26 No-Nonsense Food Swaps for 2026

0:00Welcome to Catching Up With The Royals, a brand new show with me Richard Coles. And me, Emily Andrews. Every week we'll be going beyond the headlines, lifting the lid, and what life is really like behind the palace walls. Hello, sir. Good morning. I'm The Sun's new royal correspondent. Oh, he said, look at me up and down. Things are looking up. We'll be diving into the moments everyone's talking about. What does the world owe you if all of a sudden you've handed back your crown? Meghan and Harry can't keep hold of their staff. We'll reveal the secrets of an organisation usually shrouded in mystery and explore defining moments of royal history to see how the past still shapes the monarchy today.

0:38Now, you actually knew Princess Diana. I think one of the ways she acquired power was through that relationship with the president. But before that interview, no-one had really spoken and been so open. Was that a game-changer? So join us every week wherever you get your podcasts, on YouTube and on Saturdays on 5 as we catch up with the royals.

1:02Hello and welcome to this week's episode of the Unprocessed Truth. Today, to mark the special occasion of 2026, we are going to talk about the 26 essential supermarket swaps that are going to change your health this year. why well because listen i've made a ton of videos you guys have followed along the journey and i'm sure you've applied maybe two maybe three maybe four maybe ten of our swaps but now you can actually get it all in one place in this podcast to mark the special occasion of the good the bad and the healthy launching nationwide in all your favorite book retailers and that is now officially a Sunday Times best-selling book.

1:53People in the UK are starting to wake up to what real health looks like and my book is exactly the guide you need to make every choice better, easier and healthier in the supermarket. So listen up. We're going to start with bread. Simply put, have a pitta instead of a bagel. Bagels have been engineered to be ultra-processed with additives and gums and thickeners and added sugar, but pitas got left alone. They were just the traditional classic in the supermarket for 50p. Your bagel pack might be two pound, but your pizza's 50p. So it's maybe like four times cheaper. And at the same time, they just left the recipe alone.

2:35So there's no additives in there. There's no gums, there's no emulsifiers, there's no starches. So get on the pitta train, people. It's healthier for you and it's healthier for your wallet as well. Now, you've heard me talk about this one a thousand times over, possibly, but every time I still say it, people comment, oh, I didn't know, I hadn't tried. And so, sorry if I'm repeating it, but for those of you who haven't heard this before, you've got to swap your regular bread for sourdough. So sourdough and the fermentation process that makes sourdough helps break down the gluten and it helps partly digest the bread before you consume it.

3:16So there's even people out there that will say the whole gluten intolerance thing is not really a thing. It's just we started making bread in the wrong way. So you may be gluten intolerant or sensitive, but actually some people who are gluten sensitive can eat sourdough because of the way it's fermented. And it also is lower glycemic index compared to conventional bread. So it slows down that blood sugar release. Sourdough is an absolute champion and also contains about 40 % less sugar by 100 grams than most other breads as well. So it's amazing. Now, dairy, another obvious one, but an important one.

4:00We've been told for decades to drink low fat or consume low fat dairy. Now I'm saying drink full fat milk. When you skim the milk or you semi skim your milk, you are taking out nutrition. The nutrition and the nutrients in milk are stored in the fat. So we need whole milk because it's complete and it's nutritious. This is so fundamental because it's why we eat. we eat for nutrition we don't eat just because we're hungry it's our body's hunger signals telling us i need vitamin a d e k for my body to run proper processes and function immune function bone growth hormone health you name it requires nutrients so that's why always go for your full fat milk and in the yogurt aisle i still see so many people buying greek style now you've got to cut the normal yogurt and the Greek style for proper traditional Greek.

4:56And now look, I'm not saying Greek style or regular yogurt is bad. If you eat that as part of your diet or it's all you can afford, it's okay. It's not a bad product at all. The ones that are bad are the flavoured yogurt, so you want to go for plain always. But if you can afford to it, go for the Greek because the Greek is where you're going to get higher in protein, lower in sugar because of the way they strain the Greek yogurt naturally. So that stuff is the best always hands down. Now, when it comes to yogurt, I have started adding a couple of teaspoons of kefir yogurt to my Greek yogurt every day, because I'm adding in 14 strains of different bacteria, which are good for my gut.

5:42And so if you drink yogurt drinks, try and choose a kefir yogurt drink because they taste the same, but they have all those natural good probiotics in there which are really really really good for your gut to always choose kefir over yogurt drinks controversial one because we've been so ingrained into how good margarine is the healthy heart healthy choice for us but i'm saying have butter instead of margarine why because margarine is essentially an ultra processed product It contains ultra-processed oils, additives, emulsifiers, preservatives, some of them even contain colorings. And again, no nutrition in these ultra-processed food, yet there is nutrition and vitamins and minerals in dairy fat like butter.

6:32It's rich in vitamin A, D, E, and K2, and also contains butyrate, which is a short-chain fatty acid that supports gut health and reduces inflammation in the body. So this is a really, really good thing. Now, this is one that went mega viral, and I think it's still to this day our most popular viral video ever in at number seven. Buy supermarket-owned label cream cheese instead of the branded ones. I'm not going to mention any names, but you will know that the leading brands contain added gums, stabilizers and carrageenan, which can irritate digestion and cause inflammation. The supermarket own label ones, one ingredient, just milk.

7:18So it's fantastic, fantastic stuff. Really simple, really effective. Always choose free range eggs is the next one in at number eight. why because free-range eggs will have more nutrition in them than battery eggs now i say choose free-range i always choose free-range organic because again the further you go the better the quality of the egg organic free-range has more space for less chickens than free-range itself so again it's an upgrade the chicken spends more time outside eats a more natural diet and therefore has more nutrition in the egg so i always use free-range organic if you can't afford to please just choose free-range ditch the battery eggs you will get better nutrition because studies have even shown that you will get more vitamin d3 from your egg yolk almost four times higher from free-range chickens than battery chickens who don't spend any time outside so that is why it's so important to get free range and organic if you can.

8:24Now in at number nine, we have meat, mince meat. Let's get stuck into the meat because we know we love our meat, but buy higher fat versions. This is going to save your wallet and your health. Instead of the 5 % lean steak mince, go for the 20 % fat mince because that's where all the nutrition is, the vitamins, the nutrients are fat soluble and 20 % mince gets more of the gristle, the fragments, the tendons, ligaments, connective tissue, which are actually fantastic sources of collagen. And collagen is that fancy thing you're going to spend loads of money on a supplement for, but you can actually just get it in your mincemeat and it contains an amazing array of amino acids that support your skin, hair and nails.

9:11Number 10, choose the ribeye steak over fillet. It's a cheaper cut, saves your wallet and there's more fat so it's more nutrition. That simple. Then we go on to number 10, ditch the chicken breasts and by the thighs instead with the bone in. Now if you make a tray bake with chicken thighs bone in what's happening when you cook that chicken thigh with the bone a lot of the nutrition out of the bone is coming out and into your food it makes an incredible flavor but it's adding nutrition and bone in is always always cheaper it's always cheaper guys because the manufacturer has to do less sure you might have to do more but learn to love meat with bone in because you're going to get more nutrition.

10:00And again, you need that full part of the animal, which has skin, which has tendons, which has ligaments, because when you eat that, you're going to get a more broad nutrition profile. This week's episode of The Unprocessed Truth is sponsored and brought to you by Rodders. Why you should be drinking unhomogenized milk. Let me break it down. It's really simple. We know whole, unprocessed or minimally processed foods are the healthiest for us. Now, milk is the same. When we homogenize milk, we are adding a processing step, which changes the fat molecules and makes them smaller so they disperse through the milk evenly.

10:43But it has been shown to digest differently in our body. So some people find it better to drink unhomogenized. and I'm so happy Rodders have now launched unhomogenized milk, creamy top as it used to be, whole food milk without any extra processing, which is now in Tesco Nationwide. It's absolutely delicious. It gives you that creamy mouthfeel, that delicious, rich milk taste that you want from your whole milk. So go whole milk, go unhomogenized and drink Rodders. on to fish number 11 always choose wild when you can but another little hack for your wallet try and get frozen fish because if you're making it in the oven or you're making it in a stew or a dish that doesn't really need fresh fish just buy frozen because it's cheaper and a crazy fact is that most fresh inverted quote marks in the supermarket most fresh is actually previously frozen and then defrosted anyway so it's not really that much different now obviously it's a different thing if you want to go to your local fishmonger and pick up a fresh piece of fish that was caught that day and hasn't been frozen now sure that just pan seared with a load of butter and some herbs beautiful and then it's worth investing in fresh fish don't get me wrong Number 12, go for the whole fish if you can.

12:09Again, you're going to get more for your money and more nutrients. There is so much omega-3 healthy fats in the skin of fish, you don't want to be buying fillets without the skin because it's so much of the omega-3 nutrition is in the skin. So always buy skin on fish and eat it. Most people don't like it, but you need to learn to like it because it's where all the nutrition is. Let's get on to your favorite part, carb land, pasta and rice. Well, I always say opt for whole wheat pasta because you're going to increase your fiber content. It retains the bran and the germ and the wheat kernel, making it higher in those fiber and micronutrients compared to refined pasta.

12:52Now, it's not that pasta is a great source of nutrition, so it's not essential, but it can nudge you in the right direction and give you a nice fiber boost and a small nutrition boost as well and that extra fiber is going to slow digestion improve satiety and help you stabilize blood sugars so much better way to go on the pasta now on rice it's a question i get a lot asked a lot i always say just choose wild rice instead of white rice white rice is again a carbohydrate heavy quite low in nutrient and technically wild rice is actually not a rice so it's a grass but it has again that dark purpley color you get on wild rice is a signal that there's more antioxidants than white or brown rice in there it's higher in protein and fiber and it has fewer calories and carbs so wild rice is the way to go and i've even seen wild rice in asda so you can pick it up anywhere it's not some fancy thing you need to find in a health food shop it is something that's available out there a lot of health aficionados have always bought brown rice because they think it's going to be whole and it's going to be healthier with more fiber but some studies have suggested that there's potentially more arsenic in brown rice than there is white so you'll actually find a lot of health advocates suggest that if you're going to choose rice brown is potentially the worst because of the arsenic build-up then white is slightly better because that's reduced even though there's low nutrition in it and then the best is wild of course and always okay so on to 15 fruit and veg the og of healthy living and healthy food but here are some hacks to eat healthier fruit and veg because there's simple ways to improve the nutrition you're going to get from your fruit and veg one thing i like to do in winter is switch out how i eat my fruit and veg.

14:44You know me, I have my Greek yogurt, granola and berries as my staple breakfast every morning. But the secret to making it more nutritious in winter when berries are out of season is to buy frozen berries and put those on instead because those frozen berries are going to be picked and flash frozen at point of harvest. Essentially, you're going to lock in that nutrition at peak season and then consume it in the middle of winter. Now, if you've bought a berry that's been flown in from Peru it's going to lose a lot of nutrition on that journey and it might have been 10 days two weeks since it was picked and from the moment it's picked the nutrition degrades in fruits and vegetables so making sure you choose homegrown local and in-season fruits and vegetables is going to increase your vitamin and antioxidant content so another way to do it would be ditch the berries all together in winter and in autumn you've got apple and pear season so start putting apples and pears on your breakfast that'd be another way to go on to the next one number 17 when you choose fruits or vegetables there's a simple hack the darker the fruit or the vegetable the higher the polyphenol count even within apples a dark royal garlic apple will have more nutrients per gram than a Golden Delicious.

16:05Same thing can apply to number 18 and number 19 and number 20 of my tips because I'm going to rapid fire them to you. Choose romaine lettuce over iceberg because again more antioxidants and nutrients. Have a kiwi instead of a banana for more fiber and more nutrition and then opt for red onions and not white because again the darker the color the more polyphenols and quercetin which is a natural plant pigment essentially which has powerful anti-inflammatory effects so much much more healthier for you so that's got us all the way up to 20 oils cannot mention enough how important good fats are for you and i always say opt for extra virgin olive oil over sunflower oil now the debate rages on about seed oils and how bad they are and you know some people say they're fine and other people say they won't but if you stick to the principle you believe in the principle of we eat for nutrition which is what i believe then ultra processed seed oils are low in nutrition extra virgin olive oils are high in nutrition high in polyphenols and antioxidants that have been shown to lower inflammation and protect against heart disease so it is worth the investment in extra virgin olive oil regardless of what you think about seed oils or not.

17:3022. Snacks. Let's swap the chocolate hazelnut spreads for pure nut butters with cacao. Now this is a naughty one because we all like our chocolate but sometimes we need chocolate in our life. But Nutella we know is just absolute junk. It's about 56 % sugar and only 13 % nuts making it more like a chocolate bar than a breakfast choice. So look for the nut butters that are blended with cacao to deliver that same indulgent flavor but with far more protein fiber and healthy fats some of them contain only nine percent sugar compared to nutella's 56 a wild wild difference and a huge difference for your health now swap freshly baked cookies for digestives we all go to the bakery section and buy the big bag of cookies because we think oh they're a special treat they're fresh they'll be lovely but they're the worst in sugar content they can be up to 40 sugar or 27 grams per 66 gram cookie that is way too much sugar in just one hit about six teaspoons so going for your traditional shortbread or a digestive cuts that sugar content to about 17 or around 2.6 grams about half a teaspoon per shortbread or about 2.2 grams per digestive biscuit.

18:55Way, way lower, way, way lower. Have nuts instead of crisps is the next one. A standard bag of crisps contains about a tablespoon of oil. Eat a bag a day and that's about two liters of low quality vegetable oil a year. If you can make that transition, I know it'll be hard, but switching to nuts and seeds will be much healthier. Sure, they might be higher in calories, but you get the protein, the fiber, the nutrients and the good healthy fats that your body needs and it makes them more satiating. So it reduces the likelihood of overeating. Then the last two guys switch from milk chocolate to 70 % dark.

19:35You know how much this makes a difference because standard chocolate can be as much as 54 % sugar but just moving to 70 % dark chocolate will cut your sugar intake in half by taking it down to 29 grams. Now, the last one for the sweet tooths out there, you've got to try dark chocolate Maltesers instead of M &M's. We all love movie night. We all love getting your mates around, having a sharing bag of chocolate, tucking into a nice movie but M &M's are 66 % sugar. 66 % sugar. So it's a wild amount, a wild amount. So dark chocolate Maltesers, only 32 % sugar, a massive, massive, massive reduction.

20:27You can still enjoy yourself and enjoy moments of comfort and pleasure that will make you feel good, that will make you enjoy life. It's not about restriction, It's about smarter choices for your health. So that was 26 of my top health swaps for 2026. Thank you guys for listening. I really appreciate it. If you like this and you want more tips, please do go and check out the book, The Good, The Bad and The Healthy, which covers all of this. Every single category in the supermarket is broken down. So if you ever got a question about what you should be buying or you want to dial in your health in a particular area of the supermarket, that book has the answer for where you need to go and what you need to choose for a healthier life.

21:19Really that simple. You don't need to read the whole thing. Just pick and choose where you need to dial in your health and we'll have the swap for you in the book. So thank you for listening to The Unprocessed Truth. And as ever, please like, follow, share, comment and engage because the more you guys engage, the more we will be able to change the health of the UK one swap at a time. Thank you for listening.