Five healthy food swaps that can prevent disease and help you lose weight
Improving your diet and your health can be achieved without giving up on taste and treats. While you may think that cutting out unhealthy foods means no more chocolate or biscuits for the rest of your life, that simply isn't the case.
For example, here's an easy way to make delicious cookies that are actually good for you without compromising on taste. Here's an example of a fantastically rich chocolate mousse without any added chemicals, and here's a really healthy granola that's packed with nutritious ingredients.
Eating well does not have to be miserable but one of the fundamental principles is minimising your consumption of ultra-processed foods as much as you can. UPFs are full of industrially-produced chemicals which can often be more accurately described as edible substances rather than food.
Members of the Zoe nutrition programme founded by Prof Tim Spector have also been sharing some of their favourite food swaps. Some of these might be right up your street.
1. Swap shop-bought peanut butter cups for 85% dark chocolate with a dollop of peanut butter. Quality dark chocolate has far fewer ingredients than your more usual highly processed and mass-produced milk chocolate found in supermarkets. Look for a percentage of 75% cocoa or above as a starting point. And Dr Sarah Berry, Zoe's chief scientist, says: "Peanut butter (when homemade or not heavily processed) can be a great addition to a healthy diet, as it contains plenty of protein and fiber."
2. Swap shop-bought desserts for Greek yoghurt with berries, dark chocolate and a Zoe almond cookie. Shop-bought desserts are high in ultra-processed ingredients. In fact, dairy-based desserts have been flagged as particularly high in them. Greek yoghurt is high in protein and good bacteria for your gut.
3. Swap biscuits for nuts. Biscuits, with the exception of homemade ones like this, are usually high in both sugar and UPF. But nuts are a "nutritional powerhouse", according to Dr Berry, who adds: "They help make us feel fuller for longer, reduce blood cholesterol, and improve our overall heart health."
4. Swap crisps for roasted peas, chickpeas, nuts or beans. You can, of course, buy a pack of roasted or salted peanuts very easily. It's also very easy to make a healthy snack from chickpeas. If you drain a can, pat them dry and roast them in the oven with salt and olive oil, you'll get a delicious, crunchy snack.
5. Swap fruit juice for whole fruit. Juicing fruit destroys the food’s structure, and many of the beneficial parts of the fruit, like fibre, are removed. Juice also leads to a more exaggerated blood sugar response. But whole fruit stays in your stomach longer, so blood sugar levels don’t rise as fast.
You can see more examples of food swaps on the Zoe website here.