2022 is the year of balance! The one where you will orient your food choices for your health, to feel good and to move forward! Here are 10 very practical tips to answer the question “How do I reach my ideal weight?” “
Do it little by little and you will see, good habits will quickly set in and the game is really worth the effort!
1. Drink well
I know that you’ve heard before. But do you really do it? Our body needs 2 to 2.5 liters of water per day to work well. A part is brought to us by what we eat, but we must also drink between 1 liter and 1.5 liters per day (apart from any medical problem).
A larger amount is of little use except diluting the urine. Fortunately, the thirst is a mechanism Automatique which lets us know when our body needs water.
This is much less true for infants who cannot express their thirst, and the elderly who tend to lose this feeling.
And contrary to popular belief, we can drink at any timeeven while eating. All drinks can help cover our water needs: coffee, tea, infusions, flavored water, etc.
Their selection may however be determined by other criteria, such as their intake of minerals and trace elements. And remember to vary your waters!
2. Compose my meals to know how to reach my ideal weight
When composing your meals, it’s important to keep track of the protein, carbohydrates, and fat you eat.
However, these proportions are important to guarantee a balanced diet. For several years now, with my nutritionist and epidemiologist colleagues, we have been evaluating what are the nutritional reports most suited to our way of life.
It emerges from this that, to have a so-called balanced diet that meets the needs of your body, you should consume daily:
- 50% carbohydrates,
- 35% lipids,
- 15% protein.
However, a small downside should be added for sugars. In fact, in recent years, it has been considered that simple sugars should not exceed 10% of the overall calorie intake.
In addition, the daily caloric needs of a man are estimated at 2400 kcal, against 2000 kcal for a woman. It is important to clarify that these figures are averages, but keep them in mind, this gives you some idea
3. Maintain your intestinal flora
Prebiotics are the product of plant fibers present especially in plants, which have the particularity of being the source of the formation of probiotics, these bacteria of the intestinal flora essential to life.
Not degraded during digestion, they arrive intact in the colon where they stimulate the growth of “good bacteria”, probiotics, like a fertilizer.
Prebiotic fiber is mainly found in the form of fructans (in barley, asparagus, artichokes, for example) or resistant starches (in bananas, legumes, rice or potatoes).
Probiotics are mainly lactic ferments and microorganisms of which there are more than 1000 different species in our intestinal flora, also called “Microbiota”.
The best known are the famous Lactobacillus, Bifidobacterium and Saccharomyces. Naturally present in yoghurts or fermented milk, but also in sauerkraut or olives for example, probiotics can be added to other foods or sold as food supplements such as yeast.
They prevent intestinal porosity, They activate the immune system, and they regulate the immune response. You see, you have no reason to deprive yourself of it.
4. Favor seasonal fruits and vegetables
That you are encouraged to eat more fruits and vegetables may seem trivial to you, or even repetitive because you have known for a long time the boring slogan of “5 fruits and vegetables a day”.
This strong message simply prompts you to consume it every day and in fact at least 500g raw and / or cooked, which is actually easy to achieve!
5. Limit snacking
If you are hungry or the wait between two meals is too long, you can definitely set up snacks in the morning and in the afternoon by shifting the milk and / or the fruit of a meal.
If the hunger is too present, you can nibble on sticks of raw vegetables at will: carrots, radishes, celery, cauliflower, cherry tomatoes, pickles … without adding fat.
Make sure you always have it available. Also consider coffee, tea and sugar-free infusions that can stave off hunger! Also sort in the cupboards to limit temptations.
And if you have a craving without feeling hungry, keep your mind busy:
- tidy up your surroundings, watch one of your favorite series, read, listen to music, get the mail, go for a walk …
- or brush your teeth: the strong minty taste will alter the flavor of the food and you will naturally stop your snacking.
You see, there are some very simple tips available to you.
6 – Limit alcohol
Alcohol is a food insofar as it provides energy, but we forget to say that the ethanol it contains is one of the first recreational drugs that man has invented. It acts a bit like a psychotropic drug. The alcohol, it’s empty calories that make you gain weight
However, medicine today agrees that wine, consumed in limited quantities (one glass per day), will lower bad cholesterol and protect the heart.
The fact remains that alcohol presents three major problems:
- 1 g of ethanol provides 7 kcal, which places it just behind lipids.
- ethanol increases the ability to eat, as it has a disinhibiting effect.
- ethanol, unlike sugars, which are expended by muscle, is only expended in the form of heat, except when it is converted into lipids and sugars.
This is why I advise Members of the Savoir Leander program, if they want to consume a glass of wine, to consume it as a replacement for a piece of fruit (or to consider it as a gap to be “managed”). This is what I call a “Pleasure equivalence”.
As for alcoholic cocktails, they have the disadvantage of adding a little more sugar to those already brought to the body by ethanol.
7 – Better read labels
When you buy a packaged product, its composition must appear on the packaging as well as its nutritional value. It is mandatory. I strongly urge you to favor the products with the shortest ingredient list.
The longer the list, the more likely you are to find yourself with a product that will contain additives, preservatives, dyes … although their consumption is not toxic, they are often a sign of bad quality.
And I remind you: the first ingredient in the list is the food most present in the composition. For example, it is common to see cereal bars with sugar as the first ingredient … While we expect to have the cereal first. You see, you have to be vigilant.
I assure you that the reflex of reading the labels really helps to be aware of what you are consuming. Think about it!
8 – Take 5000 steps per day minimum
5,000 steps a day is a minimum. Why ? because below 5000 steps per day, you are considered “sedentary”, that is to say that you do not move enough. It is above these 5,000 steps that you become active.
To give you an idea, a daily walk of 30 min will be enough for you to reach these 5000 steps. It’s a benchmark, I know a lot of you move around a lot more, but keep that in mind.
And to do well, get yourself a pedometer (bracelet that counts your steps) and you will see that it is very stimulating to do a little more every day! Move more! You hear it often, but it is a reality that I must remind you of.
9 – Organize your daily life
Think quality and anticipate your shopping for the week with a party at the market or at a greengrocer. By making your meal plans in advance, you will simplify your life.
You will have a better vision of what you are consuming and you will be able to vary the pleasures (essential concept in my program) more easily.
Breakfast, lunch, dinner … not to mention snacks, by planning all this you will avoid deviations and your diet will be more varied and balanced.
10 – Follow me on social networks
I’m from a generation where television was just getting into homes. And today I am connected like never before. I invite you to follow me on my channel Youtube (Dr Jean-Michel Cohen + of1/2 million subscribers), on Facebook (Knowing how to lose weight with Dr jean-Michel Cohen with 105,000 subscribers) and still on Instagram (dr.jeanmichelcohen with 72,000 followers).
You will see that by following me, you will have daily videos, tips and advice on nutrition. This will put you in a positive step to take care of your diet.
With these 10 back-to-school tips, you will get started on a positive note. You will create an environment favorable to a healthy, varied and balanced diet and this will benefit you and everyone around you!
Happy new year 2022 to all of you, and don’t forget, your food is your health!
