‘Improving your diet’ can sound like such a big, unachievable task. Making radical changes like cutting out sugar, cutting out carbs, only drinking kale smoothies… all of these can be quite unachievable and, therefore, unsustainable.
But the truth is, diet improvement doesn’t have to be a huge, sweeping change to the foods you love to eat. Here, Luke Clarke outlines 3 simples steps to improving your diet that you can do every day!
1) Make a lunch plan
Improving your diet starts well before you eat anything. In today’s fast-paced world, many of us feel like we don’t have the time to make healthy, nutritious lunches. And while it’s true that we have less time than we did in the past, we should be making a more conscious effort to combat this in a nutritional sense.
Making a meal plan for the week is the best way to ensure you’re eating nutritious foods every day, without having to resort to, for example, buying a lunch which might not be healthy.
On Saturday morning, outline a list of foods you want to eat for lunch for the following week. Go out and do your grocery shop and, on Sunday, meal prep those lunches for during the week!
2) Eat more
Forget about eating less, and focus on eating more. The ‘more’ philosophy, when it comes to food, focuses on including more healthy and nutritious foods into your diet, rather than making a radical change and cutting out foods.
Let’s say you love nothing more than a chicken sandwich for lunch. Instead of using white bread, fried chicken and lettuce, use wholegrain bread, grilled chicken and add dark leafy greens like baby spinach and rocket. As a side, add a bean salad for extra nutrients.
3) Have dessert!
Yep, you read that right! There is nothing wrong with enjoying a delicious dessert after having a nutritious meal. We’re big dessert lovers, and actually encourage having a little something sweet after dinner.
It’s not the idea of dessert that can be problematic for health and weight – it’s the contents of the dessert you’re eating. Processed foods like ice cream, chocolate, lollies and sugary drinks should be taken in very slight moderation, or better yet, replaced with healthy alternatives.
Take sliced peaches, Greek yoghurt and walnuts, for example. Here is a delicious dessert which not only satisfies the sweet tooth, but it’s actually nutritious too, rich with vitamins, protein, omega 3 and antioxidants. You can even add a small dash of honey to sweeten it up.
See? Improving your diet on a daily basis is easy. If you’d like additional help with making correct food choices to address health conditions, talk to naturopath and functional medicine practitioner Luke Clarke. Combining science and naturopathic philosophies, Luke Clarke cares about your health and works alongside you to improve it naturally. Contact Luke Clarke for a 10-minute free consultation.