Wonderfully Wimbledon and Scrumptiously Seasonal

Although they have become increasingly available year-round, they are at the peak of their season from April through July when they are the most delicious and most abundant.

However, be fussy with your stawbs! Because strawberries, once picked, do not ripen further, so what you see is what you get.

If you see dull with green and yellow patches then your body will enjoy them just as much as you do, however if they are deep in colour and are full ripened then this relates directly to nutrient quality and to with it your enjoyment.

Both underripe and overripe strawberries have been show to have lower vitamin C content and decreased phytonutrient content in comparison to optimally ripe strawberries.

But it is not just the vitamin c we should thank the strawberry for, it delivers a bounty of nutrients and remains an excellent source of manganese, the essential trace mineral which acts as the jack of all trades when it comes to keeping your body ticking smoothly.

In general, the myriad of nutrients found within the fruit is always best eaten in the fruit; there is something about the way it is delivered to your body that is impossible to replace through supplements alone!

Enjoy strawberries and your body will thank you for it, adding a little meringue and Greek yoghurt is an instant indulgence that should be enjoyed throughout the summer!

Matcha green tea is a powdered tea, where you ingest the whole tealeaf instead of simply the infusion, this brings along with it many benefits and unique nutrition characteristics such as the beta-carotene equivalent to a bowl of spinach!

Although green tea is a rich source of bioactive compounds (polyphenols and methyxanthines) the extraction efficiency of these compounds strongly depends on the extraction conditions.

The first extract (brewing) of green teas is often discarded due to excessive astringency, but what happens when we reuse the tea bag... well…

It is concluded that the practice of reusing tea samples is not a good way of drinking since most of health enhancing compounds (flavonoids) decompose (Astill, Birch, Dacombe, Humphrey, & Martin, 2001).

Research shows that the stability of bioactive compounds within green teas really does vary according to its preparation and storage.

Findings from investigations suggest that maximum extraction (getting the good bits out) efficiency of bioactive compounds (the good stuff) from green tea is achieved by brewing at 80 °C, for 5′ (powder), 15′ (bagged) and 30′ (loose leaf).

However, lets face it we don’t make a cup of tea to enjoy 30 mins later! So leave it for five and hope for the best I say! Also any longer then that and I always suffer the typical green tea bitterness, where you sip it thinking...

“oh this is why it is good for you, it tastes awful’

Enjoy your green tea often throughout the day, and if you’re decadent, enough to get the Matcha stuff… mix it into smoothies(add kiwis for extra green goodness and flavour!), soups or within your dressing for your salad!

Hunger Defeated, Be Ready For Anything!

Combining Apple (with skin), Jumbo Oats (unmilled), seeds and yoghurt (unsweetened) you are indeed combining protein, slow release carbohydrate and essential fatty acids! The concoction gives slow release energy in a tasty highly satisfying form.

HOMEMADE PIZZA!

An egg is one of the most nutritious food items in our diet. It is rich in minerals, proteins, and vitamins, all of which are easily absorbed by the body.

It is one of the only dietary sources of vitamin D, and great source of Choline that helps keep our nervous system running smoothly!

According to one study, an egg a day may prevent macular degeneration due to the carotenoid content, specifically lutein and zeaxanthin. Both nutrients have increased bioavailability (improved usability) to our bodies from eggs than from other sources.

My Mum always said it was unhealthy to have eggs everyday, although I think this was a mixture of 80’s mindset and her strong sense of smell.

Recent studies have shown that regular consumption of two eggs per day does not affect a person's lipid profile (The lipid profile is a group of tests that are often requested together to determine risk of coronary heart disease) and may, in fact, improve it.

Research suggests that it is saturated fat that raises cholesterol rather than dietary cholesterol, and with eggs having only 5g of total fat with just 1.5g of that being saturated we can say that there is a lot worse out there!

Before I end this post I must mention the quality of protein eggs have! They give us all 9 essential amino acids,

An Amino Acid Score of 100 or higher indicates a complete or high-quality protein.

Eggs promote healthy hair and nails because of their high sulphur content and wide array of vitamins and minerals. Many people find their hair growing faster after adding eggs to their diet, especially if they were previously deficient in foods containing sulphur or B12.

When buying eggs make sure there are from happy hens! They taste better and lets face it we have all seen the terrible conditions for those barn eggs and if we stop buying them there will not be the demand and profits to be made, so always happy eggs please!

Good Friday Good Food

The Man And His Dinner

The man wants something filling, flavour rich and shovel-able!  The result,

One pepper, a red chilli, the leftover mushrooms, few sprigs of parsley and manly red onion most definitely not sliced finely.  All bound together with a rather large portion of fancy rice.
The sum of these was all thrown together in a large skillet and tossed around in the most flamboyant (chef like) of ways.
There was not a broccoli floret in sight, but instead  a content eating machine ready for a game of footy.
What a man!