I love food. It’s one of the most important things in my day and it fascinates me how food can be vital fuel for powering your workout, a social tool and a source of pleasure. Preferably all three!
When I was away with Healthy Start Holidays last month, we looked at three pillars of healthy living – Nutrition, Movement and Lifestyle. The Nutrition side of things throughout the week was looked after by the amazing Ros whose website and book A Manner of Eating shares some of her recipes and thoughts on a balanced approach to food (she is coeliac so they’re all gluten free).
The food at each meal was incredible! I’d just like to say that now. Each day brought a different delight for the senses with colourful, vibrant meals – heaps of taste, new flavour combinations and a strong focus on vegetables. And instead of being coy about the recipes and secretive with the ingredients that had gone into each dish, there was always a recipe card on the table at every meal so we could be inspired and go away and try cooking everything for ourselves at home. You may have seen my attempt at baked eggs on Instagram – it’s now become one of my staple quick evening meals!
Healthy Start Holidays have a very holistic approach to health, and believe that as well as considering how the food you are eating affects your body, you should consider how it has affected the environment or the lives of the animals it has come from. We visited an eco-farm as part of the schedule, and heard about rearing free range chickens and producing organic sustainable vegetables which was really interesting – even doing a taste test between a fresh free range egg and a caged egg.
We also were lucky enough to have two cookery lessons, where Ros shared some of her wisdom and let us loose in the kitchen! The first time I followed a recipe for a courgette and pesto salad which allowed me to play with a spiraliser, and ended up being pretty tasty.
The second lesson we could get creative and whip up our own dishes using the ingredients available to us. We split into pairs, with one pair cooking a soup, another designing a salad and the third (me and Kat from the Daily Express) did dessert – my favourite, haha.
We used dates, oats, nuts, seeds, orange juice, and dark chocolate to create some amazing chocolate orange energy balls – if I do say so myself!
Since being back at home I’ve definitely been inspired to create some new meals, and still have a list of things I want to try – bircher muesli, fish curry, cabbage and carrot slaw, banana peanut and oat bars, leek quiche and so much more!
Future Fit Training
I’m combining my love of food with a love of learning and have recently embarked on a Nutrition for Sport and Exercise course with Future Fit Training – it’s an e-learning course so I can just do the modules when I have time, and has no pre-requisites which is handy when I haven’t done Biology for a good few years! So far I’ve covered how the body uses energy production for exercise, and will be moving onto focusing on carbohydrates, fats and proteins, as well as hydration and sports drinks, supplements and how to create a personal nutrition programme – it seems like a pretty well rounded course, and I’m looking forward to using it to lend credibility to my writing, as well as helping further my own understanding of fuelling my body for my upcoming challenges!
Have you ever taken a cookery course or studied more about nutrition?
