This beautiful lime green brassica, also known as Broccoflower, lies somewhere between broccoli and cauliflower in flavour: milder than broccoli, more exciting than cauliflower and a little nutty. The brassica family are a firm favourite at my cleanse events and a regular feature of many of my liver-friendly, health boosting recipes. This is one from a collection of recipes demonstrated during my ‘Nutrition Soirée’ Cooking Workshops. It is perfect as a main for those dabbling in a touch of vegetarian cooking or as a side dish, working well alongside a roast, fish or sausages.
Read moreNutrition without Sight
Amongst us we had a gentleman of 99 years who shared his secrets of old age – be calm and enjoy cooking. He also held his wife’s hand throughout indicating that great companionship had a part to play.
Read moreHow to Live to 100
Purple Sweet Potato
Of late I’ve spent much time reading up on Longevity. Fascinated by this topic for over a decade, my bible is the well-thumbed book The Okinawa Way which details not only the diet of this island off mainland Japan, but it is a study of the life style, social connections and belief system of this long-lived population. What are their secrets to a long life?
Okinawa is sort of a Japanese Hawaii — a tranquil group of islands with temperate weather, palm trees, white beaches and famously fabulous levels of longevity. Okinawans over the age of 65 enjoy the world’s highest life expectancy: for men, 84 and for women even longer – 90. It is not all about length of life but living well into old age. The diseases that kill Americans and other Western populations are only seen in a slight proportion of cases, for example, the rate of breast and prostate cancer and the incidence of heart disease is only a fifth of what we see in the West. Dementia rates stand at around 50%.
During my Longevity workshops we consider the diet of Okinawans not only today, but more importantly I am interested in what they ate in their earlier years. All Okinawans age 100 or more who are alive today were born between 1903 and 1914. During the first third of their lives, roughly before 1940, the vast majority of the calories they consumed — almost 70 % — came from one food: the imo, or Okinawan sweet potato.
Read moreCroatian Style Lamb Stuffed Peppers
Last month I spent a few weeks tasting the delights of Croatian cuisine. Being by the Adriatic Sea, this focussed mainly on sea-food; squid, clams, lobster and the ubiquitous octopus salad. But one of our favourite dishes was the Croatian take on stuffed peppers. Having looked into the traditional method of boiling these vegetables I’ve chosen to offer you a baked version due to ease of preparation but still with the authentic sauce poured around them during the cooking process for optimal flavour and consistency. Try these peppers with mashed potato for a genuine sense of Croatian cooking.
Read moreYoung Teens Pleading for Alcohol - A Modern Dilemma
Alcohol and young teens can be a tricky parent dilemma. In the interests of arming ourselves with some solid advice for those fast growing kids I’ve been doing a touch of research. Let’s be clear I am talking about early teens, post 16 is an entirely different ballgame.
So the big question is – if we, as adults, drink alcohol then why shouldn’t they?
Read moreLongevity Brownie Recipe
How can we live well into old age? This is a question posed in my current workshop ‘Longevity Nutrition’. We can’t put it all down to what we eat but careful nutrition certainly ups our chances of long term health. One of the foods of focus in my talk is the humble sweet potato with its high levels of fibre and immune enhancing nutrients, so I have chosen this recipe in order that we can have our cake and eat it.
Read moreAnti-Inflammatory Turmeric Dressing Recipe / Turmeric Or NSAIDs?
Berry Salad with Turmeric Dressing
Anti-Inflammatory Turmeric Sun Dressing
We discussed the wonderful spice turmeric during my Longevity workshop in Gozo last month. Turmeric has many well researched health benefits. Curcumin is the active ingredient; this is an antioxidant which demonstrates anti-inflammatory properties. I've used it myself for a hip bursitis issue with great results. The running injury occurred last year, and being restricted to limping I sought a natural approach knowing that pill popping is not a safe long term option for pain. With a well-rounded nutrition and supplement plan I no longer limp and avoided a steroid injection.
Interested in natural pain relief, take a read or get in touch for further information - "Although nonsteroidal medications can be effective, herbs and dietary supplements may offer a safer, and often an effective, alternative treatment for pain relief, especially for long-term use."
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3011108/
This beautifully vibrant green salad dressing is one way to include turmeric on a daily basis.
Ingredients:
4 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
Juice + zest of 1 Lemon
¼ avocado
1 clove garlic, minced
1 Tbsp. ground turmeric
1 Tbsp. raw local honey — if not vegan
pinch of Himalayan sea salt (to taste)
Blend all ingredients in a blender. Add more avocado if you desire a thicker consistency.
Longevity Workshop at Amchara Gozo
Turmeric Root, pictured above, featured in my Longevity Nutrition workshop at the Gozo retreat. We explored the research surrounding Okinawa and the other Blue Zone - areas of the world with the largest number of centenarians. Of course, it's not all about the number we live to but the propensity to live well into old age. We discussed not only nutrition but social connections, faith, respect, exercise and surrounding ourselves with people who have a healthy approach to life too. We found that this is what Amchara is all about - sharing a desire to feel good, eating optimally, exercising without over-exercising and working on the respect we have for ourselves and others.
It is very easy to think - why on earth would you fly across Europe to drink only juice, do yoga and avoid all the usual holiday naughties - booze, caffeine, sugar, lethargy ....do we really feel well rested after this. I'd say no. I have never felt so well rested. A retreat such as this may well extend your longevity - only, of course, if you take home some of the health strategies and place them with commitment into your routine.
Read moreCleanse days 6 & 7 Amchara Gozo
Love it all, lapping up the healthy living in every way possible. Started the day yesterday with a restorative yoga session then breakfasted on chia pudding.
Yoga studio
Every day I've woken around 6 am but it's got earlier each day. I can't sleep. There's a morning call from the rising sun to get going as each day is precious.
Personalised juices and shots
My energy is still boundless. Today began with a coastal bike ride before collapsing in the 8 am morning gentle rays of the sun.
Gozo colour
Amchara provide health talks each day. Yesterday I presented my Longevity workshop in which we explored The Okinawa phenomenon of having the highest number of centenarians. I'll be blogging on this later in the week as the group are keen to use the turmeric and sweet potato recipes discussed. I made fresh turmeric tea which was well received (nice change from juices).
This place is magical ... it's 3 pm I'm off for my juice. More later ...
Cleanse day 5 Amchara Gozo
Early morning bike ride
Feel great, boundless energy after an hour in the hot tub before bed. Woke at 6 am. Started the day with a bike-ride along winding lanes followed by an hours yoga. Breakfast of eggs and a shot of spirulina blended with coconut water (great idea, it's the first time spirulina has ever tasted good).
Swimming, sunning and then lunch - a pineapple smoothie.
Just had my 3pm beetroot juice and a long chat with other cleansers. All is well. Looking forward to another yoga session later and a sunset walk.
Detox Day 4 at Amchara Gozo
Beautiful Amchara
It's day 4 - feeling incredible. Started the day with a 6.45 am walk - purely optional, I was up at 5 and ready to go so enjoyed a coastal walk. Back for a swim in the gorgeous pool at 8 and ready for my eggs and avocado plus a shot of aloe Vera and a mineral shot.
At 10 am I had an appointment to rate my heart variability - a stress response test. This is a great tool for identifying your stress intolerances, how you manage stress and using this as a focus to implement change. I'm not stressed here. Not sure I could be however others would find many stressors been when cleansing - when we give ourselves time to relax often we are flooded with worries which we had hidden away. Amchara is the perfect place to tackle this as the support system is so well thought out.
Nothing to complain about. The staff are always on hand and ensure that all is well with all their guests. There's lots to do but no obligation to do it. Space is respected.
Chia pudding - so delicious
Food is amazing - off for a sunset bike ride ...
Lots of pictures on Instagram -
Cleansing with Amchara in Gozo
It's day 3 in Gozo. I'm staying with Amchara on a retreat aiming to cleanse with no distraction for 7 days. Gozo is a rustic little island off Malta. There's not a great deal to lead us off the path of detoxification. Our room is surrounded by palms, rolling fields and pure tranquility.
Welcoming sign
Having run my own cleanse for 8 days before leaving, I'm suffering no ill effects. Alcohol and sugar were long gone, caffeine had been very late leaving my world but interestingly I've had not one headache or coffee craving since arrival; likely due to the tapering off but also there has been little room for considering its loss. Amchara retreat is full of 'giving'. Juices on arrival, calm and supportive advice, a timetable of events which offer a perfect balance of relaxation coupled with self-caring activities.
I started my day with a swim, had an breakfast of eggs with a mineral shot chaser, moved on to a spot of sun-bathing, followed by aqua aerobics and the lunch - a deliciously blended smoothie.
My daily mineral shot...pretty palatable, everything tastes good at Amchara
Yesterday we headed to a small island - Comino- sped off on a motor-boat to explore dark caves then landed on a beach for a few hours of sun-soaking.
All very idyllic. My expectations of hunger have not been met. Many cleansers are juice fasting - I'm on a semi-raw food/juice and eggs for breakfast plan as all clients are professionally screened to check they are up to juice fasting. Due to an under-lying health issue I'm on a food / juice plan which was gleefully accepted as I'd already seen Amchara's tasty food concoctions on Instagram.
On day 3 I can't recommend it enough and will be organising a trip over here later this year, so keep an eye on the newsletters and if you haven't signed up for this yet please do.
View from our apartment
(If you can't wait that long please mention my name when booking!)
I'm off for a steam....
Cleanse - why bother?
The words ‘cleanse’ and ‘detox’ are often used interchangeably. I prefer to use the word ‘cleanse’ for my courses as the term detox immediately rings alarm bells for many. Words like restriction, fast and hunger spring to mind and create a negative vibe.
There are many cynics when it comes to clean eating and detoxing. One blog I found describes cleansing with a very black and white mentality:
‘There's no specific definition of a detox or cleanse, but they often involve limiting your food intake to pressed juice, avoiding specific types of food, or drinking a concoction of juices that supposedly rids your body of toxins.’ And this goes on to provide a sceptical overview of how the body is perfectly capable of detoxing itself and how just drinking juice for a period can be dangerous.
Read moreWatercress and Quinoa Salad
Spring is blooming into summer and I’m embracing this beautiful month by bringing lots of colour into the kitchen. May sees my first Cleanse event of the year so I’m sharing a Superfood Recipe with you; it is one which features in my Cleanse food plan. This dish can be eaten as a lunch (great with feta chunks on the top) or served as a side salad alongside lamb, fresh fish or BBQ chicken. I recently ate this salad nestled alongside a piece of battered fish from the chippy; as life is all about balance.
This superfood salad combines two key cleanse foods. Quinoa is a rich source of protein. If you are unfamiliar with this South American seed it can be used much like couscous. Watercress is rich in folate and vitamin C. In this recipe, these foods are given a flavour upgrade with fresh herbs, spices, and sweet red grapes. (serves 4)
Read moreLent Tastes Divine - Vegan Bread and Butter Pud
Lent is the season of reflection and preparation before the chocolatey celebrations of Easter. This time of year always inspires me to dip my toe into some form of foodie deprivation. I’m not going as extreme as fasting but thought a stint of veganism might give me that middle ground. How wrong could I be! Hardly feels like penance, I’m enjoying some creativity around dairy free. Here is my version of Jamie Oliver’s vegan take on an old time favourite.
Read moreFemale Icons and the Lack of Plus Sized Male Models
A google search with the words ‘plus sized model’ brings up oodles of proudly borne female flesh. But when googling ‘plus sized male model’ we get suit, modesty, no flesh. I cannot find an image of a true plus sized male getting it all out in a gesture of ‘I am who I am’ abandonment.
Read moreJapanese Pancakes
Today is Pancake Day. It’s a day which always makes me wonder why we don’t eat pancakes more often. They are so simple and versatile. Here’s an idea for something a little different. I have chosen this Japanese street food dish to share with you as traditional food from this part of the world is generally fresh and healthy; and something I always give focus to in my Longevity Nutrition workshops.
Read moreLovely Body Positive
Keeping inspired whilst recovering from an Eating Disorder is crucial. That little voice over your shoulder that whispers 'you can do it' needs to be constantly nourished with a drip feed of 'lovely body positive' commentary. This phrase I'm using - Lovely Body Positive - is all the more powerful as it comes from one of the Recover Clinic (ED clinic in Brighton) clients who provided me with a list of positive online role-models.
Read moreLight and Lovely Sunday Mushrooms with Mozzarella
I recently came across a recipe for Mushroom and Mozzarella burgers which involves oven baking a large field mushroom adding a slice of mozzarella and popping into a bun with home-made tomato salsa. And yes, as much as I love the idea of the slippery mozzarella sitting so snuggly alongside an equally slippery mushroom I felt it was a shame to put this in a bun as you may well lose the beauty of all the textures amidst a lot of grainy density.
So here is my version, which would indeed work well alongside a hunk of sourdough bread, however I feel the mushroom need to take centre stage
Read moreResolutions or not?
Colour in the kitchen for 2017
Bit bored of hearing about whether or not New Year resolutions are any good. A Daily Mail headline includes ‘Experts say keep them realistic and expect small changes’. Hardly hopeful, are there really experts on New Year’s Resolutions?
Read more