Category Archives: Nutrition in the news

Skyr-y days ahead

I am sure that I am not alone in finding that whenever I return from an unforgettable holiday, I like to try and hold onto it just a little bit longer. Sometimes this means I’ll be wearing the same touristy tee and drinking from a new ‘I heart (insert country here)’ mug for days on end. But more often I like to try to recreate some of the dishes and flavours that I enjoyed eating while away. Almost unconsciously my usual shopping list changes and I find myself filling my supermarket trolley with familiar holiday ingredients. Which explains why since recently returning from Iceland – the country, not the supermarket – I can’t seem to stop reaching for some skyr.

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Why recovery is about having a not-too-dry January

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After what seemed like a very long and drawn out 2024, many have begun the new year with a renewed commitment to do things differently. Whether you’ve joined a gym, embarked on a new fitness regime or signed up for an event, so far you are probably still feeling pretty motivated. After all, it is early days and even if there’s a hint on the horizon that things may get harder, there’s still a lot you can do to stay the course. One thing that is sure to help keep you going is paying attention to the often neglected area of hydration. You probably already knew that hydration is important to keep in mind when the temperatures climb but it is also something you need to consider in the winter. Essentially, hydration plays a key role in recovery and can affect whether you are fully fit again for the next training block. Which is why it pays to have a not-too-dry January.

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Christmas health claims are about as useful as a chocolate teapot

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In the run up to Christmas it’s all too easy to overindulge, especially when festive goodies are handed out at almost every opportunity. But I don’t just mean the times when you travel to see family and friends. You know that those visits oblige you to sample someone’s homemade mince pies or Christmas cake. However, recently I have been surprised to be plied with stollen bites, Bailey’s and holiday chocolates simply by buying presents, choosing a Christmas tree and attending my gym. Even if you are normally accustomed to eating a healthy diet, somehow it still feels awkward to turn down the offer of a festive calorie-laden treat. So you end up eating something sky high in sugar that you know you don’t really need or necessarily want from a virtual stranger. You even go overboard in thanking them for it and will happily do it all again because it’s Christmas. Then when your gut starts to nag away at you with eater’s regret, you try to convince yourself that there’s no harm in a little celebrating…Nobody wants to be a Scrooge, right? Besides, it’s practically impossible to have a healthy Christmas.

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The UK’s ultra-processed addiction is only junk (food) science

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As I tried to negotiate my way around a supermarket already towering with Quality Street tins I was interested to see the latest headlines about Britain’s ‘addiction’ to ultra-processed food. The fast-food habit was now costing the country a whopping £286 billion every year. This startlingly high figure came from a recent report from the Food, Farming and Countryside Commission (FFCC) which found that the cost of chronic disease was now almost matching the total healthcare spend in the UK. For unhealthy food that is literally ‘cheap as chips’ it turns out that we are all paying for it through the cost of healthcare, social care, welfare and losses of productivity from ill health. Although the figures are shocking, the knock-on effects of the country’s increased consumption of ultra-processed foods high in sugar, salt and fat are sadly, nothing new. However, what did surprise me about the media coverage surrounding the report was the number of sources that still referred to the UK’s population of ‘junk food addicts’.

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Blame the picky eating genes?

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If you are a parent, whether your children are still toddlers or are now old enough to become parents themselves, it would have been practically impossible to ignore the subject of some of the recent headlines. They announced that parents no longer have to take the blame if their children are picky eaters because it is all down to their genetics. At least that’s how the majority of news outlets reported the findings from the UK study that analysed the data from 2,400 sets of twins. Naturally, any parent hearing this news would have felt a moment of relief, because it is almost a rite of passage to at some point experience the frustration of trying to get your child to eat.