On January 18, an expert from the Hemotest laboratory, gastroenterologist Ekaterina Kashukh, told Izvestia how to eat healthy and varied on any budget and what useful analogues of expensive products exist.
“In fact, expensive exotic or farm products cannot a priori be called the healthiest. According to experts from international organizations, a healthy diet is a balanced diet that includes a variety of food groups: vegetables and fruits, grains, protein sources, polyunsaturated fats. It is important to eat a varied diet, using foods from different food groups. You should also limit salt, sugar and saturated fat. In general, all recommendations come down to variety and selection of minimally processed products,” said Kashuh.
According to her, one way to save on food is to replace expensive ingredients with more affordable ones. Usually, such analogues are in no way inferior to the originals in terms of benefits, and the taste qualities are perfectly compensated by culinary tricks.
“Veal can be replaced with more affordable options such as beef. In addition, you should not focus only on red meat; it is important to alternate it with white chicken meat, which costs much less, but is also considered a good low-fat source of protein,” the gastroenterologist shared.
She also noted that fresh red fish, which is a good source of polyunsaturated fatty acids and beneficial microelements, can be replaced with more affordable analogues: instead of salmon, you can take pink salmon, instead of cod, pollock, and instead of halibut, flounder.
“Another way to save money is to buy frozen or canned goods. They have almost the same benefits as fresh fish, and the price is much lower. When choosing canned food, you should pay attention to the composition, take it with a minimum amount of synthetic food additives, without sugar and oil,” the specialist added.
Substitutes for expensive nuts and superfoods are also easy to find, she says. Buckwheat, for example, contains nutritional elements (iron, protein, vitamins, calcium, magnesium, potassium and many other nutrients) similar to those found in quinoa, and chia seeds can easily be replaced with flax seeds because they have a similar composition and enveloping gastrointestinal tract effect.
The gastroenterologist also noted that in order to save money, fresh vegetables and fruits can be replaced with frozen counterparts. Especially if you plan to use them in cooking. In terms of taste and vitamin content, they are almost no different from fresh ones.
“Exotic imported vegetables and fruits can be replaced with local ones without loss of benefits. For example, use turnips instead of celery root, pumpkin instead of sweet potatoes, beet tops, parsley, dill and white cabbage instead of kale and arugula. Lychees, passion fruit and mangoes can be replaced with apples, tangerines, kiwis, persimmons and pomegranates; their price is much lower than exotic ones, because they are delivered from neighboring regions and countries,” Kashuh continued.
Aromatic herbs like basil, rosemary or thyme can be taken dried, their price is several times lower. You can replace expensive nuts such as macadamia or pecans with more affordable pumpkin seeds, walnuts, almonds or hazelnuts, the doctor added.
In addition, she says, you can add some vegetable oils to salads and snacks, as they contain healthy fatty acids. Unrefined olive, sunflower, sesame or flaxseed oil will do.
“If you spend a little more time choosing products and carefully study store promotions, you will be able to reduce spending even more. Thus, the products of small local companies are often not inferior in taste to advertised manufacturers, but are cheaper, since they have lower advertising and logistics costs. Buying packaged foods is also often more expensive. If you pay attention to such little things, you can save a lot on food without limiting yourself in the beneficial nutrients necessary for health,” the specialist concluded.
On December 7, a gastroenterologist at the SM-Clinic Hepatology Center, Valeria Lomova, said that fatty meats, sweets and flour products can contribute to the deterioration of liver function.
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