Easy ways to improve your diet

Even just looking at this blog post, we sense that you’ve read the title and are quickly getting your excuses ready. “Yes, of course it’s important to eat well as part of a healthy lifestyle,” you might reason to yourself, “but I’ll get started after scoffing this chocolate bar...” Or maybe you’re not yet retired, and think that you don’t have enough time for anything other than ready meals? Well, today, the online grandparents journal Ask Granny (http://www.askgranny.com) is coming to the rescue with some much-needed simple diet tips.

Indeed, people often get their diets wrong from the very first meal of the day... that is, if they even have it. Breakfast is so often skipped by people who either perceive themselves to lack time, or reckon it could be a good way of reducing weight – and yet, numerous studies have shown that it’s the ‘skippers’ who actually put on more pounds as a result. Even many of those who do eat breakfast could do better, however. The next time you go shopping, look for a wholegrain cereal, and combine it with skimmed milk and fruit.

Opting for wholegrain cereal and the above items on your next supermarket visit gives you a fast meal that also delivers protein, complex carbohydrates, calcium, fibre and antioxidants. Indeed, according to recent research, getting at least one serving of wholegrain each day could reduce your weight and give you a slimmer waist. Dinner is also an all-too-easy excuse for people to cut corners with cheap and nasty microwavable meals, but it doesn’t take you as long as you think to rustle up some steamed green beans, grilled fresh fish, mixed green salad and/or wholegrain bread. Cooking with grandchildren can be a particularly good excuse to blow the dust off those old recipe books in the kitchen and have some fun.

Some of us like to graze over the course of the day, and that can be made much healthier, too. Ditch those crisps and chocolate for the likes of non-fat yoghurt, dried fruit, fresh fruit, nuts and seeds and maybe even the odd diced pepper or baby carrot so that you always have something healthy to munch on when you get peckish. It only takes two minutes of your day to prepare such a snack pack, and yet it can have such a profoundly positive effect on grandparents health in the long run.

For a lot of us, even the best intentions can end with unhealthy eating. You might not be able to resist the temptation one day and instead find yourself walking into that fast food restaurant, or you may be hungry when you’re out and about and only have some chocolate bars from a vending machine to choose from. But even these dilemmas can be combated if you simply prepare well in advance.

From the most nutritious foods to cooking games, there are so many aspects of healthy eating that we’ll keep you educated on here at Ask Granny (http://www.askgranny.com).

Editor’s Note: Ask Granny (http://www.askgranny.com) are represented by the search engine advertising and digital marketing specialists Jumping Spider Media. Email: info@jumpingspidermedia.co.uk or call: +44 (0)20 3070 1959 / +34 952 783 637.