Salads have become the queens of the summer. After a hearty meal, the phrases ‘I’ll only eat fruit tomorrow’ or ‘I’ll skip breakfast to balance things’ occur. And since it’s hot, many banish the carbohydrates, convinced they no longer need them.
They are some of the most common nutritional mistakes of this season, and while they may seem harmless, they can cause our diet to lose quality. We spoke with nutritionist Marta Fuertes to debunk the most widespread myths about how to eat in summer.
In summer almost everything changes. We sleep later, improvise more plans and meals stop resembling those of the rest of the year. One day a paella on the beach; the next, a quick salad because “yesterday I overdid it”.
There are more terraces, more appetizers, more ice creams and more meals out. And also more attempts to compensate. The problem isn’t enjoying those plans. Nor overeating one day or changing schedules during the holidays.
The real risk lies in the small choices we repeat almost unconsciously: thinking that a salad is always a complete meal, banishing carbohydrates because we’ve had an excess, or going for hours without eating to “balance the scales”.
“The summer is often linked to eating lighter, but eating lighter doesn’t mean eating less or nourishing yourself worse,” summarizes nutritionist Marta Fuertes. She stresses that the goal should not be to compensate, but to maintain a complete diet adapted to this season.
Error 1. Believing that any salad is a complete meal
When it’s hot, few things are more appetizing than a salad. They’re fresh, quick and healthy. The problem arises when they become, day after day, the main dish with hardly any ingredients beyond a few leafy greens.
According to Marta Fuertes, a salad can be an excellent meal, provided it is well constructed. When it only contains vegetables, they usually lack quality proteins, complex carbohydrates and healthy fats.
The result is a not very filling meal that leaves the body without part of the nutrients it needs and makes hunger reappear soon after.
To turn it into a complete dish, simply add a source of protein, such as egg, chicken, fish or legumes, quality carbohydrates like potatoes, rice or quinoa, and healthy fats from extra virgin olive oil, avocado or nuts.
Error 2. Banishing carbohydrates because we have eaten too much
It’s one of the myths most repeated every summer. After a hearty meal or during the holidays, many people eliminate bread, pasta or rice, convinced that this will compensate for the excesses.
However, carbohydrates remain the body’s main energy source. Reducing them when we are less physically active may make sense, the nutritionist explains, but eliminating them altogether does not.
In fact, restricting them tends to backfire: hunger increases, snacking becomes more frequent, and restoring a balanced intake becomes harder.
Error 3. Trying to compensate an excess by going hungry the next day
Perhaps the most common error of all. After a dinner with friends, a barbecue or a family meal, guilt arrives and with it promises: “I won’t have breakfast tomorrow”, “today I’ll only eat fruit”, or “I’m going to detox”. But the body doesn’t work that way.
“The body isn’t a calculator where one very large meal is canceled out by another very small one,” explains Marta Fuertes.
Skipping meals or restricting intake the next day does not compensate for the previous excess. On the contrary, it increases hunger, hinders appetite control and makes it more likely to binge a few hours later.
Additionally, these strategies often feed a unhealthy relationship with food based on guilt and compensation.
The best decision, the specialist says, is much simpler: return to your usual routine, stay well hydrated, have complete meals, and resume physical activity when possible.
Error 4. Thinking that on vacation it doesn’t matter to lose any routine
Holidays invite you to forget the clock. We have breakfast whenever we can, eat later, and dinners stretch well into the night.
For the nutritionist, the problem isn’t changing the schedules, but losing any structure.
When regularity disappears altogether, it becomes easier to improvise, consume less nutritious foods and stop paying attention to hunger and satiety signals.
The key isn’t following a strict timetable, but maintaining a certain organization that fits the pace of the holidays.
What truly makes the difference are the habits we repeat most of the time.
That’s why, the goal during summer shouldn’t be to eat less or to live trying to compensate for excesses, but to keep enjoying food from a place of balance, without guilt and without falling into myths that can distance us from a healthy diet.
