If you’re not already a fully paid-up member of the kale fan club, its low-calorie, high-fibre and zero-fat profile should tempt you to get on board.
As well as being a great addition to any weight-loss plan, kale is ideal for digestion and will help keep your system moving as it contains around 5g fibre per 100g.
Kale is an excellent source of iron – and, in fact, it contains more iron than beef per serve! That’s important for anyone with anaemia or heavy periods, or just looking for more energy, as it helps to form haemoglobin, the molecules that carry iron within our red blood cells.
Kale is also high in calcium, giving milk a run for its money with fewer calories. If you’re dairy intolerant or vegan, this veg will give you a good dose of bone-strengthening calcium.
Vitamin K, which helps to protect against certain cancers, is also found in high quantities in kale, along with heaps of antioxidants. This all-important, but lesser known vitamin is needed for a whole host of bodily functions, including the health of your bones, preventing blood clotting and keeping cholesterol in check.
Kale can help fight inflammation as it contains omega-3 fatty acids, so make sure you’re eating kale regularly if you have an injury, arthritis or asthma, as it will help to reduce the effects and speed recovery.
Vitamins A and C are two more vitamins found in kale. Vitamin A is important for vision and vitamin C for your immune system, but both of them are brilliant skin vitamins so dose up to help keep wrinkles at bay.
And if all of this wasn’t enough, kale is also a great way to cleanse your body, containing both fibre and sulphur, which are involved in the detoxification process.
Clean eating is a deceptively simple concept. Rather than revolving around the idea of ingesting more or less of specific things (for instance, fewer calories or more protein), the idea is more about being mindful of the food’s pathway between its origin and your plate.
At its simplest, clean eating is about eating whole foods, or ‘real’ foods – those that are un- or minimally processed, refined, and handled, making them as close to their natural form as possible.
However, modern food production has become so sophisticated that simply eating whole foods can be a challenging proposition these days.
Thanks to extensive research that has linked eating whole foods with good health, we do know that largely plant-based diets are healthy.
Multiple studies have shown that diets heavy on fruits and vegetables can curb or prevent certain life-threatening conditions and diseases, such as high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, and cardiovascular disease.
Plus, there’s research linking diets high in fruits and veggies to healthy weight management and glowing skin and hair.
Cooking does alter your food, but it isn’t necessarily a bad thing. While it’s true that some nutrients are lost during cooking, like vitamin C, other nutrients are increased when foods are cooked, like lycopene, so it’s best to eat a wide variety of foods, in both their raw and cooked forms.
When cooking food, the focus should be on maintaining the integrity of what you are consuming and avoiding high-fat cooking methods such as deep-frying or stewing in animal or vegetable fats.
When cooking, opt for flash-cook methods such as stir-frying and ones without additives like steaming. For fruits and veggies, raw is best, but steaming is a close second in terms of preserving nutritional value and keeping the food’s natural integrity.
Plain yogurt naturally contains about 16 grams of sugar per cup. But if you eat flavoured yogurt, you could be downing 15 or more additional grams of sugar, which is the equivalent to four extra teaspoonfuls.
Choose plain, low-fat yogurt and stir in a teaspoon of honey, maple syrup, or all-fruit spread for a hint of sweetness. Or opt for fat-free Greek yoghurt, which is lower in sugar than even regular plain yogurt but often has double the protein to keep you satisfied longer.
Turmeric: A study has shown that older adults in India are 4.4 times less likely to develop Alzheimer’s than the same demographic in the UK. Turmeric also has anti-inflammatory abilities to protect cell erosion and carries antioxidant effects that fight against breakdown in cell membranes.
Berries: These sweet fruits are rich in polyphenols, especially anthocyanins, shown in studies to increase sharpness and speed of processing in areas of our brain function that are the first to go as we get older.
Avocado: Foods rich in polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fatty acids will help your head and your heart. Stick to healthy fats only, of which avocadoes have many, and skip trans and saturated fats. Swapping avocado for butter in a lot of your traditional baked good recipes, such as cakes and breads, can provide the same emulsifying effect (and taste), but with an added cardiovascular and neuro-protective effect.
Orange fruits and veggies: Such as sweet potatoes, carrots, melon, butternut squash, and oranges serve as great defenders of cell breakdown, causing better brain function into older age.
Chickpeas: Chickpeas have high vitamin-B content (like B6 and folate), meaning lots of brain benefits. In our bodies, folate is responsible for the conversion of homocysteine, a byproduct of cellular metabolism, into methionine, which is another amino acid. High levels of homocysteine are responsible for blood vessel damage.
When you exercise on a full stomach food is fuel, and while hitting the gym straight after eating is not a good idea, having some (at least partially) digested food in your system means your muscles are stocked with the glycogen they need to work their best.
A study showed that exercisers who ate breakfast before working enjoyed significantly higher VO2 (a measure of energy expenditure) and fat-burn rates compared to those who hadn’t eaten breakfast before exercising.
The best part? The calorie-torching edge lasted for a full 24 hours after working out!
23% of Brits eat porridge almost daily!
It’s not just a delicious way to start the day – a bowl keeps you fuller for longer and provides an excellent dose of fibre.
So why not try a bowl of the good stuff for your next breakfast. Add honey, chopped fruit or nuts for an extra delicious taste.
Make sure you refuel the right way with these healthy snacks:
1. Chocolate milk
Make your own by mixing 1-2 tablespoons of cocoa powder with 250ml milk. Research shows this combination provides better recovery than sports drinks!
2. Tuna or cottage cheese sandwich
Make your sandwich using brown bread for a tasty, wholesome refueling snack.
3. Dried fruit and nuts
A handful of this delicious mix offers a good dose of vitamins, minerals and antioxidants.
Did you know that turmeric boasts antioxidant compounds that could repair your body post run.
Curcumin, the spice’s active ingredient, fights inflammation, providing relief to aching muscles.
Try sprinkling it over roasted vegetables or adding it to soups and stir-fries.
Many of us fear the consequences of carbohydrates and their associations with weight gain have stuck with many dieters.
In fact, this comfort food is an important macronutrient and has major benefits on our bodies. Choosing your carbs wisely could help you to ward off disease, keep the excess pounds at bay and improve your fitness performance.
So, what are the benefits of this underrated food group?:
So, it’s not about omitting carbohydrates from your diet entirely, it’s about making the right choices based on your own activity levels and objectives.
Check out the following top facts to help you eat smart and rebuild your friendship with the good guys: