By Lucy Jones, Lutrition
It’s often thought that in order to eat healthily, you need to be spending a fortune on your weekly shop, and various powders and supplements. There’s no denying that the cost of living has meant the price of a food shop has increased, but some of the most nutritious foods are still the cheapest items you’ll see on the supermarket shelves.
Here are just four healthy, budget-friendly foods I regularly recommend to my clients, as a Nutritionist.
1.Oats
Despite the recent bad talk about oats, this grain is packed full of goodness. In particular, oats contain a type of soluble fibre called beta-glucan. When eaten, beta-glucan forms a gel which binds to cholesterol in the body, and helps reduce the amount of cholesterol that’s absorbed from the gut into your bloodstream. This helps control levels of “bad” LDL cholesterol. Oats are known as a cholesterol lowering food as a result.
Beta-glucan doesn’t just help with lowering cholesterol, it’s also a prebiotic fibre. Prebiotic fibres feed your friendly gut bacteria, helping to create a happy and healthy gut. Not only this, but as a fibre-rich food, oats help prevent constipation.
The benefits don’t stop there. The high fibre content of oats also makes them an ideal food for those looking to better manage their blood sugar levels. Since it takes time to break down and digest fibre, fibre-rich foods result in fewer unwanted peaks and dips in blood sugar levels. This helps with sustaining energy levels, making oats a brilliant way to fuel your morning.
2.Tinned Beans
Beans are incredibly underrated, but they’re the perfect way to boost the nutritional value of your diet. Not only do beans contain gut-friendly prebiotic fibres, but they’re a great source of protein. In fact, if you’re following a vegetarian or vegan diets, beans are an invaluable source of protein. Although, regardless of the diet you follow, everyone should be aiming to eat beans at least a couple of times each week. Beans have a smaller environmental impact than meat, and we should all be playing a small role in looking after our planet.
Beans, such as black beans or kidney beans, can also contain iron, which is the vital mineral involved in making red blood cells.
Tinned beans aren’t only affordable, but they’re the most convenient way to make eating beans easy. Plus, they also have a long shelf life, making them the perfect store cupboard essential. Simply add a tin of beans to pasta bakes or curries to give them a nutritional boost.
3.Plain greek-style yoghurt
For the protein-conscious, plain greek-style yoghurt is a great way to meet your protein needs on a budget.
Despite the rumour that fat-free or low-fat greek-style yoghurt has added sugar, in many instances this isn’t true. You can check the ingredients label to see. Look for an ingredient list that only contains milk or starter cultures. Make sure you also choose plain, unflavoured yoghurt, to avoid unnecessary added sugars.
Eating yoghurt regularly is also a great way to give your body calcium to help keep bones strong and healthy.
4.Tinned mackerel
Tinned fish is generally a much cheaper option than fresh fish, and in many cases is pre-cooked and ready to use. In particular, tinned mackerel is an easy way to get important omega 3 fats into your diet. As an unsaturated fat, omega 3 is heart friendly, as it helps to lower levels of “bad” LDL cholesterol and maintain levels of “good” HDL cholesterol. Plus, omega 3 helps look after the brain and reduce inflammation. Tinned salmon and sardines also offer omega 3. But before you reach for tinned tuna for your weekly dose of omega 3, I need to tell you that this doesn’t contain enough omega 3 to count as a source.
Similar to tinned beans, tinned fish has a long shelf life, and so I often recommend keeping a few tins in the cupboard for those emergencies when you don’t have any other proteins in the house.
These are just a handful of the budget-friendly yet nutritious foods that you could feature in your regular diet. Which are you already eating, and which could you add to boost the quality of your diet further?