Life Butter Radio

One of our favourite facialists recently confessed that the one issue all of her clients seem to share is hormonal health: it affects everything from our skin to our energy, our mood, our productivity and of course our waistlines. Most of us know that what we eat and our stress levels have a direct impact on our hormonal balance, but have you ever considered the role your genes play in how this all plays out? Join us in conversation with naturopathic nutritionist Angela Heap, who uses genetic markers to help her clients formulate the best approach for a hormonally-healthy lifestyle.

A little breakdown as to where we have been (with a surprise revelation), and some tips on how you can eat well when you are anything but, whether that's due to morning sickness, hangover, medication, treatment or anything else that is leaving you in a semi-permanent state of sickness and exhaustion. We feel you! It is the worst, but hang in there. And if you get strategic, you can even find a way to sneak some nutrition into a stomach that seems to only find carbs carbs and more carbs palatable. In this short, personalised episode, you'll find out how our host dealt with an unexpected development that left her feeling seriously unwell for months, and how she managed to make palatable but healthy-ish versions of the burgers, nachos, pizza and grilled cheese she craved...often out of a deliveroo order, because who can cook when they are that sick? For more tips on how to deal with intense nausea and exhaustion, head over to the blog, where we break down the carb-protein-fat formula that helps tame tummies without leaving you bloated or otherwise feeling worse. And stay tuned for more fun interviews coming up! www.butteryourlife.com social: @butteryourlife Come say hi!

Follow Candied Violet Cupcake by Violet Bakery Continuing in our theme of looking at some of the foods that we wellness disciples are meant to avoid, we have devoted Episode 13 to an exploration of sugar, which is the one substance that every food tribe from paleo to vegans can agree on as The Evil One. The problems with white sugar are many and range from obvious to surprising (and alarming). Depending on what you read, sugar is meant to be responsible to everything from weight gain to acne (the obvious) to wrinkles, mood swings, depression, immune problems and, in some reports, even cancer. Oh and it's addictive. THE Violet Bakery: a little California love in Hackney! There are a number of programmes out there dedicated to helping you quit your addiction to the sweet stuff, the most famous of which is Sarah Wilson's I Quit Sugar. And the internet is full of recipes for cakes, scones, pancakes and more made with "clean" ingredients - just check Pinterest. And look, we've tried them and while some are delicious (raw key lime pie seems to work), others can't exactly replace your grandmother's red velvet. But the real question is: need they?In Episode 13, we spoke to a woman well-trained in ways of sweet: pastry chef of Chez Panisse fame, baker, podcaster and East London foodie Claire Ptak. Originally from California, Claire started selling her beautiful baked goods on Broadway Market before opening Violet Bakery, her beautiful cafe on Wilton Way in Hackney that has quickly become an East London landmark. Tune in for some insights into how some of us seem to be able to enjoy sugar in moderation with no issues (French girls, we're looking at you), how to train your palate to taste flavours other than just sweet (so you can know how much sugar to use), and when sugar really does make you sick. Links below to Violet Bakery, Claire's excellent cookbook and her own podcast, The Violet Sessions. Violet Bakery The Violet Sessions Life Butter Radio RSS Blog RSS

In this episode, LBR sits talks to two East London bread and loaf makers (you'll appreciate the difference rather quickly in the episode) who take us through the amazing health-enhancing properties of bread done right, not to mention the fun to be had in consuming one of our favourite food substances guilt-free. Tune in for the science and the human stories behind one of the most celebrated foodstuffs in Western culture. Slice up a loaf of sourdough and get ready to indulge with Karen of The Happy Tummy Co, and Ben of E5 Bakehouse.

Join LBR in conversation with restauranteur, activist, author and food lover Tom Hunt. He's a man on a mission to feed the world through delicious, organic and ethically-sourced food. Tom's "root to fruit" philosophy encourages using local, organic and seasonal fare to produce truly delicious meals savour and share. Join us as we talk the macro and micro of delicious seasonal eating, and how the choices we make both at home and when we're out to eat can have a real impact on both those who work in the food industry and our mama earth.

Have a drink already! Even if you are one of the growing number of men & women who are eschewing alcohol in the name of health, these days you'll still be able to find something exciting on the drinks menu of your local restaurant - at least if you're lucky enough to have a local as dedicated to liquid fun as Raw Duck in Hackney. The late, great A. A. Gill famously complained that the problem with addiction recovery is that no soft drink will ever taste as good as an alcoholic one, but recovering addicts today would struggle to make that same complaint. As we understand more about the importance of the gut to everything from our immunity to our mood, skin, energy & vitality, we have discovered more pleasurable ways to look after it. Enter kombucha, kefir & other fermented drinks, which are increasingly available even in supermarkets across the US & U.K.  Ever so slightly alcoholic, they won't have you dancing on the table in your pants (you'll need another excuse!), but they will give you a little lift, AND deliver good stuff to your body, right where it needs it. But making a good brew is a bit of an art; it takes patience, creativity & a nose to rival any sommelier. We were therefore so delighted to speak to Rory McCoy, who is not only responsible for these inventive softs at his second restaurant Raw Duck, but also selects their lovely natural & bio-dynamic wines (which you can try by the glass for a fiver weekday evenings). Tune in to hear our slightly smitten host effervesce a bit herself as she talks the craft and pleasure of drinking well & healthy with Rory. 

Dip your toe into the world of wellness, and it won't be too long before you encounter an avocado.  And avocados are basically magic, right?  The promise of food these days is enormous: it can make our skin glow, depression lift, energy abound, bodies strong, unblemished and fertile....our lives perfect?  In Episode 9, we are at last getting into the specifics of nutritionally-sound (but still delicious!) eating with Stephanie Ridley and Dorothy Barrick of Fig & Bloom, a London-based nutritional therapy and recipe development service that truly embodies our dream destination of "where science meets lifestyle".  Tune it to get the lowdown on the real power of food, looking at how much it can actually do for us (including possibly healing a nightclub-induced gunshot wound!), and the other factors that impact our health & wellbeing.  We talk OG modelling culinary escapades, how homemade cookies might just be healthy, the potential transformation of gluten over the years, and the basics of how we can bring better health into our lives through recipes that are delicious, sexy and anything but basic. And just so we're clear, though avocados get a bit of a hard time in this show, we do very much still enjoy them in the LB kitchen (and on real toast at brunch). 

Why are our expectations of food so unbelievably high these days, and is the path to clear skin, boundless energy and fantastic immunity really paved with spiralized veggies, massaged kale salads and grass-fed beef?  Why are we suddenly turning our backs on foodstuffs that we have eaten for thousands of years?  Is "clean eating" really the modern, healthy and sustainable way to feed ourselves, or is our intolerance to gluten and dairy simply the product of our affluence?  Food means so much to us as individuals, as families, as cultures and as a planet, and in this episode, we wanted to ask the big questions about what our new obsession with a very prescriptive way of eating means about us as people in the larger sense.  In a time when so many of us are feeling tribal and untrusting of viewpoints we don't agree with, the way we eat should not be another cause of division. In this episode, we speak to restaurant critic, historian, biographer and novelist Lisa Hilton, who shares our frustrations with the clean eating movement, and who has a love of food as entertainment, pleasure and joy.  Together we ponder how the Renaissance occurred when all of Italy was bent double with gluten-inflamed guts, why women in particular are afraid of food, and how we can rekindle a love of simple, inexpensive and healthy home cooking that doesn't chain modern, busy, badass women back to the stove.  Go grab a glass of wine and tune in for an episode that is just as essential for the wellness-fanatic as for the wellness-sceptic.  We have a feeling this episode is going to make you FEEL THINGS; be sure to find us on social and let us know what you think!  And if you haven't already, please subscribe to the show and leave us a rating in iTunes; it really helps listeners find us!

If you've been paying attention, you'll see that we've been talking of health topically, looking sleep and all it's magical powers (really, they are transformative).  But it is by now indisputable that a large part of how we look and feel is what we put into our bodies and minds...literally, how we nourish ourselves.  Nourish is our theme of 2017, and we want to learn about and celebrate all the ways that we can do that better. So for Episode 7, we wanted to speak to someone who seems exceptionally good at doing just this, but is also very open about the fact that this wasn't always the case.  Tally Rye is a London-based personal trainer, YouTuber, fitness influencer and co-founder of #GirlGains, a movement empowering women to become fitter, healthier and happier. Tally takes us through her own health transformation: starting from a place where, her own words, she didn't really have a clue, Tally has come through a stage of super "clean-eating" & mega training and out the other side to where she is now: a successful personal trainer, fitness influencer, business-owner and woman who focuses on enjoyment - of her food, of her body and of her life.  Her attitude couldn't be more Life Butter, and her story is both fun and inspiring. 

After exploring sleep from all angles, our producer and host has written a little bedtime story to send you all to dreamland. Cuddle up under the covers with a cup of tea and your nearest and dearest, and prepare to leave dreary February behind on a fantastical adventure that will leave you ready for Zzzs.

Something that's been kicking around in our minds since the health world exploded with news of all the various and very significant ways that sleep improves your health, appearance, productivity and temperament...what about people who are in a sleep-poor time of their life? Specifically, what about parents? And especially what about the brand-new, first time parents who, so often having and raising their children away from their extended families and support networks, are flailing around in a sleepless sea, desperate for a moment or two of shut-eye? We thought it would be useful to speak to someone experienced in the art of infant sleep and, just as importantly, helping new mothers get the rest they need to recover physically from birth and breast-feed (if they so choose and they are able to do so). Moni Westenbrink is a trained midwife and kraamzorg nurse; i.e. a nurse employed by the Dutch government to provide 7-10 days of postnatal care to new mothers, in their homes. Swoon. She is also a mother, and the daughter of two Catholic parents with a list of siblings longer than the family tree of all the Kardashian-Jenners combined, meaning that she's been looking after brand-new baby cousins since she was 12. Not only that, she has also worked with private clients around the world, helping mothers recover from birth and helping little ones fall into a routine and learn to sleep for longer stretches. Needless to say, when it comes to new mamas and their babies, Moni Westenbrink knows good sleep, and how to help families get it. Tune in to understand why mother's sleep is just as essential as infant sleep for family health, why it can be especially hard for women in the West to get the rest they need after giving birth, and what new mothers and those who care about them can do to help sleep-deprived families get the sleep they need to enjoy their new additions, and their completely new lives.

With everyone buzzing about the importance of sleep and decrying our inability to get some in this modern era of 24/7 work, social media and just too much excellent tv, the temptation is to either blame modern living for this problem, or look to modern technology like trackers for the solution. But what if sleeplessness is actually something we've been dealing with since before we had even discovered electricity? Our host speaks to Dr. Sasha Handley, Senior Lecturer in Early Modern History at the University of Manchester about her new book Sleep in Early Modern England to understand what has kept us awake in the past, and how we used to deal with it. Join us for a little step back in history to a time when sleep was both valued and celebrated.

Sleep - the best performance enhancing drug, the key to our inner selves via our dreams, and nature's cure-all: it is THE essential ingredient to getting over a hangover, a late night dinner, or whatever it is that is disturbing your nighttime routine in this festive season. Join our host as she takes one for the collective and goes out big...but with an eye on making sure she catches her Zzzs once she's home.

Dream interpretation - more than just an adolescent pastime, keeping track of your nighttime cinema can help resolve both mental and physical trauma, and help us realise our ambitions. Yes, really. Tune in as we speak to dream therapist Ian Wallace who invites us to spend an extra few minutes in bed (always welcome!) to ponder our dreams. He explains how we can make sense of what we dream, why we shouldn't fear nightmares, what smoking does to your dreams and why our dream imagery is actually our most accurate and useful selfie. Fluff those pillows and get ready to delve into the realm of the subconscious.

In this episode we talk to James Smith, CEO and Founder of scientific sleepwear line Sleep Deep. He has spent the last year immersing himself in the world of sleep science to understand why sleep is so fundamental to health, how our behaviour impacts our sleep (and our sleep our behaviour), and what we can do more to catch more of those precious Zzzs. So brew up a cup of camomile, put on your mask and get ready to sleep your way to better everything.

Health, beauty and wellness lifestyle without the overwhelm; here's what we're all about in just over 2 minutes!