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Chickpea & Feta Fritters

Makes 4 fritters

You will need:

1 tin (about 400g) chickpeas, drained
50g cous cous
50ml of hot vegetable stock
100g feta cheese, cut into 1/2cm cubes or smaller
Small bunch coriander, chopped
Juice of 1 lemon
1/2 teaspoon of coriander seeds
1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds
1 egg yolk
1 medium white or red onion finely diced
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
2 tablespoons plain flour
3 teaspoons of olive oil for frying
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

A food processor or stick blender with a chopping attachment; a medium size bowl for mixing the ingredients; a frying pan; and a pestle and mortar.

Put the cous cous in the bowl, pour over the stock, stir and set aside to infuse and to cool a little. Crush the cumin and coriander seeds in the pestle and mortar (or use ready ground if necessary) and add them to the cous cous mixture.

Heat 1 teaspoon of olive oil in the frying pan and gently fry the onion until it becomes slightly opaque, add the garlic and fry for a few moments more (don’t burn the garlic, it will taste horrible!), and add this mixture to the cous cous and stir together.

Put the drained chickpeas into the processor or chopping attachment and pulse for a few seconds to break them down, don’t reduce them to a puree, they need to remain a bit “chunky” to give the fritters some texture. Add them to the cous cous mixture in the bowl and stir. Mix in the lemon juice, the feta cheese and the coriander, season for taste and finally add the egg yolk and mix together. Then use your clean hands to give the mixture a final mix. Divide the mixture into 4, sprinkle the flour onto your worktop and shape them into “burgers” and refrigerate for at least half an hour.

Wipe clean or wash out the frying pan and heat the remaining oil over a medium heat. Gently fry the fritters for 3 or 4 minutes either side until they are hot all the way through.

Serve with a mixed salad and a yoghurt, lemon juice and coriander dressing.

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Energy foods

Do you want to know how to get and maintain energy by eating the correct types of food?

1. Drink plenty of water, at least 1.5 litres every day
   
2. Eat at least 5 portions of fruit and vegetables every day
   
3. Don’t skip breakfast
   
4. Remove all the visible fat from food before you cook it, trim the fat off meat, remove the skin from chicken. Avoid sausages, they’re full of fat
   
5. Limit your intake of stimulants, like caffeine, alcohol and refined sugars
   
6. Go for healthy snacks, like fresh or dried fruit, natural cereal bars (read the labels check for hidden sugars), rice cakes, yoghurts (again, check for sugars), or wholemeal pitta breads with hummus
   
7. Eat out a lot? Cut down to once a week. If you have a restaurant at work, go for the salads without dressings or non-creamy soups, or better still take a packed lunch
   
8. Don’t cut out natural food groups such as fats or carbohydrates, your body needs balance
   
9. Don’t force yourself to eat things you don’t like the taste of just because they’re good for you, but try everything at least once
   

    

Here’s a short list of some of the foods that will help give you great energy

1. Vegetables and fruit – the list is exhaustive, but as a rule, seasonal is usually best. During the warm summer season go for water based salads, and the starchy, natural sugar based root vegetables to help you maintain energy and keep warm through the chilly winter months (trust in mother nature).
   
2. Eggs (no more than 10 a week)
3. Nuts, a great source of energy, and a quick snack. Try almonds, peanuts or soy nuts – avoid the salted ones though
4. Seeds, like nuts are great for a snack , sunflower and pumpkin seeds finish off a salad
5. Beans and lentils, as they’re packed with potassium and carbohydrates

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Bounce your way to health!

Rebounding on a mini trampoline is a fun and a fantastic low impact way to exercise.  Would you believe that NASA did the first scientific study of the training effect of trampolining?  Apparently oxygen consumption is considerably higher (up to 68%) compared to jogging on a hard surface!  The G-force encountered puts the internal organs under pressure, stimulating the cells which in turn squeeze out the waste materials.  Rebounding is great for all ages and should ideally be done daily for a minimum of 10 minutes (do it listening to music or watching TV, but NOT when you’re ironing!).

Benefits:
- builds physical strength
- improves posture
- tones muscles
- improves coordination
- helps with balance and rhythm
- helps rid your body of toxins
- floods your cells with oxygen
- elevates your energy levels
- strengthens pelvic floor muscles
- helps constipation!

Always buy a good quality rebounder or mini trampoline such as Reebok or PT Bouncer from Super Tramp.  Cheap imitations do not give the same results and could result in injury so expect to pay at least £40 for a rebounder.

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Are diet drinks good for weight loss?

Diet drinks either still or fizzy are the worst things to drink if you’re trying to lose weight. They may initially satisfy the urges to fill your body with sugar, but long term they will delay your weight loss.  Regularly drinking diet drinks instead of water may be slowing down the absorption of nutrients into your body and preventing the build up of toxins being flushed out efficiently; we need to drink at least 1.5 litres of water a day.

It has also been scientifically proven by tests on rats that “diet” foods or drinks do not help you lose weight; the body actually gets confused with the amount of calories that are being taken in. The UK and the US consume the most diet drinks in the world, so how come they have the most over weight and obese populations?

 These are not healthy alternatives to their “full fat / full sugar” friends.  The synthetic sugars such as aspartame (NutraSweet), cyclamates, saccharin, sucralose (Splenda), acesulfame
potassium are all nasty chemicals (neuro toxins and carcinogens) which are potentially harmful to your body.  Not only do they slow down your weight loss, they slow down your digestion which can then lead on to lethargy, mood swings and headaches.  For example take a look at the ingredients in Diet Coke: carbonated water, colour (caramel E150d), sweeteners (aspartame, acesulfame K), flavourings (including caffeine), phosphoric acid, citric acid, preservative (E211) Contains a source of phenylalanine.  If you want to know learn more about what these ingredients do read this article from the Ecologist magazine http://tinyurl.com/5bqm2w .

  If you want to lose weight and be fit and healthy, try and retrain your palate so that you don’t crave sugary drinks and foods. Humans are meant to eat natural foods and not processed or synthetic ones.

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What’s in your cuppa?

Instead of having your usual bog standard cup of tea with milk, why not try something different?

Green tea is without question a very healthy drink. Since ancient times, the Chinese have considered it a medicine before it was ever drunk for pleasure. It can be fantastic as part of a healthy diet; it is low in caffeine and contains lots of vitamins and minerals. It is a valuable anti-oxidant – research has shown it reduces the risk of certain types of cancers. It also lowers cholesterol levels and does not over-stimulate the nervous system like coffee does, but gives a light refreshing lift to the drinker.

Another Chinese tea, Oolong is really good for aiding digestion, helping reduce cholesterol and is also reputed to have anti-ageing properties.

Rooibos (Redbush) tea from South Africa is caffeine free and low in tannins. It’s a herbal infusion rather than an actual tea and has been known for its unique medicinal properties for centuries – from soothing upset stomachs and aiding good digestion, helping nervous tension and lowering blood pressure, to giving relief from allergies like eczema.

Another herbal infusion, ginseng is thought to be excellent for helping the effects of stress, fantastic for improving mental and digestive function, boosting the immune system and is apparently an aphrodisiac (though that will require more research!).

Why not try some of these herbal infusions? Just look at all the health benefits you get from regularly drinking them!

Infusions	Benefits
Chamomile	soothes the stomach helps with period pain calms the nerves helps with insomnia, as it is a mild sedative boosts the immune system fights cold and flu like symptoms
Fennel	fantastic for digestion eliminates flatulence relieves stomach cramps excellent for catarrh
Ginger	improves circulation helps regulate blood sugar levels acts as a gentle laxative fantastic for digestion eases cold and flu symptoms relieves stomach cramps, especially period pain relieves nausea (great for morning or travel sickness) eases arthritic pain
Peppermint	eases many stomach and digestive problems including: IBS heartburn flatulence nausea and vomiting halitosis fights stress helps relieve headaches excellent for respiratory congestion

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Is organic fruit & veg more expensive?

The answer is NO if you avoid the supermarkets and get an organic fruit and veg box or go to farmer’s markets!

Even during the economic down turn, you don’t have to sacrifice your organic fruit and veg and buy cheaper non-organic alternatives.

Riverford one of the UK’s leading veg box delivery schemes recently did a price comparison buying the equivalent of what was in their summer veg box from major supermarkets. Waitrose came out at £28.13, Sainsbury’s at £27.48 and Tesco at £23.84 – the cost of the Riverford box was £12.96! The veg box contents or produce from a farmer’s market will be a great deal fresher and have none or very little packaging compared to the supermarkets.

If you’re worried about choice, veg boxes have come a long way in the past few years. They are full of all sorts of different things that you may not normally buy (your chance to get creative in the kitchen!), and also they contain mostly seasonal veg with very little imported produce. You can often add lots of other organic produce and extras to your box. Just google “organic veg boxes” and pick your preferred supplier!

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Stir Fried Veg & Egg Noodles

This is a fantastic quick, cheap and healthy snack for lunch or supper

You will need: 2 egg noodles nests or layers 1 pack of stir fry veg from the supermarket chiller cabinet 2-3 tspn sunflower/veg oil Few drops sesame oil Soy sauce for flavour Feeds 2 Boil some water in a saucepan, add your noodles and cook until ready (follow instructions on packet, usually 4 mins). Whilst the noodles are cooking, fry off the stir fry veg in the sunflower/veg oil. When the noodles are cooked, drain and serve on a plate, flavour with the sesame oil, pile on the veg (they should be just a little crunchy) and season with a bit of soy sauce. Eat and enjoy – lunch in under 10 mins!

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What are Guideline Daily Amounts or GDA’s?

These little nuggets of information are sometimes partially printed on food packaging.
In the wake of our obesity epidemic, I wondered how easy it was to find out what exactly our full Guideline Daily Amounts or GDA’s were, as all food labelling is geared to these amounts as listed on the table below.

	Calories	Sugars	Fat	Saturated Fat	Salt
Children aged 5 – 10	1800	85g	70g	20g	4g
Boys aged 11 – 14	2200	110g	85g	25g	6g
Boys aged 15 – 18	2750	140g	105g	35g	6g
Girls aged 11 – 14	1850	90g	70g	25g	6g
Girls aged 15 – 18	2100	105g	80g	25g	6g
Women	2000	90g	70g	20g	6g
Men	2500	120g	95g	30g	6g

Someone somewhere created them, so I googled “Guideline Daily Amounts” under the UK and NONE of the leading government health departments, such as the Department of Health, Food Standards Agency, NHS, British Nutrition Foundation had them listed, or they weren’t very easy to find, as I couldn’t find them! How are the general public supposed to know this information? The MOST comprehensive information was found on the Food and Drink Federation’s website, which is the voice of the UK food and drink industry. Top marks to Waitrose who had a version of the above guidelines, M&S and Morrisons came in joint second place, and shame on all the other leading supermarkets who didn’t bother giving any information at all or nothing explaining the traffic light food labelling system. It seems most of the important agencies and supermarkets don’t want to take responsibility for the nation’s health.

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Improve your Posture

Over a period of a few weeks, you can improve your posture which could help with any back ache or pain.  

If you can, stand “side on” to a full length mirror and do this simple exercise.

• Stand with the feet hip width apart and the toes pointing forward
• Close your eyes
• Be aware of how your weight is distributed through your feet. Is it going through the heels or the toes? Find the mid point between the two.
• Now think about how the weight is distributed between the inside and outside edges of your feet. Are the ankles turning in or out? Again, find that mid point.
• Now open your eyes.
• Soften the knees.
• Next check your pelvis is in a neutral position. Think of your pelvis as a bucket of water– no excessive forward or backward tilt and find the mid point between the two.
• Lengthen through the spine and neck
• Make sure there is an even gap between the rib cage and the pelvis.
• Draw down your shoulder blades, make sure you don’t pull your shoulder back or roll them forwards – again, find the mid-point
• Make sure your head is up and that your chin is parallel to the floor
• Maintain an even gap between the shoulders and the ears

Stay in this position for 30 – 60 seconds, taking nice deep breaths in through the nose and out through the mouth. This is your correct posture, it may feel strange to begin with, but over time it will feel more natural.

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