[dropcap]150[/dropcap] or so years ago, people were told to eat lots of fruit. They were told that an apple a day keeps the doctor away. Fast-forward to 2015 and we’re still told to eat more fruit, but research has shown that an apple a day is not going to keep the doctor away. In fact, apples come with more pesticides than most other produce choices which kinda dispels the theory that we should eat more fruit. After all, the doctor’s told Snow White to eat more apples, and look what happened to her.
The problem is that in the western world – and particularly in America – we have eaten so much junk that we’ve lost vital nutrients. Our bodies are so adept at storing fat and keeping us hungry that we just want to keep on eating junk. Junk food, though, is notorious for making us all blubbery, as well as damaging our intellect. Without further ado, let’s have a look at how you can improve your diet.
Replace Maltesers with Blueberries
When we get the snacks out for a boxing match on the TV, we tend to always wheel out the same stuff. Crisps, nachos, coke, beer, sweets. You know, all the bad stuff.
In future, if you’re looking for something to nibble on whilst watching television or reading a book, why not replace something like Maltesers with blueberries? Blueberries are the same size and shape as a Malteser, but they’re well known for their nutritional values. According to nutrition-and-you.com, blueberries “have long been attributed to the longevity and wellness of indigenous natives living around subarctic regions in the Northern hemisphere.”
A bonus is that they taste great, too.
You can do this with the other ‘treats’ you like to snack on too.
Avoid Hidden Sugars
Sugar is everywhere. We’re addicted to sugar. Around 400 calories of our daily energy intakes is derived from sugar. Not natural sugar, though – big bag added sugar. To put this into context, that’s around 20 teaspoons.
A day.
If that makes you feel a little queasy, a handy solution is to eat sweets while avoiding hidden sugars. To help you do this, you can take a trip to the supermarket and check which products list sugar in their first 4 ingredients. Stay clear.
Eat Slowly
Too many of us rush our food down our gullets. We’re a nation that invented the concept of ‘fast food’ and we eat while watching TV, driving and even while filling up the bath. If you slow down your eating, you’ll decrease your calorie intake by a whopping 10%.
Eating slowly will also let you know precisely when you’re full, because our brain doesn’t receive the signal that our stomach is full until after a few minutes. If you eat quickly, this means you could be taking another 10 bites until your brain has finally got the message to you that you were full to the brim 20 bites ago. Oops.
