Your Health tips
Top 10 Healthy Snacks
We've put together the below health tips. Take the time to read.
Curb your hunger the healthy way with a super-fast snack. We’ve got nutritious smoothies, dips and light bites, all ready in under 10 minutes.
1. Copy your kitty: Learn to do stretching exercises when you wake up. It boosts circulation and digestion and eases back pain.
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2. Don’t skip breakfast. Studies show that eating a proper breakfast is one of the most positive things you can do if you are trying to lose weight. Breakfast skippers tend to gain weight. A balanced breakfast includes fresh fruit or fruit juice,a high-fibre breakfast cereal, low-fat milk or yoghurt, wholewheat toast, and a boiled egg.
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3. Brush up on hygiene. Many people don't know how to brush their teeth properly. Improper brushing can cause as much damage to the teeth and gums as not brushing at all. Lots of people don’t brush for long enough, don’t floss and don’t see a dentist regularly. Hold your toothbrush in the same way that would hold a pencil, and brush for at least two minutes.
This includes brushing the teeth, the junction of the teeth and gums, the tongue and the roof of the mouth. And you don't need a fancy, angled toothbrush – just a sturdy, soft-bristled one that you replace each month.
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4. Neurobics for your mind. Get your brain fizzing with energy. American researchers coined the term ‘neurobics’ for tasks which activate the brain's own biochemical pathways and to bring new pathways online that can help to strengthen or preserve brain circuits.
Brush your teeth with your ‘other’ hand, take a new route to work or choose your clothes based on sense of touch rather than sight. People with mental agility tend to have lower rates of Alzheimer's disease and age-related mental decline.
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5. Get what you give! Always giving and never taking? This is the short road to compassion fatigue. Give to yourself and receive from others, otherwise you’ll get to a point where you have nothing left to give. And hey, if you can’t receive from others, how can you expect them to receive from you?
1 Avocado & strawberry smoothie.
Take ½ avocado, peel it, stone it and cut into chunks. Put the avocado, 150g halved strawberries, 4 tbsp low-fat natural yogurt, 200ml semi-skimmed milk and some lemon or lime juice and honey (if desired) into a blender and whizz until smooth. If the consistency is too thick, add a little water.
2 Carrot & houmous roll-ups.
Spread 200g houmous between 4 seeded wraps. Coarsely grate 4 carrots and scatter on top of the houmous, finishing each wrap with a small handful of rocket leaves and some seasoning. Roll up and eat.
3 Salmon & chive bagel topper.
Flake 1 cooked salmon fillet (about 100g) into a bowl. Add 200g reduced-fat soft cheese, the zest and juice of ½ lemon, 2 tbsp snipped chives and plenty of black pepper. Mash everything together with a fork. Split 4 multiseed bagels in half. Lightly toast the bagel halves, then spread with the salmon mixture and top each with a handful of watercress. Serve immediately.
4 Apple & blueberry Bircher.
Mix 200g porridge oats with ½ tsp ground cinnamon in a large bowl. Stir in 500ml apple juice and 4 grated apples, then gently fold in 200g blueberries. Allow to stand for 5 minutes before serving – any leftovers can be popped in the fridge overnight to be eaten the next day for breakfast.
Place bananas, milk, peanut butter, honey, and ice cubes in a blender; blend until smooth, about 30 seconds.
Peanut Butter Banana Smoothie.
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Beetroot & mint dip.
Put 250g vacuum-packed beetroot and ½ tsp ground cumin in the small bowl of a food processor, season and blend until smooth. Tip into a bowl, add 2 tsp chopped mint and a squeeze lemon juice, then gently stir through 3 tbsp half-fat crème fraîche to get a rippled effect. Sprinkle with a few extra mint leaves and a few pinches nigella seeds.
Smashed bean dip.
Drain and rinse a 400g can of cannellini beans and a 400g can of chickpeas. Put 200g cannellini beans and 200g chickpeas into a food processor with the juice of 2 lemons, 2 crushed garlic cloves, 2 tsp ground cumin and 100ml Greek yogurt, then whizz until smooth. Tip in the rest of the beans and chickpeas and pulse once to get a very chunky dip. Stir in the zest of 1 lemon and plenty of seasoning, then sprinkle with toasted pumpkin seeds if desired. Serve with celery sticks. Leftover dip can be stored in the fridge.
Place bacon in a large skillet and cook over medium-high heat, turning occasionally, until evenly browned, about 10 minutes. Drain bacon on paper towels.
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Stir cucumber, tomatoes, rice vinegar, salt, and pepper together in a bowl. Gently stir bacon, avocado, cilantro, and green onions into cucumber mixture.
Bacon Avocado Salad.
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6. Get spiritual. A study conducted by the formidably sober and scientific Harvard University found that patients who were prayed for recovered quicker than those who weren’t, even if they weren’t aware of the prayer.
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7. Get smelly. Garlic, onions, spring onions and leeks all contain stuff that’s good for you. A study at the Child’s Health Institute in Cape Town found that eating raw garlic helped fight serious childhood infections. Heat destroys these properties, so eat yours raw, wash it down with fruit juice or, if you’re a sissy, have it in tablet form.
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8. Knock one back. A glass of red wine a day is good for you. A number of studies have found this, but a recent one found that the polyphenols (a type of antioxidant) in green tea, red wine and olives may also help protect you against breast cancer. It’s thought that the antioxidants help protect you from environmental carcinogens such as passive tobacco smoke.
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9. Bone up daily. Get your daily calcium by popping a tab, chugging milk or eating yoghurt. It’ll keep your bones strong. Remember that your bone density declines after the age of 30. You need at least 200 milligrams daily, which you should combine with magnesium, or it simply won’t be absorbed.
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10. Berries for your belly. Blueberries, strawberries and raspberries contain plant nutrients known as anthocyanidins, which are powerful antioxidants. Blueberries rival grapes in concentrations of resveratrol – the antioxidant compound found in red wine that has assumed near mythological proportions. Resveratrol is believed to help protect against heart disease and cancer.
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Blend avocado, orange juice, vanilla yogurt, ice cubes, strawberries, honey, and flax seed meal together in a blender until smooth, at least 45 seconds.
If after you've blended and it looks too thick to pour, add a little more orange juice.
5 Avocado Strawberry Smoothie.
6 Strawberry Oatmeal Breakfast Smoothie.
In a blender, combine soy milk, oats, banana and strawberries. Add vanilla and sugar if desired. Blend until smooth. Pour into glasses and serve.
