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Nutritional Advice
Nutritional Advice For The Credit Crunch
September 04 2008
If the pennies are stretching a bit, don’t despair. There are some amazing meals that do not include meat (becoming ever more expensive) that are delicious, filling and healthy. For those of us with a few pounds to lose, they can even help us lose weight!!
Veggies are an amazing source of goodness, and here are a few tips to staying healthy!
As an easy rule, the darker and brighter the colour the vegetable is, the more vitamins, minerals and fibre they contain. For example, spinach contains more nutrients than lettuce. The more colourful your choice, the healthier it usually is so try all the orange red and green varieties.
Gillian McKeith, and to some degree Slimming World, both recommend food combining as a good way to maintain a healthy weight. (The theory is that you are more able to digest the food). To do this, make sure you balance the more starchy vegetables like corn, butternut squash, pumpkin, peas, root vegetables and sweet potatoes with less starchy vegetables like courgettes, green beans, spinach, broccoli and cauliflower. Do not eat proteins with starchy vegetables, but eat the protein with the less starchy veggies or salad instead.
In terms of quantity, you should aim for three portions of vegetables each day. One portion equates to 80g, which would be a cereal bowl of lettuce, or three tablespoons of carrots.
To boost your vegetable intake, try some of the suggestions below.
• Serve the raw veggies with dips. You can make your own dip using natural yoghurt or half fat crème fraiche and finely chopped herbs.
• Juice raw vegetables such as carrot, tomato and cucumber for a quick and refreshing drink. Ginger and lemon can be added for taste. For those with a sweeter tooth, try is carrot, celery and apple.
• If you overcook your vegetables they lose nutrients, so microwave or lightly steam vegetables rather than boiling.
• Salads are quick to make. Ring the changes by adding chopped nuts, roasted red peppers, cannellini beans and a healthy dressing such as vinaigrette or a dash of olive oil.
• Homemade vegetable soup is a perfect way for the family to increase their intake of vegetables. Add lentils, beans or pearl barley to make it a complete meal.
• Always include vegetables with your main meals, so if you make a pasta dish, make a simple side salad to go with it.
• Add fresh herbs to pep up vegetables. Use chopped mint to add to green beans, peas and mange-tout, coriander in stir-fries curries and casseroles, and rosemary or thyme with roasted carrots and chunky potato wedges, drizzled with olive oil
Check out our recipes for meals under a fiver!!
Enjoy!!
With Green love
Susie x
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