Pasta Salad
Pasta salads are delicious. Great for light easy, summer cooking. To maximize their flavour make sure you dress the pasta as soon as it is cooked while it is still hot. Try substituting fresh basil if it isn’t available, with dill, mint, oregano, or parsley.
For 8-10 servings:
Pasta:
2 pkts of brown rice pasta and vegetable pasta
Dressing:
2 large cloves garlic
1 tsp coarse mustard
2 Tbsp parmesan cheese
8-10 leaves fresh basil (or other fresh herbs)
1 tsp salt and pepper to taste
½ cup light Best Food mayonnaise
2 Tbsp pineapple juice with touch of cinnamon
Salad:
2 stalks celery, finely diced
1 red pepper finely diced
2 spring onions finely diced
½ cup toasted sesame seeds
Tinned pineapple pieces 125 g (unsweetened)
Boil the pasta as per the packet directions, until tender. ***
While the pasta is cooking make the dressing by pureeing the ingredients until smooth.
Drain the cooked pasta and put in a salad bowl and immediately toss the dressing through the pasta while it is still hot.
Allow to cool then toss the rest of the salad ingredients with the pasta.
*** Tip: Cook the pasta until just al dente; brown rice pasta will disintegrate if over-cooked.

To eat more healthily start by substituting healthier ingredients in your cooking, but keeping to tried and true recipes your family love. If they are particularly fussy eaters they may complain at first. Persevere though and before you know it they will eating it up, just as they did before.

In the recipe above I’ve exchanged plain old white wheat pasta with brown rice pasta, for two reasons. First, whole grains provide better nutritional value than processed grains. Second wheat based foods so predominate in the western diet that we miss out on the nutrients present in other grains, and many people have allergies to wheat and other gluten containing foods, so it’s a good idea to find creative ways of getting other grains into our diet. As we age too our bodies lose their ability to metabolise processed gluten containing grains well and this can cause a host of health challenges from easy weight gain to a tendency towards diabetes. Take home message, use whole grains, and vary them.

To reduce the number of calories in a recipe you can substitute ‘lite’ varieties of dressings as I’ve done here and help your cause of weight loss if that’s an issue for you or your family. If using canned fruit in a recipe go for an unsweetened variety for the same reason.

Using fresh herbs in your cooking as I’ve done here will increase flavour and nutritional value, because of the enzymes present in fresh produce verses cooked, canned or dried, all helping us toward our goal of optimum nutrition for better living.

The recipe above is contained in our nutrition book for more information on our products, go to www.flexibilityplus.com

Bon Appetite,
Yours in Health,
Nancy

Mexican Tortilla Tofu Stack for 12 servings

This has a Mexican flavour and is a tasty nutritious dish for any one keen on a healthy lifestyle and optimum nutrition. It may just change your mind on tofu if you’ve never quite been able to get into it.

Firstly, make the sauce:

Tomato Chilli Sauce

2 cans tomato puree 16 oz (425g) each
2 tsp ground cumin
1tsp oregano
1tsp ground coriander
1tsp sea salt
2tsp dark muscovado sugar ( unrefined sugar)
1/2tsp hot chilli sauce or to taste
Juice of 1 lemon

Combine all the ingredients in a pot and gently simmer as you prepare the other ingredients

Tofu Mixture

2 large onions
2 green peppers
4Tbsp exrta virgin olive oil
2lb (1  kg ) approx tofu firm or soft
2tsp sea salt
Freshly ground pepper to taste
12 corn tortillas
2 cans 3oz (85g) each corn (or use the same amount of frozen corn)
Tomato Chilli Sauce
1 cup grated cheese

Chop the onion and green pepper and sauté these in a large pot or pan in oil on a medium heat
As this is cooking drain and crumble the tofu

Add the tofu and seasonings to the onion and pepper mixture and continue to cook until some of the liquid has evaporated.

To assemble the whole stack, lay two tortillas on the bottom of a medium-sized oval casserole dish so they overlap as little as possible.

Spread 1/3 of the tofu mixture over these, then 1/3 of the drained corn over the tofu mixture.

Place two tortillas on top repeating the process twice more so there are three layers of everything.

Sprinkle the cheese on top and bake uncovered at 350F/180C/ Gas Mark 4 for 30 to 40 minutes. Until it is hot right through the stack

Serve with a green salad and steamed brown rice
Bon Appetite. If you like this, see our web site www.flexibilityplus.com for more tasty healthy recipes

Nancy

Below are the major points we need to follow for eating to achieve high energy and a healthy body:

•    Drink 4-6 pints (2-3 litres) of good quality water every day

•    Drink vegetable juices –fresh if you have an extractor and diluted fruit juices

•    Eat a variety of whole foods as close to their natural state as possible

•    Eat five to seven servings of fruit and vegetables a day. If possible organically grown, preferably fresh , though frozen is acceptable

•    Eat raw vegetables or lightly cooked (steamed) as certain vitamins are destroyed by heat

•    Eat nuts and seeds (e.g. almonds, pumpkin, flax, sunflower, sesame, walnuts), for their important omega 3 and omega 6 oils

•    Eat some garlic and onions each day. These may prevent respiratory, cardiovascular disease and even cancer. Eating parsley with garlic reduces the offensive odour on your breath. Deodorized garlic in tablet or capsule form is also available from most health food outlets.

•    Eat free range eggs, poached, as this is the best way to preserve their goodness

•    Eat yogurt containing live cultures, acidophilus and bifidus to support healthy bowel flora (not the sweetened fruit varieties).

•    Eat fish at least twice a week especially the fatty varieties such as salmon, mackerel, herring, and cod which contain the important omega 3 fatty acids. Broil, bake, grill or steam. Deep frying undoes the benefit.

•    Eat lean meat in moderation. Reducing consumption may prevent cancer. Think of meat not as a main, but as one of several ingredients in a main dish that incorporates vegetables, grains, and legumes

•    Avoid excessive salt, coffee, and processed anything

These are points are taken from our downloadable book, NutritionPowerPlus, available on www.flexibilityplus.com

Healthy eating!

Jonathan

The Truth About Fats

For years many of us have been yoyo dieting and counting calories and been anxious about every fat containing morsel that has crossed our lips. A whole industry had evolved around food labels proclaiming the benefits of this or that product because of the miniscule percentage of fat it contains. After all fat makes you fat right? Well this is the danger of half truths.

Yes fat contains per gram almost twice as many calories as carbs or protein so on the surface of it it does have the potential to pack on the kilos more so than the other nutrient types. Also fat from most animal sources is saturated and is more difficult for the body to handle and as a result it can cause problems especially for one’s heart and blood vessels. Fats derived from plant sources such as nuts, seeds, and some animal sources (i.e cold water fatty fish such as salmon) have the ability to protect the heart and blood vessels as well as producing many other health benefits protection of the brain and nervous system to name one other.

“Ya great for my ticker” I hear you say “but what about my thighs?” Well interestingly enough the right kind of fats positively benefits your girth as well. For more on how go to our nutrition product on our web site www.flexibilityplus.com.

Yours in health,

Nancy

In his book I Can Make You Thin Psychologist Paul McKenna outlines 4 easy weight loss tips I wanted to share here and elaborate on a little.

1.    Eat only when physically hungry.  Learn to listen to your body’s cues about hunger and differentiate between peckish, slightly hungry, hungry, very hungry, ravenous, and faint with hunger. Aim to eat when you are some where in the middle of that range. Also learn to differentiate between physical hunger and emotional hunger. Here are a couple of easy clues that can help. First emotional hunger comes on as a sudden craving and is usually unsatisfied by food. Physical hunger comes on gradually. Second the brain’s signal to the body for thirst and hunger are identical. To tell what your body is saying to you, have a glass of water or two before eating. If you still feel hungry eat, if not then the message being communicated was just “Man I was parched! “
2.    When you are physically hungry, eat what you want: Whether it’s  a crsip cool salad, a crunchy fresh sweet juicy apple, hot soup and a chunk of crusty fresh bread with lashings of butter , creamy mashed potatoes , a bowl of delicious Rojan Gosh, Chilli Con Carne, or Chicken Chow Mein, a meat pie or Black Forest Gateau, if that’s what you’d like and you have it on hand go for it.
3.    Enjoy EVERY  morsel : Pay close attention to every bite, slow down, chew well ( digestion begins in the mouth) and eat with healthy relish
4.    Stop when you have had enough: Give up being one of the clean your plate brigade. If you are full save the left overs for later, if eating out ask for a doggy bag. Differentiate between: a) still hungry, b)satisfied, c)full, d) stuffed . Aim for some where between b and c.

Don’t worry that you will endlessly indulge your cravings at the expense of a healthy balanced diet, if you follow these principles your diet will even out. Your body will tell after the third day in a row of Death by Chocolate Cake for breakfast, lunch and dinner that it has had enough of that and would like something else thank you.

For help overcoming dependence on certain foods and other advanced behaviour modification techniques check out Paul’s CD I Can Make you Thin, and for great info on healthy food choices and delicious recipes, see our products on our web site www.flexibilityplus.com.

Yours In Health,

Nancy

Why should you care about this? Quite, simply your future health depends on it. If you are female, particularly though not exclusively, paying attention to how you feed your bones optimally now could mean the difference between an active healthy, independent elderhood and one, that sees you living out your life as a ‘shut in’, greatly dependant on family and friends for your basic survival, racked with the pain of arthritis, deformity, risk of fracture due to osteoporosis, increased frailty and even premature death. How does that strike you? Well if you don’t like the thought of pain, hip replacements dependence and the like listen up this blog post is for you.

A myth abounds that once our bones are formed what we eat has no influence on them, but bone is a living tissue that is formed, breaks down, and is reformed continually. Bones use calcium and magnesium and phosphorous as building materials. The ability to absorb calcium is dependent on Vitamin D and assisted by the trace element boron. Vitamin C makes the collagen the intercellular glue which collect calcium, magnesium and phosphorous. Zinc makes new bones cells. All these nutrients work together to create strong bones.

Here’s a list of foods you will want to include in your diet on a regular basis to help your body to build of strong bones:

Organic dairy products, brewers’ yeast buckwheat, sesame seeds and tahini or sesame seed paste, organic black strap molasses ( varies in flavours, if the first brand you strike tastes bitter persevere until you find a brand that tastes nice), nuts and seeds like almond, brazils, cashews, pecans, pumpkin, sesame, and sunflower seeds,  cooked dry beans, green peas,

Here’s to a happy skeleton!

Nancy

Hi fellow bloggers, yes I know its been awhile, life’s been very full lately. In my last blog post we talked a

little about healthy food for hormonal balance. Today I’m going to share some healthy recipes that could help

support your hormonal balance. These are beverage recipes that can be used as part of your main meal menues or to

add to your collection of   healthy snacks. All the recipes serve two.

Soy contains Phytoestrogens. These are plant hormones that are similar in structure to animal hormones, and thus

provide a good source of these chemicals that are vital to our wellbeing. Phyto estrogens bind to estrogen sites in

the body and can augment the body’s supply when needed.

Miso Soup:
2 cups hot water
2 tablespoons miso or to taste
100g tofu cubed
Thumb size piece of ginger root grated
Or 1/8 t dry powdered ginger
1 clove garlic grated
Sliced chives or spring onion to garnish

This soup is can be made with any kind of miso. Light coloured miso is mild and sweet, darker misos are more

pungent in flavour. Choose the miso that suits your palate. Enjoy this warming highly alkalinizing soup which has

many health benefits, from the prevention of simple bacterial and viral infections to, in addition to other

lifestyle modifications, the  prevention of hormonally dependent cancers such as breast and prostate cancer

Oaty Soy
4 tablespoons oat bran
2 cups organic non GM soy milk
2 teaspoon brewer’s yeast ( food yeast)
2 teaspoon bee pollen or zylatol
Filtered or  pure spring water to taste

Choose a soymilk you like, my favourite is Vita Soy. Blend in order given for a nutrient dense power drink!

Substitute zylatol for bee pollen if you like a sweeter taste.

Tranquillity Plus

2 cup soy or oatmilk
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 ripe banana
1 tablespoons raw tahini
1 tablespoon bee pollen

Oats help the body regulate estrogen. Tahini ,made from ground sesame seeds, and bee pollen are potent source of

calcium, bananas are a good source of fibre, potassium and B6, which is so important for adequate hormone

production. Oat milk is available in health food stores.  To make your own bring to the boil 2 tablespoons of quick

cooking oats and one cup of water, then simmer on low for a few minutes. Cool and blend till smooth sweetening with

100% pure maple syrup or zylatol. For the recipe above blend in order given, one ingredient at a time, blending in

between. Add water to desired consistency.

The herb Asiatic Ginseng has a direct effect on the hypothalamus and pituitary glands the master glands of the body

and in its 3,000 year use in traditional herbal medicine as a tonic, it has become renowned for providing strength

and energy.

Shake Rattle N’ Role
2 cups apple juice
2 bananas
4 tablespoons rice or oat bran
2 tablespoons Spirulina
16 almonds
1teaspoon ginseng powder
water to taste

Pre soak or grind the almonds in a coffee grinder for better digestion. The zinc form the almonds and Spirulina and

the chromium from the bran and the banana help regulate blood sugar levels and therefore energy production. Get

your Ginseng from a reputable health food store or traditional Chinese medical practitioner.
N.B: To optimize safety omit the Ginseng if you are suffering from an acute infection, acute asthma, hypertension,

excessive menstruation or nose bleed or are on MAOI antidepressant medication

See our website www.flexibilityplus.com  for more information on some of the above power foods.

Till next time

All the best,
Nancy

We have been led to believe that as long as we eat a well-balanced diet we will, by doing this, be giving our bodies all that they need to be healthy. However, so many studies demonstrate this assumption to be false.

Even by Recommended Daily Allowances (RDA) standards, which have been set at the minimums required to prevent deficiency diseases, such as scurvy, many people’s daily intake falls short of these RDAs for vitamins and minerals. This is because over fifty percent of our food intake in the West is made up of refined foods. The refinement of flour, rice and sugar strips these foods of much of their mineral and vitamin content.

Modern agricultural and horticultural practices aimed at maximizing production and profit farm the earth so intensively as to deplete its mineral stores. Soil demineralization doesn’t generally affect the growth of plants, so there is no material incentive for farmers to re-mineralize the soil with any but those minerals, such as phosphorus and nitrogen, which affect plant growth. Additionally chemical fertilizers contain chemicals that bind certain minerals such as zinc, preventing them being absorbed by plants.

As a result, seeds and nuts cultivated today may look the same as those cultivated by previous generations, but, may contain a fraction of the zinc!

Farming methods, like organic and biodynamic farming, which take care to return most minerals to the soil, produce plants with higher nutrient content than those produced by today’s conventional farming methods. So, eating organic foods brings us a step closer to the elusive goal of “the well-balanced diet” which, in turn, is more likely to provide us with radiant health.

If you can, go organic!

Nancy