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Eating well is important. And you have to pay attention to wrong habits, which are often not associated with a valid state of well-being and can even be harmful to the world around us. For this, in addition to remembering how important the weight control body and a valid support to the metabolism, it should be borne in mind that certain attitudes, perhaps even in fashion, do not have a particular meaning.
This was remembered by the experts of the Italian Association of Dietetics and Clinical Nutrition (ADI), which updated the five nutrition recommendations aimed at the population and professionals, in which incorrect practices are identified, and at the same time more widespread, associated with nutrition, with no health benefits. The cultural initiative is part of the campaign “Doing more does not mean doing better – Choosing Wisely Italy” promoted in Italy by the association of professionals and citizens Slow Medicine for a sober, respectful and fair treatment.
Fasting, abstinence and diagnosis of behaviors only on the recommendation of the doctor
The first report is very simple. Don’t focus on “do it yourself” when you decide to eliminate a certain food or group of foods. These are specific nutritional approaches for certain pathologies and only the doctor can recommend them. Experts recall how the examples are many and widespread: diets that exclude certain foods (carbohydrates, gluten, fats, lactose, animal proteins, etc.), dietary approaches based on presumed food intolerances (not diagnosed by scientifically validated methods), or groups blood vessels, or Paleolithic diets or intermittent fasts or continuous.
These dietary approaches can provoke damage to health and nutritional deficiencies and do not solve the problem of obesity, but rather favor eating disorders. The advice is to contact your doctor or a specialist in the sector. For this reason, it is necessary to avoid turning to professionals who are not experts in the diagnosis and treatment of eating disorders, only specialized or competent health care teams belonging to different disciplines can take care of these serious pathologies in a multidisciplinary way.
ADI nutritionists remember that these pathologies can affect the mental and physical health of the person, altering the social and relational sphere. THE abnormal eating behaviors more frequent in these diseases are: food restriction (drastically reducing nutrition, as in anorexia nervosa); binge eating (as in binge eating disorder) and using practices to compensate for calories, such as self-induced vomiting, drug abuse, and excessive exercise (as in bulimia nervosa).
The right attention to others and to the world
In addition to advising against the extensive and indiscriminate use of vitamin and mineral supplements as preventive factors for cancer and cardiovascular disease, the experts recall that the real effective prevention is represented by correct lifestyle habits: healthy eating, physical activity, smoking cessation and limitation of alcohol use. Another important point: we must not blame those who are obese, at any age. The last “rule” reminds us not to follow Western-style diets with a high environmental impact. Only healthy eating patterns such as, for example, the Mediterranean diet can guarantee the physical health of individuals and the planet.
The recommendation addresses the impact of eating patterns not only on our health but also on that of the environment. In fact, food has a bearing on environmental resources, in terms of water, soil, energy consumption, as well as gas production, acidification and eutrophication. The “Western diets” (rich in refined foods, animal fats, sugars and low in fiber) are those that carry the greatest environmental burden, as well as those that favor the onset of metabolic, cardiovascular and oncological diseases.
The other way around, “Healthy diets” (mainly plant-based – whole grains, legumes, vegetables, fruit – with good fish content, moderate amounts of meat – preferring white to red ones – and with vegetable fats) have the advantage of being protective for the health of individuals and more respectful of the resources used for the production of the food to be consumed. By reducing the meat consumption e increasing that of fruit, vegetables, whole grains, legumes and fish we therefore bring important benefits both to our health and to that of the planet.
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