Eat little, leave the table not completely full, limit wine as much as possible. When eating pasta, wholemeal pasta is better. These are the rules that Professor Silvio Garattini, president and founder of the Mario Negri Institute for Pharmacological Research, illustrated in his recent television appearances between La volta nuova on Raiuno and Che tempo che fa, on Nove.
We start from a basic fact, valid for any diet you choose: “You need to eat little and in a varied way. The body must not work too much”. Total fasting is not a solution: “At midday I have at least one orange juice or a banana,” says the scientist, who turned 97. Nutrition is a further bonus if combined with choices that guide your lifestyle in general: “I have tried to do everything considered useful to promote longevity. I have never had certain forms of addiction, I have never smoked and I have always drunk very little alcohol.”
Garattini’s 3 nos
Wine chapter: there is none on Garattini’s table. “Since the WHO said that alcohol is carcinogenic, I no longer drink alcohol or give it away, because I don’t want to give people cancer”, he summarizes. Together with alcohol, two extremely commonly used foods would not find room in the scientist’s ideal shopping. “I advise against red meat and butter, which should be replaced with olive oil. Red meat is a risk factor for colon cancer and produces some substances considered harmful at a cardiovascular level”, says the professor. If you really can’t do without it, you need to consume it in moderation: “We shouldn’t exceed 100-150 grams per week, there are many other animal proteins, starting with fish, that are preferable.”
The professor has expressed his views on intermittent fasting several times, downplaying the importance of dividing the day into windows: “It’s not so important when you eat, it’s the total amount that counts. You can even eat 5 times a day, as long as the total is relatively little. You can eat 3 or 5 times a day, it’s what you eat that counts: fruit and vegetables, wholemeal bread and pasta if possible. But above all it’s how much that matters,” he underlines.
