Why do kids eat better than us? Orange and chilli aubergine cake

This week, I went to a really thought provoking talk about breast feeding. I know it sounds odd, I wasn’t expecting to be interested either. But this very impressive researcher’s work shows that women who have poor body image and disordered eating tend to overfeed their new born babies. The more conscious you are of your own body and eating behaviours, the less likely you are to let your baby listen to their natural hunger signals and force them to eat more than they actually need.

At this period of our lives, our brains are more impressionable than ever. The first two years of life are where huge chunks of our personality and behaviours are determined, so the way our mothers interact with us during this time will shape our relationship with food for the rest of our lives. Many people don’t realise that overfeeding their babies is likely to disconnect children from their instincts, potentially causing irreversible damage to their ability to self-regulate food intake.

In a similar vein, The Guardian wrote an interesting article only children below the age of four possess the ability to stop eating when they’re full. That feeling when you’re stuffed from a big Chinese takeaway but you just keep on picking, or when you still crave chocolate after a huge roast? That behaviour is not innate; it’s a learned emotional response to food. We use food to make use feel happier or calmer, because being full allows us to ignore negative feelings.

It seems like there is a critical window of development in early life where babies use their internal signals to know when, how much and what to eat. Without social influence, we would continue to rely on these hunger signals to guide our eating behaviours  across our entire lives.

If that mechanism stayed in place throughout adult hood, I assume that there would be a lot less people over eating and obesity probably wouldn’t be the global epidemic that it is. However, with the influence of an anxious mother who insists that her child eat drink more milk that it actually wants, or early consumption of sugary, processed baby foods, kids quickly learn to ignore their own bodies and eat how society dictates.  The extent to which a child listens to their hunger signals will either strengthen or weaken the neural pathways that tell the brain when we feel hungry and full.

As the very wise Meri Leston explains, the things we say to children wil have an effect of them for the rest of their lives. When it comes to body image, the seeds of self-doubt can be planted all too easily.

‘Why is it that we can’t stop describing little girls pretty or little boys as strong. That’s just going to set them up for an expectation of disappointment ‘- Merri Leston, TED x Oxford.

It’s so important that we realise just how sensitive children are to the influence of adults, and how readily their eating behaviours can adapt. By encouraging kids to tap into their own natural hunger signals, we could hopefully prevent another generation of emotional eaters. Of course, in a time where body image issues are at their highest, and our relationships with food are more complex than ever, change feels impossible. But it starts with understanding why we’ve developed this maladaptive relationship in order to become aware of how we can stop from passing this down to future generations.

This week is a rich and wonderful cake which is made with a secret ingredient – aubergine. Don’t be put off, it still tastes chocolatey and sweet, the aubergine replaces flour making it gluten free and high in anti-oxidants, enjoy!

Chilli and orange, aubergine chocolate cake:

Ingredients

2 aubergines

300g 70% dark chocolate

50g cocoa powder

2 tsp baking powder

60g ground almonds

3 eggs

200g honey

1 orange (juice and zest)

1 teaspoon chilli flakes

1. Cook the aubergines in a microwave for 8mins, until soft.
2. Scoop out the insides and puree the aubergine in a blender or food processor.
3. Add the chocolate, which will melt in with the aubergine.
4. Mix all the other ingredients in a bowl.
5. Fold the melted chocolate and aubergine mixture  with all the other ingredients.
6. Grease a cake tin and pour the mixture in evenly.
7. Bake in the oven for 30 minutes (make sure you check if it’s cooked through, if not give it another 5-10 minutes).
8. Remove the cake from the oven and let it cool.
9. Sieve cocoa powder an chilli flakes over the top of the cake to garnish. You can also cut some of the orange peel and twist it for a pretty orange swirl.

Finding the Middle Ground Between Obesity and Disordered Eating: Mexican Style Corn on the Cob

The headlines recently have been presenting a pretty bleak picture of our society’s relationship with food. It feels like we are all stuck between a rock and a hard place – we either give over to a life of macdonalds and couch potato-ing (yes, it’s a verb) or constantly obsess over food to the point where we’re counting calories in toothpaste.

Part of the problem is that, seeing as nearly all basic human responsibilities have been replaced with technology, modern life makes it all-too easy to live a sedentary lifestyle. From the invention of the wheel to do our heavy lifting for us, we’ve developed tools to replace almost every physical task. While robots do all our foraging, building, making and cleaning, we have nothing to do but waste our days in front of screens.  I mean, they even invented a remote so we don’t have to get up to watch TV. Heck, just the thought of walking to the kitchen to get your second tub of ben and jerrys can be exhausting.

With this increasing reliance on tools and technology, exercise has been taken out of our daily routines, meaning we have to make a huge effort in order to lead an active lifestyle. The lack of exercise combined with an excess of unhealthy foods makes being healthy a constant battle. On top of that, as Western-living seemingly guides us toward obesity, not only do we have to make the conscious decision to be eat right, but we then have to deal with temptation on a daily basis. This means that the dichotomy between fat and skinny is ever-expanding. Once you choose to be healthy it’s very easy to become obsessed. Orthorexia Nervosa is the newest eating disorder, where people become excessively preoccupied with eating healthily to the point where they fear foods perceived to be unhealthy. There have been an increasing number of cases of health bloggers and instagramers who, with good intentions, begin a healthy journey that subsequently becomes a life-destroying illness.

Although these may be extreme cases, it is quite difficult to engage in a healthy lifestyle without comparing yourself to the perfect fitspo community who appear to eat only vegetables and wouldn’t dream of sacking off  a gym day. It really feels like our relationship with food is broken. We either ignore the effects of diet on physical and psychological wellbeing and eat what we want, which will almost inevitably result in obesity and or/illness. Or on the flipside, we are conscious of our weight and the way in which diet and exercise can effect us, which leads to obsession and psychological distress.

Obesity or disordered eating, the choice is pretty bleak. Of course this is a gross simplification of something that isn’t so black and white. I like to believe that there is a middle ground – exercising and eating right without letting it control your life.

The key, I think, is to not strive for perfection. Whatever the opposite is to an all-or-nothing approach, (everything in moderation?), do that. If you’re overcome with guilt a having one square of dark chocolate or spend your entire work-out calculating how many calories you’re burning off, you’ve gone too far. I’ve even read of health foodies documenting their guilt at eating too much fruit. If you feel this level of obsession happening to you, take a step back and acknowledge that no one is perfect. Even the slender yogi’s whose instagram feed is inundated with photos of green juice and lycra have off days.

Finding the middle ground isn’t so much about finding the perfect workout or diet as it is about finding the right mindset.

Try a 70-30 balance, being healthy 70% if the time and doing what makes you happy 30% of the time. Most importantly, for the lifestyle to stick without feeling like a chore or obsession, you have to enjoy it. If you hate the taste of kale, stop eating it. If you love reese’s peanut butter cups, don’t give them up. If you try to take up running and find yourself dreading each run, don’t hesitate to find a different form of exercise that you actually enjoy. There are many ways of being healthy and no one way works for everyone. It takes time and effort to try different things but slowly you’ll get to know what works for you and find your healthy groove.

I’ve been trying this for about a year and have still not quite found the middle ground. As soon as I start to compare myself to fitter, slimmer, healthier people and try to adopt their habits, I take one step back from reaching the optimum balance.

But what I have learnt is that there is more to life than having a perfect exercise and nutrition plan. When you find the middle ground life becomes less guilt-ridden. Food tastes better, cooking is funner and exercise is more fulfilling. But most importantly, an enormous load of stress and relief is lifted.

Mexican Style corn-on-the-cob:

Ingredients

1 lime

2 corn on the cob

Handful of chopped coriander

1 tablespoon feta

1 teaspoon capers

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 chilli pepper

1. Boil the corn on the cob for 10-15 mins.
2. Meanwhile finely chop the coriander and chilli, mix in a bowl with olive oil, capers, lime juice, salt and pepper.
3. Drain the corn on the cob. To blacken them, hold with tongs over the hob for about 30seconds until black, turning so each part changes colour.
4. On a plate, drizzle the mixture over the corn on the cob and top with crumbled feta, salt and pepper.

Anyone Else Having a Quarter Life Crisis? : No-bake Blackberry and Lemon Tarts.

I think I’m having a (nearly) quarter-life crisis. The amount of my friends who seem to be having similar weekly existential meltdowns is astounding. Everyone I know seems to be overwhelmed in every aspect of their lives and its’ lead me to the conclusion that being in your early 20s is really damn hard. I mean, its great being young, having your whole life ahead of your and generally being hedonistic. But at the same time it’s pretty scary and confusing.

Think about it, almost nothing in our lives is certain. Most of us have CVs inundated with 6-week unpaid internships in fields that bear no relevance to each other, reflecting that we have no clue what or who we want to be. We’re either still being threatened with a potential grounding for neglecting to tidy our rooms because we live at home with our parents or we’re jumping each year into the next grotty houseshare that eats up our pay cheques and never really feels like home because the landlord won’t even let us use bluetack to stick up the remaining bits of paisley material we kept from that time we went to India and were actually excited about the future. On top of that, all the uncertainty in our careers and location makes maintaining a serious relationship nigh on impossible. Maybe it’s just me but any naive dreams of “finding the one” have been replaced with more realistic goals of finding someone who doesn’t annoy the hell out of me so I don’t have to spend Sundays alone.

I think part of the problem is that being in your 20s is advertised to us as a time of opportunity and adventure, where you can focus on personal development and do what you want. But panicking about how to pay next months rent while you’re waiting to hear back from that job interview where you accidentally gave the interviewer a hug (yes that happened) and watching all your friends get promotions doesn’t really scream adventure. Psychologist Barry Schwartz attributes the quarter-life crisis to “a paradox of choice”. That is, we reach an age where we are presented with many more options than we can handle (from careers, to residence, to life partners), this array of choice becomes so overwhelming until we reach a point when the enthusiasm for “being able to do whatever we want” is replaced with anxiety and self-doubt.

My lovely friend Tasha (whose status showed me just how many people are feeling the same way and inspired me to write this post), summed it up perfectly:

“Recently I’ve been battling a lot of negative thoughts about where I am in my life and what the hell I’m even doing. It wasn’t until speaking to a few other people my age that I realised this is a common theme around 20-something year olds. The fear that you only have yourself to blame for where you end up in life, what your purpose is, what actually even makes you happy. University installs in us that we have to make a career decision at 18 years old and then we are just let loose into the big wide world to make it work. I’ve felt extremely lost over the past few months, not sure what exactly I SHOULD be doing in my life and feeling extremely unmotivated.” – Natasha Bernard

So if everyone is feeling this way, what are we going to do about it? Fake it till we make it and stumble on through until we’re older, wiser and more stable? Or do we waste the seemingly best years of our lives by piling on the pressure until we achieve the security we all desperately seek?

As lame as it sounds I think the key to getting through is to turn to each other. The clearest link to happiness and self-confidence is to feel connected to other people. Although the constant Facebook holiday pictures and Linkedin pleas to “congratulate that random dude you met at a house party on his new job” suggest otherwise, chances are everyone around you is feeling the same. When life is so confusing and you can’t do anything about it, knowing your friends will be there to laugh at your first world problems is kind of the only thing you can guarantee. And hey, if being in your 20s is so damn exciting and fun then we are entitled to make the most of it by getting pissed and complaining together, right?

This recipe is completely unrelated to everything I’ve just written and therefore I have no linking sentence but I wanted to share it coz they tasted really good and sometimes you need sugar to get you through. It’s been a long week, sue me.

No-bake Blackberry and lemon tarts:

Ingredients (makes 12)

 1 handful blackberries

2 tablespoons honey

1 tin coconut milk

2 lemons (use the juice and zest)

2 tablespoons icing sugar

1 packet oreos

2 tablespoons coconut oil

12 cupcake cases

1. Smash the oreos into crumbs using a rolling pin (don’t use your hands or they will go black, I speak from experience)
2. Mix oreos with coconut oil until they resemble a buttery biscuit base
3. Place the cupcake cases on a cupcake tray and push the base mixture evenly into the bottom of the case.
4. Leave in the fridge for 10-15mins
5. Meanwhile, mix the creamy part of the coconut milk with icing sugar, 1 tablespoon of honey and squeeze in the juice and zest of both lemons.
6. Separately, mush up the blackberries using a fork and add two tablespoons of honey.
7. When the base is set, pour the coconut cream mixture on top of the base and set in the freezer for 10mins.
8. When the cream is more solid, spoon the blackberry mixture on top and swirl with a fork.
9. Leave in the freezer and take out 5 mins before serving.

Eat away your stress – Miso-glazed aubergine with green tea rice

 

Although summer is fast approaching, May is always a fairly stressful time of year filled with late-night library sessions and fretting about exams (which explains why I’ve not been posting regularly…I’d much rather write this blog that revise statistics but I don’t think learning about the benefits of healthy cheesecake would have really been conducive to me passing).

I’ve written before about comfort eating, how we often turn to food in times of stress. Eating makes us feel nutured, which acts as a mechanism to soothe high emotions. When we are stressed, the hormone cortisol is released in excess. The primary functions of cortisol is boost energy in our bodies by to increasing sugar intake. Cortisol interrupts our hunger system in several ways by suppressing carbohydrate digestion and blocking insulin release. This explains why we might crave high sugar foods in times of stress, as our bodies have depleted energy resources. So that 4 o’clock pick-me up muffin that is a daily essential during revision time is actually your bodies reaction to stress and low energy.

I don’t need to bang on about the problem with relying on sugar for energy or that eating high sugar food is only going to make stress worse, so instead I’m focusing on the positives – how can we use food to help us when we’re stress?

I devised a recipe where each component is designed to help you relax and destress: miso-glazed aubergine steaks with green tea rice.

When it comes to the association between physical and psychological wellbeing, the gut-brain connection is often overlooked. Our intensites have millions of nerves that feedback to the brain, meaning that our digestive processes heavily influence neural functioning and vice versa. This somewhat explains why digestive malfunctions like IBS are triggered by stress. When the brain is overloaded it creates inflammation in the gut, thus producing IBS-like symptoms. So looking after your stomach and digestive system is a way of indirectly helping your brain. Fermented foods are a great way to improve the health of your gut. Please note, this doesn’t mean you should all go an drink a 6-pack of beer when you’re stressed…although a cold glass of beer after a long stint in the library is actually pretty damn relaxing. You can either ferment your own fruit and vegetables (which is great for you but also quite time consuming and difficult) or eat shop bought fermented foods such as miso, sourdough, anything pickled, sauerkraut, soy sauce, some yoghurt and cheese products. My personal favourite is miso, it has a strong but complex umami flavour which really enhances the meaty flavour of veg such as mushrooms or aubergine.

I’ve paired this with green tea rice – green tea contains theanine, which helps to relaxation our nervous system, reduce anxiety and elevate mood. By boiling the rice in green tea, the healing properties and subtle flavours infuse into the meal.

So here’s the recipe – I know it’s easy to think that cooking is an added stress to your day when you have a million things to do but it also provides a great opportunity to just take a break, relax and eat damn good food.

Miso-glazed aubergine steaks on green tea rice:

(Serves 4)

Ingredients:

3 aubergines

1 tablespoon coconut oil (or any oil you prefer)

3 tablespoons white miso paste

3 tablespoons mirin (or sweet wine)

2 tablespoons soy sauce

1 tablespoon honey

1 pinch Chinese five spice

Brown rice or quinoa

4 green tea bags

1 cup edamame

2 garlic gloves

1 pinch ginger

Chopped spring onions and sesame seeds for garnish

For the aubergine:

1. Cut the aubergine into chunky slices and brush with coconut oil. Season well

2. Lightly score the flesh in diagonal lines, roast in the oven for 15 minutes.

3. Whisk together the miso paste, mirin, soy sauce, Chinese five spice and honey. Season with salt and pepper

4.  Pour half of the glaze and grill for around 1 minute until the glaze begins to bubble slightly.

5. Flip the aubergine steaks, cover in the glaze and grill for 1 minute.

For the rice:

1. Cover tea bags in 3 cups of boiling water for about 5-8 minutes.

2. Remove tea bags and combine rice, garlic, ginger, and tea in the pan. Bring to a boil, cover pan and simmer 10 minutes.

3. Add edamame and cover pan again. Cook 5-10 minutes more until rice is fluffy.

To serve, place aubergine steaks on a bed of the rice and garnish with spring onions and sesame seeds.

The Mediterranean diet or attitude? – Prawn, olive, tomato and fresh basil pasta

 

One of the media’s most beloved health regimes is the Mediterranean-style diet. I’ve seen endless articles claiming that the mediterranean diet reduces heart disease, fights dementia, makes you live longer, cures depression and is even better than exercise. To be fair, these bold statements are usually (loosely) backed up with research demonstrating physical and mental health improvements after a dietary change.

The Mediterranean diet is based on traditional Greek, Spanish and Italian eating habits, lots of vegetables, beans, legumes, healthy fats (namely olive oil) and moderate amounts of fish, chicken and wine (wahey! I’ve now started using this as an excuse to drink more wine – beware, it’s a dangerous game, especially when you realise that the Mediterranean diet recommends 7 glasses per week and you are just pouring your 7th of the night…). Nutritional researchers have spent years trying to pinpoint the exact component fostering these health benefits. Is it the oleic acid in the olive oil, antioxidants in red wine, omega 3 in the fish?

 

While this diet is obviously proven to be beneficial, I can’t help feeling like the media has missed the point (as per). It’s not like consuming more olive oil or drinking an extra glass of wine is going to suddenly cure your heart problems and make you lose a bunch of weight. Any diet that includes a wide variety of unprocessed foods, mostly fruit and vegetables, healthy fats and small amounts of lean protein is going to yield a range of health benefits…because that’s what humans are designed to eat.

The Mediterranean diet is merely an example of what we already know is the way we should be eating – as Michael Pollan puts it “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants”. There are many diets which embrace these practices, be it a vegan diet or Okinawans eating an Asian diet. One study compared multiple diets including low carb, low-fat, Mediterranean, vegetarian, vegan, low glycemic, and Paleo. They found no one overall healthier diet but shared principles that stood out as the healthiest – limited in processed foods and rich in plants.

So why are we repeatedly told that it’s the Mediterranean diet that we should be following for a longer happier life? I think what people are missing that it isn’t just about what you eat, but about how you eat.

The diet represents a cultural attitude to eating that fosters pleasure. The Mediterranean lifestyle involves a more leisurely pace of life for more time to cook the fresh produce, to eat slower and (therefore less), and used meal times as a way to relax and bond with family. This couldn’t be more different from the current American and UK eating habits, where food is designed to be purchased and consumed as quickly as possible, to take the least time out of our busy schedules – we often don’t even sit down and stop moving to eat, never mind 2 hour lunches every day. Perhaps what makes the Mediterranean diet so special is that it creates a sense of positivity surrounding meal times, essentially following the ethos of mindfulness where you focus on nothing but the food. They’ve already shown that attending to your food in a positive way improves digestion and, importantly, mends our broken relationships with food. So instead of changing your diet by consuming volumes of olive oil or increasing your feta intake, embrace the Mediterranean attitude to food. Make meals the part of the day where you relax, spend time with family and eat slowly…not only will this benefit your health but you’ll enjoy your food a helluva lot more.

Here is my go to meal when I want to impress, and it’s Mediterranean inspired!

Pasta with a prawn, olive, tomato and basil:

 

Ingredients

1/2 packet whole-wheat spaghetti (Could substitute with courgetti for gluten-free)

1 jar olives

1 punnet cherry tomatoes

2 handfuls fresh basil

1 packet uncooked prawns

2 anchovies from tin (or use anchovy paste)

splash olive oil

1. First boil the pasta in slightly salted water for 10-15 mins or until cooked to your liking.

2. Meanwhile chop tomatoes and olives in half.

3. Cook the tomatoes, 2 anchovies and olives in a pan with a splash of olive oil for 5 mins.

4. Add basil (put a few leaves aside for garnish) and prawns and cook for a further 3-4 mins. Season with salt and pepper.

5. Once the pasta is cooked, mix in the sauce and top with fresh basil leaves to serve.

Let your instincts do the eating – healthy eggs Benedict

It’s egg time. Spring has sprung, flowers are bloomin’ and the country is consuming chocolate at an alarming rate. I used to really hate eggs, I thought of them as kind of gelatinous baby chicken which made them seem really unappetising. But for some reason I stopped caring that yolk is a failed fluffy chick and started eating eggs. This seems to be the case with many people and different foods. As children the thought of consuming foods like fish or spinach is so disgusting that it warrants a visceral reaction. But as we grow into adults, our preferences evolve and get over our innate predisposition to likevery plain or sweet foods. Remember trying your first beer and thinking it tasted like piss? Or having to run around gasping for water after tasting a curry so mild that you’d now scoff at the thought of ordering.

Why do our likes and dislikes change so much as we grow?

We build up tolerance for alcohol and spices, not because our taste buds change but because we expose ourselves to these flavours until our bodies accept them.Psychologists have found that repeated exposure to disliked food over a period of weeks or months generally results in the eventual acceptance of that food. From an evolutionary perspective it make sense why children are hesitant to try new foods – humans have adapted to the potential danger of eating unrecognisable berries or leaves by avoiding novel foods until they could be sure they are safe to eat.  So basically if you eat tomatoes enough times your body will accept that they are not poisonous and you’ll finally stop having to pick them out of every salad.

This process continues throughout our lives until we develop a spectrum of different palates almost as sophisticated as our acquisition of language. If we are evolutionarily designed to learn and acquire an unconscious understanding of food, then why do we need to look to science to tell us what we should be eating? I’m reading a great book by Michael Pollan called ‘In the Defence of Food’ which essentially blames the ‘era of nutrition’ for obesity and modern health problems. As a society we stopped trusting our instincts and looked to professionals and food companies to tell us what to eat. This gave them almost complete control over our diets. Unfortunately, due to bad science and the money obsessed food industry, processed foods became favoured and the Western world didn’t know any better.

Pollan uses the low-fat debate as an example. In the 60s, nutritional science made some far-fetched discoveries that were to change the history of food. ‘Eating fat makes you fat’ was the new revelation that almost all believed to be true, and many still do.  Based on this ‘evidence’, the Western population were driven ditched fat and increased carbohydrate consumption causing huge weight gain and increase in cancer, diabetes and heart disease. Of course, the food companies pounced on this and began to market their foods as ‘low-fat’… which meant replacing the healthy fats with a bunch of sugar and chemicals that are bound to be worse for our health. But the nutritional content of the food does not matter to the everyday person who has read in every newspaper that saturated fats should be avoided at all costs. However, when the data was reviewed, not a single study has found a concrete proof of the negative consequences of a high-fat diet. Our society relied on science to tell us what to eat and as a result we ended up fat, miserable and left the fate of the NHS hanging in balance.

It is important to remember that we are animals. Just look at how cleverly we adapt our flavour preferences based on experience. We do this without reading research or food labels but using complex psychological processes that were designed long before we had any academic understanding of nutrition. Don’t justify food choices based on research that’s probably going to become debunked in a years time. It’s so easy to read research that says chocolate actually fights cancer and use this as justification for reaching for a fourth easter egg but try to listen to what your body wants and needs. Somehow, as a society we must unearth our innate ability to know what’s good for us.

In the spirit of easter and my new love for eggs I have this delicious brunch recipe for you all. Eggs Benedict is one of the most amazing dishes but unfortunately is pretty unhealthy. So I give you my take – healthy eggs Benedict salad that your instincts will tell you to eat again and again!

 

Ingredients (per person)

2 eggs

1 handful salad leaves

3 radishes

1 handful edamame beans

1 red onion

1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

1 tablespoon olive oil

For the ‘hollandaise’

1 tablespoon greek yoghurt

1 teaspoon mustard

1 splash lemon juice

salt and pepper

1. Finely slice the radish and chop the onion

2. Mix all the vegetables together and drizzle with olive oil and vinegar

3. Meanwhile poach the eggs. Heat boiling water in a pan and create a whirlpool by swirling with a wooden spoon. Crack the egg in the centre of the whirlpool so the white covers the yolk. Leave to cook for around 3 mins.

4. To make the sauce simply mix ingredients together and season well.

5. Place the egg on top of the salad bed and drizzle with the ‘hollandaise sauce’

Life.2 – crispy cauliflower tots with sweet chilli sauce.

Think of your favourite food.  Picture the way it looks, the different smells that come to mind. Imagine the way it feels as you take your first bite and the flavours that overwhelm your senses. Is your mouth watering or your stomach rumbling? That feeling is called the ‘Cephalic Phase Response’ – the chemical response from your brain that begins the digestion process. If metabolic activity can be stimulated by just thinking about delicious food, just imagine the effect of being completely focused while eating it.

Receptors in the mouth and nose stimulate digestion when food is smelt, tasted and chewed. Being fully aware of this process increases production of digestive enzymes and increases blood flow to the stomach and gut tract to prepare for break down of the food.  An overwhelming 30-40% of metabolic activity comes from this Cephalic Phase Response. So directing attention away from the eating processing by watching TV or talking the phone as your eat reduces metabolic efficiency to 60%.

This is essentially mindful eating. Mindfulness is a bit of a buzz-word at the moment. The practice of focusing on the present and being completely in the moment is nothing new – buddhist monks have been reaping it’s benefits for hundreds of years. I’ve written about mindfulness eating in previous posts, but I thought it was time to reiterate how incredibly powerful this tool can be.

New scientific research  into the cephalic phase response further emphasis how focusing attention on a meal can completely alter the digestive mechanisms in your body. In one study, participants were given a mineral drink and the level of nutrient absorption in the small intestine was monitored. Some were asked to simply sit after drinking while others were asked to concentrate on two conversations at a time, one speaking about time travel and the other speaking about economics. Those who were relaxed digested the drink at 100%. Those who listened to the two conversations took an hour longer to metabolise the whole drink. This just shows how attending to things unrelated to your meal can use up valuable cognitive resources and decrease your metabolic rate. Each time you eat while sending emails at work or watching TV, you are assimilating your food at the minimal level.

For the brain and body to fully digest optimally, they must be aware of exactly what is being eaten. Have you ever wolfed down some food only to feel completely unsatisfied and like you could eat it all over again. This happens because the brain doesn’t register the food, so doesn’t adjust hunger signals in an appropriate way. So the brain still thinks you’re hungry and causes you to carry on eating more than you intended or needed. It’s been argued that food addiction or over eating isn’t a willpower disorder, but an issue of awareness that hinders the cephalic phase response from doing what it’s supposed to. This is where mindfulness comes into play – being fully focused on your tasks decreases hunger and improved metabolic rate. But being mindful doesn’t just improve digestion, it enhances the entire food experience.

Given these potential benefits, I challenge you to take a leap into mindful eating, starting with the raisin experiment. It really demonstrates how much we are missing when you scoff down a meal in a matter of seconds whilst sending a snapchat, watching house of cards and chatting to our housemates at the same time. This is one of the first practices they teach when learning mindfulness. It encourages you to mindfully eat a single raisin by really focusing on all the sensory experiences your body is undergoing.

1. Grab a raisin – just one – or a similar dried fruit, if raisins aren’t your thing.
2. Sit comfortably.
3. It’s time to wrap your senses round your raisin. Look at it. Really see it. What do you notice? Can you see its texture? What about the bumps and lumps? Is it shiny?
4. Have a sniff. What does it smell like? Let your fingertips really feel the shape and texture. Allow yourself to become fully absorbed in the experience.
5. If your mind wanders during this experience, just allow it to be gently guided back to your raisin.
6. After a few minutes, pop the raisin in your mouth – but it’s not time to chew yet! Spend a little while focussing on what it feels like in your mouth, with your tongue and your teeth.
7. Then, when you’re ready, take a bite. Have a good chew. Notice the full experience of the raisin’s flavour – how it builds in your mouth. How incredibly sweet it is.
8. When you have swallowed the raisin, you’ll notice you can still taste it for a while.

The creator of this experiment and general mindfulness guru, Mark Williams, spoke at a panel organised by Meeting of Minds – a committee I help to run to encourage students to talk about mental health. He described mindfulness as ‘life point 2’ and I couldn’t agree more. Although used as a therapeutic technique, mindfulness isn’t just a self-help tool but a way to genuinely enhance your everyday experiences.Have a go and try something new… it’ll probably be the best raisin you’ve ever had!

Here’s a recipe for cauliflower tots – a healthier version of potato tots you can MINDFULLY snack on or serve as a great canapés.

Ingredients

1 cauliflower

1 cup breadcrumbs

1 chilli

1/2 onion

Handful chopped parsley

1 egg

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese (optional)

1. Boil cauliflower until soft. Pulse a few times in a food processor until it is fully broken. 2. Mix cauliflower, breadcrumbs, chopped chilli, parsley, cheese and eggs into a large mixing bowl until combined 3. Preheat oven to 200. Shape mixture into tot shapes and firmly press so the mixture holds together. 4. Bake for about 15 minutes until they brown, flip and cook for another 10. 5. Serve with sweet chilli sauce.

Brewed awakening: The truth about caffeine – coffee marinated steak

Lets talk about coffee. Wonderful, vibrant, sharp coffee that has got us through exam periods we thought would never end; deadlines we thought we’d never make and lunch with parents who never notice that we still haven’t slept from the night before. Coffee is loved by all old and young, whether it’s the suits who need it to function at 6am starts or the pretentious hipsters who reveal in pointing out it’s ‘ warm acidic body with caramel undertones’ while wiping coffee granules off their ever-growing beards.

People have even come up with a test to psychoanalyse your coffee preferences. It’s definitely total crap but still fun to do in a buzzfeed-y kinda way.*

* Turns out my coffee personality test got me spot on so maybe there is some truth in it – but still take it with a pinch of salt (…or milk and sugar)

With such a widespread fan-base, it seems strange that no one seems to know the real benefits or consequences of our beloved coffee. Actually, our nation is dangerously dependent on caffeine, beating even nicotine for the title of world’s most addictive drug.

Now I could ramble on about the links between caffeine consumption and depression, anxiety, cancer, heart disease and all the other scary things that we are constantly warned will inevitably occur. But I won’t because we NEED coffee to wake us up and makes us feel more alert right? Doesn’t coffee improve cognitive function and turn us from lazy slobs into productive humans in one sweet sip?

WRONG. There are pretty much no studies that have significantly proven coffee has any influence on cognitive functioning. Furthermore, caffeine hasn’t even been shown to increase alertness beyond natural levels. It is suggested that coffee consumption only makes us feel more alert because we tend to be in withdrawal when we drink it. When caffeine and non-caffeine consumers are compared in the withdrawal stage, non-consumers are obviously more alert. However, when the two groups are compared post-coffee consumption, the levels of alertness are the same. What this means is that the only effect of caffeine is reverse the effect of withdrawal by increasing alertness to the level it would naturally be if there was no addiction in the first place.

So the new lease of life we feel after that a cup is simply our functioning being returned to normal levels, rather than an enhancement above the normal state.

After learning this last year, my housemate and I (heavily addicted coffee-drinkers) decided to give up coffee. After a week of horrible withdrawal symptoms, all I was craving was the sweet sweet nectar. But then I started to be concerned about the potent effects of caffeine if I was getting headaches and shakes from not drinking it for just a few days. We persevered and the effects were rather glorious. I woke up feeling naturally fresher and less blerry-eyed. My usual 4-o’clock wave of tiredness (usually combatted by a strong black americano) was no more. I really couldn’t believe how different it felt. I had spent my whole life thinking that coffee was an upper, when actually it was a downer – only making me feel temporarily better because of the way not drinking it was making me feel. Coffee isn’t the hero that saves us from collapsing with exhaustion, but the villain that makes us need it to stay standing.

So my advice is not to stop drinking coffee altogether, it definitely has it’s place. I still have a few cups a week, but only when I really need it. The best way to reap the benefits of caffeine is to have it in moderation, so it’s alerting effects can be felt without the accompanying withdrawal symptoms.

Coffee is often used in desserts, but i thought I’d try it in a savoury dish – It’s bitter flavour bought both me and the dish to life!

Coffee marinated steak on a bed of spinach:

Ingredients

1 cup coffee

1/4 cup black pepper

1/4 cup balsamic vinegar

1/4 teaspoon olive oil

1 teaspoon mustard

1 clove chopped garlic

chopped parsley

1. Mix the olive oil, coffee, mustard, balasmic vinegar, pepper and garlic

2. Coat steaks in the marinade. Season with salt and pepper and leave for 1 hour

3. Sear on a hot pan for 5-10mins until cooked to your liking.

4. Rest for 10mins before slicing. Serve on bed of spinach and garnish with chopped parsley

Be smart about your new start: Vegan slutty brownies

2015 is fast approaching. A new year and fresh start only means one thing – it’s time to start making resolutions. I’m in two minds about new years resolutions: in one sense they give us a chance to turn over a new leaf but they also make us set unreasonable goals that fill us with a feeling failure when we inevitable break them mid-way through January. My resolutions have been pretty much the same for the last 5 years, to wake up at an adult-like time in the morning. I can safely say that I have maintained a steady average of 11 am wake ups since school ended. I have resigned myself to the fact that I am never going to be a morning person, but each new year I make another failed attempt to change this, only to feel like a failure when I don’t meet my goal.

New years resolutions usually involve some sort of plan to eat healthier, give up a certain food or start exercising. They are a great opportunity to start a health regime but it’s important to not beat yourself up if you don’t manage to stick to it. Researchers at Harvard have realised that we are bad at setting reasonable goals, and complied a list of  reasons why they may fail. 200 Americans who planned to make New Year’s resolutions were tested and checked over two years. The most common ones were to lose weight, stop smoking, drink less and save more money (apparently I’m the only one who can’t wake up on time). After a week, 77% were still on track. After a month, only 55% stuck to their goals and only 19% after two years. This post isn’t supposed to deter you from making resolutions, but to help identify ways to make them more realistic and attainable.

Goals are often absolute – They leave no room for inevitable slip ups so you feel like you’ve let yourself down at the first hurdle. If you want to eat healthier in 2015, don’t give up just because you have pizza night. We are only human and none is perfect, if you can keep to your resolution only part of the time it’s better than giving up completely!

They are largely negative – In the study, people tended to focus on things they dislike about themselves and want to change. The use of willpower and self control were the most helpful strategies related to positive outcome. More negative strategies like self-blame and wishful thinking lead to worse outcomes. This is largely because negative strategies elicits feelings of failure and self-loathing, rather than motivation and self-worth. If you make yourself feel bad about breaking the resolution, it’s a lot harder to stay motivated to fulfil your goals. For example, instead of saying you want to lose weight and hating your body, frame it in a positive way and aim to eat healthier.

They are focused on the outcome and not the process – Saying ‘I want to get a job’ is a great long term goal but it’s pretty abstract, without focusing on how to achieve it. Split resolutions into smaller, achievable parts that build up to a long-term goal. These functions to help you make small successes and reward yourself along the way to a wider goal.

I hope these insights can help to make your new years resolutions a little less daunting and a little more achievable. This year I’m going to stop feeling bad about sleeping my way through alarms and focus on how to enjoy my daytime hours instead!

For all those wanted to be healthier without giving up delicious flavours, here is a guilt-free recipe for vegan slutty brownies that won’t make you feel like you’ve failed.

For the brownies:

1 can black beans, well rinsed and drained

2 large eggs (or flax eggs for vegans)

1 tbsp coconut oil, melted (or other oil of choice)

3/4 cup cocoa powder (the higher quality the better)

1/4 tsp sea salt

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 cup caster sugar

1. Preheat the over to 200 and grease a baking tin.

2. Add all ingredients to a food processor until smooth, add a splash of water if too thick (should look a bit like icing)

3. Pour into the baking tray and bake for 20-25mins until cooked all the way through. Cool for 30mins

To make them slutty ( cookie dough):

1 cup oats (use gluten-free oats as required)

2 ripe bananas

3 tbsp agave syrup (or honey)

2 tbsp coconut oil

1 tsp vanilla extract

½ cup chocolate chips

1. Pulse the oats in a food processor until they look like flour

2. Mix all the ingredients apart from the chocolate chips in the food processor

3. Stir in the chocolate chips

3. Set in fridge for 10mins. Then roll out the dough and add it to the top of the cool brownies.

Filling the gap: Sweet potato, balsamic mushrooms and quinoa with a miso glaze

The level of obesity in the UK is seriously depressing. Now I know it’s been shoved down our throats at the same rate brits seem to be shoving kebabs down theirs, but it is something that needs to be addressed.

A quarter of people in the UK now classify as clinically obese. A recent statistic reckons that this will bankrupt the NHS within 20 years if it isn’t dealt with. So they decided to offer every overweight person a £6000 gastric band surgery…doesn’t really seem like the appropriate money saving option to me, but hey I’m no economist.  Now children all over the country are eating fast food for every meal and are having surgery at the age of 13. What would make more sense would be to target the root of the problem – helping people to control their intake and eat the right foods. Not only would this prevent people from developing the plethera of physical health problems that come with eating poorly but would save the NHS a ton of money in the long run.

Of course, scientists have been frantically researching ways to stop overeating. Yesterday it was revealed that scientists at Imperial college have invented a pill you can take that makes you feel full. It works by releasing ‘proprionate’, the natural chemical released from the gut that tells the brain it’s full. So it basically manipulates appetite control using the body’s own hormones.

In an initial experiment, 10 participants were given the chemical and 10 were given a placebo. At a buffet, those who ingested the drug ate 14% less food. After this impressive result, researchers asked 50 overweight individuals to take the drug every day for 6 months but try to keep their diet the same. At the end of the study, the participant who received the placebo gained more than 3% of their body weight while the others, who took the drug, didn’t gain any weight. This is really important finding for the current epidemic. Adults gain between 0.3kg and 0.8kg per year, so by adding this new chemical to foods this weight gain can be prevented.

But still, I can’t help but be sad that the only way to combat obesity seems to be by physically changing physiological processes. Why can’t our country stop eating on its own?! Despite knowing the health consequences, feeling tired and out of control, people have real difficulty with changing their diets and losing weight.

There are a number of psychological explanations for this, such as comfort eating, sugar addiction or social eating. In my view, the obesity crisis is simply a reflection of the state of mental health in the UK. Binge eating is a reaction to negative emotions, designed to mask feelings by eating them!  By providing gastric band surgery or a pill that makes you full, this won’t help people to understand their feelings. Even if we prevented them from eating ever again, suffering individuals will simply find another unhealthy outlet for their emotions. Instead, we should give people an outlet to talk about their emotions and change their out of control eating behaviours.

Obviously this is just my opinion but I just don’t think letting the country get so fat to the point that everyone has to have surgery or take drugs to stop eating sounds like a solid plan. So with that in mind, here’s a recipe that won’t make you fat… but will make you feel full when you have actually eaten food. Hurrah to eating food instead of chemicals. 

Sweet potato, soy mushrooms and quinoa with a miso glaze:

Ingredients

2 sweet potatoes

1 cup quinoa

3 portabello mushrooms

1 teaspoon miso

1 teaspoon flour

1 teaspoon coconut oil

1 tablespoon balsamic vinegear

1 tablespoon soy sauce

2 garlic cloves

1 cup boiling water + vegetable stock

splash olive oil

1. For the gravy: In a saucepan, melt the coconut oil and stir in flour to make a paste. Pour the miso paste and vegetable broth in while whisking to avoid lumps.  Once thickened, remove from heat until ready to use (you can quickly reheat before serving).

2. For the sweet potatoes: Preheat oven to 200. Slice a sweet potato into thin circles. Place on baking sheet and drizzle with olive oil. Roast for 20-35 minutes (flip half way through), until tender and lightly golden.

3. For the quinoa: Add 1 cup of quinoa into a pot with 1.5 cups of vegetable broth or water. Bring to a low boil for 20mins until  quinoa is fluffy. Season with salt and pepper

4. For the mushrooms: Slice the mushrooms into strips.. Slice into long, 1/2-inch wide strips. In a wok whisk together the vinegar, garlic, and soy sauce. Add the mushrooms and cook for 15 mins, stirring frequently. Season with salt and pepper to taste.