Hey friends,
Back after a couple of hectic weeks – been working on a new project that I can't wait to share with you!
I've had a few new faces into the newsletter community after my recent appearance on Jamie Oliver's One Pound Wonders and Money Saving Meals which has been really nice to see – so I thought I'd do a brief re-introduction to who I am to kick off this newsletter.
I'm Jeffrey (of course).
I've always had a sporting/athletic background from my days as a semi-professional footballer in the UK (who also had very brief stints at smaller professional clubs in Austria and Norway), as well as playing tennis, rugby and cricket in school.
Nutrition wasn't really at the forefront of my mind in my teens and twenties beyond thinking that I needed meat for protein, and milk for calcium.
That was it.
(I wish I had some pictures of my early days but I wasn't a picture guy haha).
Fast-forward to 2017 and I'm introduced to a documentary called What The Health, which outlined the link between diet and disease – while discussing the benefits of a whole-food, plant-based diet.
I watched it twice, and then decided that I would make a switch to a plant-based diet.
Overnight.
Crazy I know – but I can be a bit of an all-or-nothing guy at times.
I saw it as an opportunity to dive into nutrition research, do a bit of trial and error, and get really clued up on everything related to this way of eating.
And after a few weeks the differences were insane; sleep was incredible, energy was incredible, clarity of thought and mind, recovery was great – it was going almost too well.
I then staretd sharing my journey and all of the learnings I was coming across on social media (with no other purpose than just to help and educate others) and over time it grew into a large community – including you guys – discussing all things plant-based nutrition, as well as other areas of health and wellbeing to live a better life.
Health is incredibly important to me. It's got me through some of the toughest times – most notably the loss of my first wife in 2017 – and being able to lean on habits related to plant-based nutrition, training and sleep has been a game-changer not just physically, but in terms of developing a sense of mental resilience.
It's been a fun ride and it still feels like a huge passion of mine to this day – and to get the opportunity to share that on Jamie Oliver was a great feeling.
There's more to come friends, that's for sure.
(If you're in the UK and you want to watch it on catch-up, you can do so here).
Sauna for recovery?
If you've been around here for a while, you'll know that I've discussed the benefits of the sauna – a lot.
It's been a regular part of my routine for the last 3 years, and I aim for 3-4 sessions per week of around 20 minutes.
It has a hugely positive effect on heart health, blood flow, blood pressure, and immune function to name a few.
But did you also know it can help with your recovery from training?
A 2013 study looked at the effect of sauna on recovery in Finnish athletes after aerobic training, and it showed a 17% decrease in oxidative stress markers (a result of inflammation) after sauna recovery.
This is likely due to the heat shock proteins produced when you go in the sauna, which help muscle recovery, improve blood flow and lead to better outcomes.
If you have access to a sauna, 3 sessions of 15-20 mins per week is a great place to try and build to.
Start slow if you're new to it – it can be tough. But you'll reap so many benefits for body and mind.
Gut health tips
'How can I improve my gut health?"
This is a question that many people ask and want answers to – here are my top 3 tips to improve gut health (and create benefits for digestion, chronic disease risk and mental wellbeing):
- Eat 30+ whole plants per week - Researchers at the American Gut Project did a study that showed that people who ate 30 or more plants per week bad better gut microbial diversity (a wider range of different bacterial strains which is a very good thing) than people that ate 10 or less. Diversify, diversify, diversify.
- Focus on polyphenol-rich foods - prioritise foods like berries, nuts and seeds, whole grains like sorghum, as well as tea and coffee. Polyphenols help to increase the growth of healthy bacteria such as bifidobacterium – a strain linked to tons of health benefits.
- Eat more fermented foods - I've been screaming from the rooftops about this one for a while now. Getting more fermented foods into your diet – I'm talking kimchi, sauerkraut, sourdough, kefir, yoghurt, tempeh and so on – helps to populate your gut with more of these live cultures, and benefit your health.
Hope you enjoyed this newsletter – and as always I love receiving your feedback, so let me know what topics you'd like me to cover or what you thought of this particular edition.
Stay healthy,
Jeff