I'D LOVE A HEALTHY DIET, BUT .........

It is very easy simply to buy a bottle of vitamin and mineral supplements and continue to eat the same old diet in the hope that illness or chronic fatigue will happen to someone else. They will certainly happen to someone else, and can, unfortunately, happen to those who have tried really hard to live a healthy life. However, if everyone adopted a healthy diet some doctors, at least, would be short of work.

If you can't cook, haven't the time or never want to cook again
A healthy diet can be a cordon bleu extravaganza, but most of us want to have enough to eat, at the time we want to eat it, with a minimum of effort. Initially, this may take a little planning, but once healthy eating is habitual you will find that it takes no extra efffort.

Breakfast
Do not skip breakfast. It is perhaps the most important meal and should contain a whole-grain cereal, high in fibre, which helps to keep cholesterol levels low. Try these suggestions:
- A piece of fruit and/or 180ml (6fl oz) of fruit or vegetable juice, plus one of the following :
- A bowl of low-sugar whole-grain cereal
- Porridge with skimmed milk: oatmeal soaked overnight cooks quickly and can be sweetened with dried fruit

OR have a breakfast blender (see below), which takes a couple of minutes to make and drink, but can be prepared the night before and stored in the refrigerator overnight if you really do not have time in the morning.

Lunch
A large salad, including a vegetable protein, such as beans or brown rice left over from the previous evening, or a few sunflower or pumpkin seeds, plus wholemeal bread or a crispbread, spread with hummus or sugar-free peanut butter.

OR vegetable soup that contains lentils or brown rice, plus wholemeal bread spread with low-fat cottage cheese

OR a packed lunch based on wholemeal bread with a protein spread, such as hummus, low-fat cottage cheese or peanut butter and salad vegetables (washed the previous evening), such as tomato, cucumber, celery, raw carrots, sweet peppers etc. Or just take the vegetables and buy a wholemeal, low-fat sandwich.

PLUS a piece of fruit, and/or low-fat yoghurt and/or a few nuts.

Dinner
Start with a salad, or vegetable sticks with a bean dip or guacamole, or soup, or a platter of steamed fresh vegetables. Then have a protein dish, such as lean meat or fish with lightly steamed vegetables

OR pasta/rice with a sauce based on tomatoes or other vegetables and containing some other vegetable protein such as beans, tofu or sweetcorn or animal protein such as chicken or prawns

OR a turkey, prawn or quorn stir-fry, with vegetables and served on noodles.

FINISH with fresh fruit or low-fat yoghurt.

Snacks
Fresh or dried fruit, a few nuts or seeds, vegetable sticks prepared from carrots, celery, cucumber, sweet peppers etc.

The Breakfast Blender
Combine the following in a blender:

3 or 4 different fruits, including, if possible, fresh or frozen berries and/or stoned cherries

1 to 2 tablespoons of linseeds (flaxseeds): start with a small amount because this is a natural laxative, or 1 tablespoon of cold-pressed linseed (flaxseed) oil

110ml (4fl oz) fat-free yoghurt

2 tablespoons of oat bran, rolled oats or oatmeal