This month we’ve teamed up with chef, writer, broadcaster and organic super fan Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, his new book Eat Better Forever aims to get the nation healthy and we’re giving away 20 copies for you to win on our Dairy Go Round! Click here to play

Hugh has certainly been finding the positives of lockdown and in writing his innovative new book, he extracts all the knowledge, advice and healthy habits he’s picked up over the past few years; as well as cutting-edge research into the obesity crisis, to produce seven simple strategies that will transform your diet and your health.

Here’s an extract from one of his seven tips ‘Go Varied.’ Hugh believes no way of eating can be called healthy if it isn’t varied. We’re all about bio-diversity at Yeo Valley, in all sorts of ways from our pastures, to our crops, to the insects and wildlife organic farming supports and the same is true of our own personal eco-systems. Diversity is key to good health, here’s some tips to get you started…

LESS WASTE, MORE VARIETY

It might sound counter-intuitive to say that making sure you use the very last scrap of an ingredient can lead to more varied eating, rather than less. But it’s true. My long- running love-affair with leftovers (so often the basis of the finest meals!) has convinced me that meeting the challenge of not wasting a single morsel is a sure-fire way to foster creativity and diversity.

Whether it’s a lunchtime fridge-forage or a weekend what-the-hell-am-I-going-to-do- with-this? moment, using stuff up has led me to try more new combinations and test more new techniques than following conventional recipes ever could. I habitually, deliberately, cook too much of stuff. I’d rather cook the whole cauli, or half a bag of lentils, rather than ‘just enough for supper’, knowing that the leftovers will be lunchbox gold, or a handy addition to a sustaining soup or salad.

1 Eat lots of different things…

View every meal as a fantastic opportunity to enjoy a variety of delicious whole foods. Good, unprocessed ingredients are the key to better eating, and the benefit you get from them will be massively enhanced if you include as many different ones as you can. This is how you guarantee that your body gets everything it needs.

2 …in lots of different ways

Even trying different ways of preparing a single ingredient – carrots, for instance, or onions – opens up a range of nutritional benefits. And, of course, different cooking methods, different flavours and seasonings, and different recipes all add to the deliciousness and vibrancy of a diet based on whole foods.

3 Embrace the new…

Unless your diet is already richly varied, then increasing the diversity of what you eat means trying new things – probably new vegetables and fruits, new spices and herbs, and perhaps dried or tinned pulses. It’s also likely to involve trying new recipes, and different styles of cooking. So, be prepared to step outside your comfort zone. Try not to reject new things until you’ve tried them a few times, and in a few different ways. You owe it to yourself! You don’t have to completely overhaul your diet overnight.

But you do have to be ready for change.

4 … and go with the flow!

Eat with the seasons, eat what’s local, eat what’s fresh and good today – and waste none of it. These sound principles are the basis of all sustainable cooking, but they are also at the root of healthy, varied cooking. Allow them to gently guide you into trying new things. Then you will feel good about yourself, even as you feel good in yourself.

There is more great advice and inspiration in ‘Eat Better Forever‘. To be in the chance to win a copy and a case of River Cottage Kombucha and some specially selected seeds by Hugh to get you and your loved ones growing something new this year visit our Dairy Go Round