Category Archives: specialised diet

Wild keta salmon on courgetti, chickpeas and pine nuts

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Serves 2

Ingredients:

2 salmon fillets

2 courgettes – spiralised                     1/4 cup pine nuts

1 cup of chick peas (tinned)                1 tsp ground ginger

Tamari to flavour – 1 tbsp                  olive oil for cooking

Method:

Bake the salmon fillets in the oven in a tin foil parcel for 10-15 minutes – no additional flavours / oil added.

Whilst it is cooking, heat  the oil in a frying pan. Add the chick peas, pine nuts and ginger and cook for 1 minute. Add the courgetti and cook for a further minute. Add tamari  – heat through and serve.

Banana and walnut muffins (gf)

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Preheat oven to 180c / gas 4

12 muffin tray  – good quality non- stick ( I used Prestige – didn’t need to grease)

Ingredients:

120 g gluten-free self-raising flour       120 g butter

120 g light muscovado sugar         3 eggs (2 if not using gf flour)

2 ripe bananas – mashed               1/2 cup of walnut halves (12 to put on top before cooking)

Method:

Put all the ingredients ( except bananas / walnuts) for the muffins in to a bowl

and mix well until smooth. Add mashed bananas and walnuts and gently fold in to the mixture.

Spoon the mixture in to prepared tin and place half a walnut on the top of each.

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Bake for about 15 mins – until skewer is clean.

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Leave to cool before removing.

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Make 12  – only 11 made it to the plate…muffin thief entered the kitchen!!

 

Chia seed gluten free pancakes

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Serves 2

Ingredients:

100 g Gluten free plain flour                                        1 egg

1/2 pint whole milk                                                         2 tbsp chia seeds

Pinch of salt

Method:

Make a well in centre of flour, add salt, chia seeds and egg and mix. Gradually add milk to make batter.

Make pancakes in usual way. I have assembled with full fat natural yoghurt, fresh raspberries, sliced banana and blueberries.

Gooseberry and orange drizzle cake (Gf)

20160619_201254Preheat oven to 180c / gas 4

Prepare a 18cm round tin20160619_200154Ingredients:

120 g gluten-free self-raising flour

120 g butter

120 g light muscovado sugar

3 eggs (2 if not using gf flour)

Rind of 1 orange

1 cup of cooked gooseberries – I baked them in the oven – no sugar added

Topping – juice of the orange and 60 g sugar

Method:

Put all the ingredients ( except gooseberries) for the cake in to a bowl

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and mix well until smooth.Add gooseberries and gently fold in to the mixture.

Turn mixture in to prepared tin.

Bake for about 35 mins – until skewer is clean.

Whilst the cake is still hot spoon the orang/sugar mixture all over the top of the cake.

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Once cool, remove from the tin.

Power of the mind

Posted in eating disorder, food is medicine, fructose free, functional food, healthy eating, mental illness, specialised diet, Uncategorized by

This week has been a hard one for me…I have really struggled with both sleeping and staying positive. What I have found interesting, now I can reflect back, is the speed at which both these factors impacted on my dietary desires and motivations.

I have been virtually sugar-free for months now yet this week the craving for sugar was really strong – I succumbed to cake a couple of times and even though it tasted hideously sweet, I persevered! It would have been so easy to fall back in to old habits – shockingly easy in fact – the addictive power of sugar is so scary. With a supreme conscious effort I have had a good talking to myself and ignored the voice of sugar whispering to me.

Once upon a time I would have chastised myself for this ‘slip’…but instead I am celebrating my strength and the overwhelming desire to be healthy.

Carbohydrate -friend or foe?

Posted in eating disorder, food is medicine, functional food, healthy eating, mental illness, specialised diet, superfood, Uncategorized, vegetables by

I have really tried to change my view of carbohydrate over the last year. I always believed it to be my foe, my nemesis even, and would try and avoid it like the plague. Each day I would try to keep my intake to below 50 g – 60 g a day – 200 -240 kcal of carbs a day. Each day I would mentally beat myself up if I hadn’t achieved this.I always felt that carbs were the reason I would put weight on and when I severely restricted them…the weight came off. Then I started to think more logically:

I need carbs for my energy needs; I can control the types of carbs I eat.

Government guidelines presently state 50-55% of daily food intake should be carbs – of that 45% complex starchy carbs and non-starchy polysaccharides – fibre and no more than 5% from free sugars. (I know this guideline has been challenged recently because of the rise of obesity – but it is all about eating the right carbs – eating carbohydrate is not just about eating white bread, pasta and potatoes!) The healthy high carb foods I eat include vegetables,legume, whole grains, nuts and berries / low fructose fruits. I avoid unhealthy carbs.

This thought process has enabled me to take back control – with careful food choices I can ensure I give my body sufficient energy sources for its needs. Intake of carbs from refined foods will have a totally different effect on my body than if I get all my  carbs from unrefined foods…in other words …if I cook from scratch, opt for foods high in fibre and with a low GI, and just eat real foods I will be eating ‘properly’ and giving my body the nutrition it needs. So this is what I do 🙂

Doing this, and keeping my free sugars to below 5% of my daily intake has improved my health, ensured any excess weight has come off and means I don’t have blood sugar spikes during the day and crave snacks in between meals…and counting calories is a thing of the past!

 

 

 

So what’s happening to me…

Posted in eating disorder, food, food is medicine, fructose free, functional food, gluten free, healthy eating, meat free, pescatarian, specialised diet, Uncategorized, vegetarian by

Several weeks ago (17th April to be precise)  I gave up meat for 4 weeks to see what would happen – would I feel any better, no different or not as good.

Much to my fascination, I have not eaten it since and more amazingly for this carnivore, I have not missed it. In fact, the other day I cooked some bacon for my husband – I thought this would be the ultimate test as I have never been able to resist the aromas of bacon assaulting my olfactory senses. Not only did I resist, but I found the smell decidedly unpleasant. What is happening!

I know when I first gave up fructose I was told it would take 6-8 weeks to recalibrate. Is this the same with any dietary change?  How long does it take to make a lifestyle change become habit?

I make sure I eat a balanced and nutrient diet  – getting the macro and micro nutrients  I would have ingested from meat sources from other sources.

Before writing this tonight I googled, ‘giving up meat for a month’  – it seems I am not alone !! Not such a threshold adventurer after all…but not quite a lemming either. Just another person who wants to try different ways to improve their health. 🙂

 

Ginger and pecan biscuits (Gf)

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These are not very sweet just sufficient to soften the dryness of the ginger…perfect with a cup of coffee or with cheese.

Preheat oven to 190c /Gas mark 5  Line a tray with lightly greased baking parchment

Ingredients:

100 g ground almonds                         3 tbsps coconut oil

50 g pecans                                             1 tbsp honey

180 g brown rice flour                          100 ml water

2 tbsps ground ginger

Method:

Crush the pecans into a coarse texture. Put all the ingredients in to a bowl and mix. The mixture should create a firm dough (if needed, add  a little more water).

Roll out until thin – less than 1/2 cm. Cut out and place on baking tray. Cook for about 10-15 minutes until golden brown. Remove from oven and place on wire rack to cool.

 

But I always have a pudding!

Posted in eating disorder, food is medicine, functional food, healthy eating, specialised diet, Uncategorized by

This used to always be heard in my house. It was a habit /  a daily ritual.

How  / when did this habit start? When I think back, I realise this habitual behaviour pattern started in my childhood all those eons ago.  This started me thinking about other habits I formed around eating – eating the same everyday for breakfast; eating at the same time everyday; Sunday roast dinner; having a take away meal as a treat on a Friday night; Saturday night treat – meal on a tray in front of the television; the necessity of ‘waste not, want not’ and clearing your plate; the importance of sitting around a table for all the other meals and finally the importance of conversation and discussion at mealtimes.

Thankfully, I have broken all but the last 2 habits (which I feel are ones I value and are good habits). I had to consciously acknowledge these ingrained traits and work hard at overcoming them.

The final habit I have got to grips with is that of hunger v habit. The availability of food and the habitual way of eating had overridden my ability to distinguish between eating for the sake of it and true hunger. Not only had I lost the ability to tell if I was hungry but also if I was full / satiated.

Now, I ask myself, ‘Am I really hungry; or actually thirsty; or just craving something?’ and I no longer clear my plate if I am full having decided it is better for any excess food to go in the bin than be stored as fat on my body! (Reduced portion size means I don’t often waste food – this has helped me control the ‘waste not, want not’ voice in my head!)

I do, of course, still have a pudding sometimes but not as a treat for clearing my plate, or not because I always have one but just because very occasionally…I want one 🙂