sophiepellingnutrition

24/01/2022

🍊 BLOOD ORANGE SEASON 🍊
You can only get these little beauties for a few months of the year (Dec-Apr), and they’re at their most delicious right now so go and stock up! Nutritionally they’re quite similar to normal oranges, but taste-wise they have a distinctive raspberry flavour. They also look very pretty 😍 Below are some of the benefits that you get from eating these guys:
➡️ Anthocyanin: this pigment gives the blood orange its reddish colour. It’s an antioxidant so can help to lower LDL cholesterol (the bad one)
➡️ Vitamin C: this is also an antioxidant and needed for immunity and cell repair. One blood orange will give you 100% of your daily vitamin C requirement!
➡️ Folate (B9): this vitamin is critical to healthy DNA production and division (so is especially important for pregnant women). One blood orange contains 10% of your daily requirement
➡️ Fibre: one blood orange contains about 3g of your daily recommended amount of 30g, which helps to maintain a healthy gut and reduce constipation.

21/01/2022

Sharing this for anyone who needs it…just over a week to go team 👏🏼 💪🏼🥂

11/01/2022

I haven’t posted on here for a while so thought I would pop along and share a sunny picture to lift your spirits on such a miserable day!
Happy new year everyone - I hope you’re all ready to dive into 2022, whatever it may have in store 🤪
I’m not one for resolutions, but I am one for reflections and goals. I borrowed this template from and found it really motivating looking back at 2021 and forward to 2022. It doesn’t matter that we’re already in the middle of Jan (I know, what), find yourself 15mins, a pen and some paper and get journaling!
1. 3 things I achieved in 2021
2. Biggest lesson of 2021
3. What am I leaving behind in 2021?
4. What do I want to do more of in 2022?
5. 3 things I want to improve/work on in 2022?
6. 3 main goals and focus for 2022
7. 3 intentions: in 2022 I will…

08/11/2021

✨Monday Motivation✨
Before I started my career in nutrition, I really felt stuck in a system that tries to box us in and make us feel trapped for life. It wasn’t that I didn’t like my job, I actually really enjoy the different challenges that it brings and the cool people I get to work with. But I wasn’t fully content and knew I wasn’t achieving the things I’d always wanted to do in my life, like running my own business and helping people.
I always thought you had to choose one career and that was it, but what I’ve learnt over the past 18 months during the many weeks WFH and in lockdown, is that:
1️⃣ You are not your job title
2️⃣ It’s NEVER too late to do what you’re really interested in, and
3️⃣ There’s no reason that you can’t do this alongside a conventional job.
Having a has to be one of the best things to have come out of a rough year for many people. It took a global pandemic for me to find the courage to set up my nutrition business, something I’ve been thinking about doing since 2015. I’m extremely lucky to work for a company that supports this with part-time working, but all I can say is that if you don’t ask, then you’ll never know what the answer is.
Take the plunge and do what you LOVE!

22/10/2021

Thought my feed needed some green on it ✌🏼But also just showing how having a bowl of carbs doesn’t just have to be having a bowl of carbs.
Use every meal as an opportunity to get one of your 5 a day in - add a side salad, throw on some veggies and voila! Here we’ve got delicious gnocchi with greens, tomatoes and some avocado buried somewhere in there.
Totally aware that I just started a sentence with ‘but’…I promise I did go to school. Anyway, happy Friday whatever you’re up to!

20/10/2021

It's been a hot minute since I posted one of these, but with the seasonal changes happening all around us, I've had quite a few questions about what we can do to improve our sleep. I thought I'd share a blog about foods to avoid or include to improve our sleep quality and quantity - both are equally important!

Of course, nutrition is only one side of the coin when it comes to getting a good night's rest, and lifestyle factors play a huge role too! More on this to come in another blog...

Does what we eat really affect how we sleep? I'm guessing you already know the answer to that question since you are reading this post...but just in case, YES IT DOES! Although there is certainly no magic fix to a perfect night's sleep, there are certainly things that you can do to improve your slee...

20/10/2021

GOTCHA!
The simple answer is to not stress about eating healthily in restaurants…you’re there to enjoy yourself and the food, not worry about how many calories or carbs are on your plate.
Health is muchhh more than just the number of kcals you eat, so let’s not forget about our social and emotional wellbeing too please!

18/10/2021

🍂 October - this can only mean one thing if you’re in the UK…time to start taking a daily 10mcg vitamin D supplement. I wish i could stay on holiday forever soaking up the sun, but reality always catches up with us at some point!
Vitamin D is vital for so many things, it really is the ultimate all-rounder. It plays a role in bone and teeth health, immunity, brain health, lung function, heart health, and may also play an important role in regulating mood and warding off depression - super important during those cold, dark months ahead.
During the summer months, sun exposure on our skin allows us to produce our own vitamin D, which is actually a hormone. In the winter, even if we have sun exposure, the rays aren’t strong enough to facilitate this process, which is why Public Health England and NICE recommend that everyone takes a supplement between October and March.
If you don’t already take a supplement, now is the time to start since we’re already half way through October! I always use a simple spray from as I don’t love swallowing pills. Go and get your sunshine vitamin this winter folks! ☀️

08/10/2021

Walking into the weekend with my 2 fave boys…🤍🖤

29/09/2021

💤 How many hours sleep are you getting on average? We all know that we should be getting 7-9hrs every night, but that’s often easier said than done! Whether you struggle to fall asleep or wake up in the night worrying about x,y and z, there are lots of different foods you can try to improve your sleep.
Tryptophan rich foods – we can’t make this amino acid ourselves and can only get it from foods, so it’s really important to eat enough of it. It helps to make melatonin, the sleep hormone, which makes us feel tired in the evenings
Sources: chicken, turkey, milk, dairy, nuts and seeds 
Magnesium rich foods – these relax the nervous system and help us to fall asleep, improving our overall sleep quality
Sources: dark leafy greens like spinach, quinoa, cashews, black beans, avocado, wholegrains 
B vitamins, especially B6 – low levels have been linked to insomnia, so we need to ensure we have enough of this to get good sleep quantity
Sources: pork, sweet potatoes, pistachios, wholegrain cereals, bananas, fish e.g. salmon and tuna 
Vitamin D – the wonder vitamin! This is linked to energy, mood and sleep (as well as lots of other very important things!)
Sources: sunlight, fatty fish, mushrooms, egg yolks, supplements
Cherries – the Montmorency variety naturally contain melatonin
Sources: you can buy this cherry concentrate to drink before going to bed  
Complex carbohydrates - aim for a third of your plate to be wholegrains and high fibre foods in your evening meal. These foods keep your serotonin levels (a neurotransmitter with a sleep regulation role) in check and therefore promote sleep. Eating them will also make sure that your blood sugar levels don’t drop and wake you up
Sources: brown rice, brown pasta, whole grain bread, quinoa
Sleep is very personalised, and what works for one person may not work for somebody else. Don’t be discouraged if your sleep doesn’t improve immediately – give these foods a go and see what happens!

21/09/2021

I forgot to post this recipe from a cook-along I hosted a few weeks ago. It’s more of a summer recipe, so get cooking before the weather is set to turn next week!
Total time: 30 mins
Serves: 4 people
Veggie/vegan substitutes: Tofu instead of fish, vegan mayonnaise instead of regular mayonnaise
Instagram is being controlling and saying my recipe is too long, so I’ll post the recipe to my website tomorrow instead! 👩🏼‍🍳

10/09/2021

😴 are you getting 7-9hrs sleep a night? Just leaving this little sleep checklist here…how many of these are you regularly ticking off? If you’re not a good sleeper, don’t stress as there are lots of things you can do to improve your sleep quality and quantity (both are equally important!). I’ll be going through a few of these in my next couple of posts, so watch this space!