Are you looking for more energy, and more control over your weight?
The stresses and pressures of life today have left many of us feeling exhausted, overwhelmed and with little time or energy to take care of our health and wellbeing and maintain our weight.
Marcelle Dubruel is the Lloyd’s Wellbeing Centre Nutritional Consultant. Marcelle reports that many of her clients want to ‘do the right thing’ with their diet once and for all, but find themselves putting it off until they have more time, for example, after a work or home project is completed, when the kids are older, etc.
“Many find it difficult to know what the right choices are because the media is full of confusing and conflicting messages – so it’s not surprising that many people flip-flop between the latest fad diets as a quick fix.”
The solution to modern-day problems of fatigue, obesity, diabetes, heart disease, dementia and other chronic disease are strongly linked to our food and lifestyle choices.
We now know that low-fat diets and calorie counting are not the best way to stay healthy, or maintain a stable weight and energy levels. We also know that diets which eliminate whole food groups are difficult to sustain in the longer term.
What you need is an approach to eating that balances your physiology and blood sugar throughout the day, which contributes to sustainable energy, stable moods and supports weight management, without deprivation or feeling hungry.
JERF is not about cutting out food groups or following the latest fad diet, but instead focuses on eating real food made using quality ingredients and avoiding processed or pre-packaged foods (if food comes pre-packed it should contain whole food ingredients only, for example nuts and seeds). Keeping things as simple as possible, we should be eating nutrient-dense food. JERF embraces this philosophy and allows us to feed our bodies and leave us feeling satisfied, not reaching for that packet of ‘baddies’ later in the afternoon!
JERFing does not need to be time consuming or expensive
Some of our JERF Top Tips:
- Keep it simple. You don’t need to buy the latest trendy superfood or ingredients. Go back to basics, consume more fruit, vegetables, and wholegrains.
- Buy in season. We may be able to get every ingredient all year around, but this comes at a cost. Often when foods are out of season, they are more expensive, along with huge air miles. So, try to eat with the seasons, when foods are more easily available, locally sourced and kinder on your pocket.
- Be organised. Write a list and stick to it! Make sure you only buy what you need when you go to the shops. Avoid going food shopping on an empty stomach, as subconsciously you’ll reach for sugar and fat-rich foods.
- Make energising and healthy snacks available at home, at work, in the car… anywhere your snack craving might kick in! Being prepared is key. Particularly important for the “hangry” amongst us! Or to avoid that “afternoon energy dip”! Try avoiding the biscuit tin (even better…don’t buy them!
- Try these easy to assemble ‘real food’ energising snacks:
- crudités (small pieces of raw vegetable) with hummus
- nut butter (with no added sugar) and oat cakes
- celery sticks filled with nut butter
- boiled eggs, with nuts and seeds
- apple/pear with 1 tablespoon of pumpkin seeds
- Greek yoghurt/coconut yoghurt with fresh strawberries and a sprinkle of crushed hazelnuts.
