Simple everyday ways to boost your nutrition without noticing

The start of a new year is known as "diet season" – a time in which every new program, potion and supplement will be flogged as a way to undo the damage of several weeks of festive season overeating. Inevitably these extreme regimes come and go, and we return to our regular food and lifestyle habits fairly quickly. Instead, why not make several small, sustainable swaps, which will have a significant impact on your overall nutrient intake, and slip so easily into daily life, you barely notice you have made any changes at all?

Get serious about your daily bread

The type of bread you choose can make a massive difference to nutritional intake. For example, large, thick slices of white bread add significant amounts of refined carbs into your diet, and flatbreads such as Turkish and Lebanese breads can contain 3-4 times the amount of carbs as traditional sandwich slices. Swapping to thin, small or even lower-carbohydrate bread varieties that are wholegrain-based can reduce your calorie intake, and boost the fibre and mineral content of your diet.

Tick the box on your good fat at breakfast

Including 3-4 serves of good fats in your diet each day – such as oily fish, avocado, nuts, seeds and extra virgin olive oil – will ensure you get the optimal amounts of these important fats for metabolism, and including them at each meal aids feelings of fullness. For example, at breakfast, adding avo to your toast or smoothie, or a tablespoon of nuts or seeds to your cereal, yoghurt or smoothie, will help to tick the box every day.

Know your smart spreads

You may routinely reach for the butter, cholesterol-lowering margarine or a little mayo or pesto to season your favourite toast, wrap or sandwich, but nutritionally these spreads are high in fat and calories and can add a lot of refined vegetable oil into the diet. Lighter yet tasty options include the growing range of vegetable dips made with a base of cucumber or beetroot, or try hummus or mashed avocado.

Season your vegies and salads the healthy way

When our vegetables and salads taste good, we eat more of them, and the good news is you can season your vegies and salad, guilt-free. For salads, try balsamic or apple cider vinegar for both flavour and blood glucose control. Meanwhile, cooked vegetables are delicious with a dollop of Greek-style yoghurt, cottage cheese, sour cream or homemade cheese sauce.

Nourish your gut

Our digestive health impacts our overall health and wellbeing in many ways. Rather than supplements or powders, good digestive health is much more about the ways in which we nourish our digestive tract on a daily basis. In food terms, a daily serve of yoghurt, kefir, miso or fermented vegetables will support your digestive health long term.

Leave the skin on

Whether it is on your favourite fruits – think apples, pears or even kiwifruit (yes, really!) – or vegetables such as potato, zucchini and carrots, leaving the skin on means more dietary fibre and nutrients.

Get smart with seafood

All seafood offers protein and essential nutrients including Omega-3, but before you reach for yet another can of tuna, it may be of interest to know that some relatively cheap seafood options including canned salmon, and shellfish like oysters and mussels are among the most nutrient-rich. Tinned salmon and sardines, especially when eaten with the bones, are packed full of Omega-3 fatty acids and are non-dairy sources of calcium, while mussels and oysters are high in iron and zinc.

Time to juice

Fruit-based juices are a concentrated source of sugars – sugars few of us need – but there are plenty of benefits associated from adding a vegetable-based juice into your daily diet instead. Juices which are made 100 per cent from vegetables add concentrated nutrients, including beta carotene, and a number of powerful antioxidants. The key is to find a mix that is palatable, but including brightly-coloured vegetables such as beetroot, carrot and spinach is a good start.

Susie Burrell is an accredited practising dietitian and nutritionist and holds a master in coaching psychology.