According to the latest survey on lifestyle habits carried out by the Spanish Obesity Society (SEEDO-SEO), 77% of the Spanish population eats one of the three usual meals away from home every day. A habit that does not have to harm cardiovascular health if some recommendations are followed. You just have to take a series of precautions to prevent risk factors such as obesity, high cholesterol levels, hypertension or blood sugar from getting out of control.
These are the main ones:
– Have healthy snacks throughout the day. Sitting at the table on an empty stomach can make us opt for dishes with more calories. The reason is the feeling that we need a lot of energy for our body to recover. That’s why it’s a good idea to have a healthy mid-morning snack, like a piece of fruit.
– Have the choice made before sitting down to eat. If possible, seeing the letter or the menu of the restaurant we are going to go to in advance can help us choose healthy options, since we have more time to decide. Vegetables, legumes, fish and white meat are among them. It is also important to keep in mind that grilled or baked dishes, rather than fried or breaded, are healthier options. The accompaniments are also important: a salad is better than some chips. To drink, water is always the best option. And as for desserts, the fruits.
– Ask before others. If we get ahead of the rest of our table companions, we will avoid the temptation to change our previous choice for a less healthy dish. It is possible that some of them opt for dishes with a lot of saturated fat, for example, and that we feel tempted to order the same. But if we ask before the others, we will avoid that situation.
– Forget the salt. The majority of the population doubles the recommended intake of salt, and this high consumption can affect cardiovascular health. The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends reducing sodium intake to less than two grams a day, which is roughly equivalent to about five grams of salt in adults. And that amount includes visible salt -the one we add to food- and also invisible salt, which is what food products contain and accounts for most of what we consume, without being aware of it. Therefore, if we can avoid adding more salt to our dishes, we will be taking care of our hearts.
– When we get full, what’s left to take away. When we get full it means that we have already met our needs, even if there is still food on the plate. If this situation occurs, asking them to save the leftover food for us to take away is a good option.
