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Cauliflower Pizza Crust with Chorizo and Mozzarella

March 24, 2014 by admin Leave a Comment

 

chorizo-pizza

I never particularly liked pizza as a child, the thin based crusts were ok but they always left me feeling bloated and uncomfortable after and so I stopped eating them.  If you know me well, you’ll know there are not many foods I don’t like, a few that I now avoid but not dislike…

Then I came across cauliflower pizza bases and I’ve suddenly fallen in love with pizza.  This is the perfect recipe for children, the main ingredient is cauliflower and shhh… they will never know!!  Cauliflower is full of fibre and vitamins, especially vitamin K and is an anti-inflammatory so if you’re body is in an immune response, (swelling to protect) it can counter this and help you heal.

I’ve seen lots of complicated recipes for pizza bases but I wanted to keep it simple, most people don’t have the time to spend ages making pizza bases.  It takes me about 10 minutes to make this base and if I chop a whole cauliflower, I save the rest and use it as an alternative to rice (another great substitute).

These are some of my favorite toppings, I’ll post some other combinations soon but be creative and enjoy discovering your favourite pizza variety.

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Cauliflower Pizza with Chorizo and Mozzarella
Author: Vanessa Woozley
Recipe type: Pizza
Cuisine: Italian
Prep time:  15 mins
Cook time:  15 mins
Total time:  30 mins
Serves: 2
 
Super simple pizza base, ready for your favourite toppings!
Ingredients
  • ½ a cauliflower
  • 2 eggs
  • ½ cup of cheddar cheese
  • Pinch of sea salt
  • Black pepper
  • 1 teaspoon of oregano
  • 1 tin of tomato paste
  • 1 onion
  • 1 tablespoon of butter
  • ½ a chorizo
  • Handful of black olives
  • 1 mozzarella
  • ½ teaspoon of chilli flakes (optional)
  • Handful of basil leaves
Instructions
  1. Use a food processor with a chopping S-shaped blade and chop the cauliflower till it looks like very small grains of rice, you want about 2 cups of the "rice"
  2. Mix the rice in a bowl with the 2 eggs, cheese, oregano, salt and pepper
  3. Take a pizza tray or baking tray and use a little olive oil to grease the pan
  4. Take handfuls of the mix and press out on the baking tray to form a round, the ingredients will seem wet but don't worry the bases will firm up as they cook, you should have enough to make 2 bases.
  5. Cook the bases for 15-20 mins till golden on 180 degrees.
  6. While these are cooking, cut the onion in half and slice and cook in the butter until translucent
  7. Spread the bases with tomato puree or your own home-made tomato sauce
  8. Add the rest of the ingredients and add back to the oven for 5 minutes for the mozzarella to melt, enjoy!
3.2.2310

Filed Under: Main Courses, Recipes

Sugar.. Making Sense of the Latest Health Fix!

March 15, 2014 by admin Leave a Comment

sugar

I had a rare chance to catch up on the newspapers last weekend and was drawn to articles proposing sugar as the secret to weight loss and health.  There has been quite a bit about this in the press lately but that particular weekend was saturated with special ‘how to guides’ for cutting sugar out of your diet.  I personally thought the reporting on this new health kick was confusing, maybe you did too?  If you’ve not had a chance to read them yet, the majority of the papers were attaching pullout guides highlighting your teaspoon equivalent of sugar in produce.  For processed foods that might actually be quite helpful because quite often products are touted with health benefits, when actually they contain hidden sugars making them worst offenders.  For example, it’s helpful to see that your low-fat greek-style yoghurt contains 2 teaspoons of sugar or your Cheerios have 3 teaspoons per bowl.  However, my qualms came into play when I read, swede 8.5 teaspoons quoted as “a villain” and a banana too, with 7 teaspoons.  The message just seemed convoluted,  I’m sure anyone reading these would start to think, what the hell am I supposed to eat?

I want to put this new stance in context and hopefully interpret it in a way that becomes easy to adopt and subsequently you might make a small change today in the right direction.  Bear in mind however that one method will not not suit all and healthy eating should be a progression of small changes.  I’ll elaborate, I’ve tried a low-carb diet which is consequently low in sugar and it didn’t work for me.  Low carb did not sustain my energy levels needed for exercise it made me hypoglycemic, irritable, I lost muscle mass, too much weight and it disrupted my sleep.  Needless to say three months in, I decided to add carbs (a little sweet potato) back in on intense exercise days and normality was resumed!  That’s not to say low carb doesn’t work for others and it is a great weight loss tool.

I wanted to give you an example of the personalization involved in making dietary changes but also how different groups of sugars cannot be classed in the same bracket.  This example of low carb / no refined sugar is likely the extreme so how does the average person trying to improve their health make changes?  Is swede really the villain compared to Cheerios?

What does sugar do?  On consumption blood sugar rises which triggers the pancreas to release the hormone insulin to regulate sugar levels.   Insulin allows the body to make use of this glucose (blood sugar) as energy.  Insulin will turn excessive sugar into glycogen as a back-up but also fat, which will then be stored around the body.  One of the many and very important hormonal tasks insulin has is to regulate appetite.  Insulin in overdrive is not a symptom reserved for diabetics, many people with excessive sugar in their diets are insulin resistant and have lost the ability for this important hormone to function properly.  Excessive sugar in your diet will have substantial health consequences.

The World Health Organisation is recommending 5 teaspoons of sugar per day but without looking at labels or trying to add up quantities in every item we eat, how do we monitor this and do we need to?  This is my simpler guide to using sugar, naturel and otherwise.

My Low Down on Sugar

Should we avoid refined table sugar? Yes, in an ideal world wherever possible.

Use alternatives (raw honey, stevia, maple syrup) or slowly wean yourself off table sugar, a little less in your tea will make a big difference.  Refined sugar is highly addictive (studies have shown even more than cocaine or heroin) but it is possible in baby steps.

Should we avoid hidden sugar in processed food? Yes and endeavour to check quantities on packaging. 

Ingredients are written in the quantity order so if sugar features as the 2nd or 3rd item on the ingredients list, it’s probably going to be high in sugar despite any health claims.  Very small amounts of sugar in sauces or dark chocolate isn’t going to make you insulin resistant but a bowl of coco pops every morning might!

Do we need to avoid starchy vegetables with sugar? No, not necessarily. 

Exercising will help you make use of these sugars and if you exercise a lot, you probably need to add a few more starchy vegetables into your diet, i.e potaotes, carrots, swede, parsnips.  I know I need starches but the quantity are a personal preference and will need adjusting for lifestyle, goals and your own ability to utilise the glucose.

Should we be eating fruit? Moderately

This might sound a little confusing but bear with me.  Fruit is a healthy, whole food but if we think about it logically fruit does not grow all year round naturally in our local environment.  We are designed to eat fruit when it is ripe for a few months of the year in summer but because of air freighting, we now have the capacity to eat fruit every day all year round.  I don’t think you should avoid fruit altogether and it is certainly a prefered substitution to table sugar (so perhaps a transition to fruit is your appropriate next step) but for healthy eating or particularly weight loss my recommendation would be not to consume more than 1 fruit a day.

Conclusion

It’s great that the nutrition story is changing to include sugar and highlight its damaging effects but I do think there needs to be a greater emphasis on the type of food so we look at food groups differently.

Sugar desensitizes your taste buds and the more you eat, the more you need to taste it, cut it back and you start to taste your food completely differently, vegetables taste sweet, even lettuce and cucumber can have intense sweet flavour.

The best part about being refined sugar-free is that you start to feel satiated, you eat a meal and naturally feel full and can wait comfortably till the next meal.  Eating the right amount of food isn’t about willpower as we’ve been led to believe, it’s about eating the right foods that align your hormones properly and send the correct messages to your brain to tell you are full.

These new guidelines need a little interpreting but let’s hope they build awareness for consumers to shop differently and force food manufactures to reduce sugar contents accordingly.  It would seem a step in the right direction at least!

 

Filed Under: Adults, Nutrition, Uncategorized

Warm Beetroot, Squash and Chicken Salad

March 14, 2014 by admin 2 Comments

beet-squash-salad

The weather is getting warmer and more spring like and I feel like eating salad again.  I used to hate salad as a child, my Mum is really good cook but salad would quite often be iceberg lettuce, a tomato and some cucumber which put me off salad for some time (sorry Mum, can I still come to dinner Sunday?!).  Then I started learning about the power of raw vegetables, how the living enzymes in these phytonutrients (powered by the sun) have the ability to renew your skin cells so can actually make you look younger.  When you’re over 30 this starts to become a concern so I had to learn to love salads!  Actually now I really do but they do have to be exciting salads or I actually think I’d rather go hungry!

I had this salad when the beetroot and squash were just out of the oven so still warm but it was just as nice cold the next day so make extra portions and save some of the dressing.  It has a lemony dressing so a real citrus punch, the beetroot were roasted in a balsamic and rosemary glaze so were nice and sweet and the feta cheese adds a salty partnership.

roasted-beetroot

Tip – Rather then try and peel the squash raw which can be a little tough, I cut mine in half and put it flesh side down on a baking tray with a little olive oil on the skin.  Once the squash was roasted for 20 minutes the skin was easy to peel off and chop.  I used a kabocha squash but you could try alternatives, butternut squash perhaps.

I used apple cider vinegar in the dressing, you could use another but I would highly recommend purchasing and consuming this vinegar on a regular basis, it has some pretty clever health benefits.  Apple cider vinegar is fermented so has probiotic qualities, it has been shown to help with weight loss over long-term periods by stabilising blood sugar, rebalance acidic abnormalities and it’s good for your hair and skin so definitely worth using in your salad dressings.

5.0 from 1 reviews
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Warm Beetroot, Squash and Chicken Salad
Author: Vanessa Woozley
Recipe type: Salad main
Cuisine: Salad
Prep time:  15 mins
Cook time:  30 mins
Total time:  45 mins
Serves: 4
 
A delicious warm salad for a sunny spring day
Ingredients
  • 5 beetroot
  • 1 kabocha squash
  • 2 little gem lettuce
  • 1 sprig of fresh rosemary
  • 2 roasted or grilled chicken breasts
  • 5 tablespoons of olive oil
  • 1 tablespoon of balsamic vinegar
  • ½ feta cheese
  • 1 tablespoon of pumpkin seeds
  • 1 tablespoon of sunflower seeds
  • 1 cup of rocket leaves
  • ½ a lemon
  • 1 tablespoon of apple cider vinegar
  • Some freshly ground black pepper and a pinch of sea salt
Instructions
  1. Peel and chop the beetroot and put in a baking tray, coat with 1 tablespoon of olive oil, balsamic vinegar and rosemary leaves and roast for 30 minutes
  2. Put the squash, halved, flesh side down in the oven with 1 tablespoon of olive oil rubbed on the skin for 20 minutes, peel and chop
  3. Use the little gem lettuce as the base and add the other ingredients
  4. For the dressing put 3 tablespoons of olive oil, a squeeze of half a lemon, pepper and sea salt in a container, I use a jam-jar and give it a really good shake and drizzle on top.
  5. Hope this salad inspires you!
3.2.2265

 

Filed Under: Chicken, Recipes, Salads, Uncategorized

Parsnip Fries

March 7, 2014 by admin Leave a Comment

parsnip-fries

Who thought healthy eating entailed going without fries?  We just need to switch it up a little so throw out that bag of processed fries in the freezer and have a go at making these instead.  Cooked in coconut oil with a little kick of spice, you don’t have to feel any guilt eating these because they are my healthy alternative.

These fries would go perfectly with a big juicy steak or maybe even a salmon steak, add some of my watercress pesto and you have the perfect home cooked meal for any day of the week, easy peasy!

I use Cayenne pepper on these fries for a little extra spice, depending on how hot you like the heat increase or decrease the amount accordingly but it’s certainly worth adding a little.  This little spice is renowned for its powerful medicinal qualities, used for pain relief, prostate cancer, lowering blood pressure, it even speeds up your metabolism so it should definitely be a valued addition to your spice collection.

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Parsnip Fries
Author: Vanessa Woozley
Recipe type: Side dish
Cuisine: Side
Prep time:  5 mins
Cook time:  15 mins
Total time:  20 mins
Serves: 2
 
Side vegetable dish, perfect to go with meat or fish.
Ingredients
  • 2 large parsnips
  • 1 tablespoon of coconut oil
  • 1 teaspoon of sweet paprika
  • ½ teaspoon of cayenne pepper.
Instructions
  1. Peel the parsnips and cut into thin slices the size of fries
  2. Melt the coconut oil either in a pan or I melted mine on the baking tray for a minute in the preheated oven.
  3. Coat the parsnips in the oil and spices and put in the oven on 200 degrees for 10-15 minutes until slightly golden.
3.2.2265

 

 

Filed Under: Recipes, Sides, Uncategorized

Government Nutrition Guidelines; Exposing the Hidden Agenda

March 6, 2014 by admin Leave a Comment

processed food

I wrote most of this blog when I completed my nutrition exams because I wanted to vent my frustration that nutritional guidelines had not been updated in decades, despite modern research not backing up this dogma.  More frightening to me is that this is now being taught to our children in schools so will influence how they eat and more worryingly possibly start them on a diet path as children.

Q.  Is it a coincidence that the same decade that propaganda advertised low-fat and counting calories, became the very same decade that obesity and associated illnesses were spotlighted?  I want you to challenge everything that you’ve been taught/marketed previously, while I dispel some of the floored science behind the current Government manifesto for healthy eating.  I want to present some of the most up-to-date research that will hopefully influence you to make changes.  If you don’t need further convincing, maybe this will just give you a little bit more ammunition to answer the sceptics, of which there are still far too many.

The guidelines were put in place in the late 70s following the NACNE report and then added to in 1992 by a manifesto – Health of the Nation.

Low Fat  (Government Manifesto – reduce total fat consumed by 35% by 2005 to reduce the incidence of heart disease and obesity)

When making this recommendation total fat consumed was at about 47%, the average now is about 35% and yet cardio vascular disease (CVD), obesity and type 2 diabetes is still on the rise (but apparently this is because our levels of saturated fat consumed are too high but I’ll come onto that shortly).

If you remember one thing from this blog please take this away.. FAT IS NOT THE ENEMY!

Fat is an essential nutrient to our body, it provides essential fat soluble vitamins, aids digestion, assists nerve function and aids the hormones that regulate everything from metabolism to circulation.  Half our cell membranes are made up of fat, we store it for fuel and it provides a very efficient fuel (9kcal per 1g) when compared with carbohydrates (3.75 Kcal per 1g) or protein (4Kcal per 1g).  It also makes food taste more palatable which is why you crave fats when following low-fat diets, for any of you following low-fat diets I’m sure you’ll agree, low-fat is pretty tasteless!  Most of us are living proof that low-fat diets do not work for  long-term weight loss but more importantly studies show they do not reduce your risk of CVD.

What we need to get our heads round is not that fat is bad but that we determine which are the healthy, nourishing fats and which are the fats that actually harm our body.  If we don’t differentiate and just reduce all fats (like the Government suggests) we are actually depriving ourselves of some of the most powerful and beneficial nutrients on the planet.

By now I’m sure most of you have heard about the health benefits of omega-3 essential fats that can only be supplied by what we eat and are readily available in oily fish (sardines, salmon, rainbow trout, herring etc).  What is not so commonly known is that these fats are also available in grass-fed meat.  The commercial meat (not including some organic) we purchase from supermarkets is now from origin to supplier brought to us in the cheapest way possible, corners are cut and most are fed on cereal (grains I’ll come onto in another blog!) and therefore have no resemblance nutritionally to the superior meat which our ancestors ate, which would have been wild animals grazing on grass.  If you’re not partial to eating fish, consider adding some grass-fed meat or some organic eggs (from grass-grazing chickens).  Omega-3s play a vital role in improving blood pressure, supporting healthy cholesterol, reducing inflammation, preventing arthritis, stopping autoimmune disease and improving cognitive function (which is why you may have heard how they are commonly recommended to people suffering with Alzheimer’s or ADHD).  The science, a long list of studies that show the reduction of various diseases by increasing your intake of omega-3.

Omega-6 is also an essential fatty acid but to be effective must be kept proportional to omega-3 intake, an efficient ratio would be 1:1, in the UK however the ratio is currently 1 omega-3 to anywhere between 20-30 omega-6.  This imbalance causes a whole host of problematic health issues including inflammation and the precursors for virtually all metabolic diseases.  Where do we get omega-6 from?  Pretty much everywhere but it is most readily available in refined oils, margarine and processed foods.  Knowing this, you start to comprehend how easy it is to tip the delicate balance but also how a few simple changes to what you eat can have such a positive impact on your health.

Adding healthy, healing fats to your diet shouldn’t be complicated if you just stay as natural as possible.  Here is a list to consider:

  • Grass-fed meat
  • Oily fish
  • Avocado
  • Extra virgin olive oil
  • Coconut
  • Seafood
  • Butter

Keep it simple, minimise processed fats and eat plenty of naturally occurring fats that will truly nourish your body.  Food will taste scrummy, you’ll start to feel amazing and you’ll maintain a healthy achievable weight so that you never need diet again.

Saturated Fat (Government Manifesto – Reduce saturated fat to a total of 10% of diet)

This was conceived from a highly flawed study performed in 1958 by Ancel Keys.  Keys correlated the deaths from heart disease to the levels of saturated fat consumed by individuals in 7 countries.  This is the graph released that showed 7 cherry picked countries that would “appear” to show a correlation and you would have come to the same conclusion if you just saw this.

ancelkeysgraph1_thumb.jpg

However, this is the graph plotting the actual results of ALL 22 countries.  As you can see there are countries that consume far higher levels of saturated fat and have lower incidences of heart disease.

ancel-keys-graph2

What this study did not take into account, are the many extenuating circumstances to consider for an individual’s health such as smoking, sugar intake, carbohydrates consumed, stress levels, amount of sleep etc.  I could go on but as the Keys study has been discredited you start to wonder why the Government hasn’t updated its stance on saturated fats.

There are plenty of populations (Masai, Inuit) shown to eat very high levels of saturated fat and have optimum health.  There have also been plenty of studies (350,000 participants in this one) that further discredit the links to heart disease.  Sadly whilst doctors and some nutritionists continue to follow Government recommendations people will continue to be miss-informed.

Fibre (Government Manifesto –  We need to increase our fibre intake from 20g to 30g per day)

Fibre has for years held the biggest miss-conception and mystery, most people know they need it, most are unsure exactly why – Is it good for the heart?  Does it stop constipation?

Fibre is not a nutrient: it supplies absolutely no nutrient value to the body whatsoever, so why are we told to eat more of it?  The problem with the type of fibre consumed today, is that in the main it comes from cereal and whole-grain which are particularly difficult to digest.  Fibre can have some pretty beneficial effects but these are only seen with the fibre consumed comes from vegetable sources.   Whole-grain fibres slow down the digestion process which has a disastrous effect on the body, it interferes with the delicate stomach lining and clogs up the intestines.  No one should want to slow down digestion; it can cause indigestion, heartburn, peptic ulcers, constipation, IBS and Crohn’s disease.. yikes!

Don’t be fooled by the cholesterol studies either, fibre has a similar effect to a low-fat diet on your cholesterol levels.  It would initially appear to lower your LDL  cholesterol, which you might think is good news especially if you are being monitored by your doctor but the reality is it has a much more significant impact on lowering HDL cholesterol.  This then reduces the body’s own natural ability to achieve homeostasis because HDL is required to remove LDL from the blood and thus provide its own natural defence system.  Cholesterol gets a lot of bad press but cholesterol is a normal body process and only becomes a problem linked to heart disease when again the delicate balance of ratios are out of sync.

Lastly, does fibre ease constipation?  Sadly not.  Constipation will occur for most of us at some point in our lives due to the temporary loss of the healthy bacteria in our stomach.  For a while, whole-grain fibres can replace this role and perform the required laxative function, however over time you will require more fibre because it inhibits the healthy bacteria being restored.  As fibre is continuously consumed it bulks up stools, slows digestion and you will then become constipated again and eventually you can incur problems such as hemorrhoids.  What does provide colonic motility? – FAT!!  Now we begin to understand why everyone on a low-fat diet is constipated in the first place.

Studies have recently found that fibre has no bearing on hunger, satiety or body weight so we can conclude that there are no health benefits gained from eating insoluble fibre (whole-grains).  I was astounded to read in one of my textbooks that the Government recommends eating 6 slices of wholemeal bread a day, I hope it’s now apparent why this is exasperating the problem for most people today.

I must stipulate that we are discussing certain insoluble fibres (think whole-grain and cereals), this is where there Government promotes we should increase our fibre intake i.e. further purchasing big food products with supplemented fibre.  The reality is that if we are to obtain the benefits of fibre we need to be eating fermentable and probiotic fibre, available in fruit and vegetables, these have an essential role in restoring gut flora and healthy bacteria.

Salt (Government manifesto – Reduce salt intake by 25%)

There has been a lot of conflicting evidence about salt over the years but the reality is that a little bit of salt is not going to do you any harm.  To illustrate this, in Japan, where mortality rates from cardiovascular disease are much lower than here the salt intake is significantly higher than the UK.

Our paleolithic ancestors certainly wouldn’t have added salt but interestingly we may not need to demonize salt either.  Sodium chloride is also an essential nutrient used to balance fluids within your body and a healthy kidney has been shown to be able to preserve homeostasis of sodium levels in varying ranges consumed. The link between salt and high blood pressure is also flawed (Dahl), the premise on which it was based was evidence shown as hypertension in rats who were given 50x the average salt intake.  Studies since have not found the same correlation and what became more significant was BMI and alcohol consumption, no surprise there!

I think it is worth differentiating between salts,  sea salt for example has a trace mineral content such as magnesium, calcium and potassium.  Table salt contains no minerals and often has anti-caking agents added to it to keep it as a powder so you really want to avoid table salt where possible.  Unfortunately, most salt that is added to prepared foods is table salt, so preparing your own meals and adding sea salt is the healthiest way to add salt to your diet.

Sugar (Government manifesto – Sugar should not make up more than 11% of the total energy, not including fruit and vegetable sugars)

The average British individual consumes 34 teaspoons of sugar a day (most of it hidden).  It’s highly addictive and food manufactures know this, the white stuff has a lot to answer for.  It’s pretty difficult to buy anything off the shelf that doesn’t have sugar added to it’s ingrediants; particularly high in cereals, drinks, cakes, jams and bottled sauces.  Not only does sugar rot our teeth but is the main cause of obesity and all the associated health conditions that being overweight brings.

Food retailers use salt and sugar to instigate “The Bliss Affect” in snack foods.  This is the name used by retailers for the tipping point at which people become highly addicted to the taste, whilst at the same time not providing the satiety you should feel once you have eaten.  This allows consumers to over-indulge on snack foods to dangerous proportions.  It’s all a clever design ploy that the average consumer is not aware of and so they end up excessively treating themselves detrimentally to their health.

I can’t disagree with the Government on this stance but all the ownership appears to be on the consumer and not the industry that has no interest in the health of our nation.  If you mostly eat natural foods than sugar isn’t a big consideration but if like most people you need the convenience of mixing it up with purchased products than hidden sugar is something you should be aware of.

Protein (Government manifesto – Protein levels should stay the same but take more protein from vegetable sources)

Animal meats are constantly being vilified in the media, but contrary to popular belief meat and fish contain the highest quality of vitamins, minerals and amino acids.

Some of the myths surrounding meat are:

  • Meat contains too much saturated fat and cholesterol – We’ve already covrered these concerns above!
  • Meat Causes heart disease and Type 2 Diabetes – Heart disease became a problem in the 20th century and type 2 diabetes became a concern in the last decade and meat has been eaten for literally millions of years.  The correlation is made when we don’t specify the type of meat so I’ll come onto that shortly.
  • Meat causes cancer – This statement is currently making headlines but again the studies have mostly been linked to processed meat.  Perhaps the only other area of caution is not to burn your meat, overcooked meat has been shown to cause cancer in animals but it’s certainly not a reason to avoid meat altogether.

Processed meats are however another story, full of additives, preservatives, sugar and starches you can understand the link to certain cancers but not all sources of meat should be tarnished with the same brush.  As discussed previously, when possible it’s important to try to obtain grass-fed and organic, it is worth paying the additional price difference for the nutritional superiority of this meat.

The Government recommends we should be substituting meat for processed plant and soy based alternatives (another big food alternative being promoted).  Soy foods became popular in Japan because of the health links shown there however, what is not noted is that the consumption of soy there is predominantly fermented e.g. soy sauce.  90% of soy products here are genetically modified and are contaminated with large pesticide residues and soy is a common allergen for many people.  Soy proteins are added to many products and are heavily processed with aluminium washes and nitrates all of which have been linked to cancer studies.  I would personally avoid soy altogether if you can unless you’re buying fermented soy.

FRUIT AND VEGETABLES (GOVERNMENT MANIFESTO 5 A DAY ON THE EATWELL PLATE)

Years ago when I probably followed an “eatwell plate” style of eating I was always consciously aware of the need to try to put more fresh vegetables and fruit in my diet.  When you take bread, cereal, pasta and all the processed carbohydrates out of your diet, you’re left eating what nature supplies, a pretty amazing colourful array of phytonutrients, nutrients with energy supplied by the sun.  When every plate looks like a rainbow of colour you can easily eat 9/10 fresh vegetables without having to think about your 5 a day.  Packed with minerals, vitamins, naturel fibre and living enzymes which when eaten raw can actually reverse the signs of aging!

CONCLUSION

I think we have to establish that the Government guidelines are not working to alleviate the health problems of today.  We are only a few years behind the US where obesity has skyrocketed.  The reality is the Government is heavily influenced by big food companies that are only interested in profit.  We are continuously marketed with “healthy products” by those that have the financial incentive and backing to do so, big food and pharmaceutical companies.  We mustn’t let the Government influence our eating habits or our children’s.  New research is being published  all the time dispelling old myths and showing us how to eat healthily and I will endeavour to research and write about it.  Today, make 1 small change to what you eat and even without looking at the evidence, you’ll start to notice for yourself the difference it makes to your health.

Food of Happiness

Filed Under: Adults, Nutrition, Uncategorized

Butternut Squash Pancakes

March 4, 2014 by admin Leave a Comment

Pancakes

It’s shrove Tuesday so pancake day!!!

If you think just because your gluten-free you have to go without pancakes you’re wrong.  This is what we had for breakfast this morning, quick, easy, my daughter loved them.  You’d never know I made them with butternut squash.

I personally think these pancakes have much more flavour than regular pancakes which can be bland without toppings, butternut squash adds sweetness.  You do have to make these more American style rather than crepes otherwise they’re a little more fiddly to flip over but I think it’s worth it.

You can still add all your favourite toppings, obviously being a chocoholic we added chocolate and some nuts but you could try some fruit, yoghurt, honey, maple syrup.

If you have a go at making these and discover a new favourite topping please let me know in the comments section.

Happy pancake making!

Save Print
Butternut Squash Pancakes
Author: Vanessa Woozley
Recipe type: Pancakes
Cuisine: Dessert
Prep time:  5 mins
Cook time:  10 mins
Total time:  15 mins
Serves: 2
 
Flourless butternut squash pancakes
Ingredients
  • 1 tablespoon of coconut oil or butter
  • 2 tablespoons of almond butter
  • 2 eggs
  • 4 cm end of butternut squash
  • ½ teaspoon of cinnamon
  • ¼ teaspoon of all spice
  • Melted dark chocolate (optional)
  • Nuts (optional)
Instructions
  1. Use a little of the oil or butter to grease non stick frying pan after each set of pancakes
  2. Use a food processor or hand blender to blend the almond butter, eggs and the peeled, diced squash (no need to pre-cook squash)
  3. Pour 2 heaped tablespoons of the batter into the pan, I cook 3 at the same time on a medium heat
  4. When you start to see bubbles in the batter, flip and cook the other side
  5. Top with your favourite pancake topping, enjoy!
3.2.2265

 

Filed Under: Breakfast, Dessert, Recipes, Uncategorized

Vanessa Woozley

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