Which national cuisines are the healthiest and where do the healthiest people live?

In 2019, the Bloomberg news agency published a rating of countries with the healthiest population. In the top 3 were Spain, Italy and Iceland. How did this come about?

Nutrition specialist, founder of GetVegetable, a service for the delivery of proper nutrition

One of the key indicators of health is nutrition. Food habits directly affect the body, and if these habits are widespread in a society – the influence will spread to the whole, which is what the study proves. The Spanish-Italian menu includes a lot of fish and seafood, olive oil, and nuts. These foods have a positive effect on the heart and reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease.

The Icelandic diet is similar to the Spanish and Italian diets, but there are more fruits and vegetables.

Spanish cuisine

The daily diet of Spaniards is balanced and nutritious. It includes fish, seafood, legumes, and vegetables. Fish and seafood contain a lot of protein, their consumption provides full nutrition for brain cells. They are rich in magnesium, zinc, copper. Calcium, also contained in fish in large quantities, strengthens bone tissue.

To begin, boil potatoes, chop the vegetables (you can cut both cubes and straws). Boil the eggs, peel the potatoes in the jacket and cut into cubes. Shred the eggs, open the tuna. Mix what you get with the potatoes and vegetables, dress with vinegar and oil to soak everything up. Season with salt and pepper. Put in the fridge to let the salad soak in properly and chill.

Italian cuisine

The national cuisine of Italy is very versatile and useful. In the preparation of Italian dishes are mainly used seafood, various seasonings, cheese, fresh fruits, rice, olive oil. Even pasta, which at first glance seems harmful, is made in Italy from hard wheat, which contains few calories.

How to prepare healthy Italian chicken saltimbocca

Budete potřebovat:

• chicken fillet – 500 g;
• salt rubbed ham (prosciutto) – 6 slices;
• chopped spinach – 250 g;
• olive oil – 3 tbsp;
• grated parmesan – 1/4 cup;
• chicken broth – 400 g;
• lemon juice – 2 tbsp;
• salt – to taste;
• ground black pepper to taste.

Make a chop from the fillet. Cut it so that you get six pieces of cutlets. Sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste and place a slice of prosciutto on each one. In a bowl, mix the chopped spinach with one tablespoon of oil and season with salt and pepper. Place the spinach on top of the prosciutto and sprinkle the parmesan over everything evenly. Roll the patty into a tube and secure the edges with a toothpick.

Heat the remaining two spoonfuls of oil in a large skillet over high heat. Fry the cutlets for about two minutes on each side – until golden. Pour the broth and lemon juice into the pan with the tubes and bring the liquid to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium-low. Cover with a lid and simmer until cooked through, about 10 minutes.

Transfer the cutlets to a plate and simmer the liquid for another five minutes over low heat. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Remove the toothpicks from the cutlets. Sprinkle them with the remaining liquid and serve immediately.

Prepare the fish. It is better to take a ready fillet. But if you have only a whole fish at hand, it should be cut into rectangular layers (do not cut the skin), remove the bones, rinse under cold water and dry with paper towels.

Mix the spices. The proportions of salt, sugar and pepper vary from recipe to recipe. For example, some people put only one spoonful of sugar. In fact, do not be wary – the fish will not be sweet. Therefore, it is recommended to mix sugar and salt in equal amounts. In addition, instead of ground pepper, peppercorns are sometimes used, because they consider it more flavorful. So, sugar, salt and pepper should be combined in one bowl and mixed thoroughly.

Cut the dill. You can use not only fresh, but also dried. The first is preferable. It should be washed and finely chopped.

Rub the fish. Each slice of salmon should be abundantly sprinkled with a mixture of spices and dill. Sugar, salt and pepper can even be rubbed into the fish a little, and the dill should form a green “blanket” on top.

After that, the pieces of fish should be stacked on top of each other so that the dill is on the inside and the skin is on the outside.

Wrap the gravlax. Now you need to tightly wrap the resulting “sandwiches” with food film and put them in a container. To marinate faster, you can put something heavy on top. For example, a jar of water.

Put the gravlax in the refrigerator. After two days, you can eat the fish. But it is better to leave it for a couple more days – it will taste better. When the salmon is marinated, it should be unwrapped and cleaned of dill and seasonings.