What rules must be followed in order to live a happy and long life? French psychotherapist David Servan-Schreiber shares his advice.
I am often asked if a healthy lifestyle can be reduced to a few simple, easy-to-remember rules. I have tried to present everything that I myself have learned in this area over the past 20 years of practicing integrative medicine. Got 20 tips. I know they work for me personally. I hope they bring health and happiness to you too!
Our food
1. Cook the old fashioned way
Try as often as possible to choose a main dish of the type that was adopted before the era of industrial animal husbandry: 80% vegetables and legumes, no more than 20% animal proteins. The exact opposite of the fast food variant of the “cutlet with french fries”, which is accompanied by a leaf of lettuce and a pale slice of tomato for the sake of appearance. Thus, meat becomes an addition, a flavor component, and not the main component of our dish.
2. Mix different vegetables
Broccoli is an effective cancer preventative and detoxifier, but is even more powerful when paired with onion or garlic—or even tomato sauce. Make a good habit of adding onions, garlic, and leeks to your meals.
3. Eat (if possible) bio products
But remember that it is better to eat broccoli or some other vegetable grown using modern chemical technologies than not to eat it at all.
4. Add spices
Turmeric is a powerful anti-inflammatory agent. It, like black pepper, can be added to almost all dishes, as well as salad dressings.
5. Forget about potatoes
The starch it contains raises blood sugar levels. And there are so many pesticides in it that the farmers that I know personally try not to use their own products – unless they are grown using biotechnology.
6. Prefer fish
It is better to eat fish three times a week – herring, mackerel, sardines, which contain less mercury and polychlorinated biphenols than larger fish like tuna. In restaurants, I avoid swordfish and shark dishes: in the USA they are already banned for pregnant women – they are so polluted due to the large size of these fish.
7. Choose good eggs
Opt for eggs rich in omega-3 essential fatty acids, or don’t eat the yolks. Ever since chickens were fed corn and soy, their eggs contain twenty times more inflammation-promoting omega-6 fatty acids than healthy omega-3s.
8. Change vegetable oil
Olive and rapeseed oils are great for cooking and salad dressings. And sunflower, soy and corn are better to use less often: they have too much omega-6.
9. Use the power of plants
Thyme, oregano (oregano), basil, rosemary, mint… These fragrant herbs are very beneficial for health. In addition to pleasure, they provide us with a variety of antioxidants and even some substances that have anti-cancer effects. They should be regularly added to dishes.
10. Eat “whole”
Opt for whole grains, as well as mixed grains such as whole grain and multigrain pastas and breads. Avoid white flour products whenever possible. Cook pasta al dente, as is customary in Italy, to avoid a rise in blood sugar levels.
11. Limit Sugar
Desserts, sugary sodas, and juices with added sugar should not become a daily habit. Avoid foods that list sugar as one of the top three ingredients. Eat fruits more often, especially red berries, plums, and peaches. And if you want something delicious for dessert, think about dark chocolate with more than 70% cocoa.
12. Three cups of green tea a day
It is better to drink them outside the main meals.
our life
13. Don’t be judgmental
We should remember that what matters most to our health is our daily habits, and not the culinary pleasures that we can give ourselves from time to time.
14. Find time to walk
Or dance or run. Try to get at least half an hour of walking a day. Fifteen minutes is enough to walk to work or a store and the same amount to walk back. A dog is often a better walking companion than a human. And when something is enjoyable, you’re more likely to stick with it.
15. Be in the sun, even if it’s cloudy
20 minutes a day, around noon. In the summer it is better to do this without sunscreen, but without bringing yourself to sunstroke. Or ask your doctor about your blood levels of vitamin D and whether you can take the vitamin in capsules or drops.
16. Avoid household “pollutants”
Air your clothes after dry cleaning for two hours. Prefer less aggressive cleaners for cleaning (soda, laundry soap) or wear gloves. Avoid heating water and other liquids in plastic containers (kettles or other utensils). Eliminate pesticides in your home and, to the extent possible, in your garden.
Replace old frying pans with scratched Teflon coatings. Filter the water if it may be contaminated with pesticides in your area. When talking on a mobile phone, keep the device away from the body, use headphones.
17. Keep in touch with at least two friends
And remember that you can turn to them for help in difficult times, at least via the Internet or by phone. If they live nearby, meet them often, just like everyone you love.
18. Learn simple relaxation techniques
For example, with the help of breathing – to relieve tension when there is a feeling that life is driving into a corner.
19. Be sure to do what you like
Let it be at least one thing and at least for a very short time – but certainly every day.
20. Do something good
Find an opportunity to do something really necessary and useful for those who live in your porch, yard or neighborhood. And really do it.