Álvaro Vargas, nutrition expert: “I’ll never tire of repeating this: love carbohydrates at any time of day, as long as they’re healthy”
The nutritionist has shed some light on false myths about the Mediterranean diet in his podcast, 'Learning to Eat with Álvaro Vargas'.
So many false myths surround food that it’s easy to feel overwhelmed by how little we really know about something we do every single day. The truth is that the often frenetic pace of daily life pushes many people into a spiral of ignorance and bad habits that makes healthy eating feel increasingly difficult. Readers should know that good cooking does not live only in long, elaborate recipes – very often, especially in the Mediterranean diet, it’s found in quick, simple preparations.
A clear example is the sandwich, as explained by nutrition expert Álvaro Vargas on his podcast, A comer se aprende con Álvaro Vargas. “We always think of chorizo, salami, cured meats, saturated fats, white bread… No, no,” he dismisses, stressing that “a sandwich can also be healthy if you choose 100% whole-grain bread, spread it generously with hummus, and add avocado, tomato, cucumber, arugula, and sliced black olives.”
If you follow those steps, he says, you can enjoy “an ultra-nutritious sandwich that takes no more than five minutes to make.” Beyond the ingredients themselves, he urges readers to pay close attention to their quality. On this point, the expert singles out one indispensable element: bread. “Whole-grain bread without sourdough is much better than white bread with sourdough,” he advises, firmly backing 100% whole-grain bread.
“Love carbs, whatever the time of day”
Then there’s the issue of carbohydrates. “What should we do? Of course not cut them out of our diet – they’re our main source of energy,” he explains. It’s not about quantity: “What we need to choose are healthy carbs, whole-grain ones, like whole-grain bread and pasta, rice, quinoa, and legumes.” He takes the recommendation even further, turning it into a guiding principle. “I’ll never stop repeating it: love carbs, whatever the time of day, as long as they’re healthy,” he adds.
To round out his advice, he recommends rethinking salads so they move from being a token side dish to the star of the table. “Salads can be extremely nutritious and become the main course,” he concludes.
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