Making changes to the food habits and ingredients is quite a journey that starts in the grocery store and supermarket. If you are already thinking “talabat (online fast food delivery service) does not let me choose the ingredients” then you are clearly in dire need for some adjustments. Plan your weekly shopping trip so you know what you need in terms of groups. Write the following groups down and when you go shopping then look for products that work in accordance with the tips below. Click below on each group to see the tips for substitution alternatives.
Bread
When looking for bread search for dark bread with high fibres and seeds. Typical white breads should generally be avoided.
Potatoes
You can use any type of potato but avoid eating potatoes every day. Also the best possible preperation is by oven baking with skin. The skin has high magnesium which is useful in muscle cramp prevention. Try to avoid mash and oil fried potatoes as they convert to fast carbs with little nutritional value.
Rice
Try to avoid white rice while choosing brown, wild and black rice types as they have a lot more fibres which helps digestion.
Pasta
Try to look for brown pasta and cook al dente, as the fibres also slow down digestion.. The white types should whenever possible be avoided.
Seeds, Nuts & Fibres
Generally all are healthy but they often contain many carbs and fats so avoid over eating them but make sure they are part of the diet.
Eggs & Cheese
Look for low fats cheese as cheese is usually extremely high fats. Avoid cottage cheese with zero fat – look for types with 0.5% to 9% fat.
Eat as much egg whites as you want as it has good protein, but only eat 2 yellow yokes per day because that is where all the fats are.
Yoghurt
Always prefer natural yoghurts without flavour. Generally try to go for the types with lower fats.
Vegetables
Try to get as many different colors as possible due to the color often being affected by minerals inside. Diversity is king. Fresh vegetables often have more nutrients than frozen ones. Green salad types like spinach, kale, lettuce, iceberg should not be ignored. they are simply amazing for your health. Some vegetables have a lot of carbs so do your research into the contents of vegetables.
Fruits
Fruits are also needed to be diverse. But be careful about the amount of fruits as they have a lot of fruit sugars. If choosing between fresh and dried fruits then always choose fresh as the dried ones are essentially a concentrated version of of fresh fruit.
Fish
You can eat any type of white meat fish as they have high protein and low fat. Be careful with salmon as it has high protein but equal amount of fats. Salmon is useful in moderate amounts to still get omega 3 vitamins. Tuna has low fat and very high protein so is always a solid choice and even in a can it is good for an easy salad.
Meat
Try to not eat red meat more than twice per week. Avoid fatty rib eye’s and alike fatty beef types. If you have a craving for red meat then use tenderloin and striploin pieces which has less fat. When pan frying then use the meats own fats – limit use of oil or butter on the pan as meats release their fats when cooked.
Chicken, Turkey and rabbit all have high protein and low fats. always an easy choice.
Lamb is generally extremely fatty so as a rule of thumb – do not make this your primary meat source.
Drinks
Try to avoid sodas but if you must then buy sparkling water. Try to limit your juice consumption but when buying juice then choose the types without added sugar. It usually states this on the jug. Also if mixing juice with a little sparkling water you have a great fresh alternative to a soda.
Tea and decaf coffee are also ok within reason. When it comes to tea the bigger the leaves the better as powdered tea usually has less nutrients. Avoid instant coffee as it has had all nutrients washed out of it and has high amounts placebo fillers inside.
IF drinking milk then avoid double fat and full fat milks. Try to use skinny milk, soya milk, coconut or almond milk.
IF drinking alcohol try to stick with white dry wines as beer and other types of alcohol generally have more fats.
Snacks
Of course you are going to be buying some sort of snacks. Be careful when buying fitness snacks as they often have extremely high sugars, so make sure you check the back. One of the big sinners are fitness granola bars as they often have extremely high sugars. They do not always report correct numbers. Alternatively you can make them at home while keeping control of contents.
If you are a chocolate fan then avoid the typical mars bars types and go for a solid bar with high cocoa and low sugars – but beware it will still contain high fats. You are looking for packages that state 85%+ cocoa.
You can also look for artificial sugar candy (sweetener used instead). This can also be made at home with jelly/gelatine and is a super easy process with many recipies online.
Oven baked potato slivers are always better than any chips you buy! If available use an air fryer to make healthy chips out of anything you like (beetroot, apple, potato).