recipes

We get asked this question a lot from clients or at our retreat days. The answer is always - it depends! Collagen is a type of structural protein and is found in connective tissue, skin, bones, tendons and cartilage.

May 11

May 11 Our top tips to help with exam stress

The summer months can be a fraught with stress with uni finals, A levels, GCSE’s and end of year exams for our teens (and us parents!). It is essential that we create some calm and provide our teens with some good nutrition during this time. This will help to ensure we nurture our brain so that we maximise its capacity and ensure good recall when in the exams.

Sep 5

Sep 5 Top tips for eating well on a budget

With food bills estimated to have gone up at least 8% in the last few months due to the spiralling costs on fertiliser, energy and feed, we thought some tips on eating well on a budget might help. Unfortunately our food bills are likely to increase even further in coming months as the energy costs are filtered down to us, the consumer. The biggest increases in prices as I w rite this comes from meat and fish which have gone up 22%, while fruit and vegetables have gone up around 14%. Shopping smarter has never been more important.

Apr 11

Apr 11 5 benefits of drinking coffee

The smell of coffee is one of those smells that brings a smile to my face, along with cut grass and freshly laundered sheets. I treasure my mid-morning cup of coffee - but is it actually good for you? Caffeine can sometimes get a bad rap - but did you know there’s more to your cup of coffee than just caffeine and there are some great health benefits, in particular for a midlife woman.

Apr 1

Apr 1 Hair loss - what you need to look for

If you start to lose your hair, whether it’s a gradual thinning or coming out in large amounts, it can be very distressing. Until it happened to myself following a bout of Covid I didn’t appreciate the emotional as well as physical stress it can cause. Washing your hair to find a huge clump of hair in your hand can leave you very distraught.

Sep 16

Sep 16 Strength training, muscle mass and ageing

Val Simpson

Declining muscle mass is part of ageing, but you can do something about it!
Age-related muscle loss, also called sarcopenia, is a totally natural part of ageing. From the age of 30, you begin to lose as much as 3% to 5% per decade. Less muscle means greater weakness, less mobility, more daily struggles and aches and less balance / stability therefore leading to an increased risk of falls and fractures.

For women over 40, with the added risk of loss of bone density through hormonal changes associated with peri menopause and menopause, this paints a pretty bleak picture for those not engaging in some form of strength training exercises.

Feb 24

Feb 24 How and why exercise for the menopause

Val Simpson

Women's health around the peri menopause stage of their life is a topic close to our heart, and we speak from experience as well as qualified professionals. Exercise has been shown to help control a number of physical and psychological problems and changes associated with menopause and midlife, including depression, weight gain, loss of muscle mass and bone density.

Oct 29

Oct 29 Are you riding the blood sugar rollercoaster?

We all know that sugar is bad for us and does us no favours in our quest to being healthy. However it’s not just sugar in tea and coffee or fizzy drinks that is affecting our blood sugar levels. White bread, pasta, cakes, biscuits and fruit juice all convert to sugar within a few minutes of being eaten. Now you might think this is not a problem and you exercise loads so you’ll burn it off right? Unfortunately it’s not as easy as this. If you suffer from mood swings or find yourself becoming ‘hangry’, have low energy or weight that gathers around your belly then you might feel much better by cutting back on the sugar and white refined carbohydrates.

Oct 22

Oct 22 Boosting your immunity

As the seasons change and the nights draw in it’s the return of the coughs and colds. I always find it’s when the children go back to school after the summer holidays that colds start to make a reappearance. It always amazes me just how quickly someone in the class gets a cold and passes the germs around.

Aug 23

Aug 23 fat soluble vitamins

If you follow us on Instagram you will know that we recently posted a series called Nutrient Spotlight, where we took each vitamin and mineral in turn and spoke of how it is used in our body, why we need it and any symptoms of deficiency - also most importantly how you can find these nutrients in your food. The series was so popular that we have added them to our blog so you'll be able to access them easily. This week we spotlight the fat soluble vitamins – Vitamins A, D, E and K. It's very important to remember that these vitamins are stored in our body (in the liver) and so it's very easy to reach high and potentially toxic levels.

Aug 1

Aug 1 Let's talk about fat

For those of us growing up in the 70s, 80s and 90s we were told that eating a low fat diet was healthy and we switched from high fat butter to margarine, full fat milk to skimmed milk and we stopped drizzling oil and butter on our salads and vegetables. Thankfully those days are now behind us and finally the message that eating low fat is healthy is starting to be replaced by the message that eating healthy fats is good for you. However, I still find there are many people that cling onto eating a low fat diet and have a fear of eating any fat. The idea that eating fat makes us fat was first touted in the 1950s and since this low fat message we have seen a rise in obesity, a rise in dementia-related illnesses and a rise in heart conditions.

Jun 26

Jun 26 making sure your holiday is healthy

With holidays looming now is the time to start preparing your body for its annual holiday. We all need some sunlight on our body to help provide our bodies with vitamin D. This important mineral helps to maintain calcium levels in the body and ensure we have healthy bones and teeth. However it doesn’t take too much time to increase our levels and sunscreen is essential to avoid sunburn. When our skin cells are exposed to too much sunlight, UVA and UVB wavelengths, our skin cells experience stress and shut down. This stress can overload our antioxidant nutrient supplies and so it’s important to make sure these are topped up before we head off on our summer holidays.

Jun 18

Jun 18 is gluten free healthier?

The gluten free aisle in the supermarket is huge, and is growing larger every month. In 2016 the global gluten free market was worth $14.95 billion and is expected to grow at an annual rate of just over 9% every year. This rise in the gluten free market has also seen a rise in people claiming they are eating gluten free without being diagnosed as coeliac or intolerant to gluten. So is eating gluten free healthier for you?

Apr 23

Apr 23 It's exam season - help!

All over the country, teenagers and adults are preparing for a summer of exams, whether it’s finals, A levels, GCSEs or end of year exams. Make sure your brain is in tip top condition by following our simple tips below to boost your brain and give yourself the best chance for success.

Apr 16

Apr 16 Ready for a challenge?

Val Simpson

Health, Blog

I started writing this post back in January, and decided to leave it until now, early April, as days are longer and brighter. Why? because this is NOT a story of January resolutions forgottenand abandoned come February. At the Health Boost, we don't believe in quick fixes, we are passionate about making small changes for long term, long lasting benefits. Personally, I am not a big fan of the word resolution. I prefer stronger, more positive and upbeat words like goals and challenges and changing the mindset. Like strategy and tactics, goals and challenges work hand in hand: they range from a daily challenge to a milestone goal or never attempted before challenge. They can be very personal or shared with family and friends.

Apr 3

Apr 3 Looking after your heart

Heart disease is unfortunately still on the rise and is still the leading cause of death for both men and women in the world. Nutritionally there is much that you can do to protect yourself and since prevention is invariably better than cure it’s time to protect your heart.

Mar 14

Mar 14 a week of healthy breakfasts

Blog, Nutrition, Health, Breakfast and brunch, Recipes

You've all heard the saying "breakfast like a king". However the typical Western diet breakfast of cereal with skimmed milk or a piece of toast grabbed on the way out of the door is not eating like a king. I understand that time is a particular worry when you're trying to get to work and ferry children to school. However I often find that cooking a breakfast for the children results in cleaner plates much quicker and we are usually out of the door earlier. The key is to get the children involved. Get them to stir the eggs, while you unload the dishwasher or do their hair! My husband leaves the house at a ridiculous hour of the morning so he takes his breakfast in, which he eats after his 8am meeting. Many of the breakfasts below are easily portable in a container and carried into work.

Feb 9

Feb 9 are you eating enough vegetables?

Whatever diet you are on... paleo, vegan, vegetarian, nordic, LCHF or a typical Western diet there's no doubt that increasing your vegetable intake is something that will benefit you. The benefits for our cardiovascular system, immune system, brain health and weight are huge and we should be aiming at hitting at least 10 portions of different vegetables a day into our diet. Ten I hear you say, that’s impossible! But actually it’s much easier than you think, as I will outline later. Eating an abundant rainbow of vegetables really will leave you feeling so much better.

Feb 2

Feb 2 what supplements should I take?