Natalia Calvet has been interested in health and nutrition since she was a child. Such interest led her to study Science and Food Technology and train to become a fitness and aerobics instructor during her time at the university. At 20 years old, she was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes which only reconfirmed her belief that nutrition is extremely important to health and overall well-being. Currently, she’s works mostly with women who need to lose weight but have little time for self-care.
Advice for young athletes
To help mothers and fathers feed their children, Natalia Calvet has put together 10 pieces of the best advice:
- Set an example. If you want your children to eat healthy, the first step is for you to eat healthy. They’ll follow your lead.
- Don’t force your children to eat. Always offer them a variety of healthy options and let them decide. Try to try new things, but don’t force it.
- Don’t use food as a privilege or punishment. It creates an unhealthy relationship with food.
- Base their diet on real food (without tags). Highly processed foods are a sugar bomb, refined flours, low quality fats, high in salt: pastries, including those labels as whole wheat or 0%, soft drinks, yogurts (except natural and without added sugars), chocolate (except with 80% cacao or more), snacks, pre-prepared plates, juices, bread (except high quality whole wheat bread)… those foods shouldn’t be a part of our daily diet.
- The foundation of a proper diet for children, adolescents, and adults should be greens and vegetables.
- Consume enough protein and healthy fats at every meal: eggs, fish, meat, legumes, nuts, avocado, olives, seeds…
- Grains and cereals should always be used as a side dish and not the main dish. They should make up a maximum of 25% of our diets. In general, we eat too many grains and cereals.
- Involve your children in the kitchen and explain to them the importance of a healthy diet.
“Eating is necessary and can be pleasurable. Exercising is also necessary and can be pleasurable. Let’s teach our children to do both calmly and healthily.”
