‘Everything in moderation’ was my Grandma’s favourite motto and it still makes perfect sense today especially when it comes to our diet. Eating anything to excess is not good even if it is supposedly healthy, I saw a woman on ‘Secret Eaters’ once scoffing bags of sunflower seeds. She believed they were healthy, which of course they are, but only in small doses, there is a lot of oil in a sunflower seed! We all know that eating too much red meat is bad for our health and probably most...

This is the perfect time of year to make use of some of nature’s amazing freebies. I am not an avid forager but there are a few things that I love to use from the great outdoors and they are usually at their best and in great abundance at this time of year. Nettles come top of my list, they are prolific in Spring and are so good for you, they are loaded with iron and are completely pesticide free! More importantly they lose their sting when they are...

I love all the ‘alternative therapies’ we have available to us these days. We can have our backs tweaked and cracked by Osteopaths and Chiropractors, enjoy many different types of massage, find gentle healing through reiki and reflexology, have needles placed in our meridian lines by acupuncturists, discover amazingly effective remedies and cures from aromatherapists, homeopaths, herbalists, nutrionalists, hypnotherapists, the list is endless. But what I really don’t get is…..  these are not really ‘alternative’ are they? Some of these practices have been around for thousands of years, others...

Dairy products are the mainstay of the British diet but is it really doing us any good? Apart from people with a definite (and very unpleasant) lactose intolerance, would we all be better off without it or a least consuming less of it? There is no other mammal in the universe that habitually drinks another animal’s milk and on top of that, mammals only drink milk as babies and not beyond into adulthood, so why is it we have this belief that milk is so good for us? I certainly...

We all know how dangerous chemicals can be but do you really know how much exposure to them you are getting on a daily basis and how it is affecting your health, not just short term but long term too. There are chemicals everywhere, just in our own home you will find them in the food we choose to eat, the water we drink, cleaning products, skin creams, toothpaste, deodorant, shampoo, shower gel and perfume. We have sprays to keep bugs away, others to make our houses smell sweet,...

You may or may not know this but I absolutely hate waste, especially food, which I love! We throw away so much food it’s criminal, but what about the bits we throw away that we don’t even think about like veg peelings and stems? I not only detest throwing fresh veg away I also try to use up as much of the actual veg as I can. I never peel a potato or a carrot! Apart from the fact that a lot of the goodness is situated just underneath the...

I spend a lot of time in my kitchen and have all the usual gadgets to make my life easier but one of the most important and simplest has to be my steaming pans. Absolutely every kitchen should have one and definitely anyone who thinks they’re healthy should be using theirs regularly, there’s no excuse. Steaming vegetables is the healthiest way to cook them, as it results in the fewest nutrients being lost in the cooking process. In particular the all important Folic Acid and Vitamin C which are...

If 50’s is the new 40’s and grey is the new black then extracting is definitely the new juicing! The beauty of extracting is that you get a load more for your money and your health. With juicing you use a stack of fruit and veg for a tiny glass of juice and then have to throw away all the pulp with half of the goodness. An extractor lets you have it all, what could be better than that? Basically an extractor is a super powerful liquidiser that pulps anything...

I love any kind of veg, all the usual ones like carrots and broccoli etc plus all the other ones people love to hate, brussel sprouts, aubergines, beetroot, broad beans etc. My husband has never had quite the same love for veg that I have, he doesn’t like courgettes, sweet potatoes, cauliflower, mushrooms, he’s not mad on broccoli and cabbage (although he does eat them) and of course dislikes all those ‘love to hate’ veg above. So over the years I have had to become extra inventive with our...

Having just spent an excellent week in the Med I have come back feeling even healthier than ever. I fully embraced the colourful Mediterranean diet, eating masses of delicious fruit and veg, fish, chicken, wholesome breads, plenty of olive oil, garlic and lemon juice plus an occasional glass of red wine! Perfecto! You certainly don’t need to be a Master Chef to make the most amazing meals for you and your family it’s all about buying the right, fresh ingredients. And if you truly want to be healthy and...

Weekly meal planning is a wonderful thing and if you are organised and have the time, unlike me, then it is a great thing to do. You know exactly what you need to buy so shopping is much easier and it should, in theory, save you money as it stops you making impulse purchases which often end up just getting wasted. I HATE WASTE! Occasionally I set out with good intentions but if I’m honest, it is rare! Normally I look in the fridge in the morning to see...

I have just been watching the news and listening to the warnings about our obsession with sugar and the horrendous health consequences we can look forward to if we continue to indulge in this silent killer. They have talked about the obvious culprits like fizzy drinks, chocolate and sugary cereals, but what about all the sugar loaded into other food that isn’t quite so apparent. For instance if you ever buy low fat food then I suggest next time, you take a minute to look at the ingredients list, you...

I think I can safely say we all enjoy this time of year, it takes a long time coming but it’s always welcome. Feeling the sun on your back, eating alfresco, enjoying all the beautiful summer flowers and delicious fruit and veg, but of course there’s always a price to pay. INSECTS. And they are in abundance, flies everywhere, bees buzzing, wasps stinging, it’s a hive of activity but it’s part of what makes our summer. You may have already worked out that I’m a ‘Live and Let Live’ kind of...

I have been eating organic food for years now. When the first ‘vegetable box scheme’ started out in our area about 15 years ago I decided to give it a try. I waited in all evening for my delivery, which was incredibly late, and when it did finally arrive I swear most of it was mud! I am all for things being ‘as nature intended’ but that was a bit too much nature, even for me! Things have changed a lot since those days, it is more convenient, flexible...

This may seem like a very strange and rather personal question but it is an important one and is one that could seriously affect your health, believe it or not. The invention of the sit up toilet many years ago was, at the time, an absolute godsend, toilet habits were pretty grim in those days so it was certainly much more hygienic than just doing it where you stood, which they actually did! Anyway that aside, the toilet was a fantastic invention but it isn’t as healthy as you may...