I’ve decided to start a new series on healthfoodlover.com: frugal and healthy!

Why “frugal and healthy”? Because one huge obstacle to eating well is actually being able to access and afford nutritious foods and to make it work in your personal budget, whatever that may be.

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In addition to the recipes, i’ll be noting how much each ingredient costs, costs per serve and where I buy the ingredients from as well as nutritional content.

Stay tuned and I hope you enjoy this series as it unfolds.

– Michelle.

Hi Health Food Lovers.

I am SO excited to finally tell you that I’ve written a book! The book is called The Everything Guide to Spices for Health. It will be your guide to using spices for a healthier and more delicious life.

There are plenty of delicious recipes and over 200 pages of information on how to enrich your diet with spices for their culinary and therapeutic benefits.

In The Everything Guide to Spices for Health some of what you will learn, includes:

*How to benefit the cardiovascular system using spices

*Using spices to bourish your nervous system, brain health and reduce stress

*Improve digestive health with spices

*Encourage a healthy immune system by using spices in the diet

Plus much much more! You will also learn ways to use spices to improve overall health of the body, plus cooking ideas and recipes.

You can Pre-order the book here:

Barnes and Nobles (US)

Amazon (US)

Readings (AUS)

Fishpond (AUS)

I hope you enjoy the book!

Michelle.

For the past few months I have begun a little adventure into growing my own medicinal herbal plants. I feel like I’ve learnt a lot through this process. The one’s that have survived the best has been calendula, also known as marigold (Calendula officinalis). They are really easy to grow. I grew them from seeds towards the end of winter and eventually I planted them in a large-ish planting box and now they are thriving. I have about 6 or so calendula plants. I’m looking forward to them flowering later on. A few of the other plants I have in my garden include raspberry plants, comfrey, chamomile (no flowers yet), garlic and an elder flower/berry tree.

I was quite inspired in India seeing all the plants they grew, including withania. I’m quite interested in growing withania because it is such a loved herb among herbalists and naturopaths. I would be so happy to have my own home-grown supply of it.

I’ve sourced my medicinal seeds from a few places including Horizon Herbs (US), Eden Seeds and Beauticanicals, the latter two of which are in Australia. I’m now in my second round of attempting to grow withania (Withania somniferia), the ‘vedic type’, with seeds from Horizon Herbs. My first attempt in growing it, I grew them in a heated seed box and I was able to germinate a few, sadly they died. Maybe it was a little too hot in there for them. On the 3rd of October I sowed some more, this time out of about 7 small pots, only one seed has germinated. I think I put 2-3 seeds in each pot.

So now my plan is to keep it happy and thriving. According to the seed packet for my withania seeds, from Horizon Herbs, here is how they should be grown:

On the Horizon Herbs website they suggest growing it as an annual and growing it for 200 days to develop the medicinal roots.

How I’m growing Withania:

With the little seedling I have above, I’ve put it near a windowsill and i’m giving it a spray of water everyday. It took about 17 days to germinate one little seedling, hopefully the others will follow.

Here is some information on growing withania:

Germination rate:

• 10 – 20 days (Heirloom Organics).
• Light dependent germinator.  15 days (Horizon Herbs).

When to sow:

• Sow in early spring indoors or in the greenhouse.

Sun:

• Part to full sun (Heirloom Organics).
• Plant prefers full sun (Horizon Herbs).

Soil:

• Fast-draining, alkaline (pH 7.5 to 8.0) soil and dryish conditions.  Sweeten regular garden soil with ground limestone.  (Horizon Herbs).

Water:

• Dryish conditions. (Horizon Herbs).

Planting:

• Space 1 foot apart–grows 2 to 3 feet tall, producing eventually the lantern-like pods enclosing the pea-sized fruits, green at first and becoming bright red as the inflated calyx dries and becomes transparent.

Days to harvest:

• 6 months (Heirloom Organics).
• 100 to 200 days (Horizon Herbs).

I would love to know have you ever grown withania or any other medicinal plants?  Please let me know in the comment box below and share your experiences. 

Here is a really simple recipe which I’m sure you’ll love: Baked Banana Split with Salted Chocolate Sauce! It’s a really easy and delicious treat.

Here’s the recipe:

Baked Banana Split with Salted Chocolate Sauce

Serves 1-2

Ingredients:

• 1 ripe banana
• 1 teaspoon of butter
• 1 teaspoon of desiccated coconut

For the salted chocolate sauce:

• 1 tablespoon of cocoa powder
• 1-2 teaspoons of water (or enough to make a smooth sauce)
• 1-2 teaspoons maple syrup
• 1/2 teaspoon of celtic salt (or enough to give it a salty but enjoyable taste).

How to:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees C.
2. Slice the banana skin lengthwise just enough to open the banana. Then slice the banana, being careful not to slice the banana all the way through.
3. Add teaspoon of butter in the banana and stick it together. Sprinkle the banana with the dried coconut.
4. Place the banana on a baking tray and bake until soft about 15 minutes or so.
5. While it is baking, make the sauce: mix the cocoa powder, water and maple syrup until you have a smooth sauce.
6. When the banana is baked, peel off the banana skin and serve with the salted chocolate sauce.
7. Enjoy!

Hi Health Food Lovers. Today we have a giveaway for some beautiful bath tea, from the lovely Natasha Linz from Temple Bath Tea. I met Natasha in India earlier this year. Natasha is currently studying Naturopathy (Bachelor of Health Science) and she has created her own line of Naturopathic, hand-crafted bath teas, called Temple Bath Tea.

Here’s what Natasha has to say about her hand-crafted line of herbal bath teas:

“Temple Bath Teas were created from my passion for herbs and their medicinal values. Herbal baths have been used for centuries, by cultures all around the world. The skin is the largest organ of your body and when immersed in water, the pores of the skin are open and receptive to the healing properties of herbs. The Bath Temple experience allows you to unwind your mind while nourishing your body. For most of us, showering has become another task on the to-do list. Yet, having a bath encourages 15 minutes of you time, a time for peace and introspection. I strongly believe in conscious and mindful living, which is why I have provided mantras for you to meditate upon. All products are made by hand and naturopathically formulated to support the condition indicated. There are currently 5 therapeutic teas; Nourish, Detox, Sleep, Immunity, and Soothe. Jump on over to the website at  www.templebathtea.com to read all about the ingredients”.

Thanks to Natasha, today we have a giveaway. In this giveaway you have the chance to win a surprise Temple Bath Tea.

 Temple Bath Tea Giveaway

UPDATE 1/7/15:GIVEAWAY CLOSED. CHECK BELOW TO SEE THE WINNER!

 What you will win:

One lucky person will win a surprise bag of Temple Bath Tea.

How to enter:

There are 6 ways to enter and each way counts as one entry. Please leave a comment with EACH way you have followed/liked/signed up/re-posted/tweeted/shared so we know which way(s) you have entered (though with Instragram we can see your entry with the #wintemplebathtea).

1. Follow Temple Bath Tea on Instagram @bathtemple
2. Like the Health Food Lover Facebook page by clicking here
3. Sign up to receive the Health Food Newsletter by clicking here.
4. Re-post the image above that is marked ‘giveaway‘ on Instagram by ‘hashtaging’ #wintemplebathtea  and tag @bathtemple. (You can save the image on your phone or computer and upload it to Instagram).
5. Tweet about the giveaway by tweeting: 
   Enter to win Temple Bath Tea #wintemplebathtea @loverhealthfood http://wp.me/pUqsc-21f

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6. Share this link on your Facebook page: http://wp.me/pUqsc-21f and tag it with #wintemplebathtea

Notes:

• For Instagram entries to count, your profile needs to be set to ‘public’ (otherwise we won’t be able to see your entry).
• This competition is open to Australian residents only.
• This competition will close after the 30th of June 2015.
• The winner will be generated by random.org and will be announced on the 1st of July 2015 .
• We will contact you by email.

 Good luck!

…

UPDATE 1/7/15: GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED. The winner is: TAYLA_W93 (on Instrgram).

Thanks everyone for entering!

Hi Health Food Lovers,

This is a bit of a mixed-bag of a post, but here goes! Here are some updates, a recipe and some information on my upcoming Ebook which I’m very excited to tell you about.

I’m now a qualified Naturopath! After studying for quite a few years, I’ve now completed my Bachelor of Health Sciences (BHSc) and am a now a qualified Naturopath! Please stay tuned for more information on my future endeavors.

India & my visit to Jagran Jan Vikas Samiti: In January I had an awesome experience learning at Jagran Jan Vikas Samiti, which is an Indian Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) in Udaipur, Rajasthan, India. I, along with a group of qualified Naturopaths and student Naturopaths/Nutritionists were introduced to some of Jagran’s programs including one where they support the traditional medicine healers, the Gunis. They help the Gunis to work at the health camps where they can look after their people using a range of therapies including myotherapy (originally taught to them by an Australian myotherapist) and herbal medicine. Here are some photos of the Gunis and the health camps we visited:

It was really a great experience and we learnt a lot. I you would like to learn more you can contact Jagran, in the link above.

Ebook & Updates

I also have started a Health Food Lover newsletter! You can subscribe in pink bar at the top of my blog or from the box to the right under the search bar. The newsletter will give you updates of what i’m up to, the latest recipes and news.

I’m now in the process of writing my Health Food Lover Ebook. I would love to know what you would want to see in it, so please have a look at this short survey and tell me what you would like to see. Alternatively you can just let me know what you think in the comments below. Take The Health Food Lover Ebook Survey Now  Thank you! You can also sign up for an exclusive newsletter for information on my Ebook.  Click here to sign up.

Recipe: Indian Ginger Chai

While I was in India, we had a few Ayurveda cooking classes and I tried to find out the recipes for as meals and drinks as I could learn, from the lovely people who prepared our meals. The chai was a recipe I found was essential for me to write down. We enjoyed chai every day and multiple times a day. It was so delicious, this is definitely a recipe you’ll want to try!

Ingredients:

• Water, about a cup per person
• 1/2. – 1 tsp. per person of loose leaf black tea – At Jagran, they used a brand called Bajaj. Here in Australia I’ve just used a loose leaf Assam chai that I bought from an Indian shop.
• ~ 1/2 – 1 C. Full cream milk (full cream, rather than low fat milk makes it taste best), or an alternative milk of your choice
• Sugar – In India they used plain white sugar. When I’ve made it myself I’ve used Rapadura sugar but you could use honey instead or just leave the sugar out. When using sugar, I try to add just enough to sweeten, usually 1/2 tsp. to 1 tsp. of sugar.
• 1 tablespoon fresh ginger, sliced

How to:

1. In a pot, add the water, put the pot on the stove and bring the water to a boil.
2. Add the loose leaf black tea.
3. Add the sugar and milk and keep boiling.
4. While that’s boiling, take the piece of ginger, and roll it with a rolling pin to crush it. Then add the ginger to the boiling tea. Keep an eye on it as it can boil over quickly. When your chai has a nice colour (like in the picture above) turn the heat off.
5. Then strain the mixture and enjoy your chai.

Let’s do a little quiz, how many of you would answer yes to one or more of the questions below:

• Do you suffer from recurrent colds and find that you’re always getting sick?
• Do you have issues with your digestion?
• Would you like radiant and clear skin?
• Want to eliminate menstrual issues?
• Are you feeling wired & tired and want more energy?
• Do you want to supercharge your memory and recall?
• Want to improve athletic performance and recovery?
• Would you like refreshing, sound sleep?
• Do you want to take control of your hay fever symptoms and/or allergies?
• Want to change the way you feel about your body and your relationship with food?
• OR INSERT YOUR HEALTH COMPLAINT HERE.

Then it’s time to see a Naturopath! Michelle is now seeing clients for AFFORDABLE Naturopathy consults at the Melbourne Wellnation Clinic, at the fully supervised student clinic. Michelle has a person-centered approach that helps clients optimise their health and well-being and improves their understanding of how holistic health care can improve their lives. Michelle is passionate about whole, real and traditional foods and the role they have in helping clients to become nutritionally replete and balanced.

What is Naturopathy? Click here to read more about Naturopathic medicine on the Wellnation Clinic website (click “Naturopathy”).

What Naturopathy can assist with: As well the health issues and conditions mentioned in the questions above, in Naturopathic medicine we can also:

• Educate you on what foods to eat in order to suit your health needs
• Dietary planning & analysis
• Analyze your Iris signs & constitution
• Bio Impedance testing
• Assist with pre-conception care and pregnancy planning
• Formulate individuised herbal medicine mixtures
• Recommend the best practitioner-only products
• Help improve your digestion, absorption and elimination
• Improve your stress management and tolerance

Not sure if Naturopathy can help your particular problem or issue? Send me an email for more information at michelle@healthfoodlover.com

Michelle’s session times:

• Monday from 8am to 11am.
• Wednesday from 8am to 11am.
• Friday from 8am to 11am.
• Saturday from 9am to 12pm.
• Saturday from 12:30pm to 3:30pm.

Consultation costs:

• First consult (goes for 90 minutes): $10.
• Subsequent consults (goes for an hour): $8.

Book now! Appointments get filled quickly so make sure to book soon to avoid disappointment. 

To book call the Wellnation Clinic on (03) 9662 4856 and state that you would like to be booked in with Michelle and the session time you would like to be booked in (as mentioned above). You can also book online at your convenience.

Over January I went on the Whole30, a dietary program that seems to be part elimination diet and all nutritious diet. It was designed by Dallas and Melissa Hartwig. And now, I’m going on it again!

What is the Whole30®?

Certain food groups (like sugar, grains, dairy and legumes) could be having a negative impact on your health and fitness without you even realizing it. Are your energy levels inconsistent or non-existent? Do you have aches and pains that can’t be explained by over-use or injury? Are you having a hard time losing weight no matter how hard you try? Do you have some sort of condition (like skin issues, digestive ailments, seasonal allergies or fertility issues) that medication hasn’t helped? These symptoms may be directly related to the foods you eat – even the “healthy” stuff. So how do you know if (and how) these foods are affecting you?

Strip them from your diet completely. Cut out all the psychologically unhealthy, hormone-unbalancing, gut-disrupting, inflammatory food groups for a full 30 days. Let your body heal and recover from whatever effects those foods may be causing. Push the “reset” button with your metabolism, systemic inflammation, and the downstream effects of the food choices you’ve been making. Learn once and for all how the foods you’ve been eating are actually affecting your day to day life, and your long term health. The most important reason to keep reading?

This will change your life.

–From the Whole 9 Life website

It is a program that gets you eating good, real food and excluding all processed and refined food, grains, dairy, legumes, potato, alcohol and sugar (even ‘natural’ sugars) and it is going to get you feeling pretty good, pretty soon! In a way, I like the constraints of this 30 day program as you I didn’t really have to think much what to cook/eat. And remember it is just for 30 days.

Click here to read the outline of the Whole30 program.

I’m not going to lie, however-  the Whole30 is pretty strict. And if you haven’t spent much time cooking your own real food (generally speaking) (read here about the benefits of cooking your own food) this could be a bit of a jump for you. But it doesn’t take long to get into the swing of things.

I think the stand out for me in this program, is that it aims to help you let go of the idea of certain junk foods.

For me, if there is one thing to remember while following the Whole30, it is that to not ‘re-create’ foods that make seem like ‘paleo’ versions of a junk food. And to avoid having dessert, which is hard I know. But remember it is only for 30 days!

How to prepare:

• For me, one of the best things ever to do to prepare for the Whole30, was write a big list of potential foods I would like to eat and then at the start of each week I would choose what I wanted to cook that week and then I would turn the weeks menu into a shopping list and then get everything I needed for that week.
• When you cook each nights dinner, cook a bit extra and keep that for your next day’s lunch.
• Don’t buy anything that you will be avoiding on this 30 day program – it will just be making it too hard for yourself.
• Prepare food on the weekend to give you more time in the week.

Meal ideas (these could be used for any meal):

Nb: Many of these ideas I had on my own whole30, others I’ve added as you may like to try them out. Many of these I need to write up recipes for – so stay tuned!

• Eggs, lots of eggs! Eggs were my go-to breakfast and quick-to-make lunch for much of the Whole30.
• ‘Sweet’ breakfast omelette.
• ‘Sweet’ breakfast omelette with blueberries.
• Scrambled eggs with fruit: This is something Dallas Hartwig suggested to me via Instragram (so I cannot take credit for the idea). I just beat two eggs, cook them in a bit of coconut oil or ghee and then mix in chopped peaches and stir until the eggs are scrambled. Top with basil leaves and pecans. This is actually really delicious!
• Basil and Tomato Frittata
• Cooked canned sardines.
• Sweet potato and coconut soup.
• Boerwors (South african sausage)/any good quality sausage will do.
• Meat balls in tomato sauce.
• Meat balls, spinach and bone broth soup.
• Cleansing and delicious salad.
• Cleansing and delicious salad version 2.
• Homemade ‘Peri Peri’ chicken: chicken thighs or breasts marinated in lemon juice, jalapenos, garlic and salt & pepper and then baked in the oven until cooked.
• Tuna/sardines on top of an avocado.
• Bone broth soups. Such as my Grass-Fed Bone Broth Pho.
• Apple, cucumber and basil salad with chicken: 1/2-1 green apple cored and chopped into cubes, 1/2 avocado cubed, 1 Lebanese cucumber cubed & a few basil leaves served with a piece of chicken.
• Chilli & Lime Prawns with Jalapeno, Mango and Tomato Salsa.
• Sesame-Crusted Sardine, Fennel and Sweet Potato Cakes.
• Baked golden sweet potatoes topped with a tsp. of ghee & served with your protein source of choice.
• Sweet potato cakes.
• Meat/fish/poultry served with a colourful salad.
• Meat and veggie nori wraps.
• Purple cabbage, mango and cucumber salad: 1/2 purple cabbage finely sliced, 2 mangoes cubed and 1 cucumber chopped into cubes. Mix together.

Recipe: Baked Tomato & Basil Frittata 

Ingredients:

• ghee or coconut oil (and extra to grease tray)
• 1 onion, peeled and chopped roughly
• 2 cloves of garlic, crushed
• 10 eggs
• 3 tbsp. water
• 3 fresh tomatoes, chopped roughly
• 1 bunch of basil leaves
• salt and pepper to taste

How to:

Pre-heat oven to 160 degrees. In a pan add the ghee or coconut oil and cook chopped onion until soft.  Stir in crushed garlic, chopped tomatoes, and salt and pepper and cook for a few minutes until tomatoes are soft. Then beat the eggs and water until you have a smooth consistency. Pour the eggs and cooked tomato + onion combo and the fresh basil  into a greased pan (I used a pyrex container one which was 35cm (length) by 24cm (width) by 7cm (height)). Stir in the fresh basil. Bake for about 30-40 minutes OR until cooked through (it shouldn’t wobble at all once cooked).

Recipe: Grilled Nectarine with Honey & Natural Yoghurt

Makes: 1 or 2 serves

Ingredients:

• 1 white nectarine
• 1 tbsp. butter or coconut oil
• full fat natural yoghurt
• raw honey

How to:

Cut the nectarine in half and remove the pit. Grill the nectarine halves in a pan on both sides until lightly browned. Serve with a tablespoon or so of full fat natural yoghurt and a dash of honey.

Enjoy!