Monday, August 27, 2012

Have you ever over indulged?


It is easy to get caught up in indulgence in winter, isn’t it? I know that the warmth of a cup of tea at night with a couple of dark chocolates is a real treat…or those hearty stews with mashed potato and extra rice with your stir fry.

The thing about winter is that it is cold and our body needs more energy to keep warm, it is working harder to keep our outer limbs from freezing…but it isn’t necessarily a good excuse to over eat!

What our body needs is additional nutrition – quality instead of quantity.

Now is the time when you should be adding in some super foods (raw cacao, goji berries, acaci) and stocking up on plenty of fruit and vegetables to keep your vitamin and mineral count up.

If you are going to indulge, indulge in food that is going to do you good, rather than harm!

In my food coaching practice I support people to make these changes, provide cooking lessons, recipes and advise about how to avoid winter weight gain and achieve instead winter health gain!

I would love to support you to change your health outcomes with good food!

Monday, August 20, 2012

What to do with a winter veg glut?

I am sad to admit that at the moment, our veg patch is not looking like it has in past years, I have been so busy keeping everyone else inspired through our programs: Cook Well Be Well, How to be an Urban Hippy and through the I’m Not Fussy Food School, that I have not had much spare time to tend to it….I do dream of the day when I am like Jamie Oliver or Hugh Fernleigh Wittingstall and have a full time gardener that I can bounce around with when I have a few spare minutes….but who takes care of all the hard work in the patch!

All that aside though, we are still reaping rewards from the work I have managed to squeeze in  – beetroots, leeks, silverbeet and parsley are still abundant. Our nasturtium looks incredible and we have parsnips that went haywire and a few carrots. Of course the pumpkins from the autumn harvest are still perfect and we have a handful of spuds left from the last crop!

The best thing to do with this is to roast them….I love to throw in some sumac and pepitas/sunflower seeds for flavour and extra crunch and serve with a side of steamed spinach and a glass of rough red!

This roasted veg makes a FAB soup too, blitzed together with homemade veg stock it is delicious and hearty, especially when served with a homemade sourdough from the wood fired oven (yes….yum!).

This is a truly delicious celebration of the winter veg!


Monday, August 13, 2012

Binging on the good stuff

I definitely eat too much cheese sometimes…I am a member of a cheese club in Tasmania and they make the BEST cheeses….I order them in and simply can’t help myself…my body definitely does not like it, but somehow the resistance is too great and I just can’t avoid it…I eat too much! Worse yet is when I make my own haloumi or bocconcini...bring on the indulge!

This is an irregular (treat?) occurrence so is not a problem in my life, but it is easy for this occasional splurge to become a regular habit if there is something more sinister driving behaviour.

We regularly hear and read about binging in its well-known forms – including bulimia and binge eating disorder, but we don’t often hear about the over indulgence on health…is it possible?

Are there people out there who overdo the exercise regime, to the point of obsession; or people who take food restriction to extreme? Yes and for all the same reasons that bulimia and binge eating disorder are damaging, so is this.

What the behaviour is masking, or reflecting, is deeper emotional issues that need to be exposed and managed.

I did a great interview with Dr Joann Lukins earlier this month and we explored this idea together – she provided some really useful guidance for people who might be worried about their binging behaviour.

It is worth listening to.



Monday, August 6, 2012

Augustus Gloop – the modern day dilemma?


One of my all-time favourite movies as a kid was Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. I LOVED the crazy Wonka and the extraordinary world he created (Gene Wilder is still my fav, but Johnny Depp did a pretty great job too) complete with edible trees and Oompa Loompas!

Of course Charlie is the hero of the story and we are compelled to gasp as we watch in horror as the other horrid children get justice for their badness, but how far from ourselves are those wicked children?

The one who is particularly gross is Augustus Gloop, who gets stuck in the chocolate river drain pipe whilst gorging on all that liquid sweetness!

Whilst is angry mother berates the crazy Wonka, I have always asked myself; what role did she play in her child’s over indulgence and why is she not punished whilst her son is? I think Grandpa makes mention of it sometime in the script, but has always puzzled me.

In many ways, we now live in a version of the Chocolate factory.

Think about it.

Our every dream and desire has been created and provided at our very finger tips are sweets and treats and foods beyond our wildest imagination. They can be purchased, freely and easily – in store or conveniently online.

In a sense, the opportunity to indulge in binging behaviour, like that displayed by Augustus Gloop, has become easier, more accessible and in a strange way, somehow encouraged through marketing and purchase portals.

Have you let your indulgences become out of control?

Binging by definition is a period of unrestrained, immoderate self-indulgence, which of course we are all prone to and definitely participate in at some time/s in our life.

The concern is not that behaviour, in one off instances, but if the indulgences become regular or more frequent and becomes a habit, or something that happens in response to something else.

This month at www.imnotfussy.com.au we are exploring Binging and have some fantastic articles about it. I would encourage you to take a look!