Growing up, I was very close to my paternal grandmother. She was widowed young and filled her life with a cohort of doughty female friends and relations. They became, by extension, my ‘aunties’. They played whist, shopped and shored up the Women’s Royal Voluntary Service together. As time passed they all started to break bones,…
WHY DO WE KNOW SO LITTLE ABOUT THE MENOPAUSE?
It’s a question I’ve heard a lot recently – from Kirsty Wark in her excellent documentary The Menopause and Me, and from my school friends when we shared our experiences of hitting 50. Every woman goes through it, yet we talk so little about it. Kirsty Wark bravely tackles it head on – her film is…
IS THE REDUCED CALORIE DIET DEAD? KALE CAESAR SALAD
There’s been a lot of talk in recent years about the reduced calorie (RC) diet. Many long-term studies show that a significant reduction in calories (20-40%) promotes longevity. Scientists aren’t quite sure why it works but think the RC diet tricks the body into thinking famine is imminent. Your cells then rally and this postpones…
HEALTHY AGEING RESOLUTIONS – KALE & BLACK SESAME RICE BOWL
Over the last few days I’ve been thinking about healthy ageing resolutions for 2015. Nothing drastic – no crash dieting or fasting for me! But after reviewing the medical findings of last year, two in particular stood out. Firstly, the report that found a Mediterranean diet to be more effective than a low-fat diet for…
HOW TO GET YOUR CHILD EATING HEALTHY FOODS – AND RECIPES FOR KALE CRISPS
For those of you who think the off-spring of Ms’s Kale and Cocoa happily munch on spinach and lentils, let me put you right. They (mostly) don’t! Like mothers everywhere, we cajole, bribe, threaten and despair. But after sixteen years of feeding multiple children and reading multiple books and reports on the subject, I’ve made…
BUSTING COLDS AND BOOSTING IMMUNITY
There are a lot of colds around at the moment, aren’t there? Virtually everyone I know has had the sniffles in recent weeks, including me. I’ve always been very prone to colds: in my teens and twenties I considered it a good month if I didn’t get one. Since I started eating more healthily (thank…
A SEASONAL SUPERFOOD THAT INHIBITS CANCER – SWEET AND SOUR CHERRY BOWL WITH KALE, ALMONDS AND GOAT’S CHEESE
There’s something of the jewel about cherries – their colour, their shape, their size, the way they shine (and yes, their price!). Nutritionally, they’re even more precious, punching way above their weight. Indeed cherries make it into the top 20 superfoods when it comes to antioxidants – and that’s just one reason they’ve been…