Simple Swaps for better health

Processed food is easy and fast but it's often blended with extra, salt, and sugar. These ingredients make it taste great but too much can lead t health problems such as obesity, diabetes and tooth decay.

Here are some easy swaps that will improve your diet and general health. Make an effort at first to apply them and once they become a habit, you'll feel better for it.

Instead of chocolate chip cookies with your morning coffee, mash a banana into fresh yoghurt. The twist? Place in the freezer and stir with a fork when half frozen for a delicious treat.

You will be replacing sugar and fat with vitamins and fibre and cutting roughly three-quarters of the calories.

Replace fried noodles and fried rice with oats and fresh fruit for breakfast. You will be replacing fat and salt with healthy fibre and lots of vitamins.

Instead of drinking packaged iced tea that's loaded with sugar during lunch, go for fresh green tea that has none.

Alternatively, make your own iced tea so you can control the sugar. And don't use liquid sugar - it's too easy to overdo it.

For a simple treat, wash grapes, dry them, put them in a plastic bag and freeze them. Eat them instead of boiled or packaged sweets.

The fruit's just as sweet but contains less than a quarter of the calories and has vitamin C, too. For dinner, exchange white steamed rice with steamed brown rice.

The brown rice is unprocessed so it takes your body longer to digest, making you feel satisfied longer. And a bonus is that it has roughly half the calories.