Food For Thought

Veganuary is back and bigger than ever. More and more people are taking up this lifestyle approach alongside brands who are rapidly developing plant based ranges. If you are thinking about going vegan but don't know where to start then you are likely to be in good company. Going vegan, especially overnight is a big shift and in doing so it's important to ensure you are getting a balanced and nutri...

In the new year, everybody seems to be back in the gym and working out more than usual. But, when it comes to exercise, what is best for us and how much variety should we be incorporating into our fitness routines? By now, intuitive eating has become a well know approach to many, but the philosophy behind it can be equally as effective when it comes to exercise. Why is it that we encourage ourselv...

It's the start of the New Year and once again we are hearing a lot about diets and the overindulgence of Christmas time. You might be thinking you want to lose weight and as quickly as possible, but I hate to break it to you, shredding pounds overnight is impossible. Some people lose weight faster than others, but for the most part, losing weight requires some smart choices and patience. It can be...

We can't seem to get away from the word gluten, for years now it has been discussed at great lengths and the attention surrounding it doesn't seem to be going anywhere. There is so much information that is readily available to us, but with this being the case knowing what is fact and what is fiction when it comes to gluten can be really hard to decipher. Consequently, we have seen a spread of misi...

I am sure many of you, like myself, grew up with Fearne who worked across a variety of different media channels. Now, Fearne has joined me in the studio for a truly honest and open conversation spanning so many different areas, from growing up in the media spotlight, her relationships and battle with bulimia. Fearne has spent an impressive 20 years working in TV and radio, but more recently has go...

Since turning 30, I've so many talks with friends about when's the right time to start trying for a baby, all of us spooked by the ‘fertility time-bomb’ headlines that accuse professional young women like us of putting our careers before motherhood! The stats suggest the average age of women giving birth now is a year older than it was 10 years ago - that's 29.5. And, of course, it’s not always a...

A global survey of attitudes towards science has revealed a real crisis of confidence in vaccines, showing as low as 50% in Europe think vaccines are safe, compared with 79% worldwide. It’s a fact scaring us health professionals and importantly, its opening up you to be affected by the choices of individuals who opt to not get vaccinated. To help us understand whether vaccines are necessary and if...

The wellness industry is now worth over a staggering £2.8 trillion worldwide. Unhinged and negative beliefs around women’s bodies have a long history in society, every day we are bombarded by new wellness claims, from ‘restoring the balance of our hormones’, to the ‘self-healing’ properties of celery juice. It has never been so difficult to distinguish fact from fad in this field, leaving many of...

Anyone who has gorged on a giant Sunday lunch will know just how sleepy it can make you afterwards, it's largely because overeating and the rate of change in blood sugar stimulates an insulin response which may have a sedative effect. Fun fact, 'food coma, was added to the Oxford dictionary in 2014! Joining me is Registered Nutritionist Rob Hobson to help us understand why some foods and drinks ma...

Nearly all of us use social media but how many of us are considering the affects it is having. The way we view and digest news, brands and each other has altered drastically, which can only mean it is impacting every user. Instagram is rated as the worst social media platform when it comes to its impact on young people's mental health and 41% of its users say it makes them feel more anxious, sad o...

We all know how important exercise is and the benefits it offers but how many of us are actually working out? The truth is most of us and families in particular are not very active, in fact, the World Health Organisation states that in the UK, we are now 20% less active than we used to be in the 1960s and should we see this trend continue we will be 35% less active by 2030. Currently, parents are...

Many of our actions have an impact on the planet, and food production is one these as it has a staggering 30% input towards total green house emissions in the UK, making it a serious contributor towards global warming. Alarmingly, global population is due to grow over the next decade by 1 billion people, making it more important than ever for each of us to consider the foods we are consuming and a...

Carbs have been tarnished with a bad name over the years and there has been a plethora of misconceptions surrounding them. As a food group carbohydrates are often left excluded or restricted, and with all the low carb diets to choose from it’s no surprise this has been the case. So, can you really eat carbs if you’re trying to lose weight? I find myself defending carbs almost on daily basis in my...

For years, we’ve all been told it’s important to eat breakfast to start our day right but intermittent fasting throws that wisdom completely out the window. The technique relies on restricting your eating to set times and alternating between feasting and fasting. So are there any truths to the health benefits behind intermittent fasting and what is the best approach to take if you’re adopting this...

Let’s face it, talking about poo and anything having to do with your bowels can be slightly uncomfortable. It may be off putting but you can all tell you an awful lot about what’s going on with your health by what’s going on with your poo. As this topic is so often left unspoken about and with us all being unique, knowing what is normal can be difficult, what is the regularity, weight and consiste...

With nearly 30% of UK adults classified as obese, it’s easy to assume that being overweight is a problem that can’t be solved. Living in a society rife with diet culture can lead many of us to believe that many people are simply lazy and make poor choices when it comes to food and exercise. But have you ever questioned the potential impact of comments and beliefs like this? As opposed to motivatin...

It has the potential to help solve the obesity crisis crippling healthcare systems, but few understand exactly what the diet is and most of us do not follow it, including increasing numbers of people who live in there - the Mediterranean diet. It is not a weight-loss regime such as the Atkins or 5:2 diets. It is actually not a prescriptive diet at all, rather a pattern of eating. Joining me this w...

Sadly, of the 6 billion tonnes of plastic waste produced since the 1950s, can you believe that just 9% has been recycled. Plastics are now found in the oceans’ depths, high up in the mountains, and even in polar regions. There is absolutely no escaping them! The question that we really ought to understand is whether it’s too late to reverse the effects of plastic pollution? So, joining me this wee...

On the menu at a gym I went to last week, a salad niçoise is now repackaged as “high-protein tuna”. On Pinterest, you can now choose “protein” as one of your interests in life, and last year, there were 70m Google searches for “protein”. Around half of all UK consumers are apparently seeking to add “extra protein” to their diets so joining me is Anita Bean, a Registered Nutritionist and author spe...

Diet culture has led us to believe that only a certain size is deemed 'acceptable', and that to get there we must restrict what we eat by creating certain rules and extreme measures surrounding our diets..But how can diets and extreme weight loss products work when we know that more than 50% of dieters put the weight they lost back on again, and often more than they even started with?!.And what's...

We all love it, but rarely do we get enough of it. We’re told to aim for 8 or 9 hours of sleep each night, yet it’s estimated that the average Brit only gets around 5 or 6! Many of us de-prioritise sleep in favour of getting other things done, claiming ‘there just aren’t enough hours in the day’ and ‘I’ll sleep when I’m dead’! But ironically, sleep deprivation can negatively impact us physically a...

We are under so much pressure to be happy. The market has exploded with self help happiness books and we see post after post on Instagram telling us to live our lives to the full. In times of adversity we’re told to ‘keep our chin up’ and ‘turn that frown upside down’. But is it truly possible to be happy all the time? Are human emotions like sadness and anger to be avoided at all costs, or are th...

As young women entering adulthood, we are constantly told how to not get pregnant. Contraception is drummed into us from a young age and the fear of a pregnancy scare is all too real! But what happens when we finally hit that tipping point of wanting to have a baby? With 1 in every 7 couples having difficulty conceiving and the majority of women now having babies later in life than ever before, at...

Our planet is in a state of crisis. Global warming is sending temperatures soaring to record highs, and ice is melting at an increasingly alarming rate. Ocean levels rose by 8 inches in the last century, putting small islands at risk of being completely wiped out. Natural disasters are intensifying, and whole species are at risk of extinction. What’s scary is that the world’s population is still g...

Going to the doctor isn’t most people’s favourite thing to do but they’re here to help us and whether it’s that embarrassing ingrown toenail or that contraception discussion you’ve been putting off for months – let me reassure that they have seen and heard it all, so there’s no need to be shy! Joining us today to help us better understand the most common conditions affecting all of us is Dr Sara K...