Don’t stop it, swap it!
Eating a healthy, balanced diet is one of the cornerstones of healthy living. It helps to maintain your waistline and overall well-being. Yet, for someone who wants to start eating better, it can be hard to commit to. Making extreme changes, going cold turkey and cutting out all the “happiness” that certain foods bring is not only tough, but also sets you up for failure. The good news, however, is that there is a solution, and it’s simple: swap out unhealthy choices for healthy ones. In other words, don’t STOP it, SWAP it. Making small swaps throughout the day all start to add up and provide you with a more sustainable approach to a healthy diet.
Swap chips for…
It’s hard to find ANYONE who doesn’t love a good chip. Sadly, their nutritional profile isn’t quite as popular. Try some of these alternatives to give you more nutrients, and the crunch that you’re looking for:
- Popcorn. A delicious, satisfying and nutritional alternative to chips. Popcorn contains many important minerals, while the whole grain nature of popcorn makes it a great source of dietary fibre.
- Sweet potato chips. Sometimes sweeter is better! Compared to regular potatoes, sweet potatoes provide 400% of the recommended daily amount for vitamin A!
- Raw veggies. Baby carrots, broccoli, cucumbers, sugar snap peas, celery and bell peppers offer up a crisp, crunchy snack. Fresh vegetables are loaded up with disease fighting antioxidants, something that a chip simply can’t deliver! Add in some homemade hummus or guacamole and you may never look at another chip again!
- Nuts. Nuts are an excellent source of protein and fibre. They’re also full of magnesium, calcium, iron and vitamin B. Choose raw nuts, and add some salt to them yourself – this way you can control exactly how much you’re eating
- Sunflower, pumpkin and sesame seeds. Seeds, just like nuts, are excellent source of fibre and other key nutrients including vitamin E, folate & zinc
- Cheese. A good old slice of cheese can satisfy most people. Plus, the nutrient triad of vitamins D, vitamin K & calcium found in cheese is important for reducing the risk of both heart disease and osteoporosis
- Gherkins and pickled onions. Since pickling is a form of fermentation, crunchy gherkins are a tasty source of probiotics, important for gut health. They also contain disease fighting antioxidants and put a quick end to the strongest of cravings!
Swap fizzy drinks and fruit juices for…
These drinks can be refreshing but they are also full of sugars and additives. To give you some perspective, a 330ml fruit juice contains 40g of sugar, while a regular chocolate bar contains around 28g… and no, that does not mean that you should rather eat chocolate. Try one of these alternatives instead:
- Squeeze your own fruit juice. This gives you the fibre and other goodness that is lost when juices are made
- Fizzy water and some slices of fresh fruit. You’ll still get the fizz, without the flavourants!
- Dilute your juice with water. Gradually adjust the amount of water up and fruit juice down
- Coffee. A much healthier way to get a caffeine fix than soda. Swap out sugar for cinnamon, which helps to control blood sugar spikes, meaning you won’t be craving anything sweet afterwards
- A glass of full cream milk. A higher fat content keeps you fuller for longer, meaning you’ll be less likely to snack on unhealthy options throughout the day
Swap sweets and chocolate for…
If you have a sweet tooth, there are much healthier places to turn to than a giant bag of marshmallows. For example:
- Fresh fruit. Need we say more? Blueberries and strawberries give you the most bang for your nutrition buck, but a good mix of fruit can be a great way to meet the needs of your sweet tooth without going overboard on sugar
- Dark chocolate. Choose chocolate with at least 70% cacao. To satisfy your sweet tooth the healthy way, you need to maximize the amount of actual cocoa bean products, while minimizing or eliminating all the other junk
- Seed bars. These are great on-the-go snacks and satisfy your taste buds with some sweetness, mixed in with the goodness of seeds
Swap ice-cream for…
You may think that there isn’t much that could top a big bowl of frozen cream, but trust us, there is!
How about:
- Frozen yoghurt. You can make your own at home, by freezing the mini tubs of full cream yoghurt
- Homemade fruit ice-cream. Freeze bananas and berries, pop in a blender and mix with full cream yoghurt. Freeze and voila!
- Frozen grapes. Not much comes close to these! You can even use them as ice blocks in your fizzy water
- Parfait. Top full cream yoghurt with some fresh berries and a sprinkling of nuts
Don’t forget that food isn’t the only place where swapping works to improve your health. Try swapping sitting for moving, stairs for escalators and watching sports for playing sports.