Around this time of year, we could all do with a boost to our health, immune system and energy levels.
The fantastic nutritionist Farzanah Nasser keeps it nice and simple here with her guides to living a little more healthily.
Where better to start than with the things that are so often the source of unnecessary extra sugars, additives and other crap?
Yep - Snacks!
Here is Farzanah's guide to putting a little more thought into those bits between meals.
Farzanah says:
"Here I am giving you several ideas on blood sugar balanced snacks. Blood sugar balanced means that your meal/ snack contains some protein, fat and carbohydrates to keep your blood sugar levels stable. This give you better energy between meals, supports balanced hormones, supports mood, immune health and also supports microbiome health.
I’ve used different varieties of nuts/ fruit etc in the above example so that if you were to include a different snack daily, it also means you would incorporate a different plant food, increasing plant points and encouraging microbiome diversity. It also means that you would have incorporated about 15 different plants foods during the week just from snacking! Majority of the ingredients are store cupboard ingredients that you can keep at home. Save this post as a reference to help you with healthy snacking ideas and also easy ways to support microbiome diversity.
For example:
Monday: Edamame Beans
Tuesday Dark chocolate with hazelnuts and raisins
Wednesday: Red apple and Brazil nuts
Thursday: Green Apple & Almond butter
(different colours of the same food count as different foods for your microbiome)
Friday: Banana and walnuts
Saturday: Boiled egg with some seeds
(I use furikake sesame seed seasoning that has mixed coloured sesame seeds and nori by Sanchi)
Sunday: Yoghurt & blueberries
(Or could add mixed berries for extra plant points)
Total Plant Points: 16
That's more the half the number of different plant foods we should be consuming weekly!"
For more awesome nutritional advice that is simple but well researched, please visit her instagram