Carrot, Oat, Chestnut and Caraway gluten-free bread
Recipes - Healing and nourishing foods

Carrot, Oat, Chestnut and Caraway gluten-free bread

Bread - carrot, oat, chestnut gluten-free flour 6

Here is another quick and experimental bread that I knocked together and wow it worked a treat! Be sure to bake only to the point of just done to keep this moist and enjoy with real butter, nut butter, pesto, cheese, or hummus.

This bread is super for hard training recovery and far better for the body than processed gluten-free varieties.

“My goal when I bake breads is to add in more goodness,
and remove the ingredients that I don’t tend to need.
The inclusion of healthier more nutrient dense flours,
and the addition of grated vegetables raises the nutritional
density of the bread.
I don’t add milk, butter, oils or sugar as they simply aren’t needed.”

There are many substitutions that can be made in this bread recipe; for example:

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February 7, 2016
Fruity-veggie athlete bread (gluten-free)
Recipes - Healing and nourishing foods

Fruity-veggie athlete bread (gluten-free)

Fruity-veggie athlete bread 10

Fruity-veggie athlete bread (gluten-free)

This loaf is similar to the Athlete fruit bread but jam packs in some more goodness in the form of vegetables, fruit and nutrition rich grain alternatives. Who would have thought you can sneak in all this goodness into a slice of bread!!

amara-what?

Amaranth is a super little seed that is high in protein, minerals and fibre and works like a grain in the diet. It can be prepared as a grain (similar to quinoa), popped like popcorn, or used as the whole seed or flour in baking or as a porridge option for breakfast.

Here is more to keep you entertained from an article in the Huffington post about amaranth and some helpful nutrition data here:

Ingredients for fruit-veggie athlete bread:

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February 1, 2016
Athlete fruit bread
Recipes - Healing and nourishing foods

Athlete fruit bread

athlete fruit bread

Athlete fruit bread

This is a handy bread for using as part of a snack or meal balanced with either more protein or fats to aid either preparation for or recovery from short or longer endurance sessions.

For example speaking all things recovery, a longer bike ride or run will allow for a decent slice of this yummy bread as an add-on to a proper meal of protein with some healthy fats (e.g. omelette with avocado and veggies) or a shorter 60-90 minutes spin / approximately 1 hour run will allow a whey protein or vegan protein shake and a slice of this bread covered with almond nut butter.

A slice of this with some nut butter and for example a scrambled egg or some slices of meat will make a handy pre-training snack. Or simply enjoy this bread alone with some hazelnut butter or coconut butter as a mid-morning or afternoon snack.

Talking flours:

I normally use gluten-free self-raising flour as everything in this house is baked 100% gluten-free; but I had an “error” purchase a few months ago of non-gluten free Doves farm self-raising flour (warning they look the same!) and so this one was created for my hard training ironman boyfriend. It got the thumbs up. I personally would slather this with some nut butter or real Irish butter but eaten alone this bread is also perfect.

Ingredients for Athlete fruit bread:

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February 1, 2016
Rainbow spirals winter salad
Adding my curly spirals
Recipes - Healing and nourishing foods

Rainbow spirals winter salad

Cooking is usually a rush job in our house to accommodate for a hectic work and long-distance distance triathlon training schedule. It always seems like there are too few hours in the day and despite this we do our best to never compromise on nutrition; from the sourcing to the eating :-).

If we can be prepared for our work and training we can do the same for our daily meals all it takes is organisation.

We eat every evening dinner at the table with one another when possible; it may be the only calm and peaceful part of the day and it is sacred to us.

families stay together

Food is crucial to not only fuel the body but to create it, regenerate it, heal it and with sport in mind to make it work better than it did the day before (via multiple physiological adaptations). We are not only what we eat, we are what we absorb AND we are made, move and think from what we eat… amazing.

It is currently winter and so we aren’t eating a lot of cold salads; all the same it is good to sneak one in now and again; which is exactly what I did last week.

Some background nutrition titbits:

In our house the perfect plate must achieve the following goals:

  1. Several colourful vegetables. 
  2. A well sourced protein from either wild caught or organically farmed fish, seafood, grass-fed meats, free-range and organic poultry, grass-fed organ meats, vegetarian protein such as beans, legumes and lentils (NOT soya protein veggie creations, quorn or any other processed fake vegetarian foods – same rules as for all other foods!), duck eggs and free range hen eggs, and I think I have covered the options here!
  3. Fats from any of the following depending on what our bodies are crying for given that endurance training expends a lot of fuel from fats: nuts, seeds and their products, quality cheese, quality oils/ fats (from olive, coconut, butter, pumpkinseed, toasted sesame, rape seed, etc. Not all of these are suitable for heating), animal fats as found on cuts of meat or organs, and avocado are the most commonly consumed in our house.
  4. Fuel from carbohydrates depending on how much we have earned during the day, what we need for recovery and what we require in preparation for the coming day: root vegetables are the norm and on occasion we enjoy home-baked vegetable packed alterative grain baked bread (multiple recipes up on the blog), polenta, alternative grain and high protein pancakes, and on rare occasion quinoa, rice, or bean and brown rice pastas.
  5. We are condiment junkies; there is often home-made pesto, relish or hummus, or Dijon mustard on the plate 🙂

Back to salads:

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February 1, 2016
Personalised diets based on computer algorithms and gene or gut microbiome tests?
Gastrointestinal health / Nutrition & diet tips

Personalised diets based on computer algorithms and gene or gut microbiome tests?

Hi folks,
I am not going to over-write in this little blog. I merely want to prompt you into some deep thinking about the following while I highlight some cool research that has been in the news:
and more here on the personalised nutrition project
dna
In a nutshell we can if we like soon look to science and technology to tell us what to do when it comes to food…. and hope and trust that it knows more than Momma Nature and the innate healing wisdom within.
I am not dismissing this research for one moment, I think the more we can learn the more awesome this journey is for all of us; however I also believe that we are far smarter than we think at learning what works for us in health and wellness….. once encouraged, empowered and educated to get us started along this health adventure.
I want to ask you to pause a moment and ask yourself some questions:

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February 1, 2016
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