TIPS TO GET THE NUTRIENTS YOU NEED

There are easy steps you can take to ensure you do get the vitamins, minerals and phytochemicals you need from your meals and snacks. To help you, I’ve compiled a checklist for you to use.

Diversify your diet — try not to eat the same thing every week

Buy foods from different shops, alternating brands and countries of origin

Aim to eat three whole fruits every day — and try to have fruit and vegetables and/or salad with every meal

For a dessert consider strawberries, blueberries and raspberries with live yoghurt, and even some 100 per cent chocolate rather than a tart or cake (which has the added bonus of cutting your sugar intake, too)

Eat a small, daily handful of mixed nuts, such as walnuts, pistachios, Brazils or hazelnuts

Eat a handful of mixed seeds such as pumpkin, sunflower, sesame and unsalted peanuts, every day

Unless you’re glutenintolerant, eat some whole barley, wheat, rye or other grains two or three times a week

Include fermented foods, such as cheeses, live yoghurt, soy and veg, most days as these are great sources of gut-friendly probiotics, which as we’ve seen can help to reduce your risk of cancer

It’s very easy to slip into serving potatoes with most meals, but try to alternate your carbohydrate sources: different potato varieties, brown or wild rice, couscous, quinoa, buckwheat and wholemeal pasta

If you’re not a vegan or vegetarian, eat some oily fish at least twice a week and include some crab or shellfish once or twice a fortnight, making an effort to switch between oil, freshwater and sea varieties of fish

Alternate water sources — tap, filtered and different mineral waters. All have different mineral combinations

Grow your own vegetables — they will be higher in phytochemicals than cultivated varieties and free from pesticides, too

Don’t take extra mineral or vitamin supplements unless you are aware of a deficiency