7 Hacks To Improve Your Diet​​​​​​​ Today

Think you're eating healthily? The latest research shows women are falling short on nutrients. Heres how to up them

- Angela Dowden

When there’s always a fashionable new diet trend to seduce us, it’s easy to lose sight of some of the more basic tenets of good nutrition. But a recent update from the Government’s ongoing NDNS (National Diet and Nutrition Survey) is a timely reminder of how we should really be eating and where we’re falling short. Here’s a quick whizz around the NDNS findings, with simple tips to help you eat better and make a real difference to your health.

1 Over a quarter of women have an inadequate intake of iron, so… have some lean red meat a couple of times a week.

The LNRI (lower nutrient reference intake) is defined as ‘inadequate for most individuals’, and 27 per cent of women aged 19-65 are below this bar when it comes to iron intake. ‘This is one area where the vegan trend hasn’t helped,’ says registered dietician Helen Bond. Ideally, try to include a little high-quality lean red meat in your diet – two 125g servings of lean beef nets you around 7mg iron, which makes up about half the average deficit that most women have. The rest can come from plant sources of iron such as cashews, eggs, almonds, pine nuts, leafy greens, soya beans, tofu and quinoa. If you’re staunchly meat free, make sure to include plenty of these other foods daily.

2 Women get 43 per cent less fibre than they should, so… increase your wholegrains.