Pure Package was the first healthy food and juice delivery service loved by fashion journalists and celebrities alike. We ask its founder how it stays ahead of the curve.
Healthy food delivery services are now coming out of our ears. You were the first to launch. How did it start?
I’ve always loved food and I care about looking the best that I can, but I didn’t always have the time to make sure I was eating to feel and look my best. On top of this, I have never accepted that there should be any guilt attached to eating. One day it just clicked – to bring together nutritional therapists and chefs to prepare wholesome, natural meals, and have them delivered! I worked on the philosophy that if I am passionate about it, others would be too.
What is the most common problem you find that modern women are making when it comes to our eating? Do you think it’s because women are obsessed with being thin?
Food should be fun, but I find that increasingly, people – not just women – are forgetting this, and equating healthy, wholesome eating with dull, ‘diet’ food. It’s also too easy to forget the real purpose of food – fundamentally, it is our fuel. And if we use the right fuel – vibrant, colourful, nourishing ingredients – it can make us glow and give us boundless energy.
Too often people see food as an enemy – something which needs to be conquered. If I could say one thing to the countless thousands who calorie count and worry about how much they’re eating, it would be this: do you want to be hungry and weak and unable to think clearly or run around after your children? Or do you want to be strong, full of energy, in control of your body – and loving the way you look and feel?
It doesn’t help, of course, that we are constantly being bombarded with images of how the ‘perfect woman’ should look – although I do feel that this is changing from super-skinny to a more healthy, curvaceous, look. We need to remember that being beautiful certainly does not mean thin. I love making healthy eating enjoyable and easy; once eating a proper balance of real food, it becomes part of a daily routine and you’ll never have felt better.
How can we feel more confident about our bodies and realise we’re not all going to be size zero?
The most important thing that we try to impress upon our clients is that everyone is different. Not only do people’s bodies have different nutritional and energy requirements but, more importantly, our bodies change throughout our lives. Age is an important indicator of what your body needs, but so is the chapter of life that you’re living. If you’ve just become a parent your body is at a wholly different stage than if you’ve only got yourself to look after.
Energy levels are what really set the tone. As a mother of four, I have a realistic idea of the different chapters my body goes through and what my body needs as a result. My advice is this: get to know your body and find exercise and food that suits your body type. We have just started DNA testing at The Pure Package which will tell you how sensitive your body is to fats and carbohydrates as well as what exercise suits you. This information can really help give you the tools you need to make the absolute most of your body and your energy levels.
What are the fundamental tricks to keeping a balanced diet, without sacrificing some treats?
1. Plan your meals around seasonal fresh produce – this helps your body to stay in tune with the natural cycles. You will also get the optimum nutrition from the fruits and vegetables when you eat them at the time they thrive the most.
2. Start the day the right way with a filling balanced breakfast. Don’t forget the complex carbs and lean protein.
3. Keep treats as treats and remember portion control! (It sounds obvious but 50 grams of cake has half the calories of 100 grams of the same cake – so only eat half…) Treats should not be a daily event – we are talking one to two times a week, max. That way you’ll really appreciate them – but you might also find that they lose their allure.
4. Hunger can sneak up on us, so don’t be caught off guard. Carry handy snacks with you so you are not tempted to grab unhealthy stuff on the go. I usually have a handful of cashew nuts in my bag and a piece of fruit – these stop me from reaching into the biscuit tin at 4pm.
The party season is making sure that we are all carrying some extra weight… Do you have any fail-safe healthy recipes that will help us get our diets back on track?
Firstly, don’t feel guilty about having some treats over the holidays; as much as you can, however, cook fresh with seasonal products and grass-fed organic meat if it’s available. At least you know you are still getting all the nutrients you require.
It’s also important to build healthy meals into your everyday menu before Christmas so they become part of your normal diet. Don’t wait until the New Year! That way, once the festivities are over, you won’t feel like you are making a huge change to your normal routine.
Most Christmas treats are heavily salted and high in refined sugar so you are sure to be holding lots of water if you eat lots of them. If you have eaten a lot of treats, after the holiday period go ‘cold turkey”’ on the white powders. As soon as the silly season ends, I cut out all wheat, salt, MSG and sugar from my diet. It’s quite easy for me to do as we never allow the white powders in the Pure Package kitchens anyway, but it can give people huge withdrawal symptoms. Stick with it, no matter how hard it gets – you really will notice a difference to how you feel.
Eating healthy for me is about feeling that I’m not depriving myself, and cooking food that is naturally low in fat but high in slow-releasing energy. And after so many years of doing it, side-stepping refined carbohydrates is now second nature.
Try this Speedy Fish Pie Recipe from my book The Balance Diet. It’s wheat- and gluten-free and contains lots of protein and essential fats but is comforting and filling – perfect for January.
Speedy Fish Pie
Serves 2
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cooking Time: 20 minutes
Wheat Free, Gluten Free
Put your grill on full power
Ingredients
250g small baby potatoes, halved, skin on
Small handful of fresh parsley, finely chopped
1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon groundnut oil
1/2 onion, peeled and finely diced (retain the
trimmings)
1 leek, washed and finely sliced (white part only;
retain the trimmings and the dark green leaves)
1/2 celery stalk, chopped into small dice
1 carrot, peeled and chopped into small dice
1 cloves of garlic, peeled and crushed
100g salmon fillet, skin on, boned
100g any white fish fillet (we like pollock or
seabream), skin on, boned
1 bay leaf
hot water to cover the fish
2 tablespoons of retained poaching water
Zest and juice of half a lemon
100g crème fraiche
30g Parmesan, grated
50g frozen garden peas, defrosted
Freshly ground black pepper
20g Parmesan, grated
Directions
1. Cook the potatoes in a pan of boiling water for 10-15 minutes until tender.
2. Drain and crush the potatoes with the parsley and olive oil. Don’t overwork it as you want the mash to have a nice chunky texture.
3. While the potatoes are cooking, add the groundnut oil, onion, leek, celery and carrots to a non-stick pan. Cook over a medium heat for 5 minutes, lid on, stirring occasionally to prevent sticking.
4. Add the garlic and reduce heat to low, and leave to cook for a further 5 minutes.
5. Meanwhile, place the fish fillets in a pan with the bay leaf, and the leek and onion trimmings, and just cover the mix with hot water. Bring to the boil and then lower the heat. Cover and leave to simmer for about 5 minutes.
6. Strain the fish, removing the bay leaf and vegetables, and retain the poaching water. Remove skin and flake the fish into chunks.
7. Add poaching water, zest and juice of lemon, crème fraiche, parmesan and the remainder of the parsley to the onion/carrot mix.
8. Add the peas and stir well.
9. Season with black pepper, and further lemon juice to taste.
10. Mix through the flaked fish.
11. Make sure your grill is on full power.
12. Spoon the fish and vegetable mix into a deep serving dish. Top with the smashed potatoes and then scatter the grated parmesan evenly over the top.
13. Grill for 5 minutes or until the top is nice and crispy.
Should breakfast still be the biggest meal of the day? What is the ideal breakfast?
I think it’s probably the meal that needs the most planning as mornings can sometimes be very busy. Again I think you have to work with your body and lifestyle. Breakfast is certainly important but just as important as our other meals. My ideal breakfast can differ depending on the time of year; at the moment I am enjoying balance and sultana bircher muesli as I can make it the night before, then simply heat it up in the morning. It’s also great cold – because, believe me, there are mornings when I don’t even have time to pop something in the microwave! But most of all, it’s lovely and comforting on a crisp winter’s morning.
There’s been some recent press about how saturated fats actually don’t cause you to put on weight. Where do you stand on this?
Because there’s so much research on both sides of the argument, there’s a lot of ensuing confusion – making the discussion fairly hard for most people to actually understand. The key fats to include in your diet are essential ones, omega oils 3 and 6. Saturated fats I try to keep to a minimum, however these occur in foods such as butter, cheese and coconut oil – which are undoubtedly enjoyable and can be valuable components of a dish. The extent to which they are ‘bad’ for you or cause you to put on weight depends on your genes and how quickly you metabolise these fats. Personally, I just try to be sensible, while enjoying my food, and keep it as natural and fresh as possible – no matter what I’m eating. I would rather have a spread of organic butter over a low fat spread which contains homogenised fats any day.
What are the real food evils?
Foods which have been processed beyond recognition, or which are laden with additives and preservatives. Try to eat as close to ‘natural’ as you can. Avoid the unrecognisable fabricated foods with ingredients that you can’t understand or even read. When it comes to labels, this is my rule of thumb: if I wouldn’t find the ingredient in my kitchen cupboard, I’m not eating it.
Food prices seem to have risen inexorably in recent years. What should be on a weekly shopping list?
As much as possible, shop for fresh seasonal local produce; by which I mean as close to your home as you can! Buying food which has had to be flown from the other side of the world will of course be expensive, and will have lost so much for their flavour, as well as their nutrients. Fresh food markets are great places to buy local seasonal produce. It sounds a bit mad, but I find it really helpful sometimes to write my fresh-food list by colour not name! So, instead of deciding in advance that I must have, eg, broccoli with tonight’s risotto, I simply write “green”, or “orange”; that gives me the leeway to check out what’s in season and what’s local.
What should be our store cupboard healthy staples?
I’d suggest ensuring that there are a couple of good quality oils (rapeseed oil and coconut oil for frying, virgin olive oil for dribbling at the end), in everyone’s cupboards, as well as nuts, seeds and high-energy grains (such as quinoa, barley and amaranth; brown rice is always a good go-to as well). Add to these some tinned staples, such as tomatoes, chickpeas and low-fat coconut milk, and you’re just a reach away from whipping up a meal!
You’ve just welcomed baby number four. Any tips for new mothers and losing that much talked about baby weight?
The most important thing in helping to get your body back is making sure your mind is back first, so don’t do anything radical unless you have a solid sleeping routine in place (for you as well as the baby!). Once that’s sorted, make sure you get your essential fats and proteins with wholefoods to stabilise your energy levels. Being healthy is a lifestyle – a slow, calm journey, not a mad frantic sprint! Find an eating routine that works for you so that you can easily reach for healthy options. Also obvious is that new mothers really don’t have much time at all – those babies take up a lot of our energy! So it’s critical to plan, plan, plan – or order our food!
Have you passed on your interest in food to your children? How do you tackle the ‘fussy eater’ child?
I try not to make a big deal of it when one of my children decides they hate something. The following day it can come back into fashion so experience has taught me to just let it pass. Sometimes I rebrand/rename things so they will try them again. For example ‘broccoli’ spent a bit of time in our house being called little trees, and ‘spinach’ was Popeye food.
You have just released the DNA package diet – how does it work and what’s it all about?
The DNA Programme has essentially confirmed what we have been doing for years and has given us hard evidence on which we base our programmes. We have always known that there is a link between genetics and diet, however now the guessing is taken away and we can continue to help our clients manage their weight healthily – and scientifically. The personal DNA report shows a genetic overview, carbohydrate and lactose sensitivities, as well as anti-oxidant, omega 3 and vitamin needs. We look at the carbohydrate and fat sensitively and adjust meal plans accordingly. We will also look at the lactose sensitivity and can amend a package if a client has a predisposition towards intolerance – just as we would with all sensitivity readings. We strongly believe that taking the sensible approach to food, as defined by the DNA report, not only leads to optimal health, but longevity as well.
The ‘January Blues’ are looming. Any mood-boosting foods you would recommend?
The humble glass of water. Don’t underestimate it, just because it’s obvious and simple – it is extremely important in order for our bodies to function properly. And it’s not only our body which is affected by hydration but also our brain and our moods too. Dehydration – even minimal levels – can affect our ability to concentrate and how we react to things. Start the day with a glass of water and a slice of lemon (which is great to have warm in the winter). In summer add a fresh sprig of mint and fresh lemon slices to a jug of cold water. Aim for eight glasses and you’ll find yourself thinking more clearly, and pretty much glowing.
You had a range of different clients, from celebrities to politicians…
Yes – we’re really fortunate to work with such accomplished people. We’ve catered to celebrities such as Hugh Jackman, Kimberley Walsh, Lily Cole, Denise Van Outen, Erin O’Conner and Florence Welch. There are also lots we can’t mention – we value discretion just as much as our famous clients do. But when it comes down to it, no matter how well known a client is, they generally have much the same needs and requirements as all our clients. Which is why we aim to treat everyone we work with as if they’re A-list celebs. I know it sounds corny, but honestly, all our clients are VIPs. Without them and their support and passion for health and vitality, there would be no Pure Package.
Your company has been up and running for over a decade now. How do you stay relevant in such a competitive market?
I’ve always taken the view that if I keep doing things that interest me, they will interest others. In my 20s I was interested in healthy eating, and in my early 30s I cared about weight management and pre and post baby eating. Now, even though I should be able to step back and breathe for a bit, I can’t help but get drawn into the science of aging, and how eating healthily can impact the aging process. I wouldn’t say I’m obsessed, but… Well, let’s just say I find it fascinating.
We know there is no ‘magic secret’ to success, but if you had to give one piece of advice to follow what would it be?
Find what makes you happy and pursue it (so long as it’s not harming anyone else). I think it’s also very important to stay driven and focused on your goal whatever it may be – and whatever obstacles you may face.
Finally, what are your New Year’s resolutions?
They’re the same as always: to be thankful for all the small things which make me happy – and to be graceful about the things that don’t.
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