Healthy Eating Tips for the New Year | Lifelab Testing

Healthy Eating Tips for the New Year

Last Updated: 12th December 2022 · Written by Maria Griffiths

New Year is a time to reflect on the year that’s passed, as well as consider personal changes you want to make in this upcoming year. For many individuals, wanting to take control of their health and diet is a common New Year resolution. According to Statista, 43% of UK adults’ resolution in 2022 was to eat healthier. It can be difficult, however, to know how to make positive lifestyle changes that can be maintained over time, as many fail to keep up their resolution throughout the year.

At Lifelab Testing, we want to give you a helping hand in forming a healthier lifestyle this year. To do this, we encourage you to learn more about your body internally before you form a New Year diet plan. You could eat extremely healthily but still feel fatigued and bloated if you are suffering from an intolerance or allergy.

Allergy and Intolerance Testing

Start this new year by understanding how your body reacts to the foods that you’re consuming. Although you may be consuming healthy foods, if your body lacks the enzyme to digest certain foods or your immune system reacts to particular food items, you’d be dealing with an intolerance or allergy. Because of this, we suggest that before you plan any diet, you should consider which foods your body can tolerate well or not. Allergy and Intolerance testing can indicate which foods you should avoid in your diet so as to not experience symptoms.

If you feel excessive bloating, stomach pain or heartburn after eating certain meals, you could have an undiagnosed intolerance that’s impacting your digestion. Through taking a Complete Intolerance Test at home, you can see how your body reacts to 159 food items. Your journey doesn’t end here, as you are entitled to a free 30-minute session with Nutritional Therapist to help you understand your results and plan any lifestyle changes.

On the other hand, if you are unsure whether your symptoms are more severe and could be an allergy, you can take a Complete Body Test which analyses your sample to test for both allergies and intolerances.

Elimination Diet Plan

A notebook with a diet plan
Notebook with a diet plan

If your results indicate you have an allergy or intolerance, it is important to now evaluate your diet moving forwards. For individuals with allergies, this will involve completely removing the harmful food from your diet and finding alternatives. For those with intolerances, it is recommended that you remove these foods using an elimination diet. This cleansing starts to restore balance in body systems and stimulates excretory organs. Once you are sure of which foods cause you internal issues, your new year goal of eating healthier can truly begin.

New year diet plan

Now that you’re aware of which foods are positive to be consuming for your own health, we can begin to look at some great recipes to kick start your new year. Below, we’ve included some great healthy recipes for breakfast and lunch.

Breakfast Recipes

Balanced breakfast

  • Place gluten-free rice cakes on a plate and spoon cottage cheese to cover them (if vegan, swap cottage cheese for a non-dairy alternative or make your own).
  • Sprinkle with a range of tasty toppings like chopped strawberries, blueberries, raspberries and chopped nuts for protein.

Gluten free breakfast

  • Place a large handful of spinach into a lightly oiled frying pan and wilt gently.
  • Turn spinach onto a plate.
  • Scramble two eggs then place on top of the spinach.
  • If wanted, sprinkle sesame seeds on top for extra essential fatty acids.

Fruit for breakfast

  • Enjoy a yummy breakfast of live yoghurt to help your digestive system.
  • Add in your favourite fruits, like bananas, pears or apples.

Lunch recipe

One lunch recipe we love, combines a mixture of protein and vegetables for a healthy choice.

  • Start with a large handful of mixed salad leaves.
  • Sprinkle a mixture of seeds such as pomegranate seeds, sunflower, pumpkin or sesame seeds.
  • For protein, choose between salmon, hard boiled eggs, prawns, hams or cheeses.
  • For a vegan alternative, choose lentils or beans as your source of protein.

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