Wednesday March 24th

Last night I talked to the Munster branch of the Traditional Chinese Medicine Association (ICTCM) about the importance of building a good foundation for the health of their patients through good nutrition.

The message to them was similar to that of the message I'll be giving to the Munster CPA tonight. It is the foundation of your diet, the food that you are eating from meal to meal and from bite to bite that are essential for wellbeing and health. Once you get the foundation right, you are putting yourself in a very strong position in terms of ensuring that you are living a in healthy way.

The simple act of ensuring that you are consuming 3 balanced meals a day is key for healthy living. Each healthy meal should contain some form of protein, some form of carbohydrate and some form of fibre. This will keep you satisfied for longer and reducing those cravings in between meals. You'll notice that all of my recipes are either complete meals or have suggestions in them to make them complete meals. The great thing about soups is that you can have a complete meal in one bowl and save on washing up!!!

Healthy recipes: Spicy Lentil Soup

Ingredients

1 tblsp fresh grated ginger
1/4 tsp ground cumin
1/4 tsp chilli powder
1/2 tsp curry powder
1/2 tsp ground coriander
2 onions finely chopped
1 parsnip chopped
1 stick celery chopped
4 large carrots chopped
85g / 3oz split red lentils
25g / 1oz long grain brown rice
2 pints vegetable stock or boiling water

Preparation method

1. Sauté the onions in a little water in a large saucepan for 5 mins. Add ginger, cumin, chilli powder, curry powder and coriander and stir well.

2. Add the vegatables and stock/boiling water and cook for 10 mins before adding the lentils and rice.

3. Cook for 30 mins ( but keep an eye on the pan) as the lentils soak up the water quite quickly and you don't want it to cook dry. Add more boiling water if necessary.

4. Pulp the soup using a hand held blitzer.

I guess you never realised healthy eating could taste so good!

Wheat free, gluten free, dairy free and sugar free