And then there is the take-away guilt!

Now there are two types of take-away guilt: the one where you feel you should be eating healthier and the one where you feel you should be eating healthier AND you should have been more organised to have healthy food ready yourself!

I mean the kids don’t care, nor does the husband. He also doesn’t have to worry about the bills that need paying while you fork out the euros for the unhealthy-just-because-Mam-wasn’t-organised-take-away!

Since when did food and meals have so much agenda attached??

What happened to spuds, meat and veg? Back in the day it was so much simpler, there was none of the complicated ways to cook and less intolerances and allergies, have you noticed?

Every second person is allergic to something! Ok maybe a slight exaggeration, however still some truth in the increase of food issues today compared to years ago.

On a serious note, this is due to a number of factors, which I won’t get into here, what I really wanted to talk about was keeping food simple.

And by that I DO NOT mean falling into the marketing TRAP of buying prepared sauces and meals to save time!

You think you are saving time, however in the long run you don’t.

Many of these prepared foods, sauces and packets are full of nasty stuff which in the long run, will make you sick, cost you money and not save you time as you sit for hours in hospital outpatients, waiting for scans and scopes to see why you are so bloated and constipated… oh no, today it’s diarrhoea…

Look, I know time is precious, and I know that sometimes it feels like we have none, and I know sometimes it feels easier to give in and buy the jar or take-away…

I know ‘cause I’ve been there too. With small children, running a business and working part-time, I often stood in front of the fridge at 5pm wondering what I would cook, kids already getting cranky with hunger.

Modern life has complicated so many things that we did for years flawlessly, without guilt or pressure.

We just don’t have the space in our head anymore for the amount of stuff we take on today, the stimulation our brain has to deal with is too much for us, so we look for easy ways to live - and think by buying jars or pre-cooked food, we are making up for the noise in our head.

The reason I am highlighting this, is because we often seek a solution in an area of our lives where the problem does not live!

The reason tasks seem too much or too hard, is not necessarily because they are, but because our capacity to do them has lessened. This is because the world we live in today is full of instant information and we keep consuming without ever pressing pause.

Do you need to read the last few bits again? Go ahead, do, it’s important, I’ll wait…

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So here it is in a nutshell; if you are finding that things like cooking dinner is causing you real stress, like get irritated with the kids stress, then you need to look at your day and see where you can make some changes.

•It might be that you could benefit from easier cooking styles – however not in the shape of buying processed foods which will cause health issues in the future – more in the way of making extra today and freezing it, or buying a slow cooker, prepping food at the weekend or simply choosing simpler dishes.

•It might be that other tasks in the day could be delegated.

•It might be that you need to get a break, a walk or something similar to clear your head a few times a week.

•It might be that you have to reduce you screen time to give your brain a chance to catch up. (People don’t like that one, they tell me ‘but I use it to relax’. Well, I’m telling you it does the opposite. It might distract you from stuff but it does not relax you).

•It might be that you have to get more sleep and drink more water.

Look, it could be a number of things, however the ones I have listed certainly won’t go wrong on you!

And remember, if as you are reading those suggestions, your mind is already telling you, you couldn’t do that because x, z, and z – your brain is a survival organ, it doesn’t like change, it wants you to keep doing what you’re doing which is why it’s sometimes so hard to implement change.

Introduce one thing at a time, even just a couple of time a week and build on that.

Decide to make a change, even a little one is in the right direction.

I wish you the best of luck! xx