Well-Being Event at Oxford University Press

Just finished delivering a great 2 week well-being event at Oxford University Press with nutrition, relaxation, physical matters, baking competition, Tai Chi and loads more..

Awesome

Great new article yesterday in the National Post about how investing in Health & Wellbieng staff improves staff productivity:

Dr. Aw: Investing in employees’ health at work improves the bottom line for everyone, studies prove...

 http://life.nationalpost.com/2013/09/24/dr-aw-investing-in-employees-health-at-work-improves-the-bottom-line-for-everyone-studies-prove/

Just Back from First Health hub

Just back from our first Health Hub at The Rou Estate in Corfu - and blessed with great weather and great guests!

All had a great time and can't wait to go back in the Autumn to run 3 more, the first having more of a Yoga focus for our physical matters, with the same 360 approach of nutritional and mind matters included.

Pictures from this first trip are now uploaded onto our Facebook page - http://www.facebook.com/healthmatters360 with video footage coming shortly!

Only days to go now until our first fantastic Health Hub at The Rou Estate in Corfu (Monday 13th - Friday 17th June)... where will be joined by a number of guests and members of the press for a great week!

Health Matters 360 are delighted to announce their first overseas partner for their residential health hubs - at The Rou Estate in Corfu...

Autumn Foods

As we move into autumn and then winter our foodie thoughts move from salads and fruit to more wholesome and warming meals such as soups and stews. As a nutritionist and a foodie I like to make sure that food is appealing, easy enough to prepare to make others want to have a go but importantly it is nutritionally balanced. One of the sets of ingredients that I find greatly underutilised, which given their relatively low cost in comparison to the rising cost of meat and dairy products, is a sin, is plant proteins such as beans, nuts, peas and soy products.

Before moving on to talk about the most important things i.e. how to make some yummy soups, stews and snacks I need to cover off the science bit so you understand why these foods are important to your body. Proteins are part of our hormones, body tissues and our immune system. They are made of amino acids which can be made in and used by the body, but there are some which cannot be made by the body. These are called essential amino acids, and we therefore need to eat them. Plant proteins tend to be limited in one or more essential amino acids. For example, beans are low in the amino acid lysine, while rice is rich in lysine. When combining the amino acids from two or more foods together you can make up a complete protein with sufficient levels of all the essential amino acids. These are called "complementary proteins". Examples include grains and legumes or legumes and seeds and nuts.

Here are some delicious autumn/winter meal ideas that are cheap and easy to prepare:

SLOW- COOKER SPICY BEANS

2 medium onions, chopped

1 or 2 medium cans red kidney beans (sugar- free, rinsed)

2 courgettes (zucchini), washed and sliced

1 medium can tomatoes (no citric acid)

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp ground coriander

Preheat the slow- cooker on High.  Heat all ingredients in a saucepan then turn into the slow-cooker.  Turn cooker to low and leave all day.  Serve with whole-grain rice.

TUSCAN BEAN SOUP

1 tbls olive oil

1 onion, peeled and chopped

2 garlic cloves, crushed

1 × 425g/15oz can cannellini beans

Salt and freshly ground pepper

Lemon juice

Extra virgin olive oil (optional)

Roughly chopped flat leaf parsley

Heat the oil in a large saucepan, add the onion then cover and cook gently for 10 minutes, until tender but not brown.  Stir in the garlic and cook for 1-2 minutes longer.

Add the cannellini beans, together with their liquid, then purée in a food processer or blender until fairly smooth and creamy.

Return the mixture to the pan and add some water to adjust the consistency to your liking: about 300ml/½ pint makes a medium-thick soup.  Bring to the boil then season with salt and pepper and a squeeze or two of lemon juice.

Serve the soup in warmed bowls, topped with some extra virgin olive oil, if you like, some flat-leaf parsley and coarsely ground black pepper.

SERVES 2

SPICY LENTIL SOUP

1 tbsp oil

1 onion, peeled and chopped

8-10 cardamom pods

2 garlic cloves, crushed

1½ tsp turmeric

Pinch of chilli powder

1 bay leaf

175g/6oz split red lentils

Juice of ½-1 lemon

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Heat the oil in a large saucepan, then add the onion, cover and cook gently for 5-7 minutes.

Meanwhile, bruise the cardamom pods in a pestle and mortar or with a wooden spoon.  Add them to the onion, along with the garlic, turmeric, chilli powder and bay leaf, and cook over a gentle heat for a further 2-3 minutes.

Stir in the lentils, then pour in 750ml/1½ pints of water.  Bring to the boil and simmer, uncovered, for 20-25 minutes, until the lentils are very tender and pale coloured.

Sharpen the flavour with lemon juice to taste, season with salt and pepper, then serve accompanied by poppadums if you like.

SERVES 2

Thriving on stress or drowning in it?

In this day and age with information and technology overload and the pace of life seeming to speed up more and more, its difficult to know when stress levels are becoming too high and effecting our health.

A certain amount of stress is good for you and at times stress can help with overall performance.

Some individuals appear to thrive on stress.

However, we all need to know our individual limits to how much stress we can handle before it starts to undermine our health and wellbeing.

Some simple test are now available that help monitor where you are with stress levels and give clear indications as to how cortisol is effecting your health.

However, knowing that you are overloaded with stress is only half the picture.

Once stress is becoming a negative you then need to learn simple yet powerful techniques to support yourself and avoid long term effects.

At Health Matters 360 we work with individuals and organisations to minimise and/or transform the effects of stress through physical, nutritional and positive mind matters to ensure that you can create a positive life in balance.

Want your breakfast to really keep you going?

I realise that Kelloggs are going to make no money from any of these ideas....!!

• Plain yoghurt or low fat yoghurt with strawberries + pumpkin seeds + sunflower seeds
• Sardines / kippers (from can is okay) on wholemeal or rye toast + tomatoes
• Grilled goats cheese + tomatoes drizzled with olive oil and pine nuts on rye bread  
• 1/2 a grapefruit + 2 scrambled free range or organic eggs on rye/wholemeal toast + grilled mushrooms
• Porridgee with ground flax seeds and low GL syrup i.e. Sweet Freedom.

The proof of the breakfast is in the eating. See how you get on.