Quicklinks
Posted by kathryn in Main courses
Given my one-pot meals focus I thought I’d continue the theme into this week’s Quicklinks.
- Haloumi & vegetable bake: It was Sophie from Mostly Eating who directed me to this fabulous recipe potatoes and lots of vegetable baked in the oven and topped with haloumi. Which sounds absolutely lush.
- Quinoa tagine: I’ve linked to it before, but I’ll link to it again, because Ricki’s quinoa tagine with chickpeas and olives is a brilliant example of one-pot cooking. Plus it’s become a staple in our house.
- Lamb & chickpeas: this lamb stew is also perfect one pot cooking. It has meat, vegetables and grain – all cooking together. No browning, or sauteeing required.
- Irish stew: Wendy’s no-effort Irish stew is cooked on the stove top. But it’s the same one-pot principle: lamb, barley and vegetables in a pan; cover with water; and simmer for 2 hours – no other prep or fussing required.
- Tray baked fish: Jamie Oliver’s baked lemon sole also fits the bill. Lemon sole isn’t very common here in Australia, but you could use any good sized flat fish.
Photograph by JBelluch.
One pot meals: Greek "chicken"
Posted by kathryn in Vegan and Main courses
This is one of my favourite, favourite one-pot meals. I’ve been making this vegetable and bean stew for years. I’ve made it for Richard and I, for dinner parties and it never fails to please. In some magic way it manages to be both warming and light, at the same time.
It’s exactly the kind of food I’m loving at the moment.
A perfect example of my one-pot cooking strategy. While there’s a bit of vegetable prep and a few ingredients, this casserole can be in the oven in 10 minutes. And then you don’t have to think about it again for at least 40 minutes.
And it’s a very forgiving dish. I’ve left this in the oven for 2 hours, and it’s still come out tasting beautiful.
One note, despite the title it doesn’t contain chicken. This recipe has evolved over time from a magazine article featuring a recipe which actually contained chicken. I’ve tweaked and changed, adding beans, more vegetables, some paprika, until it’s now completely different from the original.
But I’ve retained the title as a cheeky homage to my mum. Her uncanny knack of making recipes, forgetting the key ingredient is legendary in my family. And a never-ending source of amusement to my dad and I – except it’s obviously genetic, as I’ve inherited the trait.
Greek “chicken”
I’m happy to eat this dish as is, but you could also serve with rice or crusty bread to mop up the juices. Sometimes I also sprinkle fresh olives and fetta over the top. Serves 4 – 6 depending on your appetite.
- 400g sweet potato, peeled & cut into 2cm cubes
- 2 Spanish onions, cut each into 6 wedges
- 1 green capsicum, deseeded & cut into 2cm wedges
- 2 zucchinis, half lengthways & cut into 2cm chunks
- 300g Kent pumpkin, cut into 2cm cubes
- 3 cloves garlic, crushed & roughly chopped
- 6 tomatoes, cut into quarters
- 1 bunch parsley, roughly chopped
- Zest of 1/2 lemon
- Zest of 1/2 orange
- 2 teaspoons sweet paprika
- 2 teaspoons dried oregano
- 2×400g tin of white beans (I use lima)
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
Preheat the oven to 180°C
Prepare the casserole: Prep the vegetables and place all the ingredients in a large casserole dish. Cover with a lid (or foil) and place in the oven. Cook for about 40 minutes, until all the vegetables are soft.
That’s it – casserole ready.
I’m making this for dinner tonight, so I’ll add some photos once it’s out the oven.
I’ve added the photos. As you’ll see from the second picture, the ingredients fill my casserole dish right up to the top. The eagle-eyed among you will also notice I’ve used spearmint this time, instead of parsley.
The way I cook in winter
Posted by kathryn in A Balanced Diet
Mid week meals are all about simple, low maintenance and low fuss. In summer, salads and stir fries are the perfect solution. However as we head into winter I find myself wanting something more hearty.
In winter I want easy and hearty and healthy.
Which can seem like a big ask. But it’s why each winter I find myself drawn to one pot cooking. Dishes where you roughly measure a series of ingredients into a casserole dish, place in the oven, walk away and then 40 minutes or an hour later, you have a wonderful dinner. It takes time, but no effort.
These recipes cook themselves. And they constantly remind me of the alchemy of cooking. Ingredients, heat and time yields a meal so much greater than the sum of its parts.
I cook these meals on the weekend, or if I’m working from home. They require about 10 minutes of attention and then leave me free. To carry on working, doing chores or lie on the couch wrestling with the latest sudoku.
Most one-pot meals make excellent leftovers. These dishes are usually even better the next day. In the fridge, the flavours have further time to fuse and soften, gaining in complexity and delicious-ness.
Over the next few days I’m going to be featuring some of my favourite one-pot meals. There will be a couple of my own recipes, plus links to other’s.
And I’d love to know – what are your favourite one-pot meals?
Photograph by jbelluch.
Seeking: one massage therapist
Posted by kathryn in All In A Day's Work
This is one for the readers living in Sydney . . .
As you may know I co-run the Balance2health clinic in Gladesville. My clinic partner is Alexia Morris, pilates instructor and personal trainer extraordinaire.
And we’re looking for a massage therapist or aromatherapist, to complement our clinic.
We have a large, bright and light-filled room, available all day on Mondays. We’re looking for someone experienced, self-motivated, who will thrive on working independently.
Obviously you must be a fully qualified, registered professional, with insurance.
If you’re interested send me an email.
Michael Pollan at the Sydney Writers' Festival
Posted by kathryn in Health News
Those of you in Sydney might be interested to know Michael Pollan is taking part in this year’s Writers’ Festival.
Tomorrow morning he’s in conversation with Caroline Baum. While in the afternoon he’s taking part in a forum on the future of food. His fellow panellists include someone from the CSIRO’s “designed food” team and an agricultural scientist – so should be an interesting debate.
Update: Michael Pollan was also on the 7.30 Report last night – you can read the transcript here.
Two questions
Posted by kathryn in Shopping Basket and Blogging
Can anyone tell me what a pot sticker is?
I read about them all over the place. Obviously they’re a common thing. But I’ve never heard of them. And each article I read seems to feature a different food.
Does anyone know where to buy farro in Sydney?
I’m obsessed with Helen’s best salad ever. The recipe looks glorious. I want to try it. But am having no luck buying farro.
Do we call it something else here in Australia? Am I looking in the wrong places?
Any help, thoughts and explanations would be VERY welcome.
Photograph by ccsdteacher.
The last word on eating a varied diet
Posted by kathryn in A Balanced Diet
Over the last week I’ve been blogging about the importance of variety in your diet. Over four days I posted a list of the foods I ate, to check on the variety in my own eating.
Each day I ate over 30 different foods, but you may have noticed the same ones cropping up regularly.
While my daily totals exceeded 30 foods, when I count the number of different foods over the four days, it totals 65. This gives an average of 16 foods per day.
Changing your shopping list
I think this would be a common pattern in my diet and it’s partly a reflection of my habit of shopping on a weekly basis. I buy a certain amount of food, to last the week. By default that means I’m going to be eating the same foods several times.
But then when I go shopping the next week, I’ll buy something different. While last week there were lots of bananas and mandarins, this week I bought more oranges, grapes and apples. Last week we had bok choy and beetroot greens, whereas this week I’m eating silverbeet and cabbage.
Varying your shopping list each week, gives you variety over a stretch of time.
Varying the foods in the freezer
I also usually spend some time cooking every couple of weekends. I make regular batches of soup and often cook some muffins or snack bars. These go straight in the freezer and I find them invaluable for snacks, breakfast variety and quick lunches.
But I’ll never make the same thing two cooking sessions in a row. Last time I made roasted cauliflower soup, the tahini bars, fetta and olive muffins and the quinoa croquettes. So these foods have turned up frequently in my diet.
However next time I do some cooking I’ll make something else. Maybe a different flavoured soup, some apple and oat bars, or I’ll switch to fruit muffins, rather than savoury.
Again, this is another way I vary what I eat over time.
Other people talking about variety
I also asked readers to note down the variety of foods they were eating. And thanks to all of you who took part.
Johanna, Sue and Ricki all left examples of their menu in comments. While Cassie, Lili and Stephanie have all blogged about their own food variety.
Blogging kindness
Posted by kathryn in Blogging
I’ve been very tardy. Two lovely bloggers have tagged me and I haven’t acknowledged their kindness.
A Life (Time) of Cooking has tagged me for a Yummy Blog Award. While Confessions of a Food Nazi calls me a Blogger with Purpose.
Thank you both. I’m stoked and really do appreciate it.
Most Fridays I lodge a Quicklinks post. Five or six articles I’ve seen during the week – stuff that has sparked my interest. It may be a piece of writing that has made me think, or a neat trick making it easier to eat well. I include recipes using unusual ingredients, or quick and easy ways to make a healthy meal. The Quicklinks are what I consider the best of the food and nutrition articles from that week.
And you will have seen some names coming up regularly. You’ll know I have enormous respect for Lucy, Cassie and Sophie. That I think A Great Big Vegetable Challenge a brilliant idea and regularly cook from both A Wee Bit of Cooking and Green Gourmet Giraffe. Ricki and Helen inspire me to try out new ingredients. While I can’t get enough of The Amazing Adventures of Dietgirl, and Cranky Fitness makes me both laugh and think usually at the same time.
Along with A Life (Time) of Cooking and Confessions of a Food Nazi these are the bloggers I read and learn from. And I want to say a whopping big thanks to each of them. Their time, intelligence, imagination and generosity amaze and delight me. And their blogs enrich my world. Thank you.
Photography by Vito.
5 easy ways to increase the variety in your diet
Posted by kathryn in A Balanced Diet
This week I’ve been talking about eating a variety of foods. I’ve blogged about why it’s important, and I’m also in the process of listing the variety of foods I’m eating this week. Plus I’ve asked you to keep a track of how many different foods you’re eating.
With fruit and vegetables we are told to aim for 2 + 5 serves a day. But there’s no magic figure for the number of different foods you should eat. No guarantee that if you eat 10, 20, 40 different foods every day, you’ll be healthy. Nutrition doesn’t work like that.
However, if you try to eat a greater variety of foods, you will be healthier for it.
Eating a wider range of foods may seem like a lot of work. But it doesn’t have to be that way. In fact there are a number of easy, low fuss strategies you can use to increase your food variety. Things you can do today and this week.
1. Choose a different bread
Bread is a staple food in many people’s diet. Most of what we eat is made from wheat. But even in the supermarket there are a wide, wide range of breads available.
You can therefore increase the variety of foods you’re eat, simply by choosing a different bread each week.
If you regularly choose a plain wholemeal, then next week pick up either a rye or multigrain. You could buy some corn tortillas and take wraps to work for lunch. Alternatively try one of the growing number of breads containing seeds.
Choosing different breads increases the variety of grains and seeds you’re eating.
2. Switch to muesli
If you’re used to corn flakes or weet-bix for breakfast, make the change to muesli. This one dietary tweak will add at least three foods to your daily diet. Switch to muesli and your breakfast will change from a one-food meal, to a mixture of grains, nuts, seeds, fibre and dried fruit.
3. Eat seasonal fruit and vegies
While it can be tempting to buy the same fruit and vegies every week, it’s much healthier and cheaper if you shop seasonally. Firstly you’ll be geting produce at it’s peak. Moreover, this way of shopping naturally varies your diet over the course of a year.
This week my fruit bowl contains bananas, pears, mandarins and grapes. Which isn’t a great deal of variety. However six weeks ago I was eating figs, plums and passionfruit. In another six weeks I’ll be eating ruby red grapefruits, navel oranges and fresh dates.
As the seasons change, my diet changes. Which means over the months I’m varying my food sources.
4. Snack on dried fruit & nut mixes
One of the food groups I regularly ask clients to eat is nuts and seeds. They are so full of goodness and make an ideal snack.
If you’re not eating nuts and seeds, by adding them into your diet you’re immediately upping your intake of antioxidants, fibre, good fats and zinc.
But they are also a really easy food to vary around. If you select almonds one week, then the next time you go to the supermarket purchase cashews and pepitas. Or even better, make up your own fruit and nut mix. Choose three types of nuts, a couple of seeds and add in some dried fruit. This makes a perfect mid-afternoon snack to help you avoid energy slumps.
I also regularly make tahini bars. These contain at least eight different ingredients and make a perfect breakfast or snack.
5. Get experimental once a month
Set aside one meal a month as your experimental meal. Use this time to try a new ingredient, or a new recipe. Have a go at cooking quinoa, try out some seaweed, mix up your mushrooms’ test agave nectar as a sweetener’ or “use rhubarb in a savoury dish.
Get out of your routine and try something new.
How many different foods do you eat?
This week on Limes & Lycopene I’m discussing the importance of eating a variety of foods. I’ll be regularly reporting in on the variety of foods I’m eating each day
But I’d also like to know how many different foods you’re eating. Leave your thoughts and progress in the comments below.
The variety of foods I eat
Posted by kathryn in A Balanced Diet
During this week on food variety I’m keeping track of how many different foods I eat each day.
I was originally going to post this information in the comments section. Instead I’ve decided to list it all in one separate post. I’ll add to this over the next few days.
Wednesday
- Quinoa & oat croquettes with strawberry jam: quinoa, rolled oats, sesame seeds, sugar, strawberries
- Mandarin
- Soy coffee: soy milk
- Lentil soup & bread: red lentils, tinned tomatoes, onion, garlic, spices, spinach, wheat
- Tahini breakfast bar: prunes, tahini, dried apricots, oats, pecans, walnuts, pepitas, spelt flour
- Almonds
- Sweet potato & black bean burritos: sweet potato, olive oil, onion, garlic, beetroot greens, black beans, spices, chilli, tortilla with rye, corn & wheat flour, fetta cheese
- Banana & yoghurt
Which I think makes 31 foods. I’ve had the same food in a couple of different forms, eg sesame seeds & tahini; wheat in bread & tortilla, milk in yoghurt & cheese – so I’ve only counted those once.
Thursday
Today was Richard’s birthday, so we ate out in the evening.
- Muesli, yoghurt & raspberries: oats, pepitas, coconut, sultanas, currants, honey, yoghurt, frozen raspberries, soy milk
- Soy milk coffee
- Chocolate
- Fetta & olive muffin: cottage cheese, fetta, olives, spelt flour, walnuts, lemon peel, oregano, eggs
- Cauliflower soup: onions, garlic, carrots, cauliflower, chickpeas, spices
- Banana
- Pizza & haloumi salad: lettuce, snow peas, green beans, olives, haloumi, mustard, wheat, cheese, red onion, tomato, spinach, parsley, mushroom, yoghurt
Which makes about 32 foods.
Friday
- Banana
- Fetta & olive muffins: cottage cheese, fetta, olives, spelt flour, walnuts, lemon peel, oregano, eggs
- Soy latte
- Sweet potato & black bean wrap: sweet potato, olive oil, onion, garlic, beetroot greens, black beans, spices, chilli, tortilla with rye, corn & wheat flour, fetta cheese, cucumber, lettuce
- Mandarin
- Quinoa & oat croquette with strawberry jam: quinoa, rolled oats, sesame seeds, sugar, strawberries
- Soy chai
- Pistachios
- Pasta & tomato sauce: tinned tomatoes, garlic, capers, olive oil, wheat, cheese
- Pear betty: pears, spices, mandarin juice, sugar, butter, wheat breadcrumbs
- Ice-cream: milk & sugar
Which is about 35 foods.
Saturday
A bit harder for me to track, as I went to a party in the evening. So am having to estimate the canape ingredients.
- A version of Cassie’s carrot muesli: oats, walnuts, carrot, spices, cottage cheese, sultanas, almonds, apple, rice milk, yoghurt, agave nectar
- Soy latte
- Chick pea & fetta salad: chick peas, fetta, green beans, bok choy, tahini, olive oil, lettuce, cucumber, olives, beetroot greens, rice vinegar
- Grapes
- Soy chai
- Tahini breakfast bar: prunes, tahini, dried apricots, oats, pecans, walnuts, pepitas, spelt flour
- Canapes: zucchini, egg, onion, yoghurt, bread, tomato, bocconcini, fresh basil, olives, capsicum, fetta
Which makes about 36 foods.
How many different foods do you eat?
This week on Limes & Lycopene I’m discussing the importance of eating a variety of foods.
And I’d love to know how many different foods you’re eating. Leave your thoughts and progress in the comments below.
Why it's important to eat a variety of foods
Posted by kathryn in A Balanced Diet
As I noted yesterday, most health authorities publish lists of dietary principles to follow. In amongst the advice to lower saturated fat, eat more vegetables, choose lean protein and avoid trans fats, the principle most commonly overlooked is the exhortation to choose a variety of foods.
Variety of foods means variety of nutrients
Variety of foods is important, because it’s the best way of ensuring you get all the nutrients you need.
Lists of the healthiest foods in the world are a common feature of magazine articles, TV programmes, blogs and other websites. However there is no one food which contains all the nutrients you need. It simply doesn’t exist.
There aren’t even five or ten foods, which contain all the nutrients you need.
Instead it’s through eating a wide variety of foodstuffs that you ensure your body gets all the protein, fat, carbohydrates, minerals and vitamins it requires for good health.
Variety of foods means variety of antioxidants
By eating a variety of foods you’re also ensuring you get as many different antioxidants as possible. Despite all the fuss about superfoods there is no single food that contains all the antioxidants you need. Not acai, nor pomegranates, blueberries or Indian gooseberries. Not one of these foods has the depth and variety of antioxidants you need.
We don’t need antioxidants in large quantities, but the more different kinds you can consume the better. Antioxidants are not one homogenous thing. Instead they come in many different forms and are found in a range of foods. Different antioxidants also improve your health in varying ways.
Therefore by consuming spices, vegetables, fruit, different wholegrains, tea, nuts, seeds you are ensuring you get enough antioxidants. Both in quantity and variety.
Variety of foods helps to offset food boredom
Eating the same foods every day is easy. In a busy life it can be tempting to stick with what you know. The same breakfast, a revolving menu of three dinners and lunch bought from the same shop every day.
But really, could there be anything more boring?
Food is a wonderful, marvellous, joyous thing. Just think about all the different forms that food comes in. The myriad of colours of vegetables. The different seeds we can eat. How lamb, fish, chicken and tofu are all full of protein and yet they’re so different in flavour and texture.
In my experience, food boredom is one of the main reasons people deviate from their healthy eating plan. If you eat the same foods every day, it’s little wonder the chocolate machine and biscuit tin tempt you each afternoon. Or you cave-in and buy that tub of triple fudge brownie ice-cream at the supermarket. Or stop by McDonald’s on the way home.
Instead, mixing up your foods increases the likelihood you’ll make healthy choices. By eating different things each day and each week, you’ll remain interested and are less likely to give in to the easy gratifications of junk food.
How many different foods do you eat?
This week on Limes & Lycopene I’m discussing the importance of eating a variety of foods. I’ll be regularly reporting in on the variety of foods I’m eating each day
But I’d also like to know how many different foods you’re eating. Leave your thoughts and progress in the comments below.
Update: I’ve posted my first day’s list in the comments section of this post. I’m posting my daily foods lists here.
Photograph by Svenwerk.
How many different foods do you eat?
Posted by kathryn in A Balanced Diet
This week on Limes & Lycopene I want to talk about one of the fundamental principles of good nutrition: eating a variety of foods.
Almost everywhere you look, health and nutrition bodies recommend variety as one of the key dietary guidelines.
So this week I’m going to be talking about why it’s important and what variety actually means. I’ll end the week with the most important part – how to increase the variety in your diet. Some simple and practical suggestions.
But first a question: how many different foods do you eat in a day?
While most people would say they were eating different foods all day, often when you scratch the surface it’s the same fundamental ingredients over and over again.
Say you breakfast on Weet-bix. milk and a banana. Have a ham, cheese and tomato sandwich for lunch, and a couple of biscuits mid-afternoon. Then finish the day with pasta, sauce, parmesan and a side salad.
While you may think you’re eating different foods, the same basic ingredients pop up in each meal:
- Wheat is in the breakfast cereal, the bread at lunch-time, the biscuits and it’s the main ingredient in pasta.
- There’s milk for breakfast, but also a couple of doses of cheese – which are based on milk.
- Tomato is found in the lunch-time sandwich, but it’s also the most likely base for the evening pasta sauce.
- On top of these three there’s a banana, sugar in the biscuits, ham, a few vegies in the salad and pasta sauce, as well as some salt.
If this is your daily diet, then you may only eating about ten different foods a day.
Keeping track of how many foods you eat
Over the next few days I’m going to keep a track of the number of different foods I eat. And I’ll report back. Update: I’m posting my daily food lists here.
But I’d also really like to know how many different foods you’re eating. It’s not a competition – I’m just endlessly curious about what people eat.
I’m looking for basic ingredients. Don’t worry too much about food additives, it’s the fundamental components of your diet that I want you to track.
So, how many different foods do you eat each day?
Photograph by Svacher under the terms of a creative commons license.
The end of Q & A Thursday for this month
Posted by kathryn in Q & A Thursday
That’s it for Q & A Thursday for this month. As ever, thanks to all the readers who lodged questions.
If you have any thoughts or comments, then join in the discussions underneath each post.
Otherwise the next Q & A Thursday will be in June – on Thursday 5th. If you have any questions for then let me know by email.
Q & A Thursday: the nutrient content of sourdough bread?
Posted by kathryn in Q & A Thursday
The last question in today’s Q & A Thursday is from Antti-Juhani:
what is the effect of sourdough fermentation on the macronutrient content of a bread dough?
Really, really, really good question . . . but one I’m not able to answer.
So I’m wondering if anyone else can help?
What I do know about sourdoughs:
- Sourdough bread is made with a starter culture, which is a blend of bacteria and yeast. This culture reacts with the starches in flour and water to produce gas. The gas is trapped as bubbles in the dough – making it rise and form the texture we know as bread.
- Sourdough cultures do impact the texture and taste of breads.
- They can also affect the bioavailability of some nutrients.
- Sourdough cultures affect how we breakdown and absorb carbohydrates: they have a lower GI than yeasted breads.
- The Australian food tables do not differentiate between yeasted and sourdough breads in their nutritional breakdown.
So, while sourdough might affect how we breakdown and use macronutrients, I’m unsure if it changes the overall levels of protein, fat and carbohydrate in the food stuff itself.
So I’m throwing this one open to you. Does anyone have any further information on the effects of sourdough fermentation on the macronutrient content of bread?
What is Q & A Thursday?
This post is part of Q & A Thursday – a monthly burst of blogging, where you get to dictate the subject matter. Q & A Thursday is all about simple, practical answers to food and diet dilemmas sent in by readers.
If you have a question you’d like answered send me an email. For more information you can take a look at the Q & A Thursday archives.
Q & A Thursday: are you all stuffed up?
Posted by kathryn in Seasonal Health and Q & A Thursday
I know that most of you are headed into Spring and Summer. I read enough Northern Hemisphere blogs to know you’re excited about asparagus season and the onset of warm weather.
Here in Australia though, we’re moving rapidly into winter. And . . . the cold and flu season has already kicked off.
Stephanie, Patrick and Helen have all asked about beating winter illness. So I’m going to combine all the questions into one answer.
Beating a cold, flu or respiratory virus is mostly about time. Under optimal circumstances you should be over a cold in a few days, while a flu will take longer – about 7 days.
However, for many people colds and flus linger, weakening your system and generally getting you down. This leaves you open to catching more illness, more viruses and generally perpetuating the misery.
1. If you’re sick you have to rest
It’s what every doctor will tell you. It’s what your mother will tell you. If you are sick, you need to rest. Let me say that again, if you are sick YOU NEED TO REST.
Soldiering on, dosing yourself up on cold and flu tablets, going to work and putting in long days will perpetuate the sickness. Instead of being over it in a couple of days, it will take a couple of weeks.
It can be hard to take time off work and time out from being busy. But think of it as a short-term investment for the sake of your long-term health.
2. To prevent and treat a cold drink lots of ginger tea
My favourite winter remedy is ginger tea. Fresh ginger, lemon and honey in a teapot or plunger. Fill up with hot water and leave to steep for 5 – 6 minutes.
I drink this regularly throughout winter as a general prophylactic. I’d have at least one or two cups every day during the cold months.
But at the first sign of congestion or sickness I start drinking this stuff by the bucket-full. At least five cups. If not more. It’s effective, but you need to drink a lot of it to get the benefit.
3. To prevent a cold or stop one from perpetuating use Echinacea
There are always reports saying Echinacea is good, no it’s bad, no it’s good. In my experience it’s a great herb – provided you use a good quality product. There are a number of echinacea plant species which end up in retail products. Some work really well, while others are basically useless.
If you have the right product, at the right dose it can prevent you from getting sick. It should also reduce the lifespan of your illness and prevent it from perpetuating.
Last year I wrote a post on this subject: echinacea – does it work.
In my work I regularly come into contact with sick people. However I don’t want and can’t afford to be ill myself. If I’m sick I can’t work. This disrupts my diary, annoys clients and interferes with their management plans. Plus if I don’t work I can’t earn income.
So at the beginning of each cold and flu season I take a course of echinacea plus vitamin C and zinc. I do this for about two weeks. I also look after myself during the winter and this generally keeps me illness free.
4. When you’re unwell eat simple, light foods
If you’re sick, it’s not the time for KFC and pizza every night. Your body needs nourishment. It needs the best nutrition you can give it to fight the infection.
Vegetables, low fat protein, wholegrains and fruit are the optimal basics for your diet. Simple soups, steamed vegetables and fish, a warmed bean salad, ginger mushroom not-quite salad, a flavour-filled seaweed soup, green beans with tamari almonds, tofu with green beans in a lemongrass broth, some simple fish parcels.
These are the kinds of foods to eat. Foods that nourish. Foods that don’t tax your system. Foods that provide your body with the building blocks it needs to fight the infection.
3. If you’re sick keep off the grog
Always the most unpopular piece of advice I give. But if you’re sick one of the best things you can do is lay off alcohol for a few days. Alcohol interferes with your sleep, depresses your system and uses up nutrients that could be put to better use. It may make you feel better in the short-term, but alcohol is not helping. So have a few days without that evening beer or glass of wine. Drink ginger tea instead and you’ll feel better for it.
How do you deal with winter illness?
What is Q & A Thursday?
This post is part of Q & A Thursday – a monthly burst of blogging, where you get to dictate the subject matter. Q & A Thursday is all about simple, practical answers to food and diet dilemmas sent in by readers.
If you have a question you’d like answered send me an email. For more information you can take a look at the Q & A Thursday archives.
Q & A Thursday: is vegemite healthy?
Posted by kathryn in Q & A Thursday
I’m going to tread carefully here – commenting on the nutritional value of an Australian icon.
Despina has asked – is vegemite healthy?
The short answer is – it’s not too bad. There are better foods and there are worse foods.
Vegemite is a dark brown paste made from yeast extract, that was first invented in the 1920s. For those living in the UK and New Zealand, it’s similar to marmite.
Vegemite is a concentrated source of some of the B vitamins. One teaspoon contains 50 percent of your daily requirement of B1 (thiamine), B2 (riboflavin), B3 (niacin) and B9 (folate). Unlike Marmite, it isn’t fortified with vitamin B12.
Vegemite is practically fat free and is also low in kilojoules. Which are all positives.
The main problem with Vegemite is it’s high in sodium. One teaspoon contains 150mg of sodium. This is 16 percent of the daily Adequate Intake (AI) level and 7 percent of the recommended Upper Level (UL) of intake.
This is a lot for one teaspoon of a condiment.
It depends how you use Vegemite
As I’ve blogged before the health value of a food is rarely black and white. It usually depends on how you use it.
And this is my main concern with Vegemite. It’s not the product itself which is potentially unhealthy, but what it replaces. The occasional scraping of Vegemite on toast in the morning, or as an afternoon snack is okay, but it’s not an adequate filling for a lunch-time sandwich.
Lunch and dinner are where most people eat the majority of their daily protein. It’s also where we have most of our vegetables.
If you’re having a vegemite sandwich for lunch then you’re missing out on protein, antioxidants and the full spectrum of vitamins and minerals.
As with most foods Vegemite is healthy if enjoyed in moderation.
What is Q & A Thursday?
This post is part of Q & A Thursday – a monthly burst of blogging, where you get to dictate the subject matter. Q & A Thursday is all about simple, practical answers to food and diet dilemmas sent in by readers.
If you have a question you’d like answered send me an email. For more information you can take a look at the Q & A Thursday archives.
Photograph by Dramagirl under the terms of a creative commons license.
Q & A Thursday: the B12 in your diet
Posted by kathryn in The Micronutrients and Q & A Thursday
Continuing from Naomi’s question about iron and B12 . . .
B12 is a whole different kettle of fish. It’s a curious, complex vitamin. Instead of being one molecule, B12 is actually a group of compounds, which are structurally similar and all contain cobalt.
What is vitamin B12?
B12 can’t be made by either plants or animals. Instead it’s manufactured by bacteria and it ends up in our food as a result of this bacterial activity.
And the bacteria in your digestive tract can also make B12, which we can then absorb.
It’s only required in tiny amounts, but B12 is hard to absorb and deficiency is common.
To absorb this vitamin your digestion needs to be in relatively good shape. It takes actions and enzymes produced by your stomach, pancreas and small intestines to absorb B12.
Is it stored in the body?
There are about 2,000 – 5,000mcg of B12 stored in the body. Mostly in the liver.
B12 can be stored for years. The average intake needs to be about 2.4mcg per day to maintain these stores. But losses and gains occur over time, so this is an average figure.
Deficiency symptoms can take five years or more to develop.
Sources of B12
Our main source of B12 is animal foods and products, including milk and dairy.
Plants only provide B12 when the soil they were grown in has not been washed away. For a long time mushrooms were advertised as being high in B12 and “meat for vegetarians”. But this is a myth. It is the soil surrounding the mushrooms that contains B12, not the mushroom itself.
Some foods like tempeh and other cultured foods may contain small amounts of B12 – but these are not reliable sources.
How much do you need?
Current Australian RDIs specify 2.4mcg per day, although more is required in pregnancy and lactation.
- 1 cup of low fat yoghurt contains 1.4mcg
- 50g tinned salmon contains 0.75mcg
- 100g lean beef contains 1.9mcg
- 100ml fortified soy milk contains 0.3mcg
These a full list of the B12 in different foods at Food Standards Australia New Zealand.
What is Q & A Thursday?
This post is part of Q & A Thursday – a monthly burst of blogging, where you get to dictate the subject matter. Q & A Thursday is all about simple, practical answers to food and diet dilemmas sent in by readers.
If you have a question you’d like answered send me an email. For more information you can take a look at the Q & A Thursday archives.
Q & A Thursday: Getting the most out of the iron in your diet
Posted by kathryn in The Micronutrients and Q & A Thursday
You have about 3 – 4 grams of iron in your body at any one time.
Much of this is in the haemoglobin molecules in your red blood cells. A smaller amount forms part of certain enzymes, while the rest is in transit, bound to a protein called transferrin. Transferrin manoeuvres iron around your body to wherever it’s needed.
Every day we lose a small amount of iron. Simple bodily functions like sweating, the shedding of skin and cells in the digestive tract, lead to iron loss. Women also lose more iron each month, during their period.
On average men lose 1mg per day, while women lose 1.5 – 2mg per day, averaged over a month.
Because you are continually losing iron, you need to replace it through your diet.
Iron intake vs absorption
Those of you who know your Recommended Daily Intakes will be thinking I’ve gone crazy at this point. Here in Australia the RDI is 8mg of iron per day for men and 18mg for women. Which is quite different from the 1 – 2mg I mentioned above.
This discrepancy is because you don’t absorb all the iron from the food you eat. So you have to eat more iron than you need, to get enough into your actual bloodstream and tissue.
How much iron do you absorb?
There are two types of iron found in food and they have slightly different chemical structures:
- Haem iron is found in meat and meat products
- Non-haem iron is in plant foods
Haem iron is much more easily absorbed than non-haem iron. Which means while plants can contain significant amounts of iron (think spinach and chickpeas), it’s harder to absorb.
However, haem or non-haem, we only absorb a fraction of the iron in the food we eat:
- 15 – 25 percent of the iron from animal sources
- 2 – 5 percent of the iron from plants.
And this accounts for the discrepancy between the RDI and what your body actually needs.
Non-haem iron is important for all
While haem iron is much more easily absorbed, the iron in plant food is an important dietary source, even for non-vegetarians. We simply eat more non-haem iron, because we eat more plant based foods during the day. They are a significant source of iron in all our diets.
How to get the most out of the iron you eat:
- eat plant sources with small amounts of vitamin C foods, as this enhances iron absorption.
- phytates are compounds found in high-fibre cereals which inhibit iron absorption. Limit cereals to breakfast and have them with some fruit (for the vitamin C)
- compounds in tea, coffee and cocoa also limit the absorption of iron, so avoid drinking these with meals
- when you’re low in iron the body is able to compensate to some extent – by absorbing more of the non-haem iron.
- If you eat red meat 2 – 3 times a week, you are almost certainly getting enough iron.
I’ve written about iron sources before in this post, while this post has more about vegetarians and iron.
What is Q & A Thursday?
This post is part of Q & A Thursday – a monthly burst of blogging, where you get to dictate the subject matter. Q & A Thursday is all about simple, practical answers to food and diet dilemmas sent in by readers.
If you have a question you’d like answered send me an email. For more information you can take a look at the Q & A Thursday archives.
Q & A Thursday: Getting enough iron and B12
Posted by kathryn in The Micronutrients and A Balanced Diet
First up on Q & A Thursday, Naomi is asking about iron and B12:
I only cook red meat occasionally at home. How can I maximise the benefit of the iron and B12 in meat when I do eat it? How long does the iron etc I’d get from a meal stay in my system?
The mineral iron and the vitamin B12 are both important micro-nutrients. We use them to form strong, healthy red blood cells. These cells transport oxygen around the body and a deficiency of either B12 or iron will cause anaemia.
B12 is also needed for the healthy functioning of your nervous system. While iron is a component of many enzymes involved in different biochemical processes.
This is quite a large question, so I’m going to cover the answer in two parts. The next post will cover iron and then I’ll write a separate one about B12.
What is Q & A Thursday?
This post is part of Q & A Thursday – a monthly burst of blogging, where you get to dictate the subject matter. Q & A Thursday is all about simple, practical answers to food and diet dilemmas sent in by readers.
If you have a question you’d like answered send me an email. For more information you can take a look at the Q & A Thursday archives.
Do small impediments stop you from eating well?
Posted by kathryn in A Balanced Diet
I had breakfast with a friend over the weekend.
Amidst the discussion of books, politics and mutual friends, we also talked about his diet. He’s a smart man, knows about food, earns a good income.
And yet he’s not happy with his diet.
Each day starts off well. Breakfast is sugar-free natural muesli with fruit, nuts and yoghurt. He has fruit on his desk for morning snacks and eats well at lunch.
However from mid afternoon, the health value of his eating goes down hill.
We talked about why this was and possible solutions.
His reasons ranged over the usual suspects: time, food enjoyment, shopping and planning. They were all small scale issues. None of the limitations were insurmountable and all had a relatively simple fix.
However, all these small impediments added up to him eating badly for half the day.
Small impediments
While there are often large and complex reasons why people eat badly, for many it’s the micro stuff that gets in the way.
No milk in the house, can make the difference between having breakfast and missing out. You forget your afternoon snack and end up raiding the junk food machine. Running out of crucial ingredients makes it seem easier to eat takeaway.
Individually these are not insurmountable. However put together, these small impediments overwhelm and confound our good intentions. Together they can make it seem too hard to eat well.
How to overcome small impediments
Overcoming small impediments takes a bit of problem solving and some lateral thinking.
But first you need to identify what gets in the way.
Have a think about your own diet, or what you’ve eaten over the past week. When did you eat well and when did your good intentions fall over?
The key question to ask yourself is: what specifically stopped me from eating well in that instance?
Were you missing a key food? Did you leave too much time between meals? Would you have been better off with a different food? What could you have changed to make it easier to eat well?
By thinking about it you can often see patterns in the way you eat. By thinking about it, you can come up with solutions to those small impediments. Once you’re clear about where and why your diet isn’t working, it’s much easier to come up with a solution. A way to make your diet better.
Be creative with your solutions, but don’t try to change everything at once. Instead choose one issue at a time, come up with a solution and practice doing that. Then once you’re in a routine, try changing something else.
An example from my own life
After seeing my friend I thought about my own impediments to eating well – which made me think of my hatred of stir-fries.
Don’t get me wrong stir-fries are a great meal and I love eating them. They’re quick, easy and healthy. You can add in lots of vegetables, limit the fat, include protein and still have a tasty, tasty meal.
Plus we always have tofu and vegetables in the house, which are perfect stir-fry fodder. Our mid-week meals would be better and easier to prepare if I made more stir-fries.
Instead I hate and avoid cooking them.
There are lots of reasons for this. I don’t think I cook them very well, we often run out of necessary condiments etc, etc.
But the real reason I don’t cook stir-fries is . . . I can’t stand cleaning the wok.
We have a mild-steel wok. Unlike stainless steel, it’s difficult to clean, rusts easily and requires constant seasoning. And this is enough to stop me from cooking a stir-fry.
There are some obvious answers to this problem. Telling myself to get over it and just clean the damn thing, being one of them.
Instead, thinking about this on Monday night, I hit on a much better solution. Using the elements of a stir-fry meal without actually using the wok.
Instead of stir-frying I grilled slices of tofu and steamed a huge pile of vegetables. I then whisked together a tangy dressing of pre-made Pad Thai sauce, rice vinegar, sesame oil and shoyu. I drizzled this over the vegetables and tofu, sprinkled on some sesame seeds and that was dinner.
A not-stir-fry.
For me it’s the perfect solution. I now have the formula for an easy, healthy mid-week meal, which I can make in 20 minutes. And it doesn’t require me to touch the wok.
What are the small impediments that get in the way of you eating well?
Photograph by Adam Cohn under the terms of a creative commons license.
Ten Minute Kitchen: Tomatoes
Posted by kathryn in All In A Day's Work and Quick recipes
The latest issue of Life etc magazine is now available.
I have a regular recipe column in this magazine, called Ten Minute Kitchen. Three healthy recipes, using a featured ingredient, which can be prepared in ten minutes or less.
The current issue is all about tomatoes. The recipes are:
- Chicken with roasted tomatoes
- Quick lentil and tomato soup
- Beef & tangy tomato tortillas
The magazine is available from newsagents, or you can download the recipes from the Life etc website – about half way down the right hand sidebar.
Q & A Thursday is this week
Posted by kathryn in Q & A Thursday
This is a Q & A Thursday week – so if you have any questions about food, diet and nutrition then send me an email.
For those of you new to Limes & Lycopene Q & A Thursday is a monthly burst of blogging, where you get to dictate the subject matter.
The Q & A Thursday forum is all about simple, practical answers to food and diet dilemmas sent in by readers.
If you have a question you’d like answered send me an email. For more information you can take a look at the Q & A Thursday archives.
3 comments
30 May, 2008
