Cristina Galafate
Updated Monday, March 18, 2024-01:58
Interview Marcos Bodoque, nutrition specialist: "People cannot lose weight because they do not maintain healthy habits in the long term"
Carmen AI What can artificial intelligence contribute to the scanning of food in the supermarket?
This polarized world - word of the year - is divided between those in the supermarket who
fill their carts with ultra-processed foods
such as chips and pre-cooked dishes, without looking at labels or origin, at most the price, and those who scan products almost obsessively with
applications
of the Yuka type.
Both have something in common: they seem equally lost.
The nutritionist Àlex Yáñez de la Cal (Barcelona, February 22, 1990), also a graduate and doctor
cum laude
in Physical Activity and Sports Sciences with postgraduate studies in Psychoneuroimology and a master's degree in Motor Activity and Education, has walked the halls of
30 supermarket chains
to analyze our behaviors and those of the industry with the intention of creating an essential guide.
In
Buy well, eat better
(Amat Editorial) the specialist in Dietary and Sports Nutrition brings together the results of this study that is based on
scientific evidence
to help us make a healthy purchase.
"The ideal is for the person to learn to identify which ingredient is good and what is bad, not for a nutritionist like me to tell them or a note on their mobile phone that they don't even understand. In the end, these
apps
are also financed by products that "They try to obtain a better rating. And
manufacturers know how to trick them
, for example, by increasing the amount of fiber per serving. In addition, the compositions change," he explains.
Àlex Yáñez de la Cal, renowned nutritionist and author of 'Buy well, eat better'.EM
TRICK 1: ONE PRODUCT PER WEEK
Therefore, it encourages you to try to understand a common product in your basket week by week.
"
We do not buy more than 20 or 30 references
in total per year. We vary very little. If we make that effort little by little to pay attention, we will have the job done in a couple of months."
And is the controversial Nutriscore, born in theory to promote nutritional value, useful?
"The problem is that it is made by large multinationals in the agri-food industry and, when something is done to regulate the regulator, it is conflictive. We see it with Nestlé cereals: they tell you that you consume 25 grams per serving, giving you high fiber and low sugars. But
it is not real
, because you put a lot more in your bowl. And the result is that the sugars multiply and the percentage of fiber is ridiculous. The same happens with soft drinks, which make you drink the third of a can, when no one does that. If you invent the dose at will, it is not a good option. That is why it caused such a stir in Spain that it rated virgin olive oil so poorly."
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TIP 2: PRIORITIZE REAL FOODS
Their most basic recommendation, therefore, is that "
unlabeled foods are the best."
Fruits, vegetables... "These are options that are full of vitamins and minerals, but you won't read that on any label."
If there is no other option, you have to turn it around.
"The composition tells us the
list of ingredients from highest to lowest quantity
. So be suspicious if the first one does not match what you are buying."
A turkey breast has to be meat, and not potato starch or water with dyes.
"Growing milks for children usually have water, sunflower oils and you have to go to the third and fourth ingredients to find the milk and vitamins. And the mother is buying water at the price of milk. It is not a good option," he asserts.
TRICK 3: TURN THE PACKAGING OVER
It usually coincides, the expert asserts, that when the quality is bad, the messages and colors are striking.
"A lot of marketing: no sugar, no fat. That's in front, but then coloring and preservatives in the back.
Ignorance does us a disservice
, because we buy cheese at twice the price thinking it has more proteins and in the end they are identical."
Furthermore, the dietitian indicates, when a controversial ingredient is demonized, as happened with palm oil or monosodium glutamate, "another name and derivative is invented
to camouflage it
, playing at confusion. It seems alarming but the industry does not want us to know how to read a label".
Recommends that we understand them.
"If you are very hesitant, look for a simpler option with no more than four ingredients."
Just as sugar accumulates names to camouflage itself, sweeteners are not a panacea either and that is why the maximum quantities are regulated.
"
Saccharin, sodium cyclamate and aspartame
are the ones with the most evidence against them and they are even in mouthwashes and toothpastes."
Xylitol and erythritol, however, are seen as interesting options for sweetening if we do not exceed 15 grams.
Stevia and sucralose generate a lot of discussion.
"Specifically nothing happens, but sucralose is still sugar and is very dysbiotic, it alters the microbiota, while stevia is a leaf of a plant that sweetens, but it actually comes to us in a more prostituted white powder form. ", he defends.
That is why he encourages getting the palate used to the flavors.
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TRICK 4: DON'T BUY HUNGRY
He advises not to go shopping hungry or stressed "so as not to give in to
cravings at the checkout
and make a list of what you really need."
He would never put snacks
or alcohol in his shopping cart
, unless it was a specific day.
"Healthy things are always at the back of the supermarket, you have to go look for them."
And be careful with
2x1 offers
.
"What is in the center of your eyes on the shelves, where you don't have to bend over, is easier to pick up and that is where they put the most brutal marketing either because it is going to expire or because the profit margin is greater," he comments. Yáñez de la Cal. To avoid falling, he advises planning the list in advance.
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TRICK 5: HOW TO DETECT TOXICS
I would avoid dyes
because they are mostly derived from plastic, except for natural ones like curcumin.
"There are very pink strawberry yogurts that contain 1% strawberry and they would be adding poor quality coloring."
We have to be careful, because although there is a lot of
alarmism
on social media , there have recently been some health alerts to take into account, such as the one about hepatitis A in imported strawberries, the dietician admits.
"There are gluten-free foods with traces, you have to be careful if you are intolerant. But I wouldn't worry so much about the mercury in fish or the lead in chocolate because they are not eaten every day. And there are many more benefits of taking them than its possible toxicity".
And if we consume nationally it will be better because in Spain there are no GMOs," he clarifies.
We have to
be consistent
, he believes, because we tend to worry about the pesticide on blueberries but we happily eat cookies and muffins.
"I don't understand why we receive some messages such as the antinutrients in vegetables and ignore others, such as concentrated juices."
'No additives' is a fad, she says.
"You don't have to have chemophobia, but you do have to maintain
healthy habits
so that today's food doesn't lead us to take drugs later."
Buy well, eat better
is published by Amat and you can buy it here