Some people love diets, others hate them. So how about we flip it around? Your challenge for this week is to keep an eye on what you do eat, rather than focusing on the things you shouldn’t eat.
Aussies only spend about 7% of their weekly grocery bill on fresh vegetables, yet eating the recommended 5+ a day can add years to our lives. Colourful fruit boosts our brain power and fibre helps us to manage our weight. Nuts reduce our chances of developing Coronary Heart Disease and we all know that H2O keeps our bodies running smoothly. So boost your body and your mood with this challenge.
How to spring clean your eating habits:
- 5+ serves of veges each day. To reach this target, you can’t leave it all until dinner. Snack on a carrot, have salad or vege soup for lunch and serve vege sticks as a pre-dinner snack. Even frozen veges are fine. Eating 5+ serves a day can protect your heart and add years to your life, as well as boosting energy and mood.
- 2+ serves of fruit each day. Eating colourful fruit at breakfast has been proven to boost brain health, so why not have some berries on your cereal, then a piece of fruit mid-morning?
- Switch to brown & seedy. Switch to brown rice, multi-grain breads, grainy crackers and sweet potatoes, rather than white. You’ll increase your fibre intake, feel fuller for longer and avoid sugar spikes.
- Go nuts. They’re a great way to get enough ‘good’ fats and are a filling snack. Avoid salted varieties and measure your serve each time – you should eat enough nuts to just fill the palm of your hand.
- Perfect protein. We need to balance our protein in a couple of ways. Firstly, make sure you have a little bit of protein with each meal, even snacks. This could mean having nuts in your muesli (and hold the dried fruit), peanut butter on your toast, a small natural yoghurt with your fruit, tuna or chicken with lunch and a main protein source with your dinner. When it comes to main meals, mix it up. Each week needs to include a balance of fish, poultry, red meats and vegetarian meals so that our bodies get all of the nutrients that they need.
- Water yourself. Make sure you’re drinking enough water every day. Aim for 1.5-2 litres, which can include a few herbal teas. Coffee, black tea, juices, soft drink…. they don’t count. Also think about when you drink. If you drink too much with meals, it can stop you from absorbing all of the goodness in your food.
These habits are easy enough to maintain for life, it just takes a little planning. Decide what you want to eat for the week, do a healthy shop and get stuck in. You’ll notice you have more energy instantly and the chocolate cravings will calm down, because you’re never hungry or thirsty.
If you’re someone who needs a more structured diet, you can join Lisa Snowdon, our Spring nutritionist, for her sugar detox anytime.
