Choosing healthy food is easier than you can imagine. Just a few changes here and there will lead you and your children to a better side of health and vitality.

A great advantage to making that healthy food swap is the body will shed any excess fat and your digestive system will be happier with you.

Try these small changes and allow your mind to think of other healthy swaps you can make the next time you open your kitchen cupboard or your refrigerator.

When buying prepackaged food remember to read your ingredients as the outer package promoting item can be misleading. Your Nutritional information is key – fat, sugar, sodium and calorie content.

Breakfast
• Swap from whole milk to skim milk, almond milk, rice milk.
• Swap boxed breakfast cereal to whole grain fresh homemade breakfast cereal , such as cornmeal porridge, ogi/pap, millet ogi, oatmeal porridge
• Swap a sprinkle of sugar on your breakfast cereal for a topping of fresh fruit or dried raisins or a teaspoon honey. Remember the fruits count towards one of your five a day.
• Swap sugar laden yogurts – to plain yogurt or low fat yogurt
• Swap white bread to yam or sweet potato. Let’s just leave the flour products that cause serious inflammation to the body alone.
• Swap packaged pancakes mix to homemade akara balls and akara pancakes
• Swap packaged Sugary Chocolate drinks to homemade real Cocoa powder drinks

Lunch
• Swap white rice to locally grown unpolished brown rice.
• Swap wheat (wheat meal, semovita, semolina) to plantain fufu, amala, oatmeal fufu, tuwo, eba or pounded yam.
• Swap processed meat (hot dogs and bacon) to fresh fish, mushrooms, chicken or snail
• Swap oily soups to vegetable soups

Dinner
• Choose leaner cuts of meat – meat with less fat
• Swap frying for grilling. You can grill sweet potato, plantains, yam
• Swap your ‘BIG’ dinner plate to a small flat plate.
• Swap late night meals to fresh fruits and vegetables
• Swap noodles to spiralized vegetables.

Drinks
• Swap a drink for a glass of water
• Instead of minerals, make your own smoothie (fresh fruit and vegetable smoothie)
• Swap a coffee mate with almond milk, rice milk, or cease using coffee mate
• Swap a carton of juice for a homemade juice

Snacks
• Swap biscuits for home made oat cookies
• Swap salted nuts for unsalted nuts
• Swap small chops – for a fruit tray or fruit flowers

Seasonings
• Swap cubed seasonings (most of which contain MSG) to Locusts beans (Iru)
• Use your local earthly fresh seasoning – Moringa, Onions, spring onions, garlic, scallion, ginger, peppers, celery, thyme, parsley, oregano, etc.

For babies – nothing is better than breast milk.

I love this saying, “if you eat food made by people in white coats, you will end up being seen in the office of people in white coats.”

For More information: see your Nutrition Consultant on designing a specialized meal plan for any chronic health condition you may have.

“Health is by choice”

http://caribhealthng.com/new/wellness-nutrition-healthy-food-swap/

Credit: Mrs. Sherese Ijewere

Nutrition Consultant, Caribbean Health and Nutrition