Monday 13 October 2014

Foods For Hair, Skin & Nail Health

Vegetables and Fruits for hair, skin and nail health
In the news today is research from University College London that eating seven or more portions of fruit and vegetables a day is healthier than the five currently recommended and would prolong lives (source: BBC News).

I am a strong advocate of the all-round health benefits of a varied diet of vegetables and fruit, and I am not surprised that researchers have found that in the case of fruit and veg, “more is more”.  Intensive farming methods and long food miles mean that vegetables and fruits often contain far fewer nutrients now compared to 40-50 years ago. For example, iron in watercress is 80% lower, calcium in broccoli is 50% and the same for pineapples; the vitamin C in cauliflower is 40% less and sweet peppers are 30% lower.  So we now need to eat far more of these to achieve the same nutritional intake as previously.

Sunday 5 October 2014

Low Cholesterol Granola Breakfast Foods

MillyWhiteCooks.com Low Cholesterol Breakfast Ideas
October is National Cholesterol Month for HEARTUK, the Cholesterol Charity. They have launched their Great Cholesterol Challenge, where they want you to treat your heart by pledging to adopt a new healthy habit, and raise funds for HEART UK at the same time! It's very easy to get involved, there are lots more details here.

There are all sorts of healthy habits that you can adopt and they don’t have to be hard.  My friend Milly White, who written an excellent cookbook on low cholesterol diets, has suggested a super easy one – why not swap your regular morning breakfast to a delicious Homemade Healthy Heart Granolapacked full of cholesterol-lowering superfoods? It's Suitable for Vegetarians, Gluten Free, Dairy Free and can be made Vegan too.  You can find her low cholesterol recipe hereit makes 31 servings - enough for breakfast daily during HEARTUK's October's National Cholesterol Month.  Pop over to here blog and have a look, it is very yummy!