Although few may know it, broccoli is a fantastic super-food.  One cup of cooked broccoli provides 100% of the recommended daily intake of vitamin C, and if you steam it rather than boil it you retain even more vitamin C.  The darker the florets/heads, the higher the amounts of both vitamin C and beta-carotene (what the body turns into vitamin A).   The florets, in turn, are richer in beta-carotene than the stalks.

Sugar has a bad rep. It’s often referred to as being toxic. It’s not. Don’t get me wrong, sugar when eaten in excess damages the body. However, you could use that argument for most foods or nutrients as eating anything in excess isn’t good for us.

Did you know that officially, 3 million people in the UK (1 in 20) are depressed?  And 3 times more women suffer than men.  These people take 20 million antidepressants every week, take 80 million days off work each year because of it, and cost the country between £3 and £5 billion.  Ireland’s statistics are probably very similar to the UK’s.  Depression isn’t a disease that some people have and some people haven’t got.  We are all somewhere along a sliding scale that ranges from generally happy to completely depressed. 

Making Yoghurt at Home Making your own yoghurt couldn’t be easier.  You can even exchange the cow’s milk for goat’s or sheep’s milk and you will get goat’s or sheep’s yoghurt!

Well-known herbs that grow very well in Irish gardens are mainly used to flavour food.

Now that ‘Women’s Christmas’ has passed, the onslaught of partying, drinking, chocolates, late nights and general excess is probably in decline.  Many of us feel sluggish, tired, headachy, overweight and generally low on these dull, grey, drizzly days.  Why not spring clean your body and mind by changing your diet for even a week or so? 

This week let’s see what we can put in to help the liver cleanse (next week we’ll see what to cut out!).…

Throughout the centuries, health experts have taught the value of spring cleaning the body.  For just one week why don’t you give your body a spring clean?  For the small effort that it takes, the result may be glowing skin, more energy, a clearer head, more able to cope with stress, weight loss and feeling more relaxed.  It all sounds too good! Begin your detox at the beginning of the weekend.  This gives you time to adjust to your new diet before work begins on Monday.  It also gives time for any unpleasant reactions (e.g.

Happy New Year!  Let’s hope this New Year brings New Health to the people of Ireland, most people had at least one sick body in their house over Christmas.  And not just a cold, many people were REALLY sick and may be just getting over it. To help those recovering and to help those preventing, this is a reminder that the food you put in your body keeps all those bodily systems healthy.  Good fresh food keeps your Immune System strong, keeping all those nasty Irish bugs at bay. Some foods are particularly good Immune Boosters. 

This time of year the cold weather makes skin tighten up and feel like a parched desert.  But it doesn’t have to be like this.  A balance of oil and water is crucial for healthy, attractive skin. 

It is widely assumed that fats are BAD.  Those who think this are mistaken.  In fact there are fats that heal and fats that kill.  Eating the right kind of fat is absolutely vital for staying healthy and feeling and looking great.  If you are ‘fat-phobic’ you are depriving yourself of essential health-giving nutrients and increasing your risk of ill health.  The same is true if you eat mainly ‘hard’ fats – that is saturated fats from dairy, meat and most margarines.  You need to go out of your way to eat the right kind of fat-rich foods such as seeds, nuts and fish. 

Young children and convalescents are regularly recommended to drink goat’s milk rather than cow’s milk.  Mother often gives it to their one-year-old babies when they stop breast-feeding as is it considered the closest milk in composition to human breast milk.  It is difficult to find substantial evidence to back this, but I did find some interesting points relating to the difference between cow’s and goat’s milk… The vitamin content of cow’s milk and goat’s milk is relatively similar. 

Most people know that foods contain Vitamins and Minerals.  But does the food we eat, after growing, refining, cooking and packaging still actually contain these compounds?  Growing and processing food in the ‘modern’ way removes a lot of these essential constituents of food.  Did you know that: -    Changing wholemeal flour to white flour loses anything from 48% to 98% of very important minerals. 

Reds, purples, pinks, yellows, dark blues, magentas….all lusciously juicy, delicious and nutritious.   It’s berry time of year again.  Raspberries, cranberries, strawberries, loganberries, elderberries, blueberries, blackberries and bilberries! 

Here is come berry information for you…

Eggs Eggs are primarily designed for making new birds rather than for our culinary pleasure. To make a new bird, the egg must contain all the minerals, vitamins, proteins and fats necessary to create a fully formed hatchable living chick. Our ancestors relished an occasional feast of eggs whenever they succeeded in stealing eggs form birds. 

Gluten has become a well-known word due to many people’s inability to digest it properly.  There seems to be lots of confusion over what it is and what foods it’s found in. Gluten is a protein found in many grains.  It is like glue when cooked and is responsible for spongy bouncy bread.  The protein Gliadin found in gluten is believed to be the cause of many people’s inability to digest gluten.  People who have never been able to, and never will, tolerate gluten are known as Coeliac’s. 

Jerusalem Artichokes and the bowel system! This is the time of year when the tall stalks of the Jerusalem artichokes are dying back and their edible roots are dug up.  If you haven’t eaten this vegetable since last year, prepare yourself for some unfortunate bowel events!  The flatulence and sometimes diarrhoea that this vegetable cause is enough to make many veer clear of it!  This is a real pity as they are so good for you.  The solution to the problem lies in introducing it to your diet gradually - rather than having a whole plate full one night for your dinner after not

Multi-coloured plant foods are very eye-pleasing, but more importantly, they are really good for you too!  Each colour in the vegetable kingdom relates to different phytonutrients.  Each phytonutrient has their own particular health benefit.  Phytonutrients are compounds in food that help benefit the body, thus improving our health. Green foods such as lettuce, spinach, broccoli and peas are full of chlorophyll and magnesium.  These are really important for healthy nerves, muscles and to regulate hormones.

This is the time of year when the tall stalks of the Jerusalem artichokes are dying back and their edible roots are dug up.  If you haven’t eaten this vegetable since last year, prepare yourself for some unfortunate bowel events!  The flatulence and sometimes diarrhoea that this vegetable cause is enough to make many veer clear of it!  This is a real pity as they are so good for you.  The solution to the problem lies in introducing it to your diet gradually - rather than having a whole plate full one night for your dinner after not having it for a whole year! 

A lot of people eat very healthily for breakfast, lunch and dinner, but when they snack, all their ideals go out the window.  A can of coke here, a bag of crisps there, and three chocolate bars later the benefits of their ‘meat and two veg’ dinner is gone out the window?!  Here are some ideas to keep you eating well when the chocolate bar craving comes along… Fruit is always a good filler when you need a little pick me up.

This delicious food not only delights a sweet tooth but also boasts many medicinal properties.  It is made from the nectar of flowers and the subsequent enzyme action in the bee’s stomach.  Raw, minimally filtered and un-heat treated honey contains the most nutrients.  This pure, natural state of honey will turn cloudy and more solid over time.  Most honey found in shops nowadays is runny and clear all the time due to heat treatment. The flavours of different kinds of honey depend essentially on what flowers the nectar was collected from.