Welcome back to What’s Cooking, Metro’s food series where we find out exactly what’s going on behind the scenes in the nation’s kitchens.
This week we’re rifling through 46-year-old Bethany Eaton’s kitchen in Kent to see what she’s hiding in her cupboards, fridge and freezer.
The mum-of-two is a former police officer, who spent six years working for the Metropolitan Police, before switching gears and earning a degree in nutritional medicine.
Bethany always wanted to do something to help people and thought becoming a police officer would be the way to do it, but the long hours, lack of breaks and stressful nature of the job soon took a toll on her body.
She claims getting into nutrition ‘changed her life’ as she overhauled everything from her working hours to her diet. When changing up her own eating habits, she spotted a gap in the food market for dairy-free yoghurts and decided to create her own.
Nush almond yoghurts were born out of a desire to find a delicious dairy-free alternative to yoghurts and these are stocked in several major supermarkets across the UK including Marks & Spencer and Sainsbury’s.
‘It’s really exciting to be able to help people who can’t eat dairy and want an alternative to soya,’ Bethany, who is dairy-free herself, tells Metro.
But it’s not just dairy the mum can’t have, she’s also gluten-free and says there’s one thing she’ll never be able to eat again thanks to cancer.
Bethany, was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2024 after discovering a lump by chance one day, while sitting at her desk.
She had to undergo 12 weeks of chemotherapy as well as months of Herceptin injections, but thankfully is now cancer-free once more.
If you’ve ever wondered how cancer changes a person’s relationship with food and whether it’s true that police officers love eating doughnuts, we’ve got the answers…
Before we raid your kitchen, we want to know what it was really like being a police officer…
I loved it and it was brilliant but it was also a very intense job, very hard work and there was a lot of stress.
We worked in shifts and these would either start at 6am, 2pm or 10pm and last eight hours. The worst was when you’d do a week of nights, so you’d work from 10pm until 6am. On the last day, you’d have to be back on duty the next day at 2pm. So you’d finish at 6am, go home and have a quick sleep and be working again at 2. We’d be shattered and it takes a real toll on your body.
A shift would start with ‘parade’ where everyone would all meet as a team and the sergeant would talk us through what was going to happen that night. Then we’d go out in our cars and patrol the streets, respond to 999 calls and stuff like that.
There wasn’t a lot of time to think about food or eating properly on the job, you got a break if you got one basically, because if you weren’t dealing with a prisoner, you were at a crime scene – there was always something going on.
If you were lucky to get a break it was mostly stopping off to grab something quick like Gregg’s, fish and chips or a kebab. If you didn’t get time then you’d go the whole shift without food and be ravenous at the end and feel rubbish.
Working as a police officer changes you as a person and it makes you quite cynical. You spend a lot of time seeing the negative side of things.
Is there any truth to the stereotype about police loving doughnuts?
I never really ate doughnuts that often on the job, as I’m not a big doughnut person but other people did eat them – they’re just a very easy snack.
There was an amazing bakery near the police station in Stoke Newington and everyone used to go in there to get all sorts of cakes and bagels.
What made you decide to leave the police force?
At the end of my time with the police, I started having terrible issues with my hormones – I gained weight, I had terrible skin and felt rubbish. Someone recommended I go and see a nutritionist and I went and they honestly changed my life.
I did some of the things they told me to do, started implementing food changes and I could see how the food had affected my body.
My digestion started to change and from there I became really interested in nutrition.
Has having cancer impacted the way you approach food and nutrition?
Since my diagnosis, my diet has changed slightly – I try to eat more organic food now and I focus a lot more on protein and fibre.
I’ve also gone off certain foods. The cancer drug I was on, Herceptin, that’s known to put people off things and for me, I used to eat a lot of cauliflower and make gnocci with it, but oh my god, I can’t even stomach it or stand the smell now.
I’ve also completely given up alcohol, which is a bit of a shame as I loved going to wineries or having a glass of wine at a restaurant, but I just can’t do that anymore. I get major hot sweats, my body doesn’t like it and I want to do what’s best for my body.
Tell us a secret. What’s your ultimate guilty pleasure food pairing?
It’s probably a bit weird, but I love a gluten-free pizza topped with pineapple and anchovies. I think it tastes amazing but my kids look at me in horror whenever I eat it.
Name one storecupboard item you can’t live without…
I need to have a jar of chocolate nut butter in the house at all times. It’s like Nutella, but healthier and oh my, I could drink the stuff.
And something that always has to be in your fridge?
I always keep chia pudding in my fridge, which I make with coconut milk and kefir and I’ll have that for breakfast or brunch.
There’s also usually liquid egg whites in the fridge too, which make fantastic protein pancakes if you add some protein powder and a tiny bit of coconut milk.
What about the freezer, what do you have to keep in there at all times?
I freeze avocados because they’re great to add to a smoothie to make it nice and creamy and boost the fat content. If you don’t want to use bananas, you can swap them out for half an avocado and you can’t taste it at all, it just adds a beautiful creaminess.
Is there an ingredient you’re always willing to splurge on at the supermarket?
As I had hormone-positive breast cancer, I have to take a tablet for the next five to 10 years and because of that I have to be so careful with what I eat, so now I buy a lot of organic food, especially organic meat.
I’ll spend a more money on that now than I would have before and if I can’t get organic meat, I won’t bother buying any as I’m very conscious about it.
Alternatively, which kitchen staple isn’t worth splashing the cash on?
Avocados and bananas. I don’t really worry about making sure to buy organic ones as they’ve got a skin on, so generally you can just peel the outside off and that’s probably where any pesticides would be.
Finally… what’s been cooking in your kitchen lately?
I love making lasagna, but with a bit of a twist to it. I make a bechamel using Oatly oat milk and a little bit of flour. I blend that together and it makes a beautiful sauce and sometimes I’ll add a little Dijon mustard to it.
Then I use organic beef mince and layer it all up with gluten-free lasagna sheets, which I get from Ocado and they’re made out of lentils.
It’s such a nice meal and it’s dairy-free and gluten-free and my family really enjoys it – especially my dad when I make it for him.
Want to take part in What’s Cooking and let Metro raid your kitchen at home? Email courtney.pochin@metro.co.uk
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