Saturday, November 1, 2025 |
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If the shift back to GMT has you feeling a bit grey around the gills, you're not alone. When daylight shrinks, so do our reserves. This week Jo Travers – The London Nutritionist – shows how to put some daylight back on the plate. Her six smart tweaks are the opposite of January hair-shirt advice: think kale-and-walnut pesto with the vitamin C of two oranges per portion, cavolo nero soups that feed your microbiome, and a Thai-leaning chicken rice broth that does double duty for mood and energy. The through line? Colour, fibre and balance – habits that quietly fortify you against coughs, colds and the seasonal slump.
Meanwhile, a very British food row is brewing in the dairy aisle. Depending on which headline you read, yoghurt is either a gut-health hero or about to be lumped in with junk food under a revamped nutrient-profiling model. Our explainer unpicks the science from the scaremongering: why "free sugars" are skewing the score, what labels can't tell you about live cultures and protein, and how to shop without falling for saint-or-sinner thinking. The answer, as ever, is boringly sensible – check the sugar, buy it plain, let the rest of your diet do the talking.
Outside the supermarket, the weather is writing its own headlines. Emma Henderson's report from the fields is sobering: Britain has just chalked up its second-worst harvest on record, with farmers battling heat, drought and then deluge. Yields are down, imports are up and the ripple effects are landing in your loaf, cider and berries. There are flashes of resilience – reservoirs that saved soft fruit, early but excellent grapes – but the pattern is clear. This is what climate change looks like on a dinner plate.
If that all sounds a touch apocalyptic, Halloween has left us a tonic. We bin more than 18,000 tonnes of edible pumpkin flesh every year; we should be eating it. Nutritional therapist Kerry Beeson makes the case for pumpkin as the ultimate spooky superfood – low calorie, high fibre, stacked with potassium and beta carotene – with recipes that go way beyond soup (though there's a silky one of those, too). Roast it, ravioli it, blitz it into sauces; whatever you do, don't throw away the seeds.
For something properly cosy – and kind to the bank balance – this month's Budget Bites is a hug from the oven. A sunshine-bright Greek chicken and halloumi filo pie, a cinnamon-spiced lamb and couscous bake, and a cheesy sweet potato shepherd's pie prove you can have golden, bubbling comfort without a scary receipt.
And when the weekend calls for a little theatre, Gaucho's Anthony Ekizian has three Argentinian winners for steak night: smoky butterflied sirloin churrasco, fiery lomo al diablo and baked sweet potatoes crowned with goat's cheese. Light the coals (or the grill), pour something red and pretend it's summer in Buenos Aires.
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Feeling run down? Try these six nutrition-packed ways to eat your way to better health |
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As the clocks go back and the chill sets in, our immune systems, energy levels and moods all take a hit. Hannah Twiggs speaks to nutritionist Jo Travers about the ways to strengthen your body from the inside out – one meal at a time
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When the clocks go back, the days feel shorter, the evenings darker and the nation's collective mood takes a dip. Add to that an uptick in colds, coughs and general fatigue, and it's no surprise that autumn into winter can leave us feeling sluggish.
But according to nutritionist Jo Travers, also known as The London Nutritionist, the right food choices can do more than just comfort us – they can genuinely help our bodies adapt to the colder months.
From your gut and lungs to your mood and heart, Travers shares six evidence-based ways to bolster your wellbeing this season, with simple tweaks that start on your plate.
1. Support your immune system
Winter is the season for coughs and colds, so keeping your immune system fighting fit is essential. "Getting seasonal vaccinations is important," says Travers, "but there are several nutrients integral to the immune system that also help vaccine effectiveness."
Vitamins A and C, found in dark green leafy vegetables, and folate from spinach and citrus fruits, all help immune cells function effectively. "Increasing vitamin C intake has been shown in numerous studies to reduce duration and severity of the common cold," she explains. An 80g portion of kale, she adds, contains twice the recommended daily amount of vitamin C – "double that of an orange."
Read the full article here
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| More tasty recipes inside |
Enjoy endless inspiration with recipes, interviews and more in your latest Indy/Eats food and drink magazine, one of your Independent Premium subscription benefits |
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| From the adrenaline of London's grill pits to Argentina's endless pampas, Gaucho: The Spirit of Argentina: A Cookbook by Anthony Ekizian is a bold celebration of charring, tradition and terroir. With more than 80 recipes rooted in South American fire-cooking, this hardback not only elevates steak to ceremony, but draws lines between cow, pasture and plate in the truest Gaucho spirit.
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