Why vegetarians shouldn’t drink milk (and it’s not why you think)

Did anyone see the recent Jimmy vs the Giant Supermarket programme where Jimmy Doherty took on Tesco in a bid to produce a higher welfare meatball?  I’ve been aware of the issues raised in the programme for some time but feel that now is the time for more people to take action as change is much more likely to occur with the backing of a high-profile figurehead (just look at what Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall managed to achieve with his ‘fish … [Read more...]

Bread – Do you really need it with every meal?

Following on from Fran’s post about Subway being healthy (read it here), I thought I would let you know the other reasons why we avoid bread when following the real food plan. Along with dairy, removing wheat / gluten products from an eating plan causes the most psychological problems for our members.  Bread and cereals have become so ingrained in our culture that people have panic attacks when it is even suggested that they are avoided for … [Read more...]

Subway – healthy eating??

Have you seen the latest Subway ad campaign? If not I’ll briefly describe it for you.  They have a couple of Olympic athletes, an athlete and a boxer, stating what their favourite Subway sandwich is. The message implicit in the ad is that Subway sandwiches are healthy and this is backed up by the current TV campaign featuring the same athletes.   The problem I have with this is that by no stretch of the imagination is a Subway sandwich … [Read more...]

Summer Smoothie

I hope you have been enjoying the fantastic weather we've been having recently and keeping your fluid levels topped up. We are currently putting together our summer cookbook and I've been tweaking the 'juices, smoothies and refreshers' section this morning.  One of the most common things we hear in this weather is that water can be boring to drink on it's own, I'll offer some more solutions to this later in the week but for a quick fix for … [Read more...]

Improved Health = Fat Loss

I'm currently on the beautiful island of Phuket in Thailand working on my health and nutrition project - The Real Food Plan with some of the UK's finest health and fitness coaches and personal trainers. In the health, fat loss and fitness world there is an absolute minefield of information about nutrition and diets. It is confusing as a personal trainer and somebody who works with this stuff every day; I can only imagine how hard it must be … [Read more...]

Gluten-Free Pancakes

It’s pancake day :0) Lots of people will tell you that you couldn’t possibly have pancakes when you’re on a diet but it really depends on the ingredients you use and the type of filling. Here is a recipe from my ‘Real Food, Real Results – Winter Cookbook’ for drop pancakes, if you wanted to make them larger and thinner (like traditional pancakes) add a little more fluid, coconut or almond milk works really well. These pancakes are a … [Read more...]

Choose health part 2 – fruits and vegetables

In my post about choosing health, I went through some of the benefits of eating organic meat and stated that ‘no one can argue that increasing the amount of fresh, ideally organic and locally grown fruits and vegetables that you consume is one of the best ways to improve your health’. But what about non-organic fruits and vegetables? Eating conventionally farmed fruits and vegetables is a much better option than not eating any at all; a … [Read more...]

Choose health

If fat loss is your goal, you should really aim at improving your health rather than following any of the literally thousands of plans out there that are based around calorie restriction and product sales rather than nutrient quality. I often meet people who have managed to lose weight but struggle to keep it off and tell me that they feel crap, have no energy, digestive issues and poor skin amongst their many complaints. By improving your … [Read more...]