Jabernet, Author at The Body Retreat

Top Ten Healthy Foods To Be Eating In 2020

Most of you are probably eating a few of these healthy foods regularly, and some of you may be eating most of them, but we should be eating all of them on a regular basis.

You might be surprised at just how easy it can be to include these healthy foods into your daily diet.

Check the list below, see what you’re missing, and adjust your basket accordingly on your next shop.

1. Cauliflower
Cauliflower is a cruciferious vegetable as is kale, broccoli, Brussels sprouts and cabbage. This family of veggies are potent cancer fighters and great for supporting detoxification. Cauliflower doesn’t have to smothered in cheese sauce to be delicious, try adding it to your mash to lighten it while giving you a veggie boost, great for introducing vegetables to children or grate raw cauli to make caulrice which is a great side dish for any saucy dishes.

2. Avocado
Avocado is high in oleic acid, the monounsaturated fat found in olive oil, which is known to lower cholesterol and reduce the risk of cancer and diabetes. Not just for salads, try adding avocado to your breakfast plate along with scrambled egg and grilled tomatoes or pop half an avocado into a smoothie for supreme creaminess.

3. Eggs
Eggs are one of the best sources of protein, complete with all nine essential amino acids, they are loaded with vitamins especially Vitamin A and Omega 3 and nutrients and are rich in choline an essential nutrient for cardiovascular, brain and cell health, which has also been linked with lowering cholesterol. A boiled egg makes the perfect snack, it’s portable and need no additional packaging.

4. Brazil Nuts
Selenium, selenium, selenium. This essential mineral is absent from most women’s diets. Selenium is vital for thyroid and sex hormone production, the manufacture of antioxidants. Brazil nuts are the best source of selenium and just three nuts a day will give you all the selenium you need, add to your trail mix snacks or chop and sprinkle on top of homemade muesli.

5. Berries
Blueberries, raspberries, currants, purple grapes, acai and blackberries are low in sugar and fructose and loaded with phytonutrients, which is just a fancy word to say they are chock full of compounds that promote good health. In addition have been linked to anti-inflammatory, anti-atherosclerotic, and anti-carcinogenic effects. Remember to balance the natural sugars they do contain by having your berries with a little protein, so a dollop of yoghurt, a few nuts or seeds.

6. Oats
One of the easiest ways to significantly lower your cholesterol is to eat whole-grain oats regularly, The fibre in oatmeal forms a gel that slows down your body’s absorption of cholesterol, so adding regular servings or porridge, homemade muesli or flapjack to your diet is a must. Remember to use jumbo rolled oats and avoid those little packets and pots that are highly processed and so therefore won’t keep you feeling balanced.

7. Red Beans
Beans of any kind are nutrition dynamos. But red beans made our top 10 list for several reasons: they’re rich in antioxidants and packed with protein, folate, minerals, and fibre, helping to boost the body’s ability to burn fat, helping you feel full, controlling blood sugars, and even reducing cancer risk. Mixed Bean Chilli anyone??

8. Turmeric
Best known as the spice behind curry, research is now showing how it can potentially play a role in weight loss, along with preventing Alzheimer’s disease, cancer and other conditions. You don’t have to keep this spice wonder for curries, it can add and earthiness to warming casseroles and even a sprinkle over eggs adds a little lift or half a tsp into hot chocolate is delicious.

9. Chilli Peppers
All peppers contain compounds called capsaicinoids. This is especially true of chilli peppers, which derive their spicy heat—as well as anti-inflammatory, analgesic, anti-cancer, heart-healthy effects—from very high levels of capsaicinoids.

Chillies are high in antioxidant carotenes and flavonoids, and contain about twice the amount of vitamin C found in citrus fruits. Almost any dish—from homemade soups, stews and chilies to stir-fries, salads and salsas—can benefit from small amounts of chilli peppers.

10. Chocolate
Yes, you are reading this right….Enjoying a small amount of flavonoid-filled dark chocolate may prevent clogged arteries and reduce your risk of developing heart disease. But be sure to buy one with at least 70% cocoa solids to get the health benefits and then savour every bite, let it melt on your tongue and enjoy.

How many of these Top 10 Healthy Foods are already a staple in your weekly basket?

Greens Smoothie

Start this new year bright with our greens smoothie recipe. Super simple to make and a great way to start your day this greens smoothie can be made in a blender; NutriBullet or Vitamix work well. I like to keep all the fibre from the pulp so prefer to use a blender and not strain it out. If you have a decent blender it should blitz the mixture quite smooth. You can use a juicer for this recipe if you prefer a very smooth texture.

The greens smoothie uses more savoury flavours with the coconut water and parsley. Use apple juice for a little more sweetness but remember to check the label, avoid not from concentrate, if you have a juicer you can use freshly juiced.

You can replace spinach for kale though it will have more texture and make a slightly thicker drink.

Serves 1

Large handful of fresh spinach or kale (large stalks removed)

1/2 a cucumber (roughly 10cm)

1 cup coconut water (or good quality pressed apple juice)

Juice of 1/2 lemon

2cm piece of ginger, peel and grated

Small handful of parsley

Method for Greens Smoothie:

Chop the cucumber in to large chunks. Place all the ingredients in the blender and blitz until smooth.

This juice is best served fresh but will keep in the fridge for up to 24 hours, give a good mix before drinking.

Chai Spiced Hot Chocolate

Chai spiced hot chocolate is the perfect warm pick me up for the wet winter months. AT this time of year its hard to avoid the endless chocolate and suagr on the shelves but this recipe uses maple syrup rather than sugar and a good quality cocoa to give you that sweet chocolatey fix.

I love the black pepper spice in chai so have used them as well as pimento (all spice) but feel free to omit these, change the spices to your taste.

We like to use almond milk at the Body Retreat but you can use any type of milk.

Makes 2 cups

2 cups of milk (or dairy free alterntive)

1 cinnamon stick (or 1 tsp ground cinnamon)

3 cardamon pods (or 1/2 tsp ground cardamon)

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

4 cloves (or 1/4 tsp ground cloves)

1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

2 peppercorns or whole pimento (optional)

4 tsp cocoa powder, plus extra for dusting

2 pinches of ground ginger

2 tsp of maple syrup

Method for Chai Spiced Hot Chocolate:

Put all the whole spices in a pan with the milk and heat to just below boiling point, turn off the heat and leave to steep for 20-30 mins.
Once infused sieve the milk into a bowl and discard spices. Put the milk back in the pan and reheat.
Alternatively you can use ground spices and mix them with the cocoa powder and ginger before adding the water to make a thick paste.
Whilst the milk is warming in each cup mix 2 tsp cocoa powder and a pinch pf ground ginger with 2 tsp of hot water to make a thick paste. Add 1 tsp of maple syrup and mix.
When the mix is almost boiling take it off the heat and divide between the two mugs, give a good mix.

I like to top each mug with some frothed milk and dust with cocoa, nutmeg or cinnamon. Drink straight away!

Avocado Spinach Salsa

Avocado spinach salsa is a great with scrambled eggs or scrambled tofu, as an afternoon snack or dolloped on the side of a spicy tomato stew. The spinach in this recipe makes this salsa rich in fibre and helps keep the lovely vibrant green colour. I’ve chosen all green vegetables for this dish apart from the jalapeno for a fleck of colour, you can use red or green peppers.

I love the flavours of fresh coriander and lime so have included plenty in this dish. If your not a big lime fan omit the lime zest but the juice will also help to stop the avocado from discolouring.

As always with these dishes add the seasoning to your taste, more spice, less coriander, maybe lemon instead of lime.

Serves 4

2 avocados

1 spring onion

1/2 green pepper

1 handful of fresh spinach

1-2 slices of red pickled jalapeno

1 lime

Small handful of fresh coriander

Method for Avocado Spinach Salsa:

Dice the avocado, pepper and spring onions into small chunks. Add half the lime zest and all the juice and mix well.
Chop through spinach, coriander and jalapeno.
Mix together, add salt and pepper, then taste for seasoning.
The lime juice should help the avocado from discolouring and will keep in the fridge for up to 3 days.

Dried Citrus Zest

At the Body Retreat we are always trying to think of ways to reduce waste and make the most of the produce we buy in. We found that the zest of citrus fruit was sometimes forgotten about when using the juice. Now we zest citrus fruit before juicing and dry it out allowing us to use it for weeks to come.

Makes 2-4 tsp

1 Orange / Lemon / Lime

How to dry citrus zest:

Zest citrus fruit then leave on a plate or board overnight. Cover with a tea towel or kitchen towel. It may take a couple of days to dry out depending on the temperature and humidity of your room. You can also use a dehydrator to keep the temperature consistent.

To speed up the process you can put the zest in the oven on a low temperature, around 160C, for a couple of hours. When first using your oven check every 30 mins to make sure the zest isn’t browning.

Once dry put into a kilner or jam jar. It should last months if kept dry. Like any dried goods it will loose it potency over time so the sooner you use it the stronger the flavour.

Dried Citrus Zest can be used in soups, on roasted vegetables, in baked goods, steeped with teas, used in spice mixes and rubs for meat and fish. We use any dried orange zest in our Chia Seed Bliss Balls. I like to use the dried lemon zest in dishes like the Leek and White Bean Soup and the Immune Boosting Soup when I don’t have any fresh lemons to hand.

You can use a microplane, box grater, zester, peeler or paring knife. You will get different size pieces so depends what you will be using it for or what is most convenient. I mainly use a microplane as I find this avoids most of the pith. The pith is the white layer between the peel and the fruit and has a bitter flavour, try avoid getting too much when zesting otherwise it will affect the taste of your peel.

We have plenty of dried zest in the Body Retreat store cupboard, do you ever use it in any recipes at home?

Author: Jabernet