Nutrition Basics No.1

Some general tips in the pursuit of a healthy western diet:

• ·         High fat is not an issue, panic over! Let the good times roll! Ladies (and gentlemen) the size of your bums is not due to that cheeky bit of whole milk in your coffee. Humans are not as simple as ‘you are what you eat’ as in ‘fat makes you fat’…I mean c’mon we’re more impressive than that gosh! Eating the WRONG fat is bad…unsaturated is what you want. I will dedicate a whole post to what fats to cook with and what this all means. I stick to extra virgin olive oil, drizzling that premium quality lushness over your tomatoes aint gonna cause you no muffin tops! Avoid those half price Mr. Kipling cakes, they are pumped with hydrogenated fats and as a result will probably last longer than you.

• ·         Wholemeal for the win! STAY AWAY from that deadly white powder….yes children crack cocaine is bad. No, actually I was talking about white refined flour. Just no, ew. Use wholemeal, and with regards to bread, 100% Rye is your best bud. Careful though loads of supermarket breads claim to be rye, but actually are about 10% rye for a bit of flavour and 90% PURE EVIL. Dramatic I know, but if you read this in the voice I’m using in my head nutrition becomes a whole new level of fun times. Also note that brown bread is not necessarily wholemeal – check that the flour used is wholemeal/wholegrain. Fab.

• ·         I have a low carb diet. Rabbit food you say? No I do not have lettuce for tea. (rabbits don’t actually eat that anyway so shut.up.) Better still than wholemeal bread/pasta/rice….pulses! As in peas, lentils. Pulses are slow releasing and nutrient dense, providing protein, fibre, iron, calcium, folate and soluble fibre (the type that really helps to lower cholesterol levels). They are also an excellent source of phyto oestrogens, which can help to reduce the risk of many lifestyle diseases, including certain cancers, can help to control menopausal symptoms and increase the immune system’s ability to fight infections. That got a bit technical sorry – I’ll keep that fun stuff for more specific posts.

• ·         Nuts - I love em'. Nuts are not only very low GI and therefore very filling, but many of them are also great sources of essential fatty acids. Essential fatty acids are the only fats that cannot be manufactured by the body and therefore have to come exclusively from our diet. The calorie content on packets of nuts is often wrong (along with most other calorie indicators), the figures are old, unreliable and do not consider the difference between different foods in terms of digestion/processing.  So nuts are often less calories than it says. (Can I just say, those stupid nutrition wheels in british supermarkets ARE HORSE SH*T. That is all.)

Okay – that’s enough for today….more tips will follow!

Guilt-free yet sufficiently indulgent chocolate brownies

Try baking with wholemeal flour or ground almonds, use agave nectar or honey instead of refined sugar, I will post a recipe to get you started!  I made these bad boys today (above photo). Served with Greek Yogurt - seriously lush yet seriously low GI! I will explain GI soon....(glycemic index, lower = better, in short).