Superfoods - Garlic

I am not sure why they call the superfoods...as when they describe what the super-foods do is only a normal thing for health ... i thought that calling them 'food' would be enough...anyway...
I have here a little booklet  (Esme Floyd,1) and there are some interesting facts from the superfoods chapter:

Garlic 
what:

1. reduces the risk of stomach and colon can 
2. helps lowering blood cholesterol
3. helps reducing blood pressure

how much
    only 2-3 cloves a day....not so much, huh?
She's not the only one recommending the daily garlic.
Weil (2) praises as well the natural antibiotic properties of garlic, and the effect of blood pressure lowering due to allicin.
 Holford (3) recommends as well garlic as a strong anti-bacterial and lowering of cholesterol. Garlic thins the blood preventing the blood clots and thus the clogging of arteries...how ? ' garlic does this by stopping platelets in the blood from sticking to each other'...a chemical called 'ajoene' seems to be responsible for this effect.
Now, whether it's allicin or ajoene..who cares...the garlic must be in your daily diet.

But the real catch here is this: studies recommend the real stuff, not the supplements/extracts/ pills. 3 raw cloves  a day seems to reduce clotting with 20%...
In Romania we say that garlic is great for health, but for sure a killer for romance...
well, there's some hope there: you can eat your 3 daily cloves in your cooked food...as the effect would be the same, but for sure the 'sweet aroma' wont drive your lover away.


(1) Esme Floyd - '1001 healthy eating miracles'
(2) Patrick Holford - 'Say no heart disease'
(3) Andrew Weil - 'Eating well for optimum health'

Drinks: Lemon tea

If you want to keep it low GL, my friend, then no fizzy drinks, no caffeinne, no red bulls or similar things that give you wings...nothing, nada -
only plain water or drinks that result by mixing the water with plant parts.

So we talk about teas, yep, the herbal ones.

Rooibos is the king, but chamomile and mint come close.

But if you want some

• strong antioxidants, 
•  great detox stimulent for your liver, 
• some nice aroma, 
• and trust me - great way to lose some weight, 
• plus a fantastic cheap source of good quality of vitamin C - great to fight during winter against the rebel colds,

then you must go for a lemon tea!

slice that lemon, throw it in the mug and kill it with some boiling water... and this is your lemon tea ....

Even more, to have at any moment all the goods with you, just add a slice of lemon to your water....

obviously, no sugar added...and don't make that face...you'll get used with the taste in no more than one day !

Healthy eating at work?

I was much too lazy this morning, so i left home without preparing my lunch box.

The hungers understands nothing about my lazyness, so I have to find a solution...and very quick....when I'm hungry I'm a beast.

A visit to our neighbours - Sainsbury's  - gives me a few options - some sandwiches, wrapps, salads...I usually go for them....mmm not today.

I want to see if I can make something healthier and with a better taste than the of-the-shelf offers.

So...let's see: one cucumber, some tomatoes...aaa, and a few slices of breaded ham from the deli counter...some wholemeal full of seeds rolls (well their shape is square, but I don't remember know how they are called).

And slice the bread, put between some slices of cucumber and tomotoes and the ham....  and voila...

The result: undoubtedly healthy, fresh, no preservatives and three times tastier than Sainsbury's stuff.

Not bad for 5 minutes of shopping and 3 minutes of  preparing them.

What you see it's half of it. Don't need anything more to satisfy. The hunger, of course.

The only downside: it's a little dry, so you must have some water after...

Crispbread - Ryvita

Only today I've discovered some new product from Ryvita - crispbread

It's called Fruit Crunch, wholegrain rye with currants and seeds, according to the label

It's sweet and it goes as a charm with a hot tea...smashing, believe me you

Go the the nearest shop and get some!

Lovely stuff

Omelet

Yes, eggs..the best ...good protein, good cholesterol, supertaste.
For a quick omelet you need 2 large eggs  - MUST be at least free range...if not organic...
What do you need for it?

first of all - no more than 3 minutes...then
 some butter
2 eggs - i was very hungry so i used 3 :-)
a pepper - i had a yellow one - for crunchyness and some fibres too
freshly ground black pepper
 - and for today i felt like adding some smoked salmon (omega 3, baby)...i have no idea if the tastes go together...i'll see later :-)

So simply whisk the eggs in a bowl, add the black pepper, meanwhile melt the butter in a non-stick pan - don't let it smoke!!

Pour the eggs in the pan, sprinkle on top the chopped pepper, let it set for maybe 1 minute. Only lift the edges of the omelet and tilt the pan to bring there the runny eggs from the middle of the pan.
The most important rule: the omelet it must stay runny in the middle if u want to have all the goods from the eggs and not destroy them...so don't turn it on the other side.

Now you just slide it on a plate, put some salmon on the edge, toast some wholemeal pitta e voila...you have a very fast lunch, no preservatives, no crazy stuffs, and if you do the maths...i guess it's very cheap too....

A, if u want the omelet fluffyer...add some milk in the whisked egg...nice, very nice texture with milk
And of course: never ever use oil for omelet - butter only...

The mix of omelet and smoked salmon was ok, really ok ....mmmm

Tuna pate

Omega 3's...you need them a lot for cells membranes, and brain especially needs these type of essential fatty acids...yeah...you need them...I need them too :-)

My tuna pate takes no more than 3,2 minutes to prepare it....and this only if you are as lazy as I am.

1 can of tuna - prefer the one in water, I dont like the oily ones
about 3 tablespoons of sweetcorn  - canned ok
about 2 teaspoons [well, if u feel ready for adventure, go with tablespoons instead of teaspoons :-)]of mayonese - organic, of course!
freshly ground black pepper - what an aroma...mmmm

The most important rule: drain well the tuna and sweetcorn of water - nothing more unpleasant than  a watery consistency of your pate ...yuk


Now just throw  everything in a food processor, whisk it for 20....ok, maybe 30 seconds....

ok, taste it now....add that black pepper, whisk again for 5 full seconds...and you're done... :-)

And now - you divide it in 2 small airtight tubs, this way you have it ready for a quick snack ...at home or take it with you at school or work ...

You eat it with wholemeal pitta to keep the GL low....the pitta can be cold...or toast it ...its crunchy with a smoky aroma...try it both ways to see the difference....

Great, huh?

My favorite stir fry

For one  - a very hungry one

100 gr turkey breast - at least, cut in cubes and let in a bowl covered in light soya sauce (comes with less salt)
                                  for minimum 10 minutes
2 peppers - different colours, cut in medium stripes, so it stays crunchy in the middle after's fried
1 onion - cut julien
1 carrot grated
5 brussel sprouts cut in 4 and boiled no more than 2 minutes
1 courgette  - would be good, i didn't have today
200g mushrooms  - when i dont have meat, i use mushrooms

1. heat the live oil in a generously sized pan
2.fry the onion until yellow-ish
3.add the meat and leave it in the pan for the first few seconds, so it fries nice, after that start stirring
4.after about 2 minutes, add the peppers, after other 2 minutes, add the grated carrot
5. add the boiled brussel sprout, and add the soya sauce.
6. continue frying and stirring for 5 more minutes, add chilli flakes (if u like it hot...i adore the taste) and black pepper.
 No extra salt is generally needed


Meanwhile you add some boiled water over a portion of cous-cous  - maybe half a mug; just add water to cover the cous-cous no more than one finger on top. In 3-4 minutes the cus-cous becomes fluffy and should absorb all the water.


So put the cous-cous on the bottom of a nice plate, put all the stir fry on top...and gorge on it....
absolutely beautiful :-)

Cous-Cous the largest source of carbohydrates is low-gl, with slow release of glucose
The vegetables provide good low cars, plus high content of fibres, antioxidants and vitamins, and minerals
Soya souce- good source of flavones with good influence on estrogen hormons
Low content of salt, good to avoid hypertension
Great flavours from chilli and black - pepper
It looks good and you dont need more than 15 minutes to prepare it FROM SCRATCH!!

So why not???? Try my stir fry :-)