Tips on healthy eating

Article Date: 27th January 2016

January is traditionally the time of year when people are trying desperately to keep to their vow to do more exercise and eat a better diet.

Losing weight and getting fitter can make a big difference to your quality of life and while making changes to a lifestyle can be difficult, there are some basic healthy eating tips that can really help.

Here’s a few to aid you with your New Year’s resolutions:

Eat more starchy foods

Starchy foods, such as potatoes and bread, are a good source of energy and contain important nutrients such as fibre, calcium, iron and B vitamins. It’s a common misconception that starchy foods are fattening – gram for gram they contain fewer than half the calories of fat.

Eat lots of fruit and veg

The old adage about eating five portions of fruit and veg a day still applies. Why not put some fresh fruit on your breakfast cereal or have an apple for your mid-morning snack?

Eat less salt

There’s no need to add salt to food as there is already a lot on the foods you buy. Too much salt can raise your blood pressure and increase the risk of heart disease or stroke.

Make sure you eat breakfast

Going without breakfast will not help you to lose weight. It is part of a healthy balanced diet and an important source of vitamins and minerals. Porridge, a low-sugar cereal with fruit sliced over the top or scrambled egg on wholegrain toast are all healthy breakfasts.

Cut down on saturated fat

Foods, such as hard cheese, cakes, biscuits, sausages, butter and pies contain saturated fat. Try to choose foods that contain unsaturated fats instead, such as vegetable oils, oily fish and avocados.

Do away with too much sugar

Reduce your intake of sugary fizzy drinks, alcoholic drinks, sugary breakfast cereals, cakes, biscuits and pastries. The kind of sugar you want is found in fruit and milk.

Drink plenty of water

We need to drink up to 2 litres of fluid every day to stop us getting dehydrated.

Eat more fish

Fish is a good source of protein and contains many vitamins and minerals. Aim to eat at least two portions of fish a week, including at least one portion of oily fish. Oily fish includes salmon, mackerel, trout, herring, fresh tuna, sardines and pilchards.