--- title: "Eat More Healthily" url: "https://books.mutin.life/7/choose-life-habits-that-feel-good-and-do-good/82/eat-more-healthily" --- # Eat More Healthily Eat less, and of better quality. By buying, as a priority, local food, as unmechanised as possible, having used as little fertiliser and pesticide as possible, as unprocessed as possible, sold in as little packaging as possible. PFAS, microplastics, pesticide metabolites endanger our health - Gaspard Koenig (in French) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- ## Eating less meat Currently, 80% of the cultivated land in Western countries is used to feed the animals we then eat. And currently, most animal feed is imported. The day there is no more oil, there will not be enough agricultural land to feed all these animals. And even if there are then fewer animals to feed because many will have starved, we will probably not have enough agricultural land in the country to feed the whole population. Without oil, with drought and soil aridity increasing, with storms ravaging crops, agricultural yields will be lower and lower. We will therefore need more and more arable land to compensate for these low yields: instead of continuing to clear the forests we need to survive, instead of reserving arable land to feed animals, we will have no choice but to cultivate the current agricultural land to feed ourselves directly — not animals. So let us start by eating less meat. No need to eat it at every meal. The little meat we do eat, let us choose it local and from farms that respect animals that genuinely graze in the open air. So let us take care to check where the meat we buy comes from and the farming conditions. Here again, quality meat, from animals raised locally in the open air and few per hectare, means a higher price than meat from intensive farms that mistreat animals stuffed with hormones and antibiotics from the other side of the planet. On the other hand, by choosing to pay more for quality meat, we ensure we stay healthy, instead of ingesting hormones and antibiotics whose price we will later have to pay with our health. Let us also banish carcinogenic barbecues. And if there is one animal to remove from our diet as a priority, it is beef. Indeed, cattle farming is the biggest emitter of greenhouse gases. So, as a priority, eat less beef. Or stop eating it altogether. So no veal, no steaks, no rib steaks, no flank steaks... That also means no longer eating dairy products: no yoghurts, no crème fraîche, no butter, no cheese. Let us go all the way. It also means no longer eating almost all ready meals and desserts, because almost all of them contain dairy products (and often a lot of sugar, very bad for the health — as are milk and dairy products, for that matter). Let us eat less meat, and choose it of good quality. Let us eat fewer dairy products, and choose them of good quality. We will be in better health. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- ## Banishing sugar - No more sodas Obesity and diabetes kill more people today than war. Sugar, just like tobacco, alcoholic drinks and other drugs, kills. Sugar only digs the social security debt chasm deeper. Sugar is notably present in almost all processed products: ham, sausages, soups, tinned peas, sandwich bread, cereals, drinks... One need only see for oneself by reading the list of ingredients of the products we buy: sugar is everywhere. Moreover, these ready meals are sold in a multitude of packagings whose manufacture has emitted tonnes of CO2 into the atmosphere. Drinks represent 15 to 20% of the individual carbon footprint: sodas, alcohol, hence all fruit juices, beers... All these drinks represent tonnes of packaging and therefore tonnes of CO2 emitted for their manufacture (see "Average carbon footprint per French person" in the next chapter). Do we really need to drink all these drinks to survive? These sodas and fruit juices in particular are veritable fast-sugar bombs, extremely harmful to health (diabetes, cardiovascular diseases...). Indeed, the absence of the fruit's fibre, which slows the absorption of sugar into the blood, makes the sugar level shoot up at once, causing dangerous glycaemic spikes. Let us remove sugar from our breakfasts, which cause hypoglycaemia at the end of the morning as well as being disastrous for our health. No more jams, spreads, honey, sugar in drinks, brioches, packets of well-sugared cereals... Let us stop consuming these deleterious sugar bombs, dangerous for our health. No need for desserts at the end of meals. Desserts slow down digestion, which is why we then doze off and are so ineffective. Let us skip dessert, let digestion run at full speed, and thereby preserve our energy. No more yoghurts, creams, ice creams, pastries, cakes — all the desserts and snacks imaginable served in the hypermarket aisles. Let us keep lightly sweet snacks for the afternoon break. Including fruit. Let us stop the sweets, the chocolate bars, the packets of biscuits. The budget we cheerfully agree to spend on all these poisons — sugar, tobacco, alcohol and other drugs combined — far exceeds the budget allocated to healthy food. Today, the majority of the population chooses to pay dearly to... be killed... That is where we stand. Have we lost our minds? Let us no longer buy sweets, desserts, pastries, cakes. Let us no longer buy sodas or fruit juices. Nor bottled water: let us stop manufacturing tonnes of plastic bottles (often containing bisphenol A, a dangerous endocrine disruptor). Let us avoid ready meals and all processed products. Let us be sober about alcohol. One glass of alcohol a day is dangerous in the long run; addiction sets in, the feeling of craving takes over, alcoholism is never far away. Let us drastically reduce our consumption of sugar, which is currently present almost everywhere. Or better: let us eliminate sugar for good. Keeping only fruit and chestnuts. Let us stop consuming every type of drug: whether sugar, alcohol, tobacco, or other chemical drugs. Let us regain the upper hand, let us become responsible for ourselves again — it is the only way to be happy. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- ## Let us reduce the quantities of food coming from far away For all the foods that cannot be produced locally, let us reduce the quantities. Let us eat less chocolate. Let us drink less coffee. Besides, it is better for our health. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- ## Let us eat less Let us not eat more than we need. As soon as we put on too much weight, let us take ourselves in hand before falling ill. Let us reduce the quantities we eat, and choose food of better quality for our health. Let us banish foods that are too sweet. Let us banish foods that are too salty — all the aperitif crackers and crisps in the front line. Let us eat fewer starchy foods: even though they are slow sugars, absorbed more slowly into the blood, they remain sugars. Sugars that make us gain weight and become obese in the long run. Let us stop eating pizzas, tart bases, baguettes, pasta, semolina at every turn... Especially since all these cereals and legumes are not very digestible. The human species lived for millions of years from hunting and gathering. Our digestive systems are designed to digest proteins, fats, and the carbohydrates found in plants such as vegetables and fruit. Our digestive tracts have not had time to evolve to digest these cereals which, admittedly, give the impression of being "filled up", but whose subsequent digestion is laborious. No wonder we feel like sleeping after a starchy meal. Moreover, these cereals are increasingly tampered with by genetic selection to improve yields, and are in fact less and less digestible. No point in being surprised, then, at gluten intolerances that keep increasing. In the same way, the human body is not designed to digest animal milk. Here again, let us not be surprised at lactose intolerances. It is quite simply normal when we do not eat what our body is capable of digesting. Let us not be surprised that the number of cancers and other serious illnesses increases when we do not eat what our digestive system is designed for. Let us eat what our body really needs: vegetables at will, eggs, a little meat and fish, good vegetable oils, almonds, chestnuts, hazelnuts and nuts of all kinds, few starchy foods, and fruit. A little meat, some nuts, a few roots and occasional fruit were enough for our ancestors to hunt and cover long distances for gathering or for moving camp. Why would we need to eat more — especially the majority of us who remain seated 8 hours a day? And let us eat light in the evening. Only cooked vegetables, for example. Let us dine early, as early as possible, like the English, to have time to digest before going to bed, and thus sleep better. Or we can even skip dinner altogether. And thus practise intermittent fasting, which consists of taking our meals only within an 8-hour window, leaving the intestines 16 hours of rest — time to do their housekeeping and be in top form the next day. Let us take care of our health: let us eat less.