Throwback Thursday & Healthy Eating Advice!

Now and again I post a little throwback Thursday photo on Instagram but today I thought I’d write a little blog post for you. This morning I was reminiscing by looking at old photos on Facebook when I found this. Firstly, how vibrant does this food look?! This is a super healthy raw vegan burger with root vegetables and some kind of salsa, I believe. This was back in the Summer of 2010 at Inspiral Cafe in Camden, London. For dessert my friend and I had a raw vegan passionfruit ‘cheese’cake which I remember being the best cheesecake I’d ever had and it didn’t even have cheese in it. Tastebud heaven and I’ve just found it on their website, oh I want to buy it. I definitely need to visit Inspiral again, its a shame there’s not more restaurants like this.

It was around this time in 2010 I discovered the raw food diet and the health benefits but it wasn’t for me as I love a good warm meal on a cold evening. However, with that said during that time I became more aware about the goodness of food and why eating organic is important. When we approached 2013 I discovered the 80/10/10 diet which is another raw diet focusing on mainly on fruit but this felt too extreme. Next I found the ‘raw ’til four’ diet in which you eat fruits during the day and then have a healthy dinner for tea which I got on quite well with. Once again though, my knowledge of food has changed and now I concentrate my efforts on eating organic whole foods (foods that haven’t been tampered with!) which kind of means I have grown with my diet and my with my growing knowledge I have incorporated all of my diets into one I’m happy with. Genuinely the best kind of diet you can have is one full of goodness but in noway am I perfect. I know at times I eat the wrong things as I don’t restrict myself as much as I should. However, I’m just glad that when I reach for that chocolate bar I’m not ignorant in believing its the best thing for me. The same with pasta, I’ll eat it now and again (gluten free if possible) but I know its not a whole food and that I should’ve chosen another carb such as potatoes instead. One thing I continue to eat which isn’t a whole food is Quorn because I’m a vegetarian but I’m sure my knowledge will expand further. Our health is everything and even if we don’t abide by the health rules at all times we owe it to ourselves to be aware of food. Let food be thy medicine.

Good Carbs Vs Bad Carbs

This post has become more than a throwback Thursday and I feel like I’m on a roll so I’m going to keep typing. I think some people are so disillusioned about carbs. It makes me laugh when people say things like, ‘Oh, I’m not eating any carbs at the moment, I’ve had fruit for breakfast…’. This is disillusion number 1 which I randomly hear in conversations quite a lot, fruit is a carb!!! Its a great carb but its a carb people! Disillusion number 2 is that carbs are bad for you! No, no, no…the wrong carbs are bad for you such as bread & pasta because they aren’t whole foods. Even if the bread and pasta you eat is brown it still isn’t the best thing for you and you’re better off eating white potatoes which some people may be ignorantly confused at. Although having too many carbs won’t aid weight loss they’re a great source of energy and a must in a healthy balanced diet. If you’re looking to lose some weight cut down on your carb intake but don’t write them off completely.

Good Carbs ~ White potatoes, sweet potatoes, all root vegetables, fruit & rice.

Gluten

This is a topic I’ve learnt a bit about recently through my boyfriend, Mike. Mike is doing a sports science degree and listens to lots and lots of informative podcasts so he has become a great source of knowledge about the body and diet. It appears that a massive percentage of us have a gluten intolerance and don’t even know it. Cutting out gluten has been proved to make you healthier, less bloated and reduce a lot of health problems, it has even been linked to ADHD in children amongst many other illnesses! To find out more about gluten click here and you will be well informed by Dr Thomas O’Bryan.

I’m so thankful my knowledge about food has grown with Mike’s help. He has even wrote out his friends nutrition plans and they’ve had fantastic results. Its such a shame he doesn’t know what to do with me yet as I’m a bit of a complicated client being a vegetarian and wheelchair user.

Fats (written by Mike)

The enemy right? Wrong!

Many dieters opt to follow a ‘low fat’ diet in an attempt to lose weight by switching to ‘low fat’ alternatives, thinking that dietary fat is the only component of the diet that adds body fat. For years, this has been programmed into society by an outdated and ill informed government, who actively seek to promote campaigns such as ‘Change for life’ in a hope that this will cure the epidemic of obesity and diabetes that has swept the UK and US. What they fail to tell you is that the new ‘low fat’ spread is actually processed and packed full of trans-fats and sugars, which, replace the natural fats of the original product…when in fact eating the full fat version would be far healthier. It turns out that these so called healthier alternatives are more likely to make you fat!! Put down the margarine and pick up the butter!! Countries like Sweden, promote the consumption of ‘good fats’ which is a refreshing change to a country that demonises a whole food group, yet sees its population the fattest its ever been.

Amongst many, here are just a few benefits of incorporating a balanced amount of dietary fats into your lifestyle:

Improved brain function, up regulation of fat burning, satiety after meals, hormone up regulation, defence against illness and inflammation, provides energy!!

Yes, thats right I did include…up regulation of fat burning!!

Good sources of fats – Nuts, oils, avocado, seeds, nut butters, oily fish, red meats, butter.

The thing to remember that a regular overindulgence in any macronutrient (carb, fat, protein) will eventually lead to weight gain,  so a balanced diet of all the food groups, with food coming from whole, natural sources with no processing, is by far the best thing for your body inside and out!

To listen to informative podcasts check out Ben Coomber on iTunes!

My favourite organic, gluten free tea time meal at the moment:

Cottage/Shepherds pie with sweet potato mash topping:

What you need:

Mince (I use Quorn but this makes it not gluten free…boo), broccoli, peas, carrots, onions, mushrooms ,sweet potatoes, herbs ,Kallo organic vegetable stock cube, Best Of Bisto gravy, organic butter, extra virgin olive oil.

How to make it:

This is so simple.

1) Chop up your vegetables

2) Boil some water and add your chopped sweet potatoes to it.

3) Pour the oil in to a pan and then add your mince frying it until brown (with Quorn just wing it!)

4) Add the vegetables you desire along with any herbs and garlic. The above is what I tend to include.

5) Once the vegetables have softened a bit mix up your stock cube of choice with boiling water (I use Kallo because its organic and gluten free) then add some of it to your mince and vegetables and allow it to simmer.

6) Once your sweet potatoes are soft mash them and add a little organic butter to make them yummy and creamy.

7) OPTIONAL: You could then empty the mince and vegetables into a oven dish and add the mash and pop in the oven for a bit but I’m impatient sometimes so Mike and I skip this step.

8) Mix up your gravy (I use Best Of Bisto because its gluten free)

9) Mike and I then place our mince onto our plate and top it with the mash and pour gravy all over.

Hearty and scrummy!

I hope you’ve enjoyed this post, I’d love your feedback in the comments below!