Live well - Vive le Cheese!
In France ‘Bien Vivre’ is all about focusing on the good things in life, enjoying the moment, and ‘living well’. Garth Delikan, The Lifestyle Guy and internationally acclaimed empowerment coach, is the spokesperson for Vive le Cheese, the campaign for French cheeses, and knows a thing or two about ‘Bien Vivre’.
Follow his advice to set you on the route to ‘living well’.
Liven up lunch
Hectic lifestyles and longer working hours have compressed the lunch break of many office workers into little more than a short 'pit stop'. But taking time away from your computer screen can have real benefits.
• Why don’t you clear the computer and files into the corner of your desk, add a colourful napkin and white plate and treat yourself to some Epoisses PDO spread over some delicious crusty bread with a side salad? Your colleagues will be impressed by your refined style, and clearing your mind and relaxing your body can release tension and set you up for a productive afternoon of work.
• How about forming a “lunch club” with some of your colleagues at work? Allocate a day of the week to each member and take turns to buy the ingredients and prepare a simple meal for your work friends. This will allow you to try new foods that perhaps you wouldn’t have picked off the supermarket shelves yourself and make lunchtime more enjoyable. There are after all about 1000 French cheeses so start trying the PDO cheeses Neufchâtel, Maroilles, Bleu de Gex Haut-Jura and Beaufort as soon as possible. They are great to liven up a salad or sandwich and are delicious melted into a baked potato or stirred through some pasta.
Stress management
If your body is healthy and in good repair, you’re better able to handle the stress factors in your life. Eating a healthy diet, exercising regularly, getting enough sleep and pampering yourself are all good ways to take care of your body and make stress management easier.
• Exercise always helps combat stress so try to incorporate some form into your regular routine. Maybe this means going for a swim once a week, joining the gym or even tackling the weeds in your garden.
• Keep your bones healthy by eating French cheese. In no other food is calcium so prevalent and in such a useful form as it is in milk and cheese. 100g sliced or hard cheese per day covers the necessary daily amount of calcium. Calcium is essential for the building and for the preservation of bones and teeth and the prevention of osteoporosis. Cheese also has the essential amino acid, tryptophan, in it which also releases serotonin and dopamine into the brain, allowing you to cope with daily stresses better. What a good excuse for a slice of Comté PDO.
Get organised
By keeping a schedule, learning to say ‘no’ to excessive demands on your time, and utilising shortcuts in your life, you’ll be less frantic, and have more time to do the things that energise and de-stress you – things that you enjoy in life, such as sharing a meal with your friends or colleagues.
• Good organisation and time-keeping is essential for a healthy work life balance. Often you leave your least favourite tasks to end of day and then you never end up doing them. So to turn this around, give yourself a task to do in a specific time frame and make sure you do the things you really hate doing at the start of the day. Rewarding yourself for completed tasks is also essential; for example, treat yourself with a slice of French Camembert and fig tart once you’ve finished that tiresome report.
• Eating healthily and regularly is essential to a “Bien Vivre” lifestyle. Get organised with your meals to make it easier and less of a chore when you return home each evening. It will also be easier to plan more variety into your diet – afterall, variety is the spice of life! Why not make a batch of food on a Sunday or Monday night that you can eat during the week or freeze for later? Dishes such as a French Emmental, smoked lardons and cherry tomato quiche are great to put in the fridge to have a slice of with some salad for your evening meal.
Work-life balance
Typically, when something's got to give, the one thing that often gives is time for yourself. Yet this can often do more harm than good as time for ourselves is an important need.
• Time management is essential to work-life balance. Plan some quality time into your diary with your family or friends. Why not turn cooking from a chore into an occasion? Making a simple dish such as a French Brie and roasted onion tartine with your children can be so much fun and you have something to eat at the end of it!
• If you’re trying to save money, staying in is the new going out. But just because you can’t afford a fancy restaurant doesn’t mean your evening has to be any less special. Pour a glass of wine, light some candles and whip up a simple yet impressive meal. Start with a delicious spiced butternut squash soup with Reblochon PDO fritters followed by a sensational Bleu d’Auvergne PDO and walnut soufflé.
Following just a few of Garth Delikan’s tips can really make a difference to your lifestyle. And what better way to enjoy the good side of life than with French cheeses? France produces around 1000 different types of cheese so there really is something for everyone and every occasion. They are simple and easy to prepare and turn a simple moment into a real moment of pleasure. Maybe ‘Bien Vivre’ isn’t that hard to achieve after all.
Bien Vivre or “living well” is the slogan for the new French cheese campaign, Vive le Cheese (vivelecheese.co.uk). The campaign is running across seven countries in Europe.
