Improve your Nutrition

by Heather Finlay

As part of a healthy diet we are constantly being informed of how many portions of fruit and vegetables we should eat every day, how much alcohol we should consume and that we should increase our intake of fibre.  We also need to have a balanced diet – as well as fruit and veg, we need protein, fats and carbohydrates.

However, it is not always easy to understand or follow the guidelines.  Below are some ideas to help you improve your diet without increasing your weekly spending and perhaps without your family even noticing!

Fruit and Vegetables – our 5 a day

We are advised to eat at least 5 portions of fruit and vegetables a day; in fact, some studies say it should be as much as 8.  So if you don’t regularly eat many portions of these, how can you increase your intake without completely changing your diet?

(A portion is around 80g or a handful of fruit or vegetables; potatoes don’t count as they are starchy foods usually used in place of bread, rice or pasta)

• Add a portion of fruit to your breakfast – add blueberries to your porridge or chop a banana onto your cereal, or eat a bowl of prunes 
• A glass (150ml) of fruit or vegetable juice counts towards your total (only 1 per day); use unsweetened
• Make a smoothie with your favourite fruit, using unsweetened fruit juice as a base.  Don’t break the fruit down too much so that fibre is retained
• Add in a handful of fresh spinach leaves to your smoothie; you will barely taste it
• Add extra vegetables into pasta dishes eg courgettes and aubergines into lasagne
• When making shepherds or fish pie, throw in some sweetcorn or peas
• Buy whole fruits such as pineapples or mangoes, peel, chop up, put into plastic storage containers in the fridge and take a portion to work to eat
• Buy fruits such as cherries, blueberries, raspberries and grapes that you can pick at at work
• If you have a sweet tooth, grate a square of dark chocolate over a bowl of fruit; it may not seem like much but actually goes a long way and is better than adding sugar, cream or ice cream
• Heap salad leaves and tomatoes into your sandwiches
• Start having a small side bowl of salad with your main meal.  Adds to your total portions and has fewer calories than a slice of bread or extra potatoes
• Add some chopped peppers, onions or mushrooms to shop-bought pizza before cooking
• Cook and then blend vegetables about to go past their best into soup.  Boil enough water to cover the vegetables (not too much water), cook the veg, take from the heat and add vegetable stock and herbs, blend.  Done.  Perhaps potato and leak, carrot and orange, mushroom or parsnip.  They can also be frozen
• Make a fruit crumble or pie; if making a pie, just use the pastry for a lid, rather than to completely encase the fruit.  Not only is this healthier but it also allows you to make a bigger pie!  Why not use fallen apples and blackberries from the roadside?
• Cut up peppers, cucumber, celery and carrots and dip in hummus or a tomato salsa for a snack or starter
• Eat small handfuls of currants and raisins as snacks, but only small amounts as the concentrated fruits are high in sugar
• Add tomato puree into pasta dishes and onto pizzas – it is a concentrated form of tomatoes, rich in lycopene which is good for your skin in protection against sunburn
• Make stews and casseroles with a small amount of meat or chicken (if not vegetarian) and add lots of vegetables to pad out the dish and reduce the cost per portion.  Use turnips and swedes, carrots, small whole onions and tinned tomatoes.  Additional portions can be frozen
• Make vegetable-based dishes such as mushroom risotto and stuffed peppers
• Frozen and canned fruit and vegetables all count towards your total; beware of fruit canned in syrup as this is full of sugar
• Beans, including baked, kidney, haricot and cannellini all count as one portion (3 heaped tablespoons, one portion per day) so have beans on toast or add butter beans to a stew
• If indulging in a cooked breakfast, add in some mushrooms, tomatoes and baked beans
• Enjoy a starter of grilled asparagus or melon – simple and always popular
• Make pancakes for a weekend breakfast – make the pancakes and leave in a low oven to keep warm.  Use the pan on a low heat to warm through some fresh fruit (any fruit - pears, cherries, apples) with a tablespoon of maple syrup; spoon over the pancakes
• Add some grapes or celery to your plate of cheese and biscuits
• When creating a salad, add in some fruit such as mango, pineapple, raspberries.  Go easy on the dressing
• Stuff apples with currants and top with some brown sugar; bake in the oven

 Try to use fruit and veg that are local and in season as they will be cheaper and are better for the environment

Increase your fibre intake

In the starchy food group (potatoes, pasta, rice, bread) you should try to look for products that have more fibre.  There are two types of fibre - soluble and insoluble:

Soluble fibre can be digested and may help to reduce cholesterol.  It can be found in oats and barley, fruit and root vegetables

Insoluble fibre helps digestion - it cannot be digested and helps other foods to be moved through the intestines, thereby keeping bowels healthy.  It can be found in wholemeal bread, bran, cereals, nuts and seeds

As well as helping with digestion, fibre makes you feel fuller, thus reducing food cravings and helping with weight loss.  Adults should aim for 18g of fibre a day.  If you feel you are often bloated and your digestion is sluggish, try to eat more fibre.  Opportunities for this are:

• Eat more fruit and vegetables
• If making fruit and vegetable smoothies, try not to blend completely smooth so that not all of the fibre is broken down
• Swap white or low-fibre bread for wholemeal or one that states it has added fibre
• Look at your breakfast cereal – see if you can move to one with more fibre
• Cook oats with milk to make your own porridge - warm the milk gently in a pan – don’t boil, add oats and stir.  Make sure there is enough milk so that it is still fluid.  Top with fresh fruit such as blueberries.  Bags of oats are also very inexpensive 
• Eat the skin on potatoes (1) – this could be jacket potatoes as they come, or scoop the potato out of the jacket (to use as mash), cut the skins into wedges, add some cheese and grill.  You could also add some roasted vegetables before adding the cheese.
• Eat the skin on potatoes (2) - if making potato salad, chop jersey or salad potatoes in half (leaving the skin on), boil the potatoes until just soft (not mushy), drain, leave to cool and then add low-fat mayonnaise.  You can add other ingredients such as chives or mustard to taste or follow a recipe
• Eat brown rice and whole-wheat pasta, rather than white, as they have more fibre.  Also, have tomato-based sauces rather than creamy ones
• Add some oats to your crumble topping
• Eat uncooked whole fruit (ie not blended) to retain the fibre
• Dried fruits such as apricots, currants, prunes and dates contain good amounts of fibre; but be aware that they are also high in sugar
• Don’t overcook vegetables so that they retain their fibre structure
• Eat small amounts of nuts which are a good source of fibre but can be high in fat

Protein – alternatives to red meat?

We all need protein, and the main source that often comes to mind is red meat.  Whilst it is a good source of protein, iron and vitamin B12, it can also be expensive and has been linked to greater risks of cardiovascular disease and diabetes.  However, we need to remember that there are differences between unprocessed and processed red meat, and there are also many foods that can act as our source of protein

• If eating red meat, reduce your intake of processed meats such as bacon and sausages, salami and pate; they can be high in saturated fat
• When buying unprocessed meat, look for labels indicating a high level of welfare for the animals – better for you and them
• Use lean cuts of meat / lean mince and cut of the excess fat
• Eat more ‘white’ meat such as chicken and turkey
• Try to eat 2 portions of fish each week, with 1 of these being an oily fish such as salmon, trout, sardines and mackerel
• Eggs are a good source of protein; the white is fat free so try making an egg-white omelette.  When cooking eggs, think about boiling, scrambling or poaching rather than frying.  For a treat, have scrambled eggs with a small amount of smoked salmon on wholemeal toast
• Pulses are high in protein and include beans, lentils, nuts and seeds
• Add beans and lentils to soups and casseroles – they are cheap and reduce the cost per portion
• Sprinkle chopped nuts and seeds to salads to add crunch
• Put some seeds into your smoothies – eg pumpkin, linseed, sesame or sunflower seeds
• As with nuts, eat small handfuls of seeds as a snack

Dairy products

These include milk, cream, butter, cheese and yoghurt and they are high in calcium which is important to maintain strong bones.  However, they are also high in fat so adults should try to eat lower fat versions such as skimmed milk, cottage cheese and lower fat yoghurts.  Unfortunately in lower fat versions the fat is sometimes replaced by sugar, so be careful.  Sometimes you just can’t win….

Reduce your fat and sugar

Both fat and sugar have their place in our diet, but unfortunately they are high in calories so should be consumed in moderation.  In addition, fat can be split into saturated and unsaturated fat; the former is worse for us and increases cholesterol, which in turn increases our risk of heart disease (see Health page).

Much of our saturated fat intake is in processed foods – cakes and biscuits, junk food, processed meats such as sausages and pate, as well as naturally occurring in cheese and butter.  We should reduce our intake of these types of foods.  However, unsaturated fats are beneficial and help to lower cholesterol.  Unsaturated fats can be found in nuts, avocados, oily fish, and olive and vegetable oils and should be part of our daily diet

Our diets now also consist of too much sugar.  There are different types of sugars - fruits and vegetables contain naturally-occurring sugar (fructose), as do dairy products (lactose); the sugar we use for baking is sucrose (a combination of fructose and glucose).   The body is able to process small amounts of fructose and lactose, so can manage the quantities from our healthy fruit and vegetable diets.  However, we can overload our body by eating sugary foods which the liver is unable to process, and being high in calories, this additional sugar can cause us to become overweight.

Sugary foods include cakes and pastries, fizzy drinks, ice cream, biscuits and ready-made meals and sauces.  In order to cut down on your sugar intake, think about the following:

• Swap fizzy drinks for water (still or carbonated).  If necessary, dilute fruit juice with carbonated water
• Look for alternatives to mid-afternoon sugary snacks like chocolate, cakes and biscuits, exchanging them for fruit (perhaps with a little grated chocolate), scones or malt loaf
• Reduce the sugar you take in tea and coffee until you can cut it out completely.  Also, look at your recipes and reduce the sugar content there as well
• Find alternatives to top your toast, such as a sliced banana or low-fat spread or cream cheese
• Check labels on processed foods for sugar content
• Buy tinned fruit in juice rather than syrup
• Eat breakfast cereals that do not have a sugar or honey coating, and do not add sugar yourself.  Instead, add fruit
• Look for alternatives to sugar such as Stevia, fruit juices, molasses and syrups such as maple, brown rice and barley malt

Look at your salt intake

Moderate salt intake is needed by the body; it helps the body to retain water, stimulates muscle contraction and is needed in the digestive process. 

The loss of too much salt from the body, creating sodium deficiency, can result in dehydration as the body is no longer able to retain sufficient water.  One cause of sodium deficiency is through sweating in high temperatures, so be careful when exercising.

Too much salt is also bad for you - it results in excessive water retention and can cause hypertension. 

All foods contain a low level of salt, however, 80% of our daily salt intake is through processed foods; the remainder is added during cooking and at the table.

In order to reduce your salt intake:

• Check labels on all processed foods, not just those that are obviously salty such as bacon, anchovies, crisps and salted nuts
• Be aware that some items used during cooking such as stock cubes and soy sauce are high in salt
• Where possible, switch to low salt options
• Taste your food – when cooking and at the table – before adding salt.  Consider using other flavourings such as herbs and spices instead