As lockdown measures begin to ease, we caught up with our Mindful Chef Ambassadors to see how they’ve grown and adapted to the challenges of isolation and what lessons they’ll take forward.
Sanchia Legister
How are you staying healthy?
Big question. I’m trying to manage a reasonable balance across all areas of my life and even though most of my work requires screen time, I’m dedicating time to other activities throughout the day.
So, we’re cooking a lot more and looking forward to it too. We’ve been having a laugh and we don’t feel so rushed these days. I’m taking good old vitamins and topping up with some boogee cold-pressed vitamin shots – in fact, Charlie (my husband, Mindful Chef & Lululemon global run ambassador) is addicted to them. I also try and drink a glass of apple cider vinegar, get my jade rolling, dog walking, deep hair conditioning, crystal charging on. And of course, teaching (and practising) a fair bit of yoga, with some hula hooping and skipping thrown in.
Have you been experimenting in the kitchen?
Yes. Nothing grand, but today I made sweetcorn fritters for the first time, they were banging. Our go-to dishes have been sweet potato, grilled veg and some fish, as well as beans on toast (secret recipe!). I’m also snacking on fried plantain, crumpets and marmite!
How is MC Supporting you at this time?
MC deliveries mean we don’t have to leave the house unnecessarily. The quality of the food is amazing and the menu is nutritionally balanced. I can get very carried away with portion sizes and being home all the time could be so tempting for me to graze all day from a big pot of food, but MC helps me check in with this.
What lessons will you take forward?
The word slow, has been a big theme of this period for me, and when this is all over, I wanna take it down a gear in some areas and enjoy life even more. Slower eating, slower hugging, slower walking, slower looking.
Hadleigh Parks
How are you staying healthy?
We’ve been eating Mindful Chef five nights a week and are also ordering the smoothies, which are a great afternoon snack. In terms of activity, my wife and I have started the 60-day insanity programme which is keeping us fit and we go for our daily walks around the Pontcanna fields.
What are your go-to meals right now?
With the beautiful weather we’ve been having, we’re choosing more of the Mindful Chef salad options and at least one veggie meal a week. We really enjoy looking at the new menus each week and trying different meals.
What lessons will you take forward?
- To not take the small things for granted
- To appreciate how special family time is and also time with friends
- How important it is to support small and local businesses and delivery services like Mindful Chef. These are the people who have continued to support us through this pandemic
Dave Thomas
How are you staying healthy?
My wife and I are both working full time whilst caring for a toddler so I honestly don’t think we’ve ever been busier or more exhausted. After the initial week of crying in my pants and eating like a child allowed at a buffet for the first time, I’ve responded to the pressure surprisingly well. Having to carve out a regimented diary for exercise and plan all meals from scratch has actually been a really useful focus. It’s by no means easy for anyone right now but by blocking out 30-45 minutes a day for training (and doubling up running as a convenient way to exercise my dog) I’m actually exercising more consistently and eating better than I was beforehand when I’d train and eat whenever I could fit it in.
What are your go-to meals right now?
We have Mindful Chef meals three nights a week. We stick to the 15-minute recipes for convenience and time. After that, it’s just batch cooking anything simple and then trying to convince my daughter she doesn’t want sausage, tuna, beans, cheese and yoghurt in one meal.
I’ve also taken advantage of the Mindful Chef Next Day Boxes to thank our furloughed workers, key sector workers and my family members for their support and to give them a boost during a really challenging time.
Have you experimented in the kitchen?
We haven’t jumped on the sourdough wagon yet but I’ve made kefir for about 10 years, after becoming very interested in the science of gut health, and because as a Yorkshireman I resent paying £2 a bottle for something I can make for pennies at home. My wife has made bread for years too although the initial flour shortage provided some interesting batches. We also bake some kind of cakey, muffiny snack every week and blend fruit lollies to entertain our toddler. She loves measuring, mixing and licking the spoon, which gives me lovely pangs of nostalgia.
What lessons will you take forward?
- Limiting ‘screen time’ for kids is a pretentious privilege!
- It’s solidified my own philosophy about what’s important and essential in life. Health, family, food and shelter. The rest is marketing.
- We love to think we’re in control but it only took 30,000 letters of RNA to bring down our whole society. Control what you can and learn to accept and adapt to what you can’t.
Ben Gotting
How are you staying healthy?
Sadly this hasn’t been a huge priority for me as I’ve been working a fair bit, sadly still commuting and trying to look after the kids full time as my wife, Laura is still working full time too in the NHS. I worked out today for the first time in over a week, so am glad I managed to get something in. I am managing to cook a lot more food at the moment for the kids so trying to eat a little better.
What are your go-to meals right now?
Go to meals for me right now anything with sausages as the kids are fussy and don’t eat a huge amount other than spag bowl, chicken dippers or sausage related Dishes. My son tried and loved the Mindful Chef Mexican spiced chicken fillets with almond flour, so that’s a plus!
How is MC Supporting you at this time?
Convenience really – healthy meals ready in under 30mins. It’s a lifesaver for me at the moment. And means I can cook instead of Laura!
Twice the Health
How are you staying healthy?
We’re simply doing what we do. With plans for our Ironman event to still be going ahead late August, we’re following usual training procedures. We’re lucky to have a turbo trainer at home, and the ability to still be able to run so we’re just doing our best to keep up the strength work with the equipment we have at home. Outside of exercise, we’re ensuring we take time out from work, and give ourselves the weekends to relax. It can be easy to adopt an all work, no play when we have little else to do, but the headspace is just as crucial as ever. When we’re not running, cycling or whipping up Mindful Chef meals we’re spending time on personal projects we may have neglected prior to lockdown. We’re reading a lot more, and enjoying getting creative with our content. Netflix is featuring a lot too…
What are our go-to meals right now?
Good question! When we’re not cooking up Mindful Chef, the regular plate attendees are Beans and cheese on toast (you can’t go wrong with this, and it’s a great post-session lunch or dinner). If we’re feeling fancy it’s our Peanutbutter Beans! Our Buckwheat Nuggets. They’re so simple and delicious to cook up, plus they bring back all kinds of childhood memories. Pesto pasta is another go-to, otherwise known as our perfect pre-race dinner. In our eyes, you just can’t go wrong with this classic combo.
Have you experimented in the kitchen?
Yes, a bit! In saying that, we probably should more so…We have made fresh pasta twice and indulged in lots of baking. H has whipped up a loaf of banana bread and Tiffin almost weekly, and we’ve also tried a few new cookie recipes. We’ve also remade a few MC meals. That’s experimenting, right?
How is MC supporting you at this time?
Leaps and bounds is how! Despite having more time, we still seem to arrive at mealtimes short on it. Mindful Chef makes healthy meals easy, and we can rest assured they are offering us all the goodness we need to work as hard as we play. On top of this, it means sometimes we can even leave the cooking to the boys, knowing they simply cannot go wrong if they just follow the booklet.
We’ve also been receiving a lot of questions from followers around staying on top of healthy eating at this time. Knowing we can direct them straight to Mindful Chef to help them do just that is an easy win for us, them and MC too!
What lessons will you take forward?
Slow down – Life doesn’t need to run at a million miles an hour. Work will still be done, and the world will not collapse if you just take time to do things. Whilst we’ve had more time, it seems things have run at a slower pace, and you know what… we’re still standing. So often we’re forced to race through life, chasing deadlines and replying to emails we forget why we do what we do. If you take a step back, in the way this lockdown has forced many of us to do, it’s likely you’ll see things a little clearer and maybe even get things done quicker (and better) than you would have before.
Connect more – Lockdown has forced us into connecting more with those we don’t always make time for, leading to meaningful conversations and deeper connections. We’ve picked up with friends we hadn’t spoken to in years, and caught up more often with those we take for granted. It’s made us realise how much we miss those friendships, and staying connected is definitely something we’ll both be focusing on.
Sleep is king – More time to sleep has our bodies oh so happy. We’re quick to let this one slip when life gets busy, but going forward we’ll be prioritising the precious Zzzz hours!
Natalia Bojanic
How are you staying healthy?
I am working, working out and working inwards! I live on my own and with all my family being based in Brazil in order to keep a healthy state of mind I surround myself with meaningful activities that enhance my quality of mind and consequently the quality of my life.
At work: as Co-Founder of Form we’re dedicating our efforts to bring comfort in these testing times by launching an app to enhance connection and wellbeing outside of social media as well as increasing our charitable initiatives in the UK supporting Made In Hackney.
In addition, as a meditation teacher, I offer free guided meditations on Sundays via Zoom and have also started a YouTube channel with content in Portuguese.
Working out: the Peloton app has been a lifesaver! It’s free for a 90-day trial and I use it nearly everyday for dancing classes, HIIT sessions and yoga flows.
Working inwards: I am attending a 8-week online meditation and Buddist retreat with my teacher Dr. B. Alan Wallace, PhD, and everyday I listen to spiritual teachings that strengthen resilience and improve your peace of mind.
What are your go-to meals right now?
The Mindful Chef Frozen meals are my go-to at lunchtime as they taste like freshly made comfort food and require only a few minutes of heating up in the microwave! It’s the best solution I have found to have tasty and healthy meals without interrupting my workflow. My favourite is the Yellow Thai tofu curry with red rice and Cashew chickpea korma with black rice!
Have you experimented in the kitchen?
As with probably most of the UK population I have been experimenting with baking. I have tried soughdough, cookies, cakes, savoury loaves and honestly, they’ve been more fun to make than they are delicious to taste. But this low-sugar Toffee Muffins is a recipe worth sharing!
What lessons will you take forward?
It’s devastating that it has taken a global pandemic to make people more aware of their health and that of the planet. But if there is any silver lining in all the suffering we’re experiencing right now it’s that our priorities will shift and the sense of connection and interdependence will be enhanced. Therefore in the long term, if we are wise enough going forwards, humanity will benefit in the long run.