When the clocks go forward at 1 am on Sunday we’ll lose an hour of sleep. Even if you’re not one of the one in three people who have difficulty falling and staying asleep or the one in ten who regularly experience insomnia, this news is never welcome. So, how can we all learn to sleep better?

1. Mindfulness and Meditation

It’s well known that regular meditation can help us sleep better. Yoga Nidra or sleep meditation is a state between being awake and sleeping, where you put yourself in a ‘yogic sleep’ essentially a state in which the body is completely relaxed but mentally aware. This free video provides a good introduction.

2. Eat yourself to sleep

Try to snack on protein providing foods that are rich in an amino acid called tryptophan. This helps boost the sleep-inducing hormone melatonin. Chicken and turkey, if you eat meat, or nuts and seeds if not, are all good choices to help induce the sleepy hormone your body has been searching for. Bananas are rich in both potassium and magnesium which have a relaxing effect on the muscles and mind. Although it is to best eat about two to three hours before going to bed because otherwise your digestive system and liver will be active which may keep you awake or prevent deep sleep.

3. Sleep enhancing drinks

Milk and chamomile tea have both been traditionally used to help you feel more relaxed and sleepy before bed. Milk contains the sleep-regulating hormone melatonin, while chamomile tea is packed with antioxidants which aid sleep and improve sleep quality. Lemon balm and passion flower are also good sleep enhancing teas, for creative sleep tea options and blends see the Sleep Judge. If you don’t want to drink before going to bed because you are concerned about waking up to go to the bathroom, then consider using essential oils instead.

4. Bath time

Epsom salts have long been used for aches and pains, however, this cheap and cheerful remedy has gained popularity recently for its detoxifying properties with models and celebrities claiming they help with bloating. The sulphates in Epsom salt help flush out toxins and ease muscle pain. When a cup or so are added to a warm bath, the magnesium and sulphate are absorbed through the skin.
The mineral-rich salts also help muscles and joints to relax and this leads to a more restful sleep, giving the body a chance to re-energise.

5. Fit for sleep

Even if you don’t like vigorous exercise (which won’t be a good idea later in the day anyway, as this will stimulate you), incorporate a walk into your day. You can choose to get off a stop or two before your usual one on the way to work, walk to the station, go for a walk at lunchtime or early evening. It’s often the old-fashioned remedies that work and yes, fresh air is definitely one of them! Stress reducing and relaxing and free – it’s a no-brainer. If you have limited mobility ask a friend or family member to help you, even if it’s a walk around your garden in a secure environment.

6. Drink well

Try to reduce your caffeine intake by changing your usual brew for decaffeinated coffee or caffeine-free drinks like red bush tea or herbal tea. Try also to drink your last caffeine drink no later than lunchtime so the effects have longer to wear off, and reduce alcohol intake as too much near to bedtime will only disturb your sleep. The temptation to have a nightcap won’t actually help, aside from a thimble-full of rum or whisky in a soothing cup of milk.

7. Power down your gadgets

It’s well documented that the glare from electronic gadgets stimulates the brain and so avoid using your laptop, tablet or phone late in the evening. Ariana Huffington is the founder of The Huff Post and Thrive Global, a company that focuses on helping people put their wellness first, with sleep key to this and also wrote the best selling book The Sleep Revolution. She puts her mobile phone outside her room, even going so far as to tuck it in with its own ‘blankie.’  You don’t have to go this far but now you know how to sleep better and hopefully, you’ll be on the way to a good nights sleep.

Please read our blog on wellness trends for more tips on methods for better sleep. If you feel unsure about if you have a problem with your sleep itself, then this BBC video may help you decide…

Sleep well!

Jo Fernandez is a leading UK travel journalist, with much of her career spent working for the London Evening Standard where she was Travel Editor until 2015. Now a freelance travel journalist and copywriter, she lives in Essex and has one daughter. As a travel expert, she still enjoys jetting off to write travel pieces, with favourite destinations including Mexico, Croatia and, of course, Essex.

The post How To Sleep Better appeared first on Neals Yard Holidays Blog.

Easter is coming and the shops are already full of chocolate products, from eggs to bunnies. But as is increasingly known, there’s a healthier option that’s equally delicious: dark chocolate. The health benefits of eating dark chocolate, with a cocoa percentage of seventy percent or more (ideally 85 percent), mean the once-decadent sweet treat has now entered the mainstream. Certainly, here at Neal’s Yard Holidays we love our chocolate. Who doesn’t?

Ironically, dark chocolate was around long before the more mainstream milk chocolate. The Mayans in Central America are believed to be the first to discover cocoa as early as 900 AD, although research continues into earlier consumption. Our predecessors learned that the beans inside the cocoa pods could be harvested and made into a delicious drink and even used the beans as currency.

Centuries on, dark chocolate still feels decadent yet research into the health benefits proves that it can lower blood pressure and protect against heart disease. Dark chocolate is also one of the best sources of antioxidants, the flavanols from cocoa can improve blood flow to the skin and protect it against sun damage; and in one study (referenced by BBC iWonder) they were found to increase blood flow to an area of the brain that promotes memory.

And why stick to after-dinner chocolate? Organic raw cocoa is sugar-free (and free from other additives) and easiest to use in powder form, so sprinkle some over your breakfast porridge, cereal or smoothies or over frozen banana slices, for a sweet treat throughout the day. For some great raw cocoa recipes see Mother Nature Network, and here’s a video on how to make simple, vegan, gluten-free Easter eggs.

Whether you’re buying chocolate or cocoa powder, try to look for organic and certified fair trade brands so you’re helping ensure workers get a living wage as you help yourself.

Last but not least, dark chocolate contains phenylethylamine (PEA), which encourages your brain to release feel-good endorphins mirroring the feeling of falling in love. Fittingly, this is how most of us feel about chocolate…

Happy Easter!

Jo Fernandez is a leading UK travel journalist, with much of her career spent working for the London Evening Standard where she was Travel Editor until 2015. Now a freelance travel journalist and copywriter, she lives in Essex and has one daughter. As a travel expert, she still enjoys jetting off to write travel pieces, with favourite destinations including Mexico, Croatia and, of course, Essex.

The post Dark chocolate health benefits appeared first on Neals Yard Holidays Blog.

This flexitarian dish is so versatile and is perfect for beating the last of the winter blues.

Okay, so this isn’t strictly a carbonara per se, but during the cold months, why not try warming up with my delicious and creamy pumpkin “carbonara”, which is completely adaptable as a flexitarian meal, the new term for those adopting a part vegetarian lifestyle. This means my recipe is suitable for omnivores, vegetarians and vegans with a few simple ingredient swaps. Delicious!

One year, I grew a couple of giant pumpkins so we could carve them for Hallowe’en. The trouble was, they were so big that, even after making a jumbo pumpkin risotto to feed a small army with the carved eyes, teeth and a hole for the candles, we still had the remains of the displayed pumpkins. Not one to waste food, I took the carcasses home and battled with them, preparing them for the freezer for later use. I wasn’t sure how I was going to use up several kilos of pumpkin, but I remembered back to my childhood when I would make my ‘posh’ spaghetti hoops by combining freshly cooked spaghetti with a tin of cream of tomato soup. So why wouldn’t it work with pumpkin?

I worked on the theory that I would need a really thick pumpkin soup to stir the pasta into. When my first version of this dish finally pulled together, it was so satisfying, and notably, it was what I refer to as a flexitarian dish: something I can easily adapt for my vegetarian and vegan friends. And seeing as we were just talking about reducing meat intake in last months blog, I thought, why not share one of my recipes with you.

Recipe:

• 2tbs vegetable oil
• 1 medium white onion, finely dices
• 1 clove garlic, crushed or finely chopped
• 800g butternut squash or edible pumpkin, skin removed and cut into 1cm cubes
• 2tsp vegetable stock
• 400ml water
• 20g butter
• 1 packet of fresh sage (approx 20g), roughly chopped
• 1 slice of good quality bread (I have used Pain de Campagne, but ciabatta or sourdough would work well), crusts removed and finely diced
• 300g wholewheat or gluten-free spaghetti
• Parmesan to serve

1. In a large pan, heat the oil and gently fry the onion till translucent (around 5 minutes). Add the garlic and butternut squash and cook for a further 5 minutes till slightly soft. Add the vegetable stock and water, bring to the boil and allow to simmer with a lid on for 15-20 minutes, stirring occasionally.
2. In the meantime, heat a large pan of water and salt generously. Cook the pasta for 2 minutes less than the packet instructions. Reserve a cup of cooking water for later.
3. Once the squash mixture is soft, blend with a hand blender till smooth and silky. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
4. In a separate frying pan, add the butter, bread and sage and gently fry for 2 minutes till the croutons become golden brown and crisp.
5. Combine the cooked pasta with the squash puree and let it down with the reserved cooking water if required and cook over a low heat for a further 2 minutes. The sauce should stick to the pasta and coat it evenly. Add more reserved pasta water if required.
6. Serve the pasta in individual bowls and scatter with the sage croutons and grated parmesan.

Flexitarian Options

Satisfy meat eaters with the substitution of 100g smoked pancetta instead of the bread and butter, which is a delicious pairing with sage. Fry as before with the sage, but allow the natural fat to render from the pancetta rather than adding any extra oil.

Make this dish vegan by using a vegan friendly vegetable stock, use olive oil instead of butter and using a vegan parmesan-style substitute as a garnish at the end.

Make this dish suitable for a gluten free diet by substituting the pasta for a gluten free pasta, and choose a gluten free bread to make the crispy croutons.

The post My Fabulous Flexitarian Recipe appeared first on Neals Yard Holidays Blog.

Thinking of moooooving to less meat? Why not try Meat Free Monday?

As a nutritionist, an environmentalist and an animal lover, I’ve found myself reducing my meat intake. In fact, having started with Meat Free Monday, I now find myself moving towards a meat free midweek. Here you can find out why giving up meat for one day of the week, or more, could be good for your health, the world’s health and animal welfare.

Nutrition

Protein is an important part of our diet. The Eatwell Guide suggests we should aim to eat around 2 portions of protein, but protein doesn’t always mean meat. Vegetarian sources of protein include dairy products such as milk, cheese and yoghurt, eggs, and meat free alternatives such as Quorn. Vegan sources of protein include nuts, pulses, lentils and tofu. Pescatarians can also enjoy fish and shellfish as protein sources. To help reduce your meat intake, why not try having a vegetarian day for Meat Free Monday. Alternatively, try reduced meat options, such as Funky Flexitarian sausages available at your local Waitrose.

The Environment

Meat is a very inefficient way of getting protein in the diet. For every 1kg of beef produced, it would have taken 13kg of grain plus 30kg hay to produce. In addition, instead of feeding animals grass from fields unable to produce crops, many farmers feed human grade corn to animals to produce ‘corn fed’ chickens or cows, meaning water supplies are used for both crops and meat. These animals, with particular respect to cattle, produce large amounts of waste which pollute our water supplies. Additionally, cows are a large contributor to greenhouse gas emissions through production of methane and deforestation for more farmland.

Additionally, there is a growing case for worldwide antibiotic resistance. When first introduced, antibiotics provided an almost magical cure against many diseases, leading to their incorporation into many everyday items such as lipstick, or so the story goes. When we realised about antibiotic resistance (when microbes develop tolerance to antibiotics), antibiotics were removed. We are now still over using antibiotics, and this is largely due to the blanket dosage given to livestock accumulating to just under 40% of our antibiotic usage. Meat Free Monday would help reduce antibiotic resistance, which could prevent to a 100 year backstep in modern medicine, by cutting down on the total amount of meat you eat. Alternatively, why not try quality over quantity, and consume meat products, which don’t routinely treat animals with antibiotics. You can ask your local farmers, or alternative buy organic meat, where the use of antibiotics is must stricter.

Animal Welfare

The movement to free range eggs over the past few years means that supermarket shelves are now stocked with a wider variety of eggs from ‘happy’ chickens. However, free range doesn’t just stop there; if the animal is living a free range lifestyle, why don’t we buy more free ranged meats? Again, this comes down to quality over quantity. Free range generally means that animal has had a longer time to mature, develop and can mean that the quality of the meat is better. Alternatively, why not try making eggs the star of your Meat Free Monday meal.

More and more people are adopting this new ‘flexitarian’ lifestyle, where meat is still an option, but not a requirement. Even the School Food Trust recommend children should have one day a week meat free. So if your kids can do it, why can’t you?

Join us next month to discover some delicious flexitarian recipes which may help you reduce your total meat intake.

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Is it possible to have a healthy Christmas?

With the UK ranked as the second highest consumer of calories over Christmas dinner (pipped to the post only by 2 calories by the USA), it’s pretty easy to see why we don’t have healthy Christmas habits. But is there a way to stay on track during the feasting… I mean festive season? 

The UK is estimated to consume a whopping 3289 calories over Christmas dinner alone, the highest in Europe, almost double than of Lithuania (1885 kcal) and the Czech Republic (1940 kcal). Coupled together with the many Christmas parties in the lead up, the string of sedentary days of leisurely dining followed by the boozy New Year’s party, it’s no wonder why we can gain up to 5 pounds over the festive season.  So let’s talk tactics: here are my 12 days of Christmas tips for avoiding those extra sneaky pounds, and how to stay on track for a healthy Christmas.

Get enough sleep

We often burn the candle at both ends during the wind up to the big day, meaning we are more susceptible to colds and flus. Previous studies have shown that getting 8 hours or more sleep per night can reduce your risk of cold and flu viruses, so be sure to catch your 40 winks every night.

Eat breakfast

While I’m not suggesting croissants and full fat lattes are the way to go, having a healthy balanced breakfast can help you keep going during the day. Try to incorporate some healthy protein such as scrambled eggs or smoked salmon alongside complex carbohydrates to help keep you fuller for longer.

Avoid grazing

Attempt to avoid eating unplanned snacks during the day. Try making a rule such as only eating when sitting down. This can help you reduce mindless eating while chatting with colleagues, or cut down on high calorie canapés at parties.

Stay hydrated

Thirst can often be mistaken for hunger, meaning we can reach for the biscuits instead of the water bottle. Remember to drink at least 1.6 litres of water each day, so keep a bottle on you, or a glass at your desk so you can monitor how much fluid you are drinking.

Stay active

Try to be physically active, and earn your treats. All too often we sit on our bottoms for the majority of the Christmas period. Why not try taking a festive walk, or hit the gym while it’s empty at this time of the year.

Alco-no

Alcohol is high in calories, so it’s easy to blow your daily energy intake with a few Christmas drinks. Try adding ice to your drink to reduce the calories, or ask for a spritzer which is often lower in calories.

Buffet manners

Be selective at the buffet table. It is all too easy to start at one end of the buffet table and get to the other with a full plate and a cheeky sausage roll already in your mouth. So in preparation, scan the spread before you select. This way you can be sure to make healthier choices as you go along.

Eat your greens

Sometimes it’s hard to resist the roast potatoes and other festive fatty carbohydrate. So try to fill at least a third of your plate with vegetables, and swap roast potatoes for parsnips or even sweet potatoes. Or avoid roasting your tatties in unhealthy fats like goose fat, instead try healthy fats like rapeseed oil which is higher in mono- and polyunsaturated fats.

Pass the cream

Pudding such as Christmas Pudding are relatively high in fruit and low in fat. Help keep it this way by avoiding pouring cream or full fat custard. Instead serve it with low fat custard or yoghurt.

Clear the table

With family and friends over for dinners, it is easy to sit at the table all night picking at the uneaten food. Help your waistline by removing temptation out of harms way and putting the food away once everyone is finished, or move the conversation to a different room.

Treats should be treats

It’s easy to accidentally eat a whole tub of festive chocolates in one sitting. Resist the urge by providing a small handful while hiding the rest out the way – out of sight out of mind.

Only stuff the turkey

On Christmas day, only the turkey should be stuffed. It takes 20 minutes for our body to tell our brain that we’ve had enough food, so sit back and relax before heading for seconds, and enjoy a more healthy Christmas.

But most of all don’t worry if you over indulge over the holidays. Apply the principal of 80:20, where you only have to be good 80% of the time, with the remain 20% as treats. We can get back on the healthy wagon come 2017.

Wishing everyone a very happy and healthy Christmas!

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