You don't need to begin a revolutionary new eating routine to see significant changes in your wellbeing. You can shed pounds, extend your lifespan, sustain your gut microbiome and support your general wellbeing, by making little yet impactful adjustments to your food intake.

The following are seven simple food objectives or targets to kick you off.

1. Focus on gut flora-amicable food varieties:

Explore the “Gut microbiome enhancer diet."

Include pulses and grains such as beans, lentils, chickpeas, earthy coloured rice (like brown, red or wild rice), quinoa, oats and other whole grains, as well as healthy nuts, colourful vegetables and fruits to your feast plan. By indulging in fibre-rich foods, you are nourishing your entire body including your gut microbiome, which according to recent studies can decrease your calorie consumption.

The body seems to respond in a contrasting manner to calories ingested from high-fibre whole foods compared to processed or unhealthy foods. Processed food varieties are all the more immediately assimilated in your upper gastrointestinal (GI) pathway, and that implies more calories for your body and less for your microbiome, which sits close to the furthest part of your GI tract. On the other hand, fibre-rich food options tend to slow down absorption, allowing them to travel the entire length of your GI tract before reaching your colon, where the myriad of microorganisms that constitute your gut microbiome reside.

2. Scale back on modified (processed) food sources

Commercial food manufacturing processes alter and sometimes denature the natural structures and compounds in some foods. Food experts suggest that this can influence the amount you eat and assimilate, as well as your weight and risks of some ill health conditions.

• If you must eat processed foods perhaps due to out-of season reasons, focus on food varieties with only minute number of ingredients, for example; flash-frozen fruits and vegetables  as opposed to those with numerous ingredients with added synthetic compounds you probably know nothing about.

• In your next food shopping, pick food sources with descriptors such as “non-GMO,” “free range’’, “seasonal,’’ “minimally handled," "occasional," "grass-fed" "entire grain" and “field-raised.

• A study discovered that when individuals consume heavily-processed diet, their intake is around 500 additional calories daily contrasted with when they are on a generally wholesome and unprocessed diet.

Experts reiterate that a considerable number of these highly processed food sources are designed to neutralise our innate satiety-mechanisms, which drives our over-indulgence and cravings that lead to weight gain.

3. Love your good carbs and healthy fats

Rather than cutting off carbs entirely, swap them with high quality alternatives.

• Begin by eating more vegetables, pulses such as chickpeas, beans and lentils as well as incorporate whole grains such as quinoa, black rice (very high in Anthocyanins), brown rice, red rice, wild rice

• Include good fats and proteins, such as nuts, seeds, avocado, eggs, poultry, yogurt and salmon fish.

• Swap the white and stripped carbs (including but not limited to; sugar-laden cereals, cakes, white rice, bread and white pasta), with wholesome alternatives such as sweet potatoes, wholemeal or wheat breads, broccoli and cauliflower rice, black rice, beans, peas, lentils, quinoa, fresh produce vegetables and other unrefined carbs.

Adding these high quality carbs could significantly reduce your chances of developing Diabetes Mellitus (Type 2), Cancer as well as lessen your risk of developing coronary diseases or a stroke. Additionally, these super-simple swaps can also assist you with shedding pounds without counting calories.

4. Eat more modest suppers

Due to the manner in which our inner clocks work, our bodies are designed by default, to process and metabolise food easily during the day. Our metabolisms tend to slow down as the day advances. The later in the day you consume more food, the longer it’ll take the body to effectively digest and metabolise it. Researches suggest that eating a meal at 9 a.m. can have a significantly different metabolic impacts in the body, compared to a similar meal when eaten at 9 p.m.

• For optimal wellbeing, it's ideal to consume the greater part of your calories earlier during the day as opposed to later.

• Concentrate on having a good-sized healthy breakfast, a humble lunch, and a little supper.

In a new report, researchers examined information from 9 comprehensive clinical tests that involved 485 adults. They observed that individuals who were doled out to stick to certain diet regimen where they consumed the vast majority of their calories earlier in the day, lost more weight than individuals who did the opposite. They likewise had more prominent enhancements in their glucose, cholesterol levels and insulin sensitivities - a marker of diabetes risk.

5. Eat like a Centenarian

Certain food varieties are particularly well known among individuals who live in 'Blue Zones,' a term used to categorise certain regions of the world where humans have uncommonly longer lifespans.

• Incorporate at least a cup of pulses such as peas, lentils, beans and different vegetables consistently and on a daily basis.

• Individuals all through the Blue Zones will generally consume beans or peas varieties, as well as other fibre-rich plant foods.

Soybeans are a significant piece of the customary diet in 

Okinawa, same way black beans are traditional in Nicoyan-Costa Rica, and fava beans in Sardinia. A recent PLOS Medicine publication found that the vast majority of individuals could extend their lifespan by changing from a run of the mill Western-style diet to a cleaner or healthier option. The same research found that the food varieties that had the greatest impact in extending lifespan were legumes- beans, chickpeas, lentils and peas among others.

6. Introduce more flavours, nuts, plants and fermented food varieties to your daily diet

Your gut flora like assortment, and consuming different fibre-dense plants and nutritious food sources is by all accounts particularly valuable to promote your wellbeing.

• Target a weekly intake of up to thirty food varieties that are plant-based. It’s worthy of note though that, it’s not at all hard to achieve, as you’re most like already eating a ton of these food sources in your current diet.

• A quick method for expanding assortment is to begin an adventure with more flavours by adding more spices and herbs to your foods.

• Go ahead and add deeper-coloured vegetables such as green leafy ones- spinach, beetroot and different mixed veggies for salads instead of just lettuce.

• Switch it up to some fun by adding fruits varieties to your breakfast or introduce a few unique vegetables to your old stir-fry recipes.

• Have a go at eating more probiotics and prebiotic food sources such as yogurt, kimchi, sauerkraut, fermented tea (kombucha), kefir, garlic, chicory roots, asparagus, Jerusalem artichokes, leeks, garlic etc.

• Go nutty by indulging in more nuts, seeds, beans and grains.

7. Save your bread for last

A technique known as “Meal Sequencing” contradicts the manner in which many individuals frequently consume their meals. It's moderately easy to follow and doesn't need drastically changing the food sources that you eat, yet it can further enhance glucose regulation and leave you feeling satiated for longer.

Here are the steps:

1. Eat your vegetables first.

1. Then your proteins and healthy fats eg; avocados, olive oil that may be part of your dressing (if applicable). Recent researches have now discovered that beginning your feasts with protein, fats or fibre-rich vegetables will in general reduce the speed of the digestion.

1. Save your bread or chips for the finishing part of your meal. More like a dessert now and you’ll find that you may be too full to finish the carbs.

Meals that are consumed this way can leave you feeling fuller for longer, since it slows down the speed at which food is broken down or digested. Scientists discovered that beginning every meal with vegetables or proteins can be especially useful for further enhancing blood glucose regulation in Type 2 diabetic individuals or in pre-diabetes, which is a precursor condition that heightens an individual's chances or risks of becoming diabetic.

As indicated by a huge and developing group of research, this one exchange could help you with decreasing your risk of malignant growths (cancer) and Diabetes Mellitus (Type 2), lower your risk of death from coronary diseases or a stroke and also enable you with shedding pounds without counting calories.

By Claire Collins-Obi