What is the best diet for us?
It’s January and I bet many of you are looking for an ideal diet that will improve your health, your mood, your energy level, your weight? Low fat, low carb, vegan, vegetarian, keto, carnivore….? Cut out the fats, or maybe the carbs, or maybe it’s best to avoid red meat, or maybe all animal products… Sigh! I’m already confused (and a little bored)! I bet you too.
Working in the field of personalized nutrition, my point of view is of course that extreme diets don’t work (at least not in the long term, because they are not sustainable) and that each of us needs some type of different diet. For me, balance is key and learning to love taking care of your body in the best way possible at all times, not just for the duration of your new regime.
Blaming certain natural foods for your poor health or excess weight and focusing on eliminating rather than adding will never work well. Going back to basics is a much more useful approach.
I love this quote I heard in a talk by Michael Pollan:
“Eat whatever you want…
…cook it yourself.
I agree! The best thing you can do for your health is start cooking from scratch again, regardless of your diet. When you prepare your own meals, you transfer your loving energy to your food. You won’t use additives, preservatives, flavor enhancers, texture enhancers, synthetic vitamins, or any of the other horrible, health-destroying products that processed food manufacturers use all the time. When you cook from scratch, you use real food ingredients that keep you full longer and nourish your body without making you sick or addicted to your food.
But when it comes to cooking at home, many people are stressed, frustrated, and even fearful and anxious. Fear, stress and anxiety have no place in the kitchen or at the table. They kill your joy and your digestion! When you can learn to relax and get creative in the kitchen, you will begin to enjoy meals, which will lead you to want to cook more often. There you will have the opportunity to get really curious and start experimenting, then you will discover new flavors and combinations that go well together, meaning you nourish your family, your body and your gut microbes with a wide range of benefits. Find out why dietary diversity is important in this article.
My passion is to inspire you to fall in love with the creative process that home cooking should be (and not follow recipes to the letter and worry about missing a step or ingredient), so you can really start enjoying your health journey. And discover the power of…
JUST WING IT!
In any case, that’s how I ride most of the time!
Take for example this vegetarian pastry with grilled wild salmon. I started by looking in the refrigerator, full of fresh produce. I removed the ones that needed to be used as soon as possible. That’s how half a butternut squash came out, a few small zucchini from the vegetable garden and an organic sweet potato. Then I grabbed a red onion and a few large cloves of garlic, sliced the onion and chopped the garlic.
Practical tip to increase the nutritional density of your vegetables:
First chop the onion and garlic, then leave them aside for about 10 minutes for a beneficial sulfur compound called allicin to develop; Chopping and grinding it stimulates this and leaving it for 10 minutes ensures that the enzyme that catalyzes the conversion of allicin has done its job. After 10 minutes, you can expose the vegetable to heat or acid without destroying the compound. And for broccoli and other vegetables in the cabbage family, wait up to 90 minutes after chopping and before cooking to allow a powerful antioxidant and anti-cancer agent, sulforaphane, to develop.)
All the rest of the vegetables were sliced and placed in a baking dish along with some sautéed onion and garlic. I also added some of my favorite beans to the dish (use code MINNAWOOD with your first WellEasy order over £50 for £10 off). With oregano, salt, a little liquid from the pot of beans and a little kefir (you can use any liquid). All topped with blue cheese and an excellent cheddar.
It went into the oven (around 160-180°C) until the vegetables were well cooked, the liquid at the bottom was bubbling and the cheese was golden brown. In the meantime, I took a large fillet of wild salmon out of the fridge. Spread the flesh side with Ajo’s Cool Chile Mojo Sauce and splashes of Eaten Alive Jalopeno & Lime Sauce (again, don’t forget the code MINNAWOOD if you decide to place your first order with WellEasy). I put it flesh side down on an oiled baking dish, added a little oil, salt and pepper to the skin, then grilled it, skin side up, for about 10-15 minutes.
I overcooked my salmon a little, so check yours early and decide how you want it and whether you want to keep it a little less or more grilled. The flaky pink salmon flesh is so delicious and the anti-inflammatory omega-3 oils will still be intact so you get more health benefits. You can also put the salmon on top of the baked vegetables towards the end of cooking, but you won’t get crispy skin.
It was not only a delicious, balanced meal but also very relaxing to prepare. Maybe my “no recipe, just all you can eat” style of cooking inspires you to start experimenting in your kitchen using whatever produce is in season and/or is in your fridge. Be brave and trust your taste buds.
For more ideas (and real recipes too), come join my Facebook group Healthy You For Life and follow my posts and stories on Instagram.
Appreciate! Or as they say in Finland: Hyvää ruokahalua!