We chat to nutritional therapist, Jess Scott and find out what her guilty pleasures are and snacking with Graze.

Can you tell our readers about your journey into nutrition?

From a young age, I’ve always been into food and exercise. My mum is a Nutritional Therapist and my dad is an osteopath so I grew up with green juices and after school smoothies being the total norm and loved spending time with my mum in the kitchen. Going on to study nutrition was a natural progression as I knew I wanted my work to be centred around helping people with their health and wanted my work to be my passion.

I graduated in 2010 as a Nutritional Therapist and have since been working full time helping people achieve their individual health goals since then with the launch of my business Jessipes.co.uk where my main aim is to make healthy eating fun and delicious, with a side effect of improved health and weight loss, calorie counting and dieting free.

I have a clinic in the City where I see private clients for one-to-one nutrition support but I primarily now see clients via my online private clinic as this enable me to help clients globally. When I’m not seeing clients in clinic or working with clients like Graze.com in the food industry, I run group cooking workshops, nutrition talks and workshops to businesses in London as part of my workplace health program. The workplace health program helps to educate and inspire workplaces to look after their employees by providing talks like mine, full of practical suggestions that people can implement right away to improve their day-to-day health.

What are the most common health complaints you are seeing these days?

The majority of clients I see have a weight (fat) loss goal and they want a plan that will last. I meet a lot of tired and wired clients in my clinic and people in the City that wake up with coffee and wind down with alcohol and the knock on effect of this fast paced lifestyle shows up in various ways such as headaches, broken skin, bloating, tiredness or an inability to shift weight. Our outer world is a reflection of your inner world so taking the time to pause and see what our body is telling us can have both short and long-term rewards.

How would you describe your philosophy about nutrition and living well?

My philosophy is simple. Enjoy your individual journey and stick to whole, low human intervened foods as nature gets it oh so right.

For healthy living to be sustainable and maintainable, my experience with clients has taught me that everyone’s nutrition and healthstyle needs to be as enjoyable as possible, otherwise willpower reserves dwindle. We all have a unique set of nutritional needs and taste buds so what might be amazing for one person and make them bounce off the walls with great energy, might make someone else feel lethargic and mentally sluggish, so discover what your likes are and what makes you feel great and know that your body will tell you when you are on the right path as you will have a natural healthy glow about you and you will feel and look amazing, from the inside out.

As well as a food playing a really important role in our day to day energy and giving us that feel good factor, great relationships, sound sleep and plenty of “me time”, is also important for a healthy mindset and overall life balance and enjoyment, especially amongst the fast pace of everyday life.

Get the body moving daily, either on a walk where you have a digital detox or at a dance or kick boxing class. Whatever you enjoy, do more of it as your body and mind will reap the benefits.

For our time poor readers, do you have any healthy and quick recipes that will make mealtimes feel a breeze?

I’ve got tons! I know you might see lots of foodie photos of nutritionists in their kitchens and think they spend all their time there, but it’s not the case! Life is busy, so the majority of the meals I cook at home are quick, simple but delicious.

9 times out of 10 my go-to breakfast is a smoothie, mainly because it tastes great, it takes minutes to throw together and you can cram so many nutrients in there. I recommend having a freezer draw entirely dedicated to smoothie ingredients, my personal favourites are berries, spinach (buy fresh and just store it in the freezer), chopped up bananas, ginger and pineapple, and whatever else I see at the market that I fancy slicing up and storing in Tupperware boxes. I also keep ice in there too as smoothies are so much nicer when they’re cold.

Having it all in one place saves navigating round the fridge and chopping fruit and veg up in the morning, when time can be precious. On the days I don’t have a smoothie, I make a frittata the night before and it serves four meals worth. I’ll use up any veggies I have in the fridge, spinach, courgette, chard, and I’ll put some olives, sundried tomatoes, red onion and smoked salmon in too. I love a slice of cold frittata to switch breakfasts up slightly. That’s breakfast sorted.

My other trick is without a doubt “Sunday Set Up”. When I don’t organize myself on a Sunday, the rest of the week feels like I’m constantly chasing my tail and buying food on the go. I’m less on top of my diet and I regret not investing the couple of hours to batch cook and plan ahead! The trick to looking after your diet is to be prepared. Your health takes notice of what you do consistently and taking some time out on a Sunday to set yourself up for your busy week ahead is a success habit worth mastering for you and your household.

Batch cooking some recipes and freezing them in portion sized bags and freeze recipes makes for healthy and tasty meals throughout the week. This way you control the quality of oil, salt and produce you use and, as an added bonus, you save money too.

My favourite things to make on Sundays is my hummus recipe, a roasted vegetable and quinoa dish, some energy balls and some marinated roasted salmon or chicken. I love opening a fridge to ready made food, especially on the days I get home from work late and I’m starving! 

We live in a fast-paced society and it can be very tempting to pick up an energy drink and chocolate bar to boost your mood. What healthy snacking tips can you give to our readers?

Many people make amazing food choices for breakfast and lunch, and then come 3pm (or after dinner, or both!), it is as if someone else has taken over their body and turned them into a total sugarholic!! The sugar cravings and subsequent consumption of sugar kick in, and they’ve lost all control, despite the best intentions.

Caffeine and refined sugars or anything that gives us an energy pick me up kicks is initially rewarding and makes as feel like we’re back on track energy-wise, but however satisfying it is in the short term, will only be short lived and it will soon be followed by another dip or more likely a crash in energy.

Although we all have plenty of body fat to burn as energy, many people don’t switch efficiently from sugar burning to fat burning and so as your immediate energy levels crash, sugar seems like such a quick source of energy to crank the energy up a notch or two.

Top tip: Include some good fats with your lunch from whole food sources such as whole nuts and seeds in with your salad, or good quality extra virgin salad dressing to keep you satiated and supplied with key fatty acids to fuel your brain and your cells. Also, get some sleep and some battery recharge time in. When it comes to snacking, make sure you have some protein in there, I love nuts and seeds (unsalted and non-roasted), and either just have them as they are or whizz them up with some cacao, coconut oil and dates to make energy balls. You can make a big batch, freeze them and take a couple out before you head to work so you are snack-ready.

Taste buds renew every 10-14 days and because of this short renewal time we can train our taste buds to enjoy food with less sweetness in a relatively short space of time!

By making a switch from highly refined sugars to sweetness from nature and hence decreasing the intensity of the sweet flavour, you can actually lower the threshold level of sweet food you prefer.

So an example of this in practical terms, say you’re using to having a fruit smoothie in the morning made up entirely of fruit, week by week if you start introducing some of the fruit with green leafy vegetables which are naturally bitter you will start to get used to the reduced sweetness. Once you have become used to having veggie smoothies with only a touch of fruit, you will find 100% fruit based smoothies overly sweet for your taste buds.

Some people like to completely overhaul how they eat and feel energized and excited by doing so but for the majority of people, making small, committed changes seems to work best and slowly consuming less processed food and replacing it with enjoying more real food.

Can you tell our readers about snacking with Graze?

Graze is one of those services that makes your life so convenient. I love the practicality of the punnets, you can keep them in your handbag and they’re the perfect snacking portion and you can customize the boxes you receive to your health goals and food preferences. You can bin foods you don’t enjoy and love foods that you want to receive more of.

There’s a range of snacks, I’m pro the snacks that contain any nut or seed in as that is where the nutrition lies but the range allows for treats as well. They key is that the punnets are ready-portioned so you’re far less likely to eat an entire bag of something and you’ll be satisfied with what you’ve got!

I love nuts as they keep my energy levels great and you can do so many inventive things with them. I usually whizz them into energy balls with some cacao and dates or maple syrup or lightly toast them with tamari for some added flavour.

What inspires you to stay motivated?

I absolutely adore what I do. My job is my passion and my passion is my job, I don’t have an off button where I switch off because the two are totally intertwined. Receiving testimonials from clients and followers on social media reporting back to say their health has been positively improved from following my advice makes my inner world just light up.

When someone tells me they tried one of my recipes and their partner or their son or daughter LOVED it and they usually turn their nose up at healthy foods, this makes me beyond happy. To know that my communication is not only having an impact on adults but their families, this is what it’s all about.

Being as inclusive as possible in this journey, making everyone feel like no matter where they’re at currently with their health they can make positive steps to radically improve their health situation is empowering and it’s the truth. We get better results when we support each other and celebrate each others wins and when we realize that healthy eating is not a fad but a must if you want to look after your long term health and live in a body you are truly happy in. The changes I see with clients in clinic are jaw-dropping and it’s possible for anyone that puts their mind to it and has the right tools.

When I see a light bulb go off in someone’s head because they ‘get it’, and they understand the importance of why certain foods are good and how they can take a proactive approach with their health and why the foods they’ve been eating up until now and the lifestyle they’ve been leading might be contributing to their dis-ease,  this is life changing.

Educating, empowering and inspiring people is so important and having fun along the way as we’re all in this journey together! 

Mum’s often struggle to piece together a healthy meal. What advice would you give mums who want to prepare timesaving nourishing meals for the family?

Smoothies in the morning tend to go down an absolute treat with my clients when they make them for their kids…a handful of berries, half a frozen banana for the milkshake texture, sneak in some greens and add some coconut water and they’ll skip to school with an abundance of energy and nutrition. A great tip is to get a smoothie bottle that is a block colour i.e. not transparent, to hide the green colour!

Snack-wise, my little brothers and sisters have been reared on carrot and mange tout with hummus, prawns or guacamole. Alternatively, homemade flapjacks are super simple to knock up and they go down a treat!

Build a Healthy Lunchbox with 1 protein, 1-2 carbohydrate rich foods, 1 healthy fat, 1 vegetable + water or diluted 100% juice with water. Use this as a reference point and adjust to your child’s age and activity level.

Examples:

Proteins: eggs, wild fish, chicken, turkey, beans, prawns etc.
Carbohydrates: whole grain pasta, corn, peas, sweet potatoes, quinoa, wild rice etc.
Healthy fats: nuts and seeds, avocados, olive oil and homemade salad dressings, etc.

Do you think it’s important to introduce homemade healthy foods from a young age?

Children do as you do, not as you say (!) so my top tip if you want to get your kids to eat healthier is for you, as a parent to take the lead and show them how it’s done! When you start to witness positive health changes, children can feel this and it makes it a lot easier for them to follow suit.

Hopping on the smoothie bandwagon and in the beginning hiding the colour of the green smoothies by putting their smoothies in a cup that has a lid on so your kids drink them. For some reason a lot of kids don’t trust the colour green, but actually enjoy the flavour!

Getting kids in the kitchen young and getting them as involved in the making process (even though it can create a bit more of a chaotic kitchen and take a while longer) really gets kids engaged in the whole process and connected with the foods they’re going to be eating. Use a chalkboard or whiteboard for daily tasks, dinner ideas, and meal plans so you’ve got foods in and don’t have to make multiple dashes to the supermarket to get foods in throughout the week.

Going to markets, farms or allotments together to show them where food comes from is also brilliant as kids are fascinated by the whole process!

Overall, just have fun with them and know that teaching your kids about food and the importance of wholefood choices from an early age will be a lifelong gift.

As the seasons change, should we look at changing our diet?

Nature is smart and the more we try and keep in tune with it’s cycles the better. If a food has been locally grown, it is more likely to contain more nutrition in it when it reaches your plate as it stays longer in the soil, where all the nutritional uptake happens. If a food has been flown overseas, it’s picked when it’s far from being ripe to allow for transportation time and kept in storage conditions conditions until it’s fit to go on the shelves.

Logically and nutritionally it makes sense to eat as seasonal as possible and that you naturally support local farmers and rotate foods so your body gets a spectrum of nutrition throughout the year rather than eating the same foods all year round. My top tip is to find a local farmers market. Once you’ve found one you won’t look back; the food is displayed so beautifully and it makes the whole experience of food purchasing so enjoyable. You’ll find fruits and veggies that you might never have even tried before, I know I’m always AMAZED at how many wild and wonderful foods grow in our world that I’ve never even seen or heard of! The next challenge is knowing what to do with it so I just have a play around and use Google for inspiration!

Do you have you have any guilty pleasures? (we won’t tell….our secret)

I have lots of pleasures but I don’t call them guilty as I really think words have such a powerful affect on the brain. My treat snack when I need a chocolate fix is called “chocolate surprise” and it’s become a total obsession in my house. There’s a recipe for it on my website if you search “chocolate surprise” but it consists of ground almonds whizzed up with coconut oil, cacao and maple syrup and then I pop it in a small bowl with mini spoons so it last longer and drizzle some cashew or almond butter on top and flaked coconut. I’ve had to rein it in as it become too regular a feature in my week but if I’m feeling like I want a sweet snack, that’s what I’ll throw together as those foods are always in my kitchen.

Using the right language is key and paying careful attention to the self-talk that goes on inside your head. The guilt you feel after eating the piece of cake is much worse for you than any piece of cake will ever be. Besides, guilt makes you want more cake! Be kind to yourself. 

When you are not busy working, what do you enjoy in your spare time?

I love travelling and seeing as much of the world as possible. I’m really fortunate that my work allows me to work mostly online so my fiancé and I travel a lot with work and go hiking and do things outdoors.

I love having my girlfriends over for brunch, walking along the river on a sunny day, sitting in the park with a DIY picnic or going to a yoga or pilates class. I love going to new pop up cafes and reading nutrition and personal development books, and I love enjoying experiences and being in the company of uplifting people.

I collect cookbooks and my perfect evening when I need to relax is spent on the sofa with a cup of peppermint and liquorice tea, flicking through my cookbooks whilst a bubble bath is being run. I LOVE bubble baths, especially with candles, Epsom salts, essential oils with my bath time Spotify playlist playing in the background.

 Any nutritional top tips you wish to share with our readers?

• #1 Chew your food well

This sounds like a no brainer and you’re probably so tired of reading this tip, but I can’t tell you how many clients I’ve seen in clinic that have experienced better health and the disappearance of symptoms when they get their chewing and digestion sorted. When was the last time you actually took note of how many times you’ve chewed your food? We live in such a fast paced, busy, no-time-to-sit-down-and-eat world that we often inhale our fuel. Our digestive system is designed to breakdown our food chemically, not mechanically.

Actually look at your food. Taste it. Smell it. Use your senses! Appreciate what is on the plate. This way your brain will signal “satiety” and you’ll be less likely to overeat.

• #2 Breathe

Life can be stressful. If you’re feeling stressed, I highly recommend trying out a deep breathing ritual such as meditation or yoga. It takes a few sessions to get into it if you’re new to it and don’t worry – nobody is judging you if you can’t do the poses and stand like a tree! It’s a space where people come together and learn to just c h i l l!

Breath is one of the most essential factors in regulating the balance of your nervous system. Long, slow belly breathing expands the muscles in your diaphragm, stimulating the relaxation response so things like digestion, rest and repair can happen much more efficiently. Try focusing on your breath anytime you feel overwhelmed. So any activity that encourages this, such as tai chi, meditation, yoga, pilates or simply 20 nourishing breaths before you get out of bed in the morning, will be beneficial – moving your tummy in and out with each breath.

If your digestion is sensitive, then deep breathe before each meal to allow the blood to flow to your digestive system rather than to your arms and legs.

I know mornings can be a bit hectic, so I have clients that do it on the bus or in their car (and they don’t want their journey to end).

What’s your motto?

“Kindness matters”, saying or doing something positive for others comes back two-fold and makes such a difference to their world and your inner world.

My second motto is “The most reliable way to predict the future is to create it.”

Can you tell what an average day is like (if there is one) to our readers?

There is no typical day in the life of me ever! I wake up between 5am-6am as I am a member of a #5am club (which I know is a bit mad.)  Being a business owner, my day can be slightly go go go so I like to get up before the world wakes up so I can write in my journal, bounce on my rebounder, make a breakfast smoothie and set myself up for the day. If I don’t get up early then I’m straight into a busy day and I don’t ever get quiet spells so I try to be super disciplined with myself in the morning.

I spend an hour or so first thing making a recipe for my lunch and photograph it whilst the lighting is bright in my kitchen and then I will crack on with my admin tasks like writing my free newsletter which goes out twice a week with news and updates to my tribe of clients and followers. I respond to all my emails and once that’s all finished I then begin on my projects!

At the moment I’m brainstorming ideas for my cookbook which has always been a dream of mine to do, and I’m also working on a couple of secret projects but around that, I see my private Skype nutritional clients throughout the day and meet business owners in London to talk about collaborations. I write nutrition talks and workshops which I deliver to companies in the City to educate and inspire their employees to make healthy eating an everyday occurrence and when I’m not doing talks, I’m going to nutrition seminars to continue my learning.

I work one day a week at Graze.com HQ and when I’m there I work with lots of different teams but mainly the product and innovations team who are a team of five. I have a 9:30am debrief with Ele, the head of innovations and we map out my projects for the day. They’ll usually include reviewing ingredients and health claims we can make on certain products for upcoming campaigns but a lot of my time is spent writing nutrition related articles for the graze website, blog and other PR opportunities and supporting the customer service team with any nutrition related questions from our grazers. I work with clients in my private clinic so that comes in handy when I work at graze as I’m able to understand the most common health concerns and the knowledge gaps out there.

For further information on  the benefits of  snacking please go to www.graze.com