Essex

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What are your top tips for incorporating healthy eating into a busy life?



Clever shortcut ingredients are your best friend – think bags of mixed frozen veg, tinned or jarred veggies, beans and pulses, which are really accessible and affordable. When you’re bulking up your meals with more of the good stuff, you’ll be fuller and more satisfied, so less likely to reach for a treat afterwards, and anything you can do to bump up the number of veg and fruit portions you’re eating each day like this is only going to be a good thing. And if you can embrace batch cooking, so your freezer is full of healthy choices for busy weeknights, that’s gonna help you out no end, too. If you’ve got a bit of time at the weekend, stash meals in the freezer ready for an easy win another day, like my Beef &amp; Borlotti Bean Ragù. Make sure you check out my 50 Healthy Hacks in the book for more tips.



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1500" height="1952" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/essex/wp-content/uploads/sites/22/2025/09/JO_HEALTH_25_DAY9_Lemon_Tahini_Chicken_292-1.jpg" alt="lemon tahini chicken Jamie Oliver" class="wp-image-25586" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/essex/wp-content/uploads/sites/22/2025/09/JO_HEALTH_25_DAY9_Lemon_Tahini_Chicken_292-1.jpg 1500w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/essex/wp-content/uploads/sites/22/2025/09/JO_HEALTH_25_DAY9_Lemon_Tahini_Chicken_292-1-615x800.jpg 615w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/essex/wp-content/uploads/sites/22/2025/09/JO_HEALTH_25_DAY9_Lemon_Tahini_Chicken_292-1-768x999.jpg 768w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/essex/wp-content/uploads/sites/22/2025/09/JO_HEALTH_25_DAY9_Lemon_Tahini_Chicken_292-1-1180x1536.jpg 1180w" sizes="(max-width: 1500px) 100vw, 1500px" /></figure>



Any tips on getting kids to eat more of the good stuff?



Get kids in the kitchen, get them cooking, and if possible, get them growing food, too. If kids have ownership over what they’re eating, they’ll be happier to eat it. Get them to flick through books and choose what they want to eat and most importantly, make food fun. It’s never easy with kids but you just have to play the long game – create your own food culture and really make variation the holy grail! Kids are not born to eat nuggets, it’s called marketing, and it works, so that’s what modern-day parents have to balance with helping them enjoy cooking and trying new things. Even something as simple as having a different veg on the table each night can have a huge impact even if they don’t think they like it… yet! We know it takes around 14 times to get kids to try something so that’s the game we have to play, whether that’s crunchy, zingy raw veg cut into sticks, a dressed green salad, a little rainbow grated slaw dressed in lemon and olive oil, or simple steamed veg with a little knob of butter – yum. It’s about normalising a varied, colourful diet.



Can you finally settle this for us: should we be eating 5-a-day, 7-a-day, or 10-a-day?



When it comes to veg and fruit, it’s all about eating the rainbow to maximise your nutrients, vitamins and minerals. Statistically in the UK, most of us struggle to get 3 portions of fruit and veg per day, so the UK government has settled on preaching ‘at least 5-a-day’ because it felt more achievable. Well, that’s kind, but personally when it comes to public health, I prefer the clear truth. We can take it! Paying the price for this mistruth is our already overwhelmed NHS, so it’s in everyone’s interests to be upfront. Research shows that we don’t see a measurable drop-off of risk of many diet-related diseases until we eat 7 to 10 portions of veg per day. So, what I want to show you in this book and series is actually how easy it is to get more portions of the good stuff into your diet. If you can work up to getting 7-a-day, you’re going to be in a really good place. And don’t forget, you can include one portion of dried fruit per day (30g), cooked beans or pulses (80g) and 150ml of unsweetened veg or fruit juice. It’s easier to achieve than you might think!



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1500" height="1953" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/essex/wp-content/uploads/sites/22/2025/09/JO_Health_TestDay-__084-1.jpg" alt="Meatball traybake Jamie Oliver" class="wp-image-25587" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/essex/wp-content/uploads/sites/22/2025/09/JO_Health_TestDay-__084-1.jpg 1500w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/essex/wp-content/uploads/sites/22/2025/09/JO_Health_TestDay-__084-1-614x800.jpg 614w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/essex/wp-content/uploads/sites/22/2025/09/JO_Health_TestDay-__084-1-768x1000.jpg 768w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/essex/wp-content/uploads/sites/22/2025/09/JO_Health_TestDay-__084-1-1180x1536.jpg 1180w" sizes="(max-width: 1500px) 100vw, 1500px" /></figure>



Social media is full of problematic trends around health and healthy eating – what are the worst ones?



There’s so much conflicting information out there, so I want to give you loads of little tips, shortcuts, hacks and recipes that will help you make positive choices. One of the biggest misconceptions is that healthy eating is about taking things away, rather than about celebrating everything you can have on the food front. Delicious, nutritious food is about boosting your meals with variation, colour, excitement, nutrients, and of course, bags of flavour. My 7-a-day recipes are proof of that!



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full is-resized"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1500" height="1932" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/essex/wp-content/uploads/sites/22/2025/09/JO_HEALTH_25_DAY2_Cheesy_Strawberry_279-1-2.jpg" alt="golden cheese Jamie Oliver" class="wp-image-25590" style="aspect-ratio:0.7763975155279503;width:640px;height:auto" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/essex/wp-content/uploads/sites/22/2025/09/JO_HEALTH_25_DAY2_Cheesy_Strawberry_279-1-2.jpg 1500w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/essex/wp-content/uploads/sites/22/2025/09/JO_HEALTH_25_DAY2_Cheesy_Strawberry_279-1-2-621x800.jpg 621w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/essex/wp-content/uploads/sites/22/2025/09/JO_HEALTH_25_DAY2_Cheesy_Strawberry_279-1-2-776x1000.jpg 776w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/essex/wp-content/uploads/sites/22/2025/09/JO_HEALTH_25_DAY2_Cheesy_Strawberry_279-1-2-768x989.jpg 768w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/essex/wp-content/uploads/sites/22/2025/09/JO_HEALTH_25_DAY2_Cheesy_Strawberry_279-1-2-1193x1536.jpg 1193w" sizes="(max-width: 1500px) 100vw, 1500px" /></figure>



And finally, are you on the matcha hype-train?



I know matcha is seen as quite a bougie ingredient, and it’s not the cheapest, but the Japanese are very good at cultivating a healthy society. And yes, matcha is packed with fibre and has LOADS of fascinating and reputable health benefits. You’ll find a Matcha &amp; kefir smoothie in the book, which is not only delicious, but it’s full of the good stuff, too. Plus, you’ll only need 3 ingredients and a handful of ice cubes to make it in 5 minutes flat! At the same time, good nutrition can always be found close to home with humble, affordable ingredients.



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Eat Yourself Healthy by Jamie Oliver is published by Penguin Michael Joseph © Jamie Oliver Enterprises Limited (2025 Eat Yourself Healthy). Recipe photography: © David Loftus, 2025.

Eat Yourself Healthy: Essex chef Jamie Oliver is on a mission to kickstart a healthier Britain

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