Category Archives: Family cooking

Gingerbread has gone rogue this Christmas

As we begin December and the lead up to Christmas, my attention keeps returning to food. Not about what I’m eating at any given moment or what I’m going to eat for my next meal. But I am stuck in a brain loop of sorts about the prospect of cooking and baking everything in time for Christmas. Every year, it is a logistical nightmare to find the time to bake Christmas cookies, pies and cakes, amongst work, family and holiday commitments. And the timing is pretty crucial. If you bake too early, you risk either running out of everything or being completely bored by it by the time Christmas rolls around. But if you do it too late, you will find yourself facing towers of leftover mince pies until Valentine’s Day. Then there is the big question of what to cook on Christmas day itself. Do you make the same traditional meal yet again or make the bold choice to mix it up with some new flavours and sides? It’s always a risky move to ‘go big or go home’ when you can’t hide in your own kitchen.

Continue reading →

Healthy hacks to meet your budget

Leave a reply

There’s a sure sign, which I can’t help but notice, that marks the start of another academic year. It is suddenly much easier to get through the maze of supermarket aisles. Not that I am complaining about being rammed by child-sized mini-trollies. Or about one occasion, where I was almost ploughed down by a child bombing down the cereal aisle on a bike. After all, even though my children have grown up, I am still a parent. But all parents, if they’re honest, will readily admit that doing a weekly shop is far easier, less stressful and more efficient sans sprogs. Primarily because you can choose your purchases freely and without the prospect of facing any further negotiations or arguments. Not to mention, because you also have a bit more control over exactly what you spend. Although, with the cost of living crisis hitting most families’ budgets, it is getting more difficult to make any savings when it comes to buying healthy food.

Continue reading →

Put a Spring in your step with these recovery tips

Leave a reply

After taking part in the recent BMO Vancouver Marathon, I am now firmly in recovery mode. But like many people who have just completed an endurance event this spring, once you cross the finish line it feels like you are entering into unchartered territory. It doesn’t seem to matter if you have just run your first race or you are a seasoned veteran. And it makes no difference whether you ran a marathon, a half or you conquered some other epic feat. Because after spending so many weeks and months laser-focused on training for your event, it can be difficult to know what to do next to fully recover.

Continue reading →

Christmas health claims are about as useful as a chocolate teapot

Leave a reply

In the run up to Christmas it’s all too easy to overindulge, especially when festive goodies are handed out at almost every opportunity. But I don’t just mean the times when you travel to see family and friends. You know that those visits oblige you to sample someone’s homemade mince pies or Christmas cake. However, recently I have been surprised to be plied with stollen bites, Bailey’s and holiday chocolates simply by buying presents, choosing a Christmas tree and attending my gym. Even if you are normally accustomed to eating a healthy diet, somehow it still feels awkward to turn down the offer of a festive calorie-laden treat. So you end up eating something sky high in sugar that you know you don’t really need or necessarily want from a virtual stranger. You even go overboard in thanking them for it and will happily do it all again because it’s Christmas. Then when your gut starts to nag away at you with eater’s regret, you try to convince yourself that there’s no harm in a little celebrating…Nobody wants to be a Scrooge, right? Besides, it’s practically impossible to have a healthy Christmas.

Continue reading →

The UK’s ultra-processed addiction is only junk (food) science

Leave a reply

As I tried to negotiate my way around a supermarket already towering with Quality Street tins I was interested to see the latest headlines about Britain’s ‘addiction’ to ultra-processed food. The fast-food habit was now costing the country a whopping £286 billion every year. This startlingly high figure came from a recent report from the Food, Farming and Countryside Commission (FFCC) which found that the cost of chronic disease was now almost matching the total healthcare spend in the UK. For unhealthy food that is literally ‘cheap as chips’ it turns out that we are all paying for it through the cost of healthcare, social care, welfare and losses of productivity from ill health. Although the figures are shocking, the knock-on effects of the country’s increased consumption of ultra-processed foods high in sugar, salt and fat are sadly, nothing new. However, what did surprise me about the media coverage surrounding the report was the number of sources that still referred to the UK’s population of ‘junk food addicts’.