How healthy are you?
So many of us feel like we have been on a lifelong diet. With age comes many benefits, mostly a sense of perspective. If only we could tell our younger self what we needed to worry about, and that our bum really wasn’t that big!
Health, nutrition and eating yourself well is a subject we believe you’re going to hear more and more about as the next decade unfolds. The knowledge we have now, would have undoubtedly served me well, and I guess you too, throughout my thirties and forties. I was on a daily diet of antibiotics, suffering from water infection after infection, until my body finally threw in the towel. I was sick, really sick. Antibiotics were no longer my answer to simply get me through the day – our bodies are amazing, and mine did me a big favour by saying enough was enough.
There had to be an alternative. It was one of those funny chances, the right doctor right time, an open-minded, progressive thinker who knew my body was sick, sick of drugs, and desperate for change.
In fairness to the doctors at the time, they didn’t know. Gut health and the importance of your gut biome’s health was only starting to unfold and become common knowledge. We had all fallen into the trap of believing drugs could fix everything when actually diet could have fixed far more. (Don’t get me wrong, the past 18 months have taught us all so much more, yet diet, eating seasonally and the right foods, need to be given far more importance)
Let food be my medicine. Food, in particular sourdough and other fermented foods, became my healer. Learning to respect my body’s need to rest and the importance of sleep also helped me understand all that our bodies have to achieve to keep us upright and standing.
The main findings of the research are only just unfolding. Aidan and I recognise we have a great deal more to learn and consider as grown-up parents and bakers.
If you have any knowledge to share, please shower this post with your understanding. As a community, we are far healthier and wiser together.
Food can make an incredible contribution to our health and happiness. It is not about being thin or for vanity, but it is about feeling well, having energy, not feeling bloated, sluggish or in pain.
But what about you? So many of us are reconsidering food and what we drink, with one of the biggest villains in our diets being sugar, not bread. Real bread like ours is sugar-free, additive-free and made of just flour, water, salt and when we are lucky nutritional seeds.
Globally, we are the first generation more likely to die as a result of lifestyle choices than infectious disease. Diabetes, cardiac disease and other obesity-related conditions are costing the NHS billions and drastically harming the lives of millions. Obesity is a particular issue.
– Poor diets contribute to around 64,000 deaths every year in England, and the Government spends £18 billion a year treating obesity-related conditions.
How can we be proactive – We would like to give time to discover how we can get involved in the following:
– ‘Eat and Learn’ Initiative for schools, where children learn about food and how to cook.
If your child’s school would like to learn all about sourdough, or if your child’s school would appreciate Aidan’s time, gifting the knowledge to your kiddies – please reach out to Catherine@lovinglyartisan.com our mission is to be as visual, proactive and supportive as we can be to those that want a better way of living. It’s the small stuff that often impacts the bigger stuff. We are humble bakers, we can’t save the world, but we can do our bit.
If you want to learn more – Related previous post https://lovinglyartisan.com/henry-dimbleby-national-food-strategy-and-the-impact-on-farming-and-the-influence-on-sourdough-real-bread-bakers/
For further reading and a deeper insight, visit National Food Strategy link: https://www.nationalfoodstrategy.org/
Let’s make some positive changes together
Catherine x
Photography by Artisans & Co
Photographer Ailish Adams
Styling Catherine Connor
