The weather is warmer, the fruit is sweeter, colourful and oh so juicy. Nutritionist Fiona Kane shares her healthiest of healthy eating tips to ensure you are glowing and feeling satifisfied all summer long
One of the best things about summer is all of the yummy summer fruits in so many colours, a delicious way to add important antioxidants into your diet, along with fibre. Eating seasonally also ensures you are eating fresh, local produce which is good for the environment (not requiring lots of transportation and storage of produce) and good for your local farmers. Check out your local farmers market to see what’s in season.
Get into a summer salad with ingredients such as avocado, mango pieces, scoops of passionfruit or slices or fresh valencia orange. Mixed greens along with one of the sweet fruits (orange or mango) with avocado and a good dollop of cold pressed extra virgin olive oil are a taste sensation. To add some crunch and extra flavour add a handful of walnuts and pepitas (pumpkin seeds), pomegranate seeds are brilliant too. Have this along with your favourite protein (chicken, tuna, salmon, egg, feta, lamb, beef or pork).
Other interesting flavours and textures you can add to your salad are chick peas or wild rice. Roasted sweet potato or pumpkin can also make a lovely addition to a salad. Another interesting ingredient that is showing up this summer in cafés is Dukkah, this is a traditional Egyptian blend of a beautiful blend of spices, nuts and nuts available in many different varieties at the supermarket or the green grocer. If you love your mashed avocado, try sprinkling some Dukkah over it for extra nutrients and flavour.
Then we move onto snacks and desserts. Half a fresh mango is a great dessert on its own. Other great sweets are berries, mulberries raspberries, strawberries and blueberries are now in season, they make a great dessert along with some dark chocolate, cream and palm full of pecans or almonds. For breakfast try coconut yoghurt or full fat plain Greek yoghurt with your choice of berries, sunflower seeds and macadamias, topped with a bit of cinnamon or vanilla – yum!
Smoothie’s are great for breakfast or a snack, try 150ml your favourite full fat milk or a half/half mixture of water and plain coconut water, ½ banana, ½ cup berries, ½ avocado, ½ tablespoon of cacao and 1 hand full of spinach leaves – all blended together – yum.
Gone are the days of plain old boring iceberg lettuce, tomato and cucumber, salads should be colourful with a mixture of textures and flavours. It should look and taste good – healthy food does not equal tasteless and boring!
Colourful fresh produce contains many different antioxidants, bioflavonoids, vitamins and minerals (each different colour contains different important nutrients). These nutrients are important for good health and especially good for the heart health, eye health and circulation. There is also plenty of fibre on these foods to keep your digestive system happy. Plus, all importantly they taste wonderful.
These summer healthy eating tips will have you feeling the sunshine inside and out.
Fiona Kane, Nutritionist
www.informedhealth.com.au
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