Bright
Breakfasts
Carbohydrates
Carbohydrates provide the body with the most readily acessible form of energy. Carbohydrates in the form of sugard are found in fruit, milk and sugar; starch carbohydrates are familiar in cereals, pasta, rice, potatoes, bread and pulses. In a healthy diet, starch carbohydrates supply a higher porportion of energy that fats or sugar carbohydrates.With the recent craze for for low-carbohydrate diets, you may be forgien for thinking that carbohydrates are best avoided. Om fact this couldn't be further from the truth. Most nutritionists agree that foods in this group are an important part of a healthy balanced diet. However, not all carbs are equal. Most of the vitamins and protective components in grains are concentrated in the bran and germ layers of the grain, but when grains are refined, as for instance in the production of white flour, the bran and germ are removed and most of the fibre and some of the nutrietns are stripped away. This is why it is bette to coose wholegrain carbohydrates such as brown rice and wholeneal bread over refined carbohydrates. Studies have shown that diets rich in wholgrain foods can redue the risk of heart disease, stroke, certain types of cancer and Type 2 diabetes.
Nutrition labelling
The five key nutirents are calories, sugar, fat, saturated fat and salt. Two sets of guidelines that claim to help is select a healthy balanced diet are currently in use. The traffic light scheme developed by the Food Standards Agency provides information on fat, saturated fat, sugar and salt and uses a red, amber or green colour coding to indicate whether a good is high, medium or low in these nutrients. The other scheme is based on Guideline Daily Amounts (GDAs)(also see here) and gives an indication of how many calories, fat, salt, sugar and fibre a food contains and what it contributes to the amount of that nutrient you should eat in a day. GDAs are guideines for an average person of a healthy weight and average level of activity, and are just that - a guide, not a target. You should try to eat no more than the GDAs for sugars, fat, saturated fat and salt. The GDA values on the front of pack labels are based on the average requirements of an adult woman.
Five a day
One of the easiest ways to stay healthy is to eat plenty of fruit and vegetables. We can probably all remember being told by our parents to ear our 'greens' because they were good for us, and all the major reports on healthy earing have endorsed this good advice. It's no coincidence that in Mediterranean countries, where people eat almost twice the amount of fruit and vegetables that we do in the UK, they live longer and healthier lives. Fruit and vegetables contain an arsenal of disease-fighting compounds - vitamins, minerals, fibre and phytochemicals, which is why nutrition experts belive that they are the cornerstone of a healthy diet. Eating a diet rich in fruit and vegetables can reduve the risk of a range of medical problems, including heart disease, stroke, high blood pressure, certain types of cancer, cataracts and the eye condition called age-related macular degeneration, dementia and Alzheimer's disease.
Variety is key
Wherever we shop, most of us are lucky enough to have a wide range of different fruits and vegetables available to us, but do we really take advantage of the range? It's very easy to get stuck in a rut of buying the same things from one week to the next. Variety may be the spice of live, but it's also the key to a healthy diet and is particularly important when it comes to fruit and vegetables. Different coloured fruit and vegetables contain different vitamins, minerals and phytochemicals that help to keep you healthy in different ways, and so to make sure you get a good selection of all these nutrients you need to eat a variety of different produce. When you're buying fruit and vegetables don't just stick to your same old favourites - be adventurous and try something new. You'll find plenty of recipes to tempt you in this book.
Add colour to your meals
You probably already know that you should be eating at least five servings of fruit and vegetables a day, but did you know should should also be eating a rainbow? When you're planning meals, aim to fill your plate with colour - think of red, orange, yellow, green and purple fruit and vegetables and try to eat at least one serving from each of the colour bands every day.
Hands-on time: 5 minutes
Cooking time: about 15 minutes
2 garlic cloves, finely sliced
400g can borlotti or cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
400g can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
400g can chopped tomatoes
2 fresh rosemary sprigs
4 slices sourdough or Granary bread
25g (1oz) Parmesan
Serves 4
1 Heat the oil in a pan over a low heat, add the garlic and cook for 1 minute, stirring gently.
2 Add the beans and chickpeas to the pan with the tomatoes and bring to the boil. Strip the leaves from the rosemary, then chop finely and add to the pan. Reduce the heat and simmer for 8–10 minutes until thickened.
3 Meanwhile, toast the bread and put on to plates. Grate the Parmesan into the bean mixture, stir once, then spoon over the bread. Serve immediately.
Hands-on time: 5 minutes
Cooking time: 5 minutes
400ml (14fl oz) milk, plus extra to serve
75g (3oz) mixture of chopped dried figs, apricots and raisins
Serves 4
1 Put the oats into a large pan and add the milk and 400ml (14fl oz) water. Stir in the chopped figs, apricots and raisins and heat gently, stirring until the porridge thickens and the oats are cooked.
2 Divide among four bowls and serve with a splash of milk.
Hands-on time: 5 minutes
100g (3½oz) toasted almonds, chopped
2 tbsp pumpkin seeds
2 tbsp sunflower seeds
100g (3½oz) ready-to-eat dried apricots, chopped
milk or yogurt to serve
Makes 15 serving
1 Mix the oats with the almonds, seeds and apricots. Store in a sealable container: it will keep for up to one month. Serve with milk or yogurt.
A quick and easy way to assess if a food is high or low in a particular nutrient is to use the table opposite. Look at the amount of a particular nutrient per serving or per 100g (3½oz) for snacks or cooking ingredients and check the table below it to find out if it’s high or low.
'We are what we eat'
Nutriutionists from around the world agree that the food we wat had an important effect on our health and vitality. from the moment of conception and throughout our life, diet plays a crucial role in helping us maintain health and fitness. A healthy balanced diet can protect against serious illnesses suh as heart disease and cancer, increase resistance to colds and other infections, boost energy levels, help combat the stresses of modern living and also improve physical and mental performance. So, eating a diet that is healthy, varied and tasty should be everyone's aim. To meet the criteria of being law fat and low calorie, each recipe in this book has been selected in the bais of it containing, per serving, a maximum of 10g fat and 400 calories.
Choose wisely
Our body needs over 40 different nutrients to function and stay healthy. Some, such as carbohydrates, proteins and fats, are rewuried in relatively large amounts; other, such as vitamins, minerals and trace elements are required in minute amounts, but are nonetheless essential for our health. No single food or food group provides all the nutrients we need, which is why we need to eat a variety of different foods. Maing sure your body gets all the nutirents it needs is east if you focus on foods that are nutrient rich and duo thise highly refined and processed foods that provide lots of saturated fat, dugar and calories but not much else.
Hands-on time: 5 minutes, plus overnight chilling
50g (2oz) each flaked almonds and sultanas
2 apples
Serves 4
1 Put the yogurt into a bowl and add the almonds and sultanas.
2 Grate the apples, add to the bowl and mix together. Chill in the fridge overnight. Use as a topping for breakfast cereal or serve as a snack.
Hands-on time: 5 minutes
Cooking time: 5 minutes
1 ripe banana, peeled and sliced
250g (9oz) blueberries
200g (7oz) quark cheese
4 slices pumpernickel or wheat-free wholegrain bread
1 tbsp runny honey
Serves 4
1 Put the banana into a bowl with the blueberries. Spoon in the quark cheese and mix well.
2 Toast the slices of bread on both sides, then spread with the blueberry mixture. Drizzle with the honey and serve immediately.
Hands-on time: 10 minutes, plus chilling
Cooking time: 5 minutes
250g (9oz) cooking apples, peeled and chopped
juice of ½ lemon
1 tbsp golden caster sugar
ground cinnamon
To serve
25g (1oz) raisins
25g (1oz) chopped almonds
1 tbsp natural yogurt
Serves 2
1 Put the apples into a pan with the lemon juice, sugar and 2 tbsp cold water. Cook gently for 5 minutes or until soft. Transfer to a bowl.
2 Sprinkle a little cinnamon over the top, then cool and chill. It will keep for up to three days.
3 Serve with the raisins, chopped almonds and yogurt.
Hands-on time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 20 minutes
275g (10oz) self-raising flour
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
pinch of salt
3 very ripe large bananas, about 450g (1lb), peeled and mashed
125g (4oz) golden caster sugar
1 large egg
50ml (2fl oz) milk
75g (3oz) melted butter
50g (2oz) chopped roasted pecan nuts
Makes 12
1 Preheat the oven to 180°C (160°C fan oven) mark 4. Line a muffin tin with 12 paper muffin cases.
2 Sift together the flour, bicarbonate of soda and salt and put to one side.
3 Combine the bananas, sugar, egg and milk, then pour in the melted butter and mix well. Add to the flour mixture with the nuts, stirring quickly and gently with just a few strokes. Don’t over-mix or the muffins will be tough. Half-fill the muffin cases.
4 Bake for 20 minutes or until golden and risen. Transfer to a wire rack and leave to cool.
Hands-on time: 15 minutes, plus chilling overnight
Cooking time: 10 minutes, plus cooling
juice of 1 orange
juice of 1 lemon
1 tsp rose water
350g (12oz) strawberries, hulled and thickly sliced
150g (5oz) blueberries
Serves 4
1 Put the raspberry conserve into a pan with the orange and lemon juices and add 75ml (2½fl oz) boiling water. Stir over a low heat to dissolve the conserve, then leave to cool.
2 Stir in the rose water and taste – you may want to add a squeeze more lemon juice if it’s too sweet. Put the strawberries and blueberries into a large serving bowl, then strain the raspberry conserve mixture over them. Cover and chill overnight. Remove the bowl from the fridge 30 minutes before serving.
Hands-on time: 10 minutes
1 mango, peeled, stoned and chopped (see here)
450g (1lb) peeled and diced fresh pineapple (see here)
200g (7oz) blueberries
½ Charentais melon, cubed
grated zest and juice of 1 lime
Serves 4
1 Using a sharp knife, peel the oranges, remove the pith and cut the flesh into segments. Put into a bowl.
2 Add the mango, pineapple, blueberries and melon to the bowl, then add the lime zest and juice. Mix together gently and serve immediately.
Hands-on time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 5 minutes
400g can apricots in fruit juice
2 balls of preserved stem ginger in syrup, finely chopped, plus 2 tbsp syrup from the jar
½ tsp ground cinnamon
juice of 1 orange
3 oranges, cut into segments
1 mango, peeled, stoned and chopped (see here)
1 pineapple, peeled, core removed, and chopped (see here)
450g (1lb) coconut yogurt
3 tbsp lemon curd
3–4 tbsp light muscovado sugar
Serves 8
1 Drain the juice from the apricots into a pan and stir in the syrup from the ginger, then add the chopped ginger, the cinnamon and orange juice. Put over a low heat and stir gently. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 2–3 minutes to make a thick syrup.
2 Roughly chop the apricots and put into a bowl with the segmented oranges, the mango and pineapple. Pour the syrup over the fruit. Divide among eight 300ml (½ pint) glasses or bowls.
3 Beat the yogurt and lemon curd together in a bowl until smooth. Spoon a generous dollop over the fruit and sprinkle with muscovado sugar. Chill if not serving immediately.
