My No Faff Guide To Healthy Eating
Below is my no-nonsense, straightforward guide on how to nourish your body, feel energised, reduce food cravings, and build a healthy relationship with food.
With so much nutrition information out there, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed by conflicting opinions and opposing dietary philosophies. Scrolling through social media, it’s tempting to buy into diet plans or get fixated on transformation stories. But the truth is, lasting change takes time. We need to educate ourselves on what our bodies truly need to be nourished and healthy, so we can stay consistent in the long run. Remember, it’s a journey—not an overnight quick fix.
Why It’s Important To Eat Well
We all know we should eat better, but what does that really mean? Food isn’t just calories—it’s information for our bodies. It impacts everything: our hormones (the body’s messaging system), immune function, gut health, gene expression (how our DNA instructions are turned into action), mood, brain function, energy levels, sleep, and even our relationships. How we feel day-to-day is incredibly important. When I haven’t had enough sleep, I feel like a shadow of myself—it affects my work, my relationships, and most importantly, my self-talk. The energy you put out into the world comes back to you—sometimes like a big warm hug, sometimes like a slap in the face. The food we eat every day plays a huge role in how we feel and how we interact with others. If you want to make a positive change in any area of your life, start with your plate.
Eat to nourish your body, not to avoid calories.
Here’s a scenario I often see: you fast for 16 hours because your friend dropped 6kg in 10 days using time-restricted eating. You break your fast at noon with a salad and some protein, but by mid-afternoon, your body is craving nutrients, so you have a tub of flavored yogurt, a latte, and some dried fruit. By dinner, you’re starving and make the stir-fry you had planned, but also end up eating the kids’ leftover fish and chips. You feel guilty about eating processed food and reach for a few pieces of dark chocolate to make yourself feel better—but it doesn’t. That leads to a few spoonfuls of ice cream, which turns into eating a third of the tub, leaving you feeling even lower. The negative self-talk kicks in, and before long, your subconscious has convinced you that you’re someone who can’t stick to a healthy diet or control your nutrition and well-being.
This vicious cycle is why it’s so important to focus on nourishing your body, not depriving it. Building a healthy relationship with food takes time, but it’s the foundation for everything else
Why Is It So Confusing?
Science is amazing, but unfortunately, nutrition science is sometimes manipulated to benefit whichever industry is funding the research. Food policies are, in part, controlled by these same industries. Processed food is scientifically engineered to make us crave more of it, and marketing strategies are designed to find clever, innovative ways to sell as much as possible.
When I was working in advertising, I remember cutting my vacation short for an important meeting with a major player in the ultra-processed food industry. They wanted us to pitch their new campaign. During the meeting, the Marketing Director stood up and gave a passionate speech—not about gaining more market share, because they were already the leader—but about getting people to eat more. He was driven, emotional, and focused, especially when it came to reaching children. All I could think was how much better that energy could be spent on tackling childhood obesity or helping families improve their children’s behavior through diet. But that wasn’t the goal—their mission was to push more sugar, salt, and preservatives. I left the meeting feeling numb. Fortunately, we declined the offer to work on the campaign, but it doesn’t change the fact that ultra-processed food marketing is a powerful force, one that shapes our eating habits and influences our choices, often at the expense of our health.
Another reason why eating healthy can be confusing is that the ‘healthy’ food pyramid we once relied on is no longer the authority on nutrition we thought it was. I remember my Grandma questioning it when I was a teenager. She used to eat lard, fresh eggs, and vegetables from her garden daily, with fruit only on special occasions. She compared this to the low-fat, high-carb diet recommended in the 80s and 90s—and to some extent, still promoted today. Interestingly, her body shape changed from a lean, long ‘green bean’ to a more pear-shaped figure once her diet shifted to include the recommended ‘5-8 servings of breads and grains’ daily.
There’s a long and intriguing history behind American dietary recommendations. If you’re interested in delving deeper, I recommend reading Death by Food Pyramid: How Shoddy Science, Sketchy Politics and Shady Special Interests Have Ruined Our Health
The Principles Of Healthy Eating – How And What To Eat.
Below is my no-nonsense guide on how to nourish your body, feel energized, reduce food cravings, and build a healthy relationship with food, especially as we get older. This guide provides general principles only, recognising that everyone’s needs are different and our bodies require various nutrients at different stages of life. These guidelines are designed to help you choose foods that create a positive psychological response and set you on the path to feeling like the best, healthiest, and strongest version of yourself.
- Each meal meal should contain good fats, protein and fibre.
- Make vegetables the hero
- Take. Your. Time. Start your meal with a simple ritual like moving your phone away from you and taking 2 deep breaths in and out to ground yourself and connect with the present moment.
Hydration
Start your day with a big glass of warm water, even better if you add freshly squeezed lemon and a pinch of sea salt, but plain warm water is just fine. This one is such an easy win, and we all need to start our day with easy wins.
Drink lots of water during the day but also pay attention to how you feel; as important as it is to hydrate, you can also drink too much water and dilute the amount of salt and electrolytes in your body. So just keep an eye on it and drink until you feel hydrated. Herbal tea counts, just not drinks like coffee or caffeinated tea.
Sugar
The tricky thing about it is it’s really easy to eat too much of it. When we eat sugar our glucose levels go up. Excess glucose becomes toxic in our bodies so insulin levels increase to move the glucose from the blood system and into our cells. When our bodies are not functioning optimally, or when we have too much glucose circulating in our blood system, our cells become resistant to insulin, which makes the pancreas secrete more insulin to drive the glucose into the cells, and ultimately deposits this excess energy into fat cells. Most of the time when we are reaching for sugary foods it’s not because we are hungry, but often has more to do with how we are feeling.
The other tricky thing about sugar is it’s hiding everywhere – even in “healthy” foods like flavoured waters, flavoured yoghurts, sweetened milk alternatives (almond milk, oat milk), spreads, bottled sauces (eg: stir-fry sauce, pasta sauce), cereals, muesli bars, smoothies. So it’s pretty easy to get more of it in your diet than you need.
Ultra-Processed Foods
Ultra-processed foods are industrially manufactured products made from ingredients not typically used in home cooking, like preservatives, artificial flavours, sweeteners, and emulsifiers. These foods often have little to no whole food content and include items like sugary snacks, soft drinks, instant noodles, and packaged frozen meals. They’re designed to be convenient, hyper-palatable, and have a long shelf life, but they’re often low in nutrients and linked to various health issues.
Around 73% of the food supply in grocery stores is ultra-processed (1). This means that when you walk into a grocery store, only less than 30% of the products on the shelves are made from whole or minimally processed ingredients. The majority of what’s available is filled with additives, preservatives, and artificial ingredients designed to enhance taste, extend shelf life, and keep you coming back for more. This imbalance makes it challenging to make healthy choices, as the most accessible and prominently marketed foods are often the least nutritious. To nourish your body, you need to actively seek out that smaller portion of whole, nutrient-dense foods that are often hidden amongst the overwhelming array of ultra-processed options.
Field to Fork
Focus on eating as close to nature as possible. When in doubt, consider how many steps are needed to get food from the field to your fork. Take olive oil, for example—the process to extract it is simple, just pressing the olives. Now compare that to refined oils like canola, cottonseed, or sunflower. These seeds don’t easily give up their oils, so extraction often involves chemical solvents, followed by refining, purifying, and sometimes chemical alteration.
For breakfast, opt for whole foods like eggs, fresh spinach, and avocado instead of processed cereal and sugary yogurt from a tub. If you’re on the go, choose a piece of fruit over a health bar that’s potentially loaded with hidden ingredients. Craving something to munch on? Grab linseed (flax) crackers with a short, simple ingredient list instead of ultra-processed crackers. In general, the more a product’s marketing tries to convince you it’s healthy, the more likely it’s not.
You want to eat as close to nature as possible. If you are in doubt, think about how many steps are needed to get food from the field, to your fork.
Plant Rich Diet – Eat Your Vegetables
It doesn’t matter if you’re an omnivore, vegetarian, or vegan—you need to eat a predominantly plant-based diet. That might sound like conflicting advice (because meat obviously isn’t a plant), but no matter how you get your protein, plants should always take priority. Aim for 5-10 cups of veggies daily. Yep, that many! Focus on non-starchy vegetables like spinach, kale, broccoli, silver beet, bok choy, leeks, asparagus, celery, rocket, sprouts, and capsicums. Veggies are packed with essential nutrients and fiber, which not only keep us full but also help detoxify the body and support regular digestion.
Fruit is amazing too. It provides a natural source of energy, fibre, vitamins, and antioxidants that support overall health. Fruits like berries, apples, and citrus are especially high in vitamins like C and A, which boost immunity and help fight inflammation. Incorporating a variety of colourful fruits into your diet ensures you’re getting a wide range of nutrients that promote heart health, digestion, and skin vitality. Aim for 1-2 pieces of fruit daily.
Fats
Eat moderate amounts of good fats. This might still be confronting for those of us who grew up in the 80s and 90s during the low-fat craze. I deprived my body of fats for most of my ballet career because I believed a low-fat diet was the key to optimum health and energy. But when I finally increased my intake of good fats, I noticed an immediate difference—I felt more satisfied after meals and no longer needed to snack every couple of hours. This constant snacking is typical on a high-carb, low-fat diet because it causes frequent insulin spikes.
New research shows that dietary cholesterol doesn’t directly make you fat, and cholesterol only becomes problematic when it’s damaged by oxidation, a process driven by inflammation in the body. Healthy fats, like those found in olive oil, avocado, salmon, seeds, coconut products, and ghee, are essential for our bodies to thrive. They help keep us full, support brain function, reduce inflammation, and are critical for hormone balance.
Once I did increase my good fats, I instantly noticed how satisfied I felt after meals and no longer needing to snack every couple of hours
Dairy
Avoid dairy if you can’t tolerate it. If you do consume dairy, choose full-fat, organic products rather than low-fat options.
Goat and sheep dairy products are often better choices because they contain only A2 protein, which is easier for many people to digest.
Signs that your body may struggle with dairy include IBS, skin issues, puffiness, inflammation, or strong cravings for dairy. If you experience these symptoms, try eliminating dairy for a period of time and monitor any changes in your health and symptoms.
While dairy is a good source of calcium, there are also non-dairy options rich in this mineral. Here’s a list of foods that provide calcium, including both dairy and non-dairy options
Carbohydrates
Everyone needs different amounts of carbohydrates, and these needs can change over time based on factors such as energy output, stress levels, age, disease, pregnancy, and breastfeeding. Carbohydrates are essentially sugar molecules that our bodies break down into energy. They fall into three main categories: sugars, starches, and dietary fiber.
However, not all carbohydrates are created equal. A sweet potato is a carbohydrate, but so is a donut!
Focus on complex carbohydrates—such as fruits, starchy vegetables, brown rice, oats, quinoa, and lentils.
It’s easy to consume more carbohydrates than our bodies actually need, and it’s not entirely our fault. The standard “healthy” food pyramid promotes consuming 5 or more servings of bread, baked goods, cereals, pasta, and fruit juice daily. When we eat carbohydrates, our body releases insulin to regulate blood sugar levels. However, excessive carbohydrate intake can lead to insulin resistance, which over time can result in pre-diabetes, type 2 diabetes, food cravings, emotional eating, weight gain, mood swings, and a general feeling of losing control over your diet.
As a guide, aim for a few servings of complex carbohydrates each day and pay attention to your energy levels, digestion, sleep, and overall well-being to determine what your body needs. Personally, I find that if I haven’t eaten enough during the day, I crave sugary snacks by the afternoon. Conversely, if I consume too many carbs, I feel heavy, sluggish, and moody.
Be cautious with items like rice flour; although it’s wheat and gluten-free, it’s still processed and high-GI, which can spike insulin levels.
As a general rule, women often need slightly more carbohydrates than men.
Protein
Eating adequate protein is essential for maintaining muscle mass, preventing muscle atrophy, and supporting overall health. Protein is the building block of our muscles, tissues, and cells, playing a critical role in repairing and regenerating them. As we age, muscle loss can naturally occur, but consuming enough protein helps preserve muscle strength and function. It also supports healthy cell turnover, immune function, and hormone production. Prioritising protein from sources like lean meats, fish, eggs, dairy, legumes, and plant-based options is really important in maintaining your body’s strength, vitality, and long-term health.
When it comes to fish and seafood, prioritise fresh, sustainable options whenever possible.
But what if you can’t always afford or access free-range, grass-fed, organic, or line-caught protein? The best advice here is to relax and be realistic. If your budget doesn’t allow for these options right now, consider a more plant-based diet and occasionally splurge on high-quality grass-fed beef or line-caught fish when you can. Beans and lentils are fantastic if you can digest them. They’re an excellent source of both protein and fiber, as well as being budget-friendly and easy to prepare. However, for some people, they can cause digestive discomfort, so it’s important to test how you feel after eating them.
Gluten
Gluten is found in many products and can be difficult for some people to digest. If you suspect that gluten might be causing issues for you, try cutting it out for a few weeks and observe how you feel. Be sure to research where gluten hides—it’s not just in bread and pasta but also in oats, spelt, processed foods, soy sauce, deli meats, some supplements and medications, store-bought soup bases, and even beer. If you notice improvements like reduced IBS symptoms, better energy, improved sleep, clearer skin, fewer mood swings, or reduced headaches, it might be worth getting tested for gluten intolerance or simply continuing to avoid it for a while.
However, a word of caution: if you have no trouble digesting gluten, there’s no need to adopt a gluten-free diet just because it sounds healthier. Gluten-free products can be more expensive, and cutting gluten unnecessarily may even increase your sensitivity to it over time. Bloating alone doesn’t mean you need to avoid gluten
Organic vs Non Organic
Buy organic when your budget allows, it’s as simple as that. If you can only afford to buy some organic foods then put that money towards produce on the Environmental Working Group’s Dirty Dozen (the products with the most pesticide residue), and buy non-organic produce from the Clean 15 list
Buy Local
Buying from local suppliers and farmers markets is such a winner – it feels great to be putting back into the community; is a great way to connect with your local farmers; you will be buying in season; is often more affordable and the produce should be organic and non-GMO. If you are in the fortunate position to grow your own fruit and veggies – even better!
And, if you don’t have a backyard but there are a bunch of clever solutions now-days for growing your own vegetables in your apartment.
Intermittent Fasting
This is another one that has slightly blurry lines. If you don’t feel like it will be detrimental to your relationship with food, and you want to give it a go, just make sure you do it intentionally. Don’t just skip breakfast and then eat whatever, whenever later in the day. Make sure your first meal of the day is full of protein, good fats and fibre. Don’t do it everyday – pick a couple of days a week to fast, and most importantly see how you feel – fasting can raise your cortisol levels so if you find you are getting even more stressed and waking in the wee hours of the morning and not able to get back to sleep, consider stopping it for awhile or only doing it occasionally.
As a very general statement, men tend to manage a bit better, and get better results with IF than women do.
Stimulants – Tea, Coffee, Alcohol
If you love a good cup of coffee or English Breakfast tea then go for it and enjoy it, but limit yourself to 2 cups a day and make sure you don’t have any after lunch. I’m not saying this to be mean, it is simply because any stimulants after lunch have the potential to affect your sleep.
Alcohol I think is a funny one – I love a good night with mates chatting over a bottle of red, but I know I will feel absolutely rubbish the next day. If you enjoy alcohol then include it but, if you are having trouble sleeping, are in a particularly stressful time of your life, if you are trying to lose weight, generally get your health in a better state, reduce ISB symptoms or are having issues with anxiety, then consider doing a period of time off alcohol and just assess how you feel. When (if?) you re-introduce it, treat it with the respect it needs.
I’m not even going to include cigarettes in this list of stimulants because if you still smoke someone needs to let you know it isn’t the 80’s,- that shit just ain’t cool anymore. Stop reading this and go and sort out your nicotine addiction first.
What It Looks Like On A Plate
Right, are you still confused about what to eat? Let’s take a look at what a healthy day looks like.
For each meal try to set up your plate (bowl / glass) so it is majority non starchy veg, add some protein, healthy fats and the best carbohydrates you can.
Breakfast
Green Smoothie
1/2 – 1 cup of spinach or kale, add some cucumber as well if you have it
1/4 avocado
1 cup unsweetened almond milk
1/2 banana (or more depending on your current carbohydrate needs)
1 tbs chia seeds / protein powder / LSA
Optional: raw cacao powder, vegan protein powder (like pea powder for example) – but be careful here as some can irritate already inflamed digestive systems, tbs of almond butter or tahini, cinnamon, tbs of coconut oil
or
Green veggies sautéed in ghee and coconut oil with eggs, topped with avocado, nutritional yeast and chia seeds
Herbal tea / green tea / white tea
Lunch
Big ‘everything’ salad – rocket, iceberg, grated carrot, grated beetroot, spring onions, celery, sliced apple, avocado.
Protein options – tinned tuna / grilled chicken / sliced grass-fed beef / grilled halloumi / flaked baked salmon
Toppings:linseeds (flaxseeds), feta, olives, kimchi, walnuts, sunflower seeds
Dressing: lemon and extra virgin olive oil / balsamic vinegar and extra virgin olive oil
or
Roast Veggie Salad – prepare a big pile of roasties – parsnip, carrots, sweet potato, swede, garlic, cauliflower. Add to a base of mixed greens, top with chickpeas, pumpkin seeds and pine-nuts, dress with extra virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar
Dinner
Grilled salmon with broccoli, sautéed leeks in ghee and sweet potato mash
or
Lamb with asparagus, roast carrots and sautéed kale in coconut oil
or
Eggs with spinach, tomato, silverbeet and brown lentils cooked in coconut oil and ghee
or
Easy Green Curry – add a pile of frozen green veggies to a steaming pot – kale, spinach, broccoli, pean, broad-beans. Fry an onion in ghee, turmeric and cumin, add then add the steamed green veggies. Add coconut milk, salt and pepper and a sprinkle of desiccated coconut. Top with slivered almonds.
Snacks
Use snacks if you need – each meal should keep you full for 4-6 hours, but if you need to snack go for things like:
- Handful of walnuts / brazil nuts / almonds
- Olives
- Kimchi
- Caveman balls
- Fruit
- Veggie sticks and hummus
- Spoonful of almond butter
- Smashed avocado with chilli flakes, sea salt and lemon
- Dark chocolate (aim for 85%)
- Herbal teas
Tracking Progress
There are two ways to go about tracking your progress. I suggest weighing yourself and taking a few key measurements (waist, hips, top of arm, top of leg) when you kick off your healthy eating but from here I have found that different approaches work better for different people.
One theory suggests that what you measure improves, so the idea here is to equip yourself with a bunch of tools and apps to track your progress at regular intervals. For example – food diary, daily steps tracker, weekly weight and measurements, sleep trackers, testing fasting glucose levels daily. I find this approach works best for more analytical folk who get a bit of a buzz out of the data and being able to check all the stats.
For others this approach feels restrictive and annoying and for them I recommend recording your starting stats so you know where you came from – so that might just be weight, measurement of a few key areas of your body, and a photo if you want, but then forgetting it. You will know when you are sleeping better, moving easier and your clothes start to feel looser so don’t worry about missing the fact that you are getting healthy!
Both philosophies work, but it is about working out what will work best for you.
Accountability
Find a way to make yourself accountable. Find a buddy to help keep you on track, or a health coach or even just by posting on social media (but don’t be a knob – if you are bragging you will sound like a bit of a tool).
This might sound like the last point on a long list and you can just gloss over it, but this one is really important. It will get tough, you will want to just eat grubby food because, well, we all human, so having someone there to say “mate, you’re OK, wipe that bit of chocolate sauce off your chin and get back on the plan”, will make life a lot more fun.
…having someone there to say ‘mate, you’re OK, wipe that bit of chocolate sauce off your chin and get back on the plan’, will make life a lot more fun.
So, To Wrap Up
The very best thing you can do for yourself when it comes to making positive changes with your diet is to be the observer; how does the food make you feel, when do you feel like you need that piece of chocolate (/tub of ice cream) – what happened just prior (did you read a stressful email or have a blue with your partner?), how do you feel after you eat dairy / gluten / pizza? Be aware of the physical feelings (bloating, energy levels, headaches) your mood (irritable, happy, lonely) but also be aware of the emotional side of things – the ups and downs and especially the internal negative self talk.
It’s about building a better relationship with food and giving it the respect it needs.
And lastly, do I follow this to the tee everyday day?
Nooooooooo….
And that’s ok.
But I do try to follow these principles as much as I can and for me, that means my body is healthy and resilient enough to deal with the occasional blow outs because, well, they are fun, and it’s super important to feel great from eating well, but its also equally important to connect with people we love over a big meal and a glass of red, laugh – especially at ourselves, move, dance, experience amazing things, travel and yep, dare I say it…even party; and if we are too focused on our macros and green juices and getting in that 3rd portion of kale for the day then life will get out of balance and we miss the whole darn point of what it means to be healthy.
Now go and conquer your health – today is the day. Right now. Yes it’s hard to make a positive change, but its also uplifting, inspiring and friggen awesome.
You’ve got this.
Wanting to dive even deeper – here is some further reading I recommend:
Food: What The Heck Should I Eat
The Hormone Cure
How To Be Well
…if we are too focused on our macros and green juices and getting in that 3rd portion of kale for the day then life will get out of balance and we miss the whole darn point of what it means to be healthy.
Ready to make positive changes with your diet and lifestyle but need guidance, accountability and a step by step plan to get you there? Check out my coaching page for how we can work together.
