Spring is a great time to start afresh. With winter behind us and the evenings getting longer, many people decide to improve their lifestyle habits. safefood has some sound advice to help you along the way.

Myths about eating healthy

When people think about healthy eating, they often have extreme views of what this entails; mounds of unknown vegetables, topped up with lettuce, lentils and beans. Truly balanced healthy eating isn’t like that at all. It’s about the following: 

5 a day of fruit and veg

Fruit and vegetables are nature’s superfoods. They can give us vitamins and help protect our bodies from disease later in life. They’re also naturally low in fat and calories and so won’t affect your waist line. Aim for a minimum of five portions of fruit and vegetables each day, and try to keep it varied.

Switch to low fat dairy foods

Dairy foods are loaded with essential goodies like protein and calcium - the natural superfoods that help bones grow and remain strong. Although nutritious, dairy products can add extra fat to the diet, a great option would be to switch to:

• low-fat milk and yoghurt
• reduce your portions of cheese
• try lower fat varieties of goats cheese or reduced fat cheddar cheese

Get some wholegrain satisfaction

Choosing whole grains such as wholemeal bread, brown rice and high fibre breakfast cereals can help give you the energy you need to keep going through your busy day. These special foods have the added advantage of providing fibre which helps keep your digestive system healthy as well as keeping you feeling fuller for longer. 

Drink more water

The amount of fluid we need depends on how active we are and how warm it is. To stay healthy we should drink about 8 glasses or 1.2 litres per day. Water and milk are the best choices for drinking regularly throughout the day.

Keep it lean

While we all love our sausages and rashers, along with a ham sandwich now and again, these processed meats tend to contain a lot of saturated fat and salt. Why not try to eat lean red meat and poultry more often, helping to cut down on salt and fat for a healthy heart.

Spring Walks

Walking is one of the simplest forms of exercise and probably the easiest to incorporate into your everyday life. Check out the getirelandactive and getalifegetactive websites for some great walks in your area.