Frequently Asked Questions
ABOUT THE RYH PLAN
About RYH
Type 2 diabetes is a condition where the body is unable to control blood sugar levels safely.
RYH can tailor recipes to be suitable for Diabetes. You can opt for a low or moderate carbohydrate recipes.
Always consult your relevant health professional before changing your diet if you are taking medications.
Even though some clients find they lose weight, RYH is designed to set you on the path to healthier eating habits to improve your gut health.
RYH is a based on 4 weeks’ worth of recipes that provide a balanced nutrition plan that covers you for all of your nutritional requirements. You may be missing some of your usual foods but the diet shouldn’t lead to cravings.
In fact, our clients tell us that they feel less hungry and that their sugar cravings reduce during the plan.
Reset Your Health is not just about cutting back, but also about eating more! National Dietary Surveys show that most people don’t eat enough fruit, vegetables or other plant-based foods.
Plant-based foods are rich in fibre, which is vital for healthy digestion. Fibre is the preferred food of the bacteria in the gut which helps to promote healthy digestion.
Plants are also phytonutrient-rich (phytonutrients give plants their bright colours) which have a wide range of antioxidant and anti-inflammatory health benefits; the deeper the colour the more phytonutrients the plant contains.
RYH aims to help individuals eat on average 12 different varieties of vegetables and fruit per day to establish a healthier, nutrient and fibre-filled diet.
RYH is 4 weeks’ worth of personalised recipes that will help you get on track.
RYH can be adapted to most personal preferences and health requirements. If you cannot see a selection of recipes you want, contact us and we will do everything we can to produce 4 weeks’ worth of recipes to suit your needs. If you have any doubts about whether Reset Your Health is suitable for you, please check with your doctor first.
RYH recipes aren’t low-fat. We include healthy fats from sources such as nuts, seeds, rapeseed and olive oils.
Eating high-quality and minimally processed fat and oils is very important, as fats are not only used for energy but also to maintain cell membranes. Reset Your Health includes healthy fats and oils every day.
RYH aims to establish the core principles of healthy eating by showing you how to put it into practice. Food is where our energy comes from and has a strong influence on our physical and mental wellbeing.
Reset Your Health recipes are designed to be the start of a move to a healthier diet. It offers a diverse range of recipes to get you started and is designed to make the transition to a healthier way of eating easier and sustainable.
RYH isn’t a fad diet at all. There’s so much conflicting information out there about food and healthy eating.
We’re often told that we need to follow a healthy eating plan in order to feel better or to manage a health condition but that can often be difficult to put into practice. RYH shows you how with 4 weeks’ worth of evidence-based recipes. We help you to start off on your healthy eating journey, the right way.
You will always have access to the Reset Your Health recipes for your chosen preferences. If you want to change to vegan, vegetarian, pescatarian or exclude certain foods then there will be a fee to generate the new personalised recipes. Customers tell us they have been inspired by how much better they feel and excited by what they have learned about eating in this way.
You are invited to join our closed Facebook Group where you’ll find lots more tips and advice from us to maintain your new lifestyle. It’s an active group where our members are encouraged to share their experiences and recipe ideas in helping to support each .
Participants say that RYH prompts and encourages good daily decisions about food.
You can expect healthy and enjoyable meals which make it easy to use a baseline going forward to better health.
After the 4 weeks, RYH hopes that you will have a good idea of what healthy eating looks like. From here, you can adapt your own meal plans and recipes to continue on your healthy eating journey
On average, meals cost between £56 to £62 per week for 1 person, depending on the food preferences you select.
The first week typically will cost a little more than the last two as you will be buying some staples to last for the whole of the 4 weeks.
Fresh fruit and vegetables may seem expensive but when eliminating processed foods and snacks, clients have found it is possible to save money! The whole point of Reset Your Health is that it is affordable, and you won’t have to buy any expensive products.
RYH is available to healthcare professionals so they can build a plan around an individual’s dietary needs and specific health issues. You can also use RYH as a tool to accompany your dietary advice by referring patients to our practical plan. Take a look at How RYH works for more information.
RYH does work with a busy schedule. At least one meal a day is portable, and we have tried to make it easy to eat out as well by adding some simple advice for choosing meals when you can’t eat at home.
Reset your Health recipes take a maximum of 30 minutes to prepare, so with a little bit of planning it should be possible to fit the recipes around even the most hectic schedule. Our delicious meat and meatless ball recipe, for example are are as delicious eaten cold as hot and a great way to keep hunger at bay and avoid those work-day snacks!
RYH is not a “diet” in the traditional sense. RYH is designed to help you towards a sustained lifestyle change, kick-started with 4 weeks’ worth of personalised recipes. We think that’s definitely worth it.
Although not designed as a weight loss diet, some clients with this goal in mind may find RYH a helpful step towards changing eating habits for the better.
RYH is not a restrictive diet. We include a wide variety of nutritious and enjoyable foods to support your health.
RYH is a commitment but one that is worth making. RYH is designed to be sustainable and furnish you with the understanding and resources to improve your health.
We help you make healthy habits for life, and RYH makes this as straightforward and manageable as possible.
RYH focuses on the quality of foods, rather than on the number of calories consumed. Our recipes include detailed nutritional information to show you both the calorie content and the proportion of protein, fat and carbohydrate that the meal contains. We do believe, however, that when you eat a nutritionally balanced meal there is no need to count calories
RYH caters for vegetarian and vegan dietary choices. In the initial login you can choose your personalised recipes by stating which foods you do not want or cannot eat.
Yes, although the recipes are for two people it can be adapted for 1, 2, 4 or more! Furthermore, although some food may not look like your typical child’s meal, we have found that it is popular with kids (especially when they see their parents eating – and enjoying it!). However, the portion sizes might need adjusting depending on how much your children tend to eat. It’s great to get children set up with early healthy eating habits so we would love for you to share RYH with your family.
Check out “what our customers say” on the homepage to see what people have said about us!
We think Reset Your Health is an affordable, accessible and a practical way to reset your health and establish healthy eating habits. Many of our customers agree!
We believe that you should be able to get everything you need by eating healthy recipes and so don’t recommend any supplements.
If you have a deficiency or are in at “at risk” category for health, you may want to discuss the need for supplements support with your health care professional
RYH recipes are designed to meet your daily needs for the macronutrients: protein, fat and carbohydrates. It provides a variety of micronutrients: minerals, vitamins and phytonutrients and it includes lots of fibre (prebiotics) and probiotic and polyphenols. It also encourages healthy fluid intake.
We recently analysed on average how many different vegetables and fruit RYH gave users daily, it was 12! Amounting to 10 portions on average per day!
All of RYH’s recipes have been run through a nutritional management system and checked by a registered dietician and nutritionist.
RYH’s main aim is to set in motion healthy eating habits that will last a life time.
The main aim of RYH is to help you make sustainable and meaningful changes to your diet by showing you, rather than telling you how to eat healthy. This means that Reset Your Health is designed to kick-start long-term changes to put you on the path to better health.
If you are struggling after following RYH recipes, we recommend that you contact one of our nutritional therapists/nutritionists for support.
Yes, all the recipes are seasonal in RYH!
Absolutely. RYH is designed to be flexible around your everyday life.
We provide advice on eating out when you register, to help you make the best choices when you aren’t eating RYH recipes.
Yes, you can, but you can also choose to exclude it if you wish.
Yes, initially you may need to halve the recipes, but we are working hard on producing recipes and shopping lists for one!
RYH has produced some firm family favourites and many customers have managed to successfully encourage their children to eat the RYH meals. They look and taste great, so we don’t think this will be a problem.
There have been no reports of negative side effects with RYH. In fact, our clients report quite the opposite!
RYH RECIPES
RYH recipes
Absolutely not! But we are not claiming to Reset Your Health with five ingredients. The recipes are designed to include a wide variety of every day foods.
You can bulk prepare granola, but it’s probably not a good idea to do so with smoothies as they aren’t as nice when stored in the fridge. Prepare in the moment and enjoy!
Yes! Remember though that, dried herbs do need to be cooked for long enough to release the flavour, for example bay leaves, marjoram, oregano, rosemary, sage, and thyme.
To realise the full nutritional value of fresh herbs they need to be used as soon as possible after picking so you get the full benefit of the polyphenols they contain. Some fresh herbs like parsley, have significant amounts of the essential vitamins A, C and K!
RYH uses a variety of dried and fresh herbs and certainly when fresh herbs are not an option dried herbs can still provide flavour and nutrition.
Pre-ground flax seeds have the same amount of protein, fat, minerals and vitamins as freshly ground, however, they will be lower in short chain fatty acids and conjugated linoleic acid as these components will break down when exposed to oxygen, heat or light. So RYH suggests if you buy pre-ground flax seeds then store them in an air-tight and light-tight container in the fridge.
The portions are generous, and you shouldn’t feel the need to snack. But if you do then we have a snack menu which includes healthy options that will continue to help Reset Your Health!
Sustainability was one of our top priorities when we designed RYH. We encourage you to use all the ingredients in your shopping list, so there is no wastage. If you find you have food piling up then take a break from RYH and experiment with it, provided you stay within the suggested foods no harm done!
We have worked hard to ensure that almost all the ingredients are ones you can find in any supermarket. Sometimes there are a few things that you may need to source online – but our shopping list facility makes it quick and easy to work out what you will need & when, for each week.
Depending on your level of expertise, main meals take between 20 and 30 minutes to prepare. Breakfasts usually take under 10 minutes. Some Reset Your Health recipes will need to be prepared in advance, such as overnight quinoa or our kedgeree recipe, so it is always worth looking ahead to plan. Occasionally there will be recipes that require up to 3 hours of slow cooking, but these are flagged so you can be prepared.
Over 800 and growing every week. We welcome contributions from you!
Sure. It depends on which ones you use, though. Adding balsamic vinegar, lemon juice or mustard is ok but you may need to be careful if you are adding lots of salty/sugary sauces and dressings. Make sure to check the labels for these.
Cooking every day is a challenge, even for the most confident of cooks. With this in mind, we suggest making additional portions of meals that freeze well. This includes meals like soups and stews, curries and bolognaise great for those days when the last thing you want to do it!
Leftovers can be used to bulk out meals later in the week or you can freeze them for a day when you’re short on time.
RYH suggests that before you start you prepare RYH bread, granola, stewed apples, salsa and vinaigrette. These recipes are available under ‘Be Prepared’ when you register with RYH.
Freezing food will reduce the flavour a bit and the final nutrient content will depend on the quality of the food when frozen. If harvested early, then it is probable that most of the nutrient content will be retained. Frozen foods are preferable to canned foods if there are no fresh alternatives.
Herbs and spices such as basil, cardamom, cayenne, cinnamon, cloves, cumin, dried mustard, fenugreek, garlic, ginger, oregano, rosemary, thyme and turmeric can be added to your food to give extra flavour.
You could also try black pepper, bay leaves, caraway, celery seed, cloves, nutmeg and dried onion.
We recommend that you avoid buying spices in bulk. It’s better to buy only what you will need for a few months and store them in a cool dry place as exposure to heat, light or moisture will mean they lose flavour quicker.
Proteins are an essential nutrient and one of the building blocks of body tissue. Protein is needed to repair cells, support muscle growth and maintain lean muscle mass. It is also used to make some hormones and neurotransmitters (or brain messengers). RYH focuses on a mixture of animal and plant protein, but it is usually lean. RYH always starts the day with some protein as this helps stabilise your blood sugar for the day ahead
FOOD QUESTIONS
Food questions
If you’re interested in how coffee affects your gut, there is a whole section on coffee in our founder’s book Gut Well Soon. Initially, we encourage you to take a break from caffeine but after a few weeks you can have up to 3 a day.
Yes, you can, there is nothing wrong with a little chocolate now and then. We prefer chocolate with 70% coco solids. Enjoy dark chocolate in moderation and we have a great recipe for Chocolate and Orange overnight quinoa!
It is perfectly healthy to eat eggs every day, as they are not as closely linked to cholesterol as previously believed. However, if you don’t eat eggs, RYH enables you to opt to not include eggs in any recipes.
RYH is predominately about helping you Reset Your Health with nutritious food. However, our founder Catherine Rogers also emphasises the importance of exercise, sleep and stress reduction for your well-being.
Eating mindfully is a great way to slow down, so try to make time to eat and focus on your meal. Simply starting to be mindful of how and what you are eating is a great way to reduce stress.
Everyone should drink water every day. Other fluids to have, in moderation, are broths, herbal teas and other caffeine-free drinks. Sugary or caffeinated beverages should be avoided.
Try adding a slice of lemon or lime to a glass of water, or add a splash of natural pomegranate, cherry or cranberry juice. Avoid commercially produced fruit juices as they are often high in sugar.
If you find you are hungry (and the majority of our customers find they are not) then eat some RYH bread with a nut butter spread on it, or increase your portion sizes of the planned meals.
Yes! We have a snack menu especially created for this purpose! Full of nutritious and healthy snacks to help you stay on track. Reset Your Health does not restrict how much you eat, only what you eat. However, we do suggest that you try to eat more at mealtimes to avoid snacking.
NUTRITIONAL ADVICE
Nutritional advice
The UK government, advises your fibre uptake should be at least 30g per day, most adults are only eating 60% of the fibre they need to stay healthy. Read our blog on fibre.
RYH have made sure that you will get enough protein in your vegetarian and vegan meal plans.
Whole fruit is a perfectly healthy addition to your diet. Fruit does contain natural fruit sugar but when eaten in the context of the whole fruit, also contains fibre which is a great addition to the diet.
A prebiotic is fibre that is essential for these bacteria to survive, food for your bacteria! Prebiotics are readily available via a diet full of vegetables and fruit and there is normally no need to supplement. Please see chapter 2 in Gut Well Soon for a detailed description of both pre- and probiotics.
Carbohydrate is currently the dominant food in our Western diet Carbs include complex carbohydrates such as starch (found in vegetables, cereals, bread and pasta) and simple carbohydrates, such as sugar (found in sweet foods).
The carbohydrate element of any food is broken down by digestion into its smallest unit of glucose or sugar, and is transported around the body in the blood stream (hence blood glucose or blood sugar). The main role of carbohydrate, and why it is so significant, is to produce energy. It is your primary source of fuel, but not the only one.
Fats and oils are long chains of atoms including carbon, hydrogen and oxygen. The universal characteristic of all fat is simply that they are foods or food components that are ’fatty’ or oily’. As such they don’t dissolve in or mix with water.
Saturated fats are strong and rigid because they are ‘saturated’ with the maximum number of hydrogen atoms. This makes them very stable and safe to heat (eg animal fat or coconut oil).
Unsaturated fats include double bond(s) within their structure, where hydrogen atoms are missing. This makes their molecules more flexible, hence they are liquid at room temperature. They are more prone to rancidity than animal fats, and can be oxidised when heated. Olive oil is a monounsaturated oil (one point of unsaturation) and can be heated gently. Vegetable oils, like sunflower oil or rapeseed oil, are polyunsaturated oils (multiple points of unsaturation), and hence highly unstable at temperature. Heating is not recommended, as these oils become oxidised and produce toxic compounds, which are detrimental to health.
The word protein comes from the Greek ‘proteos’, meaning ‘of prime importance’, and it is truly an important building block in the human body. Good sources of protein include meat, fish, nuts, seeds, dairy, eggs and pulses or beans.
When we eat these foods, our digestion breaks them down into amino acids, which are then absorbed through the digestive tract. These amino acids perform a whole host of functions to keep us fit and well, from growth and repair, to learning and memory, to replicating our DNA and more.
Everything is important about fibre! You will probably have realised that here at RYH we are passionate about gut health, but what does that actually mean and how is fibre involved?
As detailed in our founder’s book, Gut Well Soon, a balanced microbiome (which includes the bacteria in our gut) is essential to a healthier body and happier mind. This can only happen if we eat fibre. Our gut bacteria need fibre to survive and in fact it is the bacteria, not us, who digest the fibre we eat! When your gut bacteria are well fed, they are able to flourish and can then play their key role in fundamental body functions.
Most individuals living in western countries get only about 1/3 of the fibre they should eat daily. Following the RYH plan boosts both soluble and insoluble fibre in your diet. Soluble fibre can be found in nut, seeds, beans, lentils, peas and some fruits and vegetables.
Insoluble fibre can be found in vegetables and whole grains. Medical advice suggests that individuals should aim to consumer between 25 and 35 grams of fibre per day at least.
Gluten is a type of protein found in wheat and also other grains such as rye and barley. Gluten-free alternatives include rice, millet or quinoa. Although quinoa cooks like a grain, it is technically a seed and has a protein content that is 3x higher than rice. It is also high in magnesium and calcium and rich in fibre.
If you need to avoid gluten, we can offer alternatives in your RYH plan.
Minerals help your body to grow, develop and stay healthy. Minerals are used by the body for many different functions, including making energy, building strong bones, transmitting nerve impulses, moving muscles and even maintaining a normal heartbeat. The 4 major minerals in the human body are sodium, potassium, magnesium and calcium. There are many other microminerals which we get from a wide variety of food choices.
Vitamins are the cofactors that act as a kind of catalyst for the hundreds of metabolic reactions that occur in your body. They are helper molecules which activate enzymes to work and assist in biochemical transformations.
These include antioxidants (vitamin A, C & E), B vitamins (for immune, heart and brain health and making energy), vitamin K (blood clotting & bone health) and vitamin D (bone & immune health)
Vitamin B12 and vitamin K can be made by gut bacteria in addition to obtaining these essential nutrients from the diet.