24 March 2021
Fasting is not a new concept and has been around for thousands of years but what exactly is Intermittent Fasting? Fasting involves alternating food absence with periods of normal food consumption. We break a ‘fast’ every day when we first eat – breakfast even if not at breakfast time. In the ‘diet trend’ sense, intermittent…
03 March 2021
It’s the world’s most popular stimulant and a friend to many of us but what’s the truth about caffeine and how it benefits us? Can you imagine mornings without it? How much caffeine should we have? Caffeine is a bit of a fickle friend – routine users of caffeine won’t get the same euphoric effects…
08 February 2021
Headlines about salt never seem as prevalent as those bashing either fat or sugar, and yet dietary wise, salt is the biggest threat to our health. If salt intake fell by a third, it would prevent 8000 premature deaths in the UK and could save the NHS over £500 million annually. What is it about…
02 February 2021
Veganuary recruited a record number of signups this year (around 500,000). It continues to trend but against popular belief, not all vegan diets are healthy. Let’s pull back that ‘health halo’ and have a poke around, with a particular focus on the vegan processed food market. This product research and evidence has been compiled by…
21 October 2020
Do you live in assumption-ville? Last time I chatted about how the brain likes to automate things. Not because it likes to let us down, but because it has to automate stuff to allow our deliberate system to focus on what really matters that day. Can you imagine if we deliberated over what to have…
09 October 2020
Our brain is the most metabolically active tissue in our body. To state the obvious, it’s quite clever but even the brain has limitations and short-cuts it puts in place to help us navigate information overload. The part of the brain that makes us human, often referred to as the pre-frontal cortex is responsible for…
21 September 2020
The scales supposedly track our progress towards a goal or serve as a reminder to keep things in check. And now, with the development of wearable devices, we have countless ways in which we can track ourselves – 24 hours a day. On the surface, all this tracking is supposed to act as a motivator…
28 July 2020
In the past, I’ve delivered weight management services which had weight loss at the heart. I’ve worked alongside other healthcare professionals in specialist NHS services, to support people on a journey to better health through weight loss. It has never been simply about offering dietary advice; we have to look at the interplay between the…
18 May 2020
Mental Health Awareness Week is flying the flag for kindness this week. So, it’s the perfect time to think about how we’re interpreting this for ourselves, particularly when it comes to our quest to lose weight or change our body shape. Dieting often takes us on a merry-go-round of emotions, initially euphoria when our efforts…
28 April 2020
How much protein do I need in lockdown? I thought it was time to delve into the protein macro again, particularly as our habitual exercise patterns have shifted somewhat. We may be exercising more, or less than usual or altering the type of exercise we’re doing. Lockdown might also have influenced out dietary choices too…
02 April 2020
With all this home living, we may be spending more time in the kitchen and perhaps feeling inspired to bake whether that be for child entertainment or taste bud titillation. For some of us we may break up the snacking frenzy with a bit of work, or to craft an elephant out of a milk…
27 March 2020
We enjoyed making these today – I like this recipe because it’s super simple and uses cup measures which avoids having to weigh things, which involves me being more hands on and I couldn’t be today because I’m not an octopus. They’re also packed full of fibre – don’t make me work out how much,…
17 March 2020
The latest government advice will see more of us working from home than ever before. For those of us not used to it, the lack of familiar routine can throw our usual habits out of the window. What and when we choose to eat for example, are likely to shift in the coming weeks, whether…
12 March 2020
This week is Salt Awareness Week, with a focus on hidden salt in our foods. Perhaps we’ve been looking the other way watching fat and carbs battle it out and we’ve forgotten about salt – yet another risk factor for us to be wary of, will we ever get a break? Salt is worth a…
21 February 2020
Following on from my cereal bars for busy people recommendations, here is the low down for those who need to be mindful of carbohydrate intake whilst also ensuring their snacks can be nourishing and help them top up on protein, fibre and other vitamins and minerals. They’re also allowed to be busy, but carbs and…
13 February 2020
Should we all be following strict rules around fasting? The potential benefits of fasting for the body have been talked about for a long time, but the idea that restricting your eating to a certain time window is good for health, seems to be building momentum so what does the science say? Fasting allows the…
09 February 2020
For busy working professionals, snacking provides an ideal opportunity to fuel the day between meals or when the next meal amidst the chaos is a long way off. Too often though, we snack on the wrong thing and lurch from one sugar low to another. Many snacks claim to give us just what we need,…
16 October 2019
Last week I joined forces with the Mental Health Charity, Bath Mind as we made ourselves at home at the Good Day Cafe in Bath and looked at how our working day influences our food choices, how food plays a part in our stress levels and what our coping strategies look like. Workplace health is…
15 October 2019
This delicious pumpkin dish is a massive hit with all the family… it serves 6 so you have plenty of leftovers for lunch. Admittedly the children pick the herby bits out but as I keep telling them that’s what creates the AMAZING flavours! They were surprised initially that pumpkin could actually be eaten and wasn’t…
01 October 2019
These banana pancakes are a firm favourite of ours on a Sunday morning. Apparently Daddy makes them better – kids know how to hit you where it hurts sometimes don’t they! Ingredients 2-3 ripe bananas (depending on size) 140g wholemeal self-raising flour (can use 100g self-raising white flour and 40g wholemeal if desired) 1 egg…
