Best foods to keep you healthy

The society we live in strive for efficiency by reducing the time it takes to prepare food for consumption and reduce cost associated with preparing that food for greater economic value.

A good example of this is the foods that are readily available when you enter the supermarket -biscuits, cakes and pastry goods. They are cheap to produce, they have a long shelf life and then of course they are quickly produced; as oppose to growing crops like fruits and vegetables.

Yellow yam is a popular carbohydrate which has many amazing benefits for the body. It is high in fibre and potassium, a good source of protein, high in Vitamin B1, B2 and B6 which are the vitamins responsible for us to extract energy from our foods. The sad reality is we are seeing this fantastic carb less and less on our dinner tables.

Living in Jamaica we are surrounded by the Caribbean Sea. This brings huge benefits to unlimited access to fresh sea food in every parish. Most fishes are high in protein and fatty acids. Proteins are great for our body to repair and recover. Fish is ideal because of the quick time it takes to digest in comparison to red meat which can take up to 12 hours for the nutrients to become available to our bodies.

Avocado is a fruit known in Jamaica as pear. It contains a lot of healthy fats which are great to look after the body's endocrine (hormonal system) which is great for managing weight. Most people claim that to lose weight, one should not eat fats, but in reality to lose weight comes with having healthy servings of good fat.

Let us stay away from process foods as much as we can and stick to earthly foods which are naturally produce by the earth. This will leave our bodies in a healthier condition with less risk of diseases.