If you find yourself hanging around 340 Kings Road some time between now and 23 August, make sure you stop at this particular destination to check out the Nana Nice Cream pop-up shop before it closes, taking its guilt-free treats with it.
‘What is nice cream?’, you ask – well, it’s ice cream made entirely from fruits and vegetables, mainly frozen banana and avocado. With a few other bits added – such as berries, vanilla and cacao powder, there’s three different flavours to choose from, all from recipes by chef and food blogger Margie Broadhead. It’s dairy-free, gluten-free, vegan – basically all of the good stuff, but with the sweet creamy taste of the bad stuff – so, the dream.
While you can buy tubs at various stockists around the place, the pop up undoubtedly adds a fun little flourish and toppings, so it’s well worth checking out. What’s more, there’s a bunch (bunch, bananas – yeah?) of great events taking place, such as a chat with the folk from Nana, Pip & Nut and Punch Foods on how to start your own food business on 22 August.
Looks like your overpriced 99 with a flake has been outdone this time…
To anyone who’s been in the same room as me and a breakfast buffet, you’ll probably have seen me loading my plate up with those little frustratingly small Nutella pots, and pouring them onto charred bits of toast that I’ve managed to burn in those weird bread conveyor-belts that seem to be in all hotels these days (seriously, whatever happened to toasters? I digress). My point being: I really love Nutella. So much I don’t allow myself to buy it at home, because it would last a day – but, on holiday, calories from gloriously thick chocolate spread don’t count. Obviously.
So, it was very good news when the guys at Wyldsson – purveyors of delicious Promix fruit and nut snacks in a tube – got in touch to tell me about their new Hazelnut & Cocoa Spread – the description of which sounds very much like my beloved toast mate, except, they tell me, it’s healthy.
I”m a bit suspicious of anything that tastes sweet and chocolatey trying to tell me that it’s healthy, but the facts behind this stuff back it up. For starters, it contains no palm oil – which has been linked to cardiovascular disease – so there’s a plus. There’s also 12.8g protein per 100g, 29g carbs, 38g fat and 528 calories. That’s compared to Nutella’s Nutritional info: per 100g it has 546 calories, 6g protein, 57.6g carbs and 31.6g fat. As you can see, while there’s not much difference in calories, Wyldsson’s spread has twice as much protein and almost half the carbs, meaning it’ll likely keep you fuller for longer, won’t be so quickly stored as fat in the body. WIN.
It also has a nice consistency – whereas Nutella is smooth and gloopy, Wyldsson’s spread is thick and chunky, ie. perfect toast slathering consistency…
And for a real treat, stuff a little teaspoon of it into a medjool date, then scoff. Anyone else salivating?
If you’ve not heard of TRAINFITNESS before, that’s probably because the company has mainly spent the last nearly 20 years putting on and developing fitness-based courses, but they’ve recently branched out, and have released a free e-book filled with tasty, healthy recipes.
The focus is eating nutrition-packed food that’ll please your tastebuds and keep you full, and as there’s a macro breakdown for each one (ie. the composition of protein, fat and carbohydrates), it’s great for anyone who’s tracking their diet on apps like myfitnesspal, or just wants to be a bit more aware of what they’re eating.
The meals are split into breakfasts, lunches, mains and desserts – my personal faves being the delicious looking Asian tuna with stirfry veg, the banana and peanut butter sugar-free flapjacks, and finally the green breakfast omelette (pg14 – bloody great person submitted that one).
So, if you want some more eating ideas, just click here, enter your email address, and the e-book will be sent over to you ready to download. It’s all actually free – you won’t be asked to subscribe to anything or spammed with emails, honest.
Whether it’s a new year’s resolution or just a concerted effort to try and shield your arteries from the hoards of burger joints around London, going out to restaurants can be perilous when you’re trying to eat healthily.
Save avoiding all social eating situations or trying to sneak in a Tupperware box with you (don’t even try this one – it’s weird), you could instead just target the places around the city that are serving healthy dishes.
One such place is Grill Market – which now has two outposts, its flagship restaurant in Holborn and one in the same home as Lomax Chelsea. Specialising in superfood salads, grills, pre and post-training meals and protein smoothies.
Kindly inviting me to go along to have a taste (the selfless things I do for this blog, honestly), I asked if they could recommend a particular dish. The answer? ‘You have to try the protein pancakes’ (£8.40 eat in/£7 takeaway). So I did.
Grill Market protein pancakes
Oh. My. God. What you can’t see here is that there’s a hidden layer of peanut butter sprinkled with blueberries in the middle, along with the whipped Greek yoghurt, fruit compote and fresh berries. I probably count eating as one of my favourite things to do, and this stack beat my stomach into submission. It was incredible. Do try them. And if you’re wondering what’s going on with the jug of water on the table – that’s a big slab of charcoal, which removes impurities and is a nice touch to free tap water.
Want more? Here are five other healthy London restaurants worth checking out:
The Detox Kitchen (Fitzroy Place and Kingly Street Deli) – You can get deliveries to make sure you never have to think about what to eat again, but if you’re just after the one meal these delis go big on plant-based foods with lean protein, and offer a menu of fresh juice and salads, grab + go fridges for food on-the-go and eat-in options such as miso aubergine and griddled sweet potato.
Wild Food Cafe (14 Neal’s Yard) – This vegetarian cafe/restaurant describes itself as ‘raw-centric’ – more than one member of my family would balk ‘how can it be a restaurant if they’re not even going to cook anything for you?’, but it’s supposedly healthier. And the food is anything but boring – think olive, shiitake and quinoa burgers, squash curry and wild mushroom ceviche. If you love it, they also do courses.
Image courtesy of Instagram
The Good Life Eatery (59 Sloane Avenue) – Just being seen sipping on one of their shakes is a bit of a status symbol, but the food’s pretty great as well – there’s acai breakfast bowls, superfood salads, warm bowls of veg and meat and chia puddings. Oh, and as there’s a no WiFi rule in the hope that you speak to each other, you might – heaven forbid – have to eat your food without taking a picture of it first.
Photo courtesy of Instagram
The Mae Deli (21 Seymour Place) – If you’re a fan of Deliciously Ella’s recipes, you’ll be please to know they’ve all come to life at her Marylebone deli – lots of fresh, tasty dishes that are all dairy, gluten and meat-free. It’s so new, there’s no website yet. But you can salivate over the Instagram account instead.
Photo courtesy of Instagram
Roots & Bulbs (various locations) – Don’t worry, the number of bulbs you’re expected to eat is minimal. There’s an extensive choice of juices and smoothies to choose from, as well as dishes such as a peanut butter and banana on rye bread (YES), London eggs – poached eggs on English muffin with honey glazed ham and mustard maple sauce, plus snacks such as an R&B green tea bar and an R&B fireball – fruit and nuts with a smattering of chilli flakes. Menus vary at each outlet.
“Sorry, I can’t come out for dinner – I’m not eating food right now.”
I never thought those words would come out of my mouth. As someone who tends to feed every couple of hours – I have so many snacks shoved in my desk drawer at work just to ward off the possibility that I might feel a bit peckish at some point in the day – the thought of not eating anything for three days was, well, unthinkable.
However, after spending Christmas nearly getting cramp from unwrapping so many Celebrations wrappers the idea of giving my poor body a break and detox seemed like it might be worth a shot. A lot of companies offer juice cleanses, but as Plenish has a three-day cleanse is suitable for beginners, is low-sugar and mainly vegetable-based, I went for that one.
If you’re thinking of doing the same thing, here’s what you need to know:
Photo courtesy of Instagram
You’ll need a roomy fridge
The juices will be delivered all in one go on the day you’ve decided to start the cleanse, and need to go in a fridge, stat. I got mine delivered to the office, and didn’t really consider the logistics of fitting 18 bottles of juice into the communal fridge – luckily, as I started this on a Tuesday, it wasn’t rammed full of beer and everything just about fit.
Choose your cleanse days carefully
Check your calendar before you decide on which days you’ll be doing your cleanse – obviously, you won’t want any meals out planned, and you can’t drink alcohol or coffee either, so a lot of the usual forms of socialising will all be out of the question. Unless you’re happy to just sit in a restaurant drinking water, watching as other people eat. Like a psycho.
Cancel any big gym sessions
There’s a lot of advice and FAQs on the Plenish website, and in the little booklet that gets sent with your juices, where it says you’ll be fine to carry on exercising while on the cleanse. In my experience, it’s unlikely you’ll feel up to it. A bit of walking, maybe some yoga is probably going to be as much as you can muster – I attempted to play a netball game, but didn’t end up moving around much (I mean, considering my skill level, this was probably better for my team anyway). Each night I was doing the cleanse, I ended up crawling into bed at 10pm, and found it a struggle to get up even after a solid 8.5 hours sleep – which is a lot more than usual. So it’s safe to say you’re not going to be smashing any weights while you’re powered by juice.
You will be hungry…
But it’s not the type of hunger you get with normal food, just a vague background thought that it would be quite nice to chew something. I was expecting to be teetering on the edge of proper ‘hanger’ the entire time, irritatedly snapping at people and generally being a nightmare – but that wasn’t the case. Well, no worse than usual.
…And cold….
So very cold. Digestion and eating warm food does a lot to keep you warm. Get all your knitwear.
…And tired
I don’t know if there’s some kind of sedative in the final drink of the day (the ‘Build’ juice with almond milk, dates, cashew, vanilla, cinnamon, Himalayan sea salt, filtered water), but on all three days I found it impossible to stay awake much past 10pm, and then found it just as much of an effort to get up the next day. It was a bit weird – but, on the website the cleanse is recommended for people who are experiencing trouble sleeping, so it might well help with that.
But at least you’ll get a fancy glass straw
This comes with the juice delivery – I’m not sure of its significance, but I got oddly attached to it, like a comfort blanket.
You will probably lose weight
The six juices give you roughly 1,100 calories a day, which is likely to be a lot less than you usually consume, so maths’ suggests that you will therefore lose weight. Looking into this a little more, it’s likely that weight is going to be water – mainly from glycogen stored in your muscles, which will be restored once you’re eating normally again. My scales told me I lost 3kg, which is quite a lot in three days, but that’s probably evened out after a week of being excited to eat food again.
You’ll never appreciate chewing more
Once your juice-drinking days are up, you’re free to go back on solids. As your stomach has only been dealing with fruit and veg, it’s advised that you stick to much of the same for the next few days, slowly reintroducing foods like grains, meat and dairy so as not to overload your system. Despite the food restriction, those first meals will probably be the most fantastic thing you’ve eaten for a long time.
But don’t go overboard too fast
It should go without saying that going on a night out when you literally haven’t eaten for three days is a really bad idea. Not that this stopped me. You’ll get ridiculously pissed, have a pretty terrible hangover the next day, and will have basically undone any good effects your cleanse had just achieved. Numpty.
Overall, I can’t honestly say I felt any better or worse after completing this juice cleanse. All of the juices were really tasty, which helps, contain a lot of veg (limiting how sugary they are), and my stomach seemed less bloated. But as for having more energy and feeling ‘better’? Not so much. Giving it a try for three days is unlikely to do anyone any harm, and you never know, it might work for you.
Anyone with Instagram, Twitter or just eyes is likely to have born witness to the unstoppable rise of breakfast in the last couple of years. From once meaning a bowl full of sloppy sugary cereal (that you would inevitably insist on sprinkling further sugar on), it can now pretty much be classed as the best meal of the day – I’ll aim to have at least two breakfasts at the weekend.
This is especially so since the food bloggers and nutritionists got hold of the meal and came up with all sorts of ways to cram in as many food groups and nutrients as possible, while still maintaining the breakfast traditions – spoon, bowl, pancakes etc. While it would be beneficial to have a chicken breast and veg first thing in the morning, few people are likely to be able to get their heads or stomachs around it after a lifetime Cornflakes conditioning.
So cue unlikely coloured smoothies, porridges with more toppings than a pizza and stacks of pancakes that iHop would be proud of. But how easy are they for a muggle (like myself) to make, and are they really up to the hype? I investigated…
Overnight Oats
This is basically cold porridge that you mix up, stick in the fridge, and it thickens overnight. It sounds like witchcraft, but it does actually work. Now, cold congealed porridge sounds like a tough sell and I was pretty unconvinced by it at first, but – be it the various toppings, or the fact that yoghurt’s involved with a creaminess that somehow makes it all work – it’s pretty delicious. It’s also much quicker than regular porridge and takes oaty microwave explosions out of the mix, which is great when you’re in a rush to get out the door. Here’s how to make it:
1. Mix half a cup of rolled oats with half a cup of milk (I use almond) and half a cup of plain yoghurt (I use soya), then add a tablespoon of chia seeds – these thicken it up and add hit #1 of nutrients.
Overnight oats – mix your base ingredients
So far, so unappealing, I know. But, give everything a mix together, add some frozen berries on the top and leave the bowl in the fridge overnight. When you get up in the morning, this is what you’ll find…
Post-soak overnight oats
The oats have softened, the chia seeds have swollen and the fruit has defrosted. Before you dig in, I can recommend adding a tablespoon of flax seeds, as well as some pumpkin and sunflower seeds for some extra fibre, fats and protein to make sure you start the day well-fuelled. Now, doesn’t this look tasty?
Voila, overnight oats are served
Protein pancakes
Pancakes with no flour or sugar, but with protein powder and banana instead? I saw this recipe on The Body Coach and really didn’t think it would ever cook, but it did! And it’s incredibly easy to make – just grab a blender and chuck in an egg, a ripe banana, a scoop of vanilla protein powder, half a cup of oats, then whizz it all up.
The beginning of protein pancakes
Heat up a little coconut oil in a frying pan and tip out a pancake-sized dollop – you’ll probably have room to cook about three at a time…
Mmm pancakes
When they feel firm enough (which actually doesn’t take long at all), flip them over and cook for a couple more minutes on the other side.
Nearly ready to eat…
Keep going until you’ve used up all of your pancake mixture – it goes a surprisingly long way – and make yourself a breakfast stack. Throw on some fruit and honey and you’re good to go.
Pancake stack complete
I must admit, these pancakes were so filling I had to eat them in two sittings (but they’re so tasty I couldn’t let any go to the bin!) The recipe suggests that they should be eaten after an intensive HiiT workout, and I think that would probably be for the best – with all those carbs and protein powder, don’t go making these every day…
Smoothie bowl
This was the one I was most intrigued by, and suspicious of. Taking Instagram by storm as people make weird and wonderful concoctions, pour them into bowls, and line up precise rows of fruit, seeds etc on top. I tried the same thing, and found it all to be quite fun, but a bit of a faff. For the recipe I tried out, you take your handy blender once more, and add in a good handful of spinach, 1 cup almond milk, 1.5 cups frozen mixed berries, half a banana, 1tsp honey – add the spinach and milk first and give a quick whizz before adding the rest, as it just helps break down the spinach stalks that you definitely don’t want stuck between your teeth.
Once everything’s mixed, tip it out into a bowl and add whatever toppings you fancy. I went with banana and a mix of seeds… Sort of wish I had some more fruit to hand for a bit more photographic diversity.
A finished fruity smoothie bowl
The verdict? Mixed. I love a smoothie for its ease and the fact that it’s a good way to sneak a load of fruit and veg in one go. But to then faff around putting it in a bowl seems to defeat the point a little. The eating experience was like eating cold, fruity soup – I still haven’t decided if this is pleasant or not – but the seeds did make for a welcome crunch. Like croutons…
I don’t think this one is going to become a regular thing for me, but maybe that’s just because I haven’t found the right recipe yet.
Quinoa porridge
That well-loved bowl of comforting, warm oats replaced by that couscous-type stuff that usually goes in salads? Full of milk? I did wonder what was wrong with the world. But nutrition consultant Alice Mackintosh (alicemackintosh.com) informed me it was an actual thing, and that quinoa porridge contains a lot more protein than the regular stuff, which will help keep you fuller for longer. And she was right. But you’ll have to forgo using the microwave, so it’ll take a bit longer to make.
Take half a cup of uncooked quinoa (give it a rinse as bits of grit sometimes lurk in there), and cook in a saucepan with half a cup of almond milk. When it’s reached a consistency you like, pour it into a bowl and add some toppings to up the nutrient content.
Loaded quinoa porridge will keep you full for a while
So there you have it – try them out and (hopefully) enjoy this whole new breakfast world.
Last weekend saw Be:Fit London take over London’s Business Design Centre for three days, and I went along on Saturday to see what it was all about. Having scoured the website beforehand and booked myself in for a class, I went with pretty high hopes – and they weren’t disappointed.
For anyone who didn’t make it there, here’s why you should definitely make the effort next year – it’s already announced it’ll be back 29 April-2 May 2016 – which is excellent news!
There was a really chilled out, friendly atmosphere around the place, with stalls you could wander around to chat and find out more about new products, give them a taste. Plus, as it’s set up by women, for women, there’s none of the male bravado that you might find in the weights room at the gym.
The brands all seem to have been carefully chosen to fit with the event’s message – all promoting eating well – yet tastily, having fun with exercise, and living healthily to feel better. It’s not about being skinny, or pressuring yourself to live on lettuce.
Pre-Elimin8or by Equinox
I only made it to one of the classes, but it was a brutal one! The Elimin8or class by Equinox was half an hour of circuit-style high intensity training, with about 100 other women in the room. It was tough, sweaty and also pretty hilarious. As Equinox is such a premium gym, it’s unlikely I’d ever have a chance to have tried one of its classes, so it’s a great way to see what exercise is out there. Then, there’s nothing stopping you from trying it yourself at home or the gym.
Purchases and freebies – there’s no such thing as too much healthy stuff
I left to go home with a slight case of sweat-hair, having met some really interesting people, new ideas and knowledge about how to better take care of myself – along with a couple of bags laden with samples, goodies and reading materials that I can’t wait to try out. Guilt-free shopping! Better than sitting at home watching another Netflix marathon, right?
In addition to Kim Kardashian’s arse and sleeping cats, Instagram can actually be a great resource for healthy eating and fitness advice. I personally try to steer clear from the hoards #fitspo accounts that just feature people with sub 10% body fat who never seem to sweat posing and flexing in front of a mirror – I find them more disheartening that inspirational.
The good news is there are loads of great accounts out there from people who share their tips, workout routines and recipes and give you something much better to aspire to. In no particular order, here are 10 of them…
Shauna is an Under Armour ambassador, and ‘lives the brand’ to an impressive extent – she’s currently doing a #SweatADay challenge which sees her sweating it out in a different challenging exercise every day, which she guides her followers through with a mix of still images and videos, from backboard taps (pictured), to medicine ball saws and jump squats. But the best thing? Each of her workout videos has an awesome hip-hop soundtrack that’s basically guaranteed to get you pumped.
While I personally prefer to do meal prep on a Sunday (well, when I get round to it), I won’t quibble with this account, which takes tupperware usage to a whole new level. There are bloody loads of ideas covering breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks and even how to put together and freeze ingredients for smoothies. Plus, there’s something oddly satisfying about seeing pictures of so much well-organised food – but maybe that’s just me…
You might recognise curly-haired Joe Wicks, Mr Body Coach himself, as he’s been popping up everywhere with his nutrition and fitness advice recently. His 165k Insta following is probably part of the reason, as it not only showcases the successful results of those following his 90 day Shift, Shape and Sustain plan, Joe’s own high intensity training routines and his distinctive chef skills, condensing loads of lean, healthy meal recipes into a few shouty seconds – often including “midget trees” (that’s broccoli to you and me).
This lady is hardcore. Personal trainer and author Julia Buckley ditched her previous fitness regime of spending hours pounding the pavements in long distance running for HIIT training with weights, and her ripped six pack kind of speaks for itself. With food, workout tips and videos (all done in her own front room with minimal equipment) and impressive before and after shots from those undertaking her 12 week online workout programme, she’s what ‘fitspiration’ should really be about.
This bio instantly appealed to me: “Health, wellness and travel without going crazy – because sometimes most of the way is good enough”. Finally someone who won’t make us feel bad about eating cake! The fact that the recipes and pictures are great only helps – you can learn how to make sweet beetroot crisps, healthy chocolate truffles and a whole load of smoothies.
For anyone who isn’t into weight training, and who doesn’t really know why or where to start, Jen Sinkler should be your answer. Her step-by-step videos are great for showing you how to perform heavy lifts, and her biceps are proof as to you why you should do them.
CrossFit coach and Women’s Health Next Fitness Star, Emily Schromm encourages you to “Be your own superhero”. I’m not sure if that warrants copying Superman’s confused layering system, but it’s a good motto nonetheless. If you want to know how to get a body like hers, she does a great job at documenting the work that goes into it – boxing, beautiful salads, big weights – and always with a huge smile. If you’re going to sweat, you may as well be happy about it.
Oh, and if you want to see what I’m up to on Instagram, come on over to @daniellerichardson13.I’m much less helpful, mind.
Perhaps one of the most over-used – and often wrongly used – hashtags on social media, the ‘clean eating’ trend and lifestyle has been a big theme of 2014. But what – apart from pictures of mounds of broccoli – does it actually mean in practice? I asked nutrition consultant Alice Mackintosh, who knows about these things.
“If you want to be 100% pure about it, clean eating would generally involve only choosing foods that offer you some form of goodness, and cutting out all those that either are either devoid of nutrients or could potentially be harmful to health,” she says. “The benefits of doing this properly are potentially very far-reaching and may support immunity, concentration, sleep, skin and athletic performance; as well as a host of over things that make us look and feel better.”
In other words, no Haribo.
Mackintosh’s explanation makes perfect sense, but if you’re wanting to eat more healthily and go searching for ‘clean eating’ recipes, be aware that the ‘cleanness’ can vary. “Anyone can hashtag food on Instagram and call it clean,” she says. “Clean eating is largely a subjective term because what is ‘clean’ to one person may not be to another.”
So where does that leave you? Just go for food that doesn’t look too different to how it occurs naturally. “Things that qualify are typically foods that haven’t been processed or overly refined,” explains Mackintosh. “Cutting these out should be the first step. Unrefined grains, fruits, vegetables, lean meat, fish, healthy oils, nuts and legumes all tend to feature heavily, so work to make these the predominant part of your diet.”
That might all sound easy enough, but what about when those Haribo cravings really dig in, leaving you sat rocking in the corner grinding your teeth? (Just me?) “The sustainability of ‘clean eating’ can be questionable,” admits Mackintosh. “People often find they go in all guns blazing and end up only sticking to it for 10 days, especially if they eat out or socialise. Aim to eat 80% clean, reserving the other 20% for things that may be a little less clean, and you may find the happy medium.”
Apple and peanut butter stack, courtesy of Sandee Bisson
The most common reasons for people resorting to unhealthy snacks tend to be along the lines of ‘I just need something quick’, ‘I can’t afford special ingredients from health food shops’, ‘I can’t be faffing around cooking for the sake of a snack’ – I’m paraphrasing, but you get the idea.
These five snacks make all of those excuses redundant, because they’re cheap, quick and easy, and they’ll keep you full until your next meal without any danger of a blood sugar spike. One for every day of your working week…
Apple and peanut butter. You can spend a bit of time and make it pretty – like in the architecturally impressive picture above – or, if you’re really in a rush, just slop a couple of tablespoons of peanut butter in a pot, grab an apple, and then just bit and slather when you get peckish. The apple will provide essential nutrients, while the peanut butter brings the protein that will keep you full for longer. Plus, it tastes like heaven.
Carrots and hummus. You can make a batch of hummus yourself if you like, or again, if you’re pushed for time, the small snack pots you can get in most supermarkets are the ideal size. And you don’t even need to spend time peeling and chopping carrots – the pre-cut bags do the job. Vitamin C, folate, Vitamin B6, protein and fibre will be coming your way via the hummus, which makes it a great sustaining snack.
Greek yoghurt and pumpkin seeds. A bit of pumpkin spice and/or cinnamon would be great, but this is also a tasty snack on its own, thanks to the added crunch and nuttiness of the seeds. You’ve got protein, fibre, natural fats and creamy richness – all of the important bases.
Hard boiled eggs. This protein hit is great to have after a gym session when you’ve been using weights. The night before you want to eat them – or even a couple of days in advance – put them on to boil as you’re cooking dinner. Then, once they’ve cooled, you can just stick them in the fridge for whenever you want them – much cheaper than the Pret boiled egg and spinach snack pots…
Nuts and dried fruit. Sweetness, nuttiness, chew, crunch – this snack has it all. Along with good oils and fats, and various vitamins (depending on which nuts you go for). As for preparation? Buy a bag. Grab a handful. Eat it.
Take The Lunge 