Almost one week through 2016 already! Madness.

If you haven’t been reading the previous posts, give yourself half an hour to get up to speed with Tips 1 – 5 🙂 

Today’s tip is…….Try a food you’ve never tried before.

Variety is the spice of life as they say, so why not challenge yourself to try a new food (healthy of course) at least once a week/month. You could even try a food you don’t particularly like, but in a new way.

For example, if you don’t like cauliflower (tends to be boring unless it’s covered in cheese 😛 ), then why  not try it as cauliflower rice? Grate/blitz it and cook in some coconut oil with some onion and garlic to flavour! Not only is it nicer than regular cauliflower, but it is a fantastic low carb substitute for rice, leaving you with more calories to play around with. Always a bonus!

For a bit of inspiration I have listed below some new foods that you may not have tried before, with their benefits to help you out!

Why not choose a food & play around with recipes! Be sure to tag me on instagram or facebook as I’m always looking for some recipe insp 😀

Seaweed (Dulse)

Seaweed or Dulse is a good source of potassium & iron, with a good dose of iodine which is needed for the regulation of the thyroid gland. With around 43 kcals per 100g it’s the perfect low-cal snack!

Almond Milk

An alternative to cow’s milk, and great for lactose intolerant individuals, almond milk is naturally high in calcium & regularly fortified with vitamin D (which the Irish are often deficient in due to lack of sunshine). Although it is lower in protein than cow’s milk, it’s also lower in calories with around 60-80 kcals per cup.

Pumpkin

Per cooked cup, mashed, pumpkin boasts only 49 kcals. It is very versatile in how you can eat it as it’s popularly used in both sweet & savoury recipes. Pumpkin is also high in  fiber & vitamin A, as well as beta-carotene which helps maintain healthy skin & plays a role in eye health.

Quinoa

As well as being gluten-free, quinoa has all  essential amino acids which makes it a complete protein. This is necessary for building muscle. It is not a ‘high protein’ food so I would still suggest having a protein source with it. It contains 222 kcals per cooked cup.

Sometimes salads get plain boring! If you do give any of these foods a try or find other interesting foods to try out please do let me know! 🙂

Happy Wednesday!!

Alana xo