Red meat can be higher in saturated fat, however lean cuts of lamb and beef are now widely available and many of these rival the low fat levels found in chicken. Moreover while chicken is low-ish in fat and contains a good amount of protein, it doesn't have a lot else going for it. In contrast red meat, as well as being full of protein is also high in the important minerals iron and zinc.

Rather than relying on chicken, it's better to eat a combination of protein sources. Include some lean red meat and fish, but also keep in mind the non-meat proteins. Vary your foods by also including eggs, nuts, leg umes, dairy  and soy foods.

 

 

 

No matter where you're staying it's often possible to do some kind of self-catering and the more you organise your own food, the more healthy it's likely to be.

 

 

 

While it might be possible to pick healthy options at meals, sometimes it's the in-between snack options which ruin the balance, so try to take some good snacks with you.

 

 

 

Starting the morning with a good breakfast will set you up for the rest of the day. Just because you're travelling doesn't mean you have to pig out on a big fry-up every day, or skip breakfast.

 

Whereas with tahini you get all the goodness of the sesame seeds without the teeth-grinding.

 

 

Tahini is available from most supermarkets, as well as health food shops and Middle Eastern grocers. It comes in two forms – hulled and unhulled. The hull is a fibrous coating around the outside of the seed. Most of the tahini you buy is made from seeds which have had this outer layer removed and this is called hulled tahini.

Some health food shops also stock unhulled tahini, which includes this outer fibrous layer. Unhulled tahini is darker and has a more intense flavour; hulled tahini is much lighter in colour and taste. 

Sesame seed hulls contain extra minerals, particularly calcium, magnesium and zinc. While the hulled stuff doesn't contain as many of these nutrients there is a question mark over how much of the calcium and iron in the hull can be effectively absorbed by the body.

Different tahini brands vary considerably in taste, with some being creamy, some more bitter and some having a mild flavour. Different countries produce different styles of tahini. If you’re new to tahini, try a few brands to find the one you like most.

It’s common for there to be a layer of oil at the top of the tahini jar. There’s nothing wrong with this, it’s just the sesame oil which has separated out from the more fibrous solids. I place the jar upside down to encourage the oil to absorb back into the paste. You can then give the whole thing a good stir before using.

 

Eating raw vegetables is certainly very good for you. Water soluble vitamins like C and many of the Bs start to degrade when heated, so raw vegetables will naturally contain more of these nutrients.

However, that's not the whole story, because other nutrients become more available to us when vegetables are cooked. Cooking actually helps our bodies absorb these nutrients. This is true of many of the carotenoid antioxidants, like lycopene, found in tomatoes.  Raw tomatoes are high in vitamin C and while they contain lycopene, the antioxidant is bound up with fibre cells and locked away from us – we simply can't access a lot of it. However, once tomatoes are cooked, while the vitamin C is mostly destroyed, the lycopenebecomes up to four times more absorbable.

Moreoever some raw vegetables naturally contain a group of compounds, called anti-nutrients, which inhibit the absorption of key nutrients. Cooking breaks down these anti-nutrients. 

The best advice is to focus on eating variety. Choose a range of different vegetables and eat these in different ways. Have some vegies raw, but eat others cooked. In that way you'll ensure the best nutrition possible.