August 2019 

THE BENEFITS OF A PLANT BASED DIET

Podcast of the month ; 

I’m obsessed with podcasts. I mean seriously what did I do before them? I listen when I’m out on a walk, in the bath, tidying up, driving, cooking ….  It’s the ultimate multi tasking whilst learning that appeals to the achiever within me! I always listen to podcasts related to health, wellness, self development and entreupeneruial skills – because that’s my jam – but there are so many awesome people you can easily find something to suit any mood. Because I listen to so much it’s really hard to choose just one fave, but this week it’s this one for more than one reason. 
The other day I took the girls out to a local play area. In the playground there was an overweight child minder. One of the girls she was looking after told her she needed to go to the bathroom The woman snapped, “Again!? I’m not surprised, given how much you keep drinking. Eat this, then I’ll take you.’ The girl was passed a chocolate brioche and she sat patiently eating it. 
What I don’t think the child minder understood, and it’s not her fault, is that the reason the little girl was probably needing to drink so much water (although she may have been drinking squash or juice which would have just contributed to the problem) was because the snacks that she was been given – and likely her diet overall – are so high in sugar and carbohydrates (which get broken down into sugar) that the little girls body was desperately trying to stabilise her blood sugar levels by drinking more water. The chocolate brioche was the last thing she needed. 
I really wanted to explain this to the lady, but I made excuses in my head believing that she would think I was criticising not helping. 
Then I came across this image: 

And as far as I know the childminder believed that she was giving the little girl a healthy snack. I mean come on. This IS NOT what a healthy diet looks like. 
Why so much packaged food? The carbs are given as much space as the plants and it looks like the type of carbs that are being recommended are refined and packaged. Vegetable oil and margarine… don’t even get me started! Dairy and processed soya milk and the recommendation that your 6-8 glasses of water can come from sugar free drinks (what like coke zero??! and other aspartame laden beverages.) What does less often and in small amounts mean when it comes to the cakes and biscuits??
What chance do people have of understanding what constitutes a healthy diet when this is what the government is propagating.
There is a lot of confusion about nutrition – some cultivated by the media and food companies and even health professionals. What’s best? Low fat, low carb, high carb, vegan, paleo, keto? What almost everyone agrees on is the benefits of vegetables and fruits. Everyone agrees on having whole foods, and unprocessed foods – and most agree that it’s best to limit or avoid processed meats, dairy, sugary cakes, sweets, fizzy sugary drinks, white flour and white bread. If people can reduce all this from their diet and eat as many vegetables as possible then that is a great start.
The pharmaceutical industry, the meat, dairy and egg industry and government guidelines based on agricultural profit have all had an impact on dietary guidelines over the years, and this has created conflicting and biased evidence designed to confuse us into inaction. Confused people, choose inaction, and continue eating what they always have, and say ‘everything in moderation.’ But what is moderation, how is someone to know whether one fizzy drink and packet of crisps a day means ‘moderation.’ 
*** And breathe *** 
I understand that education and understanding around nutrtion won’t happen overnight. It really really excites me when I hear a GP, Dr. Gemma Newman,  who is advocating a plant based diet, with ALL the research and the knowledge to back her. The more and more people like this there are the more people will hear the message and things will shift. 
I have been plant based for over 20 years. I truly crave vegetables if I haven’t had enough. I”m not saying you HAVE to be vegetarian or vegan, but the benefits of eating more plants and less meat are hard to argue with. These are some of the benefits you can expect from a whole foods plant based diet; – less risk of heart disease- less risk of obesity – less risk of diabetes – less risk of certain cancers- less risk of degenerative brain diseases – less risk of high blood pressure 
I absolutely love Deliciously Ella and what her work has done for popularising the plant based movement so without further ado this is my podcast for the month. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. 
Plant Power; Eat Yourself Healthy by Deliciously Ella
READY FOR MORE…. 
If you want to dive deeper into this topic, I highly recommend the international bestseller and highly researched book –  HOW NOT TO DIE, by MICHAEL GREGOR

Grab my Free Gluten-free Complete Guide, including delicious plant-based gluten-free recipes and my favourite gluten-free swaps.