2012 May

Kitchen Pharmacy Part 2 – Prevention, plus an immunity hotpot

May 29, 2012 By Meg With 4 comments

Prevention.
It’s better that cure! That is definitely the word on the street. And it certainly saves a lot of time (and money if you think it terms of time off work) to be avoiding illness. By keeping yourself as well as you can you are also in a better position to bounce back faster and more completely if you do get sick.

So how do you stay well and avoid the dreaded lurgies?

There are certain key nutrients that help to maximise immune function, the big three being Vitamin C, Vitamin A/betacarotene and Zinc.

Vitamin C is widely recognised as being of assistance during colds / flu / infections for its ability to reduce the severity and duration of illness. Vitamin C supplements are one of the most widely consumed supplements on the market. They appear in varying quality, forms and strengths, and here is the basic lowdown. Powders are better absorbed than tablets. Smaller quantities taken more frequently is better than one huge dose. Don’t buy chewable vitamin C tablets as they are full of sugar/sweeteners which inhibit your immune system by up to 50%, and this is not what you want!

Having said this, nutrients work better, and are ultimately best absorbed if you have them as part of a whole food! Of course there are circumstances where we require higher doses, but for prevention and general wellness, wholefood is the go.

We are so lucky to have such an amazing array of goodies packed with Vitamin C to choose from, with capsicum, kale, broccoli, thyme and parsley, kiwi fruit, strawberries, citrus fruit, raw cabbage, sweet potato and tomatoes being the high flyers. Be careful though, you can destroy up to 100% of the vitamin C content of these foods during the cooking process as it …

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Kitchen Pharmacy Part 1: cure yourself from your own pantry

May 22, 2012 By Meg With 3 comments

Illnesses such as colds, flu, coughs, sore throats, sinusitis, and other respiratory illnesses have a peak incidence in winter. Mostly these are fairly mild, and are reasonably easily treated if you catch them early. So, since winter is just around the corner, I thought I would prepare you with some self help strategies! There are loads of beautiful immune herbs (in particular Echinacea and Andrographis) which can be extremely useful in some situations, as can the big immune nutrients, which I will talk more about next week in Part 2.

However, you might be surprised to learn that we have a wonderful artillery at our disposal that can be found in our own kitchens and gardens!

Allow me to introduce the following superstars:
Garlic, Sage, Thyme, Onion, Lemon, Ginger and Herbal Teas.
Garlic is natures answer to antibiotics, only better. Antimicrobial, immune enhancing, antiviral, antifungal and antiparasitic! Whoa. Even more exciting, it has been found to display antibacterial activity against various multi-drug resistant strains of bacteria 1. And all wrapped up in a tidy little clove! Go Mother Nature!

The catch? You need to eat it raw, or as close to raw as you can, and ensure that it’s crushed or bruised to release the powerful chemical constituents (allicin and ajoene). You need to be aiming for at least 2 grams a day for these potent antimicrobial effects.

Try adding garlic to meals towards the end of your cooking time (or even better raw) if you want these benefits.

I love raw garlic, but if you struggle with it, try slicing it thinly and placing between two slices of apple, like a sandwich.

Another great method is to make up a garlic oxymel. Oxymels are liquid medicines used to improve the flavour of herbs and have a soothing effect on …

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Cacao Love: Chocolate Avocado Mousse and Chocolate Kale Chips

May 15, 2012 By Meg With 1 comment

I have had a little cacao obsession this week.

It started with the avocado love from last week, which just sort of melted into an avocado chocolate mousse; and finished with cacao and cashew kale chips…. Lucky that cacao is chock full of antioxidants: 10-15 times more antioxidants than blueberries, and 20 times more than green tea to be precise – whoa! Cacao beans are super rich in magnesium, and are also high in chromium, iron, zinc, vitamin C and manganese. If you are worried about the caffeine content, it is actually quite low – around 1%, compared with coffee which had around 10%.

So what’s the deal with cacao anyway? The cacao tree grows the cacao pod which is the fruit. The pod is full of fabulous seeds which we know as cacao beans. You can find cacao as beans, nibs, powder and cacao butter. The nibs (like chocolate chips) and the powder lend themselves fabulously to baking, trail mix, smoothies, desserts and my new gourmet granola (I will post the recipe soon!).

The difference between cacao and chocolate, or ordinary cocoa, is that the latter is like a watered down version of cacao, with added extras like sugars, binding agents, milk solids, colourings and other chemicals. Vitamins and minerals are very sensitive to heat, and as most chocolate and cocoa is made using high temperatures, the end product is severely depleted in antioxidants, and has almost none of the vitamins and minerals it began life with. Good quality raw cacao however is produced using low temperatures and so maintains much of the original nutrient profile, hooray! Although it’s not something you should really eat in the same quantity as vegetables, the health benefits make it such an awesome alternative for a sweet treat! You will find it in …

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A Wholefood Tasting Plate with Avocado Salsa and Walnut & Sage ‘Pate’

May 8, 2012 By Meg With 3 comments

Walnut and Sage ‘Pate’ Balls

Growing up, my family would have ‘platters’ on given occasions. My sister and I loved these platters that were decorated with a number of usual suspects; black pepper pate, fruit cheese, gherkins, and savoy biscuits. And there was always the ceremonial using of the duck pate knife, which we thought was very flash! I still love platters. I associate them with good times, good conversation and sharing food – all of which play a starring role in the making of my own family traditions with my husband and daughter now.

The platters have changed a bit over the years though. My perfect platter, or tasting plate to be more fancy about it, must have a dip, a cheese, some sort of crunchy vehicle to get these into your mouth, something raw, and a nice balance of colours so that it looks pretty too.

I thought I would share a couple of favourites here: avocado salsa and walnut and sage ‘pate’.

The Food Matters Project’s menu for this week was Five Quick Salsas For Chips, Dips and other Stuff – you can see the original recipe here.

Avocados should feature in every home’s fruit bowl. They have an abundance of monounsaturated fat. This is good! Monounsaturated fats have beneficial effects on cholesterol and cardiovascular disease, and they are a more stable fat and therefore do not become rancid as easily as the polyunsaturated types.

Avocados also contain a natural source of lecithin – a food for our brains and again assists will cholesterol levels. They are high in lutein, vitamin K, calcium, folate and vitamin C, and because of their combination of good fats and vitamins, are a fabulous skin food. So, healthy heart, glowing skin, boosted immune system and protection against certain cancers (bowel …

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