Sunday Edition #57: Jeffrey Boadi

Londoner Jeffrey Boadi is a breath of fresh air in the wellness space, providing a no-nonsense, grounded approach to plant-based nutrition. 

Q: One thing I really love about your platform, and something that we’re trying to achieve at anatomē, is your inviting approach. For example, you have a video where you react to this influencer guy who’s trashing oatmeal as a fake health food, and you break that down in a really engaging way. 

Yeah so, I think particularly over the last few years, there’s been a massive rise in a lot of these videos, that for one, often lack evidence, and two, are designed to keep people online and get them to buy something. Someone says, oh there's a problem with oats or there's a problem with this, but I've got the solution for you. 

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The way I see it, I just think that there are so many people out there who want good quality health information. And then when they see something like that they get really confused.

Yeah okay, if you get the pre-packaged oatmeal with tons of sugar, that’s probably something that you may want to avoid, but just standard oats? They’re super cost effective, and you can add in a ton of nuts and seeds or berries, and it’s easy. 

The vast majority of people who are eating very rushed in the morning, maybe running to Pret to get a pastry or something like that— if they ate a nutrient-dense breakfast, we would have a much healthier society.

So to trash oatmeal is just not helpful. 

Q: Agreed. It does seem like the bar is always being raised, or like the goalposts are always shifting. Like, oh, you're not doing right, you gotta do it this way.

I just think that in this day and age, everyone's trying to, you know, point towards the next magic compound, or the next health hack. But the foundations are very, very simple.

Try and get a good amount of sleep, hydrate your body properly, try and do resistance training or any other form of exercise three to five times a week, and eat a whole foods diet. 

I'm vegan, I've been vegan for six years. But I don't say to people that you have to eat a whole food, plant-based diet 100% of the time. You can eat an 80% plant-based diet with some animal products. But as long as you get some plant diversity in there, you're going to be in a good place.

But whatever dietary pattern you follow, just be conscious. Remove the processed foods out of the diet, or limit them anyway.

 

Q: It's the basics that will always stand the test of time

Yeah, yeah. It's like, there are a lot of flashy things. There are all these health hacks that people want to show, and it’s kind of like that shiny object syndrome. But if you've not got the foundations right, you've not got the basics right, then all of these little one-percenters, as I call them, are not going to account for very much.

Q: So, how has your health platform grown over the past few years?

I guess in the early years, I was very much focussed on plant-based foods. Very much about nutrition, that was my sole focus. That's still a huge part of what I do now.

But I like to talk about other elements of health, such as sleep. I’m big on sleep and have done a lot of research into sleep, as well as training modalities, what modalities can help with longevity, strength, and things like that. 

I’m widening my scope. Obviously, plant-based food is still very much at the forefront. I’m still creating really healthy recipes for the community, but also educating them on other elements of their health. So it's just continuing to evolve in that regard. 

Q: What do you think is your biggest challenge in making your ideas accessible to people who are not primed to receive it?

One of the keys is just to meet people where they're at. You know, a lot of the meals that I make now, they look great, and they're very nutrient-dense, but they weren't like that at the very start. It was a lot of fumbling around and finding out about foods I'd never eaten before. 

There's always going to be that starting point. It's a process of learning and does not have to be perfect. You don't have to get to a 100% whole foods plant-based diet and nail it right off the bat. Slowly start to incorporate these meals. Some people might need to kind of feel their way in. And that's completely normal. 

One of the things that I'm really keen on is making sure that you provide information that's for the many, not the few.

You've got a few people who are very, very clued up with nutrition and health and, you know, go down the cryotherapy and hyperbaric oxygen chamber and all these high-level health elements, which I love as well. But that's not the majority of people.

The majority of people just want to be a little bit healthier every day. They just want easy things that they can do, things that are relatively cost-effective, and things are accessible. So that's where the recipes come in. 

I don't use outlandish ingredients. I always tell people where they can save money— with things like nuts and seeds, for example, buying them from wholesalers instead of buying them from supermarkets. So it's just about giving people those practical tools. It's always got to be practical and actionable.

Q: Do you have a sleep routine that you could share with people that's accessible? 

I have this app on my phone called Opal. I’ve set it to block all distracting apps at 9:00 PM. So Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, LinkedIn — it blocks them.

Because obviously, once you start scrolling at night, it gets later and later and we’re in trouble. 

Then I also wear blue light-blocking glasses. There's been some more emerging research around the impact of blue light in terms of blunting production of melatonin, which, according to our circadian rhythm, typically starts to secrete around 9:00 pm. So I put blue light-blocking glasses on, which are relatively accessible. There are a few websites that sell them for 30 to 40 pounds.

Then I'll do supplements. I’m big on magnesium for sleep. I sleep in as cool a room as possible because once your core body temperature is lower, your sleep onset time is a lot quicker. 

Lastly, the sleep mask— that's been one of the biggest game changers for me in the last few months, making that complete darkness that you need to get a really deep night’s sleep. 

Q: This may be a bit of a tangent, but— as a Londoner, what’s your favourite thing about this city?

Well, of course, it's familiar. I think, for the most part, Londoners are good people. You know, the fact that it's such a multicultural city, that’s great as well. 

But I think London in the summer, when the sun's out and everyone's in a good mood— it's one of the best cities in the world.

I guess that shows the power of the sun and getting vitamin D and everything that it does for mental wellbeing. But yeah, London in the sun is unrivalled. 

Here’s one of Jeffrey’s notoriously delicious, adamantly non-boring salad recipes, packed with nutrient-dense whole foods for you to try:

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 Super Green Salad 🥗🚀

Ingredients:

- 2 large handfuls mixed leaf salad (I like mine with the likes of beet greens, chard and spinach)

- Handful of cherry tomatoes, chopped

- 1 cup chopped red chicory

- 1 red onion, diced

- 1 large avocado

- Handful of radish, sliced thinly

- 1 cup butter beans

- 2 tbsp hemp seeds

- 1/2 cup kimchi

For the dressing:

- 1 tbsp wholegrain mustard

- 2/3 tbsp balsamic vinegar

- 2/3 tbsp olive oil (optional if you are considering calorie intake)

Method:

- Simply add all dry ingredients into the mixing bowl except the hemp seeds

- For your dressing, in a small mixing bowl add your mustard, balsamic vinegar and olive oil and mix together

- Add dressing to the salad, then top with hemp seeds — and you’re good to go 🌱

Remember you can have these salads as a side salad to your main meal…or just make a huge bowl the size of your head and eat it all 😉

Enjoy my friends 🤝🏿🌱

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