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.

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.

Eat right, sleep tight – Roasted spiced nuts

 

Insomnia sucks. I’ve always been really lucky that I’ve been a good sleeper, I can normally fall asleep in any condition, no matter the hour, bed quality or background noise. However,  in the last few days my body clock has been messed up and my sleep cycle has gone completely awry. After trying all possible pillow-positions, flipping and flopping twenty times and checking my phone only to realise that I’ve been awake for three hours, I sunk into the depths of the night with utter despair. I’ve stopped being so smug about sleep and now feel really sympathetic for dismissing my friends who have sleeping troubles. My housemate once told me that the problem with insomnia is the more you think about it the worse it gets. Well now I completely agree – there is no worse feeling than knowing your body is exhausted as soon as you hit the pillow, your brain just won’t switch off.

I think the importance of sleep is really understated. There are numerous studies which highlight the dangerous effects of poor sleep – you only have to wikipedia ‘sleep deprivation’ to be met with a list of scary physical consequences such as headaches, hallucinations,  risk of diabetes, cancer, high blood pressure, obesity etc. This is coupled with adverse brain functions like poor cognitive function, memory, mood and inappropriate emotional response. Sleep deprived individuals almost always perform worse on cognitive and memory tasks than those who have had a full 8 hours.

When researching this, I was surprised to find that one of the greatest potential side effects of sleep deprivation is weight gain. Sleep deprivation disrupts hormones levels that regulate glucose metabolism and appetite. Acute sleep loss is associated with increased hunger and food consumption. One study compared healthy food decisions of healthy men after a good or disrupted nights sleep. They found portion size and hunger ratings were higher in those who had been disturbed in the night. Several studies even suggest that the obesity crisis may be partially caused by a general decrease in sleep.

So sleep deprivation can wreak havoc with your eating habits, increase your appetite, slow your metabolism and make your gain weight. But on the flip side, diet can be a helpful tool to help improve your quality and length of sleep.

I think this close interaction is understated in our general understanding of sleep. Here are some dietary suggestions for a better nights sleep:

In the daytime:  The key nutrients the body needs for successful sleep is vitamin B and tryptophan. Tryptophan produces serotonin, which regulates sleep (and improves mood). Tryptophan-promoting foods include oats, dairy, eggs, fish,  chickpeas, seeds, nuts and bananas. It is also important to include complex carbohydrates to improve the transportation of tryptophan into the brain. This means whole grains, oats and beans rather than high-sugar carbs like in white bread and pasta. When you eat high sugar foods, you get drastic highs and lows in blood sugar, and that doesn’t promote healthy sleep. So a food promoting diet should be balanced but rich in vegetables, fruits, whole grains and protein.  Check out some of our previous recipes for inspiration.

Foods high in magnesium have also shown to be beneficial to sleep – Magnesium is vital for the function of GABA receptors. GABA is a neurotransmitter that has a calming response on the brain. Without it we find it difficult to switch off, become tense, our thoughts race and we lie in bed staring at the ceiling. High magnesium foods, are nuts and seeds, berries, melon, leafy greens, soya beans or black beans.

Before bed:  Really high tryptophan foods are recommended about an hour before you go to sleep such as nuts, egg whites or dairy. This means serotonin will be released when as you start to sleep, which combats the insomniac brain. Also high-carb and sugar foods should be avoided before bed have been shown to interfer with sleep.

I asked the healthy food community on instagram to help me out,  here are some of their recommendations for balanced and healthy sleep-promoting food. Click on the photos to get the recipes!

Based on these recommendations, I designed the perfect healthy pre-slumber snack to help me sleep… Spiced nuts.  Ironically, the first time I made these I fell asleep while they were in the oven…apparently their magical sleep power can be gained from just preparing the nuts! The recipe is also made with egg whites so are high in both magnesium and tryptophan. Roasted nuts sold in supermarkets are packed with hidden sugar and oil – making your own is really simple and you have the upside of  knowing exactly what goes in them.

Feel free to adapt this using whatever nuts and spices you like, it’s a pretty fool proof recipe (unless you are a big enough fool to fall asleep half way through).

Ingredients

1 bag of almonds

1 egg white

1 teaspoon cumin

1 teaspoon paprika

1 teaspoon tumeric

1 teaspoon ginger

1 teaspoon nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon salt and pepper

1. Grab two bowls, place all the spices in one and lightly whisked egg white into another

2. Coat the nuts in the egg white and transfer to the spiced bowl. Repeat until all nuts are coated in the spice mixture

3. Roast on a baking tray for 10-15mins.

Can we taste music? Roast aubergine salad with tahini dressing

Music has the ability to transport us back to our childhood parties dancing to S club 7, make our parents flail their limbs to perfectly depict ‘dad dancing’, burst into tears and cry till we’re completely dehydrated and even increase the intelligence of babies before they’re born. But what are the effects of music on our food experiences?

Researchers at Oxford have been trying to answer this question, with some surprising results. Their findings suggest that the perception of taste and pitch are interrelated. High pitched sounds are associated with sweet and sour foods, while low pitched sounds are associated with more bitter and umami flavours.

More impressively, the sounds we hear might actually alter the taste of foods. Students were fed a toffee while listening to high- and low-frequency sounds. High notes made them rate the toffee as sweeter, where as low notes made it seem more bitter. A food artist, Caroline Hobkinson, wanted to test whether this was true in the real world, so introduced the ‘sonic cake pop’. It was served in restaurants with a telephone number that the diner had to call and then select 1 for sweet or 2 for bitter. Amazingly, the tone played down the phone changed the whole perceived taste of the dish. (You can try this out for yourselves by clicking here).

But that’s not the only effect music can has on our eating experience. Have you ever noticed that fast food chains only play overbearingly loud and intolerable pop music? That’s not just because they all have awful music taste (though this is probably also the case), but they purposefully do this to control the customer’s experiences. They want you to eat fast and leave quickly so make sure they only play high tempo songs. Alternatively, really posh restaurants almost always play soft classical music to increase the quality of your perceived experience (apart from the genius that is Heston who makes diners listen to sounds of the sea before tucking into a fish dish – an idea inspired by this research lab in Oxford).

These music varieties don’t just function to set the mood, but actually change eating behaviours. One study played different types of music to individuals and monitored their number of bites. They ate twice as fast, and consequentially consumed more, when hearing ‘spirited tunes’ in comparison to classical music or silence. The unconscious power of music on food is remarkable, impacting the speed, volume and flavour of what we eat.

This research has recently been used to investigate healthy eating. For an exciting new project, we are going to attempt to reduce caloric intake through music. The idea is that softer sounds increase the body’s perception of sweetness, which will in turn make reduce sugar consumption. We’ll be collecting the results soon, so I’ll let you know if we find music to be a useful weight loss tool!

I encourage foodies and music snobs alike to try and experiment with music and taste – it’s a cool experience that can be done at home. Grab something bittersweet like coffee or chocolate and swap between these two sounds as you taste. You should notice that at high frequencies your whole mouth becomes sweeter and low frequencies make it seem more bitter.

Or have a go at making this dish for some friends. Secretly put on a range of different songs and try and see if their eating speed subtly changes with the music. I tried this and felt like a magician. It’s crazy how easily you can trick the mind. If there is no useful benefit of all these psychological musings, at least it can bring me one step closer to being Derren Brown.

Roasted aubergine salad with tahini dressing:

Ingredients:

2 aubergines

1 tablespoon olive Oil

Handful pomegranate seeds

Handful pine nuts

Handful fresh basil leaves

Dressing

2 tablespoons tahini

1 teaspoon mustard

3 tablespoons olive oil

2 tablespoons lemon juice

1 crushed garlic clove

1. To make the dressing, place all the ingredients in a bowl and whisk until smooth.

2. Slice aubergines. Brush each side with olive oil and season with salt and pepper

3. Grill on both sides on a very hot pan for around 5 minutes, until soft.

4. Arrange aubergine slices on a dish overlapping, drizzle with dressing snd sprinkle with pine nuts, basil and pomegranate seeds.

Comfort food: sweet chilli and coriander bean stew

Human beings are social creatures.  From birth we are evolutionarily designed to seek closeness with others. Language is one of the most complex skills to evolve from such a young age, allowing us to communicate our needs with others. Even in adulthood we rely on social contact to feel safe and fill us with a sense of belongingness. But as technology continues to define our social world, society becomes increasingly lonely.

“HAPPINESS IS ONLY REAL WHEN SHARED” ― Jon Krakauer, Into the Wild

This quote, from one of my favourite films, nicely sums up how important it is to be surrounded by others. It’s based on the true story of Christopher McCandless, who travels into the Alaskan wilderness, determined to live a life of solitude to prove he does not need others to be happy. Within a few weeks, he is propelled into deep loneliness and comes to the realisation that no one can be truly happy alone.

Loneliness is a dangerous state, leading people to seek out ‘social surrogates’. Social surrogates fill the void by allowing individuals to feel passively social, such as by entering the world of their favourite book characters or tv shows. People can seek belongingness in a number of methods, through feeling ‘connections’ with celebrities or representing their bonds with photos. Recent research has suggested the food can also act as a social surrogate, capturing memories of social occasions that provide temporary comfort. 

So many happy and social occasions are filled with big meal times or specific food traditions. I can be transported back to playing pass the parcel at birthday parties just by the mention of jelly and ice cream or angel delight. Squidgy chocolate cookies remind me of sitting around in the common room with my friends complaining about teachers. Even food shopping at Tesco makes me feel instantly connect to my sister. The emotional and social information we recall with food memories elevate certain meals to the status of ‘comfort food’. The experience of eating, or even thinking, about comfort foods automatically induces social comfort.

Of course part of the reason foods are often comforting because they are warm and filling. When this is combined with the unique emotional power from connections to social relationships, meals have the ability to reduce feelings of loneliness. One study by Troisi and Gabriel in New York found that eating chicken soup increased social thoughts and behaviour, while reducing negative psychological effects. So it makes a lot of sense why we turn to comfort foods in times of stress. Like babies who need their mother’s to soothe, we use food to increase feelings of social closeness.

Comfort foods are of course idiosyncratic; typically men tend to be comforted by more stodgy meals such as pie or steak, where as women are more comforted by chocolate or ice-cream. I asked some foodie instagramers to share their favourite comfort food recipes and a theme of warm, hearty meals emerged:

Click on the photos to link to their photos and recipes

Sadly, due to the health consequences of these types of food, there are strong associations between comfort food and guilt. This struck me as pretty sad; the very food that connects us to our relationships and make us feel happy, actually makes us feel worse in the long run. Hence, I devised a meal that is warm and comforting but also nutritious. And now, thanks to my dog, I make it I will be reminded of my family frantically running to catch the bowl and it’s flying contents when I next make it… (pictures are pre-dog).   Sweet chilli and coriander bean stew:

Ingredients

1 can butter beans

1 can black beans

Handful chopped coriander

Handful chopped mint

2 tablespoons soy sauce

2 tablespoons sesame oil

2 tablespoons sweet chilli sauce

2 chopped red peppers

1 chopped onion

Handful pomegranate seeds

1/2 chopped cucumber

1. Drain the beans and boil in water for 10mins until soft.

2. Fry the chopped pepper and onion in oil until soft.

3. Meanwhile, mix the soy sauce, sesame oil and sweet chilli sauce with chopped herbs, cucumber and pomegranate seeds.

4. Add the beans and vegetables to the sauce, mix and season well.

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

Less money, more merry: Quinoa stuffing with apple, cranberries and hazelnuts

It’s finally here. Christmas has been lurking around every shop, street and home since Halloween. Designed to bring friends and family together in happiness, filled with laughter, music and selfless giving.  It seems this year that companies have been milking this ‘christmas spirit’ for all their worth: Starbucks has released their red cups and christmas coffee blend, Facebook is tailoring adverts based on your gift browsing, Sainsbury’s exploited the traumatic events of WW1…all in an attempt to get us to spend more money. Unfortunately, it’s working. A recent poll revealed that British people spend more at christmas time than any other European country,  and last year we faced the most post-christmas debt. 

I don’t mean to put a downer on this, I love christmas as much as the next person. But we don’t need to buy hundreds of pounds worth of presents, food and decorations to enjoy it. My family have a tradition of playing football ever year (kids vs. adults, though kids are now almost all over the age of 18). I don’t think I’ve ever laughed so hard the year my dog accidentally saved the deciding goal by bouncing it off his head.  My memories of trudging out with everyone in the rain, sun or snow are invaluable.

I know it’s cliche to say that christmas is about family and not consumerism,  but now that’s actually backed with psychological evidence. Families of different cultures were assessed to see what brings the most happiness around christmas. More happiness was reported when family experiences were salient, and lower well-being occurred when spending money and receiving gifts predominated. The materialistic aspects of modern Christmas celebrations may happiness and leave us in debt for 2015.

It’s very easy to say all this, but hard to follow through with when the pressure to spend money in order to feel christmasy is enormous. Professors at the University of Oxford are here to help- they’ve compiled a list of tips to psychologically improve the spirit and taste of your christmas meal. By making a few sensory alternations, cooks can spend less time and money but still provide a christmas dinner that’ll make their guests feel like you’re meal is more expensive and festive. 

1. Use heavy cutlery and glasses: This is a great way to improve the percieved cost and quality of food. Heavier items trick guests into thinking that food or wine is better quality, so is a cost-effective way of improving the meal.

2. Changing the colour of the plate can change the perception of food :For example, presenting dessert on a white plate makes it taste sweeter. Alternatively, serving on a red plate sends unconscious warning signs to the brain so can help us eat less if you want to reduce portion size.

3. Promote a sense of Christmas through smell: waft cinnamon/pine smells or light a candle. Candles will also improve the ambiance and make the occasion feel special.

4. Play carols or classical music: This heightens the sense of importance and make people enjoy the food more

5. Make the food look pretty: Take care in presentation rather than dumping it on the plate to help the meal to look more expensive and better quality. For example, people tend to like symmetry on the plate.

Here’s a super cheap and healthy twist on classic christmas stuffing that still tastes like christmas on a plate!

Ingredients

2 cups (200g) quinoa

2 cups vegetable stock

coconut oil

3 large apples

2 sweet potatoes

2 tablespoons honey

1 cup cranberries

2 chopped white onions

2-4 sprigs of Sage

2-4 thyme of Sage

teaspoon cinnamon

teaspoon ginger

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1 tablespoon soy sauce

1 cup chopped hazelnuts

1. Rinse quinoa. Combine with 2 cups boiling veg stock and simmer for 20mins until quinoa is fluffy.

2. Meanwhile, Preheat oven to 200. Chop the apples and sweet potato into small cubes. Toss with lemon juice, honey, coconut oil, cinnamon and  ginger. Roast for 30-40 mins until soft.

3. Soften the onions in a frying pan with coconut oil for 10mins, until tender. Add honey, thyme, sage, soy sauce and season well.

4. Combine the quinoa with the liquid mixture in a large bowl. Add in the roasted mixture, cranberries and hazelnuts.  Fold in thyme and hazelnuts. Season well.

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.