Hi Reader

I went for a run this week for the first time in months.

Work took over completely this summer — evenings disappeared, and my usual after-dinner run just fell off the list. I hadn't really noticed how much I missed it until I laced up my trainers on Tuesday, podcast in, and headed down toward the harbour. It didn't feel like exercise. It felt like getting something back.

It's the difference between movement as a chore and movement as something you actually want — and that difference matters more than any amount of "should."

I went out after dinner rather than before — pasta, with broccoli, mangetout, edamame and courgette, a full plateful. And it reinforced something I already knew but don't always act on: that meal landed differently because of the run afterward.

There's a simple reason for that. Muscle is one of the biggest users of glucose in the body, and using it — even gently — gives some of that meal somewhere useful to go, rather than sitting in the bloodstream all at once. I've had clients notice the exact same thing with something as small as a ten-minute walk round the block after a carb-heavy dinner.

You don't need a run for this to work. A short, unhurried walk after a bigger meal seems to do a lot of the same job — and it's a much smaller ask on a busy evening than lacing up trainers.

You don't need the whole routine back to feel the benefit — just the ten minutes you can actually give it.

Which brings me to dinner itself. That pasta has become a genuine favourite this week — broccoli, mangetout, courgette ribbons and a good handful of rocket, tossed through with a bright lemon and garlic oil and toasted pine nuts. Here's the full recipe if you fancy a satisfying, veg-forward pasta night.