Yummy Mummy's Super Snacks

"Get used to eating your meals cold" they all said when I was pregnant. But after Antonio was born I wondered, what meals? Who has time to make food for themselves? I was doing well to grab an apple most days. But of course we must eat properly, because mum's health is baby's health, and mum's food becomes baby's food. Not only that, but a well nourished mamma makes more milk, copes better with the inevitable sleep deprivation, feels less overwhelmed and more in control of herself. This was not me in the early baby days! So I have spent much time devising a system to ensure I have quick, easy health food on hand. In the process I've learned that being healthy has much in common with being a mum. Both require prioritisation, mindfulness, fore planning, flexibility and a lot of self love.

My answer to the issue has been to prepare large batches of snacks in advance, snacks which are very nutrient dense; high in fats, protein, vitamins and minerals. Here are my favourite superfood snacks.

Dip - not the supermarket sludge, but home-whizzed super dip! You can use avocado or home made cream cheese extracted from yoghurt. To this I add a huge handfull of fresh herbs, anything you like, they're all packed with their own respective goodies, half a clove of garlic, pine nuts and some sprouts. You can add any other flavours you like after that. I like a bit of home made roasted capsicum and some olive oil. You could put in some olives, sun dried tomatoes, feta cheese, roasted pumpkin...go crazy! And don't forget a good pinch of ground sea or rock salt.

Veggie sticks - with which to eat your dip. Chop them the night before and stick them in an airtight in the fridge. You can also use them for a quick half an avo.

Bliss balls - these sweet treat superfoods really fill you up! You can pack them full of awesomeness. Coconut oil, nut butters, activated nuts, tahini, raw honey, spices like cinnamon, cloves and cardamom, raw carob or cacao, orange zest, ginger root... Just blitz it all up in the processor. Dates make a great base but you can use any preservative free dried fruit. Mmmm....

Smoothies - they take a few seconds to whizz up and you can use them to really improve your health. You can use nut milks, raw milk, bananas, apricots, egg yolks, coconut oil, flax oil, fresh or frozen berries, yoghurt or kefir. You can also do green smoothies, with a fruit base and some green veg, for the most awesome energy kick you'll ever get in a glass.

Banana - for times that you're out of the house and need to pick up a power snack, have bananas. Yes, plural. You won't get the richness of good fats, but 'nanas are power packs of energy and electrolytes, while being low in fructose. And very filling! Also, bub can share it with you, and it's amazing how sweet their disposition becomes when they've had a healthy snack!

Chicken soup - this isn't a trick I do myself, but a girlfriend swears by a thermos flask full of chicken broth! She sips it whenever she feels her blood sugars slipping. See the post 'eating warm' for the recipe.

For me, the lack of time to do anything for myself puts a downer on my mummyhood. I found that keeping my tummy full of healthy food makes all the difference. So if you are feeling deprived as a Mamma, I highly recommend you try these ideas. A quick and easy superfood snack can transform your life! They'll keep you full and happy, and it's so very true that a contented Mamma means a contented baby. And its so empowering to know you can turn your own mood around so easily!

Happy power snacking!

The predigestive power of raw honey

Good health is all about good digestion. In India there's a saying, "with strong digestion, one can withstand poison. With poor digestion, even nectar is poison". This is so very true and wise, and something every naturopath must remember when we treat. To heal the body, restore digestion.

There are loads of ways to improve your digestive strength, there's lemon juice, cider vinegar, probiotics, bitter herbs, raw foods, lacto-fermentation... The list goes on! But while reading my copy of 'Nourishing Traditions' today, I found a great little nugget of info I want to share. Raw honey. A favourite sweetener of mine for baking. But what I hadn't realised is that it's so high in amylase, the digestive enzyme for carbohydrate, that it will begin the digestive process in just 15 minutes of contact!! So this means if you spread raw honey on bread and leave it on the bench while you shower, the honey will begin to break down the carbohydrate in the grains, doing some of the digestive work for you.

You can also use raw honey when you pre-soak your organic rolled oats for breakfast. You can use it in biscuits or cake batter, and let it stand before baking. Whenever or however you use it, remember the 15 minute rule.

For those who haven't used raw honey before, don't go looking for it in the supermarket, it's in the health shop. Unfortunately the stuff in the supermarket is processed, not raw. Processing the honey at high temperature kills the enzymes and also the vitamins present in the raw honey. This renders the processed product plain old sugar. No natural buffers. To quote Marco Pierre White on masterchef this week, "The more you do to food, the more you take away from it".