#MAY5ADAY – think you’re up to the fruit & veg challenge?

I’m passionate about a lot of things when it comes to healthy lifestyles – the benefits of drinking water, the importance of eating clean and real food, going back to basics and avoiding packaged junk, the effect that strength and flexibility can have on your overall mental and physical state… those are just a few. But perhaps one of my biggest passions is helping people to reach (and hopefully exceed) their recommended 5 portions of fruit and veg a day. The benefits of eating more of the plant-stuff are REAL, I promise you – just ask the peeps on my Spring Clean programme!

The UK’s recommendation is that you eat 2 portions of fruit and 3 portions of vegetables a day – that ratio is because fruit is higher in sugar than vegetables, and veggies tend to have a broader range of vitamins, minerals and phytochemicals which can help protect us from diseases. In Australia, the recommendation is 2 portions of fruit and 5 of veg a day. And despite originally starting with the World Health Organisation’s recommendations of 5 a day, countries like Denmark (6 a day), France (10 a day) and Japan (a whopping 13 a day – 4 from fruit and 13 from veg) have upped their recommendations over the last few years. So our piddly 5 a day seems like child’s play in comparison! Surely we’re cool enough to play with the grown ups?

The scary thing is, so many people aren’t even reaching our small recommendation. I think that’s probably for a number of reasons:

Are you getting your 5 a day?

• I think there’s a lot of confusion about what a ‘portion’ actually is. “Hurrah!”, you think, “I’ve scoffed a satsuma – that’s one of my portions!”… Erm, no. Sorry. That’s half a portion. Check out the box opposite for what a portion looks like
• “Jacket potato in my gob, that’s a portion of veg!” – nope, I’m afraid not! While potatoes are definitely vegetables, they don’t actually count towards your 5 a day because they’re a starchy carbohydrate. So unless you’re loading your spud with salad or beans, you need to rethink that one!
• Squishing the juice of out fruit only counts as one portion, no matter how much not-from-concentrate, no-added-sugar goodness you think you’re drinking! See, when you squelch out the juices, you leave behind the pulp that contains all the nutrients and leave yourself with the liquid sugar. And, even more of a shame, this ‘one portion of juice’ rule doesn’t apply to wine. Oh how we wish it did.
• Sadly, I think some people find fruit and veg boring, or they have a phobia about the textures, tastes and other things. Okay, so school dinner cabbage (which I strangely loved as a kid and used to swap my ice cream for people’s cabbage), might be to blame for that – but there’s such a HUGE variety of different fruit and veg out there, and a gazillion ways to cook them and incorporate them into our diets – you’ll surely be able to find a way that you like to eat things. It’s sometimes just a matter of trying something new.

Tag your fruit & veg pics!

So I want to set a little challenge for you all in May – #MAY5ADAY – and a bit of a challenge for me too!

Every Monday in May I will share a recipe that helps you up your intake of fruit and veg. Your part of the bargain is to make a conscious effort to reach your target – and get involved by tagging me in your photos on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter and use the #MAY5ADAY.

Of course, the easiest way for you to kick this challenge into touch would be to sign up for my May Spring Clean intake. You’ll be given meal plans and recipes that will help keep you on the 5 a day path – and you’ll get a whole heap of other benefits from the healthy food too. You can find out more HERE.

What say you? You in?

Happiness is egg-shaped – an ode to the humble egg

I love an egg. Small but perfectly formed, super tasty, relatively cheap and so damn nutritious. The ultimate fast food, packed full of vitamins and only around 70 calories each. What’s not to love?

On the Spring Clean programme, we’ve been working our way through eggs in all manner of shapes and forms – egg muffins, omelettes, luxury scramble with salmon, or tangy and creamy scramble with feta, bakin’ with them, and generally hankering after them. Seriously yummy, easy to make and designed to keep you fuller for longer. So what makes this little oval pocket such a powerhouse?

1. It’s a protein pocket – most eggs contain 6g of protein, and it’s the complete type of protein that has all the essential amino acids that our bodies need to maintain and repair tissues and support brain function. They also have around 20% of our daily protein intake in just a single egg. Awesome. Protein is so important – not just for the muscle and tissue repair and support, but also because it keeps us fuller for longer… combine them with carbs to help slow down their digestion and you’ll have a meal that will keep hunger at bay!
2. All ‘dem good fats – pretty much all eggs have omega 3 in them… that’s the stuff that so many of us don’t get enough of that is so good for us… But the level of omega 3 depends on the level of omega 3 in the foods that the chooks eat. You might have seen eggs being marketed as ‘Omega 3 eggs’ – that’s usually because of the added oils to a hen’s diet. That’s not always entirely natural – it’s rare that hens would actually eat algae or krill oils if they were left to their own devices – but hens that are free to run around in pastures green will eat plenty of omega 3 from clover and other legumes which will be passed on to us. So we’re getting plenty of the good fats from these beauts – a blessing for vegetarians in particular, as most other forms of omega 3 are fish-based.
3. Remember the whole hoo-ha about eggs and cholesterol? Certainly gave our little oval beauties a bad rap for a while, huh? Well, let’s do a quick recap on the facts. Yes, eggs have cholesterol, but our bodies can’t actually survive without cholesterol – it’s a structural molecule that our cells couldn’t survive without and we couldn’t produce several essential hormones without it! But, there are two different types of cholesterol – one of which can be a harmful if we have too much of it. Previously it was thought that eggs raised cholesterol levels and contributed to the risk of heart disease from high cholesterol – but more recent research has shown that while eggs do tend to raise cholesterol levels, they actually increase the levels of the good type of cholesterol which clears up the bad fat in our blood stream (a little like a hoover) and helps maintain those cells. A little caveat though, if you do suffer from high cholesterol make sure that you check with your doctor whether it’s okay for you to eat eggs as it’s sometimes not recommended if levels are already fairly high.
4. Eggs provide a stack of vitamins and minerals – selenium (to help keep our immune system healthy as well as maintain the health of our thyroid) and Vit D which so many of us are deficient in, especially as we come out of a dreary winter (our main provider of Vit D is the sun) amongst a whole heap of other fabulous vitamins and minerals to keep us in tip top shape.

The thing that I possibly love most about eggs is that they’re a shining example of Mother Nature doing her ‘thang’… For example, Vitamin D is a fat-soluble vitamin. That means that unless we consume it with a bit of fat, our bodies will struggle to absorb the goodness. So Mamma Nature very cleverly designed these little beauties to have their own inbuilt fat supply – the yolk! That’s why it’s so important to eat the yolks and not just the whites.

Eggs is easy…

I use eggs in a multitude of ways – in our 2 person house, it’s not uncommon for us to run out of a box of 12 eggs in a week. They’re cheap, nutritious and EASY. Check out some of the pics from the Spring Clean programme to see how folks have been using them below. Egg muffins were a favourite (although definitely use silicon muffin cases for an easy release!) but there’s something luxuriously simple about smoked salmon and scrambled egg for a brunch-time treat.

What are your favourite eggy recipes?

The Spring Clean tribe have been enjoying the benefits of more energy, healthier looking skin and weight loss too – and we’re only in Week 3! If you’d like to sign up for the May intake of the programme or to find out more, click HERE.

* Image of eggs in a basket from Huffington Post.

7 tips to have a happy and HEALTHY Easter holiday

It really does feel like we’ve just gotten over Christmas (just me?) and yet here’s Easter already, come to tempt us with its family holiday treats and goodies! Easter food in my family was always mainly about gorgeously warm hot crossed buns (one a-penny, two a-penny) with butter sinking into them and about the hearty family roast dinner. But I do know that the Easter bunny likes to deposit loads of chocolate eggs – and the supermarket shelves seem to heave with a ridiculous number of choices – and have you seen the SIZE of some of them?!

So chances are, the Easter bunny is going to be ‘forcing’ you to eat a bit more than your fair share of chocolate and other waistline-expanding goodies this long weekend… not to mention the extra tipple or four that is mandatory for celebrating a Bank Holiday! So how can you still enjoy all these vices but still make sure that you’re not straying too far into ‘the land of chubs’? I’ve got a few little tips to help!

1. Don’t buy a heap of chocolate. I know that there are often deals that entice us into spending a small fortune on a mountain of sugary goodness. Sounds simple enough, but if you don’t buy huge amounts, it won’t be in the house and you’re less likely to be sneaking into the kitchen to raid the choc-supply at strange hours.
2. Opt for the healthier kids on the block. Dark chocolate is a tasty treat and, in small quantities, it’s even good for you! Make sure that you’re opting for the 70% plus cocoa content to reap the benefits though. You can also choose cacao chocolate bars from places like The Raw Chocolate Company – cacao is basically the raw, unprocessed version of cocoa and is often mixed with natural sweeteners to make sin-free chocolate goodies! Another one of the new healthier types of chocolate doing the rounds at the moment is the tummy-loving Oh So chocolate – it’s Belgian chocolate with probiotics which are the good bacteria that look after and nurture your gut.
3. Make your own hot cross buns. I’m definitely going to be trying out a recipe for my own healthier homemade hot cross buns… I’m not much of a baker, but I’ve been eyeing out the shop bought versions since they came out (in, like, February??). I’ve spotted this recipe which uses wholemeal spelt flour and oats to pack the buns with fibre, and cuts out refined sugar… sounds right up my street! I’ll keep you posted on progress!
4. Make sure you’re keeping active. Brave the elements and drag everyone out the house! Go for a walk or a hike, organise a football/touch rugby match with your mates, dance til dawn, or get sweaty at the gym… Make sure you EARN those extra calories. And if you have little ones, why not set up an obstacle Easter egg hunt… kind of like Tough Mudder, but with eggs involved – Tough Egger?!
5. Stock up on healthy goods. Ironically, real Easter bunnies tend to prefer carrots, lettuce and foods that are waaaay healthier than chocolate! Make sure that you have lots of fruit out on display, ready for people to snack on. And if you’re cooking a Sunday roast, make sure that you pile your plate with the healthy, colourful vegetables rather than the beige spuds and Yorkshire puds…
6. Don’t beat yourself up. This is all part of family life and you’re allowed to enjoy it! Decide in advance what ‘treat’ you’re going to have and then draw the line at that. Don’t let the guilt send you into a spiral of indulgence. Make your choices and be proud of yourself for sticking to them!
7. Book in for my 4 week Spring Clean programme. Starting just after Easter, on 13 April, I’m running a 4 week Get Lean Spring Clean programme to shed off the layers of winter and help you feel better and brighter – more energy, less sludge and a perfect way to avoid that overindulgence spiral! Find out more info and book your place HERE. Go on, get booking!!

I’d love to hear about your Easter adventures – why not share in the comments box below, or swing by my Facebook page to tell your stories!

Did you know that I’ve also just started a newsletter? You can subscribe to receive the odd healthy morsel from me here.

Yoga and lunch in the Chilterns? Go on then… (and 3 ways yoga can help you lose weight)

For years, I was under the assumption that unless you were vigorously jumping around, putting your sports bra through the ultimate test, bright red in the face and making your ‘fat cry’ in a gym or class, then the exercise you were doing just wouldn’t be working. And for that reason I tended to stay clear of yoga – I just didn’t think it would give me the workout I needed to get rid of my unwanted love handles. But through my nutrition studies, I started learning more about nutrition and weight management and how external factors and stress can have an impact on your body weight… my views about yoga were slowly starting to change, but I didn’t really know where to start with this whole ‘yoga thing’.

Then I met the lovely Ellie, of Yoga by Ellie. And I’m so excited that we’ve decided to combine our two passions, hers for health through yoga and mine for health through food, in an exclusive half-day retreat in the gorgeous Chilterns countryside. But more about that later!

Through Ellie’s yoga classes, and then my own explorations into yoga practice at home, I’ve slowly but surely started to realise some of the wider benefits of yoga. It really can, and DOES, play an important part in weight management. This is what I’ve found:

• It helps to build strength and flexibility – whether you’re a beginner or a seasoned athlete, the positions in yoga start to build up power in muscle groups that support other activities that we do. So you’re burning calories doing something that will make it easier for you to burn more calories through other activity! Awesome!
• It’s a well-known reliever of stress – for 60-90 mins you have no choice but to BREATHE. Taking this time out can have a dramatic effect on our cortisol levels. These ‘flight or fight’ hormones, when elevated or imbalanced, can lead to a build-up of fat in a layer around our waists – muffin tops ahoy! I’m not saying that one yoga class will get rid of the love handles, but regular practice and pro-actively reducing your stress levels will certainly reap health benefits in the long term.
• Yoga helps to make you more aware and mindful of your own body, how it’s all connected and what it’s trying to tell you. Getting to know your body is part of the weight management journey too – all too often we mindlessly shovel food in our mouths either out of boredom, habit or to cope with emotions. But if you’re more aware of your tummy screaming ’FORTHELOVEOFGOD No. More. Cake.’ and are more in tune with what your body is actually crying out for, then you’re in a better position to start nurturing yourself to a healthy place.

Come join us in the Chilterns 

Yoga and healthy, plant-based foods go hand in hand. I love it. I love that feeling when you’re tucking into a bowl full of halo-worthy goodness that you KNOW your body is going to thank you for. So, that’s what we’re aiming to provide with our yoga retreat – if you live in the UK and want to get your yoga on with us and nourish your body afterwards, then drop me an email at bella@nutri-belle.co.uk or use the form on this page. The details are below:

What does it involve?

Brush away the cobwebs and grey clouds of winter with a brilliant yoga practice led by Ellie, followed by a nutritious and balanced vegetarian lunch. Both will leave you feeling better, brighter and ready for the joys of spring.

Where and when

Saturday 18 April 2015, 10am – 2pm in the gorgeous setting of Penn Street village hall. It’s easily accessible from Amersham with its main line and tube links into London.

What’s the cost?

There are only 12 spaces available – we want to keep this an intimate gathering so you get the most out of the day. Tickets cost £30 each.

More details can be found at Yoga by Ellie’s website.

I really hope you can join us – we can’t guarantee that you’ll leave us frolicking like a lamb, but you never know! 😉

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4 steps to setting healthy goals that actually stick

The festive season is OVER! Hands up those of you who are secretly glad to get back to some kind of routine and a clean slate that a change in date seems to give us? Have you done the whole ‘new year’s resolution’ malarkey? Lemme guess… This year I will get fit and healthy, stop smoking, eat less, blah blah blah? I changed my tune about resolutions last year (read about my 2014 non-resolution here) and I have walked in 2015 feeling decidedly smug about all the things I achieved. So I’ll definitely be adopting a similar approach this year – let me know if you want to hear more about it (if you know me, you’ll know I’m prone to over-sharing!).

Whatever your approach to the new year is, if you’re looking to feel healthier all round, it pays big time to plan it properly and to really understand WHY you want to make changes. So go on, embrace your inner geek and spend an afternoon working through the questions below to make sure that you’re setting goals that you’re more likely to stick to. I find a pretty notebook helps…

1. What are the health problems that you’re worried about? Don’t just leap into the standard ‘I want to lose/gain 20kgs’ or whatever it might be. Think about the little (or large) things that niggle away at you… It could be that you haven’t had enough energy to play with your kids for ages. Or that you’re wheezing like a right wheezy thing after climbing the stairs. That your skin is as rough as a badger’s bum (why do I always pick on the badgers?!) and that you’re spottier than your teenage self. How do you really feel? Work your way down through your body from your head/scalp to your toes – and try not too be your own worst critic! We’re not looking to pick holes in our body confidence here, just to identify where you don’t FEEL good. Work out what worries you most right now.

2. What can you do about it? Once you’ve identified your main area of focus, spend some time thinking about what the way forward looks like. This is where working with a nutritional coach can really help (*ahem* coooey, over here!) 😉 … So if you want to feel bouncy and full of energy, what do you actually need to do? You’ll probably need to reassess your diet, exercise levels and hydration… Set yourself some SMART goals – something like ‘I’m going to drink at least 2 litres of water every day for the next year’ and specify HOW you’re going to do it… ‘by setting reminders on my phone, carrying a bottle of water with me, drinking 500ml before every meal/snack, etc etc’.

3. What can you do right now to take the first step? More often than not, if you have to wait a little while to start something, it’s harder to begin. We’re great procrastinators, us humans. So make sure you know what you can do the minute you’ve closed your pretty notebook and know what you’re working towards. It might be that you head straight to the shop to buy a water bottle that you’ll fill up every day and carry with you. Or you’ll immediately drink 500ml or set up the reminders on your phone. Whatever it is, take that step as soon as you can.

4. How will you know if you’re reaching your goals? If you’ve been fairly thorough with your SMART goal setting, then you’ll have worked through how you’ll measure success. A wall chart, or tick in a diary will help you measure whether you’ve stuck to the goal of drinking 2 litres of water a day. But think about the broader benefits too – the bigger picture. How will you expect to feel if you’re fully hydrated? What differences will you notice? Check in with yourself on a regular basis to see whether you’re noticing a change. If you consciously acknowledge the benefits of your hard work, then you’re more likely to stick to it.

If you’ve been struggling with setting yourself some goals for this fresh new year, hopefully this will kick start the thinking process for you. If you want to find out whether an appointment with me will help, just give me a shout – I can have a quick chat with you to help you decide whether it’s worth your while getting a helping hand!

Happy New Year lovely people! xx

The brilliance of bums, boobs and other bodily parts!

I was luckily to be taken away on a lovely long weekend in Spain a couple of weeks ago, for nutritional purposes, obviously – essential for topping up my vitamin D levels (that’s my excuse and I’m sticking to it!). Walking through the sea of bodies soaking up the late summer rays on the beach, I was intrigued and fascinated by the different shapes and sizes, different levels of health, tone and vibrancy. My other half was fascinated too, but mainly cos a group of gals had decided to go topless *rolls eyes*…

Now obviously a tan helps people’s bodily confidence. But my beach meander highlighted to me the importance of feeling comfortable with your body. How many of us are truly happy enough to wear nothing more than a few triangles of clothing and a smile?

I think we spend so much time beating ourselves up for not having the ‘body beautiful’ that we forget to appreciate the great work that our bodies actually do. Yes, it’s probably true that each of us has room for improvement and a few things that we could do make us feel better. But have you actually considered what you inadvertently ask your body to do for you on a daily basis? Can you give it the credit it’s due?

Just as the wrinkles that we gain as we get a little older can be kindly attributed to ‘laughter lines’, a reminder of the happy times we’ve had, so the extra jiggle or stretch mark might be a gentle reminder… Your body might have made another human being, or you were so enveloped in the comfort and love of a new relationship that you didn’t notice the ‘love handles’ slipping onboard for the ride. Even the extra weight you gained during a particularly difficult patch in your life… All of them are a reminder that you’ve created, loved, battled and LIVED. And that’s a damn fine thing to be proud of.

But having said that, there’s a fine line between accepting our bodies for what they are, being grateful for what they’ve got us through and treating our bodies badly. Don’t get complacent and mistake acceptance for down right laziness. Fuel your body right, give it the nutrients it longs for. Stop feeding it crap. We genuinely are what we eat. So if you can’t read or recognise the ingredients on a label, you probably don’t want to be putting it in your mouth. Respect yourself enough to treat yourself right. Cos that body of yours deserves it. HELL YEAH!

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On a slightly different note, I’m thrilled and excited to announce that NutriBelle, my nutritional coaching business, will be up and running in the next month! If you’d like to work with me in December or the new year, please drop me a note at

bella@nutri-belle.co.uk

xxx

Why you (and your inner diva) NEED to eat breakfast

My mum used to find it highly amusing that, as a toddler or grumpy teen, I always had the same morning ritual. Haul my ass out of bed (usually under great duress) and head straight for the breakfast table in a zombie-like coma. Must. Eat. Food. And slowly, but surely, with each mouthful of whatever it was, the human(ish) Bella would emerge and I’d leave the table a brighter and sunnier person (or so I’d like to believe!).

Turns out, I was setting myself up for an awesome habit that does me a power of good now that I’m a proper grown up (again, so I’d like to believe!). While I know that there are several of you out there who will argue that you can operate fine without breakfast, science backs up the fact that to get your body working properly throughout the day (not just at the beginning of it) then you need to start it right. And that means you need to break the fast and EAT! Preferably something healthy and filled with the good stuff. Don’t believe me? Here are 4 reasons why you need to find a way of starting the day right:

1. Manage your blood sugar levels. While you’re sleeping, your body is working away digesting all the food that you’ve eaten the night before. So when you wake up, there’s very little trace left of the nutrients in your blood stream and just the *ahem* remains waiting to be pooped out. And your blood sugar levels will be low enough to make you comparable with a grouchy grizzly. By gently raising your blood sugar levels first thing, you’re helping to manage your hunger levels throughout the day – leave it too late and chances are you’ll be reaching for a high calorie, high sugar ass-kicker snack mid morning because I’M-STARVING-AND-IF-I-DON’T-EAT-I-WILL-DIE (yep, low blood sugar may result in you turning into a melodramatic diva.) So give your metabolism a wake up call, get some stability in your blood sugar levels, and start the day as you mean to go on. And leave the diva at the door.

2. Wake up your brain. After a night’s sleep your brain cells will be running on empty – they need energy from the food you eat (that’s the glucose from complex carbohydrates) to refuel. Without that refueling, your brain will struggle to operate on all cylinders, which means that processing information or managing complex challenges (so things like forming and retrieving memories) are all a little bit too tricky. But by giving your brain the boost that it needs through food, it’s all set to be bright and alert and all those other things that you’d probably find life easier with!

3. Get your vitamin fix. Grabbing some fruit, yoghurt, and wholegrains for breakfast is a sure fire way to make sure that you’re getting a swift vitamin shot. It’ll pump you full of vitamin B for maximum energy and keep your immune system healthy with vitamins A, C and zinc. And that diva that you left at the door? She’ll be replaced by the happier version thanks to a lift in your seratonin levels. Happy shiny people!

4. Hydrate, hydrate, hydrate. I’ve waffled on about the importance of drinking enough water before and breakfast is a great place to start. I like to down a glass of the good stuff first thing to help make sure that my body has the fluid it needs. And don’t forget that pile of digested poop waiting for you to wake up… water will help with that too! But you can eat your water too – fruit is packed full of it! Don’t get too attached to strong caffienated drinks though – that diva might make a re-appearance.

UGH FINE… But I don’t have TIME.
Just because you need to kick start your system doesn’t mean you need to labour over a mammoth feast, or get up a gazzilion hours earlier to create some exquisitely complex sensation for your taste buds. When it comes to my top 3 breakfasts, taste and simplicity are key. I tend to eat mine either at my desk or before I leave the house. Either way, I don’t have a lot of time to hang about faffing over the preparation. Sometimes, that means getting things prepped the night before. Trust me, that little bit of effort can make morning life a whole load more peaceful!

Fruity yoghurt-to-go: This is a night-before-er. Half-fill a Tuppaware with frozen berries (I prefer the mixed ones). Chuck 20-40g of oats on top, spoon in some Greek yoghurt and sprinkle with a tablespoon of milled seeds/nuts. Takes you 3 mins to make. Then all you need to do in the morning is remember to take it with you! And there you have a vitamin-packed breakfast, super tasty, with all the nutrients.

Smashed eggs on toast: Sounds like a palava, really isn’t. Stick your toast (wholegrain, or sprouted if you can!) on while you’re heating a pan with a tsp of coconut oil. When the pan is hot, crack in 2 eggs and smash them up (it’s a less-hassle scrambled egg!) and season. Plop them (as elegantly as you can for first thing in the morning!) onto your toast. To get the full nutritional brownie points from this, whack in a handful of spinach at the same time as the egg and smash it all up together. Or just serve with some avocado or tomatoes. That’ll do too.

Chia and cinnamon oat pot: Might be flashing a few ‘health freak’ warning bells to some of you, but you can get chia seeds from pretty much anywhere these days! They’re packed full of omega 3 and are hailed as a superfood of the moment. I like to chuck a tablespoon into my trusty Tuppaware pot along with a tbsp of desicated coconut, milled flax seed, 40g oats and a tsp of cinnamon. Cover the mix with milk of your choice (I like this one with almond milk) and mix it up, ready to soak in the fridge overnight. Chia seeds start to soak up the liquid and make it go gooey… which is perfect for you to take out in the morning, top with greek yoghurt, blueberries and a drizzle of honey if it’s not sweet enough for you.

I have loads more breakfast ideas – from smoothies and pancakes to sweet bakes and savoury delights! Why not share some of yours below? Are you a breakfast lover?

Four things you need to know about H2O

Bear with me. Before we go any further with this post, grab yourself a glass and go fill it up with water. Take a slurp. And now we’ll begin…

I think it’s pretty much common knowledge that, without water, we will die – we’ll shrivel up and turn into a human version of a raisin. A large raisin. With a few weird sticky out limbs and stuff.  But there’s an awful lot of conflicting information out there about how much of the good stuff we should be imbibing (I love that word). Personally, I like to think that I’m positively SAINTLY at drinking water when I’m at my desk – I fill up my 750ml bottle at least 3 times throughout the day – but outside of this routine at work, I need a little nudge every now and then. And I know from conversations with friends, that several of you don’t drink nearly enough either. So I thought I’d pull together a handy list of things you need to know about H2O to hopefully entice us into drinking more. But first…. Take another sip of that water you got earlier…

1. So what does all this water do for our bodies?

Well, it doesn’t just slosh about in our bellies until it makes an exit! Nope, it does a whole heap of good things to help make sure that we can actually exist. I’ve listed a few below:

• It keeps your tissues moist – not the Kleenex in your pocket, although it’ll do that too if you leave an open bottle in your handbag – the really important tissue around your eyes, nose and mouth and internal organs.
• If you think of food as the fuel in your car (body), then water is like the oil that keeps your engine running smoothly. It helps make sure things keep ticking over and that your body can build and repair itself. And it keeps your joints and organs lubricated so you’re not hobbling around, old before your time.
• It’s absolutely fundamental to the digestive system. It helps with the breakdown and metabolism of all the things we eat – the good, the bad and the ugly. It’ll transport the good stuff to the places we need it, dissolving the minerals and nutrients to make them easier for the body to use; and helps the kidneys to flush out all the nasties. So it’s like the Batman of our digestive tract. Just wetter! Awesome.
• And as we’re coming up to a steaming hot summer in the UK (okay, mildly warmer than winter), water is brilliant for regulating our body temperature and making sure that all the chemical reactions that make us move can still happen. Thirsty work!

(Go on… have another glug…)

2. How much water do we REALLY need?

Considering that 50-75% of our body weight is made up of water, and we’re pretty much like an unplugged sink (water goes in … and then out again…), we do need to drink a fair amount of it to make sure that all the good stuff I mentioned above can keep on happening. The basic guidelines are that the more active you are, the more you need to drink:

• If you’re relatively sedentary throughout the day (more time on your butt than on your feet), then as a minimum you should be getting through 2litres. (Makes you want another sip of that drink, right? Go on, do it).
• And on the other extreme of the scale, if you’re a high-powered, incredibly active athlete doing hours of training a day, then you should be nearer the 10litre mark per day. Yep, TEN.

If you’re curious about how much water you should be drinking while you’re exercising, you could always try this little experiment. Weigh yourself in as little clothing as possible (‘Oooer missus!’ Bit of cheek in the gym!) before you do some exercise. Don’t drink anything (just for the sake of this experiment) during your workout. Then weigh yourself again afterwards. Provided it was a relatively intense workout, then you should notice a shift in the scales. The weight that you’ve lost is purely water weight (sorry). And the general rule of thumb is that you should aim to drink 1litre for every 1kg of weight lost over that period on top of your usual daily recommendation.

3. You might not recognise some of the signs that you’re dehydrated
If you’ve not been getting enough water (which reminds me, time for another sip?), then the obvious symptom will be that you feel parched. But there are other signs that we often mistake for other things…

• Hunger
• Very dark wee
• Headaches
• No energy
• Feeling lightheaded
• Bad skin
• Constipation

So if you’re suffering from any of those, check your water levels – maybe it’s worth drinking more! Have another gulp of the glass infront of you as a promise to do just that!

4. Water comes in many forms

• Plain old water is absolutely best (and there are arguments for and against bottled or tap water), but it can get a bit boring… so some crazy kids like to jazz it up a tad by going for the bubbly variety! Or by adding some fresh fruit, veg or herbs to it. I like a bit of lemon, cucumber and mint with tonnes of ice. Looks well posh in a jug at a BBQ too.
• Yes, tea and coffee DO count. But they’re not the best for you. Caffeine isn’t great for any of us, and the tannins in tea can stop the absorption of vital nutrients like iron or vitamin C. If you are going to get some of your water this way, I’d suggest herbal teas are best.
• Some fruits and veg have incredibly high water content –  so stock up on goodies like watermelon, lettuce (with a whopping 96% water!), cucumber, tomatoes, grapefruit for example…
• Sadly fizzy drinks and alcohol contain far too much of the things that are bad for you for them to count towards your necessary fluid intake. Drinking booze is like imposing a drought on your body – it makes you pee more (‘breaking the seal’ sound familiar?) without doing the jobs that water would, so your kidneys have to work harder and your tissues start to shrivel – which is why you wake up with bright red eyes and a massive headache. So match water for wine when you’re out on the town!
• Juice is the bone of contention for most – yes, even the freshly squeezed variety… it’s so packed full of sugar, that it veers towards the fizzy drinks end of the scale. The trick here is to limit yourself to one 250ml glass a day and to dilute it. Much better.

So I’ll be making a concerted effort to guzzle a bit more of this amazingly simple nutrient… even if it results in this:
 

Finished your glass of water yet? Care to join me in another?

*image source unknown

Meat-free made easy: 3 tasty tips for veggie newbies

It’s the end of my meat free month. And if truth be told, I’m a little mournful. But then again, I am SO EXCITED about my simple salmon supper tonight (yep, not the massive steak that I thought I’d be devouring at one minute after midnight on 1 May)! I did genuinely love it. I had to deal with massive energy slumps and the occasional pang for something slightly meaty… but the experience was definitely more positive than I expected. I haven’t lost any weight (that’ll be the cheese then), but I haven’t gained any either. I don’t feel noticeably healthier, but I do love the new tastes and luscious goodness in the dishes I’ve been trying. And I’m also super conscious of restaurant choices when I now meet up with my veggie friends – man alive, sometimes the choices for veggies can be DIRE. Sort it out restaurateurs!

As a vegetable-lover, it wasn’t a hardship to eat more of the green and fresh stuff. But (wo)man can’t live by veg alone (well… you can… but… you know…!) So there were a couple of additional special ingredients which, although I’ve eaten regularly before, were my go-to favourites.

All hail halloumi

Halloumi became my carnivorous craving-stopper.

• On the BBQ, try skewers with halloumi and a range of veg (peppers, courgettes, mushrooms, tomatoes) marinaded in either a fresh n’ zesty lemon (zest and juice for maximum zing!), lime and mint; or for a bit of a kick in chilli, garlic and ginger with lemon juice.
• For a comfort food cuddle on a plate, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with a bit of halloumi and pesto with pasta. I like to dry fry the halloumi with extra garlic (I’m a delight to sit next to the following day!) and chuck in some green stuff – whatever you’ve got going to be honest – peas, mange tout, courgette, baby brussel sprouts, green beans…. Add a couple of teaspoons of pesto (make sure it’s proper vegetarian if you’re being ultra-veggie) and add your wholewheat/gluten free pasta… Nyom.
• And another quick n’ easy delight was grilled halloumi with a cheeky little salsa of chopped cherry tomatoes, sweetcorn, spring onions and avocado with a bit of parsley, chilli, olive oil and lemon juice – I often ate this on it’s own, but it worked great with a  wholewheat wrap, pitta bread or mexican style rice.

Praise be for chickpeas!

• A stolen recipe from a friend of mine – chickpea curry, straight up and simples. Just fry up your onion and garlic, add your chickpeas, curry powder and tin of tomatoes and simmer right down… I added aubergine and red peppers to flesh it out a bit, but you could add anything that tickles your fancy!
• Chickpea salads were an awesome filling lunchtime extravaganza. With some fresh chopped tomatoes, cucumber, onions, sweetcorn, radish, leaves and a bit of a sesame oil/tahini/lemon juice dressing… you were in for a treat. Add loads of fresh herbs (I love that my herb garden seems to have survived the drowning of the winter months!) and maybe a handful of feta for a creamy boost, and all for less than £2 for a massive lunch… A prime example of why packed lunches kick ass.
• Warming Moroccan spices, mixed with onions, garlic, chickpeas and aubergine, served with a bit of couscous or quinoa, felt almost holiday-esque!

Ave avocado

Avo has always been a firm favourite of mine. Growing up in Zim they were the size of small rugby balls… none of this palm-sized malarky that we get in the UK. And the abundance of them in the tree outside my childhood home means that I am so happy with finding a gazillion things to do with avo’s for breakfast, lunch and dinner… but sometimes the simple things are the best!

• My absolute favourite breakfast (instead of the fry up that the man in my life prefers!) has long been to have avocado mashed on toasted rye bread with scrambled egg, bacon and grilled tomatoes on top. And all I had to do to vegetise (if that’s not a word, it should be!) it, was to avoid the bacon! Easy! And AMAZEBALLS.
• To me, avocado isn’t just a fruit, it’s something that can immediately take something a wee bit bland and amplify all it’s tastiness in one massive hit! So you have a mixed bean salad. Meh. Add avocado to it and suddenly you’re transported down the taste super highway! Okay, maybe not that extreme, but you get what I’m saying. And the good thing is, it’s packed full of the natural, good monounsaturated fats that are good for us… unlike cheese.
• The simplest dinner of all… and the one that kicked ass for me time and time again: the humble avocado on toast. Rye bread (I like the ultra nutty rye, but even regular wholemeal works a treat), with nothing but half a ripe mashed avo, with black pepper, a touch of salt and (if you’re feeling well posh) a drizzle of balsamic glaze.

Thanks for the recipe ideas and inspiration during the month of April. I’m not going to lie, I won’t be giving up meat entirely. But I’m already quite happily settling in to my ‘more-veggie-days’ existence. Tomorrow night, the meat-eater-man is having steak, and I’ve actually opted for a bean stew. Wonders will never cease! … 🙂

 

How to work out what a ‘healthy diet’ means for you

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If you’re anything like me and you have a slight interest in keeping healthy, you would have done your fair share of reading things about how to adopt a healthy lifestyle. You may even have made some changes to your diet as a result of this… Carbs are the devil sound familiar to anyone?

I’ve spent a lot of time (and in some cases money) following trends, fads, lifestyles in the past… and yes, I’ve seen results. Me and my inner cave girl loved the lean feeling from the Paleo diet for example – you cut out all grains, dairy, starches and legumes, and basically live off the natural protein and vegetables that cavemen would have (the argument being that this type of nutritional approach appeals to our natural genetic makeup). It’s fairly similar to the Harcombe diet which says that sugar is the absolute spawn of Satan and that (good) fat is the way forward (so again, basically, just eat meat and veg). And there are hundreds of other ‘ways of life’ (as in ‘oh hell no, this ain’t another diet, this is a way of life man!’) that undoubtedly have the right kind of reactions and suit an awful lot of people. But not me.

My problem with these different lifestyles is that I just couldn’t make them stick – the extremist in me just couldn’t make it work. So I’d follow the rules religiously for a few months, lose weight and feel good…. but then it would all come crashing down around my feet (my arse that is), as I couldn’t sustain it. There are a number of reasons why, and they all sound like excuses:

• I didn’t have the time or desire to bake my own healthy paleo snacks that didn’t really taste like the things I was actually longing for
• I was doing it on my own with little support except for the online community I’d found
• There were RULES man, RULES. And lots of them. Who wants to follow rules?!
• PMS vs paleo…. PMS wins. Hands down.

I could go on, but you get my drift. And for everyone of my friends who have had some amazing success with other ways of life, man like WeightWatchers, Slimming World and all that jazz, there are other friends who have given up all hope in a point-counting whirlpool of frustration. So I’m guessing I’m not alone.

When I started this nutrition course, I was faced with the Eatwell Plate. The actual nemesis of someone like Dr Zoe Harcombe. It says we should EAT CARBS *GASP*! And, not only that, it makes allowances for foods high in FAT and SUGAR *DOUBLE GASP*!!!! I can’t tell you how this screwed with my mind… I was genuinely torn. I’d just committed to doing a course that went against everything I’ve spent the last few years of my life believing.

But then as I carried on with the course, I think I got it. You only need to watch programmes on TV like Secret Eaters to realise that the majority of the population are incredibly naive when it comes to understanding the basics of healthy eating. And who can blame them, with there being 1,001 uber confusing messages out there. To me, the Eatwell Plate is a classic representation of everything in moderation… it’s a guide. Something to help people understand what moderation looks like, to get people thinking about what ‘healthy’ might mean for them. It’s not asking you to give up entire chunks of your diet. It’s letting you know how much of those chunks is a good/bad thing. For people who can and are able to commit to a more intensive way of life, then that’s great – if it’s working for you and you can stick to it, that’s awesome. But for others who find it difficult to wade through the sea of conflicting messages, moderation is healthier than doing nothing.