good nutritional practice

It’s easy to eat properly – in theory. Just keep to two rules: go for good-quality foods, and eat a balanced diet (“a little of everything”, in the right proportions).

Food quality in practice…

The use of the food additives and certain food conservation methods are primarily aimed at cutting production costs or extending the shelf life of foodstuffs; the nutritional quality of the ingredients is only very seldom the priority, even today.

Your best guarantee of quality is the ingredients offered by nature. This approach was recognised in 2005 by Euro-Toques when it admitted EXKi to membership in recognition of its commitment to quality.

Eating a balanced diet in practice.

According to NUBEL (The non-profit manager/distributor for the Belgian Nutritional Composition Tables, February 2007): “Western consumers generally have unbalanced eating habits: they eat too much fat, above all saturated fat, too much sugar, and not enough dietary fibre”.

You’re probably not being told this for the first time …

Eating properly is essential for staying in shape and keeping well. When it comes to food, too much is just as disastrous as going without, and quantity must be matched with quality.

Meals should be varied, and should contain every food category.

Good nutritional practice rests on simple, common-sense ideas: balance, variety and moderation. There is no food that contains everything we need (all the protein, carbohydrates, lipids, vitamins and minerals), just as there is no food that has to be utterly banned from a normal diet. No food is “bad” in itself (though some are better than others), there are only bad eating habits. Different food groups have different amounts of carbohydrates, lipids and proteins, as well as vitamins, minerals and water.

So the real secret is ensuring the variety that meets our needs as well as possible.