The pandemic, we will never tire of repeating it, has forced us to carefully review what we eat, what we bring to the table, and what we cook, because it is now clear that a adequately nourished organism, in the nutraceutical sense, is capable of oppose a first barrier to bacteriological and viral aggressions. From this point of view it can be stated that food is the first vaccine we can have to defend ourselves.
A research by the Waste Watcher Observatory (Last Minute Market / Swg) carried out on the occasion of the tenth anniversary of the proclamation of the Mediterranean Diet as a Unesco intangible heritage has attested that after the first lockdown 4 out of 10 Italians changed their food style and 6 out of 10 Italians state that they habitually favor a nutritional regimen inspired by the Mediterranean diet because it is healthier, with fresh foods, plenty of fruit and vegetables, legumes and mainly vegetable proteins.
And therefore, having become aware of the problem, after so many unheeded appeals in recent years, the second step is to convince ourselves that to live in health it is not only It is important to choose well the foods we put on our table and knowing how to combine them in a balanced diet of all the essential elements but it is also the way in which they are treated and cooked is important. In fact, grandmother's recipes or simply the traditional methods of preparation do not always turn out to be the best. In order not to compromise the nutritional properties of an ingredient, we often find ourselves wondering at the supermarket or in front of the stove if there are no healthier alternatives to what we are about to put on our family's plate.
An interesting book comes at the right time “Foods and herbs that heal – learn to treat the ingredients of the table to preserve all health” (BUR Rizzoli page 275, € 17) signed by Ciro Vestita expert nutritionist, professor of human nutrition and phytotherapy at the University of Pisa, well-known face of Italian TV who we often see on Porta a Porta, Uno Mattina, Linea verde , which in this volume collects all the essential knowledge to instill healthy eating habits that take full advantage of the nutritional properties of the ingredients of our dishes.
The volume written with the collaboration of Stefano Filipponi, graduated in Dietetics at the University of Pisa with a thesis on bariatric surgery in gastroenterology, talks about foods, techniques but is also enriched by a recipe book different from all the others that combines well-being with the history and pleasure of food.
So if Vestita analyzes the beneficial properties of foods, from fruit to vegetables, from herbs to fish, which, if used correctly, can be the best allies of our health, and reveals the tricks to maintain the healing qualities on the other has asked for the collaboration of Chef Carmine Jovine, owner of the restaurant la buca in Pisa, who has dedicated his career to enhancing the value of Italian cuisine using local products by reinventing recipes that recall history and tradition to propose a series of appetizing preparations that belie the place in any case for which a healthy dish ( and in these cases even curative) must necessarily be sad and unattractive in taste.
It was therefore understood that the problem it doesn't just refer to bringing healthier foods to the table but also to do everything because maintain their properties by implementing a healthy food strategy.
In fact, dietetics has changed a lot in recent years, diets have become increasingly stringent and at the same time the needs of individual people have become more stringent. The hectic lifestyle so many of us submit to that is almost totally focused on work leaves no time to enjoy anything else. In the long run, this has turned into the antechamber of unregulated eating habits. Then in the best case, the scale presents the account of the excess weight.
At worst - and unfortunately more frequently - after a blood test you have the unpleasant surprise of swimming a * next to some physiological parameter that we don't always know how to interpret. This applies to kids who often have an unbalanced diet, have neither the will nor the time to prepare salads or soups and therefore get by on the strength of sandwiches, hamburgers, sandwiches and pizza and often and then the nutritionists ascertain damage from lack of nutrition micro-signals of scurvy and mouth ulcers gingivitis but above all colitis and gastritis.
If this is true for young people, it is even more true for those who are younger and with much more disastrous effects. For this they become the methods of cooking the food are important in order not to damage the internal structure of the food too much or not at all so leave the most possible unchanged the properties of the food. Ciro Vestita analyzes the cooking methods one by one (oven, boiling, frying, grill/plate, steam) and the effects produced for the purpose of preserving the properties of the various foods, and the first spear is in favor of the microwave, of which many fear the effects. Actually for the nutritionist it is a tool capable of cooking as well as heating or defrosting, it allows to minimize the loss of nutrients, vitamins and minerals compared to other cooking systems.
Another recommended system is steam cooking which has enormous advantages, it reaches a maximum of 100° while the oven reaches 300, the embers reach 450 and therefore the food is not deteriorated by violent cooking. This - underlines Vestita - is healthy given that sources with strong cooking release harmful substances acrolein and acrylamide.
Particularly interesting and useful in the book is how the thematic treatment is divided. In the first part the nutritionist devotes a few chapters to the organs of the human body, in order: the brain, the oral cavity, the heart, the liver, the pancreas, the bones, the kidneys, the digestive system, the immune system, the lymphatic system.- And for each of these important components of the human organism suggests the use of herbs and foods that have the most targeted beneficial effects.
For example, for the brain, it describes the properties of coffee, which allows the release of endorphins, the molecules of happiness, and carries out a tonic activity in response to signals sent to the central nervous system, removing boredom and tiredness; Ginkgo, an ancient tree native to China that has fundamental properties for cognitive decline and vascular disorders; Griffonia a plant native to Africa, called African bean, which has properties such as antidepressant, slimming and conciliatory sleep; Lavender, with vasodilatory and anti-neuralgic properties; Melissa already used in the Middle Ages for its anti-hysterical and sedative qualities and currently used to appease states of anxiety; passion flower rich in flavonoids and indole alkaloids, maltol and fatty acids whose relaxing properties were already known to the Aztecs and which, in the great war, was used to combat the anguish of war; Valerian, whose root has sedative and calming properties, promoting sleep.
Ma also warns against foods that are bad for you to the brain and mentions sugary drinks, too much sugar, especially if refined, too fatty foods especially trans fatty acids, too much alcohol, processed or canned foods, fish containing mercury or heavy metals. And so on for all the other organs in order to accompany the reader on a healthy and reasoned gastronomic journey.
Finally, the recipes, there is a wide choice and it is not to be believed that they are mortifying of taste and appetite. Any examples? There is a roulade of fragments with 'nduja, a soup with meatballs, linguine with vineyard snails, pici with fresh tuna and pepper, stracciatella with white truffle, vegetarian tripe, polenta with cinta senese lard and fried squid balls, all recipes studied with Chef Carmine Jovine.
There is only the embarrassment of choice to feel better at the table and with ourselves,
