Doctor and nutritionist Frédéric Saldmann offers exclusively for LIFE readers some important tips to shape up for the summer months!
You give a lot of advice about hygiene in your latest book “Vital!” published by Albin Michel. What are your ‘must-do’s’ for a healthy life?
First, you should clean your nails every day using a tooth brush to get rid of all those microbes. Nails offer a wonderful humid environment in which microbes love to develop and multiply. Also, remember to get some exercise. A lack of movement means your muscles begin to waste away and your joints become stiff. Boules is an excellent sport to play between two swims. Whether you are throwing or picking up your boules, you use your abdominal muscles and also those in your thighs and arms.
What advice would you give someone looking to shape up their silhouette before the summer?
It is important to adapt your diet and to boost the energy in your body. I recommend a detox program with light meals and intermit tent fasting. This means not eating for between 12 and 16 hours and helps fight against our planned obsolescence.
You give a number of tips in your book to reduce snacking. Could you explain just one of them?
Drink a large glass of iced water just before sitting down to eat. You’ll be surprised by the results. Slowly drinking a glass of iced water anaesthetises your ‘hunger nerve’ and you get the impression you have eaten a good meal without ingesting any calories and thereby don’t feel like swallowing large quantities of fatty and sweet food!
“Success in life is important, good health is vital!”
Is sport vital to feeling good?
Sport releases endorphins and makes you feel good. Do 30 minutes of sport without stopping each day. The first 20 minutes burn off the sugar, then it’s the turn of the bad fats. This helps reduce the risk of cardiovascular diseases by 40%. Also, having an athletic figure will increase your self-confidence when it comes to slipping on your beachwear!
Talking of which, you don’t recommend keeping on damp beachwear after a swim, why?
Wearing damp beachwear can provoke genital discomfort and disorders such as mycoses and urinary infections, or even itchy rashes. With wet beachwear, the warm and damp conditions are ideal for the proliferation of bacteria and fungi.
What’s the best way to look good at the water’s edge?
To have an elastic and radiant skin, remember to drink a lot. An adult should drink at least 1.5 litres of water each day. More when exercising or when it’s hot outside. Prolonged exposure to sunlight can be dangerous, even if you use sun cream. It’s much better to wear a hat to avoid aging before your time!
What is the ideal way to rehydrate the skin after a day on the beach?
A lot of products work quite well, but again there is not one miraculous solution. Your skin will be more flexible but not necessarily better hydrated. When it rains, the water does not penetrate your body … it’s the same thing with the creams, so choose one because you appreciate it and because you feel better afterwards.
