News — #healthy

Post-Easter Healthy Tips:

Easter – chocolate, chocolate, and more chocolate! Did staying at home during Easter mean you had easy access to the chocolate-filled fridge and pantry? Or maybe your kids received too much chocolate so you had to eat most of it? Maybe you have a sugar hangover, and feel tired and cranky? Or maybe you ate too much chocolate that you have a sore stomach?

Trust us, we are complete advocates for a little indulgence every now and again.  But sometimes it’s nice to have a few tips up your sleeve for getting back on track and for feeling energized, motivated and healthy again.

Tip one:

Adopt a Guilt-Free Mindset: If you indulged in some sweets over the Easter break and you enjoyed it without any regrets then that’s great! Your thoughts are very important, especially the way that you think about yourself and the food that you eat/have eaten. If you enjoyed the Easter holiday, had a few treats and are now ready to get back to your usual routine, without any negative feelings, then you are already on the right track.

Tip two:

Start with one: It’s about having a start point, or set point for getting back on track after a period of over-indulgence. For nutrition, focus on that first meal. When you wake up in the morning, think “I’m going to have a great breakfast this morning”, whatever that looks like to you – porridge, toast with avocado, a fruit salad with coconut yoghurt and granola.

For exercise, start with just one walk, or one run, or one home CrossFit session.

For mental health (feeling stressed), start with one thing also, like a home yoga session, meditation session or mindfulness session.

As soon as you start with one small step, the next steps become easier. One small step will set the tone for the rest of the day, and for the rest of the week. This also helps if you’re feeling some decision fatigue about how to get back on track, or your feeling overwhelmed about what steps you have to take. Take one step at a time and it will help you get back to your normal routines (although our “normal” routines might have changed a lot over the last few weeks!).

Tip three:

Try a 4-week Wholesomeness detox: Gluten and dairy free meals, no added additives or nasties, no refined sugars, and made with love from our kitchen in Brisbane. Every week you will receive 14 vegan or low fodmap meals (your choice), snack packs, breakfast packs and a premium protein powder blend. You also receive gut health supplements to support your gut during the detox, detox tea to support and help your body expel toxins, and a detox welcome pack in the first week. We believe in still being satisfied during a detox, that’s why we make our meals healthy and delicious at the same time. Find more info about our detox plan on our website under '4 WEEK DETOX'. 

The current COVID-19 situation is making it a little bit more difficult to find certain items and to visit the grocery store as much as we’d like. That’s why we think this is the best time to start thinking more about reducing our food waste through conscious consumption. There are lots of ways that you can start extending your food and produce and keep your waste as low as possible in the kitchen, such as using up your food scraps, paying a little more love to your ‘funny’ produce, and repurposing your leftovers.

Here are a few of our ideas and tips:

• DIY broth – save your veggie scraps and your odds and ends (like clean carrot tops, kale stalks, potato skins) to make a homemade broth. You can store all your scraps in a bag in the freezer and at the end of the week once it’s full, use it to make broth with some added seasonings and bay leaves. Having a batch of homemade stock on hand will make cooking easier, will help to create less waste by using the scraps you would have normally thrown out, plus you know what’s in it! This is a great way to use up your leftover produce and save money.
• DIY breadcrumbs – use your leftover stale bread to make breadcrumbs! Pulse together in a food processor and use them for toppings, as a binding ingredient or to crumb chicken or fish.
• Freeze your herbs! We all know that fresh herbs go bad very quickly. Remove the leaves from the stems and chop up. Keep them in a freezer bag for easy storage. Leftover coriander can be added to smoothies (it’s a great heavy metal and toxin detoxer).
• Freeze leftover amounts of tomato paste, curry pastes, sauces – avoid putting your jars of opened pastes back in the fridge to go bad, instead you can add them to ice cube trays and freeze. Once frozen, pop them out and into a freezer bag and label accordingly.
• Love your ‘funny’ produce! Bruised apples are amazing for making apple sauce or apple butter. Soft pears for making ice blocks or smoothies, and bruised bananas for making banana ‘ice cream’ or banana bread.
• Use up those tomatoes! Make your own salsa or pasta sauce like a puttanesca sauce with olives and capers.
• Greens, greens, greens! If you’re having lots of green vegetables go bad, you’re probably not eating them fast enough! Throw them in a blender, juice them, steam them, or make kale chips.

These natural home remedies may be good essentials to have in your home during the next few months, not only because of the COVID-19 spread, but also because it is nearing colder weather which means colds and respiratory viruses will be more common (of course if you do get sick, it is always best to see your GP first, especially with the current situation right now). 

Some research suggests that the following can help to treat respiratory viruses that may be responsible for excess mucus:

Berries

Berries contain a flavonoid called anthocyanins, which are beneficial for lung health. Eat berries fresh with yoghurt, on top of cereal or even in salads.

Ginseng

Ginseng is an Asian plant which is very anti-inflammatory. Studies have found it to have a protective effect against acute respiratory illnesses and the potential to reduce the severity and scores of symptoms. You can take ginseng in supplement form or in a tonic.

Guava

Guava is rich in antioxidants, vitamin C, potassium and fibre. Guava has found to be effective for control of different respiratory viruses. Guava is super yummy and sweet and you can eat it fresh.  

Echinacea

Echinacea is a plant herb loaded with antioxidants, as well as compounds called alkamides, which further enhance antioxidant activity. Evidence has found that Echinacea can help your immune system fight off respiratory viruses and colds, helping to make the recovery process shorter. Echinacea can be taken in supplement form.  

Licorice root

Licorice root helps the body to produce healthy mucus, which helps support the healthy functioning of your respiratory system. You can consume it in the form of tea, which can usually be found at your local health store.

Pomegranate

Pomegranate juice contains potent antioxidant power, as well as being antibacterial and antiviral. You can eat pomegranate fresh by breaking it open and consuming the seeds.

Zinc – take a supplement

Zinc has been shown to stop certain viruses from lodging in the mucus membranes of the throat and nose. You can take zinc in supplement form.

Drink plenty of water at room temperature – not ice cold, as it can make the mucus in your sinuses thicker, and more difficult to pass. A glass of warm water or a cup of tea is a good way to get your water intake in when you’re sick.

(This information is general only.  Please speak to your healthcare professional prior to taking multiple new supplements).

How to pack a healthy school lunch box: Cheat sheet

Start the new year with healthy school lunches to keep your children (or you!) energised all day long

Secrets of a Nutritious Balanced Lunchbox:

• Unprocessed carbohydrates for energy, vitamins, minerals and fibre
• Protein for brain power and to fill them up between meals
• Fruit and vegetables (essential!)
• Water to keep them hydrated

Snack:

Choose 2 (add fruit or veg daily as one of the options - think quick and easy to eat)

• Fresh fruit (chopped or peeled or easy to eat, that doesn’t bruise easily e.g. grapes, strawberries, peeled mandarin, small apple, watermelon slices, blue berries)
• Rice crackers and hummus or other dip
• Cheese and crackers
• Snack container of baked beans with a fork
• Popcorn
• Corn on the cob
• Yoghurt
• Cheese wedge
• Cherry tomatoes
• Baby cucumber
• Boiled egg - peeled
• Falafels
• Meatballs and tomato sauce
• Biltong

Main lunch:

Think protein and healthy carbs

Choose 1 different option every day to prevent a monotonous diet and to ensure the rotation of grains

• Pesto pasta with nut free pesto and gluten free pasta (remember to pack a fork!)
• Sushi
• Hummus and salad wrap
• Chicken drumsticks and veggie sticks (carrot, cucumber, celery, capsicum, broccoli) and dipping sauce (pesto or tomato sauce or mayo)
• Tuna pasta (tuna, capsicum, cucumber, tomato, pasta) - remember the fork!
• Rice and bean salad
• Ham and cucumber sandwich (rye bread)
• Macaroni cheese – remember the fork!
• Quiche or frittata
• Turkey wrap
• Healthy nachos - Corn chips, refried beans dip, guacamole dip and salsa
• Pizza roll
• Zucchini slice
• Spaghetti bolognaise
• Egg, mayo and lettuce sandwich

Treat:

Think small (you want them to be hungry enough to fill up on the nourishing food)

• Bag of crisps
• Fruit juice
• Chocolate
• Natural confectionary snake lolly
• Biscuit
• Muffin
• Cupcake
• Piece of cake
• Banana bread
• Muesli bar
• Home baked slice

Note:

Allergies: Most schools have a no nut policy, but if your school doesn't of course nuts make a great snack and peanut butter sandwiches are always popular too!

The Mediterranean diet is a diet that is rich in plant foods, healthy fats and healthy proteins... it's delicious... and good for longevity and vitality...

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