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Sustainable Halloween Tips for the Whole Family + Chunky Root Veg Mash

What do you think of when I say Halloween?

Haunted houses? Trick-or-treat? The beginning of pumpkin spice everything? 

If there’s one thing scarier than ghosts and wizards that come out on Halloween, it’s the amount of waste, money and single-use plastic people tend to go through.

While Halloween can be a time for unleashing your inner child, it’s not the time to let go of your morals and ethics. Initially, it may seem crazy to attempt to make Halloween sustainable however, there are simple things that all of us can do to transform your night from hallo-ween to hallo-green. 

Long Island Herald

If you’ve ever seen a scary movie, I’m sure you’ve come into contact with a haunted house. Call me twisted but come Halloween time, there’s something so special about creating something absolutely terrifying with your family (I’m just saying it how it is).

When it comes to decorating your house, there are easy ways to make it a more environmentally friendly process.

-      Do you have any old stockings that got runs approximately 2.6 seconds after you put them on? Don’t throw them away – old stockings are great for creating spiderwebs. 

-      Instead of purchasing plastic pumpkins, use natural pumpkins for jack o lanterns. For extra brownie points, recycle the stuffing and seeds on the inside to create delicious snacks and meals. You can bake pumpkin seeds in the oven with spices or, create pumpkin soup with the inside – get creative! Or make these scrumptious breakfast bars.

-      If you are using natural produce, it’s a great idea to ensure what you’re using is compostable. Some compostable Halloween items include pumpkins, hay leaves and branches. 

-      Once you’re finished with your decorations, be sure to stow them away for next year to help reduce your waste.

One of my favourite parts about Halloween are the costumes. If you’ve ever seen my wardrobe, you’ll know a lot of it originates from thrift stores. There’s honestly nothing more satisfying than finding amazing pre-loved clothes for a cheap price, and the same goes for costumes. Always opt for vintage and re-usable where possible. And yes, I am recycling an image from 2018 :).

Those annoying bloggers with their avocados

Those annoying bloggers with their expensive avocado recipes!

I love getting thrifty and recycling old costumes with things I already have. If you’re in need of something new, don’t underestimate the power of a white sheet for a ghost, or old grubby clothes for a zombie. Or go gender neutral as a bank robber in black pants and a black tee, it suits any boy or ghoul, just add black eye makeup as a mask because Draaama! With the right make-up or face paint, you can really take a look to the next level.

When I'm doing a wardrobe clean-out, I always ensure I keep some old clothes that can be reused for costume parties too!

If you do want to look a bit more grandeur, consider cutting the costs and renting a costume from a local party shop. Alternatively, find a friend or neighbour who’ll costume swap with you each year.  

Let’s talk trick-or-treat. If your kids are going hunting for the goods, give them reusable bags, such as canvas bags or buckets, instead of plastic pumpkins. If they come home with more candy that they can chew (sadly, this is usually impossible, but we can dream), donate it to a local kitchen. Alternatively, use it in baking – try sprinkling some on top of Golden Gut Nice Cream or adding it to my Chocolate Fudge.

If you’re the one giving out the treats, try buy locally produced candies and treats with minimal packaging. You can even make your own treats and put them in cute recyclable packages – such as my Turmeric Tummy Gummies or Strawberry and Chia Roll Ups

If you’re up for the challenge of hosting a Green Halloween dinner party, try your hand at creating a beautiful pumpkin-filled tablescape, like this one here.

Avoid disposable cups, plates and cutlery. Rather, choose biodegradable or glass. Be sure to fill the table with locally grown food that’s in season, such as the almighty Halloween pumpkin. 

If you’re in need of a brand new pumpkin-filled festive recipe, I’ve got just the one down below! Its a Fibre-rich Chunky Root Veg Mash that'll knock your stockings off.  I know it sounds super simple, but honestly this mash with ghoul busting garlic, nut butter and lemon is the yummiest mash I've ever eaten.

Not sure what to do with your left-over pumpkin? 🎃

I've put together five delicious tricks for pumpkin treats here !  Or try these tried and tested tricky treats...

My Golden Gut Pumpkin and Nut Loaf

My Raspberry Studded Pumpkin Pie  

Pumpkin Porridge

Lamb and Pumpkin Salad

Oven-Roasted Pumpkin Chips

This chunky Root Veg Mash from my gut-supercharging and life-altering book, Supercharge Your Gut, is a great side to any mains. It’s a smooth way to get your roughage in too and its loaded with fibre and prebiotics!

This delicious vegie mash is suitable for vegans, but you can also replace the vegetable broth with the Gut Healing Turmeric Chicken Broth for some extra gut love. 

Chunky Root Veg Mash 

Serves 4

  • 2 large carrots
  • 2 parsnips
  • 1/2 butternut pumpkin (squash)
  • 1 small sweet potato
  • 1 whole leek, white part only, washed well and chopped
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1 garlic clove, unpeeled
  • 1 teaspoon lemon juice
  • 125–250 ml (4–9 fl oz/ 1/2–1 cup) Vegetable Broth or Gut Healing Turmeric Chicken Broth.
  • 1 tablespoon nut butter (optional, if tolerated)

Method: 

Preheat the oven to 200°C (400°F). 

Line a baking tray with baking paper.

Peel the carrots, parsnips, pumpkin and sweet potato, if you prefer, then roughly chop. Place in a large bowl with the leek and season with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. Drizzle the olive oil over and rub it in with your hands, until the vegetables are well coated.

Spread the vegetables on the baking tray, add the garlic clove and bake for 35–45 minutes, or until all the vegetables are roasted and caramelised, checking now and then and removing the vegetables as they are cooked.

Leave to cool slightly.

Slip the garlic out of its skin, into a high-speed blender. Add the roasted vegetables, lemon juice, 125 ml (4 fl oz/1/2 cup) of the broth, and the nut butter, if using. Whiz until you achieve a mash-like consistency, adding more broth if required. (Alternatively, for a coarser texture, you can mash the mixture together with a fork.)

Transfer to bowls and enjoy. 

Debunking Popular Diets + a Prebiotic Tray Bake with Garlic Tahini

If you've wondered near and far for a suitable way of eating but you tend to find yourself swinging from one popular diet to another, then this post might help?

When there are just too many diets to choose from, it may seem like it's the time to just throw in the towel, stop trying to be healthier altogether and grab a piece of chocolate cake. I'm here to tell you that it is possible to eat a healthy balanced diet and you shouldn't throw the towel in just yet!

I'd love to de-bunk some myths about a few of the popular diets going round, so you can figure out what works best for you.

But first, in my years of studying nutrition, writing and researching books, I've personally found that the supercharged approach is simple and common sense! Basically it's all about letting let go of rules!

The everyday act of consuming food should never bring you a feeling of captivity or worry.  In a supercharged life, food is to be enjoyed and savoured.

A few of the things I’ve discovered in my journey of writing fifteen books about health and wellness is...

Eat mostly plants:

The one thing we can all agree on is that eating plant foods is really good.  I like to ensure that plant foods – such as nuts, seeds, fruits, grains, vegetables, herbs and spices – make up the majority of my diet, with the greatest emphasis on seasonal vegetables and especially greens. I still enjoy animal products but in smaller quantities. For great recipes consider reading my book Eat Clean, Green and Vegetarian.

Balance out your eating:

Eating is all about balance. If you’ve been out of your normal routine while at work or on holidays and found you’ve overindulged in a specific food, spend the next few days nourishing yourself back to balance with the foods you’ve been missing.

Cut down on processed and inflammatory foods where you can:

Industrially produced foods that your ancestors wouldn’t comprehend are best eaten in small amounts. Any ingredient with a number, or a name that doesn’t register as ‘food’ when you read it, probably isn’t food and may not make you feel that great. Eat Yourself Beautiful is based on an anti-inflammatory style of eating.

Look after your gut

This is the engine room. Between 70-80% of your immune system tissues and cells reside in the gut. Our bodies function best when we eat foods that support the healing of our gut lining.  Smoothies, soups and gelatinous homemade broth-based meals are wonderful. Probiotic and prebiotic foods are also important in creating the perfect environment for friendly bacteria in your micro biome to flourish.

Munch mindfully, eat slowly and think about what you are eating and how it will nourish you.  Rushing and stressing when you’re eating can interfere with digestion, and create imbalance in your gut ecosystem- this can lead to lack of energy, bloating, weight gain and digestive disturbances. Heal Your Gut or Supercharge Your Gut are great to read if you’d like to learn more about gut health or if you don't have time to read try my Love Your Gut powder or Love Your Gut Capsules.

Live by the 80:20 rule

Sticking to your nutritional values 80 per cent of the time will allow you a healthy margin where you can say yes to the chocolate cake at your friends’ birthday parties, or enjoy a big slab of pizza as you travel through Naples. Don’t be the killjoy.

Eggplant Bharta and Indian Dosas

Take an Ayurvedic approach

I’ve been deeply impacted by the ancient healing art of Ayurveda. It’s a whole-lifestyle approach that begins with determining your unique type, also known as a dosha. From there you can learn a host of lifestyle choices that best suit your emotional, physical, mental and spiritual needs.

In Ayurvedic philosophies, the sense of taste is a natural roadmap directing us towards good nutrition and characterised by six individual tastes: sweet, sour, salty, bitter, astringent and pungent.

I love this philosophy, as it recognises that no one diet is perfect for everyone, and it empowers you to be the author of your own health based on the knowledge you’ve gained about your unique self.

It’s a place where you walk to the unforced rhythms that come with a common sense attitude towards food and a balanced approach to eating. Basically, letting go of a rule- bound approach to eating will bring you a sense of freedom, but still allow you to commit to food choices that equate to vibrant health and longevity – and a life fully lived.

Eat Right for Your Shape, has all the information, tools and recipes you need to reap the benefits of an Ayurvedic lifestyle.

Practice mindful eating

Do what the French do and make an occasion of your meal, even if it’s just morning or afternoon tea. Unplug, turn off the TV, sit at the table, use proper dinnerware, eat with friends and family, and give thanks. Tune in to all your senses and pay attention to enjoying and savouring each glorious mouthful.

Food that’s considered, selected, prepared, served and enjoyed with genuine love and thankfulness will bless your body far more than you know. Eat slowly and not on the run. Taste, smell and experience all the sensations of your meals. Honour yourself by taking the time to sit down to eat. Chew your food and say thanks. Be grateful to the earth and to the divine blessing that food is.

Layered Salted Caramel Peanut Fudge

Enjoy your food

Think of pleasure and fulfilment when it comes to food. The bottom line is that every body is different and has different needs. It’s your own responsibility to listen to your heart and steward your body through your lifestyle choices, ranging from movement, sleep and food right through to the emotional and spiritual factors that enable you to best maintain your health and find fulfilment. Supercharge Your Life is the recipe book that covers this.

So anyway, back to why we are here,  when it comes to be bunking diet myths here’s what I think…

And by the way you may notice that I’m not including the Keto diet here, but you can read my thoughts on it here.

Paleo Diet

In the Stone Age, our cavemen and cavewomen ancestors would only eat what they could hunt with their bare hands. The Paleo diet mimics this hunter-gatherer lifestyle; For example, you’d never see a caveman eating a processed granola bar, so you probably shouldn’t be eating a processed granola bar either!

The Paleo Diet removes all grains, beans, soy, dairy, certain vegetable oils and refined sugar. What you’re left with is unprocessed foods like vegetables, fruit, meat, fish, certain fats, nuts and seeds. Whilst I do think removing processed foods; in particular processed meat, is helpful, by demonising food groups, such as carbohydrates or dairy, we can lose benefits of many nutrients that we need to support our gut function and immune system and start to fear food. It’s important to focus on balance – if you’re absolutely craving a block of chocolate, just eat a few pieces! You should enjoy eating, not be afraid of it.

The paleo diet is often misconstrued as just eating meat, meat and more meat. This shouldn’t be the case. By following a balanced paleo diet, you can minimise stress on the body and increase your vitality but I think its also important to eat prebiotic and fibre rich veg like sweet potato and some paleo enthusiasts don’t include them and they are an integral part of having a thriving and robust digestive system.

Probiotic Diet

Probiotics are finally experiencing the recognition they deserve and I’m loving every single minute of it! Probiotics have been used for centuries to treat a variety of bowel conditions including constipation, diarrhoea and irritable bowel disease.

Probiotics help balance and grow our gut microflora which in turn, supports positive moods, boosts energy and can help produce other essential nutrients.

The probiotic diet includes include sauerkraut, kimchi, kefir, kombucha and various yoghurts. While consuming probiotics is great for us and our guts, some people do experience not-so-subtle effects, such as gas and bloating from these foods, so it’s important to eat them in moderation and start off slowly.

Also if you suffer from histamine intolerance, fermented foods can be aggravating. You can read my low down on histamine intolerance here.

The Clean Eating Diet

The Clean Eating Diet is a simple and maintainable approach to healthy eating. Essentially, the Clean Eating diet is exactly how it sounds – you eat a diet based on clean, real and whole foods.

Clean Eating includes some whole grains like brown rice, quinoa and oats, most vegetables, fruits, healthy fats, dairy, beans and other protein sources like meat, fish and chicken. When following the Clean Eating Diet, you remove ‘unclean’ foods such as sugar and processed foods like cakes, cookies, white breads and processed snack bars.

Clean Eating can lead to maintainable weight loss and cause increased energy, cardiovascular benefits and digestive improvements. Some may find it difficult to follow initially but it’s generally a good diet to follow all-round. However, like all diets, it’s important to not over-eat as you can still gain weight while eating ‘clean’ and really, when it comes down to it, who wants to be on a diet anyway?

Mediterranean Diet

This diet is based on, you guessed it, the Mediterranean. It’s inspired by the Greeks, Southern Italians and Spanish in the 1940’s-1950’s. It’s renowned for being one of the world’s healthiest and sustainable diets in the world. The majority of gut health specialists I've interviewed over the years have agreed that this is a favourable approach to eating.

It’s rich in fruit, vegetables, whole grains, legumes and olive oil and features moderate amounts of fish and poultry and the occasional glass of red wine. The diet emphasises extra-virgin olive oil over other oils and butter.

The Mediterranean diet is more than just the food on your plate, it’s also focused on lifestyle. Do like the Greeks, Italian’s and Spanish do and make your next meal a big fiesta! The Mediterranean diet doesn’t include added sugars, refined grains like white breads and pasta, trans fats like in margarines, refined oils like canola oil, processed meat like sausages and other highly processed foods.

Low Carb, High Protein Diet

While this diet may sound fantastic, carbohydrates are not the enemy. While this diet can cause short-term weight loss, it usually results in long-term weight gain due to the restrictive nature of the diet. By cutting out carbohydrates, we lose the benefits of many important nutrients that can support our gut-health and immune system.

Some foods that are excluded from the low carb, high protein diet include grains like rice and oats, potatoes, high-carb fruits like bananas and mangoes, and products heavy in gluten like bread, pasta and cakes. Foods included in this diet are meat, fish, low-carbohydrate vegetables like spinach, zucchini and some low carbohydrate fruits like berries.

Complex carbohydrates are fibre rich and help the functioning of our gut. If you eat unrefined carbohydrates, like fruit, starchy vegetables and some grains like oats, you don’t need to fear weight gain! In fact, the fibre in these foods actually help move things along!

Chia Seed Pot

Intermittent Fasting

Intermittent fasting is a sustainable approach to achieving longevity, improving vitality, increasing mood and shedding a few excess kilos! I cover all the different methods of intermittent fasting in Fast Your Way to Wellness.

In a nutshell the 5:2 approach to (IF) is calorie restriction on two days of the week. This means you consume a total of 600 calories (2510 kilojoules) for men and 500 calories (2090 kilojoules) for women.

In my opinion, this is a great way to rest the digestive system however, the food consumed on fasting days, should be real whole foods – not low-fat, processed junk-food, which a lot of people lean towards for convenience. By choosing sustainable, organic and real foods, you’ll get the most out of intermittent fasting practices.

If you look at (IF) as a time of cleansing and nourishing the body, and eat naturally you could benefit from this approach.  There are studies that show Intermittent fasting can improve your metabolism, revamp good gut bacteria, and improve the balance of our hormones but timing of eating is an issue.

Supercharge Your Gut Diet

Gut health is all the craze these days and it’s definitely not slowing down anytime soon. Read my Gut Health 101 here.  The Supercharge Your Gut way of eating, as seen in Supercharge Your Gut, isn’t just a diet, it’s more of a holistic lifestyle.

Unlike some popular diets out right now, Supercharge Your Gut focuses on eating a diverse range of foods, eating the rainbow and including both probiotics and prebiotics. Whilst probiotics are currently on stage getting all the fame and glory, it’s important to not forget the camera crew and production team; prebiotics!

Prebiotics help nourish the probiotics within our digestive system, and without them, our probiotics have a poor chance of survival. Some prebiotic-rich food includes dandelion greens, avocadoes, bananas, leeks and onions. I encourage you to incorporate both prebiotic and probiotic-rich foods into your diet, because once you’ve established a healthy gut, you want to maintain it.

Through consuming real, gut-friendly foods, including prebiotics, probiotics, lots of veggies, fruit and quality sources of protein and good carbs, you can achieve a fully functioning engine room.

By supercharging your gut, through consuming easily digestible and delicious foods, you can get your gut glowing, healthy and working at its prime. You can also fix your sleeping patterns, control your hormones and improve your immune system.

Just to give you a little insight into foods that'll supercharge your gut, I’m going to share my Prebiotic Tray Bake from Supercharge Your Gut.

This prebiotic bake is pimped up with a tangy garlic and tahini dressing. Roasting these prebiotic-rich veggies is a great way to cheer up any older veggies that may have been left in the refrigerator a little too long!

The vegetables all cook at different speeds – so some are crunchier than others – which really is the beauty of this dish. But don't just listen to me, try it out for yourself!

Prebiotic Tray Bake with Garlic Tahini Drizzle

Serves 4

Ingredients

  • 200 g Jerusalem artichokes
  • 1 jicama, peeled and cut into wedges
  • 200 g parsnips, peeled and quartered lengthways
  • 300 g heirloom or Dutch (baby) carrots, trimmed
  • 2 leeks cut into 2 cm rounds
  • 2 medium red (Spanish) onions, peeled and cut into wedges
  • 12 asparagus spears, trimmed
  • 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

Garlic tahini drizzle

  • 1 garlic clove, crushed
  • Celtic sea salt, to taste
  • 70 g sesame tahini
  • 3-4 tablespoons fresh lemon juice or more, to taste
  • 2-3 tablespoons water
  • Aleppo pepper or red pepper flakes

Method.

  1. Preheat oven to 200°C (400°F).
  2. To prepare the artichokes, scrub well but don't peel unless the skin seems too rough. Cut in half lengthwise and immediately rub the cut surface with half a lemon to stop it browning.
  3. Place all the prepared vegetables, except the asparagus, in a single layer, on a lined roasting tray (or two). You don’t want the vegetables to crowd, as they won’t roast and crisp up. Drizzle with oil and rub to coat.
  4. Roast for 25 minutes, turning the vegetables once, and then take out and add the asparagus. Roast for a further 5 minutes or until the asparagus is just cooked and all the vegetables are golden around the edges.
  5. Meanwhile, to make the garlic tahini drizzle, place the garlic and a pinch of salt in a mortar and pestle and mash to a purée. Transfer to a bowl and whisk in the tahini. Add the lemon juice and a little bit of the water, whisking continuously, adding a little more water each time until the sauce reaches the consistency of thick cream (or runny yoghurt). Taste and adjust seasoning.
  6. Arrange the roasted vegetables on a serving platter and pour over garlic tahini drizzle.

Super Seeded Spring Salad

Are you ready to get a spring in your step?

It's spring time in Australia and you know what that means! The flowers are starting to bloom again, the grass looks a little bit greener, the ocean looks promising and for my Bondi folks, we're getting ready to hear someone screaming "Kalyppooo" in our ears on the beach once again.

Spring time brings with it a sense of happiness, brightness and ease.  It also brings a plethora of delicious, fresh and seasonal produce. My favourite part about spring?  The salads of course! What can I say? I’m a foodie at heart.

Making spring salads can be even easier, more affordable and tastier than buying from a salad chain. It's time to say adios to the throw-a-chunk-of-lettuce-in-a-bowl-and-call-it-a-salad salad, the boring old garden salad with a dressing that's somehow too sweet and too salty at the family Sunday BBQ and say hello to deliciously fresh spring salads. Get ready to work more vegetables into your everyday life and dig your fork into spring salads in a snap.

Before we get our hands ready for some salad tossing, it’s important to remember what food’s in season to receive maximum nutritional benefit and best possible taste.

If you’re in Australia, these fruit and vegetables are in season during Spring:

Artichoke, asparagus, avocado, beans, broad beans, broccoli, cabbage, carrot, cauliflower, cucumber, leek, lettuce, potato, radish, rocket, Silverbeet, snow peas, spinach, sugar snap pears, sweet corn, tomato and zucchini

If you’re in the United Kingdom, look out for these fruit and vegetables during Spring:

Asparagus, beetroot, broad beans, broccoli, Brussel sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, celeriac, garlic, kale, leek, lettuce, morel mushrooms, onions, pea, radish, rhubarb, rocket, spinach, spring greens, swede and watercress

If you’re an American follower, try including these fruit and vegetables in Spring:

Artichoke, arugula, asparagus, beets, broccoli, butter lettuce, celery, collard greens, kale, lettuce, peas, peppers, rhubarb, snow peas, spring onions, spinach, swiss chard, turnip and watercress

Now that we’ve got our produce in order, it’s time to take it home.

But, where do we put it all?

No one likes to open the fridge door and find sad-looking, old vegetables and fruit (RIP to all those juicy mangoes once bought and forgotten).

Fruit and vegetables require different storage techniques to help keep them as ripe and delicious as possible. Mainly, we’re talking about temperature and humidity. Some vegetables are high in water content so when even small percentages of water loss occurs, we can get a limp and not so appealing looking vegetable... you don't want to be the one to take the cute out of a cutecumber!

When storing vegetables, I like to think about what my future self would appreciate. Before you think I'm crazy, just think about it. When you get home late and need to prepare dinner ASAP for hangry looking kids/partners/husbands/wives/siblings/friends or even yourself, the last thing you want to do is have to wash, chop and cook EVERYTHING! It's exhausting.

Before storing your vegetables, wash and dry all your leafy greens to save you time in the future. Once you’ve washed and dried your greens, store them in the fridge wrapped in paper towels to preserve their shelf-live. Also, avoid washing mushrooms and delicate herbs like mint and basil as this can spoil them quicker and turn them sludgey (you know what I'm talking about). You’ll thank your past self.

Whenever anyone tells me they're breaking up with an ex, I tell them to remove ties and cut off loose ends. The same goes for your vegetables. Remove ties, take off bands and trim off any loose, leafy ends. It's best for both you and your vegetables (and ex). Give your vegetables some room to breathe by piercing the bag and letting them breathe a little easier (would not recommend this one for an ex but, if you do decide to pierce your ex, don't blame me ;)!).  The more crowded your produce is, the shorter it's potential shelf-life.

Now that everything's sorted, we can finally place everything in the fridge. Be sure to store your fruit and vegetables separately - there’s a reason most fridges have two compartments at the bottom. The majority of fruit emit high levels of ethylene which may prematurely ripen vegetables so be careful!

Once everything's in the fridge, it's time to take it out again to finally create our salad. That's what fridges are for after all.

If you're looking to create your very own supercharged salad, start off with a green-base like  mixed leaves, spinach, kale or rocket (argula for my American friends). Then add the essential crunch factor like beans, cauliflower, carrot, celery, cucumber, radish, sprouts or onion. Next add a good quality protein such as quinoa, buckwheat, eggs, chickpeas, fish or meat. Drop in some good fats like avocado, flaxseed oil, olive oil or tahini. Finally, sprinkle on some nuts or seeds. Green it up further by adding flavoursome herbs such as mint, basil, coriander (cilantro) or parsley.

Check out my Super Seed Spring Salad below for the ultimate salad combo and let me know what you think.

Super Seed Spring Salad

Ingredients:

  • 50 g 1/3 cup sunflower seeds
  • 50 g 1/3 cup pepitas (pumpkin seeds)
  • 20 g 1/3 cup sesame seeds
  • 2 cups salad leaves, (Make up your own from rocket, spinach, butter lettuce, Romaine, Cos, kale, endive etc)
  • 1 avocado, peeled, stone removed and cubed
  • 2 tomatoes, julienned
  • 1 cup snow peas, sliced on the diagonal

Cashew Nut Mayo

  • 40 g 1/4 cup cashew nuts
  • 2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
  • pinch sea salt
  • ¼ of a shallot, finely diced
  • 3 drops stevia liquid
  • 4 tablespoons filtered water
  • 1 TBS Love Your Gut powder

Method:

  • Dry toast the seeds in a frying pan over medium heat until brown. Remove and set aside to cool.
  • Place the dressing ingredients in a food processor and blend until smooth and creamy.
  • Arrange the salad ingredients in a bowl, reserving a few of the seeds to scatter on top.
  • Gently stir in the dressing to evenly coat the salad. Add the black pepper, the reserved seeds, and serve.

Eggplant Bharta and Indian Dosas and Learn How to Become an Ayurvedic Chef

November is an exciting month as I’m going to further my cooking skills and education by becoming a certified Ayurvedic chef at Hale Pule in the beautiful landscape of the North Island of New Zealand.

Many of us, myself included, are aware of the power of food and how it has the ability to heal and transform our bodies and minds. When we approach eating from its true, sacred nature, it’s like no other medicine on the planet and when we harness its goodness, it enables us to further improve our health from the inside out.

The last cooking adventure I immersed myself in was a few years ago when I travelled to Kerala in India. It’s where I cooked up the pages and recipes for my Ayurvedic cookbook Eat Right for Your Shape

This year, I’ll be packing up my bags and joining the lovely folks at Hale Pule on the North Island of New Zealand for the certified Ayurvedic Chef course which runs from November 16th – 29th 2019.

The course is a one hundred-hour program, that teaches you how to incorporate the principles of Ayurveda into personal and commercial kitchens so that you can bring health and wholeness to every body.

Ayurvedic Chef Training is run by Myra Lewin who has been studying, practicing, and teaching Ayurveda and Yoga since the late 1980s. Myra holds a Certificate of Advanced Clinical Study in Ayurveda from Vinayak Ayurveda Chikitsalaya, Nagpur, India. She was grandfathered with Yoga Alliance as one of the first ERYT500s in the US, and is a professional member of the National Ayurvedic Medical Association (NAMA). Myra is also the host of two podcasts on holistic healing, “Everyday Ayurveda and Yoga at Hale Pule” and “Spark Your Intuition”.

If you’re considering joining the course, the certification is ideal for Ayurvedic health counselors and practitioners who want to better support clients' eating habits or for anyone looking to become a personal Ayurvedic chef, run a catering business, prepare healing food at a spa or wellness center or simply enhance your family’s or client's eating habits.

In the 100-hour certification program, you’ll learn:

  • How to apply the principles of Ayurveda, including bhutasdoshasagnidhatus, food combining, gurvadi gunas and maha gunas, to every bite.
  • The use of Ayurvedic herbs and spices to bring healing, balance and great taste.
  • How to lead cooking workshops and one-on-one training for individuals desiring a healthy relationship with what and how they eat.
  • How to prepare meals for different needs, including illness recovery, restoring balance and large group settings where people have a range of health issues.
  • How to bring sattva into meals by creating a harmonious cooking environment, managing your energy as a chef, applying sustainable cooking practices and understanding the role of prana in food.
  • In-depth instruction in meal planning, recipe development, kitchen management, cooking tools and food preparation.
  • What it takes to cook with consciousness in a commercial setting, including catering events and professional kitchens.
  • How to respond to trends in eating and work with clients based on their unique starting points.
  • The many ways you can work as an Ayurvedic chef and tips to start your own business.

For more information you can visit the website here or walk through a typical day on the program here.

And to celebrate I’m sharing my delicious Eggplant Bharta and Dosas recipe from Eat Right for Your Shape for you all to enjoy.

Eggplant Bharta 

Serves 2

This kapha-balancing shaggy mash that can be eaten cold as a dip is perfect as a side dish or entrée. I encourage you to make a few serves ahead of time and keep it in the fridge to be enjoyed as a snack with batons of raw carrot, celery and cucumber. Note: It is recommended that all doshas eat tomato in moderation.

Ingredients

  • 1 large eggplant (aubergine)
  • extra virgin olive oil, for brushing
  • 1 tablespoon ghee
  • 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
  • 1 small onion, finely chopped
  • 2.5 cm (1 inch) piece of ginger, peeled and grated
  • 2 garlic cloves, crushed
  • ½ small green chilli, seeded and finely chopped
  • 1 tomato, finely chopped (to yield ½ cup)
  • ½ teaspoon ground turmeric
  • ½ teaspoon ground coriander
  • 1 teaspoon ground cumin
  • ½ teaspoon garam masala
  • Celtic sea salt, to taste
  • 2 tablespoons finely chopped coriander (cilantro) leaves, to serve (optional)

Method

Cut three or four slits in the eggplant, then brush the eggplant with a little olive oil. Heat a medium frying pan over medium heat, then fry the eggplant for 10 minutes, turning frequently, until it is soft and charred. Remove from the heat. When cool enough to handle, remove and discard the skin. Mash the flesh and set aside.

Heat the ghee in a clean frying pan over medium heat and add the cumin seeds. Cook for 1 minute, then add the onion and cook for another minute. Add the ginger, garlic and chilli, then cook, stirring frequently, for 1 minute.

Add the tomato and ground turmeric, coriander and cumin, then continue to cook, stirring frequently, for 3 minutes. Add the mashed eggplant, garam masala and salt. Stir to combine and cook for a further
2 minutes.

Top with the coriander leaves (if using) and serve with Indian dosas.

Indian Dosas

Vata and Kapha. To balance pitta, omit the fenugreek

MAKES 10

Ingredients

  • 110 g (3 3⁄4 oz/1⁄2 cup) urad dal

  • 1 teaspoon fenugreek seeds
  • 
pinch of Himalayan salt, plus extra to taste

  • 210 g (7 1⁄2 oz/1 1⁄2 cups) quinoa flour
  • 1 litre (35 fl oz/4 cups) filtered water,
  • plus extra for soaking ghee, for shallow-frying

Method

Soak the urad dal and fenugreek overnight in a bowl of filtered water with the salt.

Rinse the dal, place in a blender with the flour and blend to a fine paste. Add enough of the water to make a thin batter. Pour into a large heatproof bowl.

Heat the oven on 200°C (400°F) for 10 minutes, then turn the oven off.

Sit the bowl in the oven for 15 minutes or until the batter is slightly bubbly and frothy (this fermenting step is optional – the taste is the same whether you do it or not). Remove from the oven and season with salt.

Heat a frying pan over high heat and add a small amount of ghee. Ladle about 80 ml (21⁄2 fl oz/13 cup) batter into the pan and quickly swirl to spread evenly over the base of the pan.

Add a few drops of ghee. When the edges are looking crisp, fold the dosa in half and remove from the pan. Repeat with the remaining batter.

New SIBO 21-Day Guide + Delicious Salmon and Coriander Fish Cakes


There's a little-known condition that's secretly affecting the daily lives of millions of people around the world! Any guesses? I'll give you a hint... It starts with an S and ends with an IBO.

Yes, that's right - SIBO.

Never heard the word before? That's okay, we'll go through this from the beginning to the end 😉

SIBO is an acronym that stands for small intestinal bacterial overgrowth. It can cause the malabsorption of nutrients, particularly fat-soluble vitamins and iron. A deficiency of these nutrients may make us feel fatigued, cause achy muscles and digestive problems, such as abdominal discomfort, bloating, diarrhoea, belching and more.

It’s also a very common underlying condition to a whole host of illnesses, such as fibromyalgia, chronic inflammation and leaky gut.

Safe to say, SIBO doesn't sound like a good time.

That's why I've created a SIBO Starter Pack - a 21-day SIBO guide with information, meal plans and recipes to help you get on your SIBO healing way!

I wrote this plan because I know just how hard it can be to try and navigate the health world head-on. Just like The Beatles once said, "I get by with a little help from my friends," except this time - I'm your friend and we're talking about SIBO.

In the eBook guide I offer 21 days of delicious recipes to have you fuelled and energised. If SIBO is a problem for you and it's affecting your quality of life, there's no better time to break the SIBO cycle than with this brand new SIBO guide.

My SIBO plan includes a therapeutic diet plan that uses a specific low FODMAP (fermentable oligosaccharides, disaccharides, monosaccharides and polyols) approach, to limit the side-effects of these bacterium and fungi, so you can start to fix-up your insides.

Throughout the program, not only is there a reduction of fermentable starches and fibres to cause bacterium to die-off,  but also a method to help rebuild the gut lining and improve digestion.

It's a simple, useful and straightforward guide to help you get on top of your SIBO symptoms, have more energy and finally feel like yourself again. This is truly SIBO made easy.

In the guide you're given a tailored meal plan to follow, which is perfect for making life a little less chaotic than it already is.

I’ve listed all the foods that starve or feed the gut bacteria which makes healing SIBO and diminishing the overgrowth of bacteria that much easier.

The book includes a whole tonne of delicious recipes such as my Carrot Cake Smoothie for breakfast, Salmon and Pumpkin Patties for lunch and Chicken and Pea, Zucchini Noodle Soup for dinner. There are plenty of recipes that’ll suit even the fussiest of eaters.

In fact, Kirsty who has done the program said:

"A huge thank you for the 3-week SIBO diet for my daughter. It got us through those first few weeks until we 'found our feet'. It has been a struggle but we have got there and I can see that it has given her a health reset."

My SIBO guide is easy and maintainable. It'll change the way you feel and think about food. It has all the tips, tricks and recipes you need to alleviate SIBO symptoms for good.

For your copy of the SIBO 21-Day guide - just click on the link here.

If you'd like to get a taste of a SIBO friendly recipe, check out my Salmon and Coriander Fish Cakes below. They're filled with Omega 3 fatty acids, fibre for digestion and protein to help keep you fuller for longer and to get those muscles building.

So, what are you waiting for?

Grab the guide here and enjoy my Salmon and Coriander Fish Cakes; a winning combo of protein and taste, below.

Salmon and Coriander Fish Cakes

Makes 4

Ingredients

  • 210 g (71/2  oz) tinned salmon (or use fresh chopped salmon)
  • 1 medium egg, lightly whisked
  • 2 sprigs green part of spring onion chopped
  • 1 tablespoon chopped coriander (cilantro)
  • 2 teaspoons chopped chives, plus extra to serve
  • 2 teaspoons sugar-free Dijon mustard
  • Celtic sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
  • 2 tablespoons coconut flour
  • 1 teaspoon coconut oil
  • lime slices, to serve

Method

Drain the salmon and put in a medium bowl. Remove the bones (or leave them in if you prefer), then mash the flesh with a fork. Add the egg, spring onion, herbs, mustard, salt and pepper. Mix well.

Roll the mixture into one big ball, then cover and chill in the freezer for 30 minutes. When you’re ready to cook the fishcakes, take the mixture out of the freezer and divide into four. Shape each portion into a fishcake and sprinkle both sides with flour.

Heat the oil in a medium frying pan over medium heat, then cook the fishcakes for 7–10 minutes on each side, until golden brown.

Serve immediately, with chives scattered over and lime slices on the side.

Supercharged Tip: Try to select sustainable wild-caught salmon, as farmed salmon isn’t fed the same diet, giving it a less favourable fatty-acid profile.

Supercharged Moussaka, Lamb or Lentil, Your Choice

Before the days of pasta being made out of zucchini and pizza bases out of cauliflower, the Greeks were making lasagne out of eggplant. Who knew they were so food-forward?

But forget Hercules. If we’re going to talk about all things Greek and dreamy, we have to have the Moussaka conversation. If you’ve never heard of Moussaka, it’s similar to a lasagne; it uses silky and smoky eggplant, lamb mince with a gorgeous tomato-based sauce with lots of delicious herbs and spices and a creamy, cheesy layer.

If that’s not a plan for perfection, I don’t know what is!

But alas, while this delicacy is down-right delicious, it tends to cause people to have upset stomachs... a running joke in my family, if you know what I mean.

This time, I’ve decided to cut to the cheese (sorry), and make a Lamb Moussaka – Supercharged style.

In order to do so, we’re going to have to go through this layer-by-layer.

First, we have the eggplant layer – sweetly deep, purple eggplant. Did you know eggplant is high in a phytonutrient that can help protect the brain from damage?  Just like humans, eggplants can be bitter if they’re not cared for properly. Before you start to assemble your moussaka, be sure to slice, salt and then drizzle or spray the eggplant with olive oil. This gets rid of that bitter taste. Note to self: this doesn’t work on bitter humans AKA instagram trolls, but you can try.

Next up, we have the lamb mince. While lamb is traditionally used in this Greek delicacy, you could swap it out with beef or even lentils for a vegetarian option! The optional addition of bone broth here gives it an extremely rich flavour and increases the gut-healing benefits of this dish. You can read more about my love for bone broth here. Bone broths are amazing for healing and sealing the digestive tract. Vegetarians can switch it up by using vegetable stock for great results.

For the creamy layer, I’ve used Meredith Dairy Sheep’s Yoghurt Pot Set. While it’s no traditional white cheese, it certainly makes this dish perfectly creamy. Coconut yoghurt also does the trick if you're avoiding dairy.

Lastly, we have nutritional yeast. Nutritional yeast gives our Moussaka that perfectly cheesy flavour. Nutritional yeast is actually known as a complete protein, containing all of the essential amino acids!

So, get ready to throw on your favourite toga, break some plates and get cooking, Supercharged Style!

Supercharged Moussaka, Lamb or Lentil Your Choice

Serves 4

Ingredients

For creamy layer:

  • 500 gm thick yoghurt (pot set is good) - I used Meredith dairy pot set sheep’s yoghurt (or coconut yoghurt for dairy free)

For topping:

Eggplant layer:

  • 2 TBS olive oil
  • Pinch sea salt
  • One large eggplant (sliced, salted, then drizzled or sprayed in olive oil).

Lamb layer:

  • 750 gm minced lamb or beef (or use 1 cup of cooked lentils for a vegetarian option)
  • 2 cloves garlic
  • 1 can chopped tomatoes
  • 2 cups tomato passata
  • 2 tbs tomato paste
  • 1 cup bone broth (optional)
  • 2 tsps oregano

Method:

  • Pan-fry the eggplant frying pan over medium–high heat in batches until browned. This should be about 2-3 minutes on each side. Transfer to a plate and set aside.
  • Pan-fry garlic in a heavy bottomed saucepan. Add mince and cook until browned, stirring frequently to remove any clumps. Or add lentils if using.
  • Place remaining ingredients in and stir. Reduce the heat to medium-low to reduce the sauce down until it is nice and thick and the liquid has evaporated.
  • Meanwhile preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius and grease a baking dish.
  • Place a layer of cooked mince (or lentils) at the bottom and top with eggplant slices then add yoghurt and smooth it on top.
  • Repeat until all the three layers are complete – this may be two or three times, depending on your baking dish. On the very top layer of yoghurt, sprinkle with nutritional yeast flakes.
  • Bake for about 20 mins until golden.

My 52nd Birthday + Celebration Lunch Recipes


For those of you who’ve somehow missed my spam on Instagram, I’m currently in the beautiful city of Malibu. Before you ask, yes, Miley was right when she said the sky is more blue in Malibu.

Malibu or 'The Bu' as it is affectionately known, is one of my favourite cities in the world which is why I decided to celebrate my 52nd birthday here! (The big 5.2)

When I think of my favourite past birthdays they’ve always included the tastiest food, my dearest family members, friends and sunny skies. This year was certainly no exception! I was lucky enough to spend my #52 with some of my closest friends who I actually met through blogging and friends. It still blows my mind how blogging has allowed me to connect with so many like-minded people from around the world. I’m so lucky that I’ve connected with such beautiful souls who are all on similar journeys and life paths to me.

My birthday made me realise how lucky I am to be where I am today. While not everything in life always makes sense and things definitely haven't been perfect this year, I’ve really gained a deeper understanding of who I am and who my true friends and family are. I’ve learned just how important it is to have special people in life who build you up and support you, who are there to laugh with you until your belly hurts and be there unconditionally. There’s always good and bad in life and that’s something we can’t choose - what we can choose is who we share those moments with. That's why I wanted to share my birthday with people I truly care about.

Even though I wasn’t in my home country, I wanted my birthday to be full of home-made food; Supercharged style! I love cooking for others so my birthday is a perfect excuse to get behind the kitchen and go a little overboard with food. What can I say? Some love to sing, some love to act, I love to cook… and eat!

The produce in the USA is so fresh and tasty and I wanted to celebrate just that! I decided the best way to celebrate would be to make a birthday lunch. I wanted my menu to be simple and easy.

I created a turmeric cauliflower, roasted zucchini, supercharged salad, pan-fried asparagus and a basil, tomato and goats cheese salad. And just in case anyone was STILL hungry, I also made a Lemon and Caper-Roasted Salmon.

I’m so excited to share with you all the recipes we feasted on so that you can re-create it for your own celebrations.

Let’s start with my baked zucchini.

Baked Zucchini

I love zucchini. It’s super low in calories, high in fibre and absorbs tastes so well. I like to think of it like a blank canvas. I added some coconut aminos to the mix and it tasted delicious! All you need to do is slice the zucchini up length-ways, top it with a drizzle of coconut aminos and olive oil and bake it in the oven on about 190 degrees Celsius for 20-30 minutes. How easy is that?!   

Supercharged Salad

While the zucchini was baking, I made a start on my salad. No celebration of mine is complete without a supercharged salad! I like to throw all the goodies I can find and make sure there’s enough of the good stuff for everyone. If your salad has at least two colours in it, you’re off to a good start. I included roasted pumpkin, argula, green bean, celery, walnuts and toasted seeds with a deliciously creamy tahini dressing and microgreens.

Turmeric Cauliflower

Cauliflower is a powerful vegetable that’s full of vitamin C, vitamin K and loads of antioxidants. Plus, it's undeniably mouth-watering when it’s baked just right - you know when you get that perfect balance between crunchy and chewy… I need to stop typing before I start drooling.

Ingredients:

  • 1 whole cauliflower broken into florets
  • Half a lemon squeezed
  • 1 tbsp nutritional yeast
  • 1 tsp Golden Gut Blend or turmeric
  • 2 garlic cloves chopped
  • 2 TBS olive oil

Method:

  • Pre-heat the oven to 190 degrees Celsius
  • Mix the spices together to create a marinade
  • Coat the cauliflower in the marinade
  • Bake the cauliflower for about 35 minutes or until browned

Lemon and Caper Roasted Salmon 

Last but certainly not least, my Lemon and Caper Roasted Salmon. I love salmon. And when I say love, I mean LOVE. It’s high in Omega 3 fatty acids which makes it great for brain function, decreasing your risk of disease and aging. While I’m not one to be scared of aging, it’s important to nourish your cells and help them repair, especially as you get older! This salmon is one the whole family will go crazy for.

Serves 4-6

  • One whole side salmon (about 1.5 kg) (I asked my fishmonger to take the skin off and then I crisp it up in the fry pan separately with a spray of oil).
  • 2 TBS olive oil
  • 2 lemons sliced
  • 2 TBS lemon juice
  • 2 TBS capers
  • pinch sea salt

Method:

  • Heat oven to 200 degrees Celsius
  • Place sliced lemons in a baking tray and place whole salmon on top
  • with a knife, score salmon in a criss cross direction
  • Sprinkle olive oil, lemon and capers on top (use some of the caper juice too for flavour) ensuring it seeps into the salmon
  • Roast, uncovered, for about 20 mins until the salmon is cooked through – check by poking a knife into the fillet and making sure the fish flakes easily.
  • Serve directly from the tin, or use a couple of fish slices to carefully lift the salmon onto a big plate. Slice into portions and serve with lemon wedges on the side.

Enjoy your 'Supercharged Celebrations' wherever you are.

Lee xo

Meal kits – are they as good as they seem?

In 2019, the vast majority of people globally understand the importance of eating healthy and staying in shape. However in other parts of the world some people especially if they find themselves sociodemographically behind the curve, find it harder and studies show that this is due to having more pressing issues to deal with. Because healthy/fresh food can be more expensive than the alternatives, sadly they simply lack the opportunities and resources to tap into popularised healthy eating.

On the flipside, the same can also be said about very busy working individuals, in spite of many having the means to buy high quality food- they find it difficult to have the time to think about what they’re consuming, follow an organized dietary plan, do the grocery shopping, cook their own food, and this often results in unbalanced nutrition.

Interestingly whatever side of the fence you are on both areas can result in inadequate nutrition and nutritional deficiencies which in turn can affect individual health outcomes.

Meal kits have become very popular in that last couple of years as many people are buiser than ever in their lives and havent always got the time to devote to meal preparation and cooking. Meal kits can make it easier for people as the pre-portioned and usually partially-prepared ingredients and recipes make it easy for people to have a quick step system towards creating a “home cooked” meal.

Usually costing between $10-20 per meal portion the average amount of preparation and cooking time is generally around ten to twenty minutes and this gives customers the opportunity to skip the grocery store aisle and make it easier for them to enjoy healthy, enjoyable, and fresh foods.

Are meal kits in fact what they claim to be?

If you search across the web you’ll find some real life find meal kit resources and reviews which show real time photographs of the process and experience.

Riley and John, a father/daughter team created a series of cute photographs showing their meal kit experience. They recounted that the meal took less than 30 minutes to make, and delegation was the key. When the meal was ready they also enjoyed it at the kitchen table which is a great way and place for families to connect. One part of our busy lifestyles is that eating together has become a thing of the past for many families and they tend to eat at different times in different rooms, in front of the TV or on the couch. They also noted how healthy and fresh (locally sourced) the meal was.

Leah Ingram, a money saving expert agreed that meal kits were a positive experience for her. One of her tips inluded noting her favourite recipes, which she has made again, holding onto the recipe cards and making a note of the ingredients to use on her future shoppng trips.

Meal Kits Canada offers some lovely meal kits prep pics and recipes of meal kits in Canada. Kyle Prevost, is a well-known blogger and entrepreneur in the person finance space, as well as a full time highschool teacher. He’s busy and time poor and says that “while meal kits haven’t made me into a 5-star chef, they have allowed me (a rookie’s rookie in the kitchen) to make a wide variety of fresh, delicious, nutritious meals in only 30 minutes.”

SweetPhi, a food blogger from Wisconsin, agrees “For healthy, organic and ‘special dietary accommodating’ meals food kits work well. One of her personal favourites includes Sun Basket, a service she tried and now enjoys them on the reg to keep her healthy and satiated.

So if you’re too busy to cook and work long hours and have no time for food prep, then meal kits are a tasty, healthy and fresh way to eat. The only other fact is that perhaps the biggest stumbling block to making the leap would be price as this way of eating can be more expensive than simply buying the ingredients. You could also gift a lovely hamper from Boyd Hampers.

Delicious Turmeric Seeded Loaf

Hi, I’m Lee and I’m a loaf-aholic!

If you can’t tell by this chia and flaxseed loaf recipe here, this banana and coconut one here or even this golden buckwheat and pumpkin one here, I’m a keen lover of all things loaf. Not only does it make my heart happy, it makes my tummy happy too.

In the past, bread has been demonised in the health industry as a food that’ll make you feel bloated, uncomfortable and miserable, but it doesn’t have to be that way, you can make a perfectly acceptable and tummy friendly loaf all different kinds of ways in the comfort of your own kitchen.

For those of you who know me, I'm probably repeating myself here but I also love turmeric.

Turmeric has been in the limelight (or should we say yellow-light?), for its wonderful anti-inflammatory properties, heart disease and depression-fighting ability and rumour has it, it may even turn you into a superhero (too much?).

You might like to try my Oven Baked Cauliflower and Broccoli Steaks recipe here. They are also part of my FMTV cooking series if you prefer to watch cooking videos here.

I have combined two of these wonderful foods into one recipe that may just become your new go to loaf if you'll have it. Bread and turmeric may seem like an odd collaboration that would have been listed on the Worst Dress list of a food red carpet a few years ago (a girl can dream, okay?), but it’s time to bend the rules!

While it may seem odd to combine bread, a food that has been demonised by the health industry, and turmeric, a wonder-spice ‘superfood’ which is currently trending in the wellness world, it’s time to throw out the rulebooks and start choosing freedom over fear and pairing whatever ingredients we like together..  Because variety is the "spice" of life. 

The food industry has flipped everything on its head. There is a perpetuation of a fear of food items such as bread and carbohydrates, which influences us to purchase more expensive alternatives.

A lot of the time, this fear is created for a company’s gain and ability to create a new wellness trend, which creates a heightened fear of food and diminishes our ability to just relax and enjoy it.

I believe that the food we eat should be chosen out of freedom, pleasure and celebration, not a deep fear of ageing, gaining weight, losing our energy or ability to keep up with the constant demands of life.

While turmeric is said to help reduce ageing, I don’t want you to fall into an ‘immortality complex’. If you’ve never heard the term, it’s something I go in-depth about in my latest book, Supercharge Your Life, but I’ll give you a brief explanation now so we’re on the same page.

The ‘immortality complex’ is the mentality of an eater who is driven by the desire of an idealised state of health which totally eradicates any chance of falling sick or aging. To give you a clearer image, think of the person you know who can read an ingredients list from a mile away or, those people who look at the shopper in front of them at the supermarket and are able to knock-off at least twenty different symptoms and diseases the foods in their trolley will give them. This food mentality isn’t healthy at all. In fact, I believe it’s quite damaging.  

I hate to be the one to tell you that the Easter bunny isn’t real, but no matter how hard we try to avoid illness and strive to a state of physical perfection (think the classic ‘my body is a temple’ type person), there will be an expiration date. We all age and no matter how much money or effort goes into the perfect diet, there can still be hundreds of health hurdles we have to face, emotionally and physically.

Even if you do reach a perfect, idealised state of health, you gain nothing if you’re living your bliss life while unconsciously projecting judgement or negative attitudes towards others. More often than not, this tends to originate from a fear-driven attitude towards food, rather than a blissful and joyous way of looking at food, which is really, a microcosm of a bigger picture.

If you’re not able to enjoy simple pleasures, such as food, something’s got to give. It’s time to enjoy food and by doing so, enjoy life!

While we live in an age where we’re watching more cooking shows than ever before, we’re spending even less time in the kitchen. We’re so disconnected from our food that we’ve forgotten that it is one of the key cornerstones of living an enjoyable life.

While the saying, life is short,is something we hear regularly, I’d like for you to think of it this way: life is the longest thing you’ll ever do, so you may as well enjoy it and feel the best that you can for as long as you can!

In order to reignite a pleasure of food, getting back to basics and a simple way of living and eating that’s in line with the earth and its seasons, and creating space in our own lives to be able to grow and gather food, plan our meals, then cook and sit down at a table with time to truly enjoy each and every mouthful and moment makes sense.

It’s time to embrace a new movement; a supercharged food revolution. This revolution will bring you the freedom to live a life that is bouncing with simple pleasures, is total balanced, wholesome and even includes a piece of bread or two. It’s what creating a supercharged life is all about. It’s vacant of any unnecessary food fear too. As a great, modern scholar once said it’s time to, “shake it off, shake it off” 😉

My Turmeric Seeded Loaf is a perfect example of that. It’s a recipe that brings families together, puts smiles on people’s faces and actually tastes damn delicious. It’s also high in protein and fibre. Unlike many bread recipes out there, you won’t be left cleaning up bowls, spoons or measuring cups for days on end. This bread is as blissful to make and clean-up after as it is to eat. All you need to do is mix the ingredients, bake it in the loaf pan and you’re done.

While turmeric is a trending ingredient, it offers more than its potent anti-inflammatory properties to recipes. It has an earthy and pungent taste that is perfect for bread. It also pairs wonderfully with coconut which is why I had to add coconut flakes to this mix. It’s a winning colour and food flavour combination like no other. Turmeric is being added to everything these days, including my turmeric fudge which is mind-blowing and delicious, if you haven’t had a chance to try it yet. So, why not combine bread and turmeric to form a new power couple?

Let’s make a toast to fighting the fear of food and starting a supercharged food-loving revolution one piece of bread at a time!

Turmeric Seeded Loaf

{MAKES 9 x 30 cm (312  x12 inch) loaf}

  • 200 g (7 oz/2 cups) almond meal
  • 60 g (214oz/1/2cup) walnuts
  • 50 g (134oz/1/2cup) flaked almonds
  • 75 g (234oz/1/2cup) pepitas (pumpkin seeds)
  • 40 g (112oz/1/4cup) sunflower seeds
  • 1/teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon ground turmeric
  • 1/teaspoon gluten-free baking powder
  • 15 g (12oz/1/4cup) coconut flakes
  • 3 eggs
  • 2 egg whites
  • 90 g (314oz) butter or coconut oil, melted
  • 2 tablespoons rice malt syrup or maple syrup
  • 1/banana, mashed

Method:

  • Preheat the oven to 170°C (325°F) and line a 9 × 30 cm (312× 12 inch) loaf (bar) tin with baking paper.
  • Combine the almond meal, nuts, seeds, salt, turmeric, baking powder and coconut flakes in a large bowl.
  • In a small bowl, whisk together the remaining ingredients. Add the wet mixture to the dry and mix until well combined.
  • Pour the batter into the prepared tin and bake for 45–50 minutes, until a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean.
  • Allow to cool in the tin before slicing.

Strawberry and Chia Roll Ups + Free eBook

If you’ve ever visited a school playground at lunchtime, I’m sure you’ve seen the all-mighty roll up.

These fruit straps (if you can even call them that), are a frequent and common snack among lunch boxes nationwide. Roll ups are seen as an easy and tasty way to get some fruit into your kids.

Unfortunately, a lot of the time these convenient snacks contain not so convenient ingredients, and are laced with maltodextrin, sugar, oil, artificial colouring and you know the rest...

To be honest you know what i think they don't actually contain a lot of? Real fruit. Roll ups contain fruit puree, which is basically fruit that’s stripped of all its fibre and essential nutrients, leaving us with just fructose and sugar.

In fact, I found a roll up the other day with over twelve ingredients which made me question why we associate them with fruit at all! I know. You’re just as shocked as I am right now.

I’d like for you to take your mind back to the good ol’ days, where children were sent off to school with apples from the farm down the road and a handful of just-picked bright blueberries from the garden. Doesn’t that just sound blissfully wholesome?

Previous generations would be blown away if they had a sneak-peek into what’s in our kid’s lunch boxes and even more so, what’s going into their tummies.

Generations before us grew up knowing exactly where they food came from. They visited farms where fruits and vegetables grew or even picked their own, preserving the excess bounty as jams and pickles to be eaten in the months that followed. They ate seasonally, not out of choice, but because that’s all they knew. They knew that winter was the time for grounding stews with root vegetables, summer was for mangoes and spring was the time for sweet green peas and juicy lamb chops; it just made sense.

Sadly, our connection between our social and agricultural landscape has become barren and dry. We’ve completely lost touch with our earth’s seasonal wisdom and how it has the power to provide our bodies with the exact nutrients and life forces we need to flourish through the extremes.

We’ve forgotten that food is at the heart of the home. We’ve become accustomed to the remnants of fruit being placed in kid-friendly plastic packaging with a million and one other unrecognisable food ingredients and don’t even give it a second thought.

This revelation sparked me to create my own fruit roll-ups for my latest book, Supercharge Your Life, made with just three simple ingredients, not twelve.

You can even wrap them around your fingers like the traditional ones!

By swapping out pre-packaged foods filled with ingredients we can’t even pronounce, and our bodies don’t quite understand, with real and wholesome food, we’ll be able to thrive naturally.

Food that’s considered, selected, prepared, served and enjoyed with genuine love and thankfulness will bless your body and your loved one’s bodies far more than you know. This is the key to having a simply supercharged life; its food made simply and life made simpler.

Less really is more!

My food philosophy is easy: eat real, unmodified foods as close to the state that nature provides, as this enables our bodies to function at their best. This means I run towards foods that are grown or reared naturally and are free from as much chemical intervention as possible. Food should be savoured, smelled and experienced, not chowed down on too quickly.

For the Strawberry and Chia Roll Ups, I’ve used strawberries because they’re the best flavour, obviously - it’s not even worth arguing over. I’ve even used berries from my own backyard!

Of course, you don’t need to roll up (pun intended) your sleeves just yet and turn into a master gardener just to enjoy this healthy little snack. I know it’s not possible for everyone to grow their own garden, but it’s possible to start a little herb wall or veggie patch anywhere, which you can read more about in my post entitled How To Create a Kitchen Garden.  

That being said, you can buy berries from the supermarket or farmer’s market, just opt for chemical-free and organic where possible. If berries aren’t in season, you can make these easy roll ups with a multitude of fruit combinations to fit in with whatever season you’re in.

Some of my favourite flavour combinations include:

  • Raspberry + mango
  • Apple +sweet potato
  • Peach + banana
  • Strawberry + basil
  • Raspberry + vanilla
  • Apricot +cinnamon +turmeric

Don’t be scared to play around with different flavour and fruit combinations. You can even use frozen fruit. Once you’ve chosen your fruit or fruits of choice, combine them with omega-3 rich chia seeds.

If chia seeds don’t tickle your fancy, feel free to swap them out with flax seeds or even hemp seeds. Then, sweeten to your personal taste preferences. I personally like using honey or rice malt syrup in these, but you can also use stevia or another sweetener of your choice.

These roll ups are perfect for school snacks, study breaks and even for the work fridge. All you need is three ingredients and an oven. If you have a dehydrator, feel free to use that instead of the oven but be aware that the timing may vary.

The mighty roll up is great for snacking because you can portion them out to help with the impossible feat of controlling your portions. They’re even better because you can play tug-of-war with them (no, this is not giving me permission to play with your food, but the option’s there).

If you’re looking for other perfect and healthy homemade lunch box or weekend family friendly snacks, check out my Golden Granola Clusters, Golden Gut Oatmeal Cookies and Turmeric Fudge in this FREE ebook made with delicious Golden Gut Blend.

My fruit leather is one for the whole family to love and fight over! Enjoy them and let me know what you think in the comments down below.

You can grab a copy of the book here: Supercharge Your Life

Strawberry and chia roll-ups

{makes about 12}

  • 500 g (1 lb 2 oz/313cups) strawberries, hulled and halved
  • 2 tablespoons chia seeds
  • 2 tablespoons rice malt syrup, or stevia powder to taste

Method:

  • Preheat the oven to 65°C (145°F) or its lowest temperature and line two baking trays with baking paper.
  • Combine all the ingredients in a food processor and pulse for about 30 seconds, until puréed. Pour onto the baking trays and spread out evenly with a spatula.
  • Dry in the oven for at least 3 hours, until the mixture is no longer sticky and the consistency is leathery but not crisp (see tip).
  • Cool to room temperature, then either slowly peel the fruit off the baking paper or use a sharp knife or a pair of scissors to cut into portions with the paper still on to stop them sticking. Store in an airtight container in the fridge for 3–4 days. When ready to use, roll up portions and secure with string.

Supercharged Tips

  • To test whether your fruit roll-up is ready, pick at a corner and start to peel it slowly off the paper. If it pulls apart or seems sticky or damp, it needs to go back in the oven.
  • To make the other flavour combinations, replace the strawberries with the same volume of the suggested ingredients, and combine with the chia seeds and rice malt syrup in the same way.

Eating for Thyroid Health + Fermented Turmeric and Fennel Cauliflower

While here at Supercharged Food HQ we love talking about all things gut health, there’s another intrinsic part of the body that plays a key role in keeping us functioning properly; the thyroid gland.

The gut and thyroid have a very strong relationship - poor gut health can suppress thyroid function and similarly, thyroid dysfunction can cause an inflamed gut. It goes both ways.

If you've never looked into thyroid health, gather round! Basically, the thyroid is a butterfly-shaped gland that sits in your neck. It produces two types of hormones: Thyroxine, known as T4, which is the inactive thyroid hormone and then there’s Triiodothyronine, A.K.A, T3, which is the active form. We need both T3 and T4 for growth, energy, development and much more.

In order for our thyroid hormones to do their job properly, T4 needs to be converted into its active form T3. Did you know that 20% of this conversion happens within the gut flora? It’s a bigger conversion rate than Australia and US Dollars! This conversion process can be enhanced by an enzyme known as intestinal sulfatase, which is produced in the gut. Therefore, if we have any gut imbalances, this can disturb the conversion and alter the exchange rate.

One major side-effect of gut problems that’s actually linked to thyroid health is constipation. Constipation can decrease our clearance of oestrogen and also, increase thyroid-binding globulin, a protein that binds to T3. This makes T3 chemically inactive and reduces its ability to be released into the bloodstream.

Another gut-wrenching problem is inflammation and stress. Both of these increase our cortisol levels which reduce T3 and therefore, inhibit the conversion that we need for proper thyroid functioning.

So, how do we best support our thyroid?

Eating a diet that’s good for your gut can help support your thyroid hormones. You can read my Gut Health 101 here for more.

One way to reduce bodily inflammation and therefore, improve thyroid health, is to include anti-inflammatory ingredients. Take turmeric, for example. It’s a delicious addition to any meal and it actually works. If you’re looking for tasty ways to include turmeric, you have to try my Gut Healing Turmeric Chicken Broth. Also, don’t forget to get yourself some Golden Gut Blend; it’s seriously life-changing when it comes to thyroid function as it contains both turmeric and ginger which are two star ingredients for fighting off inflammation.

Bone broths are a magical meal that help restore the gut and support thyroid function as they contain plenty of potent ingredients such as zinc, which is an essential mineral for supporting immune function and gut healing. Low zinc can actually inhibit the thyroid-stimulating hormones. Another mineral that we often talk about is iron. Iron is essential for repairing thyroid imbalances, as decreased iron can reduce thyroid function. Love Your Gut capsules are great for upping iron levels.  Bone broth is an easy way to increase your iron levels and help look after that thyroid gland of yours.

One of the other things I recommend when faced with thyroid imbalances is cutting down on leaky gut triggers such as gluten, dairy and sugar. These foods can cause damage to your intestinal lining and cause cell ways to become more permeable to proteins and releases them into the bloodstream. This can cause a whole myriad of issues like abnormal immune responses, thyroid imbalances, intolerances and even autoimmune conditions.

Another key way to improve your thyroid is to reduce stress, so try to stop worrying so much! While a dose of stress now and then is necessary, stress inevitably weakens your body’s ability to fight off foreign invaders, such as bacteria and viruses,  and can limit your innate immunity. This can cause inflammation which as we now know, can reduce that conversion and make it hard for our thyroid hormones to function properly. It’s time to roll out that yoga mat and start the deep belly breathing.

While the gut and thyroid connection is essential for our wellbeing, there are plenty of links within the body where your gut holds major influence. By nurturing your gut, you’re one step closer to strengthening these connections and letting your body heal and work at its prime!

If you're looking for a delicious thyroid-friendly and gut-friendly recipe, you have to check out my Fermented Turmeric & Fennel Cauliflower! It takes cauliflower to new heights in this colourful Indian-spiced ferment.

Fermented Turmeric & Fennel Cauliflower

MAKES 1 􏰐􏰦􏰐X􏰐􏰦􏰐 LITRE􏰐 􏰐MASON􏰐 JAR

Ingredients

  • 1 head of cauliflower, cut into florets
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
  • 1/2 teaspoon fennel seeds
  • 2 tablespoons Celtic sea salt
  • 500 ml (17 fl oz/2 cups) filtered water

Place the cauliflower, turmeric and fennel seeds in a bowl. Toss to mix the spices through the cauliflower.

Transfer the mixture to a sterilised 1 litre (35 fl oz/4 cup) mason jar, pressing down to remove any large air gaps, and leaving about 2.5 cm (1 inch) of headroom at the top.

Dissolve the salt in the filtered water, then pour it over the cauliflower, ensuring it is fully submerged, and leaving about 2.5 cm (1 inch) of breathing room at the top of the jar, to allow for expansion.

Cover the jar with plastic wrap, then screw the lid on tightly.

Keep in a warm place for 3–4 days, then open and taste test until you’re satisfied with the result; the vegetables should taste tangy.

Store in the fridge and use within 3–5 days.

Nourishing Breakfast Bowl + Meal Prep and Cooking Ideas

Every blogger needs a breakfast bowl, and this bowl right here is the bowl of all bowls. In fact, I’d say it’s the king of the bowls.

Personally, I go to sleep dreaming of breakfast but if you, like many others, don’t really like breakfast, your world is about to change because my Nourishing Breakfast Bowl defies breakfast norms. It’s absolutely delicious, satisfying and will keep you full all morning long. While breakfast bowls are currently all the rage, eating your veggies goes beyond trends; they never go out of style. Luckily for us, this breakfast bowl celebrates veggies with their vibrant colors and delicious flavors, in all of their glory. It’s definitely a bowl that’s worth waking up for.

This breakfast bowl, from Supercharge Your Life, perfectly exemplifies how a little bit of meal preparation can go a long way. If you haven’t got a copy of Supercharge Your Life yet, it’ll teach you all you need to know about meal preparation, the best ways to enjoy veggies and, serves as a reminder that purposeful and fulfilling eating is possible even if you’re short on time, feeding a big family or are a strapped-for-cash student.

If you’re new to creating supercharged dishes, you need to start with your ingredients. First and foremost, when starting out, don’t try to do so much that you’re feeling overwhelmed. Just begin slowly by including more fresh ingredients and don’t be restrictive. As you become more comfortable with using whole foods, try to include as many colours as possible in your dishes – you’re aiming to eat the rainbow so that you can fill your body with a variety of nutrients, which is why a breakfast bowl is a good way to start. Diversity is the key to good health and good health begins in the gut, read more about gut health on my gut blog here

If preparation is where you feel most challenged, clear off the work surface and get ready for some fun and interesting meal-prep and cooking ideas:

  • Chop up or spiralise raw vegetables such as carrots, celery, zucchini (courgettes) and capsicums (peppers) into strips, batons and sticks, and store in the fridge. Then all you need do is whip up a guacamole or pesto for a delicious snack. I’ve used spiralised cucumbers in this dish so, if you’re looking for a time-saver, spiralise them in advance and enjoy their benefits in this bowl later.
  • While I've used a fried egg for this recipe, if time isn’t on your side, a boiled egg can do the job too. Eggs can be hard-boiled in muffin trays in the oven allowing you to cook a few batches of 12 at a time and store them to add quickly to salads and bowls for extra protein. Simply preheat the oven to 175°C (345°F), place a whole egg (in its shell) in each muffin hole, no water, and bake for 30 minutes. Cool in iced water if you need to peel them immediately. Of course, if you’re vegan or have an aversion to eggs, scrambled tofu or tempeh would work well in this bowl too - whatever works for you is always the best option.
  • One of the best parts about breakfast bowls is the fact that you can sneak in as many vegetables as you can into your first meal of the day. One of my favourite ways to eat vegetables is by sautéing or stir-frying them. Sautéing or stir-frying vegetables involves cooking them in oil in a frying pan, wok or saucepan over high heat and stirring them often. In fact, the word sauté́ comes from the French for ‘jump’. The high heat means vegetables cook quickly, minimising nutrient loss, while the frequent stirring ensures they don’t burn or stick to the pan. This method can be used if you want a slightly crisp texture. It’s more involved than boiling or steaming, but it’s a great option because the vegetables retain much more flavour. Better yet, when combined with a bit of heat-resistant oil (such as coconut oil), spices and/or a marinade, sautéed vegetables can convert even the most staunchly anti-veg family member.
  • When choosing a pan to use, try to pick a large one that can hold all your veggies in a single layer and one that’s relatively shallow, so the vegetables can be cooked evenly, and any steam can escape. To sauté́ vegetables, heat some oil in the pan over medium to high heat. Add the chopped vegetables, preferably starting with them all at the same room temperature. Stir them frequently until they’re nicely browned and cooked through. Season to taste and serve quickly.
  • Liberal use of spices is the mark of a considerate cook. Ensure you add them just before the end of the sautéing process, so they have a little time to warm slightly and release their fragrance and flavour. Fresh herbs can be added after cooking or towards the end. Now here’s another warning: if you’re adding cheeses or sauces to your vegies, add them in closer towards the end so they don’t overcook or burn. The best vegetables to sauté́ are cabbage, carrots, onions, corn, asparagus tips, baby artichokes, capsicums (peppers), mushrooms, sugar snap peas, zucchini (courgettes) and leeks. Here we’ve used green beans, spinach and kale to help you get your green on, but feel free to use whichever greens you have sitting in your fridge.

Speaking of greens, no breakfast bowl can be complete without the mighty avocado. Well, it can, but that’s just a sad breakfast bowl that I want no part of. Avocados provide a hefty source of essential fatty acids and a creaminess like no other; it’s an absolute essential.

While this bowl does use rice, if you’re not feeling it, you could use quinoa, buckwheat or omit it altogether. Whatever floats your boat or drains your grain… or not.  

  • This bowl is relatively quick to make and can include any vegetables that you may have lying around. If you want to start practicing your meal prep, this is the perfect way to begin! Prepare some of the ingredients beforehand and use them in this dish for the most uplifting and nourishing breakfast ever. It’s your new go-to. This versatile breakfast bowl truly has it all and is the perfect meal to have when there’s ‘nothing to eat’. Just please promise me that you won’t be intimidated by the ingredients list – it’s basically just a giant bowl of food which is my favourite type of food. This bowl is a true celebration of vegetables and is a great reminder to keep life interesting and colourful. But use whatever veggies you like, YOU DO YOU!

This nourishing bowl is warm, comforting, satisfying and off the scale when it comes to health. It’s truly #bowlgoals as it includes all bowl essentials - grains, protein, greens, avocado, nori and a satisfyingly creamy sauce. If you’re wanting new recipe inspiration or more healthy tips, be sure to get your copy of Supercharge Your Life here.

Nourishing Breakfast Bowl

This is the king of breakfast bowls, and you’ll feel like royalty sitting down to this collection of vibrant ingredients in the morning. Loaded with greens, wholesome brown rice, gorgeous orange sweet potato, satiating eggs and a super-tasty tahini-based dressing, this is a great recipe for preparing food mindfully and honouring yourself.

Serves 2

Ingredients:

  • 1 sweet potato, peeled and sliced thinly lengthways
  • 2 tablespoons coconut oil, melted, plus extra as needed
  • sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
  • 2 heaped tablespoons blanched almonds
  • 2 garlic cloves, chopped
  • 2 spring onions (scallions), chopped
  • 250 g (9 oz/2 cups) sliced green beans
  • 450 g (1 lb/1 bunch) kale, stems and spines removed, roughly chopped
  • handful baby English spinach leaves
  • 2 eggs
  • 370 g (13 oz/2 cups) hot cooked brown rice
  • 1/2 telegraph (long) cucumber, spiralised into noodles
  • 1 avocado, peeled and sliced
  • 2 sheets nori, torn, or handful dried nori strips
  • toasted sesame seeds, for sprinkling (optional)

Dressing

To make the dressing, combine all the ingredients in a jar, seal tightly and shake until combined.

Preheat the oven to 220°C (425°F).

Place the sweet potato in a roasting tin, drizzle over half the coconut oil and bake for 10–15 minutes, until cooked. Season with salt and pepper.

Toast the almonds in a dry frying pan over medium heat and set aside.

Heat the remaining coconut oil in a frying pan over medium heat and sauté the garlic and spring onions for 1–2 minutes. Add the beans and kale, and stir-fry for 3–4 minutes, until cooked through. Add the spinach and cook for 1–2 minutes, until wilted. Move the greens to one side of the pan and fry the eggs to your liking, adding a little more oil if needed.

In two wide shallow bowls, arrange the brown rice, spiralised cucumber, cooked greens and avocado, then top with the almonds, sweet potato, nori and a fried egg. Drizzle the dressing over and sprinkle with sesame seeds, if using, and pepper.

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