Choosing healthier foods can be easier than you may think. By changing just a few eating habits and making small changes you can look better, feel better and slim down too!
Add more vegetables to your life
Experiment with some of the many simple ways to do this to help maximise your nutrition.
- grate a carrot, courgette or pureed cauliflower or swede/turnip/celeriac to any savoury sauces, soup or casserole
- add extra sides of greens to every main meal
- add a handful of leafy greens (spinach, chard, kale, parsley or broccoli) to your smoothies
Replace white sugar with natural sweeteners
Stay away from refined sugar in drinks, on cereals and in recipes, use natural sweeteners such as rice malt syrup, raw honey, pure maple syrup or coconut sugar.. Even better, experiment by adding less sugar than recipes suggest, it will be better for you and will taste just as sweet.
Eat fresh fruit instead of juice
Skip the glass of orange juice and eat a fresh orange instead. As well as extra fibre, fruit sugars are less damaging to teeth when they’re contained within the whole fruit.
Try plant based milks instead of cow’s milk
Dairy can be a trigger for an upset stomach. Substitute with a nut milk such as almond, coconut or soya (see our previous post ‘Make your own nut milk’), or make milk from hemp seeds.
Swap fruit juices/fizzy drinks for soda water
Drinking just one can of soft drink a day increases your risk of diabetes by 22%. Try soda water with ice and a lime slice to significantly reduce the sugar content from liquids.
Use Greek yoghurt instead of milk
Replace milk on your granola with Greek yoghurt (see the recipe for 'Extremely tasty granola' in our breakfast recipes)
Bake sweet potatoes instead of chips
Sweet potatoes are full of beta carotene, which converts into vitamin A in your body.
Slice into wedges, toss with olive oil and sprinkle with sea salt. Place on a baking tray and roast at 200 degrees (gas mark for 15-20 minutes or until lightly browned. Sweet potatoes can also be used as a mash for fish/cottage pie, baked whole or made into crisps.
Try frozen fruits instead of ice-cream
Freeze and blitz one or more different kinds of fruits such as banana or pineapple adding cacao, coconut water or nuts. Banana gives a lovely low fat creamy texture.
Drink infused water instead of fruit juice
Put half strawberries and mint or sliced orange and cucumber in a jug and chill for 3-4 hours. Enjoy the fruity flavour without the calories.
Use almonds instead of breadcrumbs
Ground almonds are perfect for coating chicken or binding meatballs or burgers, while roughly chopped almonds can be sprinkled over gratin. Almonds will boost your zinc, fibre and iron levels.
Let us know of any healthy food swaps you have made.
Namaste
Alison x
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