Gabriela Peacock has a lot on. When we meet in a central London hotel, she's just been on the radio to talk about her second book, 2 Weeks to a Younger You.
The following day she will be throwing a birthday party for her six-year-old twins Iris and Caspar (her elder daughter Maia is 12). 'I have to invite both classes, so that's 50 children,' she grimaces.
Afterwards, the adults will wind down with a pub lunch – where guests are set to include the twins' godparents, among them Piers Morgan and Princess Beatrice.
The birth of Beatrice's daughter Sienna two years ago led to what Peacock, 43, describes as 'a nice, newer dimension to our friendship'. Her dog, however, isn't so keen on the connection.
Last time Peacock (and her husband, hedge-fund manager David) visited the princess and her husband Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi at Royal Lodge in Windsor, the dog was terrorised by two of the late Queen's corgis. 'So now he's scared of all dogs and needs help.'
Meeting Peacock, you can see why all these people love her, both on a personal and a professional level
Clearly, she inhabits a glitzy world, moving with David between their homes in West London's Notting Hill, the Cotswolds and the South of France, hanging out not only with royals but the likes of Dame Joan Collins.
Peacock is often more than a friend to these people. As an in-demand nutritionist, she's also key to making them look their best.
Clients include Katherine Jenkins, James Blunt, Jodie Kidd, Yasmin Le Bon and Billie Piper, and she's rumoured to be the woman who had Prince Harry and Princess Eugenie looking their best at their respective weddings (she was a guest at both).
Did she play any part in getting the royals into shape for the coronation? 'I might have been helping some,' she smiles. 'Actually, Princess Bea has been very kind – she gave me a quote for the book.'
Meeting Peacock, you can see why all these people love her, both on a personal and a professional level.
In a black dress, with skyscraper legs and windscreen-wiper cheekbones, it's obvious she's a former model. She's also funny, self-deprecating, passionate about her profession and clear-eyed about why her approach is so popular.
'I eat way too much chocolate, I drink wine, I love chips – so I can hardly tell others not to do that,' she says. 'It's all about balance.' Think kimchi and kale with a side portion of cookies.
OUR DIET AND LIFESTYLE CAN AFFECT OUR GENES AND THE WAY WE AGE
Peacock, who was born in a small town in the Czech Republic, became fascinated by nutrition after she won a modelling contract aged 15 and moved to Paris.
There, her agents encouraged her to eat nothing but fish and green beans to avoid being sent home again (she estimates that more than 80 per cent of her friends had an eating disorder). 'It intrigued me. I wanted to know more about how the body worked,' she says.
When, in her 20s, she moved to London, Peacock was shaken by the ageism in her industry, with model friends no longer able to find work once they were over 30. Realising that she needed a second career, Peacock studied for two degrees in nutrition over the course of nine years.
On graduating, she worked for the Queen's GP Sir Tim Evans at his private clinic, where she quickly became the go-to diet adviser for the A-list.
'I think it's because there weren't many people practising who had my ethos of not being super-restrictive,' she says of her success. 'There are lots of scary nutritionists who give us a bad name – they're all, "gluten-free, dairy-free, limit your sugar".
'But if you live such a restricted life, how can you be happy? If a plan doesn't fit your lifestyle, it's not going to be sustainable. You'll follow it for two weeks and then hate me and never come back.'
Peacock shares a close friendship with Princess Beatrice and said the royal 'has been very kind' and gave her a quote for the new book
Peacock's approach certainly seems a lot less hardcore than many diets out there, as seen in her first book, 2 Weeks to Feeling Great. While many require you to swear off brownies and takeaway curries forever, she favours a pattern of limiting your calories for a few days a week but then allowing yourself to eat 'what the hell you like' for one day.
Now, Peacock is focusing on how a similar approach to eating can turn back the clock. The secret is to choose foods and an eating pattern that can help fight inflammation, which scientists agree is a key factor in chronic disease and shortening lives.
'I don't like the term anti-ageing – it's insulting,' she says. 'It makes age sound so negative and obviously because of modelling that's my sensitive topic. I don't mind people knowing my age, but I'd like them to say I look good for it. I also want to feel great.
'People are living for longer, but if we don't watch our lifestyles, we could be sick for a long part of that. So this is about preventing that.'
In the book, Peacock does an impressive job of making some hardcore science accessible. 'There's all this incredible research, mainly from the US, about how our diet and lifestyle can actually affect our genes and the way we age, and that's so exciting,' she says. 'What's more, it's never too late to start.'
Her plan to kickstart the age-slowing process involves what she calls time-restricted eating ('I don't like the word fasting, it's so negative') – in other words, limiting calories, along with shortening the daily window in which you eat to between four and eight hours.
The idea is that by giving yourself a break from digesting you stimulate a process called autophagy that makes your body more resilient. 'It's basically a self-cleansing of the cells, which gets rid of the proteins they no longer need, so they aren't sitting there wasting energy and potentially causing cell death.'
Afterwards, 'the cells will work more efficiently, and you'll have much more energy – which you'd never imagine would be a by-product of fasting. So it's something we should be doing regardless of whether or not we want to lose weight.'
Peacock outlines three programmes to help lose excess weight (which shortens our lifespan) and kickstart cell renewal.
There's supercharged (where you eat 700 calories a day for three consecutive days), reset (700 calories for two days) and live long (where you eat 'mindfully'), using her recipes, to be consumed within an eight-hour window. You can pick one to follow – either short or long term – depending on your goals and lifestyle.
Personally, and she stresses this works for her but won't be right for everyone, after 'an indulgent weekend' she needs 'a bit of a kick'. So often, after dinner on Sunday night, she won't eat again for 18 to 20 hours. 'I drink a lot of tea and take a lot of soluble fibre, because they're healthy and fill you up.'
By 4pm on Monday, she has something light, such as a vegetable soup. 'You need to ease your body slowly into digesting. But then I start eating and I eat all evening, though it will be relatively healthy – not burger and fries.'
On Tuesday and Wednesday, again she'll skip breakfast (if you can't face that she recommends eating your dinner as early as possible instead) 'and then eat really well – that's when my avocado and kale chips come out!'
By Thursday, she 'relaxes. Then by Friday and over the weekend I have what I want – carbs, breakfast with the children. On holiday I tend to let go. It works for me because there's always light at the end of the tunnel.'
How does David feel about the starving – sorry, restricted eating? 'He's good! He likes to torture himself.' Her friend Piers Morgan, she says, 'also likes to punish himself. Piers is tough, he doesn't like to listen, but he's done well.'
She's not super-strict with her children, although she encourages them to eat plenty of fruit, drink lots of water and combine a sweet treat with some protein. 'But I think I'm the only mother in Notting Hill who lets their children eat sugar,' she laughs.
It's time for Peacock to get moving and prepare the following day's festivities.
'Two six-year-olds' birthday party,' she laughs. 'I'm definitely going to need wine.' Then, come Monday, it's back to thin soup.
FAQs
What is the ideal time between meals? ›
The human body needs at least 3 to 4 hours to completely digest any meal. Therefore, there must be a minimum of four hours between any two meals. A gap that is both shorter and longer than that will result in overeating and acidity, respectively.
Does time of eating matter? ›While eating more of your calories earlier in the day is a good general rule for healthy weight maintenance, Dr Bilinski – whose background includes a stint at the obesity clinic of the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital in Sydney – says overall intake is still the most important aspect of maintaining a healthy weight.
How many times we should eat in a day? ›The Theory: Nutrition experts tend to recommend eating 3 balanced meals (350 to 600 calories each) and 1 to 3 snacks per day (between 150 and 200 calories each). The calories for each meal and snack depend on a variety of factors including, height, weight, age, gender and activity level.
What is the 5 rule for nutrition? ›Use the 5-20 Rule
If the % DV is 5 or less then it is low in that nutrient, If the% DV is 20% or more then it is high in that nutrient. The %DV is based on a 2,000- calorie diet – your needs might be more or less than this.
- Serving size. Check to see how many servings the package contains. ...
- Fiber. Eat at least 5-10 grams of viscous fiber each day. ...
- Protein. ...
- Calories. ...
- Carbohydrates. ...
- Total fat. ...
- Saturated fat. ...
- Trans fat.
Plan to eat breakfast within an hour of waking. This way, your breakfast doesn't blend into a mid-morning snack or grazing followed closely by lunch. Lunch should be about four to five hours after breakfast. For example, if you ate breakfast at 7 am, eat lunch between 11 am and noon.
What is the best time to eat to lose weight? ›That's according to research published today in JAMA Internal Medicine that found that early time-restricted eating for a period of 8 hours between 7 a.m. and 3 p.m. led to more effective weight loss, blood pressure control, and mood improvement in adults with obesity when compared with a group who ate in an eating ...
What's the best time to eat breakfast? ›The best time to have breakfast is within two hours of getting up. “The sooner you eat breakfast after you wake up, the better it is for your metabolism,” says Larson. If you hit the gym in the AM, it's best to have a light meal like a banana or an avocado toast 20-30 minutes before workout.
What is the biggest meal of the day? ›Most people are brought up thinking that dinner should be the biggest meal of the day, meaning they opt for a light breakfast and lunch. However, research has found that a smaller dinner and larger lunch could be the key to helping you shift those weight.
Is it better to eat at night or in the morning? ›Timing our meals this way may lead to better body weight, hormone regulation, blood sugar and cholesterol levels, sleep patterns and other metabolic improvements. The evidence indicates that our bodies do best when we eat more in the morning than at night, a pattern that's vastly different from how most Americans eat.
Why shouldn't you eat after 8? ›
Eating late at night may lead to acid reflux and negatively affect blood sugar management, blood pressure, and weight. This may be due to many factors like poor food choices.
What happens if you go too long without eating? ›When you don't eat often enough in a day, you'll experience a drop in blood sugar, or glucose, the main sugar found in your blood. Low blood sugar can make you feel tired, dizzy, sluggish, shaky and like you may pass out.
How many times should I eat a day to lose belly fat? ›Rather than going for three to four high-calorie meals in a day, one should eat every four hours to shape your belly.
Is it good to eat once a day? ›For most people, there are no serious dangers involved in eating one meal a day, other than the discomforts of feeling hungry. That said, there are some risks for people with cardiovascular disease or diabetes. Eating one meal a day can increase your blood pressure and cholesterol.
What is the golden rule of diet? ›1. Drink plenty of water. 2. Eat more fruit and vegetables (at least two servings of fruit and five servings of vegetables every day).
What is the golden rule for nutrition? ›The 80/20 Rule: Each meal and snack is an opportunity to replenish your body optimally. Choose the foods that are best for you 80% of the time and incorporate some of those foods that may not be the best, but are your favorites, 20% of the time! Life is about balance!
What is the 80% rule in nutrition? ›The 80/20 rule is a guide for your everyday diet—eat nutritious foods 80 percent of the time and have a serving of your favorite treat with the other 20 percent. For the “80 percent” part of the plan, focus on drinking lots of water and eating nutritious foods that include: Whole grains. Fruits and vegetables.
What is the #1 most important nutrient? ›That's because water is the most important essential nutrient. It is involved in many of your body's vital functions, and it distributes other essential nutrients to your cells. Get more: The Institute of Medicine recommends that men consume about 125 ounces of water a day and women 91 ounces per day.
What are the big 7 nutritional value? ›At least 7 nutritional values must be listed, the so-called BIG 7, which are energy, fat, saturated fatty acids, carbohydrates, sugar, protein and salt.
Should you eat before bed? ›Experts recommend waiting at least three hours after you've eaten to go to bed. This allows your body time to digest your food so you're not up at night with an upset stomach, indigestion, or acid reflux. And it helps you stay asleep. Don't forego a meal to follow this rule.
Which meal should I skip to lose weight? ›
The study also suggests that skipping breakfast or dinner might help people lose weight, since they burned more calories on those days.
How much water should I drink to lose weight? ›Bottom Line: According to the studies, 1–2 liters of water per day is enough to assist with weight loss, especially when consumed before meals.
How soon after waking up should you eat? ›The best time to have your breakfast is within two hours of waking up. Having breakfast after waking up is good for your metabolism, say experts. If you are a gym-goer and prefer exercising in the morning, have something light like a banana or an avocado toast, at least half an hour before working out.
What time should I stop eating at night to lose weight? ›As a guide, stop eating two to three hours before bed to avoid weight gain. Finishing meals earlier than this may help boost weight loss.
What is the most skipped meal of the day? ›Breakfast is most commonly skipped meal more than lunch and dinner specifically in the young adult in the university study period and those who wake up late. Lack of time is the main reason behind skipping meals, in general, lack of appetite, inability to cook, fasting/religion, and not being hungry.
What is the smallest meal of the day? ›If you've ever dabbled with dieting, then you probably know that dinner should be the smallest meal of the day. It may seem like a crock given just how common 9 p.m. dinners can be—not to mention the familiar pangs of late-night cravings.
Did humans eat one meal a day? ›For the majority of human history, people ate one or two meals per day. The current time-restricted eating patterns like the 16:8 or one meal a day diet (OMAD) mimic this ancient phenomenon. During periods without food, the body evolved to tap into fat stores for energy.
When should you stop drinking water before bed? ›When's the best time to stop drinking water? It's often recommended that you should stop drinking water two hours before going to bed. This way, you're not flooding your body with extra fluids that may cause an unwanted trip to the bathroom in the middle of the night.
What should I eat at night to lose belly fat? ›- Whey Protein Shake. First and foremost, protein is important for weight loss - whey protein included! ...
- A Warm Bowl of Oatmeal. ...
- Greek Yogurt with Berries or Cherries. ...
- Half a Turkey Sandwich. ...
- Egg Wrap. ...
- Smoked Salmon Bagel. ...
- Cottage Cheese and Fruit.
New study provides experimental evidence that late eating may increase hunger, obesity risk. Obesity afflicts approximately 42 percent of the U.S. adult population and contributes to the onset of chronic diseases, including diabetes, cancer, and other conditions.
What not to eat after 8pm? ›
What Foods Can You Eat After 8 p.m.? After 8 p.m., you have plenty of snacking options. Just be sure to avoid alcohol and foods with high sugar, sodium, and caffeine contents. These tend to cause acid reflux or increase blood pressure which could disrupt sleep.
What happens to your body when you stop eating after 8pm? ›“Eat after 8, and you'll gain weight” has a nice ring to it, but it's not true. It is based on the myth that the body cannot properly metabolize food during sleep. However, the body has intricate systems of metabolizing, storing, and using energy from food.
Why not to eat after 7? ›Overeating before the bedtime increases the risk of indigestion and heartburn, resulting in restlessness and sleeplessness. Eating late also sends a message to the brain to keep active that further prevents the body from powering down.
Why am I gaining weight when I barely eat? ›Other studies reveal that restrictive eating and dieting may lead to future weight gain due to your body's physiological responses to such behaviors, such as changes in hunger and fullness hormones ( 18 , 19 , 20 ).
What happens to the brain when you don't eat? ›When you don't eat enough to keep your body fuelled, your brain flicks into survival mode – essentially switching off the parts of our brain responsible for conscious, intellectual, logical reasoning. Leaving you with your more basic “survival brain” in the driver's seat.
What drink can burn belly fat? ›- Mar 29, 2023. Detox drinks and juices to lose belly fat. ...
- Beetroot juice. Whole beets are low in calories and high in fibre, which can support regularity, slow stomach emptying, and prolong satiety to support weight management. ...
- Carrot juice. ...
- Celery juice. ...
- Cinnamon water. ...
- Fennel water. ...
- Ginger water. ...
- Green vegetable juice.
Crunches:
The most effective exercise to burn stomach fat is crunches. Crunches rank top when we talk of fat-burning exercises. You can start by lying down flat with your knees bent and your feet on the ground.
This type of diet creates a calorie deficit, which can lead to weight loss. Other health benefits related to fasting include the potential to reduce heart disease risk factors, decrease blood sugar, and reduce inflammation ( 1 ).
What is the one meal a day fasting? ›OMAD stands for One Meal a Day; the idea is to fast for 23 hours straight and then consume one large meal in a 60-minute window. The OMAD diet is proposed to be a weight loss method as well as a way to tackle chronic disease and other health issues.
What time should you eat once a day? ›Eating one meal a day is a form of intermittent fasting or time-restricted eating. Intermittent fasting is usually when you would eat in an 8-hour window, say 12 pm to 8 pm and fast for the other 16 hours (including sleep).
What is a fact about nutrition? ›
Good Nutrition Lessens Your Risk of Chronic Disease
Foods high in sugar are associated with the risk of diabetes and foods high in sodium have an effect on blood pressure, which is a major risk for stroke.
The Nutrition Facts label must list total fat, saturated fat, trans fat, cholesterol, sodium, total carbohydrate, dietary fiber, total sugars, added sugars, protein, and certain vitamins and minerals.
What are some fun facts about nutrition? ›- Mangos are the most consumed fruit in the world. ...
- The liquid part of yogurt that sometimes separates on top, the whey, contains important nutrients such as calcium, potassium, and protein. ...
- By cooking in a cast iron skillet, you get the benefits of added iron to your meal.
There are six basic nutrients: carbohydrates, proteins, fats, vitamins, minerals, and water. All of these are classified as essential. Your body requires essential nutrients to function properly. These nutrients must be obtained from the foods you eat; your body cannot make them on its own.
What are the three things nutrition facts are useful for? ›A Nutrition Facts label lists the nutritional content, the serving size, and the calories for a recommended serving of a food product. This helps consumers make the best decision on how much to eat, maybe when they want to eat this food, or how they can better balance their food choices throughout the day.
What are 3 reasons why nutrition is important? ›A healthy diet throughout life promotes healthy pregnancy outcomes, supports normal growth, development and ageing, helps to maintain a healthy body weight, and reduces the risk of chronic disease leading to overall health and well-being.
What are the big 3 nutrition? ›Fat is one of the Big 3 nutrients (the other two are carbohydrates and proteins). These three nutrients give us energy from our food.
What are the 7 areas of nutrition? ›- Carbohydrates.
- Proteins.
- Fats.
- Vitamins.
- Minerals.
- Dietary fibre.
- Water.
The nutrition information listed on the Nutrition Facts label is usually based on one serving of the food; however, some containers may also have information displayed per package.
Can you trust nutrition facts? ›Its measurements are accurate to within 5% to 10% for water-soluble vitamins (such as vitamin C) and 10% to 15% for fat-soluble vitamins (such as vitamin D). Some of these percentages may seem high, but they're all consistent with industry standards and the work of experts in the field.
What does your body need everyday? ›
The six essential nutrients are vitamins, minerals, protein, fats, water, and carbohydrates. People need to consume these nutrients from dietary sources for proper body function.
What does the body need to survive? ›Everything else aside, there are 4 things the human body must have to survive: water, food, oxygen, and a functioning nervous system. Humans can last a little while without food or water, but life would immediately be over without oxygen or a working nervous system.