Health & Beauty - October 2014

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Health & Beauty

A little of what you fancy does you good

Food can make you happy and food can make you sad.  Food is used to celebrate and to commiserate.  I think you are getting the picture that food is always present whatever the occasion.  

The type of food served defines the event. 

Particularly cake … Having a small amount of something delicious of the best quality you can afford is a real treat.

Providing food or giving food is a time honoured tradition as a sign of caring.  Sharing food is what makes the world go round. Not only is sharing with our families, friends and neighbours the done thing but trying to share with people in impoverished countries is also part of our lives now.  Although in some cases it does not always get to the intended recipient. But that’s another kettle of fish for another day.

We have more food at out fingertips (or forks) than ever before in history.  Although Britain grows and produces a wide variety of gorgeous things to eat we still import more and more from other countries.  It’s true we cannot grow all that we desire here due to climate and environment and if we are to continue having our latte or green tea those ships must cross the sea to satisfy our wants.  An exception to this is the amount of fabulous British vineyards taking the world by storm!

With all of this year-round bounty comes an amount of personal and social responsibility and that means not eating your way to obesity, just because ‘it’s there’, or cheap or easy to prepare.  You are in control of your body even if sometimes it feels the other way around. 

Picking out foods that do the job of keeping you going in the best way possible is hard with all the conflicting information that bombards us on a daily basis.  There are magazines devoted to food and even those that are not have pages telling us about new recipes and then a mere page or so later telling us how to lose weight!  Make up your minds!  Television plays its part in this onslaught.  Can you imagine previous generations sitting on the sofa watching other people cook whilst eating ready meals? 

So, we have a virtual smorgasbord of information and education, but how many people actually cook something new or try a new taste sensation just because they have seen it demonstrated?  Not enough. 

Cookery on the television has become entertainment for the masses with the presenters, sharing their passion of course, but also working their hardest to spark our interest and buy their cook books.  They cook in fields, down coal-mines and in hot air balloons.  They cook in prisons, on military bases and with the nice ladies from the WI. They forage in the forest and in the dumpsters at the back of supermarkets creating feasts out of food past its sell-by date. They travel around different countries sampling foods in ordinary folks’ kitchens and in restaurants.  On returning home the chirpy presenters churn out yet another book full of beautiful photographs, anecdotes and ingredients we will never buy.

They seem to always have smiling, freshly pressed people in their kitchens, laughing merrily (could it be the alcohol?) as the immaculately turned out presenter pulls a leg of lamb with apricots and chorizo from the oven on a Tuesday evening.

We all know that’s not reality.  In my case I will have splattered something onto my white shirt, (will I never learn?) my hair will be scraped back messily, I will have shouted at the cat and I certainly cannot afford leg of lamb on a Tuesday; it’s more likely to be shepherds pie.

Most of us have a budget and that has also been addressed by many TV chefs, in some cases very well.  However, only you know how to feed your finicky family and you may only like three recipes out of the ‘Budget Book’ but that’s OK because all the recipes are available online, so you don’t have to buy another book which gathers horrid greasy dust in your kitchen.

We all know which foods make us happy.  For some of us it is chocolate and for some it is wine.  Whatever your choice is they certainly make us feel happy for the moment we are consuming them but later the guilt associated with weight-gain sets in.   Foods that contain an amino acid called Tryptophan elevate our mood, hopefully without becoming our undoing in our battle of the bulge.  The list includes: bananas, milk, peanuts, turkey, fish, beans, sunflower seeds, eggs, avocados, carrots, hazelnuts, rice and oats.  Who knew a few carrot sticks could get you out of a slump?!

So if you are feeling down don’t reach for the biscuits try having a handful of peanuts, raw are better for you than roasted and coated in salt.  We all know that eating less and exercising more is the way to control our figure and not let it control us.  Here are some things you can do that don’t cost a lot, are easy to fit into what you are doing at the moment and allow you to be in charge by raising the rate that you burn calories:

● Half a teaspoon of cinnamon a day can burn an extra kilo a month – put it in 0% yoghurt.

● Add paprika to your foods, it contains 6 times more Vitamin C than tomatoes and it is crucial for helping your body turn fat into energy.

● Take a calcium supplement; it helps burn fat.

● Eat red peppers. They contains capsaicin which can boost your resting metabolic rate by 25%.

● Exercising first thing in the morning will burn fat faster – walk the dog very briskly if you don’t have time to get to a gym or just can’t bear organised exercise!

● Put lemon juice on your salad – the acid breaks down the fat in the other things you are eating, especially fried foods – which of course you are NOT eating!  If you are doing so, put lemon juice on the culprit.  Lemons also contain pectin, a natural fibre and gelling agent, which can mop up fat stored in the body.  It can also slow down absorption of sugar so you don’t get that low sugar dip which makes you reach for the cookies.

● Eat pomegranates; their seed oil reduces the body’s ability to store fat.

● Drink green tea - it contains a compound that reacts with caffeine to boost fat burning and raises your resting metabolism by 25%

● Eat lentils as often as you can, they contain an amino acid called leucine which burns fat faster.

● Swap to skimmed milk, not only does it have half the calories of full fat but it also has more calcium and phosphorus which increases the breakdown of fat in the cells.

● Eat pineapple; it contains bromolina which helps break down protein.I like anything that helps me get rid of fat without me actually moving about as I am naturally very lazy.  I will be putting lemon juice on everything but my cornflakes from now on.

Oh, and drinking green tea and looking forward to seeing the pounds fall away. 

Happy Trails, Readers, Happy Trails.

First published By the Dart October 2014