Natural Nutrition
See how food nourishes the body and soul. We round up fresh, organic foods and seasonal favorites. Get the nutritional lowdown, recipes, and practical cooking advice. Discover our Juicing Column and Chef’s Corner.
Grow your Own
Mankind is a relative newcomer on this earth, yet in a short period of time has achieved remarkable things. As a result of our successes, however, we have lost touch with many simple pleasures – such as working with Mother Nature to provide food from our gardens. Natalie Becker aims to empower you to feed yourself from your own backyard!
Mediterranean Diet linked to slower Mental Decline
People who eat and drink like the Greeks may think a little more clearly into old age, hints a study published in the Journal of Clinical Nutrition. The findings add to a handful of evidence that a Mediterranean-style diet may be as good for the brain as it is for the rest of the body.
A Balanced Diet
Nutrient density means how many nutrients you get from a food, given the number of calories it contains. Nutrient-dense foods give you the most nutrients for the fewest number of calories. No principle is more likely to support healthy eating than that of nutrient density, because it gives you concentrated amounts of valuable nutrients such as vitamins, minerals, fibre, essential fatty acids and phytonutrients, to name just a few.
Time for a Pantry Clean-Out
Every now and then we need to get rid of everything in the kitchen that could wreak havoc with our health. Restock with nutritious foods, beverages and snacks. If you don’t have forbidden products in your kitchen, you won’t be tempted to eat them in moments of weakness.
Get your FATS Straight
People are often confused about exactly what an EFA is, what it does, and why it is (or they are) important in the human diet. Then, just to add to the puzzle, there’s the often contentious debate about which fatty acids are actually ‘essential’. Sandi Nye takes a look at these fascinating molecules.
Which Milk?
A recent conversation threw an interesting light on a preconceived idea. A colleague and I were chatting about cow’s milk as part of a human diet, and I expressed the opinion that this milk was meant for cows, not for people. My stance echoed what I had read and learned about milk from both scientific literature and so-called conventional wisdom on milk in the modern diet.
Genes to Plate – nutrition made personal
If you haven’t ever thought about genetics and nutrition together, there’s a fascinating interaction that can affect health and disease.
Salad Jars – the perfect lunch box snack
Here is a recipe on how to make salad jars – the perfect lunch box snack. Use butternut balls, falafels and other fresh ingredients side by side, with a bit of room in between each ball.
Benefits of Coconut Milk, Water and Oil
Coconuts are synonymous with island life – palm trees with huge coconuts swaying in a light breeze along a sandy coastline. Today, however, more and more people are associating coconuts with superfood status, and are talking about the health and skincare benefits of coconut water, milk and oil.
Paleo vs Plant – a comprehensive response to an ongoing debate
Genetic adaptation occurs over many generations, whereas we only have a single lifetime to get it right. Rather than trying to adjust our genes to a diet that might be inherently wrong for us, why not adapt our diet to our own genetics? The end question when considering the article Paleo vs Plant is whether you should be restricting wholegrains, starchy veg and fruit (as Noakes believes) or if you should be restricting animal proteins (as Shearer believes).
Optimal Nutrition for Hair, Nails and Skin
Healthy hair, skin and nails are an outward sign of health and vitality, and their poor condition may reflect many biochemical imbalances in the body. Hair and nails indicate the health of the body 2 to 6 months previously. This means that much of what is going on inside you will quickly be reflected in this organ system, collectively known as the integumentary system.
The Sunfood Diet
As the sun is necessary for all life forms it makes perfect sense that a diet based on raw food plants warmed and grown beneath its benevolent rays will fill you with energy, cleanse your body and clear your mind.
Is Gluten Really the Cause?
Symptoms of wheat or gluten intolerance overlap with just about every other chronic illness from A to Z. Food allergies are immediately obvious when expressed as rashes, respiratory problems, excessive mucus or headaches. But gluten intolerance lurks in the background with a more delayed, if not subtle action, causing anaemia, asthma, attention deficit disorder, cancer, autoimmune diseases and even miscarriages.
Pesticide-free, Organic Fish?
The great north Pacific central gyre is the world's biggest rubbish dump situated between the USA and China. We need to reduce the production and consumption of plastic with a great deal of urgency. Anyone for a tuna salad?
Why Do We Over-eat?
Our sedentary, food-abundant circumstances may be a by-product of our ‘success’ as a society, and our nutrient, emotional and spiritual deficiencies a result of our hectic lifestyles – but they clearly create imbalances, gaps and voids in our lives, often leading to overeating and obesity.
Back to our Tomato Roots
Executive chef Christiaan Campbell and horticulturist Megan McCarthy talk about how best to grow and enjoy tomatoes. Overdose on tomatoes when they are in season, so that at the end of the season you don’t want to see another tomato. And then you can’t wait until mid-summer until the tomatoes are ripe. I don’t necessarily agree with importing our food out of season.
What Makes Fats & Oils Good or Bad
Most people are aware of the importance of healthy fats and oils in the diet. The ‘fat wars’ have been waged relentlessly in print and social media and books – but what makes a fat good or bad?
Watch out for Hidden Sugars
Sugar is ubiquitous in our food supply – we are surrounded by it and drowning in it. Learn to read labels and know precisely what you are looking for, and you will be able to navigate the turbulent world of hidden sugar.
Pomegranate – The tree of Life
The pomegranate is said to be the Tree of Life, and there is speculation as to whether it was the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden! Its Latin name literally means ‘seeded apple’. It is a symbol of hope, one of the ‘three blessed fruits’ in Buddhism, and a symbol of resurrection in Christianity.
Salt of the Earth
‘Pass me the salt and pepper please!’ This all too familiar phrase rings clear at most family meals. Has it become habit or is it numbed taste buds driving us to salt overuse and abuse? Or is it perhaps ignorance of the effect that salt has on our health if not used in moderation?
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