2023-08-29 09:08:41
There are factors in our lifestyle that can contribute to this caloric imbalance, either by altering our appetite, helping our body accumulate fat or making it difficult for us to burn calories. They are routines that promote weight gain.
Sonia Peinado, expert in human nutrition, dietetics and nutrigenetics at the European Medical Institute for Obesity (IMEO).) explains one by one these behaviors that we can modify:
Buy without planning
“We live fast and we have the feeling that the days should be longer because we don’t get to everything. We cut time from anywhere and it is generally the time that we dedicate to ourselves”, says the nutritionist.
“Out of laziness or thinking that we can manage it on the go, it is common for us to put aside the ‘shopping list’, get to the supermarket in a hurry and put everything in the cart, without looking to see if we need it and letting ourselves be carried away by hunger sight,” he says.
As a result of this improvisation, “we come home with unnecessary food and having forgotten others that are important.”
Sonia Peinado advises completing a basic list of foods, products and ingredients throughout the week, which we can save in a notes ‘app’ to be able to reuse it as a “skeleton” of our food purchase.
Some applications, such as Softlist or Listonic, allow us to make a shopping list manually using our mobile phone and check what we need to put in the car when we are in the grocery store or the supermarket, or we can use a virtual assistant.
Going to the supermarket without having planned the purchase. Photo courtesy of IMEO Institute.
Eating without innovating
“We should also introduce a new recipe every week. This way we will try new culinary options and we will not overload ourselves with repetitive work in the kitchen. This will improve our adherence to a healthy diet and will help us to sit down to eat with a different mood”, according to the expert.
“Trying new flavors by seasoning with spices or using different culinary techniques, as well as changing the method of presentation or the combination of food is also important to enjoy good sensations when eating,” says Peinado, noting that one of the slogans of the feed should be “Make it fun!”
“And if we have children, we can also involve them in the culinary chores. In this way, all the members of the family will learn the concept of healthy cooking at home and the older ones will help the little ones to develop their autonomy and creativity through experimentation”, she emphasizes.
Late dinner
“Although there seems to be no consensus on whether or not having a late dinner makes you fatter,” some studies indicate that this habit can cause hormonal imbalances, according to Peinado, one of the routines that lead us to gain weight.
For example, “late meals alter the functioning of the hormone leptin (inducing satiety or a feeling of fullness in the stomach), making it more difficult for us to satiate,” he continues.
In addition, due to our circadian rhythms (body changes that follow a 24-hour cycle), “at night we begin to secrete melatonin, the hormone that predisposes us to sleep.”
Melatonin hinders the activity of insulin and, therefore, late dinners will lower our insulin levels, and raise the level of sugar in our blood, which can predispose us to diabetes, he points out.
Chew while thinking about problems
Daily stress causes us to eat, especially at night, with a certain anxious feeling that leads us to overeat highly palatable foods (pleasing to the palate) and generally with a high fat and sugar content.
In this phenomenon -he explains- the hormone cortisol (associated with stress) intervenes and the hormone dopamine (known colloquially as the ‘happiness hormone’) also participates, “because many times we chew food to avoid chewing frustration, letting ourselves be carried away more by a impulse and less by a conscious thought”.
To change this situation, the expert recommends breaking our routine and looking for activities that calm us down and make us disconnect from daily frustrations, such as walking in the park, taking the dogs for a walk, going swimming or reading a pleasant and positive book. .
“This way we will be able to reason better and we will be able to discern, when we get home, if we really need to eat that food that we have been thinking about all day.”
“Having a fridge and a cupboard with healthy food will also help to meet this objective”, since we will have the necessary ingredients to prepare food that we find attractive, without having to resort to products with chemical compounds, according to the specialist.
“For example, when our body ‘asks’ us to have something sweet, we could prepare some fruit skewers and melt dark chocolate on top,” he suggests.
Innovating in food and making it fun is essential. Photo courtesy of IMEO Institute.
No to precooked food
“Many times we convince ourselves that our only available option is fast food or the one that is sold almost prepared, because we don’t have time to prepare anything,” explains Sonia Peinado.
However, “it may be faster to open a can of canned vegetables and a can of sardines or mussels and prepare a balanced dish with those ingredients,” according to the nutritionist.
He adds that it is also equally quick to prepare in just 3 minutes in the microwave oven, a bag of vegetables that is kept in the freezer, complementing it with a previously boiled egg.
But these are not usually our first choices, nor do we usually have the elements to prepare these dishes at home, he says.
The specialist of IMEO recommends considering the objective of preparing healthy dishes that are appetizing, in a short time to end one of the routines that lead us to gain weight.
It is also advisable to dedicate part of our free time on the weekend to cook several dishes in one day (usually Sunday), so as not to have to do it during the coming week, storing them in lunch boxes that can later be mixed to taste starting Monday. .
Five routines that if we modify them will prevent us from gaining weight.
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