Be Well with Bernie

After a long hard winter of storms and snow the sun is finally shining!!   I’m sure everyone has welcomed the bit of heat on the bones with open arms. If we’re meant to eat according to the seasons then sunshine has to mean salads, and lots of them.   Salads don’t need to be boring.   In fact you can do so much to make them interesting.   The only limit is your imagination J For me, eating healthy and staying on track with my nutrition is all about being organised.   I start to get nervous when I see my stocks of plastic containers stacked up in the fridge depleting.   No matter what I make I make a big batch in one go.   That way I have a few days where I don’t have to cook a thing and I’m less likely to find myself getting hangry which is always a good thing.   I divide each dish into (carefully measured) individual portions so that I can take it with me wherever I go.   So I thought it would be a good idea to use this week’s articl...

Liam and I spent the Bank Holiday weekend on the Dingle Peninsula celebrating Liam’s 40th birthday.  I hadn’t been to Dingle since I was a little girl.  I had no memory of being there until my Dad told me so it was lovely to go back to soak it up.   What an amazing part of the country.  It’s so beautiful.  We drove along the Wild Atlantic Way from Limerick and had a few stops along the way.   We walked Inch beach in the beautiful sunshine... BREATHTAKING!!!    Inch Beach It's by far one of the nicest beaches I’ve ever seen.  With the dramatic backdrop of the dunes and the surrounding mountains I'm not surprised it's been used as a location for so many movies.   We also caught a colorful sunset on the late great Paidi O Shea’s, Ventry beach.  Another little gem of the Dingle Peninsula. Ventry Beach at sunset We were delighted to find that our visit coincided with the Dingle Art...

If breakfast is the most important meal of the day we want to make sure it's delicious and nutritious and most importantly that it doesn't become boring. Until recently I always thought of porridge as the big pot of lumpy goo we were forced to eat for our breakfast as kids. Not any more... I ADORE PORRIDGE NOW. I have it for breakfast, lunch and as a snack and I'll eat it hot or cold.  Basically I'm not fussy because it tastes so good 😍 Did you know that porridge and oats are not the same thing? I didn't until just last week 🙈 The dictionary says porridge is a food commonly eaten as a breakfast cereal, made by boiling ground, crushed or chopped starchy plants—typically grain—in water or milk. Armed with this new info I've been trying out different grains to make my porridge with and I've been experimenting with lots of different add ins. Here's my top 3 (so far) What I love about these recipes is that y...

Healthy living is a lot easier said than done. I think the main problem is that we constantly compare ourselves to others instead of thinking about what healthy actually means to us and finding out what works for us personally. I spent years comparing myself to other people.  The exercise they were doing, the food they were eating, how toned they were…    I really wasn’t in a good place and was feeling uncomfortable in my own skin.    I thought I wasn’t as fit as everyone around me and felt I didn’t look as good as them either.    This self comparison leaves you feeling low in self confidence, self esteem and it may even make you feel like giving up.   I’ve finally cracked WHAT HEALTHY MEANS TO ME and after years of battling I now know what works for me. What does it mean to be healthy and to live a healthy lifestyle? It’s actually really hard to define the word healthy because it’s so unique...

Going out for a cuppa and a scone used to be one of my greatest pleasures. I was on a mission at one point to find the best scone in Ireland and I reckon I may have found it 😊 A lovely big scone topped with butter and jam and copious amounts of jam was pure heaven for me. I'm not going to lie I still have a major hankering for it but it's kind of out the window for me now that I'm mostly dairy free 😕 BUT FEAR NOT! Alternatives are always possible... I've been making these scones that have no eggs, milk, refined sugar or fat. I know what you're thinking... They must taste awful. NOOOOOO!!!!! They are unreal. I've road tested them with Ethan - seal of approval✔ I've road tested them with Liam - seal of approval (Not a biggie because he'd eat anything 😆)✔ I've road tested them with Mam - seal of approval✔ I've road tested them with Christy - seal of approval✔ I've road tested them with my nieces - seal of app...

Weight loss is probably the number 1 reason why people go to the gym or work with a personal trainer or a nutrition adviser. I meet so many clients who tell me they train really hard 5 – 6 days a week but they are not getting the results they want. I know exactly how they feel because I’ve been in the very same boat. WHY??? I used to think that because I went for a 5 mile jog or went for a tough gym session I could eat anything I wanted. And I did… Now I know this is definitely not the case! As the saying goes: This point was highlighted to me on my recent (extended) holiday in Budapest. Our original holiday was a 3 night city break.  Then Storm Emma hit Ireland with an unmerciful bang and our flight home on the Thursday was cancelled.  We couldn’t get a flight home until the Monday which meant an extra 4 nights in Budapest!! After the initial panic (We had no clean clothes or cosmetics because lets face it, Ryan Air make sure you only pack the ba...