Welcome to Winter: 3 Tips for Healthy Winter Eating

Welcome to Winter

A Great Time to Enjoy Healthy Comfort Food

To support a Healthy Immune System

Winter is the time to get cosy, spending more time indoors, keeping warm, spending quality time with your family. Enjoying quiet, peaceful moments in your home. It is a time to reflect, dream, visualize and plan things you want to do. So that when the Spring comes you are ready to bloom as does nature.

Little health annoyances popup such as a sore throat, cough, even getting the flu, body aches and pains may well increase due to the fact during Winter you may not be as active. This can lead then to feelings of sadness, feeling down about yourself and your life. I am going to share with you some delicious, healthy winter comfort food, that will help to keep that health annoyances away.

3 Tips for Healthy Winter

1: ENJOY some well earnt rest in bed: Depending on your work and family schedules this could be an extra hour in bed in the morning or going to bed an hour earlier at night. The pitter patter of rain, the green all around and just been cosy, curling up with a good book, finishing a work assignment, spending time with family and friends.

2: STOP: Don’t think of the things you have to do, but the things that you need to do for life to flow well. Do! I am sure like most of us, there is some inside decorating, rearranging and even decluttering that will bring balance and happiness to your Winter.

3: ENSURE that you are eating a diet full of nutrients to help you to stay well through winter and to give you the energy, your body needs efficient fuel for winter as it is working hard to keep you warm, therefore it needs more calories (fresh food calories) to burn to keep you warm. Eating nutrient dense foods in small amounts throughout the day is gentle on our digestive system as well as giving us sustained energy and assisting with the efficacy of our metabolism.

Healthy Eating for Winter &

Healthy Immune Support

A Good Wholesome Breakfast

A small bowl of porridge top with berries, banana, cinnamon and yoghurt, followed by some scrambled eggs on toast. Followed by a hot black percolated coffee or hot chocolate made with almond milk.
(If you are not able to eat all of this at breakfast time pace it throughout the morning)

Oatmeal with Almond Milk and Chia Seeds
Ingredients 1 cup Unsweetened Almond Milk ½ cup Old Fashioned Oats (I use Quaker Oats) 1 tablespoon Chia seeds 2 tablespoons unsalted nuts like walnut, almonds, macadamia nuts, etc. 2 tablespoons dried or fresh fruit (For the one you see in the picture I used mulberries and pomegranate)

Instructions Place almond milk in a small saucepan and let it come to a boil. Stir in the oats. Cook about 5 minutes over medium heat, stirring occasionally. Before taking it off the heat, add the chia seeds and give it a stir. Place it in a bowl and stir in the nuts and dried fruits.)

Healthy Lunches and Dinners

This could be some homemade wholesome vegetable soup: this could be cooked on the weekend or your day off: If you want to include a meat for extra nutrition you could use lean gravy beef or chicken, even fish can make a nice base and flavour. Onions and garlic are always a good flavour and nutritional base:

Use a variety of vegetables including pumpkin, sweet potato: carrot, kale, zucchini and cauliflower. If you do not want to use meat but want extra protein then you can use your favourite beans, quinoa, and black rice. Enjoy this with a wholegrain roll or toast. Yummy!!!!!! Or you could also do a wholesome vegetable bake and have this for lunch with some salad.

Sweet Potato: Vegetable Casserole

Serves 4 to 6

This is an easy way of increasing your intake of vegetables: you can include vegetables such as broccoli, pumpkin, sweet potato, carrot, spinach, mushrooms, eggplant and cauliflower or other vegetables, onion, yoghurt, cottage or goats’ cheese, and sprinkle with LSA or chia or quinoa seeds.
Ingredients:

4 – 5 cups of vegetables: 1 cup of each: sweet potato, pumpkin, celery, mushrooms & kale (you can mix and match these vegetables to your individual taste or what you have on hand.)

1 – 2 onions chopped

4 – 5 cloves of garlic or two teaspoons of minced garlic

½ to 1 cup of soft goat’s cheese with Fresh Dill

2 tablespoons of Coconut plain yoghurt

1 tablespoon of each or 3 tablespoons of one-the LSA, Chia or quinoa mix together.

1 cup of chopped parsley

In a measuring jug add 2 teaspoons of Massel chicken or vegetable stock and one litre of boiling water. Stir, allowing stock to dissolve.

Method:

Add a tablespoon of Olive to a large saucepan or casserole dish.

Brown onions, garlic for 5 – 10 minutes. Add Root Vegetables: sweet potato, pumpkin, or other firm vegetables such as celery, carrot, stir through garlic and onion mixture for another 5 – 10 minutes.

Add the stock that you have mixed in your measuring jug. Cover and cook on LOW heat for 30 – 35 minutes.

Add Kale, and mushrooms, cook for a further 10 minutes. Add a teaspoon of freshly ground black pepper, parsley, goats’ cheese and coconut yoghurt. Stir through then place in a baking dish sprinkle LSA, chia & quinoa mix on top.

Place under grill for 5 – 10 minutes or in preheated 200-degree oven for 10 – 15 mins.

Serve with fresh green salad of spinach leaves, pine nuts & basil.

Mid-afternoon Snack: An apple with some roasted almonds and a cup of dandelion or white tea

Dinner

Of course, this is great weather for casseroles, using as your meat base either chicken, lean lamb or beef  with onions, garlic, soy sauce, turmeric, coriander, cumin and any other herbs or curry flavours. Allow the meat to cook for 30 minutes with the onion, garlic and spices, then add sweet potato, pumpkin any other root vegetables of choice, cook for a further 30 minutes, then add cauliflower, broccoli and kale for the last 10 to 15 minutes.

Note: For Vegetarians and Vegans exchange animal protein for soy, lentils and beans. Cocobella Dairy Free Yogurt, Sheese Mature Cheddar Vegan Cheese, Sheese Vegan Original Creamy Cheese. These are available from Woolworths. Adjust the Cooking time for the soy, beans or lentils according to instructions on the packet.

Dessert: For us this usually consists of Greek yoghurt, Baci or chocolate gelato, strawberries, blackberries, banana or rock melon topped with cacao powder and Pepitas seeds Of course in winter you have to eat this by the fire. Of course, during the day, it is important to make a conscious effort to drink your 8 glasses of water, believe it or not this will improve not only your energy levels but any aches and pains.

Healthy Ways to Add Extra Protein

Protein is a very important part of our daily diet, however if we increase our animal protein, we will end up with major health problems. Just to let you know something about animal protein for which some people still want to include this into their diet which is fair enough to make it a little more interesting.

Any animal protein portion size should be no bigger than the size of the palm of your hand. You might ask why? Because this is the size of your stomach, with red meat it takes 48 hours to digest, hence why you may feel uncomfortable in the midriff section when indulging in a big steak:

If you limit your red meat for men to 2 – 3 times per week every alternate day, during the other times include either fish or chicken. This will ease both any digestive problems and discomfort it will also reduce your risk of bowel cancer.

Add chia seeds to your morning porridge, smoothie or you can even sprinkle them on top of your poached or scrambled eggs, add roasted almonds or pine nuts to your salads.

Add any of your favourite beans to your casseroles or soups; The humble bean is quite the super food: packed with calcium, iron, potassium, B vitamins, plus about a quarter of the protein and half the fibre recommended daily for adults—all in a single serving such as cannelloni, soy, azuki, beans, chickpeas and lentils.

Dried versus canned well of course it is the added salt to the canned, however as some of the dried beans are difficult and slow to cook, if you do choose to use the canned just rinse them several times in a drainer.

“Healthy Eating is all about Better Choices that are going to serve you and your family well”

Root Vegetables: Chickpeas, Beans, Lentils and Nuts make Healthy Vegan Protein Sources

You Don’t Necessarily have to be a Vegetarian or Vegan to be Healthy!
But you do need to Eat your Vegetables and include one to two vegan or vegetarian meals per week. Not only is the Healthy for you, but it is also a Great Way of adding Variety!

Keeping away or Overcoming Colds & Flu

Soups are a Great Way to Boost your Immune System

Butternut Fennel, Ginger & Garlic Soup with added benefits of turmeric. This delicious soup will not only warm the cockles of your heart it will improve your circulation, support healthy immune function, circulation, help you to overcome – colds, flu, Hay fever and sinus infections.

 

 

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