Healthy Food Choice
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Include foods from this healthy food choice list at every meal and you won't go wrong. Unhealthy food choices are also highlighted, so from now on, you can shop
selectively.
VEGETABLES
Increasing your intake of fruit and vegetables is the best healthy food choice you can make. Buy plenty, whenever you shop.
Seek out organic, seasonal, locally produced vegetables. Choose vegetables from across the colour spectrum – dark and light green, orange, red, yellow blue or black - to get the best range of nutrients.
Non-organic vegetables are grown in soil treated with artificial fertilisers which deplete the earth, and rob vegetables of much of their mineral content. Canned vegetables can be good sources of nutrients, but avoid those processed with added salt and sugar.
POTATOES
Organic, locally produced potatoes. Get to know the names of common varieties, as different types are suitable for different uses.
FRUIT
Organic, seasonal, locally produced fruits . Again, go for a range of colours. Dried fruits like apricots, pears, raisins, prunes, are also good.
Steer clear of fruits canned in sugary syrups. 'Fruit flavoured' products may contain no real fruit at all.
CEREALS AND GRAINS
Add variety to your diet with cous-cous, bulgur wheat, quinoa, oats.
Many breakfast cereals are made of refined grains, coated with sugar. Look for whole grain muesli, and check out the sugar content on the label before you buy.
NUTS AND SEEDS
Lots of possibilities here. Try walnuts, almonds, cashews, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds. All excellent sources of nutrients, sprinkled or chopped into breakfast cereals, desserts, sandwiches, or eaten by themselves. Nuts and seeds are high in calories because of their natural fat content.
Deep-fried, salted nuts and seeds.
BREAD
Buy wholemeal bread from a local craft baker who bakes from scratch, if you can find one.
Quite apart from its shortcomings in texture and flavour, mass- produced, sliced and wrapped bread contains unhealthy hydrogenated vegetable oils. Beware also bread from supermarket in-store bakeries. Almost all is made from factory-produced dough which has been part- baked and frozen, and the baking finished in the store.
POULTRY
Ideally, buy free-range and organic chicken and turkey. These are good, low-fat meats, high in nutrients, and have been humanely produced.
Avoid coated or shaped chicken or turkey products. These are often made from poor quality meat from birds raised in battery cages. Products contain a high proportion of added fat, fillers and other additives.
MEAT
Look for free-range, organic pork, beef, lamb. Limit to once or twice a week. Choose cuts with the least fat. Buy sausages with high meat content, from butcher who makes them.
Avoid coated or shaped meat products and cheap, mass-produced sausages.
FISH
Serve oily fish, like salmon, sardines, tuna, 2-3 times a week. Canned fish is a good alternative to fresh. White fish, like plaice, haddock or cod are also good.
Avoid crumbed or battered fish products. Cheaper versions are made with minced fish, mixed with fat and fillers.
PASTA
Try organic wholewheat or corn-based varieties and serve with homemade vegetable- based sauces.
Canned pasta, like spaghetti hoops, is high in sugar and salt and very low in fibre/fiber.
DAIRY PRODUCTS
Milk
Buy organic milk – it tastes better and is more nutritious. Choose skimmed, or semi-skimmed. Try substituting soya milk. It's particularly good on cereal and tastes creamier than ordinary milk.
Cream, fromage frais, yogurt
Look for low-fat, organic products.
Cheese
Choose low fat, organic cheeses. If you want to serve a cheese board, where the emphasis is on flavour, buy the full-fat varieties but serve smaller quantities.
Full-fat milk, cream, cheese, yogurt – use only occasionally.
EGGS
Organic, free-range eggs are the best choice.
Avoid battery-produced eggs. Chickens that produce eggs labelled ‘Barn eggs’ or ‘perchery eggs’ may still be kept in miserable conditions, without freedom to roam outside.
SNACKS
Try rice cakes and crackers, unsalted nuts and seeds, plain popcorn, olives.
Fat-laden and salty crisps, tortilla chips, nuts.
CAKES, COOKIES, BISCUITS
Making your own gives you control over how much fat and sugar you use.
Inspect labels of manufactured goods very carefully. Avoid any that contain hydrogenated vegetable oil. Remember that 'low fat' fat products are often very high in sugar, while 'low sugar' products usually have high levels of artificial sweetener.
Want to take a memory-jogger with you when you shop? Print out the Quick Reference Healthy Food List. Click here to go back to the top of Healthy Food Choice.