Bari’s Health Stack

What's your name and what are you known for?

My name is Bari. I'm a Registered Dietitian, and I guess I'd be known for healthy recipe creation on Instagram.

Tell me about your morning routine.

My morning routine is awful. It's not really a routine. I just wake up and beeline for the coffee machine — which is like the worst thing you can do. Straight away. No gap. Disaster. Then I get ready for work, get my son up, drop him at nursery, and straight into the day. Very little routine. I should work on it.

Tell me a health trend that's bullshit.

Green powders is absolutely bullshit. You're just better off eating really good food. They're quite expensive — and a lot of the blends are proprietary, so you don't really know how much of any ingredient you're actually getting. I think they're a bit of a marketing scheme. Name and shame? AG1. You want to shit on.

What's your health goal for this year?

Two goals. One: get back into consistent training. I've really fallen off with it. Two: lower my resting heart rate at night. It's quite high — despite good recovery on Oura, RHR sits at the edge of high. I think parental stress. I might subconsciously have one eye always open, listening out for anything. Plus stress of managing work and life. I should probably cut caffeine, but that feels scary.

What tech do you use daily?

My Oura ring. I didn't think I'd say this, but my favourite thing to say is that I've given Oura so much data over the years — I'm actually on their TestFlight app, so I get to test all their new features. They've just seen that I've given them all of my health data over the past five years.

What's a supplement you can't live without?

Two. Magnesium. And L-theanine at the moment, at nighttime, for sleep. It's the one metric in my sleep portfolio that's raised — resting heart rate. I'm not sure about the L-theanine research — it can help you calm your mind, switch off from the day. Maybe it's placebo effect. But who cares? Because it's working.

Where does all your health money go?

Probably food. I love cooking — I cook from scratch five to six nights a week. I really care about the quality of my food. So where I can, I splurge for organic, locally sourced, minimally processed ingredients. I'm known for buying quite a spendy extra virgin olive oil.

Five items at the store. What are you buying?

Oh my god. Extra virgin olive oil. A nice salt. Some garlic. Some sort of protein. Tomatoes — I love tomatoes. And I love cheese — maybe like feta. That sounds like a really good recipe, actually.

What's the worst health advice you've ever followed?

Excessive HIIT workouts and cardio in my early 20s — and I did it fasted in the morning, just with a cup of coffee. Really bad. Awful for stress hormones, everything. A recipe for disaster.

What's the best place in the world to work out?

Pass.

What's the best thing you did for your health this year?

Pass. I did not look after my health this year.

Tell me a person we should follow.

Pass. I'm so bad with this. I don't really follow anyone anymore. I just try to limit my social media consumption. I mainly listen to podcasts for health and wellness, as opposed to social media influencers. I bop around. I'm not loyal to a single person. Disloyalty is good for your health — hot take.

What's your favourite brand in health?

A brand called Caraway Home. They do non-toxic cooking — pots, pans, baking sheets, food storage. All plastic-free, glass, non-toxic materials. I'm really into that.

What health advice would you give yourself 10 years ago?

Chill out, eat the pizza. You're not going to die. And yeah — I've been munching pizza, and I'm still here. Favourite? Crisp, in London.

You're in a new city. You want to work out. What do you do?

I probably go to ClassPass. Look at the variety of classes and choose one.

How do you recover?

I try to stay hydrated — I use electrolytes to motivate me to drink water. Creatine — I've started taking about 5 milligrams of creatine. I started during pregnancy and I've kept that up. I find it really helps. And just trying to sleep.

What's your dream sauna lineup?

I don't want to talk to anyone in the sauna. Alone. Sweating, I'm my worst version of myself. Just leave me with my book and my water.

What's in your gym bag?

Water with electrolytes and creatine. Workout bands or ankle weights — sometimes wrist — for a little bit of extra resistance. Probably a really good facial cleanser and moisturiser for after. And that's really it.

What's the next big thing in health?

Peptides. I'm really interested in what's coming out — not just the GLP ones, but the others around longevity, cellular regeneration, metabolic health, skin, hair, recovery. I'd love to see real peptide stacks once it comes out of the research phase and into the mainstream.