24 March 2015
My sister, Sadie, is one of the biggest reasons I went down the path of cookery writing, and starting my blog. She was a constant support from the beginning of my journey, and passed on a wealth of knowledge of the health and fitness industry. Sadie founded Hip & Healthy (www.hipandhealthy.co.uk), a UK based luxury online active wear store and magazine. Since their launch I have been their biggest fan, and am constantly sporting their stylish leggings! With a very successful and time consuming business, and a new mum it’s a wonder she manages to juggle it all on top of leading one of the healthiest, happiest lives I know. I’ve asked Sadie to share her day of eats, to not only inspire us all but show that even if you’re going through an incredibly stressful, busy time that doesn’t mean you can’t nourish and look after yourself (and another). I hope it will also inspire lots of new mums; as I have seen first hand with Sadie, you hardly have enough time to use the loo, let alone eat. It’s great to have re-assurance that you’ll get there, in a totally Hip & Healthy fashion!
SO SADIE, WHAT’S YOUR PHILOSOPHY WHEN IT COMES TO GOOD FOOD?
Eat right and your body will thank you for it. Food plays a huge part in maintaining our physical health and wellbeing and it is also a great tool for healing. And the best part is that nutritious food really is the most delicious too. I tend not to have any big food rules but rather eat what feels right for my body at the time. I eat raw veggies in abundance but there are times when I think your body just needs cooked food too. Having said that, I don’t eat dairy as it really doesn’t agree with me and I try to avoid added sugar. I try and have a green juice or smoothie every day – they are like my lifeblood.
WHAT’S THE MOST REWARDING THING ABOUT RUNNING HIP & HEALTHY?
I love it when customers share images of themselves in our clothes on social media – knowing that a pair of leggings or new crop they have just bought has inspired them to get their sweat on is a great feeling. I also love growing the business – we are soon going to be expanding our team and that feels so exciting!
HOW DO YOU JUGGLE BEING A FULL TIME MUM, A FULL TIME BUSINESS-WOMEN, AND EATING WELL?
It’s basically impossible to maintain a balance. Once I accepted that I started to feel a lot better about myself! I had grand visions of Max (my 6-month old son) fitting seamlessly into my life – playing quietly at the office as i worked and sipped on a green smoothie but I now know that was incredibly naive! The few times I have taken him into the office have ended in me rushing out the door, looking like a maniac as I sing nursery rhymes to him praying that he won’t scream the house down.
MY VERY ADORABLE NEPHEW MAX, HAS ONE OF THE HEALTHIEST MUMMA’S AROUND, WHAT SORT OF THINGS DOES MAX LOVE TO EAT?
Max has just started to eat solids now that he is 6 months and his favourite combination is spinach and pear or sweet potato and butternut squash. He also loves his breast milk and I am finding it hard to move him on to formula as it feels totally alien to me to be giving him cows milk, which forms the base of formula milk. I recently spoke to a friend who tried goats milk so we are going to give that a go. It’s such a touch call as I don’t want to necessarily go against the grain – but knowing what I know about how hard dairy is to digest it feels like I am betraying myself! Ridiculous I know and I probably just need to relax. On a less heavy note… he also loves apples, juicy plums, mangoes, peas, courgettes and blueberries – all blended with a bit of breast milk and water.
IF YOU HAD ONE PIECE OF ADVICE FOR PEOPLE ASPIRING TO START A BUSINESS IN THE HEALTH INDUSTRY WHAT WOULD IT BE?
Make a start. Put your idea out there and then tweak it based on comments, feedback, criticism etc. So many people get caught up with making their product absolutely perfect before they want to put it in the market place that they waste valuable time being in the market place! If you could only have three things in your fridge, what would they be? Avocados (but they don’t live in my fridge so can i have four?), oat milk, spinach, coho.
SADIES DAY:
6am Max wakes (normally after a night of a few wakings so we are both pretty tired at this stage). I breastfeed him and then we go downstairs and Max has daddy time. I read through my emails that I got over night and deal with any that need responding to immediately. 7am Max has brekkie – baby rice, breast milk and pureed pear. I have breakfast too – porridge with millet and flax seeds topped with blueberries and bee pollen.
8.30am Max has his first nap so we walk to Planet Organic together and I grab an immunity juice or cleansing green juice depending on how I feel. 10am Cecilia or my mum arrives to look after Max and I give her a run down of his daily events so far. I jump in the car and drive 30 minutes to the office. 10.45am I’ll chat to the girls and we have a brief catch up over what needs to be done. I’ll often have a decaf almond milk latte at this point to and I cannot tell you how great it is to drink a hot drink hot – as soon as you have a baby that is one of the first things that disappears as you are always on the go and never have the time.
12pm Lunchtime at my desk sorting my way through emails. Will grab a salad from Whole Foods which is just next door. At the moment we are planning our next shoot for the store so I then chat with Molly about photographers, locations and budgets!
3pm I leave work and head back home to Max. I then use this afternoon nap as an opportunity to go for a nice run or walk with the pram. I tend to spend my life in gym gear anyway so I won’t even need the time to change.
4.30pm Max will wake up and we play games (peekaboo is a fail safe fun activity) until it’s time for his supper. At dinner time I try and give Max slow-releasing carbs (such as sweet potato and pumpkin) as I find these tend to help him sleep longer. Plus, I try and drink lots of camomile tea throughout the afternoon in the hope that it will travel through my breast milk and into Max’s tummy making him sleep more (I am yet to see the effects but I live in hope). I also tend to have a snack over Max’s meal times and love to munch on carrots and hummus at this time in the day.
6pm Max’s bath time – a lovely time of day
7pm Max’s bed time – another time of day I like. Obviously I love Max with all my heart but I do look forward to getting him in bed safe and sound.
8pm My husband gets home and we have supper together. Normally something that is easy to whip up with minimal washing up maintenance – but always something super healthy like coconut veggie curry with buckwheat noodles or salmon with turmeric and lemon and we are also seriously into our phos at the mo. Sups is followed by a coo topped with muesli or bee pollen or berries. And then I down a VERY large cup of camomile tea (probably my 3rd of 4th of the day).
10pm Bedtime. This is much earlier for me than normal but Max is still yet to learn how to sleep through the night and if i don’t get to sleep before 10.30 I literally turn into a zombie the next day…
Go follow Hip and Healthy on Instagram @hipandhealthy for the latest in health and fitness, and follow @sadie.reid for loads of tips on being a healthy mumma!
