What’s Cooking? I’m a former police officer — this is what the job really involves

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…

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.