains optimum nutritional values, is rich in minerals and vitamins and has good quantities of protein.
Rice, also well known, is better as wholemeal, is good for losing weight and is easily digestible, likewise quinoa, a cereal with a high protein content and rich in calcium and millet which is cleansing and rich in minerals.
Spelt is suitable for sporty types as it contains few calories but helps to increase muscle mass and it invigorates muscles, as oats do, which are a great strengthener. Also we have barley which is refreshing and beneficial to the nervous system, and then there is rye which stimulates the metabolism and is energising.
Amaranth, good for the heart and liver, buckwheat (that, in spite of the name, is not actually a grain but for its characteristics is associated as one) is warming and mineralising.
Last but not least we have kamut, which is an ancestor of wheat, and maize, another well-known cereal, with relaxing properties that is used mainly to make polenta flour or sweets, and to make gluten-free pasta, as rice, millet, amaranth, quinoa and buckwheat can also do.
Recent developments have also shown that also oats are to be considered gluten-free although up to not long it was considered to be a cereal containing some gluten likely due to the fact that when it was cultivated it became contaminated with wheat, rye and spelt
Dehusked or pearled grain?
Pearled grain goes through a kind of process of refinery that takes away the outermost coat, while the ones that are de-husked are simply picked as they come, and so they are to be preferred to pearled grain.
If however we consume food coming from farms that use chemical fertilizers (to be avoided in any case!) it is better to favour the pearled grain as most of the chemical residue is found on the external husk.
Another advantage of pearled grain is that it does not require soaking as other types of cereals do.
Gluten
The graph shows the average amount of gluten content of various cereals. Wheat contains the greatest quantity.
Gluten is the wheat protein. The name comes from gluten which means 'glue' and it is the gluey part of the grain, the part that with a bit of water holds the flour together during the preparation of bread and pizza.
Some cereals without gluten might state on the package âMay contain glutenâ due to the fact that it is produced industrially in a factory where other types of cereal are also produced and runs the risk of coming into contact with other grains or flours that do contain gluten, for example a production line that works on other cereals.
For those who are intolerant even to the tiniest contact, this can bring about nasty side effects such as cramps and intestinal pains.
Then there are those who are not so sensitive to the ingestion of this protein in tiny amounts, but if taken in regularly they can be left feeling tired, drowsy and bloated.
Even those who do not have an intolerance should however reduce consumption, because consumption every day year in year out increases the risk of becoming intolerant.
If we have to avoid gluten, we should not only be aware of food containing this protein, such as crackers, bread sticks and rusk, but also anything with a breaded covering such as cutlets of meat or fish, fried food and even many vegetarian foods that are usually prepared with soya or wheat.
Not to forget beer, which contains malt in other words barley and certain liquors. We need to be careful with puddings, biscuits, certain types of ice cream and yoghurt and try to find gluten-free alternatives or prepare delicious dishes.
It could be trying to start with, but there are always more and more gluten-free products coming onto the market, clearly marked as such on the packaging, so you don't have to waste time at the supermarket, and once you have got the correct product in your hand things are a lot more simple.
Even if we are not gluten intolerant it is best to limit its consumption but not cut it out altogether.
Honey and Fruit
Fruit can also be considered a carbohydrate as it contains fructose, which is a sugar that is naturally present in it. Fructose consumption does not cause glycemic peaks, because like all natural things it is balanced. However it is best not to exaggerate its consumption and, if we had to choose between the two we would include it with the complex carbohydrates.
On the other hand honey is assimilated rapidly, it has excellent properties but high quantities of fructose, so it is best not to have too much of it. It is, however, certainly better to use than sugar.
Simple Carbohydrates
Simple carbohydrates rapidly release sugar into the blood causing sudden fluctuations of glycemia.
This results in dangerous peaks and the consequent collapses of energy, causing weakness, hunger, a longing for sugar and coffee, which in the long run causes weight gain and for whom is predisposed, diabetes.
Sugar is quintessentially a simple carbohydrate; it is easily and quickly digested, creating the above mentioned fluctuations.
Bread and pasta, which we regularly consume, are also derived from white flour.
We include in the same category biscuits, sweets and sugary drinks, that should not be consumed too often.
In addition, having lost all the valuable nutrients in the refining process, pasta is less filling and we then tend to eat a lot more of white pasta than wholemeal pasta, consequently gaining weight.
For this reason diets that avoid carbohydrates and prefer proteins are fashionable at the moment, but this is a big mistake because as we will see in the chapter on proteins, an excess of simple carbohydrates causes weight gain and in the long run problems with the liver and kidney.
As with all things one has to make compromises.
Be careful also with caffeine and tobacco; they also cause glycemic fluctuations.
To sum up; the refining process that foods are subjected to causes a loss in their nutritional value.
Challenge °2
As we have learnt, most of the food we consume is a result of a lengthy process of refinery which makes it more tasty but decreases the nutritional value, so we risk not only in failing to maintain our ideal weight, but also, even worse, developing problems with our health.
The first challenge consists of substituting, every so often, the foods which we are used to eating with wholemeal foods such as bread and pasta.
At first we might not like them, as we are accustomed to a more delicate flavour, but it is just a question of developing new habits.
So consider opting for whole wheat bread and pasta, or variants like kamut pasta or spelt, or something new we want to try. We can also try to substitute every now and again rice salad with grains of spelt, millet, oats or amaranth and experiment with new varieties and new flavours that are beneficial to our organism.
Chapter 3
Protein (what are they and what do they do?)
Protein structures
Vegetable protein
Animal protein
Today's farming
Meat
Milk
Eggs
Fish
Becoming a vegetarian
Challenge n°3
âThe extreme aversion that some adults and many children show towards meat of any type is attributed to Fitch and an atavistic tendency, namely a primitive survival instinct from our prehistoric ancestors who did not eat meatâ
John Harvey Kellog
Protein
Proteins are the structural elements of living organs, meaning that they are the materials that make up cells; they are in fact composed of protein muscle and some of our organs.
Every day the proteins that we ingest are used to reconstruct our cells, produce hormones and antibodies, but, contrary to what we are used to thinking, the nutritional basic need of man is limited when it comes to protein. Protein, in fact, should make up only 10-15% of our daily food intake because it can influence our health and how we age.
The fact is, if an excess of carbohydrate is turned into fat, the protein does not get stored; whatever there is in excess gets expelled, forcing the liver and kidneys to work hard: In the long run, this tires them out and damages them, leading to illness and problems of various types.
For this reason an excessive consumption of protein is destructive, and in addition certain types of protein from animal sources are more acidic and difficult to digest.
For this reason acidification makes us more tired, with inflammation and an increase in free radicals, which are substances to be found in food that can cause various types of illnesses, early ageing and baldness (we will talk about this in our final paragraph).
It is scientifically proven that our needed daily intake is very limited and that it is more than sufficient to take 0,75 gr of proteins for every kg of body mass; so if we weigh 75kg, our daily protein need is about 56 gr of proteins.
In conclusion, therefore, we can say that it is not the lack of proteins that is a problem but the opposite - an excess of them.
Protein structures
Proteins are molecules made up of chains of amino acids, of which there are twenty in total. Eleven of these are not that fundamental to our body because our body produces some on its own, while the other nine are essential because we can only get them through food (two in reality are semi-essential because they are only important during our growing phase).
Proteins are divided into animal protein and vegetable protein.
Animal protein contains all the essential amino acids while the vegetable ones, although containing all of the twenty, can have little or few of the essential elements.
For this reason meat has always been considered as providing a complete source of protein.
The essential amino acids present in cereals and dry fruit complement themselves with the amino acids present in pulses; therefore, their complete characteristic is calculated on the basis of our daily intake and not on a single meal. The problem, however, does not exist for vegetarians that follow a balanced diet (in addition spelt and quinoa contain all the essential amino acids and if we eat pasta and beans, for example, we would have a dish with all the amino acids required.)
Recent studies, moreover, indicate that glutenin (a protein present in cereal seeds) contains all the essential amino acids as are present in animal protein. It goes without saying that the myth of complete or incomplete protein no longer exists.
Vegetable proteins
As we have just seen, proteins from vegetable origins present in pulses (beans, peas, chickpeas, lentils, soya, broad beans) can be considered incomplete, missing of one or more of the essential amino acids, but as we have just mentioned the magic aspect of nature is that they complete themselves with dry fruit proteins and cereals giving us a guaranteed necessary daily protein dosage.
The most difficult part to digest in pulses is their skin, the dry ones need to be soaked (between 8 to 10 hours) then cooked for a long time to make them soft and more digestible.
Adding carrots, celery, onions and alba kombu during cooking makes it all the more digestible.
Spices also come to the rescue; ginger, for example, aids digestion, while oregano and basil help to avoid feeling bloated.
Dried fruit and seeds are also a good source of proteins.
So, if we choose to follow a vegetarian diet there are fundamental foods to include in our alimentary regime.
Lentils are certainly the pulses that contain the least fat, peas provide energy and are perfect for sporty types, beans are rich in fibre, chickpeas are rich in minerals and broad beans full of antioxidants.
Soya bean on the other hand is the pulse with the highest protein value and it comes into use for a wide variety of dishes in vegetarian cooking, being in the form of milk, yoghurt, burgers and cutlets. Let's not fall into the trap of exaggeration; we must always vary our food. If we drink soya milk followed by soya yoghurt, later on a soya cutlet and finish with a soya dessert we are more or less eating the same food but in different forms.
