What's Good to Eat
It’s the New Year. Despite all good intentions, some rich but not too nutritious foods passed the lips and in some cases attacked the hips over the festive season. Something must be done to improve the diet but the idea of facing limp lettuce, tomato and cucumber heaped unappetisingly on a plate is too much to contemplate. Fear not. Healthy Eating is a lot tastier and less boring than you might think. Whether you are planning to follow a detox plan or simply looking for a different way to improve your diet, here are some delicious suggestions.
Beetroot Soup
Serves 4
This sweet root vegetable has long been considered a competent cleanser for the entire digestive system. This soup tastes extremely sweet and its rich velvet colour lends value to a most attractive dish.
4 large beetroot
2 medium apples and/or onions
soya cream
Peel beetroot, and apples if used, and cut into small pieces. Cut onions into same size pieces. Cover with water and simmer until soft. Liquidise until consistency is smooth. Return to pan and bring back to nearly boiling.
Serve with a dash of soya cream and rice cakes.
Vegetable Paella
Serves 6
A most useful dish where you can use either fresh vegetables or whatever you have in the fridge. It’s a fabulous family meal and has a splendid aroma. Rice is recommended for digestive disorders and is a great eliminator as it gathers toxins on its travels through the gastro-intestinal tract. The vegetables give helpful mineral wealth to the diet and the whole meal is full of fibre.
1½ cups short grain brown rice
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 large carrots
1 head broccoli
1 head celery
juice of half a lemon
1 large onion
4 cloves garlic
1 yellow or red pepper or half of each
1 large handful green French beans
3-4 cups vegetable stock or water
1 large handful fresh basil
Sauté the onion and garlic in oil for about 10 minutes using a Wok. Add the rice and stir well. Add the lemon juice. Add the stock (twice the quantity of water as rice). Bring to the boil and simmer for about 30 minutes with lid on. Chop up all the vegetables into bite-size pieces. Place them on top of the rice and cover – leave to simmer slowly for about 30-40 minutes.
Serve in the Wok whilst hot when all the moisture has been absorbed. Sprinkle with chopped basil.
Rainbow Salad
Serves 4
This extremely colourful salad is abundant with energy. Sprouted seeds give us invaluable amounts of vitamins, minerals and enzymes – they add new heights to our vital force. Be sure to use organic seeds and you will feel the goodness as you crunch them. Children really enjoy them – they sprout so quickly that each day there is something new to try. Peppers give us good sources of Vitamin C, beta carotene and potassium.
½ cup sprouted fenugreek seeds
½ cup sprouted chickpeas
½ cup sprouted alfalfa
½ cup sprouted green lentils
½ cup sprouted mung beans
½ cup sunflower seeds
½ red pepper
½ yellow pepper
½ orange pepper
½ green pepper
1 handful pine kernels
Slice all the peppers thinly and place them with all the sprouts in a large bowl and toss them in your hands. Add a dressing if desired (the tastes are wonderful on their own) and sprinkle the pine kernels on the top.
Eat this salad as soon as you have made it to obtain the total benefit from its freshness.
Lizee McGraw is a Nutritional Therapist, Nutritional Therapy council Registered Practitioner
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