Tuesday, 21st April

One advantage of blogging is that you can sit on the balcony with the sun pouring down and still be considered 'working'.

I had a client in earlier today who wasn't clear what I meant by the term wholegrain carbohydrate. I get so used to educating people in my clinics that I forget how much these terms are used but not understood!

So a whole grain carbohydrate, also known as a complex carbohydrate, is a grain (for example, whole wheat, whole grain spelt, whole oats, buckwheat, brown rice, whole rye or barley, quinoa, millet.....) that have had very little, if any processing. This means that the grain's outside (known as the bran and the germ) remains on the grain when its consumed or when they process it, turn it into a flour.

Including these 'whole grains' as part of your daily healthy eating plan is essential for good health as these contain more fibre, which keeps you satisfied for longer and helps with weight loss, and more nutrients, which then help the body convert the grain into energy for use by the body.

Try to include these whole grains with at least 2 of your daily meals if you are interested in healthy living, for example, porridge for breakfast and brown rice salad for lunch!

Most of my recipes use whole grains - here is a lovely salad I just had for lunch.

Healthy recipes: Brown Rice and Kidney Bean Salad

Serves 2

1 cup of cooked brown rice
1 tin of red kidney beans - drained and washed
1 grated carrot
1 grated apple
1/4 thinly grated red cabbage
1 clove of garlic - crushed
Juice of half a lemon
Sea salt and freshly cracked pepper
Dash of extra virgin olive oil

Place all of the ingredients into a large bowl and mix well - I love summer cooking!! Then serve into individual plates.

Wheat free, gluten free, sugar free and dairy free