Category Archives: healthy fats

Superfood

Posted in eating disorder, food is medicine, functional food, healthy eating, healthy fats, superfood, Uncategorized, vegetables by

I have been pondering a couple of thoughts this week and haven’t yet come up with an answer…any thoughts / ideas etc. gratefully received.

The first notion meandering about my brain is that of superfoods. I had just #superfood for one of my instagram postings and it got me thinking. The hashtag was for kale – the latest superfood. When does a food become a superfood? Who decides? What is the criteria. If I think about kale – I used to eat it all the time when I was little. Then, it wasn’t a superfood – just another vegetable on the plate eaten in the same way as Savoy cabbage. As far as I am aware it hasn’t been genetically modified in any way so why the relabelling? The same with avocados. In the 80’s trendy ‘hippie’ types, as my elderly aunt would call people who ate anything that wasn’t meat and two veg, ate the new fruit – avocado. I distinctly remember putting the ‘pear’ in a fruit salad and being deeply disappointed. I also remember the trend of suspending the stone in some water and growing an avocado plant – I grew several. It then went out of fashion for being too calorific.  and full of fat as the low-fat diets swept the country. Now of course we know that the fat within this food is good for us.  I adore avocado and eat/ drink it daily.

The other thought entwining my grey matter is that of recommended daily intake – food agencies determine using scientific evidence the recommended daily intake of various food stuffs. What I don’t understand is that the daily recommendations vary for different countries…but we are all people just living in different places. The UK recommends at least 5 portions of fruit/veg a day whereas the Australian Government guidelines are 5 portions of vegetables / legumes a day and no more than 2 portions of fruit. It’s different again in Japan – 5-6 portions of vegetable dishes and only 2 portions of fruit.

How can we mere mortals hope to keep up if the facts are always changing?

Well, four weeks have passed by…

Posted in eating disorder, healthy fats, mental illness, Uncategorized, vegetarian by

Four weeks ago (my… how time flies) I decided I would trial removing meat completely from my diet. I have been really surprised at how I haven’t missed it at all – even when I cooked bacon for my husband. I thought that would make me drool and waver! I can not believe how much better I feel. I popped on the scales the other day (still can’t get over the fact that I no longer pop on them 6, 7 ,8+ times a day) and discovered I had lost a couple of pounds. In addition, when I got the dreaded tape measure out I discovered that my waist is now less than half my height which is a good indication that I’m not carrying too much visceral fat – all good for my overall health. As my weight seems to be recalibrating at a sensible rate I am content that my body fat is reducing with the preservation of my muscle mass (compared to the effect on my body each time I went on the latest fad diet).

Thinking back to all the various ‘diets’ I have been on made me think about…if the principle of energy balance is so simple why was it so hard for me to lose weight before and why, over a period of 2/3 yrs did the majority of weight lost go back on. I think it all boils down to the fact that in each case I felt restricted and also didn’t make real changes to my dietary habits.

I don’t want to ‘go on’ like some reformed individual but the dietary habits I follow now suit me. They suit my way of thinking and understanding of how my body processes the food I eat. I don’t feel restricted in any way, shape or form and I am now following a good diet in the true sense of the word.

Cheese stuffed baked smoked cod

Posted in eggs, Fish, food, fructose free, functional food, gluten free, healthy eating, healthy fats, meat free, pescatarian, Uncategorized by

14 05 16

This is so simple to make and absolutely delicious.

Pre heat oven to Gas mark 5 / 190 c

Ingredients:

1 fillet of smoked cod per person

Gruyère cheese

Fresh dill

Method:

Simply mix some chopped dill with the Gruyère cheese. Spread a layer on to the underside of the cod fillet and roll up. Secure with a stick.

Wrap loosely in tin foil and place on a baking tray. Cook in the centre of the oven for 10 – 15 minutes.

I served this with in season new potatoes, quail eggs from my lovely ladies and pan-fried asparagus topped with parmesan.

 

Turmeric milk

Posted in drink, food is medicine, fructose free, functional food, ginger, gluten free, healthy eating, healthy fats, superfood, turmeric, Uncategorized by

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A delicious drink that is packed full of goodness and very simple to make.

Ingredients:

Mug of full fat milk

1 1/2 tsp turmeric powder

1 tsp cinnamon / piece of cinnamon stick

1 tsp ground ginger / finely chopped cm piece of fresh ginger

Pinch of black pepper

Method:

Put all the ingredients in to a saucepan and heat gently bringing to the boil. Remove from  the heat and if you have used fresh ginger and cinnamon stick – strain the liquid.

Drink and enjoy – I often have this with a piece of 85% dark chocolate.