My guest today is Thomas ‘Hal’ Robson-Kanu. Thomas is a Premier League and Wales International footballer and founder of The Turmeric Co. In this episode we talk about the personal experiences that led to him launching the family business that makes fresh blended turmeric shots, following a series of injuries that threatened to halt his career. We also discuss how he learned to manage his nerves on the pitch and how he copes with the pressures of top flight sports and the scrutiny that comes wit...
Mar 14, 2018•44 min
My guest is journalist Felicity Morse who up until very recently was the online editor of the I newspaper, responsible for all the digital news content. She left that role just before Christmas to focus on investigating and writing about sex and relationships. Felicity is also exploring ideas around vulnerability and in this very honest conversation we talk about her experience of emotional eating and social media addiction. I am enormously grateful to Felicity for her openness and I hope you fi...
Feb 23, 2018•1 hr
In this episode I talk about something that is part observation and part theory in relation to the way that some people think about food and their bodies. A growing number of individuals seem to be worried that a normal outcome of digestion is a sign of physical illness or moral weakness. Have we pathologised being full? Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/strongerminds . Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information....
Feb 02, 2018•26 min
Laura Thomas is a registered Nutritionist with a Phd in Nutritional Sciences who specialises in Intuitive Eating, Health at Every Size, and non-diet nutrition. Through a non-diet approach she strives to help her clients and followers to develop a healthy and relaxed relationship with food that relies on acknowledging and trusting their own internal body cues rather than external rules and regulations. She was the nutritionist for the 2017 BBC1 documentary Mind Over Marathon, which followed a gro...
Jan 19, 2018•1 hr 15 min
My guest is Clare Knivett. Clare is the last ever food editor of Jamie Oliver’s Jamie Magazine, which published its last edition in December 2017. She took some time out before setting off on her travels to talk to me about the role, what it was like to work with one of the world’s most famous chefs and shares a whole bundle of heart-warming food memories. We have only just met but she has already shown me such openness, warmth and generosity that she is rapidly becoming one of my favourite peop...
Dec 08, 2017•49 min
My guest is Professor John Cryan, who is Professor and Chair of the Department of Anatomy and Neuroscience at University College Cork, and along with his long-time collaborator, Prof Ted Dinan, has lead much of the burgeoning field of the gut microbiome and the gut-brain axis. In this episode we talk about what exactly is meant by the term ‘gut-brain axis’, the link between the gut and brain disorders such as Parkinson’s Disease and depression and what you can do to look after your own gut bugs....
Nov 23, 2017•53 min
If the last episode left you inspired to explore whether meditation might work for you, here is a free guided relaxation meditation from my guest, Meditation Coach, Ashley Hunt. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/strongerminds . Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Nov 15, 2017•10 min
Chronic stress underlies a whole range of physical and mental health concerns, driving depression, anxiety, sleep problems, promoting weight gain and your risk of developing type 2 diabetes. It’s not just a psychological phenomenon but has serious effects on physical health and the actual structure of the brain so anything that can help you to manage stress and reduce your exposure to chronic stress is going to be beneficial. Meditation and mindfulness can be a really helpful to have in the tool...
Oct 24, 2017•55 min
Today, I step away from food for a moment and talk about an important issue that almost everyone will experience, but that doesn’t get very much air time. This episode is about grief. It’s a difficult and painful subject that can leave us feeling helpless and lost for words. But we will all experience grief and we will all encounter people in our lives who are grieving and so I think it is really important to think about what is happening in the grief process, what can help and what can hinder c...
Oct 11, 2017•23 min
In this episode I have the pleasure of breaking bread with a food hero of mine. Stella Parks, also known as Bravetart, is a pastry chef who trained at the CIA, the Culinary Institute of America. In 2012 she was named one of Food and Wine’s Best New Pastry Chefs and was this year nominated for a prestigious James Beard Foundation award. Stella is the resident Pastry Guru at Serious Eats, the website renowned for its meticulously researched recipes with a generous dose of the science behind your f...
Sep 27, 2017•1 hr 14 min
In this episode I go back to visit Sheryl Hill and Ellen Carr, the directors behind the Sheryl Talks Obesity theatre production looking at the complexities of living with obesity. In this conversation we talk about some of the feedback the team have had from research and focus groups and what they have learned about how we respond to larger bodies. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/strongerminds . Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information....
Sep 20, 2017•37 min
In this episode my guest is Beca Lyne-Pirkis. Many of you will know Beca as a fellow baker on my series of the Great British Bake Off, which is where we met and bonded over a shared love of personal challenges and Thai food. After the series Beca secured her own television cookery programme in her native Wales, now in its fourth series, and has another exciting project underway, which I will tell you about as soon as I am allowed to! In this conversation I talk to Beca about her food history, th...
Sep 05, 2017•46 min
In this episode I talk to Sheryl Hill. Sheryl is an independent theatre director and her company, Ships in the Night Theatre, in January launched a new project, part-funded by Arts Council England looking in to the complexities and real-life experience of obesity in the UK. Sheryl describes herself as an obese woman and was frustrated by the way that the public discussion on obesity didn’t seem to relate to her own experience or those of other overweight people that she knew. She and her team ar...
Aug 10, 2017•45 min
This episode is a Food Story, where I sit down and talk to someone about what food means to them and what role it plays in their lives. So allow me to introduce you to Franceska Venzon Franceska is a pastry chef who trained at Le Cordon Bleu in Canada before moving to London and working as a sous chef at Ottolenghi (look out for her name in the upcoming Ottolenghi baking book coming out in the autumn!). Hailing from Brazil but with roots in Italy in this episode she introduces me to the wizardry...
Jul 26, 2017•47 min
Irritable Bowel Syndrome is a complex and common illness that affects the function of the gut, creating uncomfortable and embarrassing symptoms for sufferers. In this episode I give a brief overview of research in to IBS, outline aspects of the brain-gut-microbiome axis in the disorder, and highlight the critical role of psychological stress in driving symptoms. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/strongerminds . Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information....
Jul 15, 2017•23 min
My guest today is baker and activist Gavan Knox. Gavan is a man of many pseudonyms. He has a baking blog and business as Mr. Moms and also answers to The Bearded Baker. Five years ago Gavan and his husband adopted two children, siblings aged four and five. In this conversation we talk about his experience of becoming a father, including the challenges and triumphs, and how food is a way to build family traditions with his children. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/strongerminds . Hos...
Jun 27, 2017•45 min
Every year in early summer members of the Sikh community take to the streets to hand out cool, sweet drinks to passers-by offering them relief from the heat. In this episode I talk to Gurmeet Dhillon about the significance of this tradition and the broader importance of food in the Sikh faith. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/strongerminds . Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information....
Jun 23, 2017•26 min
New and ongoing research has shown a link between the microbiome and the body's response to fasting on the health and repair of nerve cells. In this episode I report on the latest research on fasting and Multiple Sclerosis (MS) a common autoimmune neurodegenerative disease. Are we standing on the verge of new nutritional interventions for neurological disorders? Tune in to hear what two leading researchers, Dr. Valter Longo and Dr. Jeremy Chataway, think is going on and the future directions of ...
Jun 13, 2017•20 min
In this episode I speak to Victoria Prever, food editor of the Jewish Chronicle, the world's oldest continuously published Jewish newspaper. She tells me about the symbolism of dairy foods during the festival of Shavuot and the role of food in Jewish culture. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/strongerminds . Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Jun 02, 2017•23 min