Nothing beats a balanced diet

An apple a day keeps the doctor away – that’s an old saying based on some truth.

Food can help support your immune system with a balanced diet. In today’s society it can be very difficult to achieve a balance in our diet as we forgot seasons and everything is always available so that we don’t have to listen to mother nature anymore.

I recently went to a traditional Chinese medicine practitioner who told me that I need more sourness in my life (no pun intended to my lovely husband) and suggested pomegranate on a regular basis.

She told me about the four groups of sweet, sour, salty and bitter and how important it is to include all four types in my daily diet. I am trying it but it’s not as easy to get hold of pomegranates but I started a few months ago to add apple cider vinegar to my morning routine and have to say, that although I don’t feel different, my skin has improved a lot.

Another tip from my reflexologist was to eat a kiwi every morning to improve digestion and it worked a treat.

So, food can definitely help us feeling and indeed looking better. Asian countries – at least I believe so - pay more attention to what they eat. For example, In China when you order a glass of water, it will be mostly warm as they believe that food and drink should be taking at body temperature to not weaken the spleen and stomach (saying that, I do love a glass of cold water on a hot day).

I learned also that the different types of teas have different roles to nourish us but I need to do some more research on that – older people for example should drink certain teas and avoid others (more to that after more research).

I am always surprised how young Asian women (and indeed men) look and the secret to that I was told is due to collagen rich foods. In Japan, the main diet is fish based while in other countries chicken is a staple on the dinner table.

Bone broth is also rich in natural collagen but don’t go and start drinking the beef stock cubes now, they contain more salt and flavourings than anything. Go and get a good bone broth from the shop or make it yourself with some bones from your Sunday roast.

But when talking to experts, it is all about the balance and nutrient rich foods that help us stay healthy for longer.

My grandmother looked years younger than she actually was. She cooked everything from scratch, went for at least one walk a day and had a great sense of humour. She had the mantra that a day when you don’t laugh or learn something new is a wasted day and I think that kept her young in body and mind until it was her time to go.

I think schools should pay more attention to what is served in their cafeterias and add the importance of a balanced diet to their curriculum.