A Year with Enrich

What a year we’ve had, here in Enrich’s education hub! We hope you have gained some insight and new knowledge to help you along your health and wellness journey, and have made some positive steps. Join us in revisiting some of the content we made for you this year, and take some time to reflect on all that you have achieved using our prompts.

Breathe

In January, we started a year of wellness by setting our New Year’s Intentions. Resisting the pressure to completely overhaul your lifestyle, and instead taking the focus to small, gradual improvements, hopefully set you on the right path for 2023. It can help to take some time to reflect now on what your intentions were, and whether these goals still align with your values as we head into 2024.

We also explored the nutritional principles upon which Enrich dishes are built. As a culinary-led wellness programme, taste, satisfaction, and maximum nutrition are always at the forefront. Enrich recipes contain high amounts of fruits and vegetables, fibre, quality protein and healthy fats, ensuring that they are balanced to meet all of your nutritional needs.

How did your New Year’s intentions shape your wellness journey in 2023?

Have you started to incorporate the simple nutrition principles that Enrich is based on into your meals?

Encourage

In February we turned our focus to supporting our energy levels, helping to create an environment focused on wellbeing. As we know, sleep is one of the cornerstones of health, allowing us to rest, recharge and cope with day-to-day challenges at our best. Consuming key nutrients such as tryptophan and vitamin B12 can help us to establish a regular sleeping pattern, as well as keeping an eye on our caffeine consumption.

Sustaining your energy levels throughout the workday is vital for being our most productive selves, so considering the foods we eat throughout the day can be really helpful. Starting your day with a breakfast which includes a source of protein and slow-release carbohydrates, as well as balanced snacks throughout the day, can really help sustain these energy levels.

Has your sleep improved this year with any of these practises?

How have you changed the way you eat in work?

Ground

As spring time began, March was our opportunity to connect to our ‘why’ when it comes to lifestyle changes. Intrinsic motivation, meaning we are making choices that align with our internal values, is essential when it comes to long-term, sustainable change. We featured a grounding exercise to help you reflect on what you gain from choosing a healthier lifestyle, as well as remembering that true health will look different for everyone. Health can be flexible and enjoyable when we really focus on how we feel inside.

Gut health is a cornerstone of wellbeing, and good hydration plays an essential role in maintaining this. Ensuring we meet our hydration needs means that food can bebroken down easily in our digestion and transported around the body, as well as reducing dehydration which can cause digestive problems.

Have you taken time to identify your true values when it comes to health?

Have you noticed a difference in your digestion since improving hydration?

Open

April’s content brought fresh perspectives, opening up to new ways of thinking. Movement, one of the core pillars of Enrich, can often be cast in a negative light. We want to help you to bring movement into your everyday life, making it a source of joy and a means to connect to your body. Spending time in nature is a great way to reframe movement, as it brings a ton of health benefits such as regulating our sleep patterns through our circadian rhythm and boosting mental wellbeing.

We also brought you some top tips on how to embrace a more plant-based way of eating. This style of diet comes with a host of benefits, from helping our heart and gut health, to reducing our C02 emissions. Key lessons included which vitamins to be aware of, as well as learning about plant-based sources of protein.

Have you felt the benefits of spending time in nature this year?

Have you been able to move towards including more plant-based foods in your diet?

Cultivate

May’s focus was on cultivating an environment that sets us up to succeed in our wellness goals. How can we consciously create conditions that make health a clear and easy choice? The influence and quality of your social connections can have a huge impact on your personal wellbeing, from increasing our sense of play and fun, to bringing some accountability to keep us on track.

We also want to consciously cultivate a positive and healthy relationship with food, in order to achieve our healthiest selves. This means moving away from strict rules, and embracing a style of eating that is flexible, nourishing and responds with respect to what our body needs.

Have you found your wellness tribe to help you create an environment for success?

How have you been able to embrace flexibility and curiosity in your relationship with food?

Appreciate

In June, we chose to move away from the trap of treating ourselves as a constant self-improvement project, and instead focus on all the good around us (and within us). We applied this concept to movement, to totally shift the way we approach fitness. Starting small and appreciating what your body can do when starting a movement habit, can really help to build a sustainable change.

We also explored the benefits of eating seasonally, bringing a sense of gratitude to the abundance of food that we have access to. Seasonal foods not only taste better, but also can help to reduce your environmental impact.

What are all of the amazing things that your body can do right now?

Which foods are in season right now, and how can you bring them into your diet?

Savour

July’s theme looked at the satisfaction factor, something that is often underestimated or completely disregarded when it comes to healthy eating. Neglecting this can stop us from continuing with our healthy eating goals, so we explored ways to put this into practise such as taking time to really appreciate all of the tastes and textures of our food, as well as checking in with what our body really needs to feel energised and nourished.

Chocolate was also a topic we explored this month. Rather than cutting sweet treats out completely, we can include them intentionally to avoid demonising certain foods as ‘bad’. Dark chocolate also contains some health-boosting compounds, such as antioxidants and essential minerals.

Do you feel you are connecting with your body’s wants and needs when choosing foods?

What is your favourite way to bring sweet treats into your diet?

Harvest

August was a time to enjoy the benefits of healthy habits that we have built up over the year. We considered the true purpose of a holiday, as an opportunity to rest and restore our energy and mental wellbeing. Combining wellness and pleasure is possible on your time off, when we remember easy wins such as a balanced breakfast or keeping hydrated.

We also featured content on the sunshine vitamin, vitamin D. This essential vitamin, critical for our bone health, can be synthesised in our body using sunlight, but is also found in small amounts in foods such as oily fish and egg yolks.

Were you able to take some time to really restore your energy and boost your wellbeing?

Have you started taking a vitamin D supplement?

Commit

As we entered the last few months of the year, we refocused on committing to the goals we set back in January. Building a consistent exercise habit is key to good health, both in body and mind. The benefits of incorporating more movement into our everyday lives stretch over our lifetimes, building a strong foundation so we can continue living our lives as freely as possible, for as long as possible.

Nutrition also plays a vital role in helping us recover from exercise. Having some knowledge of what or when to eat can support your energy levels, improve your performance, and improve recovery time.

What are the things you do now that a movement habit will support in your future?

Have you felt the impact of good nutrition on your exercise performance or recovery?

Nurture

October brought a focus on nutrition in menopause, a time of life which brings some specific health considerations. Reduced levels of oestrogen can cause increased risk of heart disease and osteoporosis for women, as well as uncomfortable day-to-day symptoms. Nutrition can help to reduce some of these long-term effects, such as consuming healthy fats or higher levels of protein. Lifestyle habits including weight-based exercise and managing stress effectively can also help in managing this time of change.

Have you been able to make some changes to support your health if you are experiencing the menopause?

Harmony

November let us bring it all together and find a sense of harmony. The short days and colder weather can impact our general feeling of wellbeing, so it is important to keep up our supportive habits to take care of ourselves. Over time, heightened stress levels can have negative consequences for our health. We can use our nutrition to minimise some of these impacts, such as boosting fruit and vegetable consumption or reducing pro-inflammatory foods in our diets.

Have you been able to bring in some supportive nutrition habits at times of heightened stress?

We hope you have enjoyed the year, learned something new and are feeling the benefits. Celebrate any wins, no matter how small, and remember that this is a journey. Enrich is with you all the way, helping to bring you one step closer to healthy.