What are the five food groups nutrition ?

You’re looking at the five key food groups; protein (build & repair muscle- keeps you ‘lean’), fat (makes you feel full, needed for health & energy) & carbohydrates (for energy), veggies & fruits (packed with vitamins & minerals plus fibre) & dairy products & alternatives (contain calcium, protein & vitamins)

If you can balance these key groups, you can not only maintain your weight, but you’ll be healthier,  feel better & together with exercise, will help you be the best version of you.

Here’s some great nutrition & exercise tips (and Pilate workouts).

How do I start using the five food groups nutrition ?

Firstly you don’t have to change everything all in one go. What easy ‘swaps’ could you start with?

  1. Include a lean protein (1-2 palm size hand portions) at each meal – if that’s too much, start with dinner.
  2. Add 2 fist size amounts of veggies (non starchy) to your meal. Start off easy- what veggies do you like, or what’s the easiest to prep? I love spinach as it’s packed full of nutrients & you can easily add it to any dish without having to cook it. Here’s a really eay way to eat more veg.
  3. Add a carb (cupped 1 -2 handfuls) like Wholemeal rice, wholemeal pasta, wholemeal wraps, wholemeal bread or new potatoes etc the possibilities are endless !! What’s your favourite ?
  4. Use your fat portion to either cook your protein in like olive oil/coconut oil, or add something to your dish i.e. in a salad it could be a tablespoon of dressing, or a tablespoon of unsalted nuts, tablespoon of avacado.
  5. Have some greek unflavoured yoghurt after with a handful of berries. Have a great afternoon snack making your own protein shake – buy a good quality protein powder with as little ingredients as possible – add 1-2 scoops of this to some fruits of your choice, about 100-200mls of milk (semi-skimmed works well), whiz it up & it tastes great !
  6. You could ‘get in’ all your five food groups nutrition in a protein shake. Although it’s important to have variety in the foods you eat, rather than relying on one particular thing like protein powder.
  7. Get help if you’re struggling & you feel your eating is a bit out of control, or nothing you try works like it used to. I’m a Nutrition coach, Menopause specialist coach, Pilates instructor & personal trainer – I run some tried and tested programmes, where you’ll feel healthier & learn how to transfrom your shape

And if you’re goal is to eat more healthily and feel better (maybe that includes losing a bit of weight and or toning up), you don’t have to do endless, boring counting or weighing.

You can use hand portions to help you with the five food groups nutrition – they help with portion sizes & the great thing is, they’re easy & portable. If you drink milk in shakes, tea or coffee, then I aim for about a pint a day, somedays I might have a little more.

Some people want to ‘track’ everything, there are lots of apps out there that do it for you- I use My Fitness Pal and look at the percentages it gives you under the nutrition header.

I like to ensure that I get enough daily protein to maintain my muscle mass, improve it, together with exercise and get all the lovely health benefits.

Claire x

 

Five food groups nutrition