5 ways to easily upgrade your nutrition this summer

For many of us, convenience is king when it comes to our food choices, but there’s a perception that convenient isn’t always the healthier option. According to the Mintel 2021 Food and Drink trends report, 55 per cent of consumers are of the opinion that it’s more difficult to shop for healthy foods.

However, making mealtimes more nutritious doesn’t have to be hard or time-consuming. “When you’re looking to make changes, I’m an advocate of going for the easiest first,” says dietician Orla Walsh. “So whatever you find easiest, that’s the one you should follow through on initially, and then move on from there.”

Below, we’ve got five smart upgrades to boost your meal prep this summer.

Get your greens

One of the easiest ways to get more nutritional bang for your buck is to introduce more vegetables. “I’d encourage people, for taste and affordability, to shop local, shop seasonal and consume a lot more Irish vegetables,” Walsh says.

“I also encourage people to enjoy more frozen vegetables as it is almost always prepared for you and it’s just a case of heating it up. It prevents food waste, allows you to eat out of season and it can be more affordable too.”

Walsh also believes that incorporating vegetables into meals where you usually wouldn’t have them is a great way to load up.

“People are comfortable with tomatoes or mushrooms or spinach for breakfast, but I’d encourage people to think outside the box. Frozen stuff is dead handy for the morning so could you put some frozen veg into the pan before you crack the eggs in? Consider breaking through those barriers you have.”

Lean in to protein

From cereal to snack bars, protein has become the byword for healthy eating in recent years, and brands have wasted no time in jumping on the bandwagon. But Walsh offers that a diet rich in lean meats, beans, and pulses is the best way to achieve your daily requirements. “Make sure it’s spread out across the day, every three to five hours,” she advises.

When it comes to lean meat, the important thing is to buy quality, and there are some really convenient options readily available such as Green Farm Cooked Chicken Fillets, available in Simply Roasted and Chilli & Garlic flavours. They are 100 per cent natural, contain 30g of protein per serving, and best of all they are ready to eat.

“They are superior in that Green Farm is always 100 per cent natural and contains no artificial additives or preservatives, it’s chicken breast cooked for you rather than reformed chicken [which looks like chicken breast but is made up of several different types of chicken meat],” she adds.

Booster shots

Balanced diets aren’t about removing and restricting, and Walsh shares that boosting what you’re already eating is a failsafe way to amp up nutrition. One of her go-tos is nutritional yeast.

“Think of it as how you’d use Parmesan cheese. It has a savoury taste, it kind of tastes a bit cheesy, and it’s fortified with vitamin B12 - essential in the production of red blood cells and often lacking in people who follow an exclusively plant-based diet”.

For a quick and easy afternoon snack, nut butters take centre stage. “I’m a huge fan of nut butters, they’re really good for you, they’re really tasty and generally speaking they’re a great source of healthy fats. They do contain a bit of protein, some more than others like peanut and almond butter, but they’re all good for you.”

Walsh’s personal favourites include almond butter on slices of apple or pear, and peanut butter on slices of banana, celery sticks or carrot sticks.

Go with your gut

Fermented foods such as kimchi and kefir have become the poster children for gut health in recent years, but Walsh warns that they’re not a quick fix.

“We’re still unsure about whether all the bacteria that is presented in them reaches our large intestine but nonetheless, fermented foods provide a different array of nutrients,” she elaborates.

Her top tip for a healthy gut is to eat a wide range of foods. “When we eat a varied diet it’s really healthy for us, and it’s really healthy for our gut microbiome. In the Irish diet, we eat a lot of wheat and potatoes, but what I’d encourage people to do is look at what other grains they can add like oats, wild rice or grains people might not necessarily be more familiar with like bulgur wheat, buckwheat, rye, spelt or quinoa.”

Readers’ digest

From dining al desko before your next Zoom call to grabbing something on-the-go, we’re all guilty of scoffing at speed, so Walsh suggests slowing down the process for better digestion and better enjoyment.

“My simple rule is to eat smaller bites of food, the size of a 10 or 20 cent coin, to chew food more, 10 to 20 chews per bite and to leave 10 to 20 seconds between mouthfuls,” she shares.

“That means that we’re more present when eating, more mindful and aware of all the different tastes, sounds and smells, but it also makes sure that we digest our food as well as we can from the minute it goes into our mouths. It can leave people less bloated, make you less likely to overeat and reduce reflux, indigestion or heartburn.”

Green Farm Cooked Chicken Breast Fillets are now available at selected Tesco, SuperValu, Dunnes and convenience stores nationwide - greenfarmfinefoods.com