Introducing “Nutrition Coach Recommends” in our Summer Menu
As many of you will know we have a Nutrition coach based here at the Club who offers support and healthy eating courses to members. We firmly believe that for overall wellbeing we must link good nutrition with regular exercise. Our Club Lounge menu has always been focused on dishes that are lovingly prepared using primarily fresh ingredients. However, as part of our new Summer Menu refresh, we wanted to help members to identify dishes that are particularly beneficial to good nutrition.
As such, our nutrition coach has worked with our Head Chef to add and identify a few dishes that she recommends – dishes that are delicious and nutritious and contain all of the following:
- Lean Protein
- Smart Carbs
- Healthy Fat
- Vegetables
Dishes that contain all these elements are labelled on the new summer menu “Nutrition Coach Recommends” denoted by four “sparkles”.
Lean Protein
Protein helps build and repair almost every tissue in our bodies — including our muscles and bones. Even if you don’t want to build more muscle, you want to look after the ones you’ve got for as long as you can. Protein helps synthesize important hormones, including hormones that make us happy and relaxed. Protein supports our immune system, boosts our metabolism; it helps us lose fat and stay lean for life.
And most importantly for people who want to lose weight, protein helps us feel fuller for longer.
Smart Carbs
Many people avoid carbohydrates these days, thinking that carbs make them fat. In fact, we want better carbs (aka “Smart” Carbs) NOT fewer carbs.
“Smart carbs” are health-promoting, slow-digesting and nutrient-rich. They are higher in fibre (so they digest relatively slowly, giving you long-lasting slow-burn energy); full of vitamins, minerals and other phytonutrients; friendly to your blood sugar, hormones, and digestion. They are versatile, whole, relatively minimally processed foods; and delicious!
Smart carbs add value to your body, making you healthier and helping you to look, feel and perform better.
Healthy Fat
People used to think dietary fat made you fat, slow, and more susceptible to a heart attack. But that’s not true, especially if you focus on the right kind of fats – healthy fats!
Healthy fats tend to be naturally occurring (such as the fat in olives, nuts and seeds) and are relatively minimally processed (either they are whole foods, or they’ve been simply pressed or ground)
Healthy fats keep your hormones healthy, your brain happy and smart, your fatty tissues (such as your eyes and skin) well-lubed, and your body chemistry working as it should.
When you eat healthy fats, you feel good, perform well, and recover easily. Plus they make food taste really good!
Vegetables
Vegetables are the foundation of every high-quality, health-promoting diet! They contain essential vitamins and minerals along with phytochemicals (plant chemicals) and antioxidants. They help boost our immunity, lower inflammation, improve overall recovery and performance.
Vegetables have a lot of nutrients and a lot of volume (from fibre and water), but they don’t have a lot of calories. When you eat more vegetables, you can eat more food, with more valuable nutrients. You feel fuller and healthier, more vibrant and energetic.
The dishes on the new Summer Menu that met the criteria and are “Nutrition Coach Recommended” are:
For further details on each, you can click on the link on their name.
This does not mean that the other items on the menu are not healthy! Many of them contain two or three of the four elements, and all are still using primarily fresh ingredients. You could also add a side of vegetables to many of these other menu dishes which would make them that little bit better, another principle from our nutrition coach when mindfully making food choices: what does one step better look like…..?
The article What Should I Eat?! on our nutrition info hub may also be of interest. It has an easy-to-use visual guide that suggests how to make healthier nutrition choices, with lots of examples to help you to choose better foods for your body….. not forgetting your taste buds!
And if you’d like to discuss your eating habits or anything else nutrition based, please do book a free 20-minute consultation with our nutrition coach by emailing [email protected]. This service is available to all members and takes place here at the Club.
Lastly please do let us know what you think of the new dishes on the same email address. We hope you enjoy them!
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