Love Your Gut

Beat the winter chill!

Monday, November 19th, 2012

Is it just me or has the need for our winter woolies been more of a necessity over the last couple of weeks?

Wholesome winter soups and stews are the perfect meals to keep you warm and more importantly maintaining your digestive health. Quickly and easy to prepare and adaptable recipes to suit everyone’s need, soups and stews are an excellent way of ensuring you and your family have a healthy balanced meal packed full of vitamins, minerals protein and not forgetting our starchy carbohydrates.

Why not try this delicious Moroccan twist casserole that will ensure you are packed full of scrumptious gut loving ingredients.

Moroccan Stew

Ingredients

• 4 chicken breasts
• 1 onion
• 3 garlic cloves
• Two carrots sliced
• 4 medium sized potatoes diced
• 1 tine of cannelloni beans
• 4 tomatoes diced
• 1 packet of cherry tomatoes diced (optional)
• 2 tins of chopped tomatoes
• 1 litre of chicken stock
• 2 celery stocks
• 5 mushrooms chopped
• 2 bay leaves
• 1.5 tsp. of paprika
• 1 tsp. chilli flakes
• 1 tsp. ground cumin
• 1 tsp. ground ginger
• Tsp. tomato puree

Method

• Fry chicken onion and garlic in fry pan until meat is sealed then place into casserole dish
• Place all vegetables and potatoes in frying pan and sauté.
•  Add herbs, spice, tinned tomatoes and chicken stock to frying pan
• Allow to bubble before adding tomato puree and stir
• Allow to simmer for 5 minutes then pour over chicken.
• Place casserole in over at 180 degrees C and cook for 1 hour minimum or until vegetables are soft and sauce has reduced.
• Serve with baked potato, rice or couscous.

Tags: bacteria, constipation, dietary fibre, Gut Health, healthy diet, Love Your Gut, minerals, vitamins
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January on a budget

Monday, January 9th, 2012

After the festive period our wallets tend to be rather tight and it may be hard to meet and ends financially particularly due to January being a five weekend month. However this doesn’t mean you need to sit in and doing nothing for the whole month. With a little initiative and thought there is lots of fun and delicious food to be had. Why not try the below tips to help you get through January without having to stretch ourselves too much.

• Meet friends in your local park and go for a walk. This activity is free; you get to catch up on the gossip as well as you will also be exercising. Physical activity no matter how little is a good way of burning off that extra weight you may have gained during your festive celebrations. Exercise can also help our digestive health as carrying excess weight around the midriff can really affect the digestive system as it can put pressure on the stomach, squashing food mixed with stomach acid back into the gullet – which can cause heartburn.

• Buy frozen vegetables instead of fresh vegetables. This is a cheaper way of getting your five a day. Frozen vegetables contain the same amount for vitamins and minerals to help keep out gut healthy. They are cheaper and there is less wastage as you don’t need to make sure they are eaten before they go off.

• Make some soups and stews. These are relatively cheaper to make as you usually use cheaper cuts of meat and then bulk up on potatoes and vegetables and grains. Soups and stews are also good ways of getting fibre into our diet which will help us to maintain a healthy gut.

• Start your own ‘come dine with me’ on a set budget. This is a sociable way of having fun but also saving money as whilst you are out the expense for the meal you cook you know that you will be returned the favour. You don’t have to do it all on one week, decide with your friends how frequently and go from there. You could even have a ‘Love Your Gut’ Theme!

Tags: digestion, digestive health, fibre, fruit and vegetable, good digestion, Gut Health, healthy diet, minerals, vitamins
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