Top Tips for a Healthy Summer

By Barbara Cox our resident nutritionist  "The Nurtichef "

Keep Well Hydrated

Water isn’t everyone’s favourite drink, but it’s easily the most important. Aim to drink 1½ to 2 litres a day – with a slice of lemon if you need some flavour. So, why do we need water? Here are just a few of the many reasons:

• Water is the main component of every cell in your body - a slight deficiency can make you tired and give you headaches.
• Water is what makes your blood liquid! Blood is the body’s internal transportation system, so if it wasn’t runny, there’d be no chance of getting nutrients or oxygen to all of your millions of cells!
• Water keeps your digestive movements regular and helps combat constipation.
• Thirst is often mistaken for hunger. If you’re feeling peckish between meals, try having a glass of water instead of opting for a snack.
• Water is essential for healthy skin. Keep hydrated and you’re less likely to get cellulite or dark patches under your eyes.

Enjoy Healthy Summer Skin

We’ve mentioned the link between water and skin, but a healthy diet is just as important. Here are the key nutrients and ingredients that provide them:

·        Vitamin A plays a vital part in the formation of new cells. Useful sources of vitamin A are red and yellow peppers, spinach, broccoli, watercress, apricots and oily fish like herring and mackerel.

·        Vitamin B2 helps keep the skin smooth and moist. Good providers of this vitamin are wild rice, sunflower seeds, tuna, almonds, beans and peas.

·        Vitamin E works together with the mineral selenium to counteract free radical damage caused by exposure to the sun. Foods that provide vitamin E are avocadoes, sweet potato, Brazil nuts and beans.

Beware of the Barbecue!

What could be more enjoyable than having a barbecue on a warm summer’s evening in the company of friends? Barbecues can be great fun, but perilous, too! However, if you follow my pointers below, you won’t need to worry about any unhealthy consequences of what should be a good night out!

·        Pre-cook your meat in the oven. This will reduce any possibility of food poisoning caused by undercooking on the barbecue.

·        Keep lighter fluids away from food. Lighter fluids contain toxic chemicals, so, if you’re having problems getting your fuel to ignite, make sure there’s no food around when you reach for the lighter fluid.

·        Avoid overcooking your meat. Research has proved a link between charred food and cancer. If you pre-cook your meat and flip it regularly you’ll avoid encrusting it with carcinogens!

·        Don’t leave meat lying around. If you’ve cooked too much meat, cover it and get it into the fridge ASAP. If you leave meat out to fester, you won’t be the only ones enjoying that warm summer’s evening!

Article by Barbara Cox, www.nutrichef.co.uk

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Colour Yourself Healthy

When talking fruit and veg, the government advises that we eat ‘Five a Day’. That’s certainly a good start, but if I was Gordon Brown I’d change that to ‘Five Colours a Day’. That way we’d hopefully find ourselves eating more than five different kinds of fruit and vegetables daily, but it would mean we’d also benefit from the additional health-promoting properties of eating naturally pigmented food.

Natural food pigments, known technically as carotenoids, are one kind of an important class of disease-fighting biochemicals with a very suitable (but coincidental) name: phytochemicals!  Acting as antioxidants and immune response boosters, these chemicals are believed to be very important in providing protection against cancer and heart disease.

Listed below are some commonly available colourful fruit and vegetables and some of the benefits associated with their pigments.

If you’d like to try an exceptionally colourful, extremely health-promoting recipe, you’ll just love the following one for Roasted Vegetables.

Ingredients

Garlic                1 clove

Rosemary           1 large sprig

Olive oil             2 tablespoons

Parsnips             x2

Chestnuts          x8

Leeks                        x1

Butternut squash x1

Carrots              x2

Potatoes            x4

Red onion          x2 (cut into eighths)

Orange              Grated zest

Ginger               ½ teaspoon, grated

Directions

Cut all vegetables into chip-sized pieces and place in a baking tray. Drizzle with olive oil, crushed garlic, rosemary, orange zest and grated ginger. Place in a pre-heated oven at 180˚C to 200˚C and cook for 15 to 20 minutes.

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