Celebrity Health – Anna Mathur
Psychotherapist Anna Mathur speaks to Liz Parry about her favourite health and wellness practices and the importance of being kind to yourself
Image of Anna Mathur © Olivia Spencer
Psychotherapist and bestselling author Anna Mathur is known for sharing her warm, practical wisdom across TV, radio and in print. She has appeared on ITV’s This Morning, BBC Radio 5 Live and BBC Radio 4 Woman’s Hour, and hosts a popular podcast, The Therapy Edit. Anna’s previous books include Sunday Times bestsellers Mind Over Mother, Know Your Worth, Raising a Happier Mother and The Uncomfortable Truth. Her latest book is The Good Decision Diary.
Q How do you ensure that you keep fit and healthy?
Anna: For me, it’s about consistency and compassion. I try to move my body with intention every day for around 20 minutes. I know that I’m a morning person, so if I can fit it in before the kids wake up, I’m much more likely to actually do it. I don’t follow a rigid plan; sometimes it’s weights or HIIT, other days yoga or stretching. It all depends on how my body feels and what it needs. Some days that’s pushing myself and getting sweaty, other days it’s slowing down and honouring my limits.
Q Do you enjoy healthy eating?
Anna: I try to make healthy eating something that’s easy and sustainable. I eat with my kids, because the conversation and connection around the table feels just as nourishing as the food itself. I’m a big fan of vegetables. As a family we very much exceed the recommended intake! I’ll throw frozen peas or sweetcorn into almost everything. I use Linwoods milled seeds in bolognese, banana pancakes, mug cakes – you name it, it goes in. I love batch cooking in the slow cooker, then freezing portions for lunches in my soup freezer trays. Knowing how my brain works, that I’ll get stuck in workflow and forget to eat, means I plan for leftovers so I don’t crash later in the day. My staples are frozen veg, frozen fruit like blueberries and raspberries, lentils, chickpeas, spices and cacao powder for banana pancakes or mug cakes. I also use Gusto, which helps keep our meals creative, though I’m always meddling with the recipes. For me, it’s about having nourishing basics always ready so I can make quick, balanced meals.
Q In your latest book, The Good Decision Diary, you say that hormone tracking has really helped you. Could you elaborate on this?
Anna: Tracking my cycle has been a game-changer. I use the Clue app and it helps me link my mood, energy and even my sensory sensitivity to where I’m at hormonally. Instead of labelling myself as “snappy/too emotional” I can see the biological underpinnings and offer myself more compassion. It helps me to ask: “What does my body need right now?” rather than criticising myself for being different to how I was yesterday.
Q How do you keep your hormones in balance?
Anna: Sleep is everything. A regular wind-down routine, earlier dinners, screen-free evenings and reading before bed really make a difference to my mood and energy. Supplements help too: omega 3s, magnesium, saffron and a premenstrual vitamin have all supported me over the years. But more than anything, it’s nervous system care. Stress is such a disruptor, so I try to weave in breathwork, rest and boundaries. The little everyday choices matter, like swapping another coffee for a glass of ice water, or choosing to rest before exhaustion hits. It’s not about being perfect, but about noticing what helps me feel most resourced for family life and work. I have also recently been introduced to Yojo, the incredible vagus nerve-stimulating device, so I’m loving using that and feeling that heightened feeling ebb away a little bit as I use it, and the impact it has on my heart rate variability.
Q Self-compassion is a big theme in the book. What advice would you give to people who want to make changes in their life, but realistic ones that won’t put pressure on them?
Anna: I think that starting to notice how you speak to yourself is really helpful. What does your inner self talk sound like? Ask yourself: “Would I talk to a friend in this way? Would I speak to a child in this way?” Often the answer is absolutely not because we know that harshness erodes connections and damages relationships. Yet that’s how many of us talk to ourselves all the time, eroding our self-esteem.
When something doesn’t go as planned, do you immediately criticise yourself? How does that make you feel? What would you say to a friend instead? You’d probably say: “You gave it a good shot,” not “You’re such a failure.” We show others compassion because we value that relationship, and we need to turn that compassion back on ourselves.
Q A lot of your advice in the book is reminiscent of mindfulness. Is that something you advocate?
Anna: Mindfulness is part of many therapeutic approaches. So much anxiety and fear come from things that haven’t happened and may never happen. Mindfulness brings our attention back to the present: what’s happening now, what’s good as well as hard, what’s real rather than what’s imagined. We don’t feel safe when we’re constantly projecting into the future: “What if this goes wrong? What if I fail? What if I don’t measure up?” Instead, we can ask: “How can I work with where I’m at right now?” We need to think about the future, of course, but we also need to live in the present, because the present is the only place where we can actually make decisions.
Q Is there one takeaway from the book you’d like readers to remember?
Anna: Yes, the phrase “not all of the time, but more of the time”. When we want to make changes, we tend to go all in. But real growth is a bumpy upward line, not a straight one. If we can do something “more of the time” rather than “all of the time,” that’s progress. It’s gentler, it makes space for humanness, and it makes growth feel more sustainable. You’re not a failure if you slip – you’re just human.
The Good Decision Diary: Your daily guide to making better decisions more often by Anna Mathur is out now (£16.99, Penguin Life)
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