From plant-based meals to batch cooking: we put 4 wellness food and drink trends to the test

Fibremaxxing – aka, upping your fibre intake across breakfast, lunch and dinner – has been everywhere of late, so I wanted to see how easy it would be to up my fibre intake by eating more plant-based meals. 

This isn’t about going vegan (I love cheese too much) but trying to introduce more plant-based food sources to my meals, especially in the form of plant-based protein.

While the temptation to bulk buy jars of the Bold Bean Co’s Queen Butter Beans and eat them on repeat was strong, I challenged myself to try a range of different ingredients in my cooking, including a few varieties of beans, tofu, different kinds of grains and nuts and seeds.

I’d never cooked with tofu before this, but I was shocked by just how much I liked it, and how easy it was to prepare – I cut mine into cubes, marinated it in soy sauce, corn flour and some spices and stuck it in the air fryer until it was nice and crispy. I served it with some stir friend noodles and veggies – delicious.

While eating this way took a bit of extra work at the beginning, once I was used to cooking with more plant-based ingredients it took no longer than the way I used to eat. 

Knowing that I’m eating plenty of fibre has also given me peace of mind that I’m looking after my gut health, and it’s nice to know I’m doing my bit for the planet too by cutting down my reliance on animal products. 

Batch cooking is everywhere on social media at the moment, and I’ve always wanted to give it a go. 

It seems like a great way of ensuring you’re getting plenty of nutrient-rich, home-cooked food even when you’re busy during the week – and I like the idea of having dinner ready as soon as I get home.

The main challenge with this one was getting organised enough to pre-cook all the meals I needed. My weekends have been busy recently, so carving out a couple of hours to cook on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon was tricky. 

I also found that, while having my dinner made for me in advance was nice, eating the same thing over and over again quickly got boring.

One day, even though I had dinner in the fridge, I got so sick of eating my chickpea curry that I ordered a takeaway (not in the spirit of this experiment but bloody delicious).

Something I did enjoy and find useful was having my breakfast prepared in advance. At the beginning of the week, I made a huge load of overnight oats and then simply spooned it out into a smaller pot when I needed it throughout the week. 

It made it so much easier to find time for breakfast (I’m guilty of skipping it from time to time) and I looked forward to adding different toppings every morning. 

On an episode of Jamie Oliver’s new Audible podcast Reset Your Health, Professor Sarah Berry, chief scientist at Zoe, speaks about the impact that eating crunchier, chewier foods can have on our health. 

In short, eating foods that take longer for us to eat and swallow can aid digestion by stimulating saliva production while also helping us to be more in tune with our hunger signals and clean our teeth.

So, in a bid to put that to the test, I’ve been trying to add rawer crunchy, chewy foods to my diet, while also slowing down my eating in general. 

That meant swapping cooked veggies for raw ones (a raw carrot will always be a winner in my book) and swapping easy to eat snacks like soft cereal bars with a crunchy selection of nuts and seeds, while also making a conscious effort to chew more as I ate.

While I can’t say I saw a huge impact on my digestion, focusing on chewing my food more has helped me to make my mealtimes more mindful instead of rushing through my food without thinking twice. 

My high sensitivity to caffeine means drinking a couple of cups of coffee in the morning is a no go, but I am partial to a few cups of English breakfast tea spread out through the morning and early afternoon. 

With that being said, I’ve seen a lot of people on social media saying that matcha – made with finally ground green tea powder – could offer the same boost as tea while offering additional health benefits.

After looking into it, I found out that matcha not only contains more antioxidants than regular green tea (and definitely more than breakfast tea), but it also contains the amino acid L-theanine, which helps with relaxation and focus. 

That might be one of the reasons why studies have shown that matcha can actually help to improve cognitive performance, including focus, attention, memory and mood.

In a bid to try it myself, I spent a week swapping my regular tea for one matcha latte after breakfast. I went with an iced matcha latte because I prefer it that way and added strawberry puree for a touch of sweetness. 

I was surprised by just how big of a difference I noticed – I genuinely felt like my ability to concentrate improved, and I managed to tick off a few extra tasks from my to-do list over the course of the week. Of course, this could be a placebo effect, but I’m certain the matcha did something.