Growing your own food has many benefits – it can save on grocery bills, provide a means to healthy activity at home and most importantly, you can produce fresh and (with a little effort) organic produce with many nutritional benefits. However, if you’re not quite up to the task of taking on a full vegie patch just yet, why not start with the humble Oyster mushroom – one of the tastiest and most nutritious mushrooms in the world and often difficult to get your hands on. This nutrient dense vegetable can be grown on your kitchen bench, with very little effort. Packed full of nutrients, the gourmet Oyster mushroom has been nicknamed the vegetarian steak due to its high iron content (higher than that of meat!). Along with Iron, they are also an excellent source of Vitamin B1, B2 & B3 (Niacin), Vitamin C and D, Protein, Calcium, Zinc, Magnesium, Potassium, Phosphorus and Folic Acid. All that goodness in one small package! Here’s a list of some of the main benefits you can gain from eating Oyster mushrooms:

Low calorie food, high vitamin content

With only 28 calories per cup, Oyster mushrooms are a fantastic low calorie option. They deliver a high content of vitamins. For example the Niacin (Vitamin B3) content is 500% more than in any vegetable.

Anti-oxidant/ immune boosting effect

Oyster mushrooms contain a unique antioxidant called Ergothioneine (unique to fungi), which helps to build the immune system, protect cells and reduces systemic inflammation.

Combat Cancer

Anti-cancer properties are also found in oyster mushrooms. According to the International Journal Of Oncology (Jedinaki and Silva 2008), extracts of the oyster mushroom can help to inhibit the growth of colon and breast cancer and has a potential preventative effect on these cancers.

Vitamin D

Oyster mushrooms are one of the few plant sources of Vitamin D, an essential vitamin that enables your body to absorb calcium and helps to prevent against heart disease.

Reduce high blood pressure and heart disease

Oyster mushrooms may help reduce high blood pressure and heart disease due to their high potassium content. The niacin content of oyster mushroom also contributes to heart health by stabilising cholesterol levels in the blood. The Ergothioneine content is another contributor to reducing the build up of plaque in the arteries which can lead to heart disease.

Relieve constipation

With its high fibre content, oyster mushrooms are a great way to relieve constipation. They contain up to 14% of the average recommended daily intake of fibre. The best news is, LifeCykel, a Fremantle based start up have created Australia’s first urban Mushroom farm, enabling you to grow gourmet delicious oyster mushrooms right out of a box at home. Both Julian and Ryan, the founders, are health professionals passionate about healthy eating which they believe requires food to be grown locally and organically. They utilise coffee waste as a key ingredient in growing their gourmet mushrooms, collecting over 1000kgs a month of coffee waste from local coffee shops in Fremantle, diverting it from landfill where it creates greenhouse gas emissions in the form of methane. LifeCykel provides home grown mushroom boxes which enable you to grow delicious Oyster Mushrooms on your own kitchen bench within 10-14 days. You can find more information at https://lifecykel.com.au

Why are they called superfoods?

Foods labeled “superfoods” are certainly high in some amazing antioxidants, vitamins and minerals, compared to their counterparts, but the term is primarily used as a marketing ploy to draw individuals to buy products and justify their high expense. For example, blueberries are marketed as superfoods for their high antioxidant properties, specifically high vitamin C levels, but in fact 1 cup of cooked (boiled) sweet potato has 42mg of vitamin C, compared to 14.4mg of vitamin C in 1 cup of blueberries.

What are the nutritional benefits of superfoods?

Superfoods are certainly beneficial for our body and when consumed assist us towards maintaining a healthy lifestyle, benefits include:

Blueberries

High in antioxidants particularly anthocyanins, and vitamins K and C, reducing risks of cancer and cardiovascular disease

Kale

High in antioxidants and Vitamins K, A and C, reducing risks of cancer and cardiovascular disease

Acai Berries

High in antioxidants particularly anthocyanins and essential fatty acids, promoting cardiovascular health

Goji berries

High in vitamins C, B2 and iron, essential for energy production

Broccoli

High in polyphenols protective against cancer, and folate protective against birth defects and heart disease

Flax seeds

High in fibre and essential fatty acids, promoting cardiovascular health

Chia Seeds

High in fibre and protein, promoting bowel health, satiety, and weight loss
Next time you see the term superfood down the shopping aisle, take a moment to justify your choice. Focus on consuming fresh organic produce filled with colourful fruits and vegetables and whole grains, aimed at increasing your antioxidant intake, reducing risks of disease. Author, Sarah Campbell, Naed Nutrition

Food is emotive, food is life. We revolve all our major events around food with family dinners, barbeques with friends, holidays, birthdays and even than Saturday night in on the couch is about what food you are going to eat. It’s no wonder we have shifted the balance with food from fuel to confidante. So how do you find your way back to viewing food as fuel instead of your emotional support when you have had a bad day?

Habit #1 Food is Stress Relief

You come home from a long day, your boss is on your back, you slept through your alarm this morning and your hair isn’t sitting right. You reach for a chocolate bar….

How to break this habit

Pop your trainers on and go to boxing session, run, walk or whatever exercise you enjoy doing. Nothing relieves stress more than exercise.
Call a friend and have a rant – it’s great to get it off your chest.
Have some retail therapy (guilt free of course) this is purely just to shift your focus and reward yourself WITHOUT using food.

Habit #2 Food Feeds Guilt

You feel so guilty about what you ate yesterday you are going to punish yourself by eating more bad food

How to break this habit

Negative talk is NOT doing your body any good. You are only one good meal away from getting back on track so take these steps:

• Accept why you ate what you ate
• Think of how you could approach the situation differently next time
• MOVE ON

Habit # 3 Food is All or Nothing

In order to achieve your goal you have to be 100% strict all of the time, your food has to be perfect and eating healthy means you become a hermit and end up binging anyway.

How to break this habit

Let go of the need to be perfect and embrace the need to be consistent. Consistency is the key to seeing long term results so rather than just eating salads for every meal, try to change one habit per week – whether it’s adding a cup of vegetables at lunch and dinner, or have an extra two glasses of water per day.  

Habit #4 Food is a Time Filler

You’re sitting at home bored, and your tummy grumbles so you head to the fridge, back to the couch, to the fridge and then the pantry and repeat 3-4 times before you decide what you are going to eat. YOU ARE BORED NOT HUNGRY.

How to break this habit

• Have a glass of water and busy yourself for 15 minutes, if you still feel hungry then you are actually hungry, if you are not then you were either thirsty or bored.
• Fill your time with activity rather than food – go for a bike ride, rearrange your wardrobe, whatever it takes to distract you.
• Drink more water – a lot of people cannot distinguish the different between when they are hungry and when they are thirsty so just to be safe drink more water.

 

Habit #5 Healthy Food is Boring

You have the same grilled salad five lunches in a row, the same fish and three veg each night….of course that is going to be boring. Even in you had a cheese pizza five lunches in a row you would be bored of it.

How to break this habit

• Get variety – make a different meal each night and have the left overs for lunch the next day
• Explore foods you may not have tried – i.e. kale
• Salad does not just mean lettuce, tomato, cucumber and onion…step outside the box
• Try one new recipe each week
• Remember it’s not healthy eating to have meat and vegetables at every meal, it’s regular eating

If you are struggling with your relationship with food simply email naednutrition@gmail.com for more personalised nutrition guidance.
Author, Sinead Tolley, Naed Nutrition

It may seem to be the latest craze at the moment but what exactly is this raw food diet and why is it gaining popularity? On the blog today, we’ve asked Ash Whittle of Raw Munch to provide the low down on what the Raw Food trend is all about and why it may benefit your health to consider eating Raw Foods more regularly.

What is a Raw Food?

We call food raw if it is uncooked – never heated above 48 C/118 F degrees and preferably unprocessed – as fresh (or wild) as possible. This includes fruits, vegetables, sprouts, nuts, seeds, grains and sea vegetables.
In some instances there are special ways to prepare the food (example: most raw and living foodies soak/sprout nuts, seeds and grains before consuming them). You may also hear the term ‘living’ or ‘live’ foods used, this gives us a better idea of the type of food consumed which is plant based.
This raw food retains its nutritional value, its life force, all its vitamins, mineral, oxygen, enzymes (which help us digest food) and much more because it is uncooked, unprocessed and untouched. This is honest food, no hidden ingredients.
By cooking food we destroy the natural occurring enzymes and lose many vital nutrients and it takes our body a lot longer to digest, which uses up a lot of energy. Many times you may feel tired or heavy after eating a cooked meal.

Why eat raw food?

The benefits of a raw food diet are endless but some of the major ones are as follows. You will have more energy, your skin will become clearer, your digestion will improve, you will lose weight, your immune system will improve, you will need less sleep. Your risk of developing heart and cardiovascular diseases will significantly drop.

So HOW do we change to a raw food diet?

Begin to introduce more fruit and vegetables into your diet with each meal. Have veggie sticks, nuts or fruit as a snack. You don’t have to be raw all the time, the idea is that you become conscious of the food you are eating and how it effects your body. Make a diary and take note of the effects each meal has on you physically and emotionally. Maybe transition 60 % raw food and 40% cooked vegan food for example.
The key is being prepared for the next meal. Get some recipe books and make up some recipes. You will be pleasantly surprised by the delicious meals you can prepare with great ease. Find recipes that don’t ask for exotic ingredients that are hard to find. Some great resource blogs are The Rawtarian, Raw Food Recipes, Rawmazing and This Rawsome Vegan Life.

Author – Ash Whittle, Raw Munch

For more information on the raw foods lifestyle, Ash offers a beginners workshop – Introduction into Raw Foods. To find out about upcoming dates and times, call Ash on 0457476119 or email rawmunchinfo@gmail.com. You can follow Ash on Facebook.

Additives are found everywhere in our packaged food products but what do those little numbers mean and which ones should you look out for? Here’s our list of the top 7 list of food additives to avoid: Aspartame # 951 C found in Diet Foods & diet soft drinks, equal,
Linked to many health problems including cancer, asthma, nausea, depressions, hyperactivity, seizures.
Causes dizziness, headaches & hallucinations
Olestra (Fat substitute) found in chips, crackers (no fat/reduced fat) Causes diarrheas, cramps, flatulence, increases appetite, decrease the ability for fat soluble vitamins to be absorbed. Erythrosine #E127 (red) found in jams, sugar lollies, toppings & fillings, red cordials and soups Causes concentration, increase in hyperactivity in kids, nerve toxin MSG #621 found in Chinese, salad dressings, soups, chips Linked to Asthma, hyperactivity, depression, mood changes, sleeplessness, nausea, migraine, linked to infertility, teratogen, convulsions, abdominal discomfort. See text re other hidden sources of MSG Causes headaches, dizziness, migraines, convulsions Sodium Nitrate #251/250 found in Bacon, ham, salami, corned beef, hot dogs Linked to Hyperactivity, behavioral problems, asthma, headaches, dizziness, possible carcinogen. Prohibited in foods for infants and young children. Sulfites  #222/223/228 eg: sodium bisulphite (222)Found in wine, beer and dried fruit Linked  to migraines and asthma attacks in some people Tartrazine #E102 (yellow) found in lollies, desserts, cereal and soft drinks Linked to Hyperactivity, behavioral problems, skin rashes, migraines and thyroid problems. Unfortunately, to add to the confusion, they won’t always be listed under these names or numbers. For example, Tartrazine #E102 is listed as FD&C yellow 5 or C.I. 19140. Be consumer aware and download the free app Additive Alert! For more information on becoming consumer aware with your foods, call our Currambine practice on 9304 1000 to make an appointment with our in-house dietician.

We know a diet high in fruit and vegetables is best for our health, but unfortunately hidden pesticide residue on our fruit and vegetables could be doing more harm than good. Have you heard of the “Dirty Dozen”? This is a list, published annually by the Environmental Working Group, which identifies the worst fruits and vegetables for pesticide contamination. The list is based on results of produce tested by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and Food and Drug Administration. The samples are tested for pesticides after they have been prepared to be eaten. This means the produce is thoroughly washed and, when applicable, peeled. After these preparations, pesticide residues are still detected on many of the fruits and veggies. Whilst the study is U.S. based, it is still highly relevant to the Australian market, with imported fruit and vegetables for sale in our supermarkets. Those nominated on the Dirty Dozen list are the kind that you should really consider buying organic, to avoid pesticide consumption, if you can afford to. If you can’t afford organic all the time, try shopping at your local farmer’s market, where you can speak to growers directly about what is used on their produce. Whilst not always certified organic, some growers use alternative methods to avoid pesticide spray.

The 2017 EWG Dirty Dozen is:

• Strawberries
• Spinach
• Nectarines
•  Apples
• Peaches
• Pears
• Cherries
• Grapes
• Celery
• Tomatoes
• Sweet Bell Peppers
• Potatoes

EWG also publish a Clean 15 list, identifying the top 15 least likely to be contaminated.

Here’s the list for 2017:

• Sweet corn
• Avocados
• Pineapples
• Cabbage
• Onions
• Frozen Sweet Peas
• Papayas
• Asparagus
• Mangos
• Eggplant
• Honeydew
• Kiwi
• Cantaloupe
• Cauliflower
• Grapefruit

Full details of the EWG report can be found here. We also recommend their Frequently Asked Questions page for further information.

With winter in full swing in Perth at the moment, we’d like to share with you an article we read recently on the 10 best fruit and vegetables to support your immune system. Author Georgia Harding is a qualified naturopath and mother of two with a fantastic blog called Well Nourished – full of loads of great recipes and tips to feed yourself and your family wholesome nutritious meals. We’ve all heard the saying “food as medicine”. Next time you start feeling the onset of a cold or flu coming on – turn to the kitchen and consider what you can eat that might kick it to the kerb! Georgia advises that ALL fruit and vegetables support a healthy digestive and immune system, however some are more immune supportive than others. So which are the stand out immune boosters?

The list looks like this:

• Citrus
• Leafy Greens
• Pineapple
• Carrots
• Papaya
• Brassicas
• Berries
• Ginger and Turmeric
• Mushrooms
• Garlic

Find out why their so great, and how you can use them by reading Georgia’s full article 10 fruits and vegetables to support your immune system For some immune-boosting recipes featuring the all star cast above, we recommend the following recipes: Immune Boosting Smoothie by Teresa Cutter, The Healthy Chef Coconut Lemon Chicken Soup by Quirky Cooking Autumn Salad by Food Matters The Ultimate Immune Boosting Soup by The Healthy Maven

Today we share an article from our friends at Naed Nutrition to help explain the differences between Cacao and Cocoa. Did you think they were all the same?  Well, not quite and here is why…

	Cacao	Cocoa
What is?	Cacao is a raw superfood that comes from cacao beans. It is the purest form	Cocoa is cacao, roasted
What nutrients is it high in?	Antioxidants Magnesium Iron Potassium Zinc Healthy fats Fibre Protein	Less of each nutrient when compared to cacao particularly fibre and healthy fats
Pros	Promotes cardiovascular health Improves mood Reduces insulin resistance Very high source of antioxidants Excellent source of nutrients	Slightly less health benefit due to heating procedure
Cons	Bitter and rich in flavour	Mostly teamed with high sugar, milk fats, hydrogenated oils and artificial flavourings in products
Most common forms	Powder Nibs Butter	Powder

Which one do I pick?

The rawest form of the food is the best option. When making your own hot chocolates, smoothies, protein balls or dessert the raw cacao (organic if you can) is your best option in terms of health, longevity and a fat loss. Majority of cheap cocoa powders are going to be teamed with sugars. When choosing an item pre made, your cacao is always going to be better – just be sure to check what it is teamed with (hydrogenated oils / sugars etc.) Keen to know more? Here’s another detailed article on the subject of cacao vs cocoa If you just need a healthy chocolate fix – try our delicious Protein Balls recipe.

Lemons are vitamin C rich citrus fruits excellent at flushing out toxins. They are extremely beneficial for the body. Here’s a great article from FoodMatters about the benefits from drinking a glass of warm water with lemon daily on rising. Warm lemon water serves as the perfect ‘good morning drink’, as it aids the digestive system and makes the process of eliminating the waste products from the body easier. It prevents the problem of constipation and diarrhea, by ensuring smooth bowel functions. A glass of lemon juice contains less than 25 calories. It is a rich source of nutrients like calcium, potassium, vitamin C and pectin fibre. It also has medicinal values and antibacterial properties. It also contains traces of iron and vitamin A. Lemon, a fruit popular for its therapeutic properties, helps maintain your immune system and thus, protects you from the clutches of most types of infections. It also plays the role of a blood purifier. Lemon is a fabulous antiseptic and lime-water juice also works wonders for people having heart problems, owing to its high potassium content. So, make it a part of your daily routine to drink a glass of warm lemon water in the morning and enjoy its health benefits. Read on for more interesting information on the benefits of warm lemon water.

16 Health Benefits Of Drinking Warm Lemon Water

• Lemon is an excellent and rich source of vitamin C, an essential nutrient that protects the body against immune system deficiencies
• Lemons contain pectin fibre which is very beneficial for colon health and also serves as a powerful antibacterial
• It balances to maintain the pH levels in the body
• Having warm lemon juice early in the morning helps flush out toxins
• It aids digestion and encourages the production of bile
• It is also a great source citric acid, potassium, calcium, phosphorus and magnesium
• It helps prevent the growth and multiplication of pathogenic bacteria that cause infections and diseases
• It helps reducing pain and inflammation in joints and knees as it dissolves uric acid
• It helps cure the common cold
• The potassium content in lemon helps nourish brain and nerve cells
• It strengthens the liver by providing energy to the liver enzymes when they are too dilute
• It helps balance the calcium and oxygen levels in the liver In case of a heartburn, taking a glass of concentrated lemon juice can give relief
• It is of immense benefit to the skin and it prevents the formation of wrinkles and acne
• It helps maintain the health of the eyes and helps fight against eye problems
• Aids in the production of digestive juices
• Lemon juice helps replenish body salts especially after a strenuous workout session

Packed with all the goodness, make it a point to begin your day with a glass of warm lemon water. Its cleansing and healing effects will have positive effects on your health in the long