Digging for Victory

About 15 years ago, our house was renovated and an extension which housed a butcher’s shop was removed from the front. This left us with a good-sized front garden, especially relative to our wee back garden – but not much skill or knowledge of gardening!

Even though our back garden is only small, it does benefit from having lovely brick walls and a sheltered aspect. So over the last few years we have enjoyed peaches, plums, redcurrents and rhubarb. We have a very vigorous Kiwi vine against the house, but unfortunately, the summer has never been long enough for the Kiwi crop to ripen properly. We also pop broad bean plants among the flowers, and last year grew peas in a tub. Mind you, not a single pea made it into the house – they were all eaten, pods and all, straight off the plant!

So when we had to do some remodelling work to the front garden last year, we decided to have a go at creating a vegetable garden. We dug the whole thing up so that the frost over winter could break up the soil. Then in the spring, Dave made up some wooden-edged raised beds. We wanted the beds to be narrow enough that we did not need to stand on the soil at all, with gravel paths which were just wide enough for access. We added lots of manure from the farm and some lovely river silt which was excess to requirements at a garden down the High Street. We have not grown any of our vegetables from seed this year – we don’t have enough space either in the house or garden for all the seed trays required. Instead we have bought seedlings where we can – the watercress farm, Cressman’s Corner or gifts from friends and relatives. We have lost very few seedlings once planted out, so I don’t think it has cost us much more than buying seeds.

We have been approximately following the principles of ‘square foot gardening’. You plant the vegetables very close together, but make sure you feed them well. So far all we have been doing is to add chicken poo pellets when we plant the seedlings, and that seems to be enough. Our biggest problem this year has been pigeons, pecking at our cabbage seedlings. Not too many slugs or snails have found us this year, perhaps because the garden was bare for the whole of last winter, leaving them with nowhere to hide. We are assuming they will find us sometime soon! Caterpillars have started to appear, but my rather blood-thirsty children seem happy to go caterpillar hunting most evenings. We like to throw pests like snails and caterpillars into the High Street for the passing cars to deal with – apologies to any cyclists passing at the time!

We have been pleasantly surprised by how little work the garden is, especially now that the vegetables have grown enough to suppress a lot of weeds. It’s literally a couple of minutes here and there, plus the joy of harvesting immediately before eating. So far we have enjoyed a variety of salad leaves, a couple of broad beans and peas, plus a lovely pointy cabbage – oh, and one lovely little round carrot, eaten while writing this article! I can’t wait for the Jerusalem artichokes, pink fir apple potatoes, sweetcorn and beetroot.

I’m sure I don’t need to tell anyone about how much more nutritious freshly picked produce is compared to stuff which has been stored for weeks – or how much more tasty it is!

A Summer Breakfast Idea

Porridge has had a resurgance in popularity in the last few years, due to an increased awareness of the benefits of oats. Oatmeal contains about 22% protein, 66% carbohydrate and 9% ‘good oils’. It contains soluble fibre, which is thought to be good at reducing cholesterol, by binding to it in the gut and ‘escorting’ it out of the body. Most people with Coeliac’s Disease avoid oats - the protein in oats seems to be too similar to gluten for their bodies to be able to handle, though in many cases the problem is that oats are generally milled in places where other grains are also milled and as such, are contaminated with gluten from barley, wheat or rye.

But assuming you don’t have a problem with oats and have been enjoying porridge all winter, you may be looking for something a little lighter for these lighter mornings. This month’s recipe idea is Bircher muesli, something my husband and I started eating when we lived in Switzerland about 18 years ago. It was invented by Dr Bircher-Benner for the benefit of patients in his Zurich clinic in the 1890’s. Over the years, although the basic recipe remains the same, it has been adapted and personalised so much that I wonder if the good doctor would still recognise it!

Basically, we make up a dry mix of 100g of rolled oats, 60g of mixed (unsalted) nuts, and 30g of seeds and keep it in a large jam jar or tupperware box in the fridge. Experiment with whatever nuts you have available, but I always have flaked almonds for texture along with a selection of chopped hazelnuts, walnuts, pecans or macadamia. For the seeds it can be a little more complicated. Tiny seeds like linseed and sesame seeds are very hard for the body to digest, so their goodness can pass straight through. They really should be crushed or ground in a clean coffee grinder no more than a couple of days before eating (ideally immediately before eating as their good oils are delicate and prone to going rancid, which is really bad for you). Bigger seeds like sunflower or pumpkin seeds can be simply chewed well to make them more digestible.

Anyway, it’s a good idea to take a couple of dessertspoons of your dry mix and soak it overnight in a cereal bowl in water, apple juice or milk, according to taste. This makes the minerals in the oats more absorbable, but it also makes the nuts soggy, so you may prefer to skip this step. In the morning, add the mix, whether pre-soaked or not, to a small pot of yoghurt. If you use a fruit yoghurt, read the label and make sure it’s not too sugary. Otherwise use plain live yoghurt with a little honey if necessary.

Finally fold in fresh fruit. Yet again, it is all a matter of taste. I understand the original Bircher muesli contained grated pear or apple. I personally prefer fresh or frozen berries or slice banana. If you are making a big batch for the whole family, you could put all the fruits in! The final result should be a big bowl, full of a pretty sloppy but very tasty Bircher muesli.

This recipe can seem pretty complicated at first, but once you have a batch of dry mix in the fridge, it’s quite straightforward and offers a great deal of variety depending on all the different choices you make. It’s full of fresh, healthy ingredients and makes a tasty, satisfying start to a summer’s day. En guete, as they say in Switzerland!

Inflammation and Food

Our body’s response to infection or injury is inflammation. The initial trigger sets off chains of immune system responses in order to promote healing or to repair affected tissues. Unfortunately, the body’s inflammatory responses are sometimes triggered inappropriately or run out of control, which is a major cause of ill health and impaired quality of life. It is hard to list the range of conditions which involve inflammation, mainly because the list is so long and wide-ranging, but joint pain, including arthritis, has a prominant place on it. Some foods can contribute to joint pain, while others can have an anti-inflammatory effect, and relatively minor adjustments to the diet can have a positive effect.

We have all heard about fish oils and how good they are for joints. Fish oils, along with seeds and nuts, contain omega-3 fatty acids, which the body uses to make substances called anti-inflammatory prostaglandins – these are obviously good for damping down inflammation. However, the body struggles to make these prostaglandins if it also has to cope with fatty acids from saturated fats, trans-fatty acids (found in processed foods, including margarine), or excessive amounts of alcohol, stress or insulin.

So if you are suffering from joint pain, foods which you could increase in your diet include:
* Fish, seeds and unsalted nuts, as they contain omega-3 fats
* A wide variety of fruit and vegetables. These contain many anti-inflammatory nutrients, including vitamins B, C and E and minerals such as zinc and manganese. They also contain sterols, which can reduce an excessive immune response, and less well known nutrients such as quercetin and bioflavonoids.
* Olive oil contains a compound called oleocanthal which acts like ibuprofen, and oleic acid which is also anti-inflammatory. Fish oils actually reduce the level of oleic acid in body tissues, so if you are eating oily fish or supplementing with fish oils, it is worth making sure that you eat olive oil regularly too.
* Herbs and spices like ginger, turmeric, garlic, and rosemary can block inflammatory molecules in the body so use them generously in your meals. Healthy food certainly doesn’t have to be bland!

There are also foods of which you could try to eat less:
* Animal products containing saturated fat, like meat and cheese.
* Processed foods with trans-fatty acids.
* Too many sugary treats – this increases your body’s production of insulin, which then decreases its production of anti-inflammatory prostaglandins.

If you are suffering from joint pain, you could try making a few simple changes to see if they help reduce inflammation and ease the pain. These changes won’t do the rest of your health any harm!

Glorious Garlic

I love it when science backs up the traditional use of foods, herbs and spices. Garlic is a prime example of this. Along with onions, garlic was considered sacred by the Egyptians, who thought that it possessed magical powers which could ward off evil spirits and the effects of their bad deeds. Garlic was used as a medicine by the Greeks, Romans and Babylonians, as well as in ancient China and India and right up to the first World War.

Research suggests that garlic’s main active ingredient is ‘allicin’, which is antiviral, antifungal, antibacterial and antiparasitic. However, the chemistry of garlic is complex, as allicin is not actually found in fresh garlic. Instead it contains something called alliin and an enzyme called allinase, in different parts of the plant. Destroying the membranes between those parts of the plant allows the two substances to mix and form allicin. The allicin does not last very long, to prevent the plant damaging itself if it’s damaged by pests. The way that allicin is formed explains why we need to crush, finely chop or chew garlic to get its full benefit.

Try to eat a clove a day, although if you are fighting an infection you could try eating up to 5 cloves a day. If the smell of garlic puts you off, try the odourless brands of capsules available in good health food stores, making sure they contain allicin. The allicin in these capsules is apparently activated in the intestine, so it shouldn’t affect your breath. Alternatively, just enjoy the real thing and then chew on fresh parsley or mint, or a few fennel seeds to take away the garlic smell. Most people can benefit from eating garlic, but anyone on anticoagulant medication or preparing for surgery should avoid it due to its blood-thinning properties, along possibly with breastfeeding mothers as it may cause wind in the baby.

It's quite easy to add garlic to your diet - in salad dressings or with chopped onions in soups or stews. From this time of year onwards, you could look out for wild garlic in the woods. It has beautiful white flowers, relatively wide green leaves and a very strong smell of garlic. Make a simple, tasty soup by gently frying a chopped onion with a knob of butter until translucent. Add a scrubbed, chopped potato and sweat for a few minutes, before adding a good pint of chicken stock then simmering until the potatoes are just about cooked. Add about 4oz of well-rinsed wild garlic leaves (enough to fill a colander) and cook for another couple of minutes. Whizz the soup with a blender before stirring in a generous glug of cream. Check your seasoning, adding pepper and a little more salt if necessary.

Just a quick report on my flying visit to the Natural and Organic Products show at Olympia on Sunday:

Due to family commitments, I could only spend a few hours at the show and went round with a friend from ION. As nutritionists, we are always on the look out for new products to recommend to our clients. As a mother, I am always checking out products which I think my children will like. There were definitely several products which fitted both categories - and some which didn't!

Relatively big name companies such as Dove's Farm, Green & Black, Glebe Farm, Ecover and Dragonfly Tea make high quality products which are readily available and reliably tasty (according to the Strategic Nutrition Junior Tasting Panel, anyway). There were also some smaller organisations, some of whom were at the show to raise their profiles or look for distributors. Unfortunately, I am away from home at the moment, so don't have the leaflets which I picked up, so can't share the names of any of the products I liked with you - oops!

There were also lots of cosmetics companies, and supplement and homeopathy suppliers there - it is always worth checking them out, as the quality of manufacture makes a huge difference.

I love rhubarb. It's been available for a while as 'forced' rhubarb, which is a beautiful pale pink. I've never dared try to force the rhubarb in my garden for fear my crop is reduced! As you can see in the photo above, it has recovered magnificently from the recent snow, thankfully.

Rhubarb is not actually a fruit but a vegetable as we eat the stalks, which should be crisp and firm. Generally speaking, the pinker the stalk, the sweeter the rhubarb. The leaves contain toxic amounts of oxalic acid and should be thrown away. As far as nutrition goes, rhubarb contains fibre, vitamin C, potassium and calcium among other nutrients.

It does have a tart flavour, which means that most people like to eat it with a little sugar, but also means that it goes beautifully with rich meats such as duck or fish like mackerel. Apparently the reason why lots of people groan when they are offered rhubarb resulted in part from the war, when sugar was scarce, and it was hard to overcome the tartness. That reluctance to eat rhubarb was passed on down the generations, which is a real shame as far as I'm concerned. If you have avoided rhubarb in the past, hopefully these ideas might pique your appetite

Sweet Rhubarb Puree

The acid in rhubarb reacts with aluminium, so cook it in a stainless steel or cast-iron pan. Put the chopped rhubarb stalks into a pan with just a splash of water. The amount of sugar depends on the rhubarb itself and your taste, but you can add more at the end if necessary. So start with about a quarter sugar by weight – usually a couple of dessert spoonfuls. Cook over a medium heat for about 5 minutes, and then leave to cool for a couple more minutes. Whizz it in a processor if you want a smooth puree. (If you really want the rhubarb to keep its shape, cook it in the oven instead of in a pan).

The flavour of rhubarb goes beautifully with ginger, cinnamon, vanilla, rosewater and orange, so experiment with it – adding these spices or replacing the water with orange juice while cooking.

You can use the puree, with or without stewed apples, as a base for a variety of puddings, such as crumbles, betties or pies. When it’s cooled, fold in whipped cream or Greek yoghurt to make a fool, or add to custard and then churn it in an ice-cream maker for lovely pale pink ice cream.

Savoury Rhubarb Sauce

Gently fry a finely chopped shallot in 1oz/25g of butter in a non-stick pan until transparent. Add 8oz/225g of chopped rhubarb and cook gently until the rhubarb has softened and become sauce-like. Force the mixture through a metal sieve and serve with salmon, mackerel, pork or duck. Again, try adding ginger (powder or fresh grated root) for variety.

Did you know, rhubarb grows so fast that you can actually hear it grow? The heart of rhubarb growing in Britain is Wakefield in Yorkshire. Visit Wakefield’s Rhubarb Triangle either in person or virtually on http://www.yorkshirerhubarb.co.uk/ for more about this tasty treat

My First Blog

Welcome to my blog.

As a blog novice, I imagine I should introduce myself, but have also been told that blogging little and often is the way to go. So I will say a little now, and then add to it as seems necessary over time.

I am a qualified nutritionist, with a degree and diploma from the Institute for Optimum Nutrition (http://www.ion.ac.uk/). Growing up with a diabetic sister, I was always conscious of nutrition. My parents were always more nutritionally aware than was average in those days -Mum breastfed us all, in the face of the opposition which was common in the early 60's, and the diabetes obviously had a huge impact on all our lives.

When I started my own family, breastfeeding was a no-brainer. Even so, my eldest child developed severe eczema. With the help of the dermatology department at the hospital in Geneva, we learned the effect of food on her skin - and my interest in the power of nutrition was kindled!

I find food and its impact on our health fascinating, and love seeing the dramatic improvements to clients' health which can result from a few manageable changes to diet and lifestyle. In this blog, I plan to share this fascination with nutrition, hopefully passing on useful information. I imagine I will pass on some less than useful information at times (especially about the rollercoaster ride which comes with being a fan of the glorious Manchester City) - and hope I will be forgiven for that.

I know I am a little late, joining the whole blog world - but it seems it is probably easier to do a blog than rewrite my website http://www.strategicnutrition.co.uk/ all the time.