Our “Eat healthy” series is drawing to a close and as we approach year end we’d like to leave you with a few take home messages. Each month we’ve covered different food group (proteins, carbs, fats), hydration, portion size and variety to name but a few… and as we leave you to follow your own healthy eating journey here are a few other useful tips.
Buy fresh…
We’re big fans of supporting the local community and what better way to do than then by buying as much of your produce fresh at farmers markets or local stores. Better yet, the fresher the food the greater the nutrient value. There has been so much talk over recent years on zero kilometer foods and reducing the impact on the environment caused by exporting foods across continents. Fresh is best on so many levels but especially for our health and ensures that we get the most from the foods we eat.
Cook fresh…
If we’re buying fresh then we might just as well cook fresh. This may sound obvious but really this point covers reheating of foods and consumption of left overs. A really important part of family life is juggling the family budget and not wasting food (or anything else!) and often as a mum I find myself serving left overs the next day. Reheating foods (especially micro-waving) can have an impact on the nutritional value of foods and degrade the nutrients. A great tip is getting to know your family portion sizes and cooking just enough for each meal, which avoids there being anything left over. This way you can cook fresh each day and once again get the most from the foods we eat.
Eat fresh…
Eat fresh can mean many different things to many different people. It can mean both of the above (buying & cooking fresh), it can mean eating more natural & raw foods, eating more organic foods, eating more home-prepared foods, eating foods at the correct ripeness, washing and preparing foods properly and much more. The important thing is that there is interaction with the foods you knowingly eat. Take a look and see where the oranges you buy come from…have they flown millions of miles and if so how fresh are they? Whats the percentage of fresh foods vs manufactured foods in your shopping trolley? What’s fresher…Home-made sandwich vs a shop bought sandwich? Fresh foods generally contain less stabilisers and preservatives which means they deteriorate quicker but that’s one of the things that we love about mother nature.
