Five Easy Changes for a Healthier You

Do you have a food related goal for 2019? Maybe you want to lose weight, want to eat a healthier diet, or want to feel like you have more energy. What about wanting to improve your sleep? Or your memory? Or maybe your mental health? When it comes to food, what we put into our body is just as important for our mental health as it is our physical health. Those all important nutrients that fuel our body also provide ‘brain food’. But if we are feeling stressed, lacking energy, feel fuzzy headed, then making changes can seem even harder.

I decided to specialise in mental health and nutrition for a couple of reasons. Firstly, I’m fascinated about the link between our gut and our brains (one for another day). Secondly, I knew that I wanted to really focus on what simple, manageable changes in diet can do for our health. Keeping things simple can be important in helping people make changes to their physical health but it is ESSENTIAL when we are looking at mental health. If you are feeling stressed and exhausted then complicated change can be overwhelming. This type of change can add to your stress levels.

 Whether I am working with people on a one to one basis, delivering a webinar, a workshop or a group programme, I always think about where people are at and what else they have going on in their lives. I try to pack in plenty of suggestions for simple change, letting people decide what might work for them. Below I share five of my favourite tips for supporting good mental and physical health. If you are interested in any particular aspects of nutrition for mental health and wellbeing you might want to check out my webinars and workshops.

​Try one new thing a week. One of the best things you can do to improve your diet is to increase the variety of food that you eat. This gives you more of a chance of eating a wide variety of nutrients and also encourages more diversity of gut bacteria (important for our mental health). One new thing a week could be trying a food or a recipe that is completely new to you but it could be even simpler than that.  If you know that you get stuck in a food rut, end up putting the same things in your supermarket trolley every week, then it could be as simple as putting a variety of fruit or vegetables in your trolley that you didn’t eat last week. You could try a different flavour combination – for example add seeds to a soup or salad.

​Spice up your life!  I adore herbs and spices. They give an instant flavour boost to anything that I am cooking and definitely helps with avoiding the ‘food rut’ trap. But herbs and spices are also nutrient powerhouses. They are packed with vitamins and minerals. Many have anti-inflammatory properties. Inflammation is increasingly being tied to a number of chronic physical health conditions such as heart disease but is also linked to mental health issues.
 
You can combine this one with your ‘one new thing a week’ to experiment with using more herbs and spices. Add cinnamon or ginger to your porridge, smoothie or even hot chocolate. Try adding a teaspoon of ground cumin to a chilli or 1 tbsp tarragon to eggs.

​Cook from Scratch. We tend to eat a lot more of our meals on the go these days. Many people buy lunch during the working week, we eat out more on an evening and we treat ourselves to takeaways at the end of a busy week. At the same time, when we do cook at home we often look for short cuts. We reach for pre-made jars of sauces to put together a meal in a hurry. The good news is that there is a much broader range of pre-made healthy food than ever before. But you have to make smart food choices, scrutinise labels and plan to make sure you are getting a healthy diet this way. Often food prepared in this way is higher in sugar and salt and lacks vegetables.

As with any change, this one is about starting with where you are at. I love cooking and genuinely find time in the kitchen relaxing at the end of a busy day. I absolutely know that this is not everyone’s experience, and even I have days when I just want something quick and easy. I also love eating out as this is where I get a lot of inspiration for meals to try at home.
 If you are a keen cook then look at which ‘shop bought’ ingredients you are still relying on and consider whether any of these are worth making at home. For me pesto and houmous were two things that I used a lot but would buy pre-made. Making them myself meant I could vary ingredients (that variety again!) and reduce the salt. I also knew I was using a really good cold pressed olive oil.
 If cooking is absolutely not your thing then maybe commit to cooking one meal a week. This could be something quick on a midweek night when you don’t feel like eating out and you would usually reach for a ready meal or takeaway. A number of the recipes on my blog have been designed with exactly this situation in mind. Food that can be thrown together with minimal effort but will be nourishing. Maybe start with my effortless baked eggs (If eggs aren’t your thing you could just serve up the beans in the recipe with toast).

​Cook double. I’m talking about those nights when you really have no energy to do anything other than flop on the sofa in front of the TV…. I don’t often go in for planned batch cooking (but if this is something that appeals to you this works well too). What I will do is cook extra of whatever we are eating on a weekend so that I know I am starting the working week with a really easy tea of leftovers.  Track your week, spot your ‘blackspots’ when you are busy and tired and have a meal in reserve for these nights.

​Shop the freezer aisle. I’m not talking ready meals and ice cream. I’m talking vegetables, herbs and spices. In the UK pretty much all of the supermarkets offer a good variety of frozen vegetables and most have at least some pre-prepped frozen herbs and spices. These can be cheaper than fresh as they are harvested when in season (and therefore in abundance). Because they are quick frozen they retain a lot more nutrients than veg that has been shipped half way round the world too. You can use frozen veg to bulk out a meal (I like roasting frozen squash and adding to chilli), or you can cook a meal from scratch using frozen produce. Frozen berries work well in smoothies or defrosted and added to porridge. Frozen herbs and spices help add flavour to food without having to plan ahead.