You know the healthy eating basics, but you also know it’s not always easy to apply them to daily life. That’s okay! Focus on making small changes.
Here are five smart, simple tips eat healthy this summer.
Swap Sweets for Fruit
The natural sugars in fruit give us a similar boost in energy to a sugary snack, but in fruit this is balanced with vitamins electrolytes and fibre allows for a healthier rate of nutrient absorption and helps keep our digestive tract healthy.
Before reaching for a chocolate bar try first having a banana or a handful of berries. These are quick easy snacks which are not only tasty and easy to eat on the go, but are also good for us.
Choose Whole Grain Over White
When processing grain based foods, a lot of healthy nutrients are stripped away. An easy way to improve our diets is to simply swap out foods such as white bread, pasta and rice for their wholemeal alternatives.
These provide naturally occurring fibres which help our bodies absorb carbohydrates at a healthier rate during digestion, allowing us to feel energised throughout the day, rather than the usual dips and troughs of energy we may otherwise experience.
Branch Out When Choosing Snacks
Let’s be honest, snacking can be fun, but some snacks can lead to us quickly going over our reccomended intake of sodium, sugar and saturated fats. We can make easy replacements of snacks to incorporate healthy boosts to our daily nutrition. Things such as nuts, carrot sticks, and celery all offer something to crunch without the downsides of snacks such as crisps and biscuits.
A favourite of mine is red pepper hummus and warmed up wholemeal pitta breads.
Stay Hydrated!
Our bodies’ natural processes require water. Staying hydrated throughout the day allows our bodies to process at its best. For normal metabolism we should be aiming to drink a minimum of 2 litres of water a day, but for healthy adults 3-4 litres a day is a good guideline to aim for.
The temperature of our drinks affects our bodies in different ways. If we are aiming to lose weight, drinking cold water throughout the day causes our body to burn more calories in maintaining its core temperature.
On the other hand it is a good idea to have a hot drink with our meals to aid digestion.
Eat The Rainbow!
Before you reach for a packet of skittles, read a little further! Simply put, eating the rainbow involves eating fruits and vegetables of different colours every day. Plants contain different pigments, or phytonutrients, which give them their colour. Different-coloured plants are linked to higher levels of specific nutrients and health benefits.
While eating more vegetables and fruit is always a good idea, focusing on eating a variety of colours will increase your intake of different nutrients to benefit various areas of your health.
To eat the rainbow, be sure to eat a variety of different-coloured fruits and vegetables throughout your day. Most colourful fruits and veggies have anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effects that may benefit different aspects of your health.
Think one of these changes will work for you? Let us know in the comments!
Click here to read our blog on ‘How to deal with Stress Eating’
