GHS Natural Health Blog

Herbs & Health asked ‘Healthy Chef’ and personal trainer Teresa Cutter for her key weight loss tips for spring!

Her latest book The 80/20 diet is based on Teresa’s philosophy ‘eat well 80 per cent of the time and around 20 per cent of the time you can enjoy a little indulgence!’

Teresa’s top weight loss tips

• Basically if you eat more calories than you burn you’ll gain weight, as all calories can be converted into fat if they are not used in the body for energy.
• You can control the body into burning more fat by eating regularly and by eating the right kinds of food at the right time.
• Cut your high fat foods and consume small amounts of good essential fats (EFA’s) needed for optimum functioning of the body. These are contained in avocado, oily fish, and raw nuts and seeds.
• Eat vegetables and salad with your lunch and dinner time meals. You can eat unlimited green leafy vegetables and salads.
• Cut your intake of refined carbohydrates which includes alcohol, sugar, white flour, white bread, biscuits, cakes, lollies, chips, processed foods. This is your 20 per cent once a week.
• Eat regular amounts of good quality protein to repair lean muscle tissue and maintain every cell in your body.

Healthy herbs

The 80/20 Diet, is available in leading book shops and The Healthy Chef Café (17 Avalon Parade, Avalon Beach, NSW). It retails for $29.95.

Recipe:

Poached chicken with wok tossed snow peas

Ingredients

• 4 cups chicken stock for poaching

• 4 organic chicken breasts

• 4 large handfuls of snow peas

• 1 tsp sesame oil

• 1 – 2 red chillies, sliced

• 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

• 3 tbsp wheat free tamari

• 6 tbsp mirin

• 1/2 cup chopped fresh coriander and parsley combined

• Zest from 2 lemons

Instructions

Bring the chicken stock to a low simmer. Add the chicken and gently poach for about 8-10 minutes until cooked through. Turn off the heat leaving the chicken in the stock while you prepare the snow peas. In a hot pan, sauté the chilli and garlic in the sesame oil for a few seconds then add the snow peas, tamari and mirin. Toss well for a minute until heated through but still crisp. To assemble, divide the snow peas between serving plates. Slice each chicken breast into three to four pieces and sprinkle with combined herbs and lemon zest. Arrange over the snow peas and eat.

Teresa Cutter – the healthy chef © 2007

Article thanks to Herbs and Health Magazine Australia

This natural oil, also known as Linseed oil is collected from a blue flowering plant that is mainly grown on the Western Canadian Prairies. Flax seed oil is highly recommended for the general well being and whole body nutrition and is considered to be nature’s richest source of omega-3 fatty acids that are required for the health of almost all body systems.

Flax seed oil contains omega-6 and omega-9 essential fatty acids, B vitamins, potassium, lecithin, magnesium, fiber, protein, and zinc and also provides approximately 50% more omega-3 oils than fish oil. Some nutritionists, researchers, and scientists believe that it could be the most important health promoting supplement next to a multi-vitamin. Nearly every system in the body can benefit from flax seed oil’s natural properties, including the cardiovascular system, immune system, circulatory system, reproductive system, nervous system, as well as the joints. This amazing oil has healing benefits that may help to lower cholesterol, protect against heart disease, control high blood pressure, counter inflammation, reduce cancer risks and control constipation, hemorrhoids and diverticular disorders.

Flax seed oil takes a bit of time to be absorbed into the body before the full beneficial effects begin, ranging anywhere from a few days to as many as six weeks, depending on your overall well-being. Although it is marketed as a nutritional supplement the use of linseed oil has declined over the past several decades. The edible flax seed oil has a strong flavor and odor and is only a minor constituent of the general publics nutrition. It would be ideal to consume small portions of flaxseed oil every day. However if flax seed oil is used in a diet for a long time without other oils, it may cause Omega 6 deficiency symptoms. So it is best to blend flaxseed oil with other oils that contain more Omega 6 in order to get the right balance, such as sesame oil, sunflower oil and evening primrose oil. This combination can be great with cider vinegar in a salad dressing.

Add flax seed to your diet and watch what it will do for you! If you’re unsure about trying flax seed, contact your physician and ask for more information. Because of the potential for side effects and interactions with medications, dietary supplements should be taken only under the supervision of a knowledgeable health care provider. Flaxseed may slow down the absorption of oral medications or other nutrients if taken at the same time. Try to avoid taking flaxseed at the same time as medications and other supplements.

It’s important to buy high-quality flax seed oil as it is prone to rancidity. Light and oxygen will slowly breakdown the essential fatty acids. Flaxseed oil requires special packaging because it is easily destroyed by heat, light, and oxygen. Look for flax seed oil capsules that are dark coated soft gels or oil that is bottled in amber-brown bottles, as these are more resistant to the light and oxygen. Make sure you refrigerate your flax seed oil to help extend its shelf life. Like any oil, flaxseed oil may turn rancid if it is not refrigerated.

References:

Essortment
Wikipedia
Healing Daily

Nutritional content of sesame oil:

• 14% saturated fats, 42% monounsaturated fats, 45% polyunsaturated fats
• 42% oleic acid (omega-9), a monounsaturated fatty acid
• 45% linoleic acid (omega-6), a polyunsaturated fatty acid
• 10% palmitic acid, 5% stearic acid
• High in Vitamin E, 1 Tbsp meets 21% of daily requirement for tocopherol
• Naturally contains sesamol and sesamolin, which are antioxidants that keep the oil fresh.

 A Few Serving Ideas:

• Add sesame seeds into the batter the next time you make homemade bread, muffins or cookies.
• Use the traditional macrobiotic seasoning, gomasio, to enliven your food. You can either purchase gomasio at a health food store or make your own by using a mortar and pestle. Simply mix together one part dry roasted sea salt with twelve parts dry roasted sesame seeds.
• Sesame seeds add a great touch to steamed broccoli that has been sprinkled with lemon juice.
• Spread tahini (sesame paste) on toasted bread and either drizzle with honey for a sweet treat or combine with miso for a savory snack.
• Combine toasted sesame seeds with rice vinegar, tamari and crushed garlic and use as a dressing for salads, vegetables and noodles.
• Healthy sauté chicken with sesame seeds, tamari, garlic, ginger and your favorite vegetables for a healthy, but quick, Asian-inspired dinner.

Some theraputic uses of sesame oil:

• As nose drops, sniffed back into the sinuses, sesame seed oil has cured chronic sinusitis. As a throat gargle, it kills strep and other common cold bacteria. It helps sufferers of psoriasis and dry skin ailments. It has been successfully used in the hair of children to kill lice infestations. It is a useful natural UV protector.
• Used after exposure to wind or sun it will calm the burns. It nourishes and feeds the scalp to control dry scalp dandruff and to kill dandruff causing bacteria. It protects the skin from the effects of chlorine in swimming pool water. Used before and after radiation treatments, sesame seed oil helps neutralize the flood of oxygen radicals which such treatment inevitably causes.
• On the skin, oil soluble toxins are attracted to sesame seed oil molecules which can then be washed away with hot water and a mild soap. Internally, the oil molecules attract oil soluble toxins and carry them into the blood stream and then out of the body as waste.
• Used as a douche mixed with warm water, the oil controls vaginal yeast infections.
• Sesame seed oil absorbs quickly and penetrates through the tissues to the very marrow of the bone. It enters into the blood stream through the capillaries and circulates. The liver does not sweep sesame seed oil molecules from the blood, accepting those molecules as friendly.
• Sesame seed oil helps joints keep their flexibility. It keeps the skin supple and soft. It heals and protects areas of mild scrapes, cuts and abrasions. It helps tighten facial skin, particularly around the nose, controlling the usual enlargement of pores as skin ages chronologically.
• Teen boys and girls have learned, wrongly, that all oil is bad for their facial skin. Heavy oils and toxic oils and creams are bad for all facial skin. But sesame seed oil is the one oil which is actually good for young skin. It helps control eruptions and neutralizes the poisons which develop both on the surface and in the pores. With sesame oil, no cosmetics are needed. The oil will cause young facial skin to have and display natural good health.
• Used on baby skin, particularly in the area covered by a diaper, sesame seed oil will protect the tender skin against rash caused by the acidity of body wastes. In the nose and ears, it will protect against common skin pathogens.
• For children going to school, who will be in the presence of other children with colds and sniffles, sesame seed oil swabbed in the nose can protect against air borne viruses and bacteria.
• When using the oil as a massage oil, stroke the long limbs up and down. Use circular motions over all joints to stimulate the natural energy of those joints.

References:

WH Foods
Youthing Strategies
Wikipedia