Healthy Food

3 of Liz’s super easy hacks to get your diet back on track

Our diet is one of the most important choices we can make for our wellbeing. That being said, nutrition can often seem complicated. The good news, as our founder Liz Earle explains, is that it doesn’t need to be.

“Sticking to simple principles, such as making food from scratch with real ingredients, can be transformative,” she says.

Here, Liz shares three simple hacks to help improve our diet – and, in turn, our health.

3 of Liz Earle’s essential tips for a healthy diet

Be conscious about cooking oils

“In the pursuit of getting the right balance between the foods we need more of versus those we need less of, there are a few fundamental food principles I’ve come to live by over the years that have made the most massive difference to my mood, physical health – and weight,” says Liz. “The first is to eat more fat. The fundamental key here is the type of fat. Our bodies need healthy, unprocessed fats, the kind found naturally occurring in everyday foods – not processed, artificially hardened or ‘hydrogenated’ fats.”

Liz prefers to use butter, ghee, coconut oil or lard for her cooking or spreading. She’ll always swerve margarine and spreads. Extra virgin olive oil contains essential fatty acids such as the gamma-linolenic acid (GLA), which are important for our skin and cardiovascular health.

On the other hand, margarine contains hydrogenated vegetable oils, which have been hardened and contain damaging trans fats.

“Once a healthy fat has been hardened or artificially processed, it gets damaged and, in turn, damages us,” Liz says.

And Liz also suggests giving fried food a wide berth too, unless cooked at home in a healthy oil.

Prioritise protein

With so much emphasis on the importance of protein, especially for midlifers, building our meals around this macro is a good place to start.

“I’ve become even more aware of its importance as we age and now make some kind of protein source the mainstay of every meal,” says Liz. “For example, I’ll have a couple of boiled eggs for breakfast with a few chopped-up carrot sticks on the side – and then some sourdough toast spread with butter, avocado, Marmite or peanut or almond butter (but rarely marmalade or jam).

“I love a nice slice of white bread, thickly spread with homemade strawberry jam, but this is an occasional treat, not an everyday go-to. If I do eat toast and jam, I’ll make sure I’ve first fuelled up with a few healthy fats and protein (such as eggs or a nice thick, plain yoghurt) so as not to spike my insulin levels by eating a load of sugary foods on an otherwise empty stomach.”

Liz tries to aim for around 30g of protein per meal to hit her daily target.

Good sources of protein include meats such as chicken and grass-fed beef, fish such as salmon and cod, eggs, real Greek yoghurt, plant-based sources such as tofu and tempeh, and cheeses such as mozzarella and cottage cheese.

Avoid ready meals

Liz avoids pre-made meals out of a packet as much as possible, opting to cook at home from scratch with wholesome, fresh and seasonal ingredients.

She’s also a stickler for reading food labels and tries to steer clear of anything that isn’t ‘real food’.

“If you couldn’t replicate it with the same ingredients in your kitchen, then it is likely to be an ultra-processed food,” says Liz. “Be wary of things like emulsifiers and preservatives. These can have a detrimental impact on things like our gut health.”

While ultra-processed foods tend to be more convenient, cooking from scratch can often cost less – and is far better for our health in the long-run.

Here’s more of Liz’s advice on how to read the ingredients label:

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