summer salad | Just add water®

With the constant stream of world events vying for attention in the media, it takes a lot to make it into the headlines these days. Nonetheless, the latest results from the UK’s National Diet and Nutrition Survey (NDNS) did just that recently with some depressing news about our dietary habits. It won’t come as any surprise to learn that too many of us are still eating an unhealthy diet and are contributing to the rise in obesity in adults and children. The numbers are even worse for those living in deprivation amidst the rising double burdens of high food and energy costs. However, as someone who likes to take a deep dive into the nutrition numbers, I still found some of the figures startling. Especially when it comes to getting our basic ‘5-a-day’.

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With the forest fires raging in Greece and weeks of record-breaking heatwaves spreading across Europe and afar, no one can deny that the climate crisis hasn’t really ramped up the weather. Clearly, the extreme temperatures felt in July and August last summer in the UK were not just a blip. In fact, the Met Office has issued a statement to say that the extraordinary temperatures felt in the UK last year will be regarded as being a ‘cool’ year by the end of the century. It looks like this year we have once again swapped the once traditional mild and slightly disappointing British summer for something more dramatic. We started with an absolute deluge of rainstorms and high winds which brought some areas of the country more rainfall in a weekend than expected in an entire month. And as we finish July we seem to be starting a trend of having warmer days but with some still surprisingly persistent rain showers that seem to come from nowhere.

Although no one would want to trade any of our overcast days of recurring drizzle for the extreme heat experienced abroad, the unpredictable weather makes it difficult for anyone trying to make plans to exercise and enjoy the outdoors. Because even if you’ve woken up to a forecast of bright sunshine, you simply cannot count on the weather lasting the morning. For runners, the rising temperatures and flooded trails make it difficult to know exactly what you’ll face en route and how to prepare for it.