Monthly Archives

February 2019

Feb 23

CHICKEN TORTILLA PIE

By Recipes No Comments

Serves 4-6

This light and tasty dinner will certainly mix up your weekly routine. Its quick, yummy and as it’s made with chicken mince rather than beef or lamb it means it contains less fat. It does however mean you need to go hard core on the seasoning so don’t hold back. I have also bulked out on adding extra veg here too.

You can now find chicken mince in many supermarkets these days but if not then your butcher will definitely have it. A mix of both breast and thigh meat is a great combination

INGREDIENTS
1 medium brown onion
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 medium leek
1 yellow pepper
Pinch of dried chilli flakes
2 teaspoons paprika
2 teaspoons cumin
1 teaspoon rapeseed oil
500g chicken mince
1 400g tin chopped tomatoes
1 400g tin chickpeas, drained
½ cup frozen peas
Worcestershire sauce
2 tablespoons tomato ketchup
Grated cheddar cheese
Dried oregano
2 x wheat tortillas
Salt and pepper

METHOD
Finely chop the onion, yellow pepper and the leek.
Heat the rapeseed oil in a pan over a low heat and gently fry these for about 10 minutes. Halfway through add the chilli flakes, cumin and paprika. They shouldn’t colour too much.
Turn the heat up to medium and add the chicken mince, fry for about 5 minutes whilst stirring and breaking up the meat.
Then add the tinned tomatoes, chickpeas, Worcestershire sauce, tomato ketchup, salt and pepper and mix well. Turn the heat down to low and simmer for 15 minutes.
Add the peas, stir and turn the heat off.
Place the mince mixture in a casserole or lasagne type dish. It doesn’t have to be round, any shape is fine.
Cut the tortillas into eight triangles each and arrange them on top. Mix the cheddar cheese with the oregano.
Ake in the oven for about 15 minutes until the top has gone crispy
Serve with a fresh crunchy green salad.

Feb 15

Have we been overplaying hydration?

By Food for thought, Hydration, Rants No Comments

Something I’ve recently learnt more about is one of the most basic things that we tend to over complicate. Our bodies are over 70% water, that means it’s important to keep your levels topped up but we spend far too much time worrying about it than is truly necessary.

An awful lot of people mention hydration to me and it’s always a requirement for corporate wellbeing workshops. “I know I don’t drink enough water”, “Is 3 litres too much?” “Yeah but tea and coffee doesn’t count, does it?”

Let’s just hold up for a minute while I simplify this for you:

  • Rather than worry about what counts and what doesn’t ask your self if you are thirsty. If you are then you probably need to have a drink.
  • The next time you go to the toilet, check your pee. Is it dark yellow? Is it smelly? If so then you need to drink more fluid. Or eat, because fruit and veg contain lots of water.
  • Are consuming mostly caffeinated, added sugar or artificially sweetened drinks? Then yes you should aim to get some water in throughout the day but you don’t have to cut them out completely. Water does not have to be your sole drink, forever.
  • If you are getting a headache and your concentration is starting to dip then it could be the onset of dehydration.
  • A hangover is severe dehydration.

What about for exercise?

It really only becomes slightly more technical for elite or endurance athletes as hydration levels can impact their performance. For athletes and those training for endurance events it may be beneficial to calculate your own sweat rate as that will assist you in knowing how much to drink, over what time frame and to ensure you don’t drink too much. This requires a short calculation and some measurements so ask for help with this one.

After intense or endurance exercise pure water is not the most rehydrating of drinks. Skimmed, whole milk or dissolvable electrolyte tablets are great as they also replace the minerals your body has lost through sweating. Try not to include sugary sweetened rehydration drinks as they are likely to add extra calories to your diet which really aren’t needed. You don’t need a Lucozade (other brands are available) after a 30 minute game of squash, you may if you’ve just run a marathon.

If you are generally into exercising it will help to start your session already hydrated. So, if you are one who likes to work out first thing in the morning, then get some fluid into you as soon as you wake up. If you are out for a leisurely Sunday jog or on your way home from Crossfit stick to the above tips and you’ll be ok.

Moral of the story. Unless you are an elite athlete, or completing in an endurance event, hydration is really, quite straightforward. There is no magic number, no formula, no ideal amount. It’s purely down to you to know yourself, I’m hopeful we can all manage that?

Feb 08

The Planetary Health Diet

By Food for thought, Guidelines, Tips No Comments
Overview

Late last month a report was launched by the EAT Lancet Commission about the dire state of the global food system and what we need to do to fix it. Many of you won’t have seen this. Or will have brushed over it and put it in the “too hard” basket. I get it. And I want to simplify it for you, so take a read, it won’t take long, and decide on what you are going to do to help. To help you. Your family. And others. Please.

Unhealthy diets are the leading cause of ill health worldwide. Just take a moment to process that. Eating food which doesn’t provide us with the right nutrition is making us sick.

  • 800 million people are hungry, they do not have enough food
  • 2 billion people are malnourished
  • 2 billion people are overweight or obese

Our diet is also the largest contributor to environmental damage in the world. The production, processing, transport, storage and waste of our food account for a quarter of the human contribution to climate change. So when I post tips on cutting your bananas up and freezing them I actually mean it.

Apparently if we just follow these guidelines, it’s a win win. If only we were all educated about food hey? Just that minor detail. Add into that the fact that many of us simply cannot afford to eat in this way and we are left at a cross roads with no way to turn.

What does the study say?

It suggests some pretty major changes for the average Joe:

  • Red meat and sugar consumption to be cut by half (globally). This would mean for each person, around one beef burger per week. Other protein would come from two servings of fish and unlimited pulses and lentils.
  • Vegetables, fruit, pulses and nut intake must double. Considering most of the UK population don’t even consume 5 a day and that message has been running for 15 years, this isn’t going to change quickly. We need to make this shift by 2050, it’s not long.
  • A glass of milk a day, or some cheese or butter, fits within the guidelines, as does an egg or two a week. (Personally, I would be screwed with cutting out eggs).
  • Half of each plate of food under the diet is vegetables and fruit, and a third is wholegrain cereals.

The photographs alone that accompany this report are pretty. That’s all. I mean I don’t even know what some of these foods are and I work in the industry, so for those struggling to feed their family, I do wonder how they are supposed to feel when they look at these. I’d imagine inspired, but the truth is it will probably make them feel quite down. Please remember, your food does not need to be instagrammable, just edible.

What can you do?

I just wanted to pull out five easy to digest points about the study and some tips on how to implement them, one at a time within your family.

  • How much red meat do you consume and how often? Red meat includes beef, lamb, pork, bacon, ham. If you consume red meat more than twice a week it’s time to make some changes. For multiple times a day try going down to once a day. And if it’s a daily occurrence start by trying to only have it every other day.
  • Make note of how many pieces of fruit and veg you consume in a day (excluding potatoes). If it’s less than 5, then your goal is to get to 5 per day. Once you are there, consistently there for a few months try to include one more.
  • Legumes, nuts, lentils, pulses, if you don’t know where to find these in the supermarket that’s a good place to start. Go to world food aisle and put a pack or tin of any type of bean or lentil of pulse in your basket. You can also find them where the tinned vegetables are or in the dried food section. If you aren’t used to using them I’d opt for tinned versions first.
  • It is not more expensive to eat well. You just need to pay more attention to what you are buying. It doesn’t need to be organic. You don’t need fancy food. Tinned and dried foods are cheap and nutritious. Frozen veg is a lifesaver and often better for you and easier to cook with less prep.
  • Food Waste – do not throw food away. Every time you think of throwing food away challenge yourself not to. What else can you do with it? Buy a compost bin. Take it to a food bank. Freeze it. Take it work the next day.

I really hope that helps because if it doesn’t we may just be in danger of a red meat tax? I’m serious.