Why better health starts at breakfast

WE’VE devised recipes to improve health and wellbeing in eight categories. Inside the Irish Daily Mail over the coming week, we’ll reveal key ingredients to ease hormone-related problems, boost energy, improve skin and enhance memory. But there are four other areas to remember . . . GOOD DIGESTION The gut governs absorption of vital nutrients and regulates immune function. Keeping our gut biome healthy requires an array of foods, including fibre from beans and oats, plenty of vitamin-packed leafy greens and probiotics from yoghurt. Our healthier sticky toffee pud, on page 63, contains dates — a good source of gut-friendly fibre. BLOOD-SUGAR BALANCE DIABeTeS is a major health concern, so it is sensible to eat foods that help regulate blood sugar and improve insulin sensitivity. These include slow-burn carbohydrates from whole grains and legumes. Try our recipe for beans on avocado toast on page 36, which uses pinto beans. BONES AND JOINTS In Our middle years, due to hormonal changes, bone density can diminish, so it makes sense to eat foods containing bone-supporting nutrients. We all know that calcium — from dairy, leafy greens, or nuts such as almonds — is the building block for bone structure but we also need vitamin D (in oily fish) to aid absorption. Our trout recipe on page 62 has lots of it. HEART HEALTH BlOOD pressure and cholesterol levels are critical indicators of health as we age — and we can support our hearts by eating foods that help lower both. We recommend whole grains, nuts, legumes, oats, oily fish, avocados, dark berries, turmeric and leafy veg. Try the fruit and nut spiced porridge on page 36 — it’s packed with dark berries which are high in heart-healthy antioxidants.