Category: Nutrition

June 30, 2011 Suzie

3:16pm. A random minute in the whole of a day, but seemingly important to my body, apparently!

For the past couple of weeks, I’ve found myself looking at my desk computer at the same time and wanting a skim hot chocolate. It looks like I’ve trained my body clock into expecting a sugar hit! What’s scary is that the barista at the coffee shop I go to has even noticed my afternoon habit… it might be time to admit I have a problem!

Lately I’ve been looking into addictions for an article I’ve been writing, and I had the opportunity to speak to a dietician about sugar addiction. I was really looking forward to our chat – sugar is my biggest vice and I was really curious to discover what actually constitutes a sugar addict. She explained to me that sugar addiction is gaining a whole lot more interest as a legitimate condition and outlined two predominant categories that sugar addicts fall into.

The first is the “emotional eater”, using sugar as a way of elevating their mood. The other is the “pleasure seeker” who identifies feelings of pleasure through tucking into their favourite sugary treat, and develops a habit as their brain gets used to releasing hormones associated with making the body feel good.

I’m not quite sure if you’d call my new habit a straight out sugar addiction, but I think it falls in to both of these categories – its right in the middle of the afternoon slump and I love chocolate so the hit perks me up for the remainder of the afternoon!

I know what Suzie would ask me – what else can I do when I look up and notice the time and reach for my wallet? I could have a piece of fruit, go for a quick walk or talk to a friend. Even though I know what I should be doing, I always seem to fall into old habits and feel guilty!

On the plus side, I head off on my 46 day European adventure at the end of June! No more hot chocolates for me – they do say it only takes 21 days to break a bad habit…..

May 21, 2011 Suzie

A month ago I didn’t like pumpkins and I didn’t like soup… However, after stopping in at a cosy cafe in katoomba on a foggy frosty afternoon I saw it on the menu and thought i’d give it another go. It was the best soup I have ever tasted, so spicy and flavoursome I was inspired to try make it myself.

After looking online for a recipe I was astounded by how many variations of pumpkin soup there was. So I found the most basic and took the unhealthy things like butter out. I watched over it hesitantly as it cooked and as I slurped the first spoon I was overjoyed. The curry powder and pepper added that zing and warming effect. Success!

Although starchy vegetables are used, it makes for a fantastic warm healthy winter meal, there was plenty left over for lunches and there is always the option to freeze – efficiency! The best part is that theres no added nasties, you know exactly what’s in it and if you want to make it even healthier you can always pass on the milk

Ingredients

1 butternut pumpkin
2 potatoes
3 cups of chicken stock
1 brown onion
1 glove of garlic
Cracked pepper
2 bay leaves
200ml skim milk
2 teaspoons of ground cumin seeds
1 teaspoon of curry powder

Method
1. Turn slow cooker onto low to start heating up
2. Chop pumpkin and potatoes into chunks and place in slow cooker
3. Chop up your onion and garlic and place in slow cooker (mince your garlic)
4. Add a liberal amount of cracked pepper, ground cumin seeds and curry powder
5. Add chicken stock and stir mixture around
6. Place 2 large bay leaves on top of ingredients
7. Place lid on slow cooker and get on with your day!
8. If you cook on high soup will be ready in approx 4 hours, if on low you can leave for 6-8 hours
9. When ingredients are soft and your mixture is smelling fantastic add milk and using an electric hand mixer mix until smooth.

Tip:

Milk is optional (but adds that creamy component)

You can either use ground cumin seeds or using a mortle and pestle which is lots of fun you can do it yourself, smells amazing!