Sometimes, it’s all too easy to feel like there’s a never-ending flood of health and nutrition advice hitting us from every direction – especially online, where anyone (and everyone) can share their opinions with millions of people at the click of a finger.
Scroll through your Instagram or TikTok feed and you’ll be met with countless ‘experts’ dishing out health tips, nutrition hacks and miracle cures – with no medical degree required.
And the more misinformation that gets shared, liked – and believed – the harder it becomes to know what’s actually good for us.
This is where the 29-year-old social media sensation, Emily English, differs. A cook, a qualified nutritionist (she has a BSc in nutrition from King’s College London) and now a two-time author (her second cookbook, Live to Eat, is out in May), Emily is not only qualified to talk about how diet really impacts our health – but her recipes are pretty delicious, too.
As Women’s Health UK’s April cover star, Emily opened up to us about everything from recovering from a debilitating episode of disordered eating to the responsibility she has to her 1.7 million followers online.
We spoke to Emily about some of the biggest ‘myths’ in the nutrition space right now – and what she’d really like to debunk and sift fact from fiction. Here’s what she’d like everyone to know…
5 nutrition myths Emily English wants to debunk
1. Eating well doesn’t need to be complicated
‘Nutrition doesn’t have to be beautiful, but it does have to be delicious,’ says Emily. ‘It shouldn’t be overcomplicated. And I think if you’re the kind of person who’s trying to seek answers through social media and trying to find the perfect solution, it’s not out there.
‘You just need to eat real, good, whole food. Minimise your ultra-processed food intake and have more awareness of how you’re living your life – sleep, movement, stress levels, all of those things – and you can’t go too far wrong.
‘Health and nutrition should not be this “January, New Year, New Me” thing. Nutrition and health should be something that feels so effortless every single day, and adds to your life because it’s really amazing. When you eat well and you look after your body, you love your body and you love what you eat. [Food] is an amazing part of your life, and we all have to eat every single day. Why not make choices that actually really serve us?’
2. You can still enjoy ‘unhealthy’ treats and be healthy
‘I’m not one of those people who’s satisfied with a square of 90% dark chocolate. Balance is everything. So you may find me with a little Galaxy Ripple, or you may find me with a date with a little bit of peanut butter and dark chocolate in, so I’m not afraid to do both,’ says Emily.
‘I have a sweet tooth so I normally have something sweet after dinner. I might have a little hot chocolate or a little chocolate bar. If I want something that I know is going to give me a little bit more nutrition, I make this yoghurt bowl, where I get yoghurt, crush a rice cake into it, add a little dollop of lemon curd or something like marmalade, then add frozen berries and cinnamon, and mix it all together. It’s like an ice cream sundae popcorn bowl. It’s really good!’
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3. Don’t believe everything you see on social media
‘There are a lot of people in our industry now who shamelessly are trying to just be clickbaity and viral to monetise off their audience. And I think it’s so wrong,’ says Emily.
‘You don’t need to eat 12 eggs. You don’t need to be scared to put oat milk in your coffee. I’m just like, “What is going on in the world?” Blood sugar balance and looking after your metabolic health are very important, but the level of tracking and people misinterpreting information is scary. And half the time I’m just like, “Guys, you’re hyper-fixating on the tiny detail, and you’re not acknowledging the bigger picture”.’
4. Oat milk is not the reason for your health issues
‘The one piece of nutritional information that I just want people to stop believing is that the oat milk in your coffee is the reason for all of your health issues,’ says Emily.
‘We have to look at the bigger picture. When it comes to our health, there is not a singular food or a singular thing that’s the sole reason as to why people are getting a certain health issue or getting a particular metabolic disorder. It’s the accumulation. When you think about your behavioural patterns over the context of a week, a month, a year. That’s where things really come into play. So add that splash of oat milk to your coffee, if you want.’
5. Healthy diets aren’t one-size-fits-all
‘No one’s nutrition and diet will ever look the same, and they don’t need to look the same,’ says Emily. ‘Celebrate your uniqueness, celebrate your way of eating, celebrate what you crave (and where you want to travel and how you want to dress). All these things are part of you and your self-expression.
‘I truly believe that nutrition should be a part of your self-expression. Just because I’m a qualified nutritionist doesn’t mean that I expect every single person to eat exactly the way that I do. It just so happens that people really love my recipes, so they tend to eat the same food.’
The bottom line
The food we eat impacts our body day after day and week after week.
Sticking to a balanced diet means finding a way of eating that is not only nutritious but also one that brings you joy and is sustainable, too.
Read our full cover interview with Emily English by hitting this link. You can subscribe to Women’s Health here.
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