Time Saver - Boiled Eggs

Isn't it difficult to stick to healthy eating when you're tired, busy and stressed? 

Boiled eggs are convenient little packages of goodness - keep some in the fridge....

Breakfast

Soft boiled eggs and dippy soldiers are a favourite with my kids and a very healthy low GI way to start the day for everyone.  Serve with grilled tomatoes and seedy or wholemeal toast and you're off to a good start. 

Instant Protein for lunch
Whenever you make soft boiled eggs add 2 or 3 extra eggs to the pan.
Leave the extras to hard boil whilst you eat. After cooking for 10 mins cool immediately in cold water.  Keep them, shell on in the fridge for 1-2 days - instant protein for lunch.

Lunch ideas

Slice on a salad of leafy greens, peppers, cucumber, sunflower/pumpkin/flax seeds.

Mash with mayonnaise for wholemeal sandwich filling or baked potato topper.

Smoked Mackerel and Boiled Egg Wrap

Kedgeree

Why is it Good Mood Food?

Eggs are packed with low-cost high-quality protein. Addition of protein will lower the GI of a meal. Eggs contain lots of nutrients essential to good health, particularly vitamin D, vitamin B12, selenium and choline.

Smoked Mackerel and Boiled Egg Wraps

Still on the theme of Omega-3, another easy lunch I threw together last week.

Ingredients
Wholemeal or Seeded Flour Tortilla
Mayonnaise
Leafy Greens (watercress, rocket and baby spinach)
1 hard boiled egg
1-2 peppered smoked mackerel fillets
A sprinkle of sunflower and pumpkin seeds
Drizzle of salad dressing ( I like a sweet honey and mustard one for this savoury recipe)

Method
1. Hard boil the egg for 10 minutes, plunge into boiling water to cool
2. Spread the tortilla with mayo
3. Break up the fish and slice the egg
4. Arrange filling on top of the tortilla and wrap

Simple!

Sardines on Seedy Toast

On the theme of Omega-3 here's a great speedy lunch idea...Sardines in Tomato Sauce on Seedy Toast. Had it today, I'd forgotten how yummy Sardines can be.

So simple, no need for a recipe.  

Seedy bread toast, handful of leafy greens (watercress my fave) and a tin of Sardines in Tomato Sauce mashed.  Grind lots of fresh black pepper on top and hey presto an Omega-3 packed lunch.

Choose sardines with bones included to boost calcium.

Easter Egg Muesli Bars

These crunchy, chocolaty muesli bars make Easter eggs into good mood food....That's got to be better than scoffing big lumps of chocolate!

Ingredients
1 Milk Chocolate Easter egg
Unsweetened Wholegrain Muesli
Handfull Raisins
Handfull Sunflower seeds
Handfull Flax Seeds (Linseeds)

Method

1.  Line a small brownie tin or similar with cling film

2.  Break the Easter egg into pieces into a glass bowl and melt in a microwave or over a bowl of simmering water.

3.  Mix in the raisins and seeds and enough muesli to take up all of the chocolate.
4.  Press the mixture into the lined tin, cover and refrigerate for 1 hour or so.
5.  When firm, remove from tray and slice gently into squares or bar shapes. 

The Muesli Bars pictured above started life as this egg.

Which would you prefer to eat?

Why are they Good Mood Food?
The addition of whole grains from the muesli and seeds lowers the GI of the chocolate from very high to medium so less of a sugar hit and slump.
Whole seeds add valuable Omega 3 and Micronutrients to otherwise empty calorie chocolate.
Whole grains and seeds are full of insoluble dietary fibre which helps lower the GI and promotes a healthy digestive system.  

OMEGA-3 Fatty Acids - What's it all about?

Chatting with friends the other evening about taking vitamin supplements, most felt they didn't need to take them. One however insisted it is important to take extra Omega-3 fatty acids.

I thinks she's right...for the reasons below....

Omega-3 and Omega-6 fatty acids
Both of these acids are found in every cell in the body. Our bodies can't make them so we must eat them. Most of us have an imbalanced diet, over-rich in Omega-6 and too low in Omega-3.  It seems this imbalance is a factor in many common diseases including heart decease,  arthritis, asthma, cancer, psoriasis, inflammatory bowel diseases and depression.  

It's the link to depression and mood that got me interested.

Omega-3 and Good Mood
Omega-3 fatty acids are one of the basic building blocks of the brain and seem to be crucial for keeping brain signals moving smoothly.  By implication, imbalance is therefore likely to adversely affect brain function and so mood. 
I've read that countries with diets rich in fish have lower rates of depression, bipolar disorder, postpartum depression and suicide. If you do a web search on Omega-3 and mood there is a huge consensus that boosting Omega-3 intake will help improve mood. 

So I'm sold...Take a fish oil supplement every day and eat oily fish at least 3 times a week.  I've added walnuts to my jar of fruit and nut mix and I try to sprinkle linseeds on my cereal, porridge or yoghurt for breakfast.


Good sources of OMEGA-3 fatty Acids
Oily Fish (eg Sardines, Salmon, Mackerel), Linseed (Flax Seeds), Kidney beans, Soya beans (and tofu), Walnuts, Avacado.

To aid your body's use of Omega 3 it also needs sufficient micro nutrients Vitamin B6, vitamin B3, vitamin C, magnesium and zinc.

Here's an Omega-3 packed lunch I made recently with ingredients to boost vitamins and minerals too: Peppered Mackerel and Boiled Egg Wrap

Review backs OMEGA 3 for Post Natal Depression

Found this article last month in Inspired Health 2013 New Year Edition - a magazine from my local health food shop....More evidence that OMEGA 3 fatty acids are so important.

A recent review of 75 studies investigating the risk factors for postnatal depression found that women could be at higher risk if their Omega 3 levels are lowered. “The literature shows that there could be a link between pregnancy, Omega 3 and the chemical reaction that enables serotonin, a mood regulator, to be released into our brains”  explained the review’s leader Gabriel Shapiro of the University of Montreal.

As Omega 3 is transferred from the mother to the foetus as it develops and later via breastfeeding, the mother’s Omega 3 levels decrease during pregnancy and remain birth.  Without adequate intake of Omega
3 to counter this, levels of Omega 3 will be significantly lowered in the mother and could result in higher risk of postnatal depression.

Whilst this study gives an indication as to the link between Omega 3 levels and Post natal depression, further research is needed to clarify the link and the specific reasons for it.

Reference: ‘Emerging Factors for Postpartum depression: Serotonin Transporter Gentype and Omega 3 Fatty Acid Status’ Gabriel D Shapiro, William D Fraser, Jean R Seguin.