It’s Healthy Eating Week in the UK which helps bring awareness to how we can make our diets a little healthier. Small changes can bring big health benefits when it comes to nutrition, so you may not need to completely overhaul your diet: just making some simple tweaks can make all the difference.

Clinical Nutritionist Suzie Sawyer shares some dietary top tips to help get your health in tip top shape!

Go red

Red coloured foods, especially tomatoes and watermelons, are loaded with an incredible antioxidant called lycopene.  Not only will it help to protect your body at a cellular level against degenerative diseases, lycopene is also protective of the heart. And the good news is that both are delicious and easy to eat, particularly at this time of year.

Why not adopt the healthy Mediterranean style of eating and enjoy tomatoes with some olive oil and fresh basil?  This improves absorption of the lycopene, plus olive oil also provides wonderful benefits to the heart, especially in helping reduce high blood pressure.

Watermelons are great to eat during the summer months because they’re especially helpful at rehydrating the body when the weather is warmer, and we need more fluids.  Watermelons are also rich in antioxidants: indeed, this fruit provides some of the highest amounts of any fruit or vegetable.

Eat brown not white

White bread and pasta do seem to be more popular than their brown cousins.  Maybe some of this starts in childhood.  However, neither white bread nor pasta are especially nutrient dense.  The reason being that the processing of the grains to produce white flour removes most of the fibre and nutrients too, especially B-vitamins which we need for energy.

If you’re wedded to white, why not start slowly by mixing the two?  This could also be a good ploy to encourage children to change.  Once you’ve made the changes you’ll never go back: there is so much more to taste in the brown varieties.  You could also start by cooking a flavoursome dish such as spaghetti bolognaise, using brown (wholemeal) spaghetti.  The health benefits are well worth the change.

Follow the rainbow

From a nutritional perspective, we talk so much about eating a rainbow diet, and for very good reason.  The simple truth is that by eating more colour variety, you’ll automatically be getting more nutrients.  It’s the colours in foods, especially fruits and vegetables but in other foods too such as beans and lentils, that are going to supercharge your health. 

Food such as blueberries, broccoli, beetroot, avocado, sweet potato, and strawberries are real superfoods.  They all contain so many nutrients, as well as antioxidants, and your health will benefit in so many ways.

Become a flexitarian

There are lots of health benefits to eating a plant-based diet, as vegans do.  However, being completely plant-based can be challenging when it comes to achieving sufficient protein levels, if you’re not monitoring what you’re eating efficiently.

Protein from animal sources contains all the essential amino acids the body needs and which it can’t make.  These amino acids are literally our life blood. And of course, plant-based foods provide wonderful nutrients and antioxidants too. The best balance for health is to eat a high percentage of meals which are completely plant-based; aim to eat meals including animal produce three days a week.

Get your omegas

The omega-3 fats are also known as ‘essential fats’ because they’re essential for health and the body can’t make them. There are not many key functions in the body that don’t need omega-3s especially when it comes to the brain, heart, eyes and hormones.

Unfortunately, there is now an explosion of mental health issues for many reasons, but this has also occurred at a time when we know from published data that we are simply not eating enough omega-3s.  And this is partly because omega-3s are rich in oily fish such as salmon, mackerel, and sardines, which a lot of people don’t like!

If these are not your bag, then flaxseeds, pumpkin seeds and walnuts are other great sources.  These fats are so important for our health so if you’re not getting them in your diet, why not start today?  They’re also readily available in supplement form and for vegans too.

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