Gut-friendly Prebiotic Guacamole

I don’t know about anyone else, but I’ll be happy to never see another Easter egg (and definitely happy for my kids not to!) for at least another 12 months. By Easter Sunday I generally can’t bear to see any more recipes for delicious chocolate fudge cakes, and I start craving anchovies on buttery garlic bread. This year, Easter Sunday also fell on my son’s 7th birthday, so we had the double-whammy of ice-cream cake too!

Anyway, this guacamole doesn’t have any anchovies (although I might give that a try sometime…), but it’s a good ‘re-set’ dip to keep in the fridge for meals and snacks, with lots of veggies, good fats, and prebiotic fibre.

We hear all about probiotics in health and wellness land, the good bacteria for our gut, which are found in yoghurt, kefir and other fermented products – and the food industry has jumped all over the marketing opportunities. But we rarely hear about prebiotics. In his book ‘The Clever Guts Diet’, Dr Michael Mosley discusses the importance of prebiotic fibre. This is plant fibre the body cannot digest, but which acts like ‘fertiliser for the gut’, laying the foundations so that the good bacteria can thrive.

Maybe gut fertiliser just isn’t as sexy to sell. 😉 Continue reading →

‘Obligers’: Lend me your ear… A sort-of New Year Resolution post

Around December or January I usually write a post that’s a bit New Years resolution-y. Not because I necessarily plan to, but because, along with nearly everyone else in the population, it’s that time of year when I’m reflecting on life more than usual (which is saying something, because I’m constantly over-thinking anyway!). The New Year, and my birthday, are particularly angsty times. A year ago, I was angsting about being an obliger. Two years ago, I was angsting about how my resolution to reduce my social media use the year prior to that had been unsuccessful, and I just regurgitated the same resolution. In fact, still constantly working on that one…

Someone recently asked me if I had any resolutions for this year, and I was like, ‘Nah… Not really. There’s things I want to change this year but no particular resolutions.’ Thinking about it later, I realised that I actually do – they just snuck up on me in such an unusually ‘resolved’ way, I hadn’t quite noticed.

In 2017, I allowed my self-worth to get so low, I spent much of the year feeling like a Complete Failure in Life. I lost my sense of purpose and direction, my passion and drive, and I became resigned to being a disappointment to myself. From my backseat, I observed, with depressive mild interest, how other people seemed to be able to Achieve Things in Life. Not helped by recurring sickness, I basically wallowed in various states of (functional) despair, feeling confused and guilty about why I was experiencing this, given I have such a lucky and lovely life. Continue reading →

Mocha-Banana Breakfast Smoothie

Breakfast is one of my favourite meals of the day, and will often see me in the kitchen making some annoyingly elaborate concoction, while my husband rolls his eyes and accuses me of overcrowding the dishwasher to make yet another ‘complicated breakfast’.

Over the last few weeks though, I haven’t had much of an appetite in the morning – but unfortunately my tendency towards low blood sugar means I usually need to eat something ‘proper’ to keep it in check (honestly, my blood sugar is sometimes like the beast lying dormant within, ready to explode in hanger at a moment’s notice…). On one such morning I also wanted coffee, albeit decaf. And so, the mocha-banana breakfast smoothie was born, with a little hidden veg. It’s a coffee-and-healthy-breakfast all in one, summer-friendly start to the day.

As we head off for a family holiday on Tuesday, this will be my last post for the year. I hope for all of you to have a lovely holiday season, but I’m also thinking of those who find this time of year difficult – because it can also be a fraught time, can’t it?
Take care,
Erin xx Continue reading →