Are You in the Mood for Love?

Here are a few last minute suggestions on how to make your Valentines Day one to remember without fear of packing on the pounds!

The hormones testosterone, dopamine, oxytocin and serotonin play an important role in mood and desire and what you eat can do more than you might imagine to heighten both for a memorable Valentines Day! Here are some quick, easy and delicious suggestions, most of which can be eaten with your fingers - the last thing you need on the 14th Feb is a load of washing up!

Fresh king prawns painted generously with garlic butter and grilled (what could possibly be the problem with garlic if you are both eating it and it has long been associated with promoting love and arousing desire!)

Slice up some creamy buffalo mozzarella, scatter some basil leaves around (full of libido-lifting nutrients) and lots of sliced, sweet tomatoes (the first tomatoes grown in Europe were called love apples because they were related botanically to the mandrake or love plant which was noted in the Bible for its reputed aphrodisiac qualities). Add a few sea salt flakes, a generous grinding of black pepper and drizzle with olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

Eggs are hard to beat for a quick, easy and delicious snack for two! They are a great source of protein, rich in iron which helps circulate oxygen around your body, creating the kind of energy that you are looking for on Valentines Day and there’s so much you can do with them! Scrambled with smoked salmon (or even more indulgent, with shavings of fresh truffles), Eggs Benedict or Florentine or just soft boiled eggs with toast ‘soldiers’ or steamed asparagus tips to dip in. And it’s not only hen’s eggs - try boiling a few quails eggs, peel them (that’s a job for 2) and hoover them down with a cocktail and a bowl of salted almonds while you are putting other delicacies together in the kitchen!

And while we’re talking eggs, let’s not forget caviar (fish eggs). Caviar packs a real nutritional punch containing almost all the proteins, essential fats, vitamins and minerals required to get those hormones singing! Beluga is expensive but we’re talking one night of the year here and a little goes a long way.  A few slices of brown toast, a spoonful or two of caviar, a couple of glasses of champagne and you might find you’ve lost your appetite for food and moved on!

If you both like getting into the kitchen, why not experiment with fish baked in a parcel. If you’ve never tried it you are in for a treat and keep in mind that studies indicate that historically, those who lived by the sea and feasted regularly on fresh fish and shellfish had impressively-boosted levels of testosterone throughout most of their lives! Place your fish fillet of choice on a large square of foil, top with very finely-sliced onions, crushed garlic, spinach (bursting with zinc, an essential mineral involved in the production of sex hormones), asparagus tips, finely-sliced tomatoes and diced, fresh chilli, season with sea salt crystals and lots of freshly ground black pepper, scrunch the foil to create a loose parcel and bake in a medium oven until the fish is cooked through and the juices are running clear.

And for dessert, well it has to involve chocolate (which has the added bonus of being rich in a chemical called phenylethylamine which plays a vital role when we fall in love and feel passion and levels are believed to peak during orgasm!) How about ‘fingers’ of mango and papaya or whole strawberries dipped in melted dark chocolate or a small, dark, rich chocolate mousse topped with silky smooth double cream – unbeatable!

Give your Onions a Little Salt Love!

Soups and stews are true winter wonders and can be made ahead of time and refrigerated or frozen in portions for a quick defrost and reheat, can be easily transported as long as you have a reliable container with a dependable and secure lid and you can sling just about everything that is lurking in the fridge and looking a bit tired in there to save waste, save money and add texture, flavour and nutritional splendidness.

But… the secret to a truly delicious soup or stew is about having a little patience for the first 15 to 20 minutes! No matter which recipe you are following or whether you are just ‘doing your own thing’, it’s all about the base - that’s where the delicious flavour comes from! Briskly sauté your chopped onions in good olive or avocado oil or top-dollar butter (or a combination of the two) for just a very few minutes, add a good pinch of sea salt crystals then quickly turn the heat down to the lowest, lowest, lowest heat, put a lid on the soup/stew pot and let the onions ‘sweat’ very happily for 15 to 20 minutes without lifting the lid or stirring - this really brings the beautiful sweetness out of the onions, means they don’t ‘brown’ and gives any soup or stew an extra dimension. Same rule applies where leeks, shallots, celery, garlic, tough root vegetables or a combination of some or all of the above are involved. Once you adopt this method, you will never again have to worry about your soups and/or stews being anything other than divinely-delicious and very moreish!

Veganuary, Vegan Diets and Weight Loss

A record number of people have apparently signed up for Veganuary this year and are plotting to body swerve meat, poultry, fish, shellfish, eggs and dairy for a month, assess how they look and feel (both physically and emotionally) and determine whether they wish to continue with a vegan diet and lifestyle or indeed, stick with the major changes required to ensure that their diet offers the very best of nourishment on a daily basis to gain and/or maintain good health.

I have noted increasingly, that on the back of a great many articles featured in the media, people quite often ‘head down the vegan road’ in a bid to lose weight and that's what I am going to address here

Unless you understand the importance of a healthy balance of the ‘big 6’ (carbohydrates, protein, fats, vitamins, minerals and water), improved health and successful weight loss may not result on a vegan diet so you have to ask yourself some important questions....

1. Are you eating too many starchy carbohydrates (potatoes, bread, pasta, rice and other grains) to fill you up and keep hunger at bay? Starch is sugar, too many sugars prompt blood glucose disruption, blood sugar disruption prompts the pancreas to release insulin on an all-too-regular basis, the continued release of insulin may cause a resistance to its effects and fat storage rather than fat burning may result. 
2. Do you regularly opt for processed foods and drinks with ‘vegan-friendly’ labelling? A great many offer just as much sugar, processed fats and excess calories as many non-vegan, off-the-shelf products. Do yourself a favour - buy fresh produce and do your own thing as often as possible. 
3. Do you snack on nuts and regularly add them to dishes in a bid to ensure you are getting sufficient protein into your diet? Nuts are real oscar-winners when it comes to protein content but if you are trying to lose weight, a little goes a long way - 2 or 3 handfuls of fresh nuts per day is plenty! 
4. Have soya products become your daily alternative to meat and dairy? Excess soya protein can disrupt the intricate balance of hormones - particularly the sex hormones (oestrogen and progesterone in women, testosterone and oestrogenin men) and make weight loss frustratingly difficult. Little and once a day is the way to go with soya. 
5. Are you including greens and other colourful vegetables in every meal and most snacks? Vegan diets must be super-rich in vegetables to ensure an abundance of essential vitamins, minerals and plant chemicals which not only protect us from disease but also do a sterling job in encouraging fat loss.
6. Do fruit smoothies, non-dairy fruit shakes and fruit juices feature regularly in your day? There is no argument that fruit offers way more than just sweetness to your world but because they are rich in fructose, a ‘sugar combo molecule’ that can quickly raise blood sugar levels and possibly prompt fat storage, all fruits should be eaten with a little protein or fat to slow the process (a handful of seeds or seed oils added to smoothies and shakes works well).
7. And most importantly… do you shy away from fats because you have been hood-winked into believing they will pile on the pounds and prompt heart disease? Happily, this thinking has now been well and truly quashed and fats are back on the menu!

No matter which type of diet you follow you simply must get fats into your life on a daily basis. They don’t make you fat, they boost the health of your brain, heart, bones, nervous system and hormones, they satisfy your appetite, they super-fuel you with energy and if you are trying to lose weight, a little fat in every meal and snack throughout the day keeps hunger at bay and controls cravings. 

Click on the image below to see a short presentation on why fats are so important not only in a vegan diet but in all diets...