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DAVID GASOL
NATURAL NUTRITION & ENERGY-BALANCE
David Gasol Mestres
I am a nutritionist who specializes in veganism and macrobiotics. On any given day, you can find me providing private consultations in Barcelona, teaching cooking classes and healthy habits, or preparing a meal with a good friends.
Monday, 1 July, 2013.
The perfect diet
Currently there are many fad diets that promise weight loss without effort. Some are based on smoothies that replace our food while others are a magical combination of foods depending on some of our features.
Lately one of the most widespread express diets is the hyper-protein one, disguised under the name of pharmaceutical companies or famous nutritionists.
Such diets are basically focused on reducing the carbohydrate content in our diet, and on a high amount of protein. In that way our body starts consuming its energy reserves, that is, fat, transforming it into carbohydrates. To start with, it can be effective, but at the expense of our health.
From a physical point of view, these diets acidify our blood and our bodies, they are demineralizing, and they weaken our kidneys and liver.
And on an emotional level they certainly are totally deficient, and so we will eventually get tired of the diet, and that's when we’ll eat all that has been banned, gaining all the weight we lost, and some more.
The perfect diet does not exist. However I do believe in a change of habits that will allow us to enjoy the rest of our lives without having to give up the pleasure of eating.
If we do not want to accumulate fat, it is best not to eat it. No doubt we are what we eat.
If we give our body a balanced diet free of toxins, saturated fats, refined or highly processed products, and give it instead fresh and natural foods in the proportion that our body needs, we will reach our natural weight healthily.
Our daily diet should contain:
• Whole grains (rice, millet, quinoa, buckwheat, barley, oats ...). Well cooked and in moderation they will be our main source of complex carbohydrates. In addition they provide fiber, minerals and essential amino acids.
• Green vegetables (green beans, broccoli, artichoke, endive ...). Cooked for a short time they provide freshness, vitamins, minerals and fiber. They are ideal for cleansing our body.
• Round and root vegetables (onion, carrot, pumpkin, cabbage, turnip, parsnip ...). Cooked for a longer time they provide sweetness, fiber and minerals.
• Quality proteins (legumes, tofu, seitan, tempeh, fresh fish). They are essential for the development of all the cells in our body. It is very important that we eat just enough. These proteins are also free of saturated fat and rich in essential fatty acids and minerals.
• Seeds and nuts (sesame, sunflower, pumpkin, walnuts, hazelnuts ...). In small amounts, they will be our source of healthy fats, which are necessary.
• Seaweed (arame, kombu, nori, dulse, sea spaghetti ...). Sea vegetables are the best source of minerals present in food. Balanced and rich in fiber, they help us cleanse our body of toxins, heavy metals and saturated fats.
• Pickles and other vegetable ferments (sauerkraut, miso ...). They are indispensable, our source of probiotics. They strengthen our intestinal flora; they make our blood alkaline, and help us burn fat.
The right combination of these foods will give us energy, lightness and clarity.
With this diet we are investing in our health for today and tomorrow.
David Gasol Mestres
Wednesday, 7 August, 2013.
Food and Sport
Holidays can be a good time to combine a sport we like with a good diet.This combination will be ideal to mobilize and burn all the excesses accumulated throughout the year.If we decide for example to go for a day trip in the mountains, on foot or cycling, we should foresee when and what we’re going to eat.The overall supply should be sufficient for the exercise we're going to do, yet light. That is, foods that nourish us, but whose digestion doesn’t use up the energy needed for walking. For this reason we recommend natural, fresh, energetic foods.
Food before exercise:
The aim will be to provide sufficient energy reserves and minerals and a good combination of sugars to nourish our muscles.
• * miso soup or a remineralizing broth. It can be eaten warm if the weather requires so. This will give us a good mineral supply.
* If we're not home, ready-made miso soups can be a very valid and practical option.
• Whole grains, such as porridge for breakfast, or in any other form, along with a handful of nuts (almonds ...) and dried fruit (raisins, apricots ...). This combination of simple and complex carbohydrates will give us adequate blood sugar levels to exercise without energy highs and lows.
Food during exercise:
Here it is s all about trying to maintain our blood sugar levels, replenishing fluids and minerals, and also freshening. It is essential that food here is light so that it doesn’t interfere with our purpose.
• A piece of local, seasonal fruit will be ideal to freshen while providing fast sugars to keep walking. We can have it along with a few nuts.
• If we want something more substantial to walk a few more hours, rice balls with nori seaweed and ummeboshi will provide us with everything we need while keeping it light. Another perhaps more practical option will be a good quality wholegrain vegetarian sandwich, or even one with tuna or sardines with vegetables such as lettuce, endive or carrot.
• A good remineralizing broth of kombu seaweed at room temperature is the ideal drink to replenish minerals during exercise.
Food after exercise:
The goal here will be to replenish minerals and glycogen (sugar reserves in our body).
• Right after exercising, in order to refresh and recover, fresh fruit, either blended or liquefied can help.
• Later when we are relaxed and our metabolism is back to its normal rhythm, it is a good time to have a full meal. We can start with a good miso soup, to replenish minerals and prepare us to absorb food better. Afterwards, we can have a dish of good quality grain with green vegetables to refresh, round and root vegetables to relax and provide quality sugars, and some protein to nourish our muscles.
To exercise healthily we need to give our body quality fuel so it will not need to use energy directly from our reserves. For this reason it will be essential to avoid taking fast sugars such as soda drinks, pastries, etc. This would only give us a lot of energy for a short period of time, producing the usual energy slumps and encouraging further mineral loss.
If sport if practiced in moderation and in accordance with our potential, it is very healthy for our heart and our cardiovascular system, as well as to mobilize and burn fat.
David Gasol Mestres
Monday, 23th September, 2013
Diet for autumn
Autumn arrives, nature changes, temperatures begin to drop and with them the first flu and colds appear.
That's why we must adapt our diet to this change of season if we want to prepare our bodies for the winter and remove summer excesses.
What foods does autumn have to offer?
At this time the land still offers a variety of fruits and especially round and root vegetables. Nature itself is telling us what we must increase during this season.
The summer ends and with it all the “opening” energy. Like the trees directing their energy to their roots, stripping themselves off their leaves, it is also time for us to nestle, to start preparing for the cold winter and leave the summer behind.
Let's look at the transition from late summer in detail.
What foods should we increase?
Fruit: It is advisable to consume fruits that are typical of this season like grapes, berries, apples, etc. Reducing the amount of raw fruit and starting to make compotes, purees or jams.
Vegetables: We will increase the consumption of root and round vegetables from this season, such as onions, pumpkins, cauliflower, cabbages, turnips or parsnip. All of them will give us the sweetness needed for this season. It is time to reduce the consumption of salads and vegetables more typical of the summer. But we shouldn’t forget to eat the always necessary green vegetables either blanched, steamed or boiled for a short time.
Grains: millet, oats, quinoa, sweet rice, wild rice. It will be the right time to change the long grain basmati type rice to a shorter grain one. On the other hand we also have couscous, bulgur or wholegrain quality pastas.
Proteins: A good time to start preparing dishes like azuki legumes, chickpeas or lentils, or other proteins like tempeh, seitan or tofu, always well cooked. Dishes that deeply nourish us and warm us up. It is also a good time to go back to eating fresh fish.
Oils: It’s the time to slightly increase the use of good quality oil in our dishes, and the use of pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds, etc.
Seaweed: Seaweed consumption of all types will provide us with all the minerals that now more than ever our body needs to recover from the summer losses and therefore prevent a deficiency that can cause colds, weakness and lack of energy.
Spices: We will swap fresh herbs for dry ones in our cooking, as well as swapping spicier ones like mustard for other ones that warm us up such as cloves, ginger and cinnamon.
What cooking styles will be most suitable?
Just like in the summer we use recipes that don’t require heat cooking, with a variety of raw and marinated foods, etc. to counteract the heat of the season, in autumn we need to introduce more heat and more time to our cooking in order to strengthen us and warm us up on a deep level, cooking to enhance the sweetness of our dishes. For this purpose the most suitable cooking styles will be steaming, stewing and sautéing for a longer time, occasionally tempura and fried dishes, and pressure cooking for cereals and legumes. But we can also alternate this with lighter cooking methods like blanching for green vegetables, short-time boiling and short-time sautéing.
What flavors do we need to enhance?
Sweet is the taste of autumn, and this is what nature tells us by offering us all kinds of end-of-summer fruits and sweet vegetables like pumpkin.
The natural and good quality sweetness found in some fruits and vegetables and that we can enhance with the right cooking style, will nourish us deeply.
An adequate diet for each season is essential to help our body adapt to the changes in weather, light, and the rhythms that each season requires.
If when the summer ends and it gets cold we do not change and continue to eat fruits, salads and refreshing drinks, we cool our body down too much and we are more exposed to catching colds, for example. If we strengthen our immune system and our internal heat instead, we will be better prepared for the changing seasons.
David Gasol Mestres
Wednesday, 13 November, 2013.
Organic food
Currently one can find thousands of chemical products on the market, among which are pesticides, fertilizers and others used to prevent pests that can destroy a crop, accelerate growth and maturation processes, or maximize land productivity.
These products may directly or indirectly end up in our body through food.There is ample evidence of the negative effects these chemicals have on our body. However, its use is now mainstream, reaching us through fruits and vegetables, or indirectly through contaminated water or animals.These substances also accumulate in our tissues, kidneys, liver, bones and fat, directly affecting our vital organs, nervous system, and hormonal activity, being carcinogenic and triggering other diseases.That’s why it’s so important to grow and consume organic vegetables: natural, healthy foods with all their nutritional properties.In organic production, synthetic chemicals or chemical fertilizers are not used, nor are transgenic or genetically modified organisms.Organic farming is respectful with the environment and its natural cycles, preserving the health of the soil, the water, the animals and the balance between them.Thanks to its natural ripening process in the plant itself, its content of sugar, vitamins and minerals is higher, resulting in a high quality product, both organoleptic and nutritional.All products labeled with the stamp that certifies them as food from organic farming have gone through strict accreditation controls.Consuming organic products means contributing to good health and helping preserve the environment so that we and future generations can enjoy the planet as we know it.
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