Jamie Oliver on Obesity and Food TEDtalk

Well here is a familiar face doing a TEDtalk...... it's none other than Jamie Oliver!  In this TEDtalk Jamie discusses the current and future obsesity epidemic!  Some of his facts and figures are truly terrifying.  Public health records indicate we in the western world are getting fatter and more unhealthy than ever, due to an increase in the amount of processed, high fat, convenience food we are eating.  These patterns are set to continue. 

Obesity is a strong risk factor for many chronic and serious health conditions such as type 2 diabetes, heart disease, particular cancers and strokes.  It is seriously bad for your health....... sometimes we think weight is all about appearance..... but clearly not!  More information about the health implications of obesity can be found on NHS Choices website.

As Jamie highlights there are becoming generational patterns around food, meals and cooking and this is shaping peoples relationship with food from such a young age.

Watching this is hard hitting and it certainly makes me sit up and listen!  The 5 years of sugar from milk bit in particular - WOW!

How can I stop this happening to me?  How can I also stop it happening to others, my friends my family?

Could a flexitarian lifestyle help?  Well perhaps..... yes!  You could live a flexitarian lifestyle and only each processed high fat vegetarian food, but this is unlikely.  Living a flexitarian lifestyle you are far more likely to be eating more vegetable, more fruit..... a more plant based diet in general. You will be having less red meat which we have discussed in the "How much is too much" blog is also linked to many health conditions.  The recipes we post here at the Flexitarian are hopefully going to encourage others to get in the kitchen and to cook fresh.  The recipes we use here are nearly all clean eating, they use fresh, healthy, yummy ingredients.  Could our meat free days become our healthy good for us days? Could the flexitarian lifestyle encourage us to cook more from scratch...... to reduce our processed food intake..... to change this generational pattern of children not learning to cook?  Can we use the flexitarian lifestyle to set an example that is for our benefits and others?

......... I hope so

http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/obesity/Pages/Introduction.aspx

Namaste: Review of the Minimal Baker Buddha Bowl

I have discussed in previous blog posts a website which I stumbled across and immediately got hooked.  The Minimalist Baker is a website run by a husband and wife duo who are passionate about bringing to you recipes which are quick, easy and use less than 10 ingredients.  The lovely thing is many of the recipes are vegan, vegetarian or even gluten free and they look amazing!

So the recipe I tried first was the Sweet Potato and Chickpea Buddha Bowl...... I was of course drawn to this through my love of sweet potatoes and of Buddha so it sounded perfect.

 Recipe Review:

Well this recipe did not disappoint.  It was quick, simple, easy to follow and best of all it tasted great. Annoyingly my photos don't do it justice.  You cant see any of the lovely greens underneath.  The spices on the chickpeas are warming and punchy, but the best element for me is that sauce - the tahini, lemon juice and maple give it so many different dimensions.  You almost get a different taste with each mouthful.

I will definitely be making this one again.  Any recipe that can make kale moreish is a winner!!!

Top marks Minimalist Baker, I am impressed!

Go check them out guys!

Smoothies

My current go to in the morning for breakfast is a smoothie.  Since getting my Twist & Go blender from ASDA I haven't looked back.  It makes smoothie making so quick and easy. The best thing about it is that since the blender container is the smoothie bottle - less washing up!  You just blend.......and go.  It's great value as well, coming in at only £20!  I am super impressed, it blends everything I throw at it to a lovely smooth consistency.

My formula for making a smoothie is:

Liquid

• Use one or two liquids
• Always a milk based one, and then sometimes an additional second such as coconut water, orange juice, apple juice.

Fruit

• I like my smoothies chilled so I always used some frozen fruit.
• Fresh fruit is also good - bananas are great for thickening the smoothies up
• Tinned fruit also worked well - I like tinned pear

Greens

• Smoothies are great places to add in some hidden greens.  Spinach is a good one as it blends easy and doesn't impact on the taste.

Added optional extras

• Natural sweeteners - honey or maple syrup.
• Yoghurt
• Chia seeds (good for protein and they will thicken the smoothie up)
• Nut butters
• Protein Powder

Here are a few recipes of my most recent smoothies

Banana Protein Shake

 The banana protein shake is super filling and has lots of protein so great post-workout.  It is made of unsweetened almond milk, a banana and protein powder (mine is banana flavoured too so that helps although isn't essential)

Mixed Berry and Banana

This smoothie is packed full of antioxidents thanks to the berries.  It is made with unsweetened almond milk, a banana, spinach and frozen mixed berries.

Pineapple, Banana and Spinach

This smoothie may look a strange green colour but it tastes fruity and fresh.  It is made with unsweetened almond milk, a banana, spinach and frozen pineapple pieces.

Chocolate, Banana and Nut Protein Shake

This is a nice rich filling smoothie.  It is made using unsweetened almond milk again, mixed with a banana, chocolate flavoured protein powder and a large teaspoon of almond butter. If you wanted extra chocolate flavouring a dash of cocoa or cocao powder would do the trick!

Clean Eating Baked Beans

Baked beans are an old favourite.  A classic comfort food.  Unfortunately the baked beans we know and loved are packed full of salt and sugar!  So while we may think they are a fairly healthy choice, they do in fact have hidden badness.  So can we change this?  Well why not try this clean eating baked bean recipe?

In this recipe I have put the beans on a baked sweet potato for extra goodness, but they would work on a baked regular potato, toastie, or whatever you favourite baked bean dish may be!!

Hope you enjoy and post any pictures to our Facebook page.

Serves 2

Ingredients:

• 2 x medium sweet potato
• 1 x tin pinto beans
• 1 x small tub of passata
• Paprika
• Tahini
• Salt and Pepper
• Optional: chilli flakes and honey

Method:

Prick the sweet potatoes several times and pop in the mircrowave for five minutes.  Then transfer to a hot over.  Cooking until soft all the way through and crispy on the outside (around 25 minutes).

Add the drained pinto beans and the passata to a pot and heat gently.  Season with salt, pepper and a teaspoon of paprika.  If you are wanting to add a kick add a sprinkling of chilli flakes now.

As previously mentioned off the shelf baked beans contain a lot of sugar.  If you are worried about transitioning to a less sweet bean experience then add a teaspoon of honey or maple syrup at this time.  If you are ready to go without the sweetness - don't add any!  It's up to you!

The beans can be eaten as they are at this point.  However to thicken up the sauce and make it a bit creamier and richer, add one teaspoon of tahini and mix through.  

Check your seasoning and your beans are then ready to serve on your baked potato with any other favourite toppings like cheese, jalapenos or coleslaw.  Enjoy :) 

A Vegan Bodybuilder TEDtalk

Yes.... my obsession continues.  Time for another TEDtalk.  So think you need meat to get all the "protes" to "make the gains" and bulk up....... well think again.

In this TEDtalk Joshua Knox discusses the plant-based challenge he and his friends undertook and how this 7 day challenge went on to change the way he ate and viewed food forever.  The thing that makes this story interesting is Joshua is a bodybuilder.  

As you can see from the pictures he certainly has muscles and he has been able to sculpt his body, getting the protein he needs to muscle growth.... from a plant-based vegan diet!?  Who'd have thought it!?

For me this video just goes to show that the "I need meat for protein" argument, might not be as strong as we once thought!

What Is It All About?

So what is this Flexitarian idea really all about?  What does it actually mean?

The term flexitarian has been around for a little over a decade but perhaps has come to the limelight more in recent years with the Meat Free Monday's campaign headed by the McCartney clan.

So it short flexitarian is 'semi-vegetarian'.  It is eating a vegetarian based diet and then having the flexibility that on others days you eat meat!  For hardcore flexitarians, they might eat a mainly a vegetarian diet with only a couple of meat days, and for others it may be having one meat free day a week.  Either way - WELCOME to the flexitarian lifestyle.

The benefits of this lifestyle are ten fold, from a health perspective, a financial perspective and of course and environmental perspective.  Some of these can be read about in the following posts: 1), 2) and 3).

One big debate is thinking about whether you view Flexitarianism as a diet or a lifestyle.  In 2009 Dawn Jackson released the flexitarian diet book available on amazon.  This book provides a step by step guide to using flexitarianism as a diet, with suggested menu plans included.  USnews has reviewed this diet and summarised it here.

In summary, being a flexitarian is having your cake and eating it!!! Yes I will take the financial, health and environmental benefits of a vegetarian life style........ but I will also take a yummy juice steak every now and then.  In my opinion it is more of a lifesyle rather than a diet, but each to their own.  That is the beauty of flexitarianism......its FLEXIBLE!!!   Make it work for you!  One veggie day, four veggie days..... it doesn't matter, it's what fits with you.

For further reading the Guardian and the Telegraph do a couple of great light hearted easy reading summaries about Flexitarian living.  They are only short so I would encourage everyone to have a quick look.

Left Over Challenge - Beans

The Left Over Challenge will be a regular feature where by I need to make a new meal out of left overs of a previously blogged recipe.  Where possible I will try to only add ingredients that I already had in my cupboards.  So here goes..... the first challenge

In this post I will show you the meal I made from the left overs of the Stuffed Bean Pepper Pot recipe.

So left over I had:

• Bean mixture
• Sweet potatoes
• Spinach

The ingredients I used from my cupboards:

• Jalapenos
• Chilli poweder
• Chilli seeds
• Lemon juice
• Paprika
• Mushrooms

And here is how I did it:

• Cut the sweet potato into wedges.
• Put in a sandwich bag / freezer bag along with mushrooms, paprika, salt and pepper.
• Add a good glug of olive oil and hold the top of the bag tightly shut while you give the bag a good massage meaning all the oil and spicing coats the contents evenly.
• Put on a baking tray and add to a hot oven (220c) for around 20-30 minutes, turning once half way through.

• Add the left over beans to a pan.  Add the jalapenos, chilli powder, chilli seeds (as much or as little as you want) and a generous couple of handfuls of spinach.
• Heat through, stirring to ensure no sticking.
• Remember to taste to check your spicing and seasoning, adjust to suit your taste.
• Cook until heated through and the spinach has wilted.
• Add the lemon juice and stir through before serving.

Challenge one......... DONE.

As always, please feel free to comment and let us know what you think.  We would love to hear if you tried this recipe, or maybe you did your own invention challenge?!  Either way we would love to hear about it.