Doing a good planning at the time of shopping is important to help us fill our refrigerators with healthy and versatile food, therefore we can follow more easily a balanced diet.
This is recommended by the Spanish Society of Dietetics and Food Sciences (SEDCA) in its recommendations for food, where it is considered essential to make a good shopping list!
In this post we will see what foods should be written on this list and are essential for this summer.
VARIETY and BALANCE are two key words in the concept of healthy diet. We all need a sufficiently varied diet that guarantees an adequate nutritional contribution given that there is no single food that has all necessary nutrition. It is important that on our summer shopping list there are healthy foods from all groups.
Training foods
Protein foods that allow us to grow, develop and maintain the structures of our body: muscles, viscera, bones …
Within this group it is recommended to eat more meats than fats, buy fish, eggs and don’t forget dairy products (yogurt, milk, fresh cheeses) and nuts.
It should also include in our list source of vegetable protein such as legumes (peas, chickpeas, lentils …), which in summer can be added to salads to make a fresh and healthy dish.
Energy food
They provide the necessary ‘fuel’ for all our daily activities: work, study, rest, digest food, etc. We talk about carbohydrates and fats.
For this type of food, the list should include pasta, rice or preferably whole grain bread and quality fats such as virgin olive oil or extra virgin olive oil, which will be the perfect complement to dress our salads.
Regulatory foods
Make our body conveniently use the rest of the food: the trainers and the energetics. Without the regulators, our metabolism would not work properly. They are fruits and vegetables.
Here it is essential to take varied and seasonal foods. We recommend you always have a tupper with watermelon or cut melon in the fridge, which is refreshing and moisturizing, as well as cherries or peaches to go biting in the middle of the morning or for a snack.
The quintessential summer vegetables are tomatoes and fresh vegetables such as cucumber, zucchini, lettuce … with which we can make both cold creams (gazpacho, melon soup, courgette cream, cucumber cream and yogurt …) and salads all.
Una receta recipe
With all these breaths we will elaborate super nutritious and refreshing recipes for the whole family, next let´s see an example of salad that combine the 3 groups of foods, which you can get different nutrition in just one dish: Fruity Lentil Salad with Tuna.
Ingredients for 4 people:
• 300g Cooked lentils
• 1 large tomato
• 1 Carrot
• 1 Purple onion
• 1 small cucumber
• Lettuce leaves
• 8 strawberries
• 2 cans of tuna naturally
• Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• Salt and vinegar to taste
To start we wash all the vegetables and strawberries. Peel the carrot, onion and cucumber.
Next, we chop all the vegetables and the diced strawberries and the julienne lettuce. We mix the ingredients. Drain the lentils and tuna well and mix them with the rest of the ingredients.
Finally, season with the extra virgin olive oil to provide healthy fat to the salad and an a good Mediterranean flavor!
