Articles
We’ve all heard that we should make sure we eat plenty of fibre in our diet (sometimes also referred to as ‘roughage’), and that this will make us into glowing pictures of health and keep our bowels ticking over wonderfully. But what is fibre, and how come it’s so important?
The British Nutrition Foundation defines dietary fibre as ‘plant-based carbohydrates that, unlike other carbohydrates (such as sugars and starch), are not digested in the small intestine and so reach the large intestine or colon’.[1] As our bodies can’t digest or absorb fibre, it travels all the way through our bodies virtually intact. When it arrives at our colon, that’s where the real magic starts – the friendly bacteria who live there feast on the stuff, and reward us with all kinds of miraculous health benefits. Something called short-chain fatty acids are produced by this process, which are excellent at reducing inflammation and fighting cancer.
Let’s look in closer detail at the wonderful world of dietary fibre….
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We all get cravings every now and then for something naughty to plug that gap between meals. Sometimes the wait between breakfast and lunch can seem endless, and when our tummies are rumbling, there’s nothing easier than to pop to the corner shop for a packet of choccy biscuits, or to grab a big bag of crisps from the kitchen cupboard!
Anyone serious about avoiding unhealthy snacks probably shouldn’t have a cupboard stocked with fattening treats in the first place – but this is easier said than done when you share a home with family or flatmates who want to have them on hand!
So here are some canny suggestions for what to stock in your cupboard for those times when your cravings get the better of you and you’d rather you munched on something filling which didn’t drag your health down into the gutter but filled you up with nutrients and good things….
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We’re all prone to energy slumps, especially at the time of year when evenings are getting darker and a chill is in the air. We tend to move away from summer’s salads and light meals towards more carbohydrate-rich fare in the autumn and winter, and this can cause us to put on weight and experience a spike-and-crash cycle in our blood sugar, leaving us feeling sluggish, grumpy and depleted. When combined with the increase in melatonin, the ‘sleepy hormone’ which is released in response to darkness, it’s no wonder our energy levels can dip severely!
Don’t fear – we’re turning the energy levels up to 11 with eleven natural energy boosters so you can feel alert, active, sunny and bright even when it’s dark and stormy outside!
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Aloe vera is a wonderful plant that has been used for thousands of years, both internally and externally, to improve health and wellbeing. It’s a perennial succulent, similar in many ways to a cactus, and grows across large expanses of the world including North and Central America, Australia, Spain, India and China. It thrives in places with low levels of natural rainfall and is a very hardy when it comes to pests. Large scale agricultural production of aloe vera is now widespread and products containing extracts from its leaves are available in most supermarkets.
Even though its name sounds amusingly like someone greeting an old lady, the health benefits of aloe vera are not to be sniggered at! As a folk medicine, and one of the most popular home remedies in use, aloe vera has been popular for thousands of years. It contains a gel, also known as latex, which has a cornucopia of widely-used applications. But what are the health benefits of aloe vera, and are they backed by science? Let’s take a closer look….
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It’s good to work out! Our bodies need exercise as it helps get oxygen and the essential nutrients we need to our organs and tissues, and lowers the risk of disease. It can help us lose extra pounds and maintain a healthy weight, and it also triggers the release of chemicals in the brain which cause us to feel more perky and upbeat, as well as improving our cognitive function. Whether you’ve joined a gym or you’ve invested in some home equipment – or if you just like to turn the radio up and jump around every now and then – there are many things you should be eating to ensure your body’s prepared and well-nourished in readiness for whatever exercise regime you choose.
One of the very best things to make sure you’re getting enough of is fruit and vegetables – a study in Northern Ireland found that increased intake of fruit and veggies is associated with an increase in muscle power.[1] There are a whole wealth of natural, beneficial things you can eat to make sure you’re building your body up with strength and vitality in readiness for your next gym session – here are ten of our favourites….
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We all want beautiful hair, but sometimes it’s easy to become confused by the huge amount of products available in the shops. The more times we change colour, use heat treatments or add chemicals to our locks, the weaker and more brittle our hair gets. This is even before we factor in increasing levels of air pollution, which can spell disaster for the health of our follicles. In 2019, researchers showed that polluted air, similar to that found in many cities, can significantly reduce our levels of beta-carenin, the protein responsible for hair growth.[1]
All this means we need to take extra-special care to have a beautiful, lustrous, healthy head of hair. So here are our top tips to achieve hair heaven….
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How many times have you heard ‘Breakfast is the most important meal of the day’? Well, it turns out this isn’t just an empty phrase – there’s real truth in it, and a lot of science backing it up.
In Europe, up to 30% of people skip breakfast, but in an analysis of 47 clinical studies, researchers found that children who reported eating breakfast on a consistent basis tended to have superior nutritional profiles than their breakfast-skipping peers, and breakfast eaters generally consumed more daily calories yet, amazingly, were less likely to be overweight. They also discovered that breakfast consumption may improve kids’ cognitive function related to memory, test grades, and school attendance.[1] However, it’s crucial that the breakfast we eat is nutritionally sound. A Spanish study found that while eating a good quality breakfast leads to higher quality of life and lower rates of stress and depression, even skipping breakfast is better than eating a poor quality one.[2] Commercial breakfast cereal manufacturers can be devious – just because they may splash the fact that their product is fortified with vitamins all over the packaging, it doesn’t mean that they’re not still packed with enormous amounts of sugar and fat. Not only do added sugars actually reduce energy levels and deplete our nutrient levels, they are also a massive factor in obesity and chronic disease.[3]
So here are some of our favourite healthy ways to start the day, which will fill you with the nutrition you need to have a happy, productive day….
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Oats are one of the most widely used grains in the world – they’re cheap, plentiful and hugely versatile, forming the main ingredient in a huge number of dishes, both sweet and savoury. On closer examination, they’re also one of the most intriguing foods on the planet.
Oats are a cereal crop, meaning they’re a plant in the grass family which yields an edible grain. This can be purchased in its whole form, often referred to as oat groats, but is more commonly sold ground into oatmeal or flattened into flakes, also known as rolled oats (or porridge oats). They can also be milled into oat flour, which makes a lighter, softer loaf when added to a bread mix. They have an outer layer which is often removed and sold on its own as oat bran. This adds texture to bread and cakes when included in the mix. Oats can even be used to make a wonderful drink which is a great alternative to dairy milk. Oats can also be an excellent alternative to wheat for coeliacs and anyone wanting to avoid gluten, as they’re naturally gluten-free.
But are oats any good for us? Let’s have a look at some of the key points….
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As rates of chronic disease rise across the planet, due in large part to increasing amounts of humans eating a more Western diet, drug companies churn out expensive new medications which come with dizzying lists of horrible side effects. Wouldn’t it be great if there was something cheap in your kitchen cupboard which had been proven effective at preventing and limiting the effects of many of these diseases, with no other side effects than staining your T-shirt?
Food that is heavy on calories but light on nutrition, and high in saturated fats, refined carbohydrates and sugar, plays a large part in the onset of Crohn’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, cirrhosis of the liver, diabetes, cancer and many other illnesses. Plant foods are full of amazing compounds that can be stunningly effective at giving a powerful boost to our health – from epigallocatechin in green tea and resveratrol in peanuts to isothiocyanates in broccoli and rutin in apples, the compounds (or ‘polyphenols’) protect us by strengthening our body’s defences against all sorts of debilitating conditions. Very few of these, though, have such profoundly health-giving powers as those found in turmeric, a plant whose rhizomes are dried and ground to make turmeric powder.
So let’s take a closer look at this golden wonder….
Read More »A huge amount of herbal tea blends use hibiscus as their base, and if your fruity tea bag of choice produces a drink that’s deep red in colour and has a lovely, tangy fruitiness, it’s likely the ingredients will include hibiscus. But what is hibiscus, and is it only there for its pretty colour and lip-smacking taste, or is it any good for us?
Hibiscus is actually an umbrella term describing a variety of species of flowering plants in the Malvaceae family. The most commonly used of these is Roselle (Hibiscus sabdariffa), which is native to Africa and produces the lovely, colourful infusion we know as hibiscus tea. It’s commonly consumed in many countries such as Senegal, Nigeria, Sudan and Egypt, where it’s known as karkadé. It’s drunk both hot and cold, and has a tart flavour which is quite close to that of cranberries. Because of this, it’s commonly sweetened with sugar or honey.
Let’s delve deeper into this wonderful plant and investigate its awesome health-giving properties….
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