{"id":19366,"date":"2021-06-02T11:52:23","date_gmt":"2021-06-02T10:52:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/?p=19366"},"modified":"2021-06-02T11:52:23","modified_gmt":"2021-06-02T10:52:23","slug":"food-impacts-mood-says-chef-making-healthy-changes-for-all","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/2021\/06\/food-impacts-mood-says-chef-making-healthy-changes-for-all\/","title":{"rendered":"Food Impacts Mood Says Chef Making Healthy Changes For All"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Healthy snacks and breakfast company heralds better options<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Skipped breakfasts, supermarket meal deals and 60+ hour weeks fuelled by energy drinks were plunging chef Ben Cochrane\u2019s health all in the wrong direction, but now he is back with the message food impacts mood and a business to help others make the right dietary choices.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The business, Benergy, came about after he and his girlfriend, Jessica Thompson, began to re-evaluate how they were living, and then the Covid-19 lockdown scuppered plans to travel to the Himalayas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While initially disappointed, having to remain at home in Northern Ireland has led to a new life for both Ben and Jessica \u2013 personally and professionally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 \u201cOnce the lockdown began, life stood still,\u201d said the 23-year-old Annahilt chef, \u201cbut, as with many other people, it gave me the opportunity to reflect on my life and take a good, long hard look at myself.
\u201cOne glance in the mirror showed a pale, skinny and unhappy man and I didn\u2019t like what I saw.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Ben believes that he was making all the wrong choices in his own diet while he was, ironically, serving up healthy meals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 \u201cLooking back now, I\u2019m not surprised that I looked as bad as I did,\u201d he said. \u201cPrior to lockdown, I\u2019d spent two years in hospitality, working as a chef for some well-known restaurants, including Shu in Belfast. I worked four fourteen-hour shifts, working from 9am to 11pm and then an additional half day. Most weeks I was working between 60 and 70 hours a week. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

 It was what he was eating that now is clear to Ben that was compounding matters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 \u201cTo make matters worse, I wasn\u2019t eating breakfast, which is arguably the most important meal of the day,\u201d he explained. \u201cIf I did have something to eat in the morning, it was usually a sandwich meal deal, which lacked the level of nutrition which I needed given the hours that I worked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 \u201cI also drank a lot of energy drinks on busy shifts. While they would give me an initial boost, they\u2019d also give me sugar crashes, particularly during service. This made me tired and lethargic.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Despite the fact that lockdown was a major lifestyle change for everyone, Ben soon found that it was to bring some unexpected benefits to his life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 He spent lockdown in Annahilt, where his family have some land, and began growing his own vegetables and spending a lot of time in the open air.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 \u201cI realised very quickly that my general appearance and overall health and wellbeing was down to a lack of nutritional food,\u201d he continued. \u201cThere\u2019s no doubt that life is all about balance. It\u2019s about what you eat, how much you sleep, how much you exercise, how much caffeine you drink. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

 \u201cPrior to lockdown, I wasn\u2019t paying any attention to any of these. I didn\u2019t understand how my body actually functions and hadn\u2019t realised that my calorie intake was negative. Put simply, my body was burning more calories than I was taking in through food.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat\u2019s why I was losing weight and feeling exhausted all the time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 My diet was also lacking in particular micronutrients, such as vitamin C, that I needed to prevent me from becoming ill. No wonder I looked and felt so bad.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 \u201cOnce I was in Annahilt, however, I not only started eating three meals a day, but I also began researching about what certain foods do to the body.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 The changes that Ben made to his lifestyle were to have quick rapid and dramatic results. Not only did he look and feel better \u2013 and healthier \u2013 but he also found that the change in his diet had a major impact on his mood. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

 \u201cThere\u2019s no doubt,\u201d said Ben, \u201cthat food impacts mood. My diet had left me with little energy and, as a result, I frequently suffered from both low mood and mood swings. I now understand that our brain is the \u2018engine\u2019 of our body and our body is the \u2018car\u2019. The car can function on non premium fuel, but it simply won’t work as well or last as long. The same goes for premium food in relation to your body and your brain.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Over a period of time, Ben found that certain health conditions, such as his irritable bowel syndrome, had more or less disappeared \u2013 all of which he realised was the result of his switch to a healthier diet and lifestyle. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

 \u201cI knew that the change in my diet was the reason why I looked and felt better, and I wanted everyone to have access to education on this subject, so that they too could benefit as I had.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 As an experienced traveller, I had had access to a wide range of food cultures and I was aware that more and more people were opting for a vegan diet, it was my focus on putting whole foods into my body and no processed that I really saw the changes in myself, mood, motivation and energy wise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 The Himalayas\u2019 loss was ultimately to prove Northern Ireland\u2019s culinary gain, as Ben and Jessica launched Benergy: with a range of plant-based, gluten and dairy-free range of snacks and breakfast pots. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

 \u201cBenergy isn\u2019t just an ordinary nutrition company,\u201d Ben continued. \u201cWe\u2019re all about educating people about food \u2013 particularly food that will benefit people both physically and, most importantly, mentally, because that\u2019s where good health really begins. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

 \u201cYou don\u2019t have to be an international sports star or be heading out to the gym every day to eat the right things and get the best out of your life. Good nutrition is for everyone and should be a very basic part of everyday life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 \u201cOur products are all plant-based, gluten and dairy free, which is very unique as vegan is the world’s fastest growing food market in the world today. We don\u2019t just want to cater for one dietary requirement, we want to combine them all. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

 \u201cWhen I read or hear about vegan food, I hear a lot of negative remarks about the taste and such like. As a chef, I felt it was a challenge to create a selection of tasty fresh treats and a filling and, more importantly, a fulfilling breakfast option. If food tastes good, does it matter if it is vegan friendly?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 The Benergy range contains a great selection of breakfast pots to start the day off well, and a fabulous mix of treats to keep people going in between meals. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a0\u201cI now realise that breakfast provides you with the necessary fuel to start your day,\u201d Ben said. \u201cThat\u2019s why I created these breakfast pots, to give people a \u2018grab and go\u2019 pot, which would provide them with a nutritious and delicious start to their day, regardless of time constraints.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 \u201cThey\u2019re a macro-friendly breakfast: a mixture of oats, fruits and nuts that\u2019s nutritionally balanced, so they\u2019ll give you all the necessary fuel to get you through the day.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Ben believes there is important nutritional advice for people\u2019s overall wellbeing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 \u201cFood and mental health are directly related,\u201d he said, \u201cOne thousand per cent. It\u2019s now my ultimate goal to educate people on the importance of this, particularly since we\u2019re facing the biggest mental health pandemic that this country has ever seen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 \u201cIt saddens me to see people struggling and reaching for medications when there are some simple steps that can be life changing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

 \u201cFood, as I said, impacts mood. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

 \u201cIt\u2019s as simple as that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 To find out more about Benergy Nutrition and their delicious range of healthy snacks head to https:\/\/benergynutrition.com\/<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Healthy snacks and breakfast company heralds better options Skipped breakfasts, supermarket meal deals and 60+ hour weeks fuelled by energy drinks were plunging chef Ben Cochrane\u2019s health all in the wrong direction, but now he is back with the message food impacts mood and a business to help others make the right dietary choices.\u00a0 The … Continued<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19366"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19366"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19366\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19369,"href":"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19366\/revisions\/19369"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19366"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19366"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19366"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}