You’ve confirmed the date, done your homework, and even laid out your confidence-boosting outfit. But have you considered what you consume? It turns out, how we fuel ourselves could be key to tackling pre-interview nerves, and leaving you with a razor-sharp focus. Here’s what to eat to help you smash your next job interview (and what to leave in the fridge until afterwards)

Whether it’s the chance of a promotion or an exciting new challenge, most of us try to feel prepared before we head into the interview room. While you might have done your research, rehearsed your answers, and got a good night’s sleep, have you considered what you tuck into that morning?

The truth is that what you eat before an interview (and what to ditch), is actually a pretty important part of preparing for the job you want – whether it’s keeping you calm, or stopping an energy crash during that all important ‘Where do you see yourself in five years?’ question. So, let’s take a look at the best food and drink to opt for before your interview – and what to save until later.

Food for thought

First things first, it’s really important to remember to eat and hydrate properly before an interview, as this is essential nourishment for mental performance. However, according to the Association of UK Dieticians (BDA), about one third of us skip breakfast on a regular basis, even though there’s lots of reasons why you shouldn’t – especially with a mentally-taxing workplace situation. Research has proven that starting the day with a good breakfast helps with our concentration and mental alertness, as well as our memory and energy – all of which would be undeniably handy in a stressful interview scenario.

In terms of specifics around what to eat before the big moment, there’s both short and long-term things to consider. “B vitamins are really important for mental performance and brain health in general,” says dietitian Sophie Medlin, director of CityDietitians. “Meat and dairy are rich in this but if you’re vegan, you may consider supplementing. Omega 3 is also really important. We can get this from vegan algae and oily fish.”

While a single supplement won’t necessarily help you nail the interview, they could be worth trying to support your overall mental performance in the workplace.

But what if the interview is tomorrow? Well, there are still a few quick-fixes worth trying.

“For an immediate boost, there’s data to show those who have a blueberry smoothie before an exam, have better mental performance and outcomes,” says Sophie Medlin. “Foods rich in antioxidants and polyphenols help improve blood flow and are important for mental performance.”

Other research has revealed the benefits of blueberries when taken along with other berries, such as strawberry and raspberry. One study in the journal Nutrients found

Exploring the complex ways traumatic experiences impact us, and the essential reason why practitioners and clients must be aware of it

Discussions concerning trauma tend to centre around the mental, emotional, and physical impacts of traumatic events. But in recent years, this has expanded to explore the relationship between nutrition, trauma, and physical and mental health. Let’s take a closer look.

What is trauma?

The charity Mind speaks of emotional or physiological trauma as the result of very stressful, frightening, or distressing events which cause lasting harm, even if the harmful effects are not immediately obvious.

Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are harmful events that can occur from as early as in the womb through to age 17, and do not have to be remembered by the child to be traumatic. Examples include experiencing violence, abuse, neglect, or household dysfunction, and adversity including bullying, poverty, war, natural disaster, discrimination, pandemics, medical trauma, and involvement with child protective services. According to the California Centre for Public Health, up to six in 10 people have experienced at least one ACE, and one in six have experienced at least four.

Expanding trauma from the individual to the collective experience, Historical Trauma is that which is experienced by ethnic, racial, or cultural groups over generations – such as slavery, the Holocaust, and colonisation. Then there is Systemic Trauma, which refers to the environments and institutions that contribute to traumatic experiences.

Trauma is multilayered, and has the potential to impact our daily lives. The lasting effects are present irrespective of how or when the trauma occurred. So, the question is: how can trauma-informed nutrition support clients more effectively?

Trauma and nutrition

For some, adverse food-related experiences can be a source of trauma. This includes unreliable or unpredictable meals, imposed restriction or control of food,body shaming, and reward or punishment using food. Trauma may also impact food habits and result in eating disorders and disordered eating, food addictions, high fat, salt or sugar diets, an over reliance on convenience food, and poor food budgeting and planning.

According to Mind, people who have experienced trauma have an increased risk of chronic and long-term illness, including severe obesity, heart disease, strokes, and diabetes. To effectively support their clients, nutrition practitioners who aim to address root causes of illness understand that trauma is a contributory root cause for illness and disease.

The gut/brain axis is central to discussions about trauma and nutrition. Through the vagus nerve, there is a two-way communication between the gut and the brain using hormones, such as adrenaline and cortisol, which influence our feelings and mood. It explains why we may feel nervous jitters in our stomach, have looser stools when stressed, or feel nauseous when in distress. Our gut microbiome directly impacts these hormonal messages, so a healthy gut can support this process.

Trauma-informed nutrition

This approach acknowledges the role adversity plays in a person’s life, recognises symptoms of trauma, and promotes resilience. As noted by the California Department for Public Health, trauma-informed nutrition und

Why can the idea of healthy eating feel so complicated? How do I know what foods are good for me? What should I be eating to keep myself healthy?

Eating healthily has so many benefits for the mind and body. Making the right food choices for you can not only support your immunity and longevity, but it can also improve your bone, skin, gut, and eye health. But being bombarded with the latest health crazes can feel both confusing and a bit intimidating at times. It’s so easy to get caught up in a bit of a daze with it all.

We’re pretty good at knowing why it’s important to eat healthily, but how to put it into action is a whole other thing. If you are finding it a struggle, there are some simple ideas to stick to that can teach you all you need to know about healthy eating.

No more fad diets

The promise of quick weight loss might seem appealing but fad diets are usually lacking in scientific evidence and can feel quite restrictive. Cutting out entire food groups can be unsustainable and may make you feel disheartened about trying to change your eating habits. The last thing you want is to feel like you’re back to square one with it all.

The dieting industry relies on people failing over and over again. In her article, 5-minute reads: Why diets don’t work, Kacie Shoulders (ANutr) explains why diets are to be avoided and why the best advice is to eat a balanced diet.

“I know you may be thinking that your diet includes a whole lot of food, or promises to. But as soon as you restrict in any way (and most diets are about low calories so will be restricting) your body thinks it’s got to battle for survival. Food is clearly scarce and it needs to adapt. That means increasing appetite hormones, decreasing satiety hormones, slowing down your metabolic rate, etc.”

Eat a balanced diet

Eating a balanced diet is a way of ensuring you eat the proper nutrients from a variety of foods, helping your body feel good.

Here are a few basic tips to help you get started:

• Try eating at least five to seven portions of fruit and vegetables daily.
• Keep well-hydrated (six to eight glasses is recommended per day)
• Carbohydrates such as pasta, rice, and potatoes should be about the size of your fist; this will vary depending on how active you are.
• Eat good quality protein with every meal such as meat, fish, eggs, whole grain beans and pulses.
• Try to reduce refined sugar found in sweet treats and fizzy drinks.
• Keep your saturated fat intake found in crisps, pies, processed meats, and baked goods to a minimum where possible.
• Make healthy choices based on the reference intakes guidelines found on the back of food packaging.

It’s also great to remember that being active, especially in nature, is a lovely way to support your body’s needs and complements all the great benefits of healthy eating. Looking after yourself in all these ways can help give you more energy, focus, and motivation.

Look after your attitude to food

Even though there may be certain foods y

Unwanted, and unhelpful, advice can range from irritating to triggering, so we’ve gathered together some tips to help you handle it

Have you ever noticed how often people offer unsolicited diet and nutrition advice?

At work, celebrating a birthday with cake? Someone chimes in with their thoughts on the matter. Let someone know you’re feeling tired? Before you know it, they’ve given you a list of supplements as long as your arm. You didn’t ask, and yet, here they are, telling you anyway.

As a nutrition counsellor, exploring these situations is a regular occurrence for me in the clinic. I work predominantly with individuals restoring their relationship to food, their body, and themselves. Navigating these kinds of situations can be a minefield, especially when you are moving away from diet culture, and restoring your relationship with food. There’s no perfect way to respond, but the following are a few tips on how to navigate it...

Silence is powerful

Responding, or even engaging in conversations about food and nutrition, can feel draining at times – especially if you are navigating your own relationship with food. Even if you want to respond, sometimes, silence can be the most powerful tool you can use.

For some people, diet culture is so deeply entrenched, that regardless of what you say, it’s not going to change their mind. Opting for silence can indicate your disinterest in them, allowing you to save your energy for more important things in your life.

Them: I’ve heard we should all be making sandwiches out of lettuce leaves!

You: Stares into the distance and thinks about the cute cat you saw on the way to work this morning.

Make your response a neutral one

This is a great tool for situations when your mind is racing, and you don’t know what to say. Or when you’re trying to think of an apt comeback that you’ll look back on with reverence, but can’t quite find the words. Go for the most neutral thing you can think of, I like a simple ‘OK’, or ‘Mmhmm’. I think of this like sending the thumbs-up emoji – a very simple way of expressing ‘I’ve heard you, but this is the end of this conversation!’

Tell them what you really think

You may have to pick your audience here, but – if you’re feeling bold – you can try telling them what you think of their comment. Diet and nutrition advice is so sneaky that there is a silent, but a very present, expectation of how you will respond. Telling someone directly you don’t like what they’ve said can disrupt the flow, and turn that expectation on its head. This can be a very clear way of indicating how little interest you have in any nutrition or diet advice.

Try: ‘Thank you, but I wasn’t asking for advice.’

Lay down a boundary

Boundaries – an oldie, but a goodie. A boundary is a very clear line drawn in the sand that tells someone what you need. How you set down your boundary may depend on who is saying it, what context you’re in, and how often this topic has come up. It may be something which needs to be reiterated and rephrased to effectively comm

Whether it’s scrolling Instagram or flicking through newsfeeds, we’re constantly being fed messages to make sure we eat healthily. But what does good nutrition really mean, and how can we separate the myths from the tips actually worth following? Jenna Farmer speaks to the experts to get to the bottom of some of the most common nutrition myths to separate fact from fiction

When it comes to eating healthily, we all know the general rule of having our five a day and drinking plenty of water. But when trying to keep up to date with the latest nutritional advice, it can seem as though superfoods are changing all the time, and a week won’t go by without a new trend hitting the headlines. Is it any wonder many of us feel clueless? How can we know which tips are valuable, and which ones we should take with a pinch of salt? Our experts unravel these common nutrition myths to help you sort facts from fiction.

Myth: Low-fat foods are healthier

Reality: Any trip to the supermarket will leave you bombarded with low-fat alternatives to the staples. But high-fat foods don’t always deserve their bad reputation. For example, you may read about high-fat foods being linked to heart attack risk, but one study published in the Lancet found your total fat intake isn’t actually linked to your risk of cardiovascular disease. Many healthy foods are high in fat but are still super healthy, such as avocados and oily fish. These are both rich in omega 3s, found to support brain health.

In turn, lower fat equivalents aren’t always what they seem. “With food and drinks that are labeled low-fat or even fat-free, it doesn’t necessarily mean they’re good for you, in fact it can be the opposite. They often come with more salt and sugar than the real deal,” says nutrition advisor Simone Thomas.

Myth: Opt for sugar free dupes

Reality: Research has found many of us eat double the amount we should. However, sugar isn’t always the enemy – it’s actually found in a whole range of healthy foods, like fruits and vegetables. These foods also contain other beneficial nutrients as well as fibre (which can slow down the absorption of sugar, which is why eating a whole apple would have less impact on your blood sugar levels than drinking a cup of juice).

“Processed, low-sugar products from the supermarket come with their own health concerns – sugar is replaced with artificial sweeteners in these foods, and these can lead to changes in gut bacteria, and continued sugar cravings. A better option is low sugar fruit, such as berries that contain other nutrients, or raw honey that contains B vitamins and iron,” says nutritionist Hannah Hope.

Myth: Everyone should take a multivitamin

Reality: Whether it’s to help with your energy levels, or for better skin, should we always reach for the multivitamin? Well, not necessarily. According to the NHS website, most of us don’t need to take a multivitamin if we’