Variety!

Hello Everyone and welcome to the next edition of Caribbean Fit! Hope everyone has been great. Over the past couple weeks, I've been thinking about how we as Human beings can become creatures of habit. This is often translated into our daily diets as we may consume the same food every day, whether we cook it ourselves at home or our eat it from favourite restaurants. However, it is important to mix it up a little and that's what were going to discuss in this edition.

In the Caribbean, we have specific dishes that are most likely to be on our weekly menus such as pelau, rice and peas, stew chicken or bread and cheese. I am certain that this does not only occur in the Caribbean but every country will have their dishes that are part of their weekly routine. However, as delicious and comfortable these dishes may be, it is important to mix it up. This is because we get most of our vitamins and minerals from what we eat and having a diet that is monotonous can restrict the type and amount of vitamins, minerals and nutrients that we may need on a daily and weekly basis. When we incorporate different types of food in our daily or weekly diet, it is an opportunity to obtain important nutrients that may not have been getting from our regular diet routine or increase the availability of an important vitamin or mineral that we may have been getting enough of. Below are some tips to increase the variety in your diet.

1. Try new fruits and vegetables and grains. I know this may seem scary at first but it is really fun and in this era of technology makes it easy to research the fruit/vegetable and how it should be eaten or cooked. So be adventurous, just go to your local grocery and pick out a new fruit, vegetable or grain that catches your eye.

Exotic Fruits and Vegetables

2. Switch up your proteins! Chicken is not the only meat that exists, there are many other proteins like turkey, pork, goat and other leaner alternatives with just as much or even more benefits. Also, salmon is not the only fish out there people!

Various Proteins

3. Get you some legumes! I personally love lentils and channa (chickpeas) but I mix it up with some red beans, pigeon peas, black beans, etc.

Legumes!

4. Try different herbs and spices. Are you serious with just salt and black pepper? Though the are core in seasoning food, there are lots of different herbs and spices that enhance the taste and flavour of your food. I must mention that we in the Caribbean actually utilise this tip. We use lots of green seasonings in our food (chadon beni is my favourite! 😆😆) and many different herbs spices like thyme, cumin, garlic and peppers just to name a few. Purchasing a spice rack may help.

Herbs and Spices

5. Try different cooking methods. There are many different cooking methods we can use to make our meals like steaming, sauteeing, grilling, braising and roasting. How about you try all of them! like I said before, the technology is advanced, just get online research a cooking method and do it!

Various Cooking Methods

6. When eating out try different things from the menu, don't just get the usual.

7. Last but not least, plan ahead!  Whether you're going to try a new recipe or restaurant, you should plan ahead so that you know what you are about and you prevent yourself from falling back into your comfort zone and cooking or order the same thing that you usually eat.

These are my 7 tips for adding variety to your diet and I hope they are helpful for you guys moving forward. I'll also leave you with this, you want your plate to have at least 3 different colours. If your plate doesn't look like a rainbow, of meats, vegetables, fruits and starches it lacks variety.

I will love to hear how everyone adds variety to their diet, so feel free to comment below the post on how you switch things up!

Bye everyone, until next time remember variety is the spice of life! 💋😘😗😙😚