A nutrition expert has said that people should be adding food to their diets rather than cutting them out.
Many people are still sticking to their new year's resolutions and for lots that will mean trying to get fitter and healthier while losing a bit of weight. When dieting most people choose to cut out foods including sugars and carbohydrates.
But Blackmoor’s nutritionist Kate Withington said that rather than cutting foods out of your diet, you should instead add one particular food type to it - protein. She said: "Don’t cut things from your diet, it’s all about adding to it."
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Kate added: “Let’s start the first few months of the year with some easy-to-implement habits instead of restrictive diets. Think about what you can add to your diet, as well as healthy alternatives, let’s stop instantly thinking about cutting out and being restrictive.
"Ensuring you eat enough protein is so important. I can’t stress this enough to people.
"Protein is the building block of bones, muscles, skin, hair, and nails. If you want to grow lean muscle and achieve that ‘toned’ look, have healthier-looking skin, and have stronger hair, make sure you eat enough protein before splurging on expensive and sometimes pointless supplements.
"Protein is also used for building and repairing muscles. So, if you are planning on spending a lot more time in the gym this year you need to make sure you're consuming adequate amounts. If you’re going to eat in a calorie deficit to lose body fat, eating enough protein will help preserve lean muscle mass and help with hunger levels.
"Aim for 1.2-2g per kilo of your body weight ideally spread out throughout the day, which can be easily achieved by choosing a quality protein source at each meal including a source of protein when you are snacking."
She continued: "Losing weight doesn’t mean that you must eat basic boring salads every day, you can eat whatever you want in moderation and begin to choose healthy alternatives. For me, restricting your diet will only make you crave the fattier, unhealthier foods a lot more. There is pretty much a healthy alternative to anything nowadays, it’s all about finding what works best for you and not putting too much food onto your plate."
Making a protein rich breakfast
Kate shared some ways in which she adds extra protein to her breakfasts. She said:
- Adding egg whites to porridge or extra egg whites to scrambled eggs is so easy and you can’t taste it at all.
- Greek yoghurt or whey protein (if you have some) to smoothies and pancakes.
- Topping off toast with feta and hemp seeds.
- Consuming protein bagels such as Warburton’s Protein Thin Bagels.
- Adding smoked salmon to eggs.
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