My whole 30 - The verdict

For the past three days I've deliberated on how to write this post. Since I had counted on singing the praises of The Whole 30, I thought it'd be a doddle, but I'm afraid it's not quite that simple. At least it won't be boring, right?! Firstly, I'm glad I did it, I want to be clear about that point, but I feel it was the wrong time for me to do it. I feel that I was unable to do it the way it ought to be done, and I am not convinced that paleo is right for me, especially not right now. I think that more than anything else, The Whole 30 served to remind me that not only is there no 'one size fits all' diet, but our dietary requirements do change and fluctuate depending on our lifestyles.

My lifestyle at the moment is one of a breastfeeding, cosleeping, homeschooling 24/7 parent. Those of you who have done it will agree this lifestle gives quite a high nutritional requirement, possibly not dissimilar to that of an elite athlete! I wish I was joking.  One reason that I found the whole 30 challenging was that it unexpectedly reduced my supply of breast milk. I'm not 100 % sure why this happened. According to the Australian Breastfeeding Association, a breastfeeding woman can virtually eat any diet she wants, provided she's not starving, and still produce enough milk to feed her baby (I have misgivings about this theory but they pertain more to the quality of  said milk).  I have a couple of theories, one is that while the body is detoxifying heavily, the mammary glands might 'hold back' to protect the baby from toxins, and the other is that detoxification increases the body's water requirement, and I wasn't meeting that requirement. In other words I may simply have been dehydrated. I'm inclined to think it was the latter. Either way it was the wrong time for me to undertake a huge cleanse, but I'm glad I did it anyway. Little one didn't lose out too much, and supply is now right back where it should be. (Had she been under 18 months old I would have stopped the cleanse when I noticed the supply drop and introduced some quinoa and soaked brown rice back into my diet. I don't recommend cleansing while breastfeeding a young baby. If you're very unwell and need to change your diet, do it by degrees.)

I found I was eating more meat than felt good for my body, just to get full. This wasn't the fault of the diet, it was the result of my failure to plan and shop, and also a function of needing to fill up to produce milk. Whole 30 does not prescribe amounts of foods. I only ate so much meat for Sofia's sake, and it made me feel a little heavy and sluggish. Had I not been breastfeeding I'd have been content to feel hungry some of the time, and would happily have eaten plenty of veggies in its place. If I'd planned better I would have made myself more bone broths and drunk coconut juice, both of which I find help with milk production.  

Another reason that I found it challenging was that it was a bit of a shock to me. As a paleo 'virgin' I had to scramble to figure out what to eat all the time. When I took the kids out and about I had to plan ahead to ensure I didn't get caught without enough snacks for myself. This took quite a bit more 'getting used to' than I'd anticipated, and I was often left hungry for too long. I gradually learned little tricks, like that trips to the fruit and veggie shop were the easiest and cheapest way to begin a day out, curries without rice are a good food court option, and at home, broth is a great snack. To anyone thinking of trying the whole 30, I'd recommend doing an intro to paleo eating first, by  cutting out one thing at a time, first dairy, then legumes, then rice perhaps, then quinoa... This would be a far 'friendlier' way to approach the idea. It is, after all, a very different way of eating than most of us are accustomed to.

Now I'll turn to all the awesome things that happened. The first thing I noticed was blood sugar balance! It was such a freeing feeling not to crave all the time. The next was a reduction in inflammation, that is my face, arms and collarbones became more defined, so I appeared to have lost weight within the first week. Along with the apparent signs of reduced inflammation, I had less pain in my feet and the back pain cleared altogether. My feet eventually stopped hurting too, by week 3. I'm hard on my feet, they took longer!  The next thing I realised was that I don't think I actually need to / should be completely grain free. The benefits I experienced were no greater than when I cut refined carbs loose. I also felt a little ungrounded, and the ayruvedics do say that grains keep us grounded, centred in our bodies. While there is no one right way to eat for everyone, if you want to figure out how you should eat, look to the diet of your own ancestors. For example my Mum's side of the family hark from the Irish and Scottish. They do much better when they exclude most fruits, and exclude grains altogether. I however, seem to have taken more from the Italian heritage on my fathers side, and while this does not mean I can have a pasta party, it does seem to make my body more accepting of sprouted legumes and soaked whole grains. For me this is a welcome thing, because I like variety. Finally, in the last week of the cleanse I noticed my skin was smoother and my ankles had come back. Hazzar. Who would sneeze at that?

Those were the physical changes, but they weren't the greatest payoff. The greatest payoff was how I felt! To wake feeling energetic day after day, when you face two toddlers and a list of chores enough to make 'War and Peace' seem like light reading is no small thing, but I did, by about week three. But above all, there was the clarity of mind. I mentioned feeling ungrounded, and I did, but I somehow simultaneously felt clear and peaceful, and life with the little ones flowed with virtually no upsets or conflicts. I suddenly had no need to get angry with anyone, I was on top of the situations, and things just seemed not to be so bad after all. This is a feeling I HIGHLY recommend! And it's also motivation enough to maintain my health from here on.

The whole 30 has changed my approach to my diet in several ways. I'm welcoming legumes back into my life, never to be cast out again! I feel that, for me, as long as they're properly soaked and sprouted, there's nothing wrong with a handful of lentils in a plate of soup. However I do believe in and prescribe this diet, and those who benefit from it include people with autoimmune diseases, sufferers of severe digestive complaints, those unsuccessfully trying to conceive, and those with pain and inflammation problems to name a few. Aside from losing the dairy, I'm going to commit to staying clear of refined grain products. I love my rye sourdough but I'm afraid it doesn't love me back. In fact eating it now gives me indigestion, I tried. I'll also be careful to soak my rice and quinoa before I cook it, and perhaps tend more to quinoa than rice, since I seem averse to rice too, thanks to the cleanse. We were definitely eating too much rice. I tend to rely on it as a quick meal option when I've failed to plan. And that's the other thing I'll commit to, menu planning. Knowing what I'm making and using my slow cooker will make all the above much easier. Next I need to figure out how to keep all this from costing too much, and as soon as I do I'll be posting about it to be sure!

A much healthier, happier Mamma. Thanks to all of you who expressed your support, it means a whole lot! During the difficult times, it was the accountability of you guys reading my words that gave me the requisite kick in the proverbial to forge on. Much love xxx

Sofia's first birthday cake, sugar and flour free chocolate cake with cream cheese frosting and chocolate soil

First birthdays are so special. For me it's about celebrating the child's life, acknowledging the little person as they transition from babyhood to childhood, and a whole community comes together to show their love.

I feel that a first birthday cake should be special too. But its only fair the baby can eat her own birthday cake, so it has to be free of processed flours and sugars. I've searched long and hard for the perfect recipe, and finally I found it.

It's a GAPS recipe, which is inherently free from junk, but I was able to change it slightly to meet my cake fantasies! The changes rendered it no longer strictly GAPS, but it was still flour and sugar free. 

The original recipe came from the wonderful Eleanor at petite kitchen. I fell in love with her delicious spiced date and ginger cake the first time I baked it. It was nice and high, so it presents well. It was quick, easy and thermomix friendly, but most of all it was versatile! Perfect birthday cake qualities!

Once I had played with it a few times I came up with the following recipe alterations to render it a chocolate cake. 

2 cups ground almonds (I use whole organic almonds and grind them in the thermomix)

1 cup pitted medjool dates, soaked 2 hours

5 eggs

1/3 cup raw cacao (or more if you like it really chocolatey)

1/3 cup rice malt syrup 

2 tsp vanilla paste
1 tsp baking soda

Pinch salt

So all I've done is swap the honey for rice malt syrup and add raw cacao. I used rice malt syrup because many of our guests are fructose intolerant, so I needed a glucose based sweetener, however if you want you could use maple syrup. I find honey a distinctive flavour that doesn't marry well with chocolate.

The ingredients are blitzed in a blender and baked at 160 degrees for about 45 minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean.

I baked this recipe 3 times to make Sofia's cake, because I wanted to layer it up with cream cheese frosting and carve it into a flower pot shape. Sofia loves the garden. She thinks soil is delicious! I thought it'd be funny to bake her a flower pot cake with chocolate soil and see her scoop up a fistful, the way she tries to eat the real thing! (the chocolate soil was made with sugar free dark chocolate, raw cacao and medjool dates, whizzed together in the thermomix til it looks like soil.)

Here is the result of our efforts, a flour and sugar free chocolate flower pot cake, frosted with cream cheese and rice syrup frosting, coloured with raw cacao and natural food dyes.

 

 

 

 

Breakfast Habits

Something as simple as changing your breakfast habit can have a profound effect on your health. When you have a great breakfast, you set your body up for the day. A high nutrition breakfast, with heaps of proteins and fats, will make you feel on top of it, and really full all morning. A breakfast high in carbohydrates will leave you hungry again soon. A breakfast high in refined carbs (anything out of a box or bread bag, or from the patisserie) will set up a sugar craving cycle for the day, with your blood sugars bouncing from too high to too low at an alarming rate, taking your concentration with it. Not to mention it's the quickest way to put on weight.

So, a breakfast habit high in proteins and fats. There are many ways to achieve this, you can use whatever combination suits you. The foods to focus on are:

Eggs: the perfect breakfast food! Scrambled, fried in butter, omelet... The yolks are wonderful sources of fat soluble nutrients, and you can pop them in breakfast smoothies. I buy Cackleberries eggs, they're biodynamic and nice and fresh.

Home made baked beans: Soak white beans overnight, then boil them up, preferably in some home made broth, then stir in a home made red sauce. Freeze into portions, defrost the previous evening and heat up in the morning. You could add cheese :) mmmm

Avocado and cheese on Rye toast: might pair well with the next one...

Nitrate free bacon: excellent protein source. Must be nitrate free, and free range if possible.

Oats: soak overnight, then cook with raw milk, nut milk or coconut milk for fats and protein. You can add some activated nuts too, and some raw honey. Usually I soak the oats in the thermomix, so in the morning all I have to do is add milk and turn it on. I only do this one in winter. Doesn't appeal to me in the hot weather.

Smoothies: These are indispensable when you're in a hurry. Here's the smoothie recipe I make for Antonio each morning

• Raw milk or nut milk, I have also used a combo of coconut milk and coconut water
• 2 raw yolks from high quality eggs
• Some berries, fresh or frozen (or any other fruit. Mango works with coconut)
• Half a banana, fresh or frozen
• large tsp mundella plain yoghurt, kefir or some of my probiotic powder

Other potential ingredients might be chia seeds or some other superfood supplement or a fibre supplement.

Green smoothies: This is a fabulous habit to get into. It's one that I'm trying to cultivate right now, so I wont carry on too much about it yet, I don't feel qualified! The basic premise is a fruit and veggie smoothie. Do google it, if you feel you're ready for a real health surge!


So you see that these are all really dense, nutrition filled breakfasts. They all contain enough protein and fats to keep you healthy and satisfied for hours. Contrasted with a bowl of bits of cardboard from a box, it doesn't take a nutrition expert to see which will serve you better! So change your habit to one of these! Pick the one that appeals the most, stock up on ingredients and give it a whirl!
                                           

Whole Food Parties

As promised, this post is about catering a kids party using health foods and sugar substitutes. It's perfectly possible to do this. I did it recently; everyone asked for my honey ginger cake recipe, there were zero cookies left after 2 hours, and one Mum even discovered her 4 year old was mad for fresh blueberries.

In addition to the routine dips, rice crackers and veggie sticks, there was a zucchini slice made by Mum, cut into finger sized pieces, and little meatballs made by MIL. The sugar free sweets included a chocolate cheesecake slice, a ginger honey cake, chocolate chunk cookies and the birthday cake. There was also some cut up fruit.

The birthday cake was a butter cake recipe from taste.com.au, into which I substituted gluten free flour and rapadura sugar. I could also have used coconut sugar. I experimented with using my thermomix to turn the rapadura into icing sugar, which worked well texturally speaking, but didn't taste awesome! I'll keep experimenting and give a recipe when I'm satisfied.

The ginger honey cake was a variation of a wonderful recipe I found in Clean Eating magazine. Here's my version:

1.5 cups stone ground spelt flour
1 tbsp baking powder
1.5 tbsp ground ginger
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ground cloves
1/2 cup unprocessed honey
1/2 cup egg whites (that was about 4)
1/2 cup milk
1/3 cup organic cold pressed peanut oil

Preheat oven to 180

Sift dry ingredients into a large mixing bowl.

In a medium bowl, whisk wet ingredients until combined. Pour into dry ingredients and combine, then bake in a sandwich tin about 25 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean. You can also use it for cupcakes.

See? Great recipe, nothing to it!! Also great because the cake actually improves with time in an airtight container, so I was able to bake it 2 days in advance. On the day I cut it in half and filled it with whipped cream. Yum. And low GI.

Gluten free honey sweetened cut out cookies: here. You can use some other flour if you like, I used a stone ground spelt and the recipe needed about a cup and a half rather than one cup. If you cut them into cool shapes, like the birthday kids' newly acquired age, as Nigella suggests in 'How to be a Domestic Goddess', they don't need fancy icing. For a christmassy feel, just add ginger, cloves and nutmeg, poke a hole in them before they go into the oven, then hang them from the tree by a ribbon when they cool. Nawww

The cheesecake slice was a matter of googling 'no bake chocolate cheesecake' and following the recipe for the filling, substituting rapadura for the sugar. I had also bought Well...Naturally's sugar free dark chocolate bars from the supermarket. I infused them into some cream by heating it on the stove and melting the chocolate into it. It chilled in the fridge, then I whipped it and used it in the cheesecake.

I have also had success making a honey cheesecake which is gaps friendly using this recipe by Sally Fallon-Morell. I usually halve it though, to fit a 22cm spring form pan. And it's amazing if you add 200g of pureed strawberries to the mixture! I put in some with the honey, some to swirl through the mixture, and the rest I drizzle over the top. Food of the gods.

The cheesecake crust, however, was 130g of pitted medjool dates, 130g of organic almonds, 20g of raw cacao (or more if you're game), 2 tbsp virgin coconut oil and a splash of vanilla extract. You can also throw in a handful of dessicated coconut. I blitzed this in the thermomix til the almonds were broken into small chunks, but not totally homogeneous with the rest of the mix. Then I pressed it into a biscuit tray and stuck it in the fridge.

The chocolate chunk cookies were easy too, just a matter of substituting rapadura and gluten free flour into this recipe from Joy of Baking.

At a recent brunch party, I served piklets made with stone ground spelt flour, eggs and milk. The topping options were lemon, honey, maple syrup, whipped cream and fresh berries.

I also made little yoghurt cups with mango or berries and maple syrup.

There are so many options and with a little imagination, the run-of-the-mill fairy bread starts to look pretty boring!

At the moment I'm experimenting with ice creams and Christmas cakes, all gaps friendly. I'll hopefully post about those delectable morsels before Christmas!

Wholefoods for Baby - recipes

Here are some of the wholefoods recipes Antonio loves best.

Baby Dahl recipe

This is a recipe I've addapted from my Harre Krshna cookbook, which I love. It's fantastic because I can make a large quantity if we're having Indian food for dinner and we all eat the same. Always preferable to cooking two different meals! These quantities make about 2 meals for baby.

1/8 cup masoor dal
1/8 cup quinoa or rice
2 cups water
1 tomato
70g sweet potato
2tsp butter or ghee
2tsp grated fresh ginger
2tsp cumin seeds
1tbsp organic shredded coconut
pinch aesefetida (if you have it)
sea salt to taste

Boil dal and quinoa/rice in a small pot with the water. Add sweet potato and chopped tomato, boil again, cover and turn down heat. When the dal has dissolved turn off the heat and cover.

In a small frypan heat ghee or butter, add ginger and cumin seeds and fry. Add coconut and brown a little, don't burn the spices. Add aesefetida and remove from heat. Add spice base and some salt to the dahl. Blend with a stick blender and serve.

Cauliflower soup

Another one for the whole family. These flavours compliment fish well, so I sometimes poach a slice of a mild, white fish in the soup, then break it up with a fork.

one whole cauliflower
2 large potatoes
1 cup quinoa
1 leek
1L homemade chicken stock
sea salt

Fry off leek in a heavy casserole pot, add potatoes, cauliflower, stock, quinoa and salt. Boil then blitz!


Baby Breakfast Smoothie

This fun, fabulous recipe is made possible because Antonio learned to drink from a straw! It was so easy to teach him, and makes it easy to keep his fluids up. The following can be blizted in a processor or in a milkshake cup using a stick blender.

half a banana
1/3 cup of fresh or frozen berries
2 tbsp whole natural yoghurt
1 tbsp coconut cream
one raw egg yolk



Baby Bucco recipe

1 small slice osso bucco
half carrot
half celery stick
small onion
small garlic clove
1/2 cup homemade chicken stock (or water)
splash of olive oil
2 fresh tomatoes or half tin chopped tomatoes
sea salt
optional dried herbs

Chop veggies and saute (all but tomatoes) with the oil or butter til soft. Add dried herbs. Brown osso bucco in another pan, then add to vegies. Add stock, chopped garlic and tomatoes, then season and pop the lid on over low heat and cook 1/2 to 1 hour, til the meat is soft and the bone is empty. Chop or blizt, depending on the age of your baby.


Baby Lamb Korma recipe

This is a recipe I pulled from an online Indian recipe database years ago, and I've made it so many times since then that I no longer require the recipe, my hands do it on autopilot! You don't have to use lamb, I've done it with beef, chicken and vegetarian. This makes a few meals worth.

1 clove garlic
same amount fresh ginger
100g lamb cubed
half a cup cubed veg, anything works
half a tin chopped tomatoes
3 tbsp whole natural yoghut
1 small onion
2 tsp cumin seeds
2 cardamom pods
2 whole cloves
tsp garam masala
tsp turmeric
sea salt


Mince ginger and garlic and put into 1/4 cup water and set aside.
Heat ghee and add cumin seeds and onion. Fry til the onion softens, then add other spices. Add tomatoes and allow to reduce. Add yoghurt and veg.

In a separate pan, heat more ghee and brown meat, then add to the curry. Cook until the meat is soft, gradually adding the garlic/ginger water. Remove whole cardamoms and cloves, and cut up or puree.

Wholefoods for Antonio

Having finally emerged from the sleep deprived daze of my child's first 10 months, I feel ready to take up my blogging anew. I'll begin with a topic dear to my heart; little Antonio's journey into solid foods. I feel it's an interesting one since there are such strong controversies surrounding the subject of a baby's diet, as with diet in general, however in addition to the controversy, parents become emotional about the food they choose for their kids. There is much conflicting information about this, and as Mums we read or ask our female kinfolk in search of the best advice.

The wisdom I found satisfactory was provided by nutritionists such as Sally Fallon and Jude Blereau, who espouse a return to the traditional cooking methods of our ancestors which our bodies are evolved to, rather than following the often misguided and unhealthy advice of the current "pollitically correct" (cereal box) nutritional models. In practical terms this means offering whole foods to provide the 3 macronutrients; fats, protein and carbs, and the many micronutrients (vitamins, minerals etc)required for good health.

Antonio's solid food journey began when he was around 5 months old. Until that time he was exclusively breastfed, and although the WHO recommend that continue to 6 months, my big boy was clearly displaying signs of starvation! I judged him to be ready for foods, and began by handing him spoonfuls of mashed avocado to put into his mouth (the first destination of all grasped objects), which were sucked down and how.

It was mostly avocado during this first month. Avo, how do I love thee, let me count the ways!

1. It's RAW and packed with life force, live vitamins like A, E, C, and K, and minerals like iron, magnesium, zinc and selenium


2. it's green, therefore packed with antioxidants


3. it's high in fats, therefore perfect for little growing brains, very like breastmilk


4. It's an uber convenient, portable baby food


5. it's anti-inflammatory, therefore perfect for emerging teeth


6. it helps with blood sugar balancing

Other than avocado, Antonio had some mashed sweet potato, some flaked quinoa mixed with expressed breastmilk, and some fruits like pear, apple, rockmellon and late season blood plums (he loved those!).

After an early experience with baby rice cereal which constipated the poor little thing, I did some reading and concluded that I should have followed my instinct not to feed it to him. No one does well on refined grains. I threw out a full box.

At that early stage of fooding, I was more interested that it was a fun experience and generally allowed Antonio as much autonomy as safety permitted. We laughed throughout, and he usually wore at least as much as he ingested. He always licked the bowl.

After the early stages of single tastes, when he began to take 2 and then 3 meals a day, I began to mix his veggies into stews, added some such as carrots, peas, pumpkin, green beans, zucchini, brocoli (loved that...still does!), and grains such as whole oats and whole rice. At this point I tried egg yolks, which were a raging success and I wish I'd started them sooner! I often give them as an appetiser because they increase his interest in dinner.

The value of egg yolk is in the fats, vitamins and minerals. The phospholipids found in runny egg yolk are invaluable brain nutrition. High levels of zinc, calcium, selenium and iron as well as vitamins A, E, and K make it an important food for all of us, but most interesting is the levels of vitamin D, about 110 IU per 100g, means we should consume these all winter long. In fact 2 egg yolks contain 60% of the daily requirement of vitamin D.

Many people are scared to give eggs to their infants because they're on the no-no list of the handy hand-out we get from the child health clinics. This is because infants can't yet digest egg whites, but it's such a shame to ignore the enormous benefits of the yolk. Here is the preparation method that best worked for Antonio and me:

Take one or two free range organic eggs. Boil a small pot of water. Separate white from yolk with your hands. Store the whites in the freezer to make friands, pavlovas etc. Have a small cup (like a little espresso cup) and a soup spoon at the ready. Drop the yolk into the boiling water and wait a minute. Fish it out with the soup spoon and gently peirce the yolk, squeeze the runny stuff into the cup, eat the 'skin' yourself (this way you wont unwittingly serve an off egg to bubby. Trust me it happened last night, thank god I realised!) and serve.

For some current information about egg consumption:

www.whfoods.com

After another while, around 8 months, Antonio tasted meat for the first time, which probably should have been fish, but was organic chicken instead. As it turns out, he loves fish, which I poach for him in coconut cream and water, with a few complimentary veg such as zucchini, peas or broccoli. He enjoys his chicken, beef and lamb too, and his favourite meals from this range of foods include my Grandma's chicken stew, lamb stew, "Baby Bucco" which is his own version of Osso Bucco, and poached fish. I am careful to space out his intake of meat to go easy on his little liver, and I tend to give yolks on the non meat days. I try to give him home made chicken stock as often as possible, as this mineral rich brew is arguably the most beneficial thing he could ingest.

His favourite vegetarian meals include dahl / lentil and veg soup, pumpkin risotto, potato and broccoli, minestrone with quinoa, banana and avocado with coconut cream, and the very recently added plain, full fat, natural yoghurt. He also enjoys nawing on some of my avocado rye bread toast.

The foods Antonio has not yet tasted are those I consider to be on the unhealthy side; sugar and refined wheat products like bread and pasta. The later his body has to deal with these insults the better he'll be set up for health in later life. You may find yourself thinking "I was given pasta as a baby", and many people do this, but consider that the cultures whose chronic and increasing ill-health are those that consume refined carbohydrates, while the healthiest people on the planet do not. Rather than emulate your own parents, move forward with what science has shown our ancestors knew; food comes from nature, not factories.

I encourage anyone in charge of a childs's diet to pick up a copy of Jude Bereau's Wholefoods For Children, and also Sally Fallon's Nourishing Traditions. Both are exceptional and very complete nutrition advisers.

As I refine the recipes Antonio prefers, I may post them in subsequent blogs.

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Meals that Heal

Another recipe blog!

Here are some recipes for meals so high in nutrition they're actually medicinal. One of the ancient forefathers of medicine said "let food be your medicine and let your medicine be your food". We're beginning to discover how right he was; science is discovering that we absorb nutrients most effectively from food and not so effectively from supplements. What a shock, Mother Nature had it right the first time! Humans still can't beat her complex system.


So include these kinds of meals regularly in your diet and feel the vitality!


Grapefruit and Avo Salad (to serve 2)

Grapefruits are awesome food. They actually clean the liver! Only Mother Nature provides substances that clean the liver at this stage, modern medicine hasn't yet come that far. A clean liver is important because the liver regulates the health of our entire body. It's the body's filtration system. A healthy liver burns more fat, increases immunity to disease, prevents allergies like hay fever and asthma, balances cholesterol, balances hormones and allows you to feel energetic and vital, free from toxic accumulation and hyper-acidity.

Apart from grapefruits, eating more raw foods will help to clean the liver.


1 large pink grapefruit, segmented and cut into chunks
1 large avocado, cut into chunks
fresh salad greens, like baby spinach
handful of sprouts, like alfalfa
a few tbsp organic olive oil to dress

In a bowl toss the salad leaves with the alfalfa to distribute evenly, then arrange pieces of avo and grapefruit over the top. Drizzle with oil and serve with fish, tempeh or chicken.



Stracciatella Soup

This is a traditional soup from the region of Lazio in Italy. (Rome is in Lazio.) It's made for any ill person who doesn't want solid foods, and it packs some fantastic nutritional value into every spoonful. This one was passed on to me by my Dad, so it's particularly special.

2L home made chicken stock (see Eating Warm part 1 for recipe)
1/3 cup Parmesan cheese
4 eggs
big handful fresh chopped parsley

Bring stock to the boil and simmer. Whisk eggs and add grated Parmesan and chopped parsley. In a thin stream, add to the simmering stock while whisking to separate. Simmer another minute or two to cook through, then serve hot.


Turmeric Cabbage

A double dose of greatness! Turmeric is a powerful anti-inflammatory with an affinity for the liver. As a concentrated medicine it can be used to treat inflammatory conditions from arthritis to hepatitis to colitis. As a spice in cooking it's a great preventative for all these things. Also, the mustard seeds have anti inflammatory properties.

Cabbage is a fabulous alkaliser, and therefore also great for reducing inflammation. Studies also show that cabbage has special anti-cancer properties, especially when gently cooked as in this recipe. It's one I've adapted from my Hare Krshna cookbook, one of my prize possessions!

Half a head of cabbage, shredded
4 or 5 medium tomatoes cut into wedges
2 tbsp black mustard seeds
1 tsp asefetida
1-2 tbsp turmeric powder
1 small cinnamon stick
2 cloves
ghee
salt


In a large pan heat the mustard seeds until they start to pop. Add ghee then asefetida, cloves and cinnamon stick, stir for a minute, then add cabbage and turmeric. Sweat the cabbage down gently and turn to coat with spices and ghee. Add tomato wedges and cover for about 5-10 minutes over low heat. You want to retain some crunch in the cabbage. Warm through, covered, then serve with rice and dahl.




Sprouted Quinoa and Coriander (cilantro) Pesto


Coriander is a wonder-herb. Recently scientists found it's capable of chelating heavy metals. In English that means it safely removes Aluminium, Arsenic, Mercury &c. from the body. Those metals don't belong in our bodies, but when they get in there they can cause chronic ill health; fatigue, lowered immunity, poor metabolism etc. They get into us via dental fillings, cookware, vaccinations, contaminated food eg shellfish, etc


When quinoa is sprouted and prepared raw its nutrition is increased enormously. Sprouting foods increases the vitamin content so much that they become medicinal. If you add sprouted quinoa to your diet you can prevent lifestyle diseases like type 2 diabetes and heart disease. Quinoa is also well known as a helpful food in female reproductive disorders from painful periods to infertility, and helps to increase breast milk for lactating mothers.

Pine nuts are the highest protein nut, so combined with the protein from the quinoa this recipe is very low GI, therefore a perfect snack for anyone seeking to loose weight or increase muscle mass.

2 cups chopped coriander leaves and small stems
1 cup sprouted quinoa
1/2 cup chopped pine nuts
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
1 clove garlic

To sprout the quinoa soak a cup of dry white quinoa in a bowl of cold water for at least 4 hours.


Blitz all of the above in a little blender. Use it as a dip with some vegie sticks, or stir it through rice for flavour.

Eating warm

There is no one right way to eat. I believe the only rule about nutrition is this; if you're not feeling vital and energetic, looking and feeling fabulous, change something. We all deserve to feel awesome all the time, and food choices are one of the biggest determining factors. However 'correct food choices' means something different at different times of the year, depending on your ethnicity, age, level of activity, job and so many other lifestyle factors.

Thus, when I'm asked what we should eat during Winter, I find it a little difficult to launch into the discussion. So what I will do is take the opportunity to talk about seasonal eating, since this topic takes things like geography into account.

First, I shall yet again point out the flaws in the current prevailing supermarket food supply. If you buy 'fresh' food from the supermarket you probably have no idea what's in season at what time of year, since supermarkets transport frozen foods over vast distances and keep them in cold storage for very long periods so they can be available year round. So while some of the produce may be reasonably fresh, some will not be, and those that aren't have seriously compromised nutritional values. Even when you buy organic you need to be aware that some things may have been flown in, so familiarise yourself with what is in season in your local area each season.

When it comes to preparation of foods it's important to observe your body's instincts and inclinations. A salad is a very healthy choice in summer, but is far too light at midwinter, when the body needs as much help to warm up as possible. Therefore soups, stews, stir-fries, curries and roasts are the healthy choice for Winter. Of course, cooking the begeezers out of your vegies certainly reduces the nutritional content, so nature thought up a balancer for that too.

Here's a fantastic tip for boosting the nutritional content of your food in Winter time: Cook with your own home made stock.

Stock recipe

(You will need an enormous pot with a lid, a silicone muffin tray and some tuppaware, as well as lots of time.)

2 or 3 chicken carcasses or some beef bones from the biodynamic butcher
2 or 3 carrots
3 stalks of celery
2 unpeeled onions, halved
2 or 3 tbsp white vinegar

Place carcasses or bones into the pot, cover with cold water and add vinegar. Allow to stand for one hour. Add roughly chopped veg and bring to a boil. Using a seive, skim off any scum from the surface, then turn the heat way down to very low, cover and simmer for 6-12 hours for chicken and up to 24 hours for beef stock. Add water if you need to.

Once this has cooled, strain and discard the solids, and freeze the liquid into tuppaware and muffin pans. I find it's useful to mark the number of cups on the container for when you need a specific amount. This won't matter if you're making soup, but for things like rice and quinoa you'll need to know a more exact quantity.

So that's my stock recipe. I make this once every 3 weeks or so to keep my freezer full. The purpose of standing the bones in the vinegar water is to liberate the gelatin and the lovely minerals from them. Preparing food with this stock is a wonderful way to increase the nutritional content. And also much tastier than the packaged stuff! Bonus.

Adding spices to food is another great idea during winter. Cumin, ginger, cloves, black pepper, turmeric, chilli, cardamom, cinnamon and herbs like parsley, thyme, corriander, sage and galangal are really important during winter to warm the body and boost immunity. Cumin turns a pumpkin soup into restaurant quality, along with a little last minute orange zest over the plate. Toss some chilli, garlic and olive oil throgh some lightly blanched greens, or make poached pears with cinnamon or baked apples with cloves, (both can be sweetened with honey) for dessert. Nature provided us with these gorgeous warming spices to keep us healthy. They're used at midwinter in most traditions, just think of the traditional Yule tide plum pudding or mulled wine!

It's important that we get enough salt through Winter, so make sure you cook with a good quality sea salt or rock salt. As always, avoid processed salts containing anti-caking agents and other additives.

Animal products like meat and eggs are very warming foods and therefore best consumed in Winter. During the Summer they can be too heavy and acid forming, but in small amounts they are great during the cold months. If you imagine our primitive ancestor's diet, meat would have featured more during Winter due to a shortage of most other foods, and this is what our bodies are genetically accustomed to.

Other warming foods are the high carbohydrate veg like pumpkin, sweet potato, carrots, leeks, parsnips etc, legumes like beans and lentils, nuts and seeds, and grains like rice, oats and quinoa.

In winter we still require our 2 litres of water daily, but drinking cool water is often the last thing we feel like doing, and quite rightly. During the cold months it's much better to drink warm cups of herbal tea for our fluid intake. Some of the most useful are rosehip tea, which tastes yummy and is a great source of vitamin C, liquorice tea, which soothes the lungs and digestion and decreases stress, and green tea, which is full of antioxidants like quercetin (which is helpful in treating varicose veins).

When I was going through school I remember being freezing in the classroom and playground during winter. It's really difficult to combat this using food since it has to be sent in a lunch box, but it is possible. Personally I would love to see tuck shops producing some healthy warm food for kids lunches. But until that time, here are some tips for keeping little ones (and big little ones) warm using food.

Breakfast should be warm and heavy; eggs, either soft boiled, lightly fried or poached, or some organic oatmeal with honey are perfect. Then fill the lunchbox with heavy, wholesome snacks like organic salted nuts, crispy polenta sticks, real cheese (not the processed stuff), vegie patties made with grated sweet potato, leek or zucchini, or a cold rice or quinoa pilau made with your homemade stock, some spices and some vegies. If you have to put in a sandwich, replace the salad and sprouts with a piece of grilled chicken or roast lamb, some cheese, avocado and some grilled veggies. Use a heavier bread like rye or oat flour bread, and maybe even grill it. When their food keeps them warm they'll learn better and have more energy to run around and warm up even more.

So to conclude, follow your instincts in every season. Find a way to continue to eat healthy, whole foods so they keep you warm, using ideas like homemade stock, quality salt and spices.

If your immunity needs an extra boost, try a good quality powdered vitamin C supplement and some zinc tablets, or see your naturopath for individualised treatment.

Warm fuzzies! Love, Sara

What Is Natural?

I came across this really interesting question as I leafed through the food legislation news headlines this week. The reason I find it so interesting is because there are currently too many definitions of the word natural within the language of the Western diet, and I believe it's really important that we pause and consider what 'natural' means to each of us.

Food industry use the word 'natural' liberally on food packaging. This is understandable, it appeals to people who value health. But how natural is natural? The dictionary defines it as "existing in or formed by nature". This definition works well for me. As a naturopath I believe all our food should be formed by nature and untouched by man. Thus, if you're reading a package label, you're often way off the mark already! Even if it does claim to be natural, it probably wasn't formed by nature. With the exception of natural pot set yoghurt (the really sour stuff), possibly a couple of items in the health asile (but by no means all of them), most things claiming natural ingredients are far from being formed by nature.

Colourings and flavourings are often advertised as natural. This strikes me as odd considering they're often synthesised in a lab. Currently the laws allow food industry to call a colour or flavour natural even if it's a synthetic copy of a substance found in nature. This said, I can't think of a single food containing added colours and flavours, natural or otherwise, that I would call a real food.

Sugars often confuse people attempting to eat well. When refined sugar is added to food it becomes junk food. This is true of many things we may think are good for us, like breakfast cereals, yoghurts, cheeses, breads and juice. Many commercial juices scream that they have no added sugar. What they fail to mention is that they have added loads of concentrated fructose (this is the meaning of 'reconstituted'), which science is learning can be more damaging than ordinary sugar. Eating a whole fruit is fine because it's dilute. The fibre and water in the fruit act as buffers and slow the absorption of the sugars. Other truly natural sugars include raw, unprocessed honey, raw, unprocessed maple syrup, palm sugar and agave syrup. Even these should be used sparingly.

Grains are another misleading area. Grains are made to sound natural by use of the word 'wholegrain'. A whole grain should be one that is visibly whole, exactly as is was when it was pulled from the stalk, like rice, oats or quinoa. Most breakfast cereals are made from refined, processed grains, while their box advertises the 'wholegrain goodness' of the contents. Remember, if it's not a true whole grain, it's sugar, not complex carbohydrate, and therefore not a good breakfast choice. The same is true of crispbreads, rice crackers, pasta, bread and couscous.


Oils are another problem. Any oil sold in a clear bottle, or that doesn't say 'cold pressed' is not natural. It's been mixed with petrochemicals and boiled to incredible temperatures to give it shelf life. These oils and the margarines made from them are certainly not natural or healthy, despite sporting the heart foundation tick.

In fact, if I'm going to be really picky, how natural is it to use chemical fertilisers, pesticides and fungicides on our food crops? Or to freeze them for weeks before selling them? For me, the only truly natural foods are fresh, organic plant foods and biodynamic animal products.

I think it's really important that we all consider what our food is made from, because our body is made from what we choose to eat. It's sad that food has become so complex that we have to wonder 'which food is really food?', but in the west its the only way to stay healthy. So, next time you see the word 'natural' on some 'food' ask yourself "was this formed by nature or by a guy in a factory?".

http://www.foodnavigator.com/Legislation/What-natural-means-in-food-regulations/?c=mvNDRfNEiPf7l3PB0f6h2g%3D%3D&utm_source=Newsletter_Subject&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Newsletter%2BSubject