How To Energise Your Diet

Mid-year is the perfect time to reboot your nutriment and eat a little cleaner and greener. And we have just the plan to motivate you and make getting a fresh start easy.

- Marnie Soman Schwartz

Maybe you want to brighten your mood or feel less fatigued. Or you’re looking to lighten up your diet. Whatever your goal, we’ve got a simple solution.

“A one-week reboot plan filled with delicious, healthy foods is just what you need to get motivated to eat well long-term,” says dietitian Dawn Jackson Blatner, author of The Superfood Swap. This means eliminating any foods that weigh you down, and loading up on those that benefit your body and brain.

“Trading in refined sugars and flours, and other processed stuff you may be occasionally sneaking in, for whole foods that are nutrient dense and full of flavour will make you immediately feel healthier,” says Dawn. That’s because simple carbs, plentiful in the foods you’ll be cutting out, are associated with fatigue, reports research in the Nevada Journal of Public Health.

Your mood will get a boost too. Eating more fruits and vegetables makes you happier and more confident, research shows. These foods have nutrients that keep neurotransmitters functioning optimally, says study author Tamlin Conner.

And because you see the benefits of a jump-start right away, it will help to cement good habits, say Willow Jarosh and Stephanie Clarke of C&J Nutrition.

THE GROUND RULES

Begin your jump-start week by ditching the foods that make you hungry and tired.

That means processed carbohydrate – even wholegrain breads, pastas and crackers. Doing this will keep your blood sugar fluctuations minimal so you don’t get hungry and give up, Stephanie and Willow say.