A Feast of Election Night Madness!

Will you be staying up into the wee small hours on Election Night to watch dear, dear David in his role as BBC 'anchor man' for the very last time and to keep a keen eye on Jeremy and his oh-so-addictive 'swingometer'? If so, a bit of snacking might be in order!

If things are going your way, it might with luck, mean 'healthy and happy snacking' but if it's all going horribly wrong, so could the snacks so a bit of pre-planning could be the saviour of your waistline (if not the saviour of your chosen party)!

You don't want to be continually bobbing up and down to prepare something when you are glued to the TV so here are a few dishes and snacks that can be thrown together earlier in the evening so you can simply grab them and get back to the sofa! 

roast a chicken and a bunch of vegetables earlier in the evening and pick at the leftovers later on - lots of great protein and energy-enhancing carbohydrates!

have a dip or two in the fridge and some crunchy raw vegetable sticks - they really take the edge off sugary and salty snack attacks!

midnight is the perfect time for half a creamy, fat-rich avocado - just stone it and spoon the flesh out of the shell or pile in some tuna or prawns!

switchel... a great alternative to alcohol as the night ploughs on! really tasty and great for the digestion. see my recipe page...

... and/or prepare a super green salad, sling some of the cold cooked chicken on top and smother with a Balsamic vinegar and extra virgin olive oil dressing!

you can't beat a bowl of fresh fruit 'bites' at this time of the year - the more colourful the better and the choice out there is staggering!

my very quick tomato soup sharpens up the palate and is great in a mug! the added dollop of yoghurt is inspired! see my recipe page...

... or perhaps a pot of calming and refreshing herb tea? mint is especially good - just soak a bunch of fresh leaves in a pot for 10 minutes...

olives are a tasty and brilliant source of filling and brain-focusing fats - mixed, stuffed with anchovies or with feta cheese, they won't let you down!    

... and have a handful or two of nuts and seeds with your fruit for a bit of extra 'crunch', a few more good fats and to keep hunger at bay !

a fruit or vegetable smoothie (sipped not gulped) hits the spot as the night progresses! create your own or get one off the shelf...

chocolate works no matter how the voting is going - but make it small, very, very dark and perhaps with added chilli to spice things up!

A Cheering Glass of Red with Mr Buettner!

There is always someone out there trying to spoil all the fun isn't there? Particularly when it comes to the occasional tipple after a stressful day!

The 'can alcohol be part of a health-enhancing diet?' debate rages on and on and on and on... but my good friend Dan Buettner (no I have never met the man and I am well-aware that he probably doesn't know I exist but I like to call him my friend anyway coz I like what he has to say!) has obsessively studied the diets of those who live to a healthy and ripe old age in those countries known as 'The Blue Zones' and he tells me (through his research) that "yes, a glass or two of red wine - especially when consumed with a Blue Zones, plant-based meal­­ - is a good idea for most people" so I can't imagine for a second why I might decide to argue?

Of course, summer is upon us and many of us prefer a cool drink when the temperature has gone up a few notches but there are quite a few 'reds' offering a whole bunch of protective plant chemicals that lend themselves rather nicely to being chilled so try the following grape varieties: Pinot Noir, Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Gamay, Cinsault, Shiava, Grenache or ask your local wine merchant for advice.

NB: can I urge you to remember the bit about 'with a blue zones, plant-based meal'... ie: with a nutritiously-fabulous-every-colour-under-the-sun salad rather than a takeaway pizza! 

Oh To Have Been So Misled By So Many For So Long!

I am not alone in having a number of family members suffer the massive life-changing consequences of having a stroke. One minute, it’s all good and the next it’s totally, completely and utterly not. Within the space of just a matter of minutes, a stroke victim loses their independence, often can no longer work, in the majority of cases has to rely on others to help with their everyday needs and assist in decision-making and unless the extent of the damage to both brain and body has been severe and the stroke proves fatal within around 30 days, can only expect this tragic change to their lives to continue for a number of years.

So where did it all go so horribly wrong? Why do statistics indicate that 1 in 5 women and 1 in 6 men of 75 and over are at serious risk? Is it simply age or might diet be involved?

Rationing during WW2 meant very little in the way of fats in diets and as rationing continued until 1954, they continued to be a very occasional luxury - meat and dairy products were in short supply and when you could get them, they were expensive. So why should any housewife lucky enough to get her hands on (and on rare occasions, afford) not treat the family to a good scraping of butter on their toast or a steaming-hot dish of macaroni cheese or a deliciously-creamy trifle for pud? Things were looking up!

But, just as families were beginning to enjoy feasting on delicious and filling fats, along came the ‘fat police’, in the main, courtesy of a researcher by the name of Ancel Keyes who spent years analysing the diets of the healthiest nations in the world and determined that fats were bad for us and would make us sick and fat. His extensive (but now universally-agreed, erroneous in so very many aspects) research prompted governments and health organisations to issue warnings about our fat consumption globally and who were we to doubt the advice of ‘those in the know’?

For some reason, which remains a mystery to those who are professionally, nutritionally trained, eggs continue to be regarded as a dairy product - sorry but no, they don’t come from a milk-producing animal! However, did they come in for some bad press or what! Thanks again to Ancel Keyes, eggs were vilified for decades because they contain cholesterol and saturated fat. But the truth is that cholesterol and saturated fat in animal produce has health benefits.  There is absolutely no scientific evidence to suggest that eating cholesterol-rich foods cause our cholesterol levels to increase. It is estimated that only 20 percent of our blood cholesterol levels actually come from our diet (the rest of the cholesterol in the body is produced by the liver, which it makes because we need it for brain, hormone, nerve and immune system health) and there is no evidence that the consumption of up to six eggs per week increases our risk of heart disease.

It all started so well when eggs became more readily-available post-rationing and ‘dried eggs’ (which few got too excited about) were left to become even drier on the top shelf! "Go to work on an egg" was an advertising slogan used by the UK Egg Marketing Board during the late 1950s as part of more than £12 million spent on advertising, including a series of television advertisements starring Tony Hancock and Patricia Hayes in 1965. The proposition was that having an egg for breakfast was the best way to start the working day and it worked. In a very short space of time, eggs were the breakfast of choice in a great many households but it wasn’t to last. In 1988, the Tory health minister of the time, Edwina Currie stunned the British nation by announcing in a TV interview that “most of the egg production in this country, sadly, is now affected with salmonella”. As egg sales plummeted, the government was forced to offer a compensation package of millions of pounds to cover the cost of purchasing surplus eggs and for the slaughter of unwanted hens, the minister weathered a political storm which ultimately led to her resignation but the worst outcome of all was that eggs were largely removed from the breakfast table and all manner of starchy, sugary and health-threatening breakfast cereals took their place.

And even more frustratingly, in 2007, plans to rebroadcast the original ‘go to work on an egg’ advertisements were rejected by the Broadcast Advertising Clearance Centre, which observed that “the adverts did not suggest a varied diet”. This was not just frustrating - it was nothing short of negligent!

So now where are we on the ‘egg front’ in 2017? Well… it appears that an egg a day is linked to a reduced risk of stroke (1). It’s likely too late for many in their 70’s and 80’s to turn back time but boy have they been tragically-misled by their governments, their health advisors and their GPs over the last 50 years!

Who is to say that if they had continued to ‘go to work on an egg’ things might have been different and the stroke statistics would look less alarming but let’s hope that the youth of today, many of whom are more than just a little bit interested in their health, think seriously about the shocking headlines they read before simply reacting to them and continue to enjoy the extraordinarily-amazing health benefits offered by one of the easiest and most nourishing little numbers to fit into their daily diet - eggs!

Go to Work on an Egg!

who doesn’t have eggs in the fridge?

Eggs are the easiest, cheapest and most versatile way to keep your protein levels up, and I’m not just talking about eggs for breakfast (nor am I about to try and convince you to go on a boiled egg diet!)

Way back in 2008, a major study revealed that “eating two eggs for breakfast, as part of a reduced-calorie diet, helps overweight adults lose more weight and feel more energetic than those who eat a bagel breakfast of equal calories” and further studies continued to convince us to reconsider our breakfast choices.

Astoundingly, the UK Egg Marketing Board’s request to re-broadcast their extremely successful go to work on an egg series of TV advertisements from the 1950’s were rejected in 2007 as the Broadcast Advertising Clearance Centre observed that “the adverts did not suggest a varied diet” - how things change over the decades in this crazy world of nutrition!

Our early ancestors depended on bird eggs for protein on the many days when hunting and fishing didn’t go too well and as my hunting and fishing skills aren’t too hot, I feel sure I would have to ask Kirsty Young of Desert Island Disks fame if I could take a couple of beautiful brown hens onto my desert island - sadly the Complete Works of Shakespeare doesn’t offer much in the way of bodily nourishment!

Eggs are packed with goodness - 13 essential vitamins and minerals, high-quality protein, healthy fats, protective antioxidants and they make a brilliant addition to any weight loss diet at only around 70 calories each. Have at least one a day* for breakfast, lunch, dinner or a snack, opt for free range, organic (or even better, from a local farm or farmers market), find your favourites from some of my egg dishes below (simply click on the images to download the recipes) and go to work, go to lunch, go to dinner, go for a snack or go to bed on an egg and lose weight along the way!

crisp breads and toppings

ham and eggs

omega 3 salad

mexican-style baked omelette

poached egg special

open sandwiches and toppings

salmon kedgeree

tofu towers

* the jury is still out on how many eggs we should consume in a week but if you are in good health and your diet is rich in plant foods and scant on processed foods, there is no evidence to suggest that 7-10 per week will offer anything other than a nutritional bonus.