Plantiful Nutrition

If you're looking for an easy, tasty and healthy chocolate-banana treat, look no further! This brownie-style cake/dessert is sweet, rich, creamy and chocolatey, and it's unbelievably easy to make. It also happens to be: Gluten free, Vegan, Grain free, Paleo, Baking powder free, Yeast free, added sugar free, oil free... And it counts towards your 5 (or 10) a day! All you need is three ingredients, a blender and a baking dish. As long as you don't make it too thick, you can vary the quantities quite liberally, it's a very forgiving dessert. So, for this recipe you will need: 5-7 ripe bananas (depending on the size, I used 6) 2-3 heaped tablespoons nut butter (I used almond but have previously tried peanut and it worked great) 2 heaped tablespoons (or to your taste) cacao powder (I had also used carob powder and it worked well too) Optional: fresh/frozen berries or nuts/seeds to top (this time I used a few frozen cherries and some blueberries). Instructions: Blend everythi...

Many of us these days try to choose healthier snacks, such as cereal bars, nuts, seeds, raisins and dates. But is dried fruit a health food? Dentists would probably say that it isn't as it can get stuck between the teeth and increase the risk of developing cavities... Also, dried fruit is void of water, so sugar is much more concentrated than in regular fruit. In reality we might eat 2-3 apricots but eating them dried makes us consume way more: smaller volume just doesn't fill us up, and they do taste nice and sweet. This in turn can spike our blood sugar (and crash it back down...). Another side that we rarely think of is that sometimes fruit that is chosen for drying may be of the poorest quality - sad looking, damaged, underripe or overripe that is not deemed to be of saleable condition when fresh. Generally fruit needs to be dried quickly, so often high temperatures are used which may cause many vitamins to be lost and damaging compounds to be created. You need to reach hig...

These days everyone knows at least one vegan, gluten free, paleo or any other health/eco "nutter" (aka a person into healthy lifestyle). They can be a real pain at the dinner table or when thinking of presents... In case you needed some last minute Christmas gift ideas, you're in luck! The limit is only the depth of your wallet. Obviously - some health foods! You could make up a whole hamper with chia seeds, coconut oil, spirulina, acerola powder, coconut jerky, lucuma powder, kale crisps, goji berries, herbal teas, freeze dried fruit, yacon syrup, coconut sugar - or just pick one for a healthy stocking filler! Look for some dairy free or raw chocolates while you're at it. Exotic fruit basket - make one yourself or order online, and include weird fruits like starfruit, guava, tamarind, jackfruit, mangosteen, durian, cherimoya, lychee, rambutan, longan, prickly pear, papaya, kumquat, dragon fruit and all sorts! Fun, tasty and educational. A piece of natural skincare - ...

Obviously, it's not the same for everyone: we have different lifestyles, finances, different eating habits, favourite foods, different absorption/malabsorption and different needs due to our genetics and state of health. But there are a few basic reasons. - Foods that we eat are depleted. Mono-culture grown crops with artificial fertilizers probably optimize their growth but that's about it - the most common formula is NPK, adding only Nitrogen, Phosphorus and Potassium. We need more than that! Soil used over and over loses its mineral content, they are washed off by erosion, and there is no added organic matter (like compost) to return those minerals. - Food storage reduces the nutrient content even more. Foods, especially if shipped from far, continuously lose their nutrient value and oxidise while sitting in the box or on the shelf. By the time they reach your table they are far from fresh (imagine how old your flour is, for example). That's why there can be massive di...

I must admit I love organically grown produce for quite a few reasons: lower environmental impact, no GMOs, fewer chemicals such as pesticides and fertilizers on the products, higher antioxidant content and if eating animal products, organic means higher welfare standards and no antibiotic overuse. However, it's easy to get an illusion that everything that's organic is somehow better. Then you can buy crisps and sweets that are organic, organic pastries and cakes, organic fudge and soft drinks. And they may be "better" to some extent: the materials used probably caused less environmental damage as it was grown organically, promoting wildlife, not using bee-killing pesticides etc. Also, these products will probably (or hopefully) be made by ethical businesses that invest in charitable causes and are more respectful of the environment, so you are supporting them over the big mainstream companies that only care about more and more profit. But health-wise, there is no big...

Yes, that's true, you can use sugar AND have a perfectly good health. And I'll tell you how. Use it to exfoliate your face and body with home-made sugar scrub . You can make it as simple or as fancy as you please. Use sugar to clean the grease off your hands after dealing with oily, greasy substances. If you tend to remove hair anywhere from your body, make your own (incredibly easy) sugar wax . If you like painted nails, try sugar nail art . Make sure you use natural nail polish. Make sugar chalk . Especially fun with kids. Make sugar art and all sorts of things, including bowls and sculptures . I think you get the idea... Just don't eat it! :) Do you know of any other fun uses for sugar?

 Yes and no. Yes, because usually we eat them in the form of chips or crisps which means they are fried in the doubtful quality oil and have loads of salt. If you're buying frozen chips or eating them in the pub or restaurant, the chances are they will be highly processed and with lots of additives. Either way, most of the time we have them cooked at high temperatures (too high for too long and carcinogens, such as acrylamide, start forming). Also, many potato products have high glycemic index. And almost always we peel the skin. For these reasons, potato is not even considered a vegetable by many nutritionists. But no, they are not bad for you. It just depends on how you prepare and eat them. The best way to cook potatoes is lightly steaming - using a minimum amount of water and not throwing it away if there's any left (water soluble compounds stay exactly there - in the water). Ideally, don't fry or microwave them and don't eat them mashed, especially don't use in...

To live we need to obtain certain types and amounts of nutrients from our diet. For example, we need fat. Actually, we need essential fatty acids. How much? Not that much. Around 3% of our total calories of omega-3 and omega-6, preferably in the ratio of 1:1 to 1:4 . Probably way less than what we are consuming now. National Obesity Forum released a report encouraging to reduce carbohydrate and increase fat consumption (including saturated fat). Generally, we are advised not to eat too much saturated fat (and limit total fat), so this goes against healthy eating guidelines. NOF report's authors' reasoning was that "Current efforts have failed - the proof being that obesity levels are higher than they have ever been, and show no chance of reducing despite the best efforts of Government and scientists." And that sort of makes sense. If we live in the society where 71% of people are predicted to be overweight or obese by 2025, if we need charities specifically to tackle...

In nutritional therapy we try to improve client's symptoms but more importantly, we want to figure out why they are there. If you have low iron levels in body, you should consider possible reasons. Do you eat lots of processed foods and dairy? Fast and junk foods are low in nutrients such as iron while dairy (as well as high calcium) can interfere with iron absorption. Do you drink tea and coffee with meals? Both of them can significantly reduce iron absorption. Not enough greens, beans, nuts and seeds and other iron sources? If you're on a veggie diet, is it well planned? Could it be absorption issues (so many possible gastrointestinal conditions)? Especially suspect it if you're not vegetarian/vegan, as heme iron in animal foods is generally absorbed easily. If you're a man with low iron, investigate it, as iron is usually well recycled in the body and you don't have monthly losses. Could you have internal bleeding that depletes your stores (e.g. long term aspirin...

It depends how you define healthy. If it's buying Ella's or similar books and trying to source all the fancy ingredients, it can be quite pricey. But as healthy as quinoa is, it is not essential. As is not coconut sugar, raw cacao, shelled hemp seeds, acai powder or coconut water. It's about choosing whole or less processed foods that have high nutrient content. Very often, it actually depends on our priorities. I'm not talking about people who live in poverty though, there are some who cannot choose. However, to many of us, it's a matter of choice - going out for a coffee (or going out in general - including the costs of make up, outfits, taxi or car drive, parking, restaurant meals etc), a glass or a bottle of wine here and there, a cigarette, a holiday trip, a cinema ticket, a lottery ticket, a new bag, a magazine, a book, a piece of chocolate, an ice cream, a take-away... You could say that any of these things are a part of life, but for some people it's the...

Nature provided us with plentiful sources of food, and yet somehow we're as far from it as possible: starting with hybridisation of crops throughout the history, now GMOs, continuous intensive agriculture (not even talking about battery animal farms!), and ending with highly processed, "molecular" and junk foods. But it's not just the obvious junk foods that cause concern. The problem is (and I won't be popular for it): many people think they eat healthily, when in fact very often they're not! We're so used to our ways (parent influence, traditions, recipes, TV cooking shows, restaurant meals) we don't realize that just because we cook at home, from scratch and include some vegetables, it does not automatically make it healthy. And when it comes to eating out, it's even worse. This quote of dr. Klaper describes it quite well: "When my friends ask me to go out for dinner, I say, hmmm, do I want Italian flavoured salt, sugar and fat? Or maybe C...

  I love food! I love food shopping, cooking, eating, sharing it with other people, talking about it, learning new things, researching its health benefits, challenging myself to make tasty AND healthy dishes. That's why I do what I do. But to me, food is first of all whole food (a piece of fruit, vegetable, nuts, grains...), or dishes made using whole ingredients, not just their components. For example, sugar is an extracted carbohydrate part of the food. And we know it's no good for us. Oil is another example of extracted substance - fat. It's very high in calories (1 gram of oil contains 9 kcal, whereas 1 gram of carbohydrate or protein has 4 kcal) and most oils have low nutritional value (and possible downsides - I'll tell you sometime later). When you think about it, protein powder is similar to those two in a sense that it involves a certain amount of processing and has lost its water, fibre and most nutritional value - vitamins, minerals and phytonutrients. I mean...

If you eat Paleo and you're happy, I'm happy for you. If you heard of it and unsure if that's something for you, get a few different perspectives. For those of you who don't know much about Paleo diet it's based on the foods that have been consumed by early humans in Stone Age, prior to agriculture, consisting mainly of meat, fish, vegetables, fruits, nuts and excluding salt, dairy, legumes, grains, potatoes and processed foods. However, I find a few issues in it. First, it's called Paleo (also primal or caveman) diet because our paleolithic ancestors ate a certain way, therefore we're trying to mimic that. Why go to Stone Age? Why not go even beyond that when our digestive system as we know it formed millions of years ago (which resembles the big apes the most that are meant to deal with huge amounts of plant matter, mostly leaves, fruits, nuts and seeds)? http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/guest-blog/human-ancestors-were-nearly-all-vegetarians/ (It's...

Once I had a guest staying for a few days who kindly offered to cook dinner one night. However, I had to painfully watch how he was “peeling” the carrots – chopping off four-five thick slices that were considered peels. At that time I suggested using the peeler or just scraping off the thin layer, and he was impressed: “I never thought of that”. However, since then I started wondering, why are we peeling vegetables at all? It kind of looks simple: there is soil and dirt on the top layer therefore it's inedible. It must be safer that way. But we are becoming so meticulous about it, don't you think? Mostly, we do it out of habit. There are a few reasons I don't peel most of my vegetables (and fruits) anymore: 1. I see it as waste. So many people in the world haven't got enough food, and I know it doesn't make them any fuller that I don't peel vegetables but at least I know I'm not wasting precious food, even little bits of it. 2. I am lazy. I eat a lot of ve...

  We all know what sugar is, and that it's bad for us. UK government is even considering a "sugar tax" due to the constantly increasing obesity, especially among children. It's also damaging our teeth, while excess fructose causing harm to our liver. It may be causing addiction and might even act as a neurotoxin for our brain. But oh my, it makes things taste so good, and these days it's added to all sorts of foods (for that reason, of course). We are encouraged to consume less than 5% of our calories from sugar. But not all sugars are the same. Sugar, or glucose, is vital for our brain function and to maintain energy levels, that's the reason we crave it so much. Every single cell in our body needs sugar. But, you guessed it right, not the white powder! I was actually shocked to see a traffic light system on a bag of chestnuts, showing that sugars in them are quite high (yellow). It's a chestnut, for goodness sake! No one opened it and added a teaspoon of...

  Health nuts have discovered these green concoctions years ago but they still gain their popularity! However, lately they've been criticised for quite a few reasons: Green smoothies are high in sugar and have high glycemic index, therefore they can spike your blood sugar levels (and then the sugar "crash" comes) Blending destroys some beneficial fibres – we would never be able to naturally chew foods into this consistency, so we are depriving our digest ive tract and the friendly bacteria of these fibres They can contain ingredients that don't combine well together - starches, sugars, fats, acids, and it might compromise our digestion We don't chew these liquidized ingredients, so the food doesn't mix with digestive enzymes in our saliva in the mouth and might not digest properly They might be less filling than a proper meal as we drink them quickly and "pack" them tightly in the stomach so it is less full Greens and fruit are highly sprayed with pe...

Life happens.  I created Plantiful Nutrition in 2015 as a platform to promote my nutritional therapy practice and share health food information and inspiration. A number of life circumstances meant a pause in my nutrition practice and so the old website went silent. For a few years I have kept the domain going in the hopes that I will resume practicing but I think it’s time to let that website go. Instead I decided to transfer a few of the old blog posts here (really more for my own archive than anything else!), and hopefully continue writing. Whilst I don’t currently practice I absolutely never stopped caring about healthy plant based food (and talking about it). If it helps or inspires even one person, brilliant! If not, more stuff for my archive. Welcome if you read this far. P.S.This post does not have affiliate links. I would not know how to set them up (or ads; you may be able to tell from the excellently edited picture above).