Enough with do-it-yourself drugs, enough with the indiscriminate use of vitamin supplements and magic pills, enough with the chemical manipulation of the food we eat, but also enough with the school of calories and weights. By now it is clear – the times we are living tell us, which have suddenly brought down many certainties – that we must reorganize our lifestyles, food but also health. The complaint comes from Mirko Alonzo, Italian-Portuguese surgeon, author of the books "Metodo Alonzo e Performance" and who deals with nutrition, nutrigenomics and molecular nutrition.
The first consideration that Alonzo wishes to underline is that “today we need to move from the ancient conception that “we are what we eat” to “we are what we are able to absorb and metabolise”. There's a big difference. "Let me be clear - he began - there is nothing in my scientific position that you want to contrast with what medicine has already established, you just need to support and enrich the studies of the past, giving them a new breath". In fact, his method makes use above all of the union between modern scientific research and clinical practice, inextricably united with the doctor-patient synergy. Assuming that Nature is benevolent and teacher towards the human being, it could reveal itself it is imprudent to rely on an exclusively symptomatic treatment strategy, especially if this were to lead the patient to a abuse of drugs that can create a dangerous addiction. “In fact, there is often a tendency to treat the symptoms rather than to investigate the causes that generated them. For example, if one has a sluggish intestine, one takes a laxative, or, for a headache, one immediately resorts to a pill and so on''.
For Alonzo, on the other hand, it is fundamental free patients, as far as possible, from the excessive and simplistic intake of the drug, often due to a dangerous ''do it yourself'' which is based, among other things, on the erroneous conception that the human body should be treated as if the individual organs were independent of each other, instead of considering that in reality these interact continuously with each other. The goal is therefore a medicine of well-being, which investigates the causes that have generated the symptoms from which the patient suffers and in order for this to be possible, the body must be prepared in the best conditions, to activate their natural defense systems, above all by restoring the main physiological balances. In this way – specifies Alonzo – it is possible to restore to each individual the hope of intervening on a preventive level on many diseases, improving one's quality of life, eating correctly and above all taking care of moderate physical activity and adequate hydration''.
''The most modern sciences, such as for example the Nutrigenomics, have shown how the foods we eat daily are able to provide information to our genes and modulate them. It is therefore the molecules (and not the calories) that we introduce through the daily diet, carbohydrates, proteins, vitamins, lipids, minerals and water, which are able to modify the hormonal secretion, to therefore ''interloquire'' with the cells and with our DNA, determining the accumulation or loss of weight in the body and directing it towards disease or towards health. This science has profoundly changed the old food school of calories and weights and today, in fact, we must consider that we don't burn calories, but metabolize to produce molecules. In fact we are not a calorimeter, we are a living organism that produces and interacts with molecules and not with calories". As if to say that we can no longer, in modern times, consider our body as a simple count of calories, but we must look much further and in particular to the functionality of the organs to choose the most appropriate combinations and sequences of food, based on each of us. “Precisely for this reason, food gossip and the idea that the same diet is valid for everyone must be undermined. It is also too simplistic and sometimes even misleading to consider dieting with the sole aim of losing weight. In my method, weight control is not the goal to be achieved but the consequence of being in good health and having put the various organs back into functional balance when possible”.
These principles are found in the method developed by Alonzo, based on solid scientific foundations.
We are clearly overcoming the traditional texts and methods that talk about nutrition, calorie counting diets or magic pills that promise to work miracles without having to do anything. In this case the approach is based on a type of personalized medicine that considers the person as a whole, both physically and mentally.
Going into a little more detail, Dr. Alonzo invites you to reduce as much as possible the chemical manipulations to which food is subjected. In particular, it recommends reducing: processed meats, sausages, refined 0 and 00 flours and derivatives, industrial snacks, fried foods, refined sugars, canned products rich in preservatives, margarine, industrial packaged fruit juices, milk and cheeses of animal origin from intensive farming, alcoholic beverages, carbonated industrial drinks.
Instead, he recommends preferring the intake of: Organic whole grains (spelt, millet, buckwheat, brown rice, tapioca, etc.), oil seeds (chia, sunflower, pumpkin, flax), dried nuts (almonds, walnuts, salted, pistachios, pine nuts, etc.), fresh legumes (lentils, chickpeas, beans, etc.), fresh fish preferably blue, fresh fruit and vegetables in season, fresh juice extracts of raw vegetables and/or fruit drunk at the moment. All this must be accompanied by adequate hydration and moderate physical activity.
The sequence with which to introduce foods during a meal is also very important in his method.
One of the many examples he writes in his manual is to start lunch and/or dinner with a portion of raw, mixed and fresh seasonal vegetables. "It contains water-soluble fiber, consumed at the beginning of each meal, forms with the water present in the intestine, a sort of "gel" which causes glucose to be absorbed more slowly, thus limiting the blood sugar peak ( glycemic peak).
“Low blood sugar after a meal limits insulin secretion, with the result that you do not accumulate body fat.”
Alonzo also breaks down some clichés in this period of emergency, on how to strengthen the immune system.
“The common belief is that it is enough to take vitamin supplements in large quantities to be able to increase the immune system.
Unfortunately, the truth is that our body is a complex system and it is essential to understand what are the main foundations and balances through which our immune system works.
A fundamental role is assumed by the intestine. In the intestine there are many bacteria and micro-organisms that form the so-called intestinal microbiota. The latest scientific research has shown how the intestinal microbiota constantly interacts with our immune system.
In fact, an alteration of the balance of these microorganisms due, for example, to incorrect nutrition, stress or bad habits can unfortunately play a key role in creating an imbalance in the immune system which is closely connected to the intestine.
Going into the specifics of intestinal functioning, it is important to know that the intestine is made up of cells which are joined together by very tight joints which regulate cell permeability, i.e. nutritional exchanges with the blood.
Due, for example, to an incorrect diet, these joints can break, making the intestinal barrier more permeable even to the passage of toxic molecules.
These toxins can trigger a fast immune system response which will concentrate various resources at the intestinal level to deal with the inflammatory emergency like an army that will be concentrated mainly on one front, leaving the others more defenseless.
Inflammatory states clearly have a domino effect consequently the state of emergency starting from the intestine can reach the thyroid, liver, brain and other organs at a distance.
In light of this, the paradox is to focus only on taking supplements when in reality the energies of one's immune system are concentrated on another front.
Therefore, instead of thinking only about what type of supplementation to use that strengthens the immune system, it is essential to restore balance to our intestines, closing intestinal "mesh" and restoring the correct permeability of the cells.
Another essential element is the ability of our immune system to reproduce quickly and to activate when there are viruses or pathogenic substances in general in the body. The immune system uses a molecule called glucose to react.
The presence of glucose inside cells is essential for the replication of the immune system.
Therefore, the presence of an alteration in the metabolism of sugars, such as drastic glycemic peaks, diabetes, insulin resistance, obesity or alcohol abuse and much more are all conditions that can cause a weakening of the immune system.
Therefore, especially in this period, the intake of refined carbohydrates such as zero flour, double zero, sweets in large quantities is not recommended because they cause continuous changes in blood sugar. It is preferable to replace them with whole grains which can contribute to more correct glycemic regulation.
Finally, it is important to maintain a healthy lifestyle, let's take advantage of this period to acquire good habits, such as exercising at home, enjoying our loved ones and relaxing, avoiding fear and terror.
Fear and terror trigger the release of certain hormones such as adrenaline, noradrenaline and cortisol which in the long run depress our immune defenses.
It is recommended to keep a balance between our mind and our body considering that our body is not made up of simple molecules, but of a complex system of organs that collaborate and dialogue with each other".
