SECTSECTOR FOCUS: FOOD AND DRINK
Promoting healthy habits will benefit your home and work life Kate Magic from Raw Living looks at how making healthy habits can benefit our bodies and minds... There’s no denying that health has been at the forefront of everyone’s minds over the last 18 months. Although there has been much talk of what happens when we get sick, there’s been a lot less talk about the things that we can do to naturally improve our wellbeing. Our bodies are miraculous machines, designed with the specific purpose of keeping us alive. Trillions of cells work relentlessly, dayin, day-out, within dozens of different complex ecosystems, such as the respiratory system, the immune system, the reproductive Kate Magic system and the cardiovascular system. And yet most of us take all this for granted. I think it helps to think of your cells as little citizens of a kingdom, of which you are the ruler. What can you do to be a fair, just and kind ruler? This article contains a few easy to implement suggestions. Before we get started, I would just like to say, I am a big fan of things that take little to no time! Too often, health advice feels out of our reach when we might have a morning that involves getting kids out of the house to school, feeding pets, and getting to work on time to do a seven- or eight-hour day. Who’s got time to meditate for 30 minutes each morning? Not people with busy work and family lives, that’s for sure, so don’t stop reading just yet! Hopefully this piece contains at least one nugget that will improve your life when you take it on board.
Diet Let’s start with the most obvious one diet. There is no doubt now that plantbased is the best diet for our planet. But don’t worry, I’m not going to tell you all to go vegan! I believe the most important factor when changing the diet is to make small tweaks, one step at a time. That way it becomes more manageable and sustainable. I am a big fan of fruit and salads, and not only do you get more nutrients out of the food when you don’t heat it, it’s also quicker to make. Can you all contribute to a workplace fruit bowl? Fruit is nature’s candy; just switching all your sweet snacks to fruit can have a huge impact on your health. Switch your lunch to a salad over a sandwich (include a little chicken or fish if that’s your preference), and notice the difference in your energy levels at the end of the day. Maybe you can have a plantbased day in the workplace once a week, where you all agree to eat vegetarian or vegan for the day, and support each other in that decision. A recent study after this year’s Veganuary showed that 82% of people who took part were still eating more plant-based than they had done before the event.
Hydration
Gratitude
I am the queen of hydration. My partner says he would never want to be on a desert island with me, because I would be drinking all the coconut water and saying, “But Ian, I need to hydrate!” Drink around five litres a day, and before you go running to the bathroom at just the thought of that, you have to know that I only drink about one litre of plain water a day. Most of the time, I am drinking delicious and nutritious drinks that actually hydrate the cells a whole lot better than water. It’s a little-known fact that water isn’t the most hydrating drink to drink! Cells are made of fats and water, so any drink that has electrolytes, minerals or fats in is more hydrating than plain water. I love kombucha, plant milks, herbal teas, juices, and coconut water. Not only are these drinks way more tasty, and fun to guzzle down, they hydrate the body better and provide nutrients at the same time. Get in the habit of having a drink instead of a snack, e.g. a vegetable juice instead of a bag of crisps, and see if you don’t have more energy at the end of the day. As an employer, find ways to facilitate your employees’ hydration levels: many studies have shown how hydration improves cognition, making for a sharper, more on the ball workforce.
This one might surprise you, but studies show that people with a daily gratitude practice experience better sleep, less fatigue, less inflammation, fewer headaches, and even better skin! Every morning, make it a routine to think of three things that you are grateful for: you can do it while you’re in the shower, cleaning your teeth, or do it with the kids while you drive them to school. Each night before you go to sleep, think of three things that you are grateful for that day: again, you might want to make it a practice that you share with your partner or your housemates. And maybe you can make it a workplace practice, to have a daily or weekly gratitude check-in? Can you create a gratitude journal for colleagues to write down why they are grateful for working there, or why they are grateful for their workmates? People can just scribble in it whenever they want, and then it becomes a beautiful physical representation of all the reasons why people love your company, and love working there. I could literally write a book on this, so I will leave it there! I hope that has given you some inspiration for little things that you can do that make a big difference.
You can check out more of my work at KateMagic.com and my online shop selling all the best plant foods on the planet is RawLiving.co.uk
Winter 2021 Chamber Profile
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