March 08, 2023

Family friendly Foods with Sam Josephs Webinar highlights | S5E8

34 minutes

Welcome to Season 5 of Living Well with MS, the Overcoming MS podcast where we explore all topics relating to living well with multiple sclerosis (MS). In this episode, we are sharing the

highlights from our ‘Family friendly Foods’ webinar with Nutritional Therapist Sam Josephs. In this episode, Sam shares how to incorporate easy, family-friendly Overcoming MS recipe ideas into your everyday life and social gatherings.

This webinar was recorded in June 2022 as part of our Finding Hope with Overcoming MS

webinar series. You can watch the whole webinar here or the podcast highlights on YouTube here.

Keep reading for the key episode takeaways and Sam’s bio.

Make sure you sign up to our newsletter to hear our latest tips and news about living a full and happy life with multiple sclerosis. And if you’re new to Overcoming MS, visit our introductory page to find out more about how we support people with MS.

Bio:

Sam Josephs believes passionately in diet and lifestyle intervention as a powerful preventative approach to all chronic health conditions, including MS.

Sam’s qualifications and career

Since graduating from BCNH (UK College of Nutrition and Health) in 2008, Sam has been working in her North London clinic seeing clients on a 1-2-1 basis. She has also worked as a pastoral and clinical tutor for BCNH, and appears annually as a guest

lecturer at both BCNH and the Institute of Optimum Nutrition, training upcoming

nutritional therapy students in a variety of conditions, including MS. She has presented to many MS support groups, was an expert panelist at the MSLife Expo in 2016 and has worked as a retreat facilitator for Overcoming Multiple Sclerosis.

She is a fully qualified Nutritional Therapist, a full member of the British Association for Nutrition and Lifestyle Medicine (BANT) and is also registered with the Complementary and Natural Healthcare Council (CNHC) – the only register for Nutritional Therapy recognized by the Department of Health.

Sam’s personal life

Her husband was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis in 2002 which has shaped the direction of Sam’s career and gives her the compassion and unique hands-on knowledge to support so many others with the condition. Above all else, Sam enjoys nothing more than a trip to the Farmer’s Market, or a good greengrocer and is a keen and experimental cook for her family and friends.

Key Takeaways:

Making your own veggie burgers is easier than you think

“A lot of store-bought meat substitutes contain a long list of ingredients or the cheap oils like palm oil. But they are pretty easy to make yourself. Essentially all you're doing is rinsing a can of beans, adding some dried oats, or some leftover cooked rice from the day before, or a chunk of bread which you can toast if it's maybe a bit stale and blitz it up into breadcrumbs. Maybe add an egg white, and then just put loads of herbs and seasonings and flavors in it. And if you just mix it all up together in a blender, then it will make some really nice patties.”

Healthy snack dips are easy and delicious

“Dips are a great thing to have in the fridge for sandwich breads, picnics, but also when the kids get home from school. Rather than KitKats and crisps, they could just grab a carrot and stick it into a nice dip. It's essentially just using a dollop of soy yogurt, either blended up with a tin of fish (smoked mackerel works really well) or a tin of beans and blitz it all up together with a handheld mixer, and presto, it's a dip!”

Children take family eating habits with them into adulthood

“If we make those changes, and we set them in stone at home in the family, when the kids grow up and live alone, and go off to college or get [their] first job, [they’ll take those healthy habits with them.] So switch things like white bread to brown, try to switch white rice to brown or whole grain cereals, switch out from something like Frosties every day, to having porridge once a week, or a nice muesli once a week, just changing the routine [can make a difference for them].”