German Food? Pachi wrinkling his nose. To fat”, to vitaminarm! And … can I be honest? Often inedible,” says the 70-year-old Madrilenin. The food was a few years ago, the only negative point of a month-long stay with friends in Berlin and Hamburg, telling the former journalist and an Amateur painter. “We Spaniards eat and live meanwhile, as healthy and balanced as in no other part of the world.”
Is that true? A study of the U.S. financial company Bloomberg, the woman who is youthful, power-walking power and whose father died recently at 94, right there. Therefore, it is currently nowhere as healthy as in Spain.
Swears on Spanish food : the former journalist Pachi (70)
“Maybe it’s something in the Gazpacho or Paella, but Spain has just overtaken Italy as the healthiest country in the world”, – stated in the Bloomberg report, with a wink. In fact, the country has made an extraordinary leap: In the last survey in 2017, it was still on the sixth rank. Germany ranks only 23rd place.
Gazpacho, a anti-inflammatory national dish
For the evaluation for 169 Nations, the habits of life of the population were examined: in addition to data for Obesity, cigarette consumption, health system and life expectancy, the diet was compared to the people. And because the Spaniards, as well as the rank 2 past the Italians have discovered, thanks to their “Mediterranean diet”, as it seems, in fact, the secret recipe for a long life.
How about by the consumption of the aforementioned Gazpacho. The cold vegetable soup, a masterpiece of Iberian art of cooking, mixed, among other things, from tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, onions, and garlic together and is not only rich in Vitamin C, but also act anti-inflammatory.
In Spain, since 1996, has existing Foundation, the “Fundación Dieta Mediterranea”, which is published on their website for countless recipes and menu suggestions, and the regular but moderate consumption of red wine is recommended, especially olive oil as the main actors of the Mediterranean diet par excellence. Foundation expert Ramón Estruch insured citing several studies, five soup spoons of olive oil per day reduced the risk of cardiovascular diseases significantly.
“We have our food in the blood, in the genes”
For the Spaniard, however, is not a “real diet, the man forced himself on, because you have to lose weight or live a healthier life,” as Pachi emphasized. “We have our food, so to speak, in the blood, in the genes, it is part of our traditions.” You love, for example, among other things, Swiss chard, Paella “with a lot of olive oil, of course extra virgin” and the Cocido Madrileño, a traditional Chickpea stew from the Spanish capital.
“In Spain, significantly more vegetables, fruits and legumes are consumed as such in Germany. And as a fat source of vegetable oil is in the foreground,” says Matthias Schulze of the German Institute for nutrition research to the point. There is now good evidence that a plant stressed diet. “In contrast, the consumption of red meat and of processed meat products and the consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages should be limited,” says the expert.
The Mediterranean diet, acting mainly at the avoidance of so-called cardio-metabolic diseases positive: “This includes both the type-2-Diabetes as well as cardiovascular disease,” explains Schulze. The Mediterranean diet style with its fresh, vitamin-rich ingredients to make also in the North, popular, has published the German heart Foundation, a book with the title “Mediterranean cuisine, and a Chance for your heart”.
Durable Spain
Already today, the Spanish life, according to international studies, longer than their counterparts in the European Union. Worldwide, the country was in 2016, in fourth place, only in Japan, Switzerland and Singapore, life expectancy at birth was even higher.
The Institute for health metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington calculated recently that Spain will take over by 2040, also here the guide: The citizens of Seville to Santander then estimated that at birth, the average life expectancy of 85.8 years. The Germans were just on the 25. Place in the world rankings, with an average death age of 83.2 years. The most important factors of high blood pressure, Obesity, high blood sugar levels, tobacco and alcohol consumption, and air pollution.
Pachi can understand the statistics of Bloomberg, IHME and other organizations: “Some young people buy today at us very a lot of crap. Ready meals and so on. But that’s not all.” She sits with a couple 90 and 92 years old – on the road Bank, is looking up to the dark blue morning sky of the capital, and adds: “Not only is the food important. Sun, Siesta, walks, Speak, maintain social contacts, living the good life … this is our recipe.”
