I’m Neil Young, an exercise and healthy lifestyles specialist based in the Surrey Hills. Right now I’m working with For Earth’s Sake to bring some of the shop produce to life with delicious recipes that you can source entirely in store. I’m also adding on nutritional info and insights on the key ingredients. It’s January and these days that means that it’s Veganuary Season! For the last few years 100,000s of people have given up, or cut down on, meat, fish, and dairy for a month and switched to a plant-based, vegan diet. They might be doing this because they have heard that it is better for their health (it really is!), that livestock and dairy farming are responsible for more greenhouse gas emissions than all of the world’s transportation combined (they are!), or they are concerned about animal welfare (who wouldn’t be, right?). It has become a month when restaurants offer Veganuary menus and supermarkets push their plant-based meat alternatives. Familiar brands like Greggs, Ginsters, and Pukka Pies now have vegan versions of their popular products. These particular meat alternatives are good news for environmental sustainability and animal welfare, but, being calorie rich and nutrient poor, they’re not great for our health. Therefore, to help people to step into Veganuary in a healthy way, I am going to focus on a whole foods plant-based meal that is high in protein and contains a vast variety of the vitamins and minerals that you can only get from eating several different vegetables in the same dish. It’s a vegetable masala and, before we get to the recipe, I’m going to tackle the most common question that vegans are asked about their diet; where do you get your protein from? As well as being the most oft-asked question of people who follow a plant-based or vegan diet, it's also the one that irritates them the most! Why? Well, there are two common misconceptions about dietary protein. Firstly, the food industry would have us believe that we all need to eat more protein and they are adding protein to all sorts of products and passing them off as health foods (protein-enriched Mars Bar, anyone?). The truth of the matter is that most people eat more than the required amount of protein every day. In the UK the daily reference nutrient intake for protein is 0.75g per kg of body weight, which works out as 56g/day and 45g/day for men and women of average build, respectively. The actual average daily intake of dietary protein is 88g for men and 64g for women. The UK population is not protein deficient. The second misconception is that plant foods themselves don’t contain enough protein when compared to meat and dairy. While it’s true that meat, fish, eggs, and dairy products are higher in protein concentration than plant foods, plants do contain protein (where do you think cows get their protein from?), but they don’t have the high levels of saturated fats and cholesterol found in meat and dairy. That makes them a much healthier choice. Here are some of the most protein-dense examples of whole plant foods: Tempeh • Lentils • Edamame / Soybeans • Black Beans Tofu • Chickpeas* • Peas* • Hemp Seeds Peanut Butter* • Quinoa • Potatoes* • Almonds Rolled Oats • Broccoli* • Kale* • Kidney Beans * Featured in my vegetable masala recipe We can therefore meet all of our protein needs by eating plants, but there is one more thing to bear in mind - we should eat a wide variety of them. This is because protein is made from different combinations of amino acids, some of which can be produced in the body and some which can’t and have to be sourced from our diet. The ones which we have to get from our food are known as essential amino acids and there are 9 of them. Different plants contain different essential amino acids and no plant contains them all. To make sure that we are eating all 9 across the week we need to eat lots of different vegetables, grains, legumes, nuts, and seeds. You can find out more about Neil Young and Healthy Life Neil by visiting healthylifeneil.co.uk or following Neil on Instagram @healthylifeneil. Vegetable Masala This recipe makes 6 servings. Ingredients
Method
Shopping List
1 Comment
I’m Neil Young, an exercise and healthy lifestyles specialist based in the Surrey Hills. Right now I’m working with For Earth’s Sake to bring some of the shop produce to life with delicious recipes that you can source entirely in store. I’m also adding on nutritional info and insights on the key ingredients. Last time out (see November 2020 blog post) I took you on a trip through some of the evidence that high fibre foods like beans and lentils can help us to keep the body weight down. This was through bulking-up our food, wrapping up some of our calories with complex starchy foods so that they pass straight through us, and by putting the brakes on our consumption by making sure that fats, carbohydrates and proteins are detected lower down in the gut, thus triggering satisfaction signals to be sent to the brain. The benefits of fibre for weight management don’t end there though and there are more positives related to what is known as the Gut Microbiome. For the last 15 years our understanding of what happens to food in our gut has dramatically improved through advances in medical research. We now know that there are around 39 trillion (yes, that says trillion) microbes in the gut, weighing around 2kg. That’s as heavy as our liver, which makes many doctors refer to the gut microbiome as the organ we didn’t know that we had. Each of us has between 300 and 1,000 different varieties of bacteria in our gut microbiome, with the combination of species changing all of the time based on what we eat. This mix of different varieties impacts on several aspects of health, which I will cover in future blog posts, but for now I will keep the focus on weight management. When we eat high fibre foods our gut bacteria feed on them and produce organisms called short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs), which have influences on our blood glucose regulation (an important factor in weight management) and our satiety hormones (the hormones that tell us when we are full and that should stop eating). In his book Fibre Fuelled, Dr Will Bulsiewicz highlighted a study in which people ate the same number of calories of either bread or lentils at lunch. The lentil eaters showed better blood glucose control after the meal, which is a common finding, but when everyone ate the same bread-based dinner later on the lentil group again had less of a blood sugar spike. This is the bacteria in the gut, which have been empowered by the fibre-rich lentils, producing SCFAs to keep that glucose under control hours later. So, how about a lentil-fuelled this time? This red lentil and spinach dahl is my take on a dish from a Mowgli Street Food restaurant that I visited in Liverpool. Mowgli are all over the north and midlands, but they haven’t yet expanded to the south east. You'll have to go to Oxford at the moment to sample their really innovative and simple Indian food. Fortunately, there’s a cookbook for all of us keen home chefs! You can find out more about Neil Young and Healthy Life Neil by visiting healthylifeneil.co.uk or following Neil on Instagram @healthylifeneil. Red Lentil & Spinach Dahl This very simple recipe will make 4 servings of the dahl as an accompaniment. To make this dahl into a main meal, add 2 x 400g tins of chickpeas 5mins before you fold in the spinach or simply serve with boiled brown rice. Feel free to try your own spice combinations, because everyone likes different spices, right? Ingredients: ● 2 x 400g tins of chopped tomatoes ● 200g dried red lentils ● 350ml boiled water ● 1 tbsp vegetable oil ● ½ tsp turmeric ● ½ tsp chilli powder ● ½ tsp asafoetida ● 1 tsp cumin seeds ● 1 tsp black mustard seeds ● 200g fresh spinach, chopped ● Small handful fresh coriander, chopped ● Juice of ½ a lemon ● Salt to taste Method: ● Heat a wide-based pan over a medium heat. ● Add the vegetable oil and heat for 1min then add the seeds and spices and fry for 2mins. ● Add the tomatoes, lentils, and water. ● Bring to a simmer and keep it there for 10mins until the lentils have softened. ● Squeeze in the lemon juice. ● Fold in the chopped spinach and stir until it has wilted into the lentils. ● Season with salt to taste. ● Serve topped with the chopped coriander. Shopping List: All of the ingredients can be purchased from For Earth’s Sake. Each serving costs around £1.50 as an accompaniment or around £2.00 as a main meal. Here the list of what to add to your basket:
● 2 x 400g tins Suma chopped tomatoes ● 200g split red lentils (refill) ● From the herbs and spices refill section: ○ Chilli powder ○ Asafoetida ○ Turmeric ○ Black mustard seeds ○ Cumin seeds ● Lemon ● Spinach ● Coriander ● Extra Virgin Rapeseed Oil (refill) ● 2 x 400g tins Suma chickpeas (optional) ● Organic brown basmati rice (optional, from refill) I’m Neil Young, an exercise and healthy lifestyles specialist based in the Surrey Hills. Right now I’m working with For Earth’s Sake to bring some of the shop produce to life with delicious recipes that you can source entirely in store. I’m also adding on nutritional info and insights on the key ingredients. We hear plenty of talk of superfoods these days. Goji berries, matcha tea, chia seeds, beetroot, broccoli sprouts to name but a few. They can be bought in their natural form or processed into teas, powders, snack bars, and smoothies. These examples, and many more, are all very nutritious, but in the quest for discovering and promoting a new one-hit wonder we often overlook incredible food staples, which should form a high proportion of our regular meals and also have superfood qualities. The food that I am particularly thinking of is beans. The variety of choices is huge and beans are included in the cuisines of every different region of the world, from red kidney beans in Mexican chilli, white bean stews from across Europe, chickpeas in a Moroccan tagine, tofu in Japanese ramen noodles. They are undoubtedly tasty and filling, but what is the evidence about their health benefits and our quest to lose weight or keep it off? Well, one of the advantages that beans have over other starchy foods that we might crowd our plate with (bread, chips, pasta, rice), is that they are really high in fibre. This oft neglected nutrient holds one of the keys to weight management by making us feel full after meals without eating huge amounts of calories. In fact, increased fibre consumption has been shown to lead to a 10% drop in overall calorie intake. And it’s not just about calorie intake. By eating high fibre foods like beans we can stop the absorption of some of the calories from all food groups in a meal because these calories are literally wrapped up in the indigestible fibre so that they then pass straight through us. There’s one more weight loss-related advantage of increasing our dietary fibre through eating more beans that I want to highlight and it’s all to do with the signals that our gut sends to our brain when a meal is being digested. At the bottom of the small intestine (the ileum) there are sensors which can detect fats, carbohydrates and proteins in undigested food. If this happens, signals are sent to the brain to say that we are full and that we should stop eating. This phenomenon is called the ileal brake. High fibre foods (like my red bean and lentil chilli, below) slow the absorption of fats, carbohydrates and proteins higher up the intestines so that they are detected in the ileum and signals are sent to the brain to say, “You’re full. Stop eating”. When we eat low fibre, processed foods the calories are absorbed higher up in the intestine and never reach the ileal brake so we don’t get that signal to say that we are full up. I could go on and on about the benefits of high fibre bean cuisine all day (and I will in future!), but for now I think that it’s time for me to introduce you to my bean and lentil chilli recipe. This recipe is plant-based, and by adding lentils, nutritional yeast and onion powder you get the deep savoury flavours that you expect from any good chilli and there’s sweet corn too, for an extra crunch. You can find out more about Neil Young and Healthy Life Neil by visiting healthylifeneil.co.uk or following Neil on Instagram @healthylifeneil. Red Bean and Lentil Chilli - Recipe This recipe will make 4 servings; enough for the whole family, but if you want to make a batch for the freezer, just double the amounts. Ingredients:
Method:
Shopping list:
All of the ingredients can be purchased from For Earth’s Sake. Each serving costs around £2.00. Here the list of what to add to your basket:
**Lockdown update - changes to opening hours and isolation deliveries**
As the country takes another step in easing the lockdown, we are also going to be taking another step towards more regular opening hours. As of Monday 1 June, we will be extending our opening hours from 9am to 4pm, Monday to Saturday. We will still be closed on Sundays until further notice. We are still going to be sanitising the shop every morning, and we will be keeping the maximum number of customers in the shop at any one time to four. Hand sanitisers will be available to use before entering the shop. With fewer deliveries being made and more customers coming in to the shop to do their shopping, we have also taken the decision to reduce and reconfigure our isolation deliveries. From next week, Cranleigh deliveries will no longer run on Mondays, but they will still run on Thursdays. Similarly, we will only be delivering to Rudgwick on a Friday, having combined Tuesday’s deliveries with Friday’s. Gomshall, Forest Green, Horsell and Shalford deliveries will remain as they were on Wednesdays. Below is the new timetable: Monday - No deliveries Tuesday - No deliveries Wednesday - Gomshall, Horsell, Shalford, and Forest Green Thursday - Cranleigh Friday - Rudgwick We hope that these changes will allow more of you to shop with us and spread out the number of customers throughout the day, making For Earth’s Sake an even safer environment to shop in. If you have any questions about the changes, please contact us through social media or our email address: info@forearthssake.co.uk. See you all next week! As more orders come in for delivery and fewer customers are shopping in person, we have made a few changes to our opening and delivery hours.
The shop will be OPEN to customers from 9am to 2pm, Monday to Saturday. From 2pm onwards, the shop will be CLOSED so that we can prepare orders for delivery. The orders that we pack in the afternoon will now be delivered the following morning, between 9am and 11am. For example, if customers in Rudgwick normally receives deliveries on a Tuesday, the slot will now be between 9am and 11am, with orders to be placed before 12 noon the PREVIOUS day. By making these changes we are able to get in more helpers to pack when the shop is closed. Please make a note of tour new opening times. Charlie Edwards, Manager. Whilst our shop is still open, we would appreciate if all our customers would please observe the following:
🧼Wash your hands before leaving your home 🧼Queue sensibly outside the shop staying 2 meters apart 🧼Sanitise your hands as you come in 🧼Only 6 people are allowed in the shop at the same time 🧼Only touch what you are taking 🧼Follow the one way system the shop invites, using the scales either end accordingly 🧼And of course wash your hands again as soon as you get home We are cleaning the shop thoroughly, every morning before it opens. The wellbeing of our customers, staff and suppliers is paramount.
At For Earth’s Sake we are always concerned about hygiene and wellbeing, and would like to take this opportunity to reassure our customers that we are taking increased measures at this time, including: • Customers using our hand sanitiser on entry to the shop / using our gloves whilst shopping • Making customers aware of our hand washing facilities towards the back of the shop • Sanitising all handles, scoops, dispensers and surfaces at the beginning and end of each day • Regularly sanitising of the same throughout the day • Wearing gloves for handling of baskets, cash and cards • Asking customers to use Contactless Cards if possible for the coming weeks • Taking further advise and action as it becomes known We feel we are doing all we can to ensure our staff, customers, suppliers, visitors, facilities and network of satellites are best protected, as we always do. Should you have any questions or suggestions please do let us know. And finally, we are OPEN so please do visit and help us lift everyone’s day. Kindest regards Vanessa and all at For Earth’s Sake PRESS RELEASE: 11 March 2020 FOR EARTH’S SAKE - Where shoppers put our planet first
It’s going to be a busy time at waste-free and plastic-free For Earth’s Sake in Cranleigh over the next four weeks. Not only will there be lots of goodies to pamper and please all mums this Mother’s Day (Sunday 22 March) the shop will also be celebrating its 1st birthday (Sunday 5 April) with a week and more of special events highlighting what you can find in the shop and how anyone can live and shop more sustainably. Following the great success of For Earth’s Sake’s first ever Pampering Day (Saturday 29 February), further ranges are being added to the shop including products from Puremess, Savannah Salts, The Clever Cactus and Vinnie & Brigitte. There will be a special Mother's Day selection display where you will find Hand creams and Face creams, Eye Masks, Reusable Face/Cosmetic Wipes, Bamboo Face Pads, fabulously scented and soothing Bath Salts and much more. In addition, For Earth’s Sake, which opened its doors on Friday, 5th April 2019 will be celebrating a year of delivering single-use plastic free and waste free shopping to the town of Cranleigh with over a week of special events (from 4th April) including Indian curry making demonstrations from Anil, a day of all things Greek from Georgio of The Life Goddess, a Cleaner Living & Greener Soul day, an Easter Egg making demonstration. Full details of each day will be announced shortly. The shop, which puts the planet, people and provenance before profit, continues to be a valued and significant addition to Surrey’s zero waste, zero single-use plastics shopping experience; so far almost 28,000 shoppers have left the shop without a single new piece of plastic in their bags. Vanessa Ford-Robbins, owner of For Earth’s Sake, said: “It's certainly going to be a busy time over the coming weeks, though a wonderfully busy time. With Mother’s Day just around the corner and a whole host of new pampering and plastic-free goodies in the shop there really is something for everyone to buy their mum as a thank you for simply (!) being mum. In addition to this we will have our first birthday celebrations, with a host of special events showcasing what we have, what we do and how you can live a more sustainable life. A year on from our Opening Day we have much to celebrate, though also as a town and a country there is much more we can do for the planet, for its people and for our local environment.” Press: For further information and interview requests contact Paul Savident by email to paul@savident.com or by calling 07966 014911 High-res royalty-free images can be downloaded via this link – https://www.dropbox.com/sh/zm2bzj6b94v41z9/AAD0L6sTGEUtS6tQ0VqjuTB0a?dl=0 NOTES FOR EDITORS For Earth’s Sake is a not-for-profit Community Interest Company (CIC) that reflects its commitment to both local people and the wider society in general. The not-for-profit structure has been chosen so that For Earth’s Sake and its owners can reinvest any financial surplus back into the business, promote educational involvement and projects, and help it grow and provide a greater service to the local community. For Earth’s Sake is a significant addition to Surrey’s zero waste, zero single-use plastics shopping experience. Its continuing aim is to provide shoppers with the opportunity to purchase local produce, dried goods, chilled foods, and everyday household items using the most environmentally friendly methods possible, with strong provenance and without costing the earth. Every aspect of the business is dedicated to reducing our footprint on the environment and shifting the way we consume products in a more sustainable direction. For Earth’s Sake: Address: 73 High Street, Cranleigh, GU6 8AU Website: ForEarthsSake.co.uk Phone: 01483 497268 Opening Hours: Monday to Saturday, 9.30am to 5.30pm Sunday 10am to 4pm Refreshments: Coffee, cake, pastries and cold drinks will be available to buy from one hour after opening until 30 minutes prior to closing. Facebook: @ForEarthsSakeUK - facebook.com/ForEarthsSakeUK/ Instagram: @ForEarthsSakeUK - instagram.com/ForEarthsSakeUK/ Twitter: @ForEarthsSakeUK – twitter.com/ForEarthsSakeUK/ A truly warming side-dish for four, and perfect with a baked potato and some veggie sausages or good pork sausages. For an extra zing grate some orange zest over just before serving. If cooled and kept in the fridge, this can be gently reheated in a small pan on the stove, stiring regularly. Note: Our Nutritious Red Cabbage Salad is a great way of using up the remainder of a whole head of cabbage. Ingredients ½ red cabbage, cored and cut into chunks (about 600g) 1 onion, finely chopped 1 eating apple, cored and sliced 40g sultanas 1 tsp mixed spice 2 tbsp sugar (brown or muscovado preferably) 1 tbsp olive oil 50ml apple cider vinegar Method Preheat oven to 160c. Mx all the ingredients thoroughly in a casserole with a tight-fitting lid. When the oven is up to heat, pop in the casserole with its lid. Cook for 1.5 hours, stirring two or three times at regular intervals. By the end of the cooking time all the ingredients should be cooked through and the flavours well combined. Note: If using a whole head of cabbage double the remainder of the ingredients and increase the cooking time by 30 minutes. (Recipe by Richard & Paul for For Earth's Sake. Photo by Richard Leighton Hammond)
A great meal anytime though especially if you are looking at being a bit more healthy, a Meat-Free Monday dish or following Veganuary, this nutritious red cabbage salad with additional protein from seeds, pine nuts and lentils is a must. It has a zingy dressing and a distinctly crunchy bite. This serves two as a delicious and nutritious lunch. Ingredients For the salad 300g red cabbage, cored and shredded 2 large carrots, grated 1 medium onion, finely diced 1 pear (or apple), cored and sliced 2 celery sticks, sliced 100g dried puy lentils* (or 200g pre-cooked) 2 tbsp pine nuts 2 tbsp pumpkin seeds 2tbsp sultanas 1tbs liquid aminos / soy sauce (if using dried puy lentils)* For the dressing 1 tsp clear honey 1 tbsp lemon juice 1/2 tbsp olive oil Salt Pepper Method If using dried puy lentils, rinse the lentils in a sieve then place with 250g of water and the liquid aminos/soy sauce in a saucepan, bring to a boil then cover and simmer for fifteen minutes or until just al dente. The liquid should all have been absorbed by the lentils when cooked, if not drain the excess liquid away. If using tinned lentils tip them into a sieve and leave to drain for 30 minutes, discarding the excess liquid. Whilst the lentils are cooking/draining, prepare all the other ingredients, except the dressing, and add to a large bowl. Mix the dressing ingredients in a small bowl or cup, adding salt and pepper to your taste. When the lentils are cooked let then cool for ten minutes, stirring occasionally, then add the dressing and stir through thoroughly. Pour the lentil and dressing mix over the salad and toss until all ingredients are fully mixed and coated with the dressing. (Recipe by Richard & Paul for For Earth's Sake. Photo by Richard Leighton Hammond)
|
Archives
January 2024
Categories
All
|