Nutrition

My simple (and joyful) approach to eating well

With so much advice, debate, and new “miracle diets” appearing every week, it can feel almost impossible to know what eating healthily even means anymore. We’re constantly bombarded with rules: don’t eat carbs, eat only carbs, fast, don’t fast, avoid fat, eat more fat…the list goes on.

But before I go on, let me say this: I am not a nutritionist. I don’t have formal training in this area. What I do have is years of personal research, experimenting with what makes me feel good, and a genuine interest in wellbeing. In my coaching work, I hold the belief that mind and body are part of the same system: what affects one affects the other. When we nurture both, we thrive.

And for me, enjoyment of food is non-negotiable.

Sharing food with friends, discovering new flavours, sitting down to a meal that feels nourishing — these experiences matter. I don’t want a life where eating feels like restriction, guilt, or measuring every bite.

I keep in mind the 80/20 rule - looking to get no less than 80% of my nutrition from the good stuff...i have my fair share of crisps, enjoy the odd croissant and the odd Marathon bar too (sorry, still not Snickers to me) bar.

So here’s what I’ve learned about how to eat well — joyfully, without obsession — in a world full of food noise.

1. Eat mostly whole foods — the closer to nature, the better.

I aim to minimise processed foods, and I try (as much as possible) to avoid anything heavily processed.

A personal rule:

If bread has emulsifiers, stabilisers, or ingredients I can’t pronounce… is it even bread? Give me flour, water, yeast, and salt any day.

2. Eat a rainbow of plants.

Plants aren’t just vegetables and fruit — they include grains, seeds, herbs, beans, nuts, coffee, and tea. The wider the variety, the better it is for gut health, mood, and energy.

3. Give your body a daily rest from digestion.

I usually leave at least 12 hours between my last meal of the day and my first the next morning.

Black coffee or herbal tea won’t break a fast, and if I’m doing a longer fasting window, adding a pinch of salt to water helps so much.

Snacking is totally fine — but for me, it stays within my eating window and tends to be simple: nuts, fruit, or something that grew from the ground, not a factory.

4. Organic if possible — but no stress if not.

I buy organic when I can, but I never let the label matter more than the pleasure of eating. Food should nourish you, not create anxiety.

5. Tame the sweet tooth.

I gradually reduced how much refined sugar I ate many years ago, and something magical happened:

I started tasting the natural sweetness in real foods — fruit, vegetables, even nuts.

These days, I view fruit juice and smoothies as sugar hits in disguise. In my mind, they’re not that different from drinking a fizzy drink like Coke — just with better PR!

6. Support mood through food.

This one is purely based on how I feel, but eating fermented foods daily seems to help my mood stay more positive and stable. Sauerkraut, kimchi, kefir —I make them all at home. We are told they all do wonders for our guts, and I suspect for my brain as well.

I also eat oily fish or take a fish oil supplement with around 1g of EPA per day, because I notice a difference in clarity and emotional balance.

Final Thoughts

This isn’t a diet. It’s not about perfection. It’s simply how I eat to feel energised, happy, and grounded — without sacrificing the joy of food.

If there’s one takeaway, it’s this:

Food should help you shine, not shrink your world