Does the sight of a Brussels sprout make you go 'urrgh' or the whiff of a sardine turn your stomach? If so, you're not alone. It's not only children who turn up their noses at certain foods, adults aren't  averse to this kind of behaviour either.
 
Unfortunately, many of the foods we love to hate provide us with the greatest benefits and avoiding them could mean you’re missing out on vital nutrients. However, just because a food doesn’t appeal to you in one form, doesn’t mean you won’t like it cooked another way. And you never know, you may find your taste buds actually like something you once swore would never pass your lips again.

Fruit is nature’s bounty. Packed with vitamins, naturally sweet, high in fibre and low in calories and something I always advise my clients to include in their diet. While the benefits of fresh fruit are readily acknowledged, dried fruit isn’t always viewed in the same light. However, dried fruit possesses the same nutritional benefits as fresh fruit and is just as healthy. Furthermore, the World Nut and Dried Fruit Congress has called for the benefits of dried fruits to be recognised as equal to fresh fruit in worldwide dietary guidelines.

Eating a balanced diet isn’t easy and often involves a fair amount of careful planning if you want to ensure you’re meeting your nutritional needs.

Unfortunately, no one food is that complete. But there are some which contain a greater nutrient makeup which are able to satisfy our nutritional requirements. These foods have a superior ‘nutritional fitness’ rating.

By including some of these foods in our diet every day, we are better able to meet our nutrient intakes for good health.

You may have read some alarming news stories recently declaring that dairy alternatives such as soya and almond milk may be putting people's health at risk.

According to researchers at the University of Surrey(1), non-dairy milks don't contain nearly enough iodine. After testing 47 alternative milk drinks including hazelnut, coconut, oat, hemp, rice and soy milks, they found that on average they contained around 2 percent of the iodine found in dairy milk.