What You Should Actually Be Eating in 2026 To Feel Your Best (A Nutritionist's Guide)

0:11What is up? I'm Grace Beverley and welcome back to Working Harder. the podcast-shaped guidebook on how to improve your own life and achieve what you actually dreamed of doing. Because life's too short for boring podcasts and bad advice.

0:25What is up and welcome back to Working Hard. Today we're back for another episode of our New Year's series and we are doing a big fat New Year reset with someone who makes nutrition simple instead of stressful. I feel like that is what we need at this time of year because so many of us get caught up in a January filled with like fad diets and wanting to overhaul your whole life rather than thinking about the long term, which is really easy to do and I do it every single year, but I feel like we just need a good talking to by someone who knows their shit about nutrition. So GQ Jordan is a performance nutritionist who has built a huge online audience by breaking down metabolism, gut health, energy and sustainable habits in a way that actually feel doable.

1:02So if you're starting the new year feeling low on energy or confused about what to eat or stuck in the all or nothing cycle, then this episode was designed exactly for you. Before we get into it, If this type of content is your bag, please give us a follow on whatever podcast app you're listening to us on. Hundreds of thousands of you follow us on Spotify. But we want that number to grow because a million people listen a month. So why don't you join them if you haven't already?

1:28GQ Jordan, are you currently more working hard or hardly working? Working hard. Yeah? For sure. Always? Always. It feels like I've been working hard for the past maybe five years straight. But I am a bit of a glutton for punishment. And I like the momentum. Yeah. I like that buzz that you get. Maybe it's a dopamine addiction. I'm not sure. But I like kind of that reward you get from constantly achieving, I suppose, in a sense. Yeah. I also, and I don't know if this is really controversial to say, but I just can't buy that that's always a bad thing. Like, I agree that there are certain elements of things like phone addiction and dopamine addiction and all of this that make us generally, I don't know, we're doing too much all the time and we're kind of frazzling our brain and I do get that at the same time if you're lucky enough to be in a position that you get so much joy out of your work because yes you feel like it's highly challenging but you also feel like you're highly skilled and you're able to do the things that are needed of you like that's a really fortunate position to be in like I just don't buy that it's all bad I think there's a lot online about fixing all of this stuff and I'm like do you know what I a lot of the reason I am happy is because I'm moving up this space and I kind of like it I wish I'd had a choice but I do I like it yeah I know I'm the same I think obviously this is awareness that you have to have of yourself and I'm sure with your your past with health issues and everything like that you probably have a similar awareness of your body um and sometimes it is a balancing act but I love what I do as well I love what I do I love helping people I love educating and you know simplifying and there is a real kind of as I said momentum in that there's and a sense of achievement.

3:10And I just want to keep going. And obviously, within the same breath, I'm taking breaks. I am looking after myself, regulating my nervous system on the go. But there's a lot of, I suppose, gratitude in that as well. So I want to start with where we are right now. We're at the beginning of January. What do most people do in January when it comes to their food? it's the classic all or nothing mindset isn't it it's that you know it seems like the because all the messaging leading up to the end of the year and first of january hits and we're like okay i must change i must overhaul my life i must cut out everything that is deemed bad bad and inverted commas um and you know start that gym membership do you know xyz and that is just a trap our bodies don't need a complete overhaul.

4:02We need like a system that supports us in every aspect of our needs. Obviously, we need good nutrition, we need lots of movement, lots of sleep, which is often the first thing to go when we're busy. Lots of those basic things. So when it comes to the 1st of January, it shouldn't be, you know, that complete overhaul. It should be what first step is the most achievable? What's the first step that's going to give me that confidence that will kind of set the tone for the weeks to come for the months to come because when we have that initial confidence we are more likely to kind of move on to the next stage and then keep kind of stacking on those habits that are going to help us feel our best yeah and I think it's so easy to go into something like the new year and become really excited about the prospects of these goals that you might reach which is important and like it's an important dopamine hit to give ourselves so that we feel motivated.

4:59At the same time, setting more goals gives you more of that, but it doesn't actually give you more consistency or more chance of actually reaching them. Probably would argue the opposite. And yet it feels better, so we're more likely to go in that direction. And I think, I don't know, I think the older I've got, the more I've realised that pretty much nothing in my life ever needs a complete overhaul. And if it does, still the best way to start is by changing little things rather than big things and as some as someone who is very impulsive and does get very excited by goal setting and like the idea of being a whole new person I think that I've realized very much over time that that never necessarily seems to breed more consistency and I always just need to slow things down like say I want to get here that's fantastic let's get there but you're going to have to work out the plan for that over a few weeks not in a very excitable three hours exactly and it's gonna happen maybe like you pile on one thing at a time and that's like not fun and it's not sexy and it's not the enjoyable kind of momentum type of change but that's the lasting change and you just sometimes need to do that it's true though it's like the simple it's it is the boring things that get you most of the way it's the simple changes that get you 90 of the way to your goal and then the last 10 is all of those like optimization kind of things um and you're so right it's it's it's the consistency that is the slog it's actually the consistency that you're at the end of the day you're really proud of at the end because you're like I stuck with it I've done this I've changed little by little and you know at the end of it you're looking back and you're like wow I've really had a journey here and that's when it comes to nutrition as well it is those simple daily tweaks that can really ladder up to big changes and this isn't like rocket science this isn't new information we've all heard of the like you know small shifts lead to big changes but it's so true and I think that's the kind of when we're coming we're in the new year now we've obviously like we're surrounded by all this this messaging as I said before and it just leads to a lot of overwhelm and that noise is quite hard to drown out so like if I was advising anyone it's kind of it's mirroring echoing what you're saying it's just thinking back to the you know what are the what's the smallest step I can take today that can fit into my routine because you want to meet yourself where you are as well you know everyone has different pressures different responsibilities different you know different workloads even so meeting yourself where you are challenging yourself a little bit but that's going to really build that confidence and get you moving in the right direction so anyone who listened to this episode as a great i'm going to change my life it's january how would you recommend that they rethink that idea of this kind of fresh start i'd say is it really serving you like what actually what is the goal that you're working towards is it aligned to your values like what do you want to get out of it is it is it something that is genuinely going to impact your day-to-day but you know when we're working towards long-term goals it there often is a long length of time between you know starting and actually finishing but I like to focus on you know your day-to-day what actually you know the signals from our body that we are making progress things that actually impact how we feel how we show up how we interact with our loved ones and that often is you know okay I'm drinking more water I'm feeling more energized in the morning I've got less headaches or my meals are more balanced so my energy is more stable I'm showing up to work better I'm meeting my deadlines you know with ease I'm interacting with my kids I'm able to play with them after work I've got that energy you know those small signals that okay I'm actually making progress here and I'm feeling it in my day-to-day so focusing on those signals along the way can kind of help you maintain that progress and keep kind of your spirits up I guess um on the way and so if someone that was actually coming into this january and they go okay I know january is gimmicky and kind of trying to redo your whole life is gimmicky and maybe it's not the most effective thing but I know I need a reset like I have been eating really badly due to all of these different things and I know that that's not what I deserve and not what I want from my life and my nutrition and all of that what would you recommend to someone in that in that position and also what would you say are the signs that someone needs a reset rather than a diet I would say it kind of goes back to what I was saying before those signals that your body is giving you on a day-to-day your is your energy sustained throughout the day are you sleeping throughout the night are you waking up energized are you um is your mood stable um also obviously if you're female you know how's your cycle what's that saying is it regular is it painful you know all of those signals our bodies give us and if i was to advise someone coming into jan because it is it's a healthy thing to want to improve our health right it's it's a good thing so it should be celebrated and if you want to make tweaks that's something that you know should be definitely celebrated so if you're if i was to give advice it would be to start with a regular meal pattern like breakfast lunch dinner maybe instead of buying your meals out try to start with breakfast and have a rotation of three different meals ones that you know that you generally have the ingredients to in your pantry or your fridge and that you can rotate so that rotation gives you a bit of variety keeps you interested but that kind of that set number of three is gives you a bit of safety as well so once you have your breakfast set then move on to your lunch and then once that feels like it's mastered then dinner so all of those small tweaks small additions um again will ladder up over the course of a week of a month and help you get that nourishment that you really need and why does so many of us go into january particularly after christmas and the kind of general holiday period she says as an american um kind of feeling either kind of tired and sluggish or very wired like why do we come out of this period just feeling like not necessarily like ourselves I'd say a few things right because it is food is more than fuel in this situation it's connection it's culture it's you know sitting gathering over a meal with friends and family and reconnecting so a lot of it might be maybe it's overindulgence in a particular food group maybe carbohydrates tend to to sing the way when it comes to Christmas and holiday meals um so blood sugar regulation comes into play there you know and having our blood sugars regulated means that our energy as I said before is sustained but over time that will have an impact on our mood on our adrenals which is you know where our stress hormones are are created and made um but also it could just be our social battery as well we have a finite amount of energy when it comes to socialising.

12:13And the holiday period tends to be jam-packed in that sense. So there are multiple kind of drains in a way when it comes to coming over the holiday period and then into January. And people just want to kind of either hibernate and then just like, you know, as I said, have a complete re-heal of their life because they're just ready to start the year fresh. And I do think that there's something that, particularly with women, and I say particularly with women because I talk about mental load, particularly with women, and also having grown up with things like diet culture all of that not that that doesn't affect men of course but there's been a very different diet culture that most women have grown up with I also think there's something that's like after this period that first of all gives this real respite in the period where you feel like maybe for once you don't need to think about your food which is really sad that we're kind of in that but I I mean I don't think about my food all of the time but over the past year or so when I've really been concentrating on what I can do for my body particularly with my PCOS I have thought about food a lot and it is so nice to have a period of time where I'm not thinking about my food I think there's both the respite you get from the mental load relief there but then also a lot of people come into January maybe with this heightened level of anxiety around what they have eaten what they should have eaten you know whether they took it too far all of these different things obviously we can't speak to individual people um but what would you recommend for someone who's kind of coming into this time of year actually thinking god I'm so glad I gave myself that rest because I you know finally didn't have to think about food for a while but now I feel terrible and I feel all of these different things that you know my body's not feeling how it should all of that what would you give what advice would you give to someone who's feeling a little bit more in that headspace I would say that it's kind of going back to what I touched on like the food is more than just the fuel it as you said the having that respite from the mental load served a purpose for them it charged their batteries in one way but may be depleted in another but going into the new year it's it's about looking at food as a something that's a supportive tool you know and you know you might feel all these ways but small changes and kind of slowing down in your approach will help you speed up over time if you focus on say for the first week just focus on having those regular meals like we talked about getting like fresh whole foods instead of maybe more ultra processed food then just keep it really really simple and the change that you will feel even within a week of doing that will be like tremendous you're going to just feel your energy will increase your sleep will deepen and when we start to feel that it's just amazing how our hormones will start to kind of play ball and our experience of life will change because a lot of these things are either you know we talked about blood sugar really briefly blood sugar roller coasters play such a big have such a big impact on our mood on our cravings on how we kind of see ourselves in a sense so when we get those regulated and support our overall body in a sense we're just going to feel so much better even in a short space of time and that's just going to set the ball rolling set the tone and then it's just all about taking the pressure off and not not blaming yourself you are human right you are not just something to you know be a certain weight a number on a scales you are so much more than that and it kind of goes back to your every day once you start to feel good in your every day and show up as your best self and feel that inner kind of confidence I suppose that's going to just change everything it's going to change how you approach your your your your work your workouts your your meals your everything and how you interact with everyone in the outside yeah and And I think that something as someone who's definitely had experienced a lot of the effects of diet culture in the past and has, you know, I spent a lot of time in the fitness industry and really coming out of this period and thinking, oh, my God, I shouldn't be here.

16:27I should be looking like this or feeling like this instead. There was never a time where I did anything in that week after that made me feel better if it was too intense. Like even last week, for example, I was traveling loads and, you know, therefore eating out a lot and flying and all of these different things. and I don't really feel myself this week and I don't feel as good as I usually do but at the same time there's nothing that kind of getting my steps in and going back to my regular like regular programming won't fix and I think it's so easy to think oh I've got to fix xyz in one day so that I feel better and it's like really that is a control thing and in a week you'll feel better if you just go back to your kind of regular programming yeah don't restrict like that's always going to end up on the other side and I think it's so easy to put yourself in that mindset of like fixing fixing and it's like well when you realize that doesn't actually fix that replicates the cycle again and again 100 you stay stuck yeah stay stuck and like that's the thing that you mentioned restriction there it's restriction just closes your world in it it pull it cuts things out and it stops you from socializing it stops you from interacting with food in a healthy way it maybe it changes your your routine in the sense of more workouts or whatever and that really just closes your world in whereas if we kind of you know think about what we can add in that just opens up a world of opportunity it opens our world up everything becomes more positive you know more additive and that's kind of instead of restricting let's think about what we can add into our day because we want to add in goodness whether that's you know whole foods instead of EPFs whether that's more steps more water maybe an earlier bedtime it sounds so simple and as we said before as simple as often the thing that gets you most of the way there um and not to panic right it's it's it's not worth panicking over you know yourself if there is a reason why you feel this way we can just as you said go back to regular programming and you'll be back before you know it so for someone who wants a reset then that's going to last for more than two weeks that's not going to make them feel restricted and that's gonna yeah end up resulting in the overall change that they want where should they start support your foundations you know drink enough water aim for two to two and a half liters a day get your steps in um like aim for 10k steps and if that seems too too far bring it down to what feels manageable and just start adding in over time you know we want to as i said before meet you where you are not kind of completely take on the weight of the world we want to to start making progress as well as that it's you know getting your regular meal times in if you're skipping breakfast and then you're you're having you know cravings in the afternoon let's link those kind of signals together bring in a good breakfast have a good lunch and a dinner and then just see how you're going from there getting to bed early is so boring because there's so such good tv i'm like you know at 9 p.m i'm screens off and then up to bed and read for an hour and then try get to sleep and that really just sets the tone for the next day because our hunger hormones are impacted by our cortisol levels which again are impacted by our sleep hormones so if we get to bed early our cortisol levels the next morning are going to be in a happy median that has a positive effect on the hunger hormones the next day so we're less cravings less less hunger outside of the normal windows so all of those things combined uh you know they might sound quite light but overall that is a really good reset and that is a really good foundation for health that is sustainable and obviously science-led as well but something that you know is simple enough to kind of work towards instead of you know cutting lots of things out or training for a half marathon in a week it's so funny how many times we have to hear the simple things and we just go oh that's too simple as in or we just listen to that and it's like yeah but I've tried that I've tried that it's like have you tried consistently doing all of those things because that was me over and over and over again and I think that I've always been you know I've always been kind of into different sorts of fitness and all of this but until the last year I've never been truly consistent on this variety of different things like getting good sleep getting steps in before even thinking about the workouts I'm doing like it was so easy to be like oh if I do this specific thing am I gonna get to there realistically it's like well as you said those foundations unless you are getting good sleep getting your steps in eating regular balanced meals for me as well particularly having high protein meals that you know aren't solely carbohydrates or lacking fiber or any of those things that are going to give me a huge blood sugar spike and then a crash and all of this I was trying to do all of the things around those things without actually just being like until you do those things don't even ask to go to the next level absolutely just don't even try yeah exactly and i think it's so easy to listen to this and be like i've heard this i've heard this it's like well have you done it yeah and that's i say that because that's me i don't say that because i'm above that yeah um but i think one of the things that we hear a lot around that as well is metabolism and the concept of metabolism and what boosts metabolism i would love to know from you what actually does boost metabolism and what has no scientific backing there are a few things that boost metabolism We've got kind of two sides to our metabolism, the burn state and then the kind of growth state.

21:53And you will know that protein helps growth, muscle building and all of that. When it comes to the burn state, there are a lot of things that support it, like, you know, chili flakes. It sounds really strange, but it does actually help that kind of ignite the fire, I suppose, in a sense. And I'm not just saying chili flakes. But, you know, there are different things like exercise, obviously, is the best thing for kind of igniting your metabolism in a sense. But, you know, there are other supplements, but I don't really like to get into that because I think that food is often the best first kind of approach when it comes to supporting your metabolism.

22:30But as well as that, it's about kind of having your body in a state of safety as well, like reducing inflammation that supports your metabolism. and getting into that rhythm that we're talking about because our body kind of thrives in a safety, in a rhythm so that, you know, there is consistency in there that it has, you know, it knows when it's getting fed, it knows when it's exercising, it knows when it's resting, that kind of thing. Again, it's also trying and seeing what works for you. I'm not saying all sorts of gimmicky things, but I think particularly when you said that, like these things can support metabolism, can boost metabolism.

23:10chili flakes and also not being in an inflamed state i know that chili flakes make me inflamed so it's also about like understanding your body and kind of this thing might work for someone else but just because you see it online does not necessarily mean that it's going to work for you and as someone who also works with supplements and like it's so it's it almost cannot be expressed enough how much things need to be like until you've got those foundations stop turning to things that feel quick because if they feel quick and you're doing none of the rest of the stuff it's not going to help like I've been the first to say with all my PCOS stuff for example I've been like over the past year and a half I've changed every single part of my life and not in a kind of like big overhaul well actually yes in a big overhaul but in a gradual overhaul I did it like three months at a time but like supplementation on top of that until you've actually done the groundwork and just like making sure you're doing like it's just it's not going to get you anywhere near where you want to be you have to start doing other things first it is that baseline it is that foundation and without that we don't have a launch pad for anything else it is and we said it before it's like that baseline that foundation is going to get you 90 of the way there when you have that your body feels safe it starts to work with you and not against you and you start to get it I also think it's about tuning into your body and building that trust back up because you know we talked about the diet culture kind of hangover that we're kind of I feel like we're living in again and we kind of sometimes and this is a broad word we but I think we tend to look externally for guidance on what's best for our body when what we need to do is turn that inward and just really reconnect with those signals build that trust back in your body and it is a slow process sometimes you know progress is slow but slow progress lasts in my opinion and instead of kind of yeah looking for the quick fixes it's more about that sustainability what is something that I can do that I know I can do day in day out that will lead me to where I want to be and just aligning our daily habits to our long-term goals like it's only a matter of time it's it's not a matter of if it's a matter of when and you know we could talk about the chili flakes we could talk about you know other supplements or or what that are you know metabolic kind of you know fire starters or whatever you want to call it but you're so right it's it's about having those foundations in place and really meeting yourself where you are that's that kind of like individual approach kind of way because you are different than me you know what what works for you might not work for me might not work for the next person and it is learning that kind of getting to know yourself and building that trust back up in yourself if you know if that is working with a practitioner if your budget allows for that that's amazing if not there are such there are simple steps that you can take that will just benefit your long-term health and get you towards where you want to be as well.

26:20So looking at that and looking at the kind of day-to-day approach to how to improve your health and improve how you're feeling and all of that what would you say is the kind of ideal plate for stable energy levels and going back to work in January and feeling good and not like you're kind of up and down all the time? There's a really simple kind of breakdown of a plate. Half of your plate with vegetables or salad depending on what you want. a quarter of your plate good quality protein that could be chicken like oily fish is a really great one obviously for hormone support and everything like that um and then a quarter of your plate slow releasing carbohydrates those are carbohydrates that will be high in fiber as well um or a lower gl that means that the rate at which the energy is released into your bloodstream is lower or slower than say a higher uh gl product like it's let's let's uh compare white potatoes to say brown rice that kind of difference but breaking down your plate into that half of half vegetables quarter protein quarter uh slow releasing carbohydrates is the way to go and you know that's just thinking about that in ratios as well if that isn't your meal if you're not actually eating off a plate and you're like making a salad thinking about those ratios um is going to help you have that blood sugar support throughout the day.

27:37And what's your take generally? Because I think it is a bit of a hot take right now. What's your take generally on eating for a blood sugar balance? I really rate it. I do rate it. Because it's not something to get bogged down in. It's all about context in your day, really, isn't it? Because some days you're going to have back-to-back meetings and it's just about keeping your energy kind of stable because that's going to help you perform your best in those meetings. but overall blood sugar balance I think is a really great approach because it essentially is just supporting those energy levels that help us perform our best it supports our stable mood it impacts our stress levels as well in a positive way it supports healthy inflammation levels as well so it's just a great kind of daily routine to get into because it has so many benefits do You know what was a real hidden benefit for me as well, like when I changed to eating for my blood sugar, was that I was no longer thinking of things in terms of quantity.

28:37And I was thinking of things in terms of other, I guess, other metrics. So what I used to do and I guess have always done, as with a lot of other people, is try and make sure that my meal is a certain amount kind of like healthy and not too many calories generally. And of course, calories in versus calories out. Like, you know, whatever. but I think that I hadn't realized how much inflammation and blood sugar spikes were creating these different symptoms in my body that were nothing to do with weight gain and yet were making me feel a lot more inflamed hold a lot more water weight and retention generally and I started looking at things for example I wouldn't necessarily grab something that was a pure carb for a snack I would add something yeah which always in the past I thought about how do I make this as small as possible.

29:23Like not always I've, you know, had times where I've had a good relationship with food, but it, it's not always been smooth sailing. And rather than looking at something and being like, Oh, I cannot have that. That is too big. I would look at it and be like, is that the right blood sugar balance? No, I need to get some protein in there. And so I was adding rather than removing. And actually that was really refreshing for me for the first time ever. I was like, God, rather than thinking of this snack purely in terms of like how many calories I was thinking of it as the balance to protein to carbs generally and I was like wow what a new way of thinking and eating and it became almost like fun again and it became something where I was no longer looking to how do I make things as small as possible and that really managed to break me out of a lot of the diet culture ways of thinking that's so so positive like that I love that I'm smiling right now because that's what I try to help people do like with my content and everything It is just breaking through that kind of linear view of food as, you know, reducing it down to its energy values and into the calories.

30:27There's so much more to life than calories. And by adding things in, you are just opening up your possibilities and your world and getting excited about food again. And it's quite creative, I think, when you think, I know, obviously, we're thinking about a snack. It's not that creative. Get over yourself. I love it. It's my art. I am an artist and my passion is snacks. Oh God, maybe. But it can be quite creative. If you're building a meal for your partner or your family or your friends over, it's like, how can I make this as supportive as possible? Because it is a love language as well. And it's a love language to yourself.

31:07How can I help myself feel my best? How can I support myself? Because, you know, you're only constant in this life. and how you experience life is very directly impacted by food. So if we get confident with it and in love with it again and creative with it, we can really reap the benefits in the day-to-day and just kind of get excited about it again. Instead of something to fear, it's something to get excited about. I mean, I go to bed looking forward to breakfast. I don't know about you. I really wanted to make sure that we had a segment in this episode about kind of realistic, positive nutrition, but for busy people because I know a lot of people who listen to this podcast are busy they have all sorts of goals to reach and a lot of the time you know they might be food related but they absolutely know that food is going to tie into how they're feeling while trying to reach those goals and not feeling sluggish and all of that so first of all I'd like to ask what realistic kind of healthy eating looks like for someone who's always on the go well I think it's also having your environment set up really does help you a lot if you're a busy person um it's kind of going back to your system supporting you as well as you supporting your system so having the ingredients in your fridge and in your pantry is going to help you a lot but it's knowing um i mentioned it before but like having meals in mind that you know without any energy or mental input you can just whip up or you can grab on the go that kind of thing so whether that's you know running to your local sandwich shop I won't name names because there are many different brands out there but you know picking up something that you know is going to support you pairing it with maybe an egg pot to get that extra protein in that's going to be supportive another day maybe your energy is really dipping after a workout and you need something that's a bit more carbohydrate heavy, knowing to grab, you know, a sandwich on its own is going to support you in that sense.

33:04You know, it's kind of reading the signs that your bodies are giving you. But when it comes to like day-to-day eating, it would be, you know, having breakfast prepped if you can do that the night before. Something as simple as a chia pudding. If you don't have chia seeds, you can do overnight oats. A lot of the recipes are four ingredients max and you can prep them for days ahead. That just takes the sting out of the morning where maybe you're getting up at 5am or 6am commuting you have breakfast ready to go and then lunch as well maybe you don't have time to prep that but it's about going to your local you know lunch store or sandwich shop or whatever and knowing exactly what is going to support you in terms of getting the carbohydrates in your fiber and your protein um and then dinner as well you know make it really simple and just add in like we talked about you know having a spaghetti bolognese adding in beans adding in extra vegetables to the bolognese sauce that's gonna number one really satisfy the comfort levels after a really hard day but give you that protein give you those plant proteins that are going to really support you and help you feel your best you know and recover from the day and then go into prepare for night for a good night's sleep it's about making it as simple as possible and accessible as possible for you.

34:19And so what are some of your kind of favourite easy five, ten minute meals that are nutritionally sound? Oh, well, this is going to sound really unhealthy, but it's not. Recently, my kind of go-to, my favourites that are taking the comfort boxes as well as the flavour and a supportive eating kind of things are a cheese on toast combo, but with, you know, half say 40 grams cheddar cheese 40 grams cottage cheese with like a jalapeno relish mixed in on toast such a good hit after a rainy day long commute whatever you're feeling and then add in you know add in a good side salad on the side or maybe a mixed bean salad if you're if you're really lazy because those come in tins and I've got a few in my fan trick I quite like that you know that's a really good one obviously I've got a young son so we try to make mealtimes about you know having you know sitting down as a family and I try to make the same meals for him as for us just to make sure that he's getting exposed to more foods so you know I mentioned spaghetti bolognese before that's something that we rely on quite a bit a good chili a good curry and you know there are so many good recipes out there and it's just about tweaking it to your needs you know with my son I sometimes have to blend things down so that he doesn't get really picky about onions being in in a sauce um but it's about finding a recipe that you know love maybe it's one that you grew up with and tweaking it to fit your needs now so adding in some fiber where you can adding in a little bit more protein adding in some color just to make it more interesting and not bland i think that's the the general approach it's not something i think there's an element of flexibility that we need with our our food and with our routine because that makes it sustainable um but kind of knowing those little add-ins that you can do yeah and I think that that has always worked really well like in my head when I've tried to because I think a lot of the time for me it feels like there's always so much to do and so adding on like needing to cook a healthy dinner is just it's a lot on top of that and I think that anything that can take away that friction and take away that need to make more decisions is so important.

36:36We can often get like wrapped up in the idea that you need to have a breakfast that's really complicated and lovely and all of this. I, for my entire time at uni and would still do this again, I used to have an alco pot with a half a punnet of blueberries and just like would literally have that every day. If it works, it works. Yeah, and it worked for me and it was high protein and I literally would grab it on the way to the library. Sorry, not one deeper than the library, but needs fast. But I think especially with social media, it's really easy to think that like, oh, your dinner needs to look like this.

37:08And it's like, kind of be a tuna male little bean situation. Like super easy to do, tasty, all of that. And I think sometimes we overcomplicate things for ourselves because when we're doing something new or trying to do something right, we want to do it 100 % right rather than 80 % right or 60 % right, which is already 60 to 80 % better than you were originally. and I think that's easy to get kind of cooped up in what I've done when I've tried to make sure because I also when I used to hear this stuff I'd be like okay well I don't know a few recipes that are that healthy I what I like to do is make sure I'm learning a new recipe every week so whether that's like on a Saturday or whether that is on a day where I know I'm finishing not too late or whatever it might be and then just knowing which ones are my favorites and repeating those so that I actually get to learn them off by heart and know that I then always have those ingredients it's like you might listen to something and think well I don't know this it's like great this is the perfect time to start don't try and do five new recipes a week but just like one a week or a month yeah and that's where you get the love back for it as well that's where you know if you don't if it's at the weekend after you know you've got space to actually enjoy it and bring it into your rotation okay so we've talked about all of this and we've talked about how to make sure you're I guess going into January with this reset mindset instead of a diet mindset if you're wanting to do that, don't change anything if you also don't want to do that.

38:31But going into it with that kind of approach, what about when January gets busier and busier and everyone's back at work and February's rolling around and all of these goals and the idea of overhauling your nutrition or getting it better feels a lot less exciting? How do we stay consistent then? I think it's bringing it back to why you're doing it in the first place and just reminding yourself of that. That's the overarching thing. But actually staying consistent with it is making it kind of fun again. Like we talked about, you know, bringing in new recipes. That's a really great way of keeping it fresh.

39:07And, you know, bringing, if you're living with people, bringing them along the journey with you and making it into a group situation that makes it more social maybe as well. So you're not on your own in the deepest, darkest moments of January and going into February. But it is just reminding yourself why you're doing it in the first place. and January is the hardest, well, February maybe might be the harder one, but, you know, January, February are the hardest times to kind of stick to things, I think, because, you know, pathetic fallacy or whatnot, but the weather is just so encroaching that, you know, we're trying to get motivated ourselves.

39:43And if we can push past that and just kind of make it more interesting, not reinvent the wheel at all, just small steps, even if it's one kind of bit of progress a week that's still progress that's still more than you were doing say last week and and as well as that you know we're talking about reset and staying consistent within that whole system you need to build in the flexibility and build in the the kind of um the fun in it so whether that's you know you're trying to eat at home most nights a week but going out with friends and having that connection aspect because that's really important to keep our motivation up um we need to build in flexibility so that you you feel like there is some give in it that you can stay that it is sustainable right because it's not a diet it is a lifestyle change so it should be sustainable through your life and you know motivation peaks and troughs um it's not it's a finite kind of source it's it's gonna come and go so just kind of building in those moments where you know you get your energy givers back whether that's hanging with friends maybe that's going out on a night out maybe it's seeing family uh for a roast on sunday you know building those into your system so that you feel like this is the most sustainable approach for you i think that's how i'd kind of run it and speaking of i am someone who is busy and on the go but i'm trying to eat healthy so i i thought we could do a meal deal evaluation as part of this episode because I always get to the meal deal aisle and I want to be healthy but I don't know what to get so I have three different meal deals here that I would like you to rate out of 10 I'm going to assemble them okay so I've rated the meal deal aisle and I have a few curve balls because I would like to get as much out of this meal deal consultation as possible so I have it split between drinks snacks meals and crisps which I know are snacks but there was just a lot to have in one row um so i'm going to speak it through for the audio people basically um so in the drink section we have super smoothie innocent berry energize we have a coca-cola full fat um and then we also have a wild berry kombucha in the snack section we have a deliciously ella um dipped almonds i actually love these naked bar pepperami grenade bar fridgerators roasted chicken bits um protein pudding chocolate edition and a uh zero percent far yay i believe it's pronounced it looks like fake for anyone else who refuses to pronounce it like that then the other snacks in the crisp section i have sweet and salty proper corn um and paprika max crisps um then in the meal section i have covent garden creamy tomato soup i have chicken and tomato basil pasta and I have curveball a homemade sandwich um for comparison just for fun so I think this is a chicken sandwich there's some salad in it so I'm gonna have that as my main homemade you know exactly what's going in it good source of protein wholemeal bread really great then as a side Fia and I to be honest I rather the five percent one because it just tastes better than the zero percent is there anything against the zero percent in terms of the ingredients nothing in there no not not at all it's just you know lower fat uh it still has uh probiotics in there which is great uh good source of protein really great source of protein um but sometimes the the flavor does kind of you know fall short so maybe a few berries if you've got you know extra budget for a drink oh I think I'd go for the kombucha but that's that's a personal that's a personal preference um I think as well within your meal it has to tick all your boxes when it comes to you know satisfying you you know obviously you want to get some support in here which which these two are giving they've got fiber we've got protein um and you know some probiotic health benefits in this but if I was able within a meal deal to like have an add-on then I probably would add in the chocolate almonds just because you need a bit of happiness and these are a source of happiness okay so now you've chosen your ideal meal deal for your reasons i'd love to go through and rate the different options um for drinks snacks and meals um just yeah to be able to give some more advice for people who also get meal deal aisle um decision fatigue so on the drinks we obviously have the super berry smoothie the kombucha and the coca-cola could you take these do some rating from us now this isn't to like demonize or kind of criticize anyone for their choices everyone will choose different things to support themselves depending on what their day it's all about context of your day on in isolation things are going to be more supportive than others so the berry smoothie is really supportive in the sense that it's going to give you a lot of nutrients however it is on the higher side with carbohydrates so it's not going to be very supportive in terms of your energy regulation so if I was to have this I'd pair it with something with protein to make sure that we're kind of balancing out the energy but very good for like for nutrients right you're getting a lot of different nutrients from this coke this would be a not so supportive choice however in the context of your day if you're having really balanced meals and this is like a treat that's fine because we need treats well not that we're dogs but you know we need treats and like some kind of form of happiness in our food to keep us going if coke is up for you that's fine if you're in the context of your meals you are you know being really aware and getting lots of nourishment in in that sense kombucha it's i i i love kombucha myself and i think this is a really supportive this has no sugar in it um which again is going to support you it's got some gut benefits but some people don't like the taste and that's completely fine so it's when it comes to choosing your items there should be no guilt no kind of pressure you have different reasons for picking your drinks your snacks your mains so it's about what works in the context of your day but if i was to kind of rate them these two are very supportive lots of supportive let's do mains next so we have a tomato soup we have a chicken and tomato pasta this is actually a chicken sandwich um from an unnamed member of our team but i would like to pretend that it's not a chicken sandwich just because otherwise i think they could be quite similar because they're all chicken options right so for sake of argument this is a ham and cheese sandwich okay perfect um so i actually think that the pasta and chicken is a really good option because number one, it's, okay, you've got a source of protein in there.

46:52You've got some pasta, which is going to support you. It is white pasta, but it has been cooled. It's in the fridge. Also, that's going to increase the resistant starch, which supports your blood sugar even more. And it's got some, you know, it's got basil. It's going to taste really good, I think. I know I haven't had it before, but I assume. With the soup, a really good option for a quick lunch, like what takes five minutes to make. it says source of fiber on here but i would say yeah it's not that great on the fiber side um that's marketing when you're looking at packaging just be aware of all those claims because it's always good just to look at the nutritional values and see in the breakdown because a lot of marketing claims nowadays it was protein maybe last year and this year it's probably going to be more fiber um but good in the context of a meal i'd say if you're pairing that with um you could even add a scoop of greek yogurt into it when it's made when it's made to make it a little bit more protein rich um but in the context of your day could be really nice and supportive this is my kind of top tier one i think how much you sandwich on whole wheel bread i i would nearly say one two three all foods have a place in your diet it's just about how you pair them that makes it supportive it's about context and that's really key when it comes to choosing your food so if you one day just want the soup go for the soup if you want a sandwich fine it's like what can you add in to make it more supportive I love that now on to the mass of snacks so personally when I'm going for snacks in a meal deal this is where I would get my quote-unquote balance because I would rather get a healthier savory option because I like a good snack but that's neither here nor there that's just a little anecdote on me little tidbit yeah love it you're welcome if I was to choose out of this being in isolation the best kind of choices which of the best choices again the FI is just so supportive it's really it works in so many contexts in my idea now obviously there will be people who are maybe lactose intolerant and that wouldn't be an option for them And so if that isn't an option for you, maybe naked bars are really great, minimally processed, lots of good fibre in there.

49:15So that might be a good option as well. I haven't tried these yet, but I might steal these. You can take them. Amazing. They're yours. That is your payment for this episode. Congratulations. Sure is. Good rate. I'm a cheap date. These are really great. I quite like this. And obviously this is me making assumptions, but because it's from Ellen Mills, I'm assuming these are really great. And they are. Almonds are a great source of protein. Chocolate, great source of joy. So what more would you want? I think with all these things, popcorn, sweet and salty, not my vibe, but really good source of fiber.

49:51You know, popcorn is such a simple snack, but you get so much fiber from there. And fiber, obviously, we hear a lot about protein being really great for stabilizing our energy levels. But fiber is really, it plays a huge part in there. So if we can up our fiber with snacks like these, that's a really great way of kind of introducing it into our diet. It's also really easy to make your own popcorn, which I know this isn't rocket science either. But I've only recently made my own and I was like, wow, OK, that's me done. Never buying them again. OK, what else? Now with pepperami, I've, again, never tried this.

50:25Okay, so it says 100 % pork on it, but then you go to the ingredients list and it is not 100 % pork. So that's a bit misleading. And it would be considered an ultra-processed food, which we want to kind of weave out of our diet rather than introduce in. So I've just arranged these in order of support, I suppose. Starting with the fire yogurt, going down through by the almonds, the naked bar, protein pudding, which looks pretty good to be honest. the sweet and salty popcorn the protein bar down to the fridgerators the crisps and the pepperoni and a lot of these foods this isn't me putting shade on any of these foods because these can be functional at different times a protein bar if you're grabbing a train and there's nothing available you just have to grab it's better to have something like that in you that's sustaining you and fueling you rather than going hungry so it's all in context I just want to kind of emphasize that because there's so much demonization and divisive language around food and I think all foods have a place in your diet if you need them and if you build them in a really supportive way but again in isolation this would kind of be my choice process I suppose.

51:46It's easy to think that particularly with all this talk around ultra processed foods it's easy to think that absolutely everything you'd get in a supermarket would not be great and then that rules out and and is so kind of demoralizing and just demotivating for everyone who's on the go who's not able to grab I can't bring a cool bag of all my meals round for the whole day and like that's the only way I could have home-cooked meals all day um and I just think that it's actually really comforting to look at options as a different things will bring different types of balance to your meal. But also there are great options that are in supermarkets.

52:26And it's just sometimes about how you balance them out with the rest of the meal. 100%. And the rest of your day. Some meals might not be balanced and that's okay. You need to build in that flexibility and not put too much pressure on yourself because that's not going to get you anywhere fast. So I have two final questions for you. One of them is what I ask everyone and the other one is something that I'd really like to hear from you. what is one nutrition myth that you would like to be deleted from the internet well there are a few but one that kind of sticks out in my mind is the narrative about eating your skincare um that you might have seen last year the carrot salad that went viral because it was claiming that it was you're eating your retinol and although it's not it's a bit of a half lie I think that it's important to give people the correct information when it comes to food and although carrots are high in beta carotene which it can be converted in your body depending on your genetic makeup into retinol and support glowing skin it's not the full truth and I think why it stuck with struck a chord with me is because I feel like the wellness industry has a there's a red thread going through it where it over promises and under delivers and that for me just stuck in my mind as an example of that I feel like we need to give people the correct information so that they can make informed choices um so I suppose that might be a bit of a I don't know I really got a I don't know kind of puppeteering example but it kind of sings through to me and what were the other ones just a few quick fire a few that you don't like a few nutrition myths well okay it's not a myth in a sense but there is the language around around um say weight loss you know calories in versus calories out is you know how we have to be in a calorie deficit to lose weight however there is a way of doing it in an enjoyable way way that you can actually feel good and that's where you know blood sugar balance and proper nourishment and education around how to build a balanced plate and nourish yourself properly with lots of healthy fats um and whatnot comes into place so i think for me i just i i never want to hoodwink someone and i feel like a lot of uh language online around food and around nutrition can be oversimplified for maybe clickbait reasons but um it leads people It keeps people stuck, I think.

55:05And I just want to open up people's kind of experience of nutrition to help them feel their best and, you know, get clarity rather than feel any confusion. Yeah, no, I think that's very important. And you can clearly tell from all of your content and how that all comes through that it's, yeah, a much more positive approach to nutrition, which I love. And before we finish, I'd love to know from you what the best piece of advice is that you've ever been given. slow down to speed up. I think we've mentioned it in this podcast, but in every aspect of my life, whether that was retraining to be a nutritional therapist and leaving my career in pharma or, you know, my fertility journey, becoming a mom, you know, building up my brand and everything.

55:49Slowing down to speed up has really been something that has been ringing in the back of my mind, almost like a little bit of a mantra or maybe a safety barrier. but I think you can apply it to every aspect of your life I think we're we're constantly trying to keep going and we talked about it at the start you know there is a a slight uh dopamine hit in achieving but there's also a calmness in slowing down and it gives you a lot of consideration and yeah just helps you in the long run yeah I love that well thank you so much for joining me you've been fantastic and thank you for all your wealth of information well thank you for having me it's been a pleasure