According to data managed by www.dosfarma.com, the largest Spanish online pharmacy on the market, the vast majority of Spaniards (8 out of 10) say they have a good diet. However, the reality is that only 4 out of 10 eat vegetables every day and only 60% eat fruit.
Moreover, during the closure, it was difficult for many Spaniards to maintain their regular diet. Months later, good eating habits may not have recovered yet, especially when it comes to the program. But when and how we eat is almost as important as what we eat.
DosFarma experts explain why it is important to pay attention to the meal times and time we dedicate to each, as well as some tips for establishing healthy eating habits:
Eat five meals a day
When organizing the daily menu, it must be borne in mind that not many hours must pass between each meal. For this reason, between breakfast and lunch, include a light snack in the middle of the morning (nuts, whole grains with yogurt, coffee with tomato toast and oil …). The same happens between lunch and dinner, where you have to include a snack. Thanks to these two additional, lighter meals, the necessary energy intake for the whole day is achieved.
In addition, eating five meals will help balance hunger throughout the day. If we do only three, we will end up with much more appetite for each, which can cause us to eat more than necessary. However, only half of women eat 4 or more meals a day and only 4 out of 10 men.
Set fixed hours
Teleworking or closing has greatly affected the routine of the Spaniards and, of course, their meal time. However, keeping a set time to eat helps us to synchronize our whole body.
The body has a main clock in the brain that controls all activities (hormone production, for example), but it also has other clocks in each organ that depend on the main clock. Light and darkness help to adjust the main clock, but also to feed. If meal times are always changing, it will be very difficult to create the right synchronization of the brain and various organs.
This desynchronization is often suffered by people who have rotating shifts or who make long flights and change time zones. If the body receives food at a time when it is not used to it, it may not assimilate nutrients in the same way. Over time, imbalances can translate into problems such as diabetes, obesity or insomnia.
Breakfast early
The first meal of the day marks the time of our body. It is important to have breakfast sooner or later to synchronize all our clocks. Now, it is not necessary to do it at 5 in the morning. Let melatonin, the hormone that makes us sleepy at night, go down a little. Between 7:00 and 8:00 is a great time.
Dinner also early
As night approaches, the hormones responsible for digesting sugars and carbohydrates decrease. Thus, carbohydrates are better metabolized if we eat dinner beforehand. Also, the sooner we take them, the longer the body will have to digest them, so 20:00 is a very good time.
If it is impossible to have dinner at that time, it is important to leave a space of about two and a half hours before going to bed. And if you stay up late and eat early, you can have a yogurt or a glass of milk before bed. Dairy products have tryptophan, an amino acid that helps produce melatonin and serotonin, essential for sleep.
Eat without haste
You not only have to consider when you eat, but also for how long. Eating too fast, with anxiety or stress, prevents nutrients from being properly absorbed. This can lead to constipation, gas, hiccups and other digestive disorders.
Chew well
Since you don’t have to eat in a hurry, you have to make sure that the food is chewed well, even if it means spending a few more minutes. It is important that food mixes well with saliva in the mouth, because saliva contains amylase, an enzyme that helps digest carbohydrates. If the food reaches the stomach without the amylase working properly, you will have to work much harder to digest everything.
Drink enough water
Meals should have fixed hours, but fluid intake should be done throughout the day. The key is to drink before you feel thirsty, to replace the fluids lost through sweat and urine (between 1.5 and 2 liters per day, approximately). It is important not to leave liquids for long periods of time. It is not necessary to drink only water, but the addition of other liquids will stimulate the desire to drink: infusions, natural juices …
Amanda Dutruc, pharmacist at DosFarma, commented: “Maintaining a stable schedule at meal time is essential. People who, due to their work, have to change their schedule, often notice it in digestive problems, weight gain, sleep difficulties and other diseases. It is important to set a few hours to eat, which will allow us to synchronize the rhythms of our body.We must adapt to the cycles with which the body works.At DosFarma we want to help raise awareness of the importance of a healthy diet.which, of course, involves eating varied and balanced, but also the dedication of time to each meal and the adequate distribution of food intake throughout the day, with stable meal times. “