Simple Swaps
This week has been full of bad news for our health, with headlines about weight loss injections, childhood obesity and statistics that over 50% of the world’s population are destined to be obese by 2050.
The good news is that we can do something about our ever-expanding waistlines.
We know that the food we choose to eat has a profound effect on our health and well-being and yet we choose to eat ultra processed food and too much sugar. We eat on the go and in our cars instead of sitting at a table. We sit more than we move and many of us have lost the essential life skill of cooking.
I overheard someone in my supermarket queue comment that he was buying salad because his partner was ‘on another one of those health kicks’. Another friend is eating nothing but celery and an apple for lunch in a bid to lose weight…and it is working, but surely there is a better way.
Healthy eating does not have to mean deprivation. Making a few simple swaps to help reduce your sugar intake, add a little more protein, fat and fibre to help regulate your appetite and less snacking will go a long way in helping weight loss without battling your willpower or cutting your food intake so low that you are at risk of nutrient depletion.
Here are some simple swaps for your shop:
Eat 70% chocolate. The higher % cocoa in your chocolate, the less sugar it contains. A bar of milk chocolate has around 58g sugar per 100g. Swap it to 70% chocolate and you’ll halve your sugar hit to 29g sugar per 100g. Once you get used to dark chocolate, go higher cocoa and choose 85% cocoa chocolate to reduce your sugar load to just 14g sugar per 100g.
Choose natural Greek yoghurt. Packed with protein to help you feel fuller for longer, Greek yoghurt will leave you a lot more satisfied than low fat flavoured yoghurts that are often full of sweeteners and other ingredients that you are unlikely to find in your kitchen!
Check your cereals. Take a closer look at the sugar content of your favourite breakfast cereal. The aim is to get one with as little sugar and as much fibre as possible to help keep you well fuelled and focused all morning without getting the mid-morning munchies. Keep sugar to around 5g sugar per 100g and aim for at least 6g fibre per 100g for a low sugar, high fibre choice. Low sugar granola, porridge or Weetabix are decent options.
Drop the fruit juice. There can be as much sugar in a glass of juice as there is in a can of coke. It is better to eat fruit, rather than drink fruit juice. That way you have more fibre to fill you up and balance blood sugar levels, and less of a sugar hit than you’d get from a glass of juice.
Some sauces are loaded with hidden sugar. Swap your sweet chilli sauce to siracha to cut your sugar in half, or replace hoisin or stir-fry sauces with a quick mix of soy sauce, garlic, chilli and ginger.
Check the label of your favourite low fat snacks. The chances are you will find they are loaded with as sugar, flavourings, emulsifiers and other weird ingredients to make them taste of something. Just because something says ‘less than 90kcals’ doesn’t mean it is good for you, or that it is likely to help you lose weight. Read the ingredients and know what you are eating. A banana is better than a skinny bar. A digestive better than a jaffa cake. Less sugar, more fibre and more filling.