Like a lot of people, I got heavily into houseplants during lockdown. It was something I thought I didn’t have time for before the pandemic hit, but once I’d got a few leafy babies, I found I loved watching them grow, I loved the feeling of caring for them and seeing them thrive. And, actually, it isn’t much work at all to care for houseplants. But maybe I cared for them a little too well because now, five years later, I have a house full of huge plants and I don’t know what to do with them....

If you want to prevent blood sugar spikes and keep your energy levels steady, throwing foods like white rice or pasta into the freezer before eating them can help. If you’ve ever felt that mid-afternoon energy crash after a high-carb meal, or noticed that eating white rice or potatoes makes you hungrier faster, there’s a reason for that. Carbs with a high glycemic index—like white bread, potatoes, and white rice—break down too quickly into glucose and cause blood sugar spikes, which lead to a...