Nutrition has played a big part in my teaching from the outset. I discovered that even if you are regularly exercising and getting out there 3 times a week, if you are feeding yourself the wrong sort of foods the body won't do what you want it to. 

Here are a few of my top tips:

 

EAT FRESH - This is the key to becoming and staying healthy. Fresh food, freshly prepared: meat, fish, eggs, dairy, good fats, fresh vegetables and fruit -and carbs too, but keep quantities down (but not out!) if you're trying to lose weight; carbs are vital in the absorption of nutrients from the other food groups. 

 

The big secret to weight loss/maintenance: Avoid where possible processed and refined foods: white flour, white sugar, white rice (except basmati), white pasta, and foods prepared with those ingredients - factory-made cakes and biscuits, and most prepared convenience foods and takeaways.These are the foods that have been the main cause of the enormous increase of obesity in the western world. 

 

Avoid both sugary drinks and diet drinks - both 'toxic' in their own ways.

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Try to eat dark green leafy vegetables, an apple and a handful of berries EVERY DAY!

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Eat wholefoods: wholemeal flour, brown rice and wholemeal pasta, pulses (lentils, beans, peas) and quinoa.

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Use natural oils and fats for cooking: eg olive oil, coconut oi, butter from grass-fed cows (yes, butter -  the fats in it are vital for body and brain function).

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Meat, and particularly offal, is one of the most nutrient-dense foods we can eat. Keep quantities down but go for the highest quality you can afford (if your butcher can tell you where he has sourced his meat you are onto a winner). This is what my children used to call 'happy meat'.

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Lots of fish (oily fish is full of Vitamin D).

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EAT BRIGHT fruit and veg -  spinach, cabbage, watercress, red orange and yellow peppers, tomatoes, black or red grapes, butternut squash, broccoli (green or purple sprouting), apples (including the skin), aubergines... 7-8 portions a day (not the dumbed-down 5 as recommended in government guidelines).

 

COOK FRESH - prepare and cook as much of your own food as you can.

 

 I am continuing to update my knowledge of nutrition as new and proven theories come to light.