Peru culinary adventures – Lucuma

Caramel flavour and awesome yammines. It has a bit of “powdery” texture when fresh, but when used in dishes its heavenly sweet and tasty.
I can assure you that when you try it, you will be “hooked”…

A bit of background: Pouteria lucuma tree, which is native to Peru, Chile and Equador. Known as the Gold of the Incas in ancestral times, the fruit is yellowish green and egg-shaped with a dry, starchy yellow-orange flesh. It has maple or caramel to pumpkin-like taste.The pulp of the lucuma fruit (sometimes called egg fruit or lucmo in english) is dehydrated to produce the lucuma powder, or flour, which is marketed primarily as a flavoring.

Nutritional value: It is a great source of fiber and complex carbohydrates, as well as vitamins such as niacin and beta carotene. Lucuma powder contains 329 calories per 100 grams, with 87 grams of carbohydrates, 2.3 grams of fiber, 4 grams of protein and 2.4 grams of total fat content. It also has 92 mg of calcium (bone strength),186 mg of phosphorus (bone and protein formation, digestion and hormone balance)

Potential health benefits: could be added to desserts as a natural sweetener, and will not increase your blood sugar levels! (TADAM 🙂 !!!!), much better than many artificial sweeteners that offer empty calories. So it could be a healthy sugar alternative for people with diabetes and hormonal issues.

The easiest way to try lucuma outside of Peru is to buy lucuma powder. Its is easily available from amazon, the prices start from £4 for a reasonable size bag of powder.

I have tried 2 amazing dishes with lucuma and they are both very easy to make and super tasty – lucuma mousse and lucuma ice-cream.

Lucuma mousse and baked crunchy chocolate quinoa with aqyaymantos combination is amazing. I have tried it in Huacapucllana restaurant in Lima.

Lucuma Ice-cream is lush! Its soooo fresh and has this awesome tender caramel taste.

Other interesting photos of lucuma and recipes here

A few SUPER easy 5 min recipes are here:

• Lucuma smoothie
• Ice-cream recipe

Helpful Links about Nutrition

Wellness Tools

BMI Calculator
Calorie Calculator (How many calories do you need to maintain your weight)
Food & Fitness Journal
Harvard School of Public Health Healthy eating plate
NHS Eat Well Plate

Recipe Resources

Cooking Light
Eating Well

General Nutrition and Health

American Dietetic Association
British Dietetic Association
Harvard School of Public Health

Nutritional Science vs Fiction

NHS review of articles in popular magazines

Product recommendations

Water filters
Vitamix Blenders
Omega Juicers

 

Awesome roasted nuts and seeds

Nuts and seeds are great. But I noticed that I was not feeling very well after eating them straight from the bag. So I decided to find the way how to eat nuts and keep my tummy happy at the same time. Maybe this post will be helpful for you too!? Let me know what do you think!

4 signs that you are not processing nuts well:

• Heavy feeling in your lower stomach after eating nuts
• Stomach pain
• Heartburn
• You can literally see bits of them in your poo (SORRY! I have no idea how to write about this indirectly 🙂 )

I remembered that during my Nutritional Therapy lectures in BCNH we studied that nuts&seeds contain  lectins, phytates, and enzyme inhibitors (I will call this bunch LPEs), which may be one of the causes of the above mentioned conditions. I must mention, that “enzyme inhibitors” are good nature’s way of “protecting” them from heat, etc. before “right”conditions come (eg. rain) for the nuts to grow into trees.

By soaking nuts you can not only minimise the impact of LPEs, but also enhance the flavour of nuts!In a way, you are “tricking” the nature, by providing conditions when nuts&seeds may “relax” and start releasing all good minerals and micronutrients.

Also, you need to remember that roasted nuts from the shop are most likely not soaked first which means they still have LPEs. There are a few brands though which actually soak the nuts before they roast or dehydrate them, check out LivingRaw nuts, or Raw Ecstasy but they are not very cheap.

So, why not to try to prepare and “activate” your nuts yourself, it is super easy! Let me show it to you 🙂

 Easy process for soaking nuts

• Rinse nuts/seeds with fresh water (better purified water, not from the tap)
• Put them in a bowl (better in a glass or ceramic bowl)
• Cover nuts with water (2 cups water/ 1 cup nuts) and put smth breathable on top (paper towel or tea towel)
• Let them stand for a few hours (during the night/day/ or 24 hours). If you have time or you are around, change the water a few times. If not, don’t worry about it 🙂
• Drain the water (which will look very dirty)
• Rinse again with fresh water (the water contains all those LPE which are acidic to the body, so rinse well!)
• Dry your clean and beautiful nuts on a sheet of paper towel or dehydrator (if you have one)
• Put in a bag or a glass bowl and keep in refrigerator for 3-4 days

Check out timings for each type of nut/seed here. But! Just not to overcomplicate things too much, a few hours would be good. For example, arrange all in the morning and it is ready for the evening or make preparations in the evening and the nuts are ready for breakfast!

And finally a recipe!!! 🙂

Soaked and roasted walnuts and pumpkin seeds

• Soaked pumpkin seeds (I made them overnight)
• Soaked walnuts (I made them overnight)
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp rosmarin
• Pinch of dry basil
• Pinch of dry coriander
• Pinch of pepper
• Optional: 1 tbs bee polen

Preheat the oven for 200 C, mix all the spices and nuts in a dry bowl and put the mixture to the baking sheet. In 25-30 min the AWSOME nuts are ready to eat! 🙂

Note! It is better to add bee polen 10 min before the nuts are ready, so it doesn’t burn 🙂

Awesome Roasted nuts and seeds

 

Tip #1: Overeating (before/during/after)

There are so many people who eat sometimes because it is simply “THE ONLY solution to the issue which you can do at the moment”.

Why does it happen? Well there are a lot of people discussing why and how it happens from the chemical point of view.

I would prefer to focus on one KEY “simple” thing – you need to feel in LOVE with yourself and try to be kind not only to people around you, but to yourself too.

Easier said than done, right?

There are a few strategies which might be useful for overeating.

BEFORE

Trigger feeling: Sadness about…/Loneliness/Boredom/
You feel like: Need to have to eat this cookie/chocolate/5 apples/cereal pack/chips…(insert your variant)
Your thoughts: “I must eat now”
Your body reactions: Heart rate goes up/Hands shaking/Irregular breathing/Any other change from normal, calm you…

Goal: Calm down

Actions to help you out at this stage:
1)  OBSERVE what is happening in the body (don’t judge). Simply observe, like a scientist, like an observer, a very interested journalist – When you can notice how you are feeling (in which part of the body there is a change from normal), the chemical reactions in your brain changes and it calms down the   urge to eat.
2)Deep breath 5 times (3 count in-3 count out)
2) Stretching (Hands up and on the sides/close your eyes and stretch the neck)
3) say loud  WHAT do you feel (if you are in the office maybe a good idea to go to the meeting room not to freak out your colleagues 🙂 ) – “I feel angry that they did this”/ “I feel bored and thats stupid to waste my time like that”/” I feel lonely”…
4) Look at the mirror and just try to smile at yourself! try again, until you actually smile.
5) Relax the muscles of your face. Yep! Each muscle on the face needs to feel relaxed and without any tension.

DURING

You feel like: NOTHING (you usually don’t feel anything at this time, as you are concentrated on the process of eating)
Your thoughts: “why am I doing this?”
Your body reactions: eating “like a rabbit”/ very fast, no chewing

Goal: “Wake up” your unconscious brain

Actions to help you out at this stage:
1) Slow down!!! Yep, slow down the speed at which you are eating. Try to chew slower and sower and slower.2)Put your feet on the ground and FEEL the ground under your feet (if you are standing already, concentrate on the FEELING of the ground, feel your soles, feel the fingers touching the ground)
3) Say out loud ” I love myself”/”I accept myself”/ “I am strong”
4) Look outside to the street/ think about how each tree looks like, how fast cars are passing by/ just focus on something that is happening outside

AFTER

You feel like: low/upset/frustrated
Your thoughts: “Why did I do this???”
Your body reactions: feel like a bubble/ lay on a couch and can’t move/ feel like hiding under the blanket

Goal: Help your body to feel better and help your mind to move on

Actions to help you out at this stage:
1) Drink hot water with ginger. Continue with warm water with some lemon squeezed in. It should help your digestion.
2) Take a shower if possible – it will help you to “freshen up”, so you don’t lay on a couch feeling like “a big jelly fish”
3) Do some EASY stretching (as its to hard to run/jump around/ do weights when you feel really super full
4) Raise your arm and quickly move it down and say “F..k it, it happened” 🙂 Just accept that it happened and MOVE ON. You will try your best next time, and next time again and you know what? Eventually you will stop at the point “before BEFORE” 😉

Have a fab journey x

Norice-salad “sushi”

Salads are awesome – a lot of vitamins, phytonutrients and fibre. But seriously, eating a salad every day CAN become boring. And then…and then you need to make Norice-salad sushi! 🙂

This is what I have done today to perk things up a bit:

Norice-salad sushi

-100g cucumber grated
-2 beetroots grated
-1 parsnip grated
-bunch of dill
-2 Yaki Nori sheets (bought in a Korean store)

In big bowl mix all ingredients and add any dressing (I have added: 1 tbs Extra virgin olive oil, 1 tsp apple vinegar, 1 tbs hemp oil). Prepare sushi mat (also could be bought in a Korean store) by putting 1 Yaki Nori sheet.

 

Then squeeze the juice from the salad – otherwise you are going to get a “sushi ocean” on your plate:)

Place the salad on the sheet, BUT make sure that you have left 2 cm (1 inch) from the top of the sheet – to avoid salad “jumping” from the sheet while you are rolling a sushi roll.

Roll and enjoy! SUPER easy and fast! :)…and OMGsoTASTY!!!! 🙂

Healthy Bars Review – Vol.1

I love tasty snacks. To be honest I am obsessed with snacks 🙂 I love cool packaging, good recipes and creative claims. It is super great when people do staff like that and actually create business with the goal to help people to eat and live better. Also, after over 9 years in FMCG marketing I truly appreciate great products. So I can never pass by without tasting (or maybe it is an excuse to try cool things?? hehehe)

Anyway, this is the first post about healthy packaged snacks which I LOVED.

Lets’ start from a few key points. In my opinion, its better to eat raw or just cooked, BUT when you are on the go and simply didn’t have time to prepare your snack than its ok to buy a packaged one 🙂

My criteria for assessing healthy snacks:

1) It must be OMGsoTASTY
2) It should have NO added sugars
3) It should have well balanced ratio: protein/carbs/fat
4) Packaging should be good looking 🙂 (Its always nice to have a nice thing from a nice pack, right? 🙂 )
5) Claims should be interesting and really appealing
6) It should not cost a fortune

The First review is of the FRANK bar.

It is very recently on the market in UK (guys on the website said that they started in 2012).  There are a few flavour available, check out here more info.

1) FRANK bar would score super good on OMGsoTASTY scale, its rich and chocolaty and not to sweet but very nice. And you would not want to have 5 to feel like you have eaten enough, you would be happy with just one, which is cool, and exactly what you want when you are running somewhere!! It tasted a bit like chocolate brownie, soft and chewy and chocolaty. Nice!

2) Ingredients of the Chocolate&Blueberry flavour:
Dried Fruit 49.8% (Dates 36.2%, Plums 13.6%), Fruit Juice Concentrates (Concentrated Apple, Grape and Pear Juices, Rice Starch), Gluten Free Oatmeal 10.9%, Fat Reduced Cocoa Powder 9.2%, Chocolate with Coconut Cream 7.4% (Cocoa Mass 47%, Coconut Blossom Sugar, Coconut Cream, Cocoa Butter 4.3%, Ground Vanilla Pods), Pea Protein, Pea fibre, Freeze Dried Natural Blueberry Powder 0.9%, Natural Blueberry flavour.

Well, there are a LOT of ingredients:) In my opinion it is better to try to have no concentrated fruit juices or coconut sugar, but it is maybe something FRANK guys gonna do in the future.

3)Nutrition Value (per 100g…one bar is 35g)
Energy 333kcal
Protein 11g
Carbohydrates 65g (Of Which Sugars) 41g
Fibre 11g
Fat 5g (Of Which Saturates) 3g

Well, this is quite a snack for a quick BOOST of energy (4:1 ration of carbs to protein), and for people who move a lot, as it has a lot of simple carbs in it (65g per 100g, or per one bar 22.7g).  Or maybe a good option after a run? when you just need to fuel up with simple carbs to replenish the energy. Some more interesting facts about running and cacao could be found here 

4) Packaging is super nice. Its colourful and really fun to hold in hand:) It has its kind super feel good factor:)

5) Simple and really engaging claims:
Gluten, Nut and Dairy Free
Source of protein (well…it is a source, but I wouldn’t say it is a lot in there:))
With energysmart – really cool, FRANK has even registered a trademark name for a claim! awesome! Its really hard to do it usually, so well done guys!

6) Frank bars do not cost a fortune:) You can check on their website

And one additional comment, this year on Gluten&Allergy free show in Olympia, London they were very friendly and nice. Which make a huge impact! And its great to see nice people behind nice products!

So if you are after a treat with chocolate and some “OMGsoTASTY” factor get yourself a FRANK bar! (Oh, by the way, try crashing FRANK’s bar on top of your morning cereal or yogurt  – it is super tasty!!)

x

BROMPTON FOOD MARKET (South Kensington, London)

A local store but with a difference:)

If you would like to buy a fresh fish or meat from the butcher and at the same time get your veggies and some good grains AND have a relaxing lunch/coffee break afterwards than THIS is a super place to visit.

Small shop/cafe and super friendly team will seriously make your day!

Brompton Food Market was opened a few month ago, and not many people know about it yet. But I am sure it becomes more popular very soon!

So here it goes:

Meat section – great selection of raw meat (more downstairs) and prepared dishes to cook at home.

Fish section – mmm….I just love how it all looks!!!!

Also a large section of grains and a small selection of gluten free options

And….here is a garden – quite, nice and empty! I can’t believe no one nows about this place yet – so VERY recommended to go there, at least for tea and relaxed chat…We didn’t have a meal here, but had a very tasty sorbet (not made in-house). This pretty young lady, you can see on the picture, had her SNOG frozen yogurt and was very excited to show of just learned magic tricks with ice-cream disappearance:)

Overall, BROMPTON Food market is a great escape in the middle of the busy London! If you are around – try it one day! 🙂

 

 

Bananaaaaaaa

Yesterday i was making banana pancakes and in the evening i thought that it would be cool to have some sweets in the morning. The challenge was that I didn’t have a lot of ingredients at home…so had to be creative:)

And this is what I have ended up with, super simple and quick (as usual with all cooking that i do) and TASTY!

FROZEN BANANA BITES

1 ripe banana
1 tbs lucuma powder + 3 tbs water
1 ts cinnamon
1,5 tbs bee polen

Cut banana in a few pieces. Mix water, lucuma, cinnamon. Dip banana in lucuma mix and then roll it in bee pollen. Put on a baking sheet and place in a freezer overnight. Cut/Dip/Roll/Freeze – Simple!

Other dipping alternatives: nut or seed butter/chocolate/yogurt
Other rolling alternatives: nuts or seeds/crushed dry berries

This is quite sugary, but it is a treat, right?;)

 

 

 

 

Bananarama

Well well well, bananas! You never can get enough, they are SOOO TASTY!:) Today I was in a mood to buy some and guess what? I just got them absolutely for FREE, simply because they were quite spotty the store owner decided to give them away for free. Well, happy me!

 

And now I am thinking what to do with them….

Lets start with…pancakes!!! The first 3 of them were…well, not working at all. Stick to the pan, get all squashy…oh, I tried everything 🙂 Adding more egg, adding more flour…nope. It was not working:) So then i decided that I will simply bake the pancakes, as you can never go wrong with the oven:)

YAMMY BANANA PANCAKES (in the oven)

To make 11 pancakes (if you place them  in the oven and will not try to panfry them, or 8 pancakes if you will make an attempt and panfry the first 3…hehhe)

4 super ripe bananas
3 eggs (I used egg replacement)
1/2 cup flour (I used gluten free all-purpose flour)
Put coconut or olive oil on the baking sheet. In a big bowl crash bananas, add eggs, add flour and mix all. Take a table spoon and make little pancakes on a baking sheet. Put in the preheated oven, for 20 min, 200C. Then turn the pancakes super carefully on the other side and place in the oven for the next 5 min.

 

Put in the preheated oven, for 20 min, 200C. Then turn the pancakes super carefully on the other side and place in the oven for the next 5 min.

mmm…They are sweet and so fresh and so OMG so TASTY! But seriously after 3 of them you are totally full!

Enjoy! xx

 

 

What you eat/drink/feel now may affect your future child’s health!

Absolutely amazing research was made recently, which suggested that its not only your gens (from your mom  and dad), but also your body cells that affect your kid’s health and wellness…And it is very important to understand this concept, because cells of your body are constantly going through the phases of renewal following the influence from what you drink, eat, think and do! OMG!!! If you want to learn more about this research, check out this great website

 

Now, there are zillions of blogs, books, websites, etc teaching you how to eat and why. Well, to be honest, not all information provided there is SCIENTIFICALLY justified, soooo it may lead to a lot of really weird and to be frank not very clever decisions (eg eat one type of fruit a day and feel great, eat more of goji berries and feel more energetic, and list can go on…).

If you are really interested to learn some basics and more science based info (and have some time for it too). You could read/listen a course about nutrition. Usually this type of course costs about £200+, BUT! I have found for you  super interesting, super engaging, on-line course, which you can take from anywhere in the world and enjoy the power of knowledge for…ABSOLUTELY FREE!!! It was produced by a respected university and it is just a great summary of some basics, which can help you to navigate in the busy world of on-line nutrition. Here is the link to the TUFTS FREE nutrition course

Enjoy!! xx

Super Easy DETOX to make your LIVER happy!

Sometimes we feel like “aghhh….” like a broken machine, tired, feel bad after eating food, bloated, and the list can go on and on and on. What is the reason? Well, there could be many thyroid issues, gluten sensitivity, etc…

But you can NEVER go wrong with one thing – SUPPORT your LIVER to feel better.

Liver: It is your “factory” for processing all types of toxins and good nutrients in the body, which “arrive” to the liver via blood. Toxins could be as from food and also from environment, and even form the normal metabolic processes in the body. And nutrients come from the food you are eating. So liver, basically, can process both good staff (making it available for the whole body and your heart) and also can be part of the elimination process of the bad staff (toxins) that your body doesn’t need (yep, so you can pop/pee it). Interesting, that at the moment there is no artificial device which could match all the functions which your liver do! So its kinda very very very important to make sure that your liver works well.

So you can see now, that liver is constantly working and it is pretty easy for it to be slightly “clogged” or sometimes it is really in a bad state, which is called “fatty liver”, when the cells of the liver can not filter any more and then they become swollen with fat – which makes a situation pretty dangerous…ANYWAY.

Don’t worry and lets try to see if YOU need some liver support:)

First – some signs that you need a liver cleanse:

• abdominal bloating
• after eating you have acid reflux/heartburn
• pain or discomfort over the liver – (right upper abdominal area under the rib cage)
• abdominal bloating
• quite a big round belly
• trouble digesting fatty foods – your poo is yellowish and is floating
• you had your gallbladder removed
• dark spots on the skin (actually sometimes they are called “liver spots”)
• getting sweaty constantly
• acne/rosacea or itchy, blotchy skin
• unexplained weight gain and inability to lose weight even with calorie restriction
• fatigue
• mood swings and depression
• snoring
• fatty yellowish lumps around eyes.

Now, if you feel like OMG – this is MEEEE. Don’t worry – we can try to get it sorted naturally.

First – try to incorporate some cleansing foods in your diet for the next 2 weeks and try to eliminate environmental toxins (smoking) and some food related toxins (you know I am talking about alcohol and processed foods, right?:) ). Check out this video about 14 foods to clean your liver

Second – Try to go on this Detox for a 1-2 weeks.

Third – Get SLOWLY out of the detox. Introducing first fish for a week, then meat in the next week.

Hope this will make you with reducing your “ahhhhhh” state! xx

 

Easy Detox:

15 minutes before you are ready to eat breakfast, squeeze the juice of a lemon in a medium glass of hot water and drink it.

Breakfast: 

-Beetroot juice: 8 ounces. You can take more if you desire but make sure that you take 8 ounces at least.
-Low fat goats cheese: 5 level tablespoonful’s. No more – no less.
-Low sugar fresh fruit (e.g. berries): 1⁄2 pound. You may eat MORE but be sure to eat at least 1⁄2 pound. You can eat only one kind of fruit or you may mix/or you can have a vegetable salad
-Herb tea: 1 cup (if you want). May add a sweetener like  honey, maple syrup (I prefer to have the tea without…but its your choice)

Between breakfast and lunch you should drink all the vegetable juice you can hold. Also eat fresh raw vegetables and berry fruits. The more live food you put down – the more thorough will be the cleansing. Make up a lot of vegetable broth (see recipe). Drink lots of this broth. It is full of minerals.

Lunch:

-Vegetable broth: Drink 2 cups during the meal.
-Salad: Make a chopped salad of fresh raw vegetables. Use a dressing of fresh extra virgin olive oil, lemon juice and amino acids (you may add crushed garlic or apple cider vinegar). Eat at least 8 level tablespoonful’s of salad, more if you desire. Use 4 of the vegetables listed below: Artichokes, Asparagus, Beans, Beets, Brussels Sprouts, Broccoli, Cabbage, Cauliflower, Cucumbers, Celery, Dandelions, Dark Green Lettuce, Endive, Egg Plant, Fresh sweet Corn. Fresh Green peas, Green Peppers, Kale, Kohlrabi, Lettuce, Lotus, Okra, Onions, Parsley, Parsnips, Pumpkin, Radishes, Spinach, Sprouts, Tomatoes, Turnips. (You may use the leaves or tops also).

Mid afternoon snack: Berry fruit dessert • Herb tea and water

Between lunch and dinner drink all the vegetable juice you desire. Eat all the fresh berry fruit and vegetables you want.

Dinner:

-Vegetable broth: Drink 2 cups during the meal, more if you desire.
-Cooked vegetables: Select 3 or more of the different kind listed above. Eat a generous helping of each. (No potatoes) You may add a tbs. of garlic with lemon or liquid aminos.

If you feel hungry after dinner, eat fresh berry fruits and drink vegetable juice – ALL YOU WANT.

VEGETABLE BROTH

-7 carrots
-1 small bunch of celery – cut fine.
-Big handfull Parsley
-Big handful spinach – cut fine
-3 litres (or slightly less) hot water

Place carrots and celery in water and simmer for 15 minutes. Add parsley and a large spinach. Simmer 10 minutes more. Drain off the juice or broth. Flavour with onion, green peppers or garlic, lemon, amino acids and cayenne. Store in refrigerator. You may add tomato or other vegetable juice for variety of flavour and texture. It can be used hot or cold. The purpose of this broth is to FLUSH. Drink lots of it during the 7 days. It is full of minerals from the vegetables.