The foods to ditch this spring

If you want to clean up your diet, these are the foods to ditch this spring.

Eating healthily doesn’t have to mean depriving yourself of the foods you love. Instead, you can do away with certain foods and replace them with healthier alternatives. Here, the Detox Kitchen gives us its top tips for five foods that you should eliminate from your kitchen to make way for more nutritious substitutes.

Orange juice

Don’t be fooled into thinking that all fruit juices are good for you! In fact, juices often contain the same amount of sugar and calories that you would find in a soft drink, which can send your blood sugar levels soaring. On top of that, the longer you leave a juice after you buy it, the less nutritional impact it will have. It’s far healthier to make freshly pressed juices yourself than to opt for shop bought juices. Drinking pressed juices as soon as they’re made will ensure that your body benefits from the nutrients in the natural ingredients.

Table salt

We all love adding a touch of flavour to our dishes, but should we be doing so at the cost of our health? When it comes to table salt, you mustn’t be stingy. If you like a sprinkle of salt every now and then, make sure you’re buying the best quality salt you can afford. Ordinary table salt contains an anti-caking agent and may be iodised, and cheap sea salts may have been chemically cleaned, which can leave your dinner with a slightly chemical taste. Maldon sea salt is a great shout as a healthier alternative, plus it has a light, clean flavour and a soft, flaky texture.

Pre-packed sauces

It should come as no surprise that jarred sauces, as well as jarred dips and ready meals, are full of additives, preservatives and refined sugars. Continuing to buy them will do your body no good whatsoever. Refined sugar has absolutely no nutritional value, and the way in which the carbohydrates are processed in your body can cause a number of chronic health problems, including weight gain and obesity. Too much sugar in your blood can affect your hormones, stress levels and mood balance. Why not try making a homemade sauce? Whipping up a fresh tomato sauce will take no time at all!

Cereal

Cereal is frequently marketed as a nutritious option for breakfast, but things aren’t always as they seem. Most of the time, supermarket cereals are packed with more sugar than you realise. After doing some investigating, the Detox Kitchen discovered that the latest granola product from one of the UK’s most popular cereal brand’s contained as much as 28g of sugar per 100g of cereal, despite being advertised as a healthy breakfast. In comparison, its homemade granola contains just 4g of sugar per 100g serving, with the raisins being the source of the sugar. Give homemade breakfast cereal a go, substituting sugar for sweet spices such as cinnamon and nutmeg.

Processed meat

Processed meat is an absolute no-no at the Detox Kitchen. There’s no room for sausages, processed burgers and sandwich meats when there are far healthier substitutes out there. Processed meat is often made with poor quality meat and lots of added salt and sugar. Instead, incorporate lean white meats into your diet, such as chicken and turkey. Chicken or turkey breasts are incredibly versatile to cook with, as they can take on bold flavours and can be cooked in a variety of ways, from grilling to roasting, to pan frying or stewing. Most of the meat recipes that you’ll find at the Detox Kitchen use chicken or turkey breast for the health properties.