Confused about what is healthy now you’ve hit mid-life?
While this seems obvious it’s not easy in this day and age to determine what is healthy.
There is so much confusing, conflicting information bombarding you at every turn, I want to encourage you to keep researching.
Follow people who have your best interests at heart.
Not those who have an agenda to push or a financial gain to be made out of you being sick or buying their products.
Deciphering this is NOT easy I agree.
However, you don’t have to look very hard to see that what the majority are currently eating is resulting in medical mayhem.
We now have over 67% of the Australian population overweight or obese and similar statistics in other first-world countries.
And it has everything to do with our diet.
An article in Advances in Nutrition journal Plant-Based Diets for Reversing Disease and Saving the Planet: Past, Present, and Future, cites that it’s our highly processed animal AND plant food diets that are contributing to our lifestyle diseases and ever-growing waistlines.
Yes, even the plethora of ultra-processed ‘plant-based’ products that are hitting supermarket shelves in response to current demands are contributing to our demise.
These processed products are high in calories, usually devoid of fiber, and packed with perfect amounts of fat, sugar and salt, to get your taste buds craving for more and more.
You can read my blog ‘Is a calorie a calorie?’ and learn more about the concentration of calories in processed foods.
Remember food manufacturers do NOT care about your health, they are only interested in lining their back pockets.
I take comfort from the Blue Zones study that shows what the healthiest, happiest, and longest-living people in the world are eating today…95% plant foods.
Yep, 5 places in the world Okinawa, Japan; Sardinia, Italy; Nicoya, Costa Rica; Ikaria, Greece, and Loma Linda, California are eating plant-strong and reaping the health benefits.
You don’t need much more proof than that – eat more real food that man has not got his hands on yet!
Whole plant foods are:
- All vegetables – double the amount you’re eating.
- All fruit – eat 2-3 pieces a day (fresh or frozen).
- Whole grains (like oats, rice, barley, and quinoa) – eat oats for breakfast.
- Legumes (beans & lentils) – add a can of lentils to your next mince dish or chickpeas to a curry or casserole.
- Healthy plant fats (avocadoes, nuts & seeds, whole olives – moderate these if weight loss is your goal.
Eating more whole plant foods will immediately increase the fiber in your diet, which is the ONLY food your good gut bacteria love.
This will boost your immune system and the production of feel-good hormones like dopamine and serotonin.
You’ll also reap the benefits of an easy, daily bowel movement (or two) which is essential for women so that unwanted hormones and toxins can be removed from the body.
Whole plant foods not only benefit your health but will also help you release unwanted weight.
Plant foods are rich in fiber and nutrients but contain minimal calories (kilojoules), except the healthy fats of course.
And because of the fiber that bulks out these plant foods, you get fuller quicker and are less likely to overeat.
Even if you do overeat plants, it’s not nearly as detrimental as overeating high-fat foods.
Yes, fruit, vegetables, whole grains, and legumes are low-fat foods.
Potatoes and rice are NOT fattening! It’s the butter, cream, oil (yes even olive oil), and other high-fat foods that we put on them.
I believe eating more plants is a win-win.
You can boost your immunity, regulate your mid-life hormones AND quickly and set weight loss in motion.
This is how I help clients navigate their fluctuating mid-life hormones and unwanted weight gain.
You can read about why it’s so hard to lose weight in mid-life here.
By making a slow step-by-step transition to eating more plants, and bringing in more plants to your current meals and recipes, you get to create a plan that suits you.
Together we experiment with what works for your health and lifestyle.
Rather than try and squeeze your lifestyle into a cookie-cutter meal plan we tweak your recipes and develop a sustainable system.
By using recipes the family already knows and loves, you make the transition almost seamless, and in the process create a sustainable lifestyle rather than another diet.
If you’re ready to take back control over what you put on the end of your fork, then let’s create a personalised plant-strong plan that will optimise your health AND help you release unwanted weight.
You can book an obligation-free complimentary chat here and I’d love to show you how you can start bringing more plants into your existing meals and recipes… one baby step at a time.
Nic x
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