Diet is a huge part of our overall health and well-being. Not only does what we eat have a massive impact on our weight, but it can also affect our risk of diseases such as heart disease, diabetes, dementia and even cancer.
Therefore, making healthier choices in our daily lives is vital, and potentially life-prolonging.
However, overhauling your diet can be easier said than done, especially if time or cost is a concern.
However, one health expert discovered two simple swaps you can make in your diet that have multiple benefits.
Speaking on Instagram, Professor Tim Spector – one of the founders of Zoe Health, revealed some changes he’s made himself to lower his blood sugar.
He explained how he has replaced regular pasta with whole grain, lentil or chickpea pasta.
Prof Spector has also given up white rice in favor of brown rice, quinoa, Bulgarian wheat or pearl barley.
“I used to eat a lot of regular pasta and now I’ve switched it to whole grains and sometimes things like lentil pasta or chickpea pasta because they’re a lot less sugary for me and they’re higher. in fiber and that’s good for my gut microbes,” he said.
“So I’ve really made that switch, which I find very easy and still very tasty.”
Increasing your fiber intake is a simple thing you can do to protect yourself from many health issues, including high cholesterol and blood sugar.
The NHS explains: “Most of us should eat more fiber and have less added sugars in our diet.
“Eating more fiber is associated with a lower risk of heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes and bowel cancer.
“Government guidelines state that dietary fiber intake should be increased to 30 grams per day as part of a healthy balanced diet.
“Since most adults eat an average of about 20g a day, we need to find ways to increase our intake.”
Prof Spector continued: “The other thing I’ve done is reduce my consumption of white rice. I still like it every now and then.
“But I found that brown rice isn’t all that good for me and so wherever I can, I’ve made the switch to go to other grains and if you can get a mix of grains that’s even better because they have much higher levels of protein and fiber than anything rice can offer.
“And that diversity is really important because they also have other polyphenols and great things about it.
“So just by making a few changes, I’ve been able to really improve all the things in my diet, and it actually makes it tastier.”
According to Prof Spector, a standard white pasta will provide around 3.5g of fiber per 100g.
Switching to whole wheat pasta increases this to over five grams and choosing pasta made from chickpeas increases this to nine grams with 22g of protein per 100g.
He claimed that white rice has less than one gram of fiber per 100g, brown rice has 1.5g of fiber per 100g, quinoa and bulgur wheat have about 2.3g, pearl barley has 5.4g.
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Image Source : www.express.co.uk