What I Ate in May & My Bone Broth Experiment

What I Ate in May & My Bone Broth Experiment

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Welcome back to my “What I Ate…” series. It’s been a busy month this month.

 

On 6th May we hosted one of our Paleo Cookery Classes and on 20th May a 1-day Life Makeover Course. Email hello@paleo-britain.co.uk if you are interested in coming along to one of our courses.

Paleo Cookery Class

 

As always I have been trying to eat seasonally this month. May’s seasonal produce includes:

 

Artichoke, Asparagus, Aubergine, Beetroot, Chicory, Chillies, Elderflowers, Lettuce, Marrow, New Potatoes, Peas, Peppers, Radishes, Rhubarb, Rocket, Samphire, Sorrel, Spinach, Spring Greens, Spring Onions, Strawberries, Watercress.

 

Here’s my monthly seasonal recipe using aubergines, spinach and chilli:

Grilled aubergines

Serves 2 people

Ingredients:

  • 100g quinoa
  • 1 large aubergine, cut into slices
  • Extra virgin olive oil
  • Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
  • 250g fresh spinach
  • 2 cloves of garlic, crushed or finely chopped
  • 3 spring onions, finely chopped
  • 1 red chilli, deseeded and finely chopped
  • Handful of fresh coriander, chopped
  • 1 lemon or lime

 

Method:

  1. Rinse the quinoa under cold running water to remove its bitter flavour.
  2. Tip into a pan and add double the amount of salted water (or for a nutrient boost cook the quinoa in bone broth).
  3. Place over a medium heat and bring to the boil. Reduce to a simmer for 10 to 15 minutes, or until tender and the liquid is absorbed. Fluff the quinoa up with a fork.
  4. Ideally use a griddle pan to cook the aubergines. Brush each aubergine slice with some olive oil, then season with salt and pepper. Heat a griddle pan or barbecue. When hot, griddle the aubergine slices for 2-3 minutes on each side until golden brown and tender.
  5. If you don’t have a griddle pan – preheat your grill. Line a baking sheet with foil. Grease the sheet lightly with olive oil. Lay the oiled aubergine slices on the baking sheet and grill until lightly browned. Turn the slices and grill again.
  6. While the aubergine is cooking, heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a large frying pan, add the raw spinach and half the chopped garlic and cook for a couple of minutes, constantly stirring, until the spinach wilts. Remove from the heat.
  7. In a large bowl add the wilted spinach and the quinoa, then add the additional garlic, spring onions, chilli and coriander. Dress with olive oil, salt, pepper and a good squeeze of fresh lemon or lime juice. Mix everything thoroughly.
  8. Divide the quinoa mixture between two plates and top with the grilled aubergine slices. Squeeze a little more lemon or lime over everything and serve.

 

I haven’t read as many books as last month but have just finished reading Dr. Perlmutter’s Grain Brain Whole Life Plan

Grain Brain Whole Life Plan

In this book Dr Perlmutter discusses all the things that are important for health besides diet including sleep, movement, stress and mindset. We cover all of this in detail in our 1 day and 8 week Life Makeover Courses if you are interested in learning more.

 

Dr Perlmutter’s diet philosophy is that for brain health we should eat a low carb or ketogenic, grain-free diet. He includes lots of fermented foods in his 14 day meal plan and some dairy. This is really similar to how I eat, although I don’t eat low enough carb to be in ketosis most of the time.

 

As I mentioned last month, here is yet another prominent functional medicine doctor recommending a lower carb, higher fat diet, removal of grains and toxic fats and a focus on wholefoods. He also includes lots of tips on how to optimise sleep and movement and includes a 14 day meal plan with recipes.

 

23andme

I got my 23andme results back this month. And I was very happy to find out I am a fast metabolizer of caffeine. Woohoo – no need to give up my coffee habit!

23andme Genetic Testing

I will do a full write up of my results for the blog shortly. 

 

My Bone Broth Experiment

Last month I mentioned that I hadn’t been drinking much bone broth recently, and that in almost every book I read the recommendation is to drink broth daily.

 

After listening to a podcast with Dr Ruscio and Dr Kellyann Petrucci, author of The Bone Broth Diet, I decided to commit to drinking 2 cups of bone broth daily throughout May to see if all the claims Dr Kellyann makes materialised (i.e. lose your wrinkles in 21 days!)

 

Bone Broth Diet

 

Sadly my wrinkles are still here! To be fair to the book, I haven’t read it but I believe you are supposed to do a bone broth ‘mini-fast’ two days per week. I didn’t do this, I simply drank 2 mugs of bone broth each day, so maybe would have seen more wrinkle reduction if I had included the fasting!

 

Can Bone Broth Reduce Cellulite?

The only thing I have noticed is a reduction in cellulite, which some people do claim can be helped by drinking bone broth due to the extra collagen. Annoyingly I didn’t take any pictures at the start of the month but I took some about 2 weeks in so will post some before and after pictures once the 4 weeks are up so see if there is a noticeable difference.

 

I am hoping all the extra broth will have been doing my gut lots of good too!

 

I make a batch of broth and reduce right down then freeze in ice cube bags.

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Then I just pop a few cubes into a mug and top up with boiling water to make a mug of broth. This makes it much easier to keep up with drinking it daily.

 

Organic Wine 

Last month I talked about wanting to start drinking organic wine and I then discovered the Organic Wine Club, the UK’s first monthly wine club selling only organic and sulphite-free wines.

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The organic wine club are offering 3 bottles of their organic wine for a giveaway – email hello@paleo-britain.co.uk with your contact details to enter. Closing date – 31st May 2017.

 

PGX Prebiotic Fibre

Last month I mentioned I was going to try out a prebiotic called PGX fibre.

PGX Fibre Paleo

According to the PGX website: PGX (PolyGlycopleX®) is a patented fibre complex made up of natural, highly viscous polysaccharides. When taken with meals, PGX expands in the stomach over a 30-minute (or longer) timeframe. This process creates a feeling of fullness (satiety) by absorbing water and filling the stomach while slowing digestion.

 

I definitely found this made me feel really full and reduced hunger, so I think it would be great if you needed to lose weight. And it has the added benefit of being good for your gut bacteria.

 

According to both Dr Mark Hyman and Ian Marber, PGX can control your blood sugar too. So could be worth trying out for anyone that struggles with blood sugar control. The powder is supposed to be more effective than the capsules.

 

Natural Cosmetics 

This month I was sent some Arbonne samples to try. Arbonne is a 37 year old company which has been in the UK for 10 years now. The philosophy of Arbonne is “pure, safe and beneficial, the very best of science and nature”.

Arbonne

With their own scientific advisory board products are rigorously tested and they are vigilant in their research, the products deliver results and as Arbonne inspires people to make better choices for the health, beauty and wellness of their families the products are formulated without gluten or dairy and are vegan certified.

 

The range covers everything from baby to anti-ageing and is delivered straight to your door. If you would like any information on the products or how to become an Arbonne consultant please contact Vickie Bright on vickielouisebright@hotmail.com.

 

TV & Podcasts 

Doctor in the House is back! I love this show. Dr Rangan Chatterjee takes a functional medicine approach with his patients on the show – it’s interesting that he always removes sugar, dairy and grains from their diets, essentially putting them on a paleo diet.

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I listened to loads of podcasts again this month. Chris Kresser’s recent show on Vitamin B12 was really interesting. I also enjoyed Abel James interviewing Dr Terry Wahls and Dr Ruscio & Chris Kresser (separately) both interviewing Dr Kara Fitzgerald on methylation.

 

Have a listen to this one with British scientist Glenn Taylor. It’s so nice to hear a Brit being interviewed and it’s pretty fascinating stuff!!

 

Paleo Cookery

Our Paleo Cookery Courses for June & July are sold out but we have released some new dates for later in the year – please email hello@paleo-britain.co.uk if you would like to book.

cookery course email button (1) (1)

 

Further Reading

What I Ate in April

 

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