Food. Yes. For many of us sitting down with our friends or family to eat is the highlight of the day, you sit in class thinking about the snack that’s sitting in your bag, ready for you at break. Food is very important, particularly in French life and culture. People in France spend the most time eating, and drinking compared to other countries, at around 2 hours and 13 minutes per day, followed closely by Spain and Italy. Since so much time is spent around food, it is important to consider the effects that food can have on your body, and how you can ensure that eating food is enjoyable for you and makes you feel good about yourself.
Make mealtimes a social experience
Even just talking to a family member or someone on the phone while you cook or eat has been shown to relieve stress and boost your mood. Cooking with others can be enjoyable too! Try and cook something new for your family with some help, in that way you get to enjoy yourself, spend time with a loved one, make some delicious and rewarding food, pick up some new skills, and feel proud of yourself. There’s no reason not to try it! This can be anything you want to, from pasta, to stir-fry, even to desserts! This allows you to feel good and confident about what you’re putting into your body, whilst also enjoying the process.
Eat breakfast!
Many people skip breakfast because they wake up early and just don’t feel like eating anything, but it is still important to try to eat something, even if it’s only something small with a coffee, it still is very important. Eating breakfast has been shown to improve energy levels, help your ability to concentrate in the short term, aid with memory, and it reduces your chances of wanting to over-eat later in the day. In my opinion, you can make anything into a breakfast food. Maybe some things are not ideal, maybe you should skip on your unfinished pizza from last night, but breakfast can be made quickly, easily and healthy. The healthiest breakfasts contain carbohydrates, protein, healthy fats, and fibre. This is can be something like eggs on toast, some oatmeal with peanut butter or chia seeds for protein, topped with fresh fruit. Greek yogurt is also ideal for the morning, just pour a pot into the bowl and top with whatever you like, jam, peanut butter, fresh fruit, and nuts!
Drink your water
As mentioned in Millie’s blog, ‘Good Health and Wellbeing’, always aim to drink 2 litres of water per day. If you want to read why it is so important to drink water, and how much water you should drink, then press this link to read Millie’s blog all about it, including about physical and mental health. It is also important to know the difference between being hungry and thirsty. Many people mix up these signals. If you’re unsure, think about when the last time you drank was. If the answer isn’t in the last few hours, then drink some water and see how you feel, before deciding if you’re ready to eat.
Finding a balance
Finding a balance between eating exactly what you want to and eating healthily can sometimes be difficult. This is a big part of eating, having self-control and having the ability to do what is best for your body. This means ensuring that you do eat foods that you enjoy and eating healthy foods. For many people, when they think of healthy meals, they think of boring salads. This doesn’t have to be the case! Eating healthily means eat a balanced diet, eat fruit and vegetables can sound like a chore if you’re eating ones you don’t enjoy or not how you like them. Take some fruit and blend into a smoothie with some yogurt for something to drink throughout the day, or even as a breakfast. This is great throughout the day, but if you’re offered some cake that doesn’t mean you should refuse it! If you like cake, then eat the cake! Eating should be an enjoyable experience, and you deserve to reward yourself with good food!
What is the ideal diet?
Research suggests that a Mediterranean style consisting of fruit, vegetables, grains, fish, and moderate portions of dairy and poultry, and almost eliminating fried and processed foods, particularly those high in sugar and trans fats. The Mediterranean diet is often assumed to be expensive because of the focus on eating fish, but if the main sources of proteins are from lentils or beans, and accompanied with vegetables and whole grains, then the Mediterranean diet is cheaper than eating packaged or processed foods.
It is always important to remember that you need food, food fuels your body and ensures that you are able to function in the best possible way, so yes, what you put in does affect your output. This means that processed foods in large quantities are not good physically for your body, but also for your mental health. It’s important to find what works for you and your body, without overly restricting yourself to ‘good’ foods.