Easy health tweaks

Getting your diet back on track can seem like a mammoth task, but these easy health tweaks could make all the difference.

January is traditionally the month when we try to change everything, all at once. In a fit of new year optimism/desperation, we give up alcohol, meat and sugar, we take up Pilates, BodyPump and boxercise. We manage this for about a week, then crash and burn in a mega binge of left-over Quality Street and Netflix box sets.

So instead, why not make a few small changes to your diet that, over the space of just one month, can make a real difference to your health? These small changes should be easy to implement and simple to stick to. Ideally, they should also be affordable (no organic berries only available from a Himalayan hillside, please) and taste good. Green goop may do you good, but if it tastes disgusting you’re not likely to keep doing it long enough to experience the real benefits.

Here are my top three healthy diet tweaks to try.

1. Cut your fruit intake

This may seem a pretty radical thing to do. After all, isn’t fruit full of disease-fighting antioxidants? Yes, it is, but it’s also high in sugar. Among those following a ‘healthy’ diet, fruit can be a real issue as it’s seen as a sort of ‘free’ food, to be eaten whenever you feel like. But some fruits unbalance blood sugar, leading to sugar cravings, mood swings and weight gain.

If you’re struggling to lose that last half a stone, cutting your fruit intake down to one serving a day (an apple, pear or orange or two tablespoons of berries) can make a massive difference. If you find you crave something sweet at the end of a meal, have two squares of dark chocolate instead. It may sound counterintuitive to replace fruit with chocolate, but the fat in chocoate slows down the sugar hit, keeping you more balanced. Give it a try.

2. Replace half your normal grains with beans

Going carb-free can be hard going for many, but grain foods such as bread, pasta and rice are often the ones we overeat and that cause weight gain. So, rather than cutting them out completely, why not replace half of them with beans such as lentils, chickpeas and red kidney beans? Not only are they filling and have the comforting quality that grains have, but they also boast extra health benefits over grains.

Beans are higher in protein then most grain foods, so will help you feel full and satisfied after eating and keep your blood sugar nice and balanced. Beans are also full of fibre, which is good for digestive health. This fibre helps to you keep your cholesterol at a good level, too, and excretes old hormones such as excess oestrogen. High oestrogen or oestrogen dominance is associated with higher risk of female cancer as well as ‘central adiposity’ – better known as muffin top.

One way to swap grains for beans is to substitute your normal lunchtime sandwich for a lentil soup or bean salad. Alterntively, try raw veggies with houmous instead of a grain-heavy snack.

3. Go organic with your dairy foods

Many people buy organic fruits and vegetables, but don’t bother as much with meat, fish and dairy foods (milk, cheese and eggs). Often this is because sometimes it seems you need a second mortgage to buy an organic chicken. However, organic milk, cheese and eggs are not as much of a financial strain and pay-off to your health could be well worth it.

The reason is that while fruit and veg that is sprayed with chemicals can be washed and peeled, toxic substances such as the antibiotics given to animals do not sit on their skin, but are stored in fatty tissue. So if you eat food made from these fatty tissues, such as milk or cheese, the toxins may be present.

The price difference between organic and non-organic milk, cheese and eggs is small. However, reducing the ‘toxic load’ on your liver can benefit your health in many ways. It could improve your skin (if your liver is overwhelmed, it can ‘throw out’ toxins through your skin causing break-outs) and immune system as well as help with maintaining a healthy weight.

Nutritionist Lowri Turner sees clients at three London clinics. Her new book The Hunger Type Diet is out now.