Better food choices

It's easy to get caught up in work or chores, then dive into the nearest packet of biscuits because you're starving and too busy to stop and prepare a healthy snack. Keep some of the following to hand, and you'll always have something easy to grab.

All can be eaten without any preparation, straight from the container (though you'll need a spoon for a couple of them.)

Are your ambitious resolutions overwhelming you? Do you have no idea where to begin?

Grab a sheet of paper and jot down three changes you’re going to make this week to improve your eating and exercising habits whilst at work. If you’re stuck, here’s some to pick from. They won’t take more than ten minutes each – so no excuses!

Eat This Not That is one of the most useful diet-related books to appear in recent years.

Rather than supplying vague guidelines or impossible-to-follow meal plans - it simply delves into the foods most of us eat today. The book then provides some better choices as well as delving into the confusing world of fast food calories.

The British Food Standards Agency have just released their findings from a large survey of low-income households. They conclude:

The findings were unexpected as many believed a lack of cooking skills and access to good food prevented poorer households from eating healthy.

Not so.

Fast food is popular because... it's fast.

Could you get something healthier - for the same price - and get it just as quickly?

Despite all the campaigns to promote fruit and vegetable intake - only a third of Americans eat two or more pieces of fruit per day. 25% don't eat any vegetables at all (ref).

Why not?

New research has highlighted three barriers to eating healthily; income, education level, and perceived price of healthy food.

Researchers estimate that we make over 200 food-related decisions per day.

Some days it's easy. Other days choosing food can become stressful, bewildering, and downright frustrating.

It's nothing less than a shocker. A large report from a Dutch public health authority has concluded that unhealthy dietary habits are actually as bad for human health as smoking.