Benefits of Basil
Adding herbs and spices to your dishes is not just about flavour. There are a host of nutritional benefits and it’s a good idea to include them in your diet each day. Basil is one such example. It evokes the aroma’s of Italian sauces and adds a perfect pop to a pizza. It’s also really good for you.
One benefit is its anti-bacterial qualities, so much so that food scientists are currently looking at using basil oil in food packaging that will act as an antimicrobial agent, inhibiting the growth of food-borne bacteria. Another benefit is its anti-inflammatory properties, but what does this mean? In general, eating food that inhibits inflammation is about reducing your risk of many preventable diseases in later life and improving your overall health. It’s about using food as part of a disease prevention plan. Basil has an active ingredient called Eugenol which has anti-inflammatory properties, so it can help reduce the risk of cancer and diabetes.
It also is a great source of vitamin K (a nutrient important for bone health) and a ¼ cup delivers nearly a 3rd of your daily intake.
A great way to get plenty of basil into your diet is by adding pesto to your meals. Add it to fish or chicken, stir in pasta, add to tomato and serve on toast or add it your pizza. Yum!
Don’t refrigerate your basil. Store at room temperature in a glass of water. It’s best used on the day of purchase, as it wilts very quickly and gets depleted of nutrients. If you have any left over, simply process with a bit of olive oil and freeze it in an ice-cube tray. Better still, grow your own so you only pick what you need.
BASIL PESTO RECIPE
Basil evokes aroma’s of fresh Italian dishes and can be eaten cooked or raw. Not only is it delicious, it’s also incredibly healthy. Read about the health benefits of basil here and enjoy this simple pesto recipe.
Ingredients
3 cups well-packed basil leaves
1 cup well packed fresh parsley
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1/2 cup toasted pine nuts
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil, plus more to cover when storing
1/4 cup finely grated parmesan cheese (leave out if you’re dairy free)
Salt
Fresh ground pepper
Instructions
- Combine all ingredients (except the cheese, salt and pepper) in a food processor or blender and whizz to a smooth paste.
- Stir in the cheese and add salt and pepper to taste
- Pour into an airtight container and add the extra olive oil to cover the surface (this prevents discolouration)
- Store in the fridge for up to 7 days or freeze for 3 months
Tip: Great with grilled fish, chicken or lamb or stirred through vegetables
Power in Affirmations and Positive Thinking
We are often not aware that our mind can be trained to think positively, and positive affirmations are a great tool for re-training your own thought processes. Research is showing that positive affirmations do in fact rewire the brain.
While we are busy complaining about different things in our lives, like our jobs, our bank accounts, our mother-in-law, we are actually training our brains to be negative and see fault. By making positive affirmations a daily ritual, we can correct that negative mindset to realise we have the ability and can take pride in ourselves rather than feel discontent.
Examples of some positive affirmations:
- I am worthy
- I am open
- I am a loyal friend
- I am a hard worker
- I am fit and healthy
Choose affirmations that you think will help create a positive mindset and set you on a path to succeed in your goals. You could write them on your bathroom mirror with a whiteboard marker, or on cards and post them somewhere you can see them every day.
Food Rituals for Everyday Life and Busy People
Being busy often gets in the way of maintaining a healthy lifestyle. One secret to success in eating healthy while being busy is to keep it simple and create a ritual. Thinking less and making fewer decisions.
If healthy food is there, you’re more likely to eat it. If you have healthy food available, you don’t have to decide to eat well… you just do it.
Given we love rituals at Ritualize, let us introduce you to the food ritual. Here are a few choices depending on how you want to work it. Only you know what will work for your schedule, so read on and see if these will fit.
The Sunday Ritual
You don’t have to do this on Sunday, of course. You can choose any day you like.
It’s just that Sunday is often a time when people are more free, more relaxed, and more able to devote time to this type of task. And it’s a time when we’re usually thinking ahead to the upcoming week.
Set aside a couple of hours to do the following.
- Look ahead to what’s happening in the upcoming week. Where might you not have time to cook? What are the quiet and busy times?
- Come up with a general menu for at least the next few days. It doesn’t have to be anything in-depth. Just get a basic sense of what you might need to have on hand for the week ahead.
- Build your shopping list from your menu. This will help you be as effective and efficient as possible when you tackle the shops, and you’ll be less tempted by spontaneous (unhelpful) decisions.
- Hit the supermarket or grocery store. Stock up on what you need for the week. Consider grabbing a few extra “just in case” emergency items as well, such as canned beans, frozen vegetables, or other easily-stored healthy options that you grab at the last minute.
- Once you’re back home, start prepping and cooking. Whip up a batch of protein — for example, by grilling or roasting several chicken breasts at once. You could try a casserole in a slow cooker or stews, curries etc, add your washed veggies then divide into containers and freeze or refrigerated.
Some people choose to prepare almost all their meals for the week on Sundays. Others prefer to figure out which meals will be easy to cook just prior to mealtime and save them for later, preparing only meals that they might need for busy times (such as lunches at work).
Do what works best for YOU!
The Daily Ritual
You can combine the Sunday Ritual with the Daily Ritual — for example, by preparing your meat/protein on Sunday, and then add some quick-prep veggies on the day of eating. For example, you may have your chicken breast already cooked and sliced, ready for a quick stir-fry.
During the Daily Ritual, you can prep a few extra items to have on hand for later in the day, or the following day, like chopped vegetables. Glass containers are a great way to store chopped up vegetables.
Try a Morning Ritual where you whip up a fast-cook bowl of rolled oats or a blender omelette.
- Shake up your rolled oats with any other items (e.g. ground flax seeds, cinnamon, protein powder, other grains, etc.) in a large container.
- In the morning, scoop out the dry mix, pour in some water, and pop it in the microwave. Top with fruit and Greek yoghurt (see our recipe here) and enjoy a healthy breakfast that will keep you going all morning.
- Whip up some eggs in a blender (with some veggies if you like) and keep in a container for the next morning. Just pour and cook. You can prep this egg mix a few days in advance so you have it on-hand for a quick, healthy breakfast.
It’s easy to prep a salad that won’t go soggy during the day. Try our Salad in a Jar recipe.
Or try a Dinner Ritual where you simply make extra portions and save the rest for tomorrow. Again, it doesn’t take much more time to prepare a few extra things, so where possible, cook in bulk.
Creative Ways to Eat More Vegetables
Including loads of vegetables in your diet is so important for your health. Vegetables are incredibly rich in nutrients and antioxidants, which boost your health and help fight off disease. Additionally, they are good for weight control as they have a low-calorie content. Getting the required several serves of vegetables can be hard for some people.Some simply don’t like them while others are unsure how to prepare them so they taste good.Here are some unique ways you can incorporate vegetables into your diet so that you never get sick of eating them.
Veggie-Based Soups
Soups are a great way to eat multiple servings of vegetables at once. You can make veggies the “base” by pureeing them and adding spices. You can also simple cook veggies in broth or cream-based soups. Adding even a small amount of extra veggies, such as broccoli, to soups is a great way to increase your intake of fibre, vitamins and minerals.
Try this easy Carrot and Ginger soup.
Zucchini Lasagna
Another creative way to eat more veggies is by making zucchini lasagna. Traditional lasagna is a pasta-based dish made by layering lasagna sheets with sauce, cheese and meat. It’s tasty, but it’s also typically very high in processed carbs. A great way to prepare this delicious dish so that it has a lower carb content and more nutrients are to replace the lasagna noodles with strips of zucchini.
Zucchini is a rich source of B vitamins and vitamin C, in addition, to trace minerals and fibre.
Experiment With Veggie Noodles
Veggie noodles are easy to make, and a great way to get more veggies in your diet. They’re also an excellent low-carb substitute for high-carb foods, such as pasta. They are made by inserting vegetables into a spiralizer, which processes them into noodle-like shapes. You can use a spiralizer for almost any type of vegetable. They are commonly used for zucchini, carrots and sweet potatoes. Once the “noodles” are made, they can be eaten just like pasta and combined with sauces, other vegetables or meat. Try this Pesto Zucchini Noodles with Prawns.
Add Veggies to Sauces
Adding extra vegetables to your sauces is a sneaky way to increase your veggie intake. While you are cooking the sauce, such as a bolognese sauce, simply add some veggies of your choice to the mix, such as chopped onions, carrots, spinach or capsicum (peppers). You can also puree certain veggies with seasonings and make them into a sauce on their own.
Make a Cauliflower Pizza Crust
Cauliflower is extremely versatile, and there are many unique ways to include it in your diet. One strategy is to replace regular, flour-based pizza crust with a cauliflower crust, which is made by combining cauliflower with eggs and almond flour and some seasonings. You can then add your own toppings, such as fresh veggies, tomato sauce and cheese.
Substituting cauliflower crust for flour-based crusts is an excellent way to enjoy the delicious taste of pizza while increasing your nutrient intake. A cup (100 grams) of cauliflower contains only 5 grams of carbs and 25 calories, in addition to lots of fibre, vitamins, minerals and antioxidants, which flour-based crusts lack.
Blend With Smoothies
Smoothies are great for breakfast or a snack. Typically, they are made by combining fruit with ice, milk or water in a blender. However, you can also add veggies to smoothies without compromising the flavour.
Fresh, leafy greens such as kale and spinach are common smoothie additions and a great way to get a serving of vegetables. Try this Breakfast Berry Smoothie. Just 1 cup (30 grams) of spinach contains 181% of your daily needs for vitamin K and 56% for vitamin A. The same serving of kale provides 206% of your daily needs for vitamin A, 134% for vitamin C and 684% for vitamin K.
Add Veggies to Casseroles
Including extra veggies in casseroles is another great way to increase your veggie intake. Casseroles are a dish that combines pieces of meat with chopped vegetables and often potatoes.
Left-over Veggies with Scrambled Eggs
In the western world, we tend not to think of eating vegetables for breakfast. However, there are opportunities. Heating left-over veggies and pouring in some beaten eggs is a tasty, nutrient dense breakfast. Find the recipe here.
Lettuce Wrap or Veggie Bun
Using lettuce as a wrap or certain veggies as buns in place of bread is an easy way to eat more veggies. Lettuce wraps can be a part of several types of dishes and are often used to make low-carb sandwiches and bunless burgers. Additionally, many types of veggies, such as portobello mushroom caps, sliced sweet potatoes and sliced eggplant make excellent buns. Lettuce wraps and veggie buns are an easy way to reduce your calorie intake while providing you with extra nutrients.
Grilled Veggie Kebabs
Veggie kebabs are a great dish to try if you want to increase your veggie intake. To make them, place chopped vegetables of your choice on a skewer and cook on a grill or barbecue. Capsicum, onions and tomatoes work well for kebabs. You can also use mushrooms and zucchini.
Add Veggies to Tuna Salad
Adding veggies to tuna salad is a great way to incorporate more vegetables into your diet. Try this Tune and Rice Salad.
Make Stuffed Capsicum
Stuffed capsicum is an easy and excellent dish to include in your diet if you want to increase your veggie intake. They are made by stuffing halved capsicum with cooked meat, beans, rice and seasonings and then baking them in the oven. Capsicums are a rich source of many vitamins and minerals, especially vitamin A and C. You can increase the nutrition content of capsicum by including lots of extra veggies. Onions, spinach or cauliflower all work well.
Add Veggies to Guacamole
It is fairly easy to add veggies to guacamole and makes for a unique way to increase your veggie intake. Guacamole is an avocado-based dip made by mashing ripe avocado and sea salt together with lemon or lime juice, garlic and additional seasonings. Try this Easy Guacamole recipe. A variety of vegetables taste great when incorporated into guacamole. Capsicum, tomatoes and onions are good options.
You can also make guacamole with roasted vegetables.
Make Cauliflower Rice
A unique way to increase your veggie intake is by eating cauliflower rice. It is made by pulsing cauliflower florets in a food processor into small granules. You can then use it raw or cooked as a substitute for rice. This Cauliflower Fried Rice is delicious. Even the kids will love it!
Cauliflower is significantly higher in nutrients than rice. It is particularly high in vitamin C, vitamin K, folate and potassium.
To Summarise
There are many unique ways you can include more vegetables in your diet. Make “rice” and “buns” with vegetables, or incorporate them into common dishes, such as casseroles and soups. By making veggies a regular part of your food intake, you’ll significantly increase your intake of fibre, nutrients and antioxidants. Eating enough vegetables is also linked with a reduced risk of heart disease and cancer, and may be beneficial for keeping your weight under control.
At the end of the day, you can’t go wrong eating more veggies.
Choosing the right olive oil for better health
The benefits of olive oil
We know the amazing benefits of Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO), such as a huge array of beneficial polyphenols and fats that are good for your heart and brain. EVOO also has a high smoke point, so you can fry and bake with it unless you’re cooking at very high temperatures (such as deep frying).
Not all oils are created equal
However – you may be surprised to know that know not all are created equal. When it comes to EVOO, you don’t always get what the label says.
There are beautiful EVOOs available in Southern Europe, but most of them don’t make it to Australia, and many export oils have been mixed with normal olive oil or even canola oil.
In addition, many small growers from the Mediterranean, who may have processed and bottled the olive oil themselves in the past, are now sending their olives off-site to a pressing plant. This means olives may be left for several days waiting to be pressed, allowing the fruit to start fermenting, affecting the flavour and producing chemicals.
The oil from fermented olives needs to go through a process using chemicals, heat, pressure and filtering to be fit for human consumption. This removes many of the beneficial phytochemicals found in EVOO, which also reduces the health benefits.
Fortunately, there are now Australian Standards and testing procedures to ensure quality, and over 95% of the olive oil produced here is extra virgin. In addition, many Australian producers have a short processing time from harvesting the olives to turning them into olive oil, which is crucial to producing high-quality oil.
Those EVOOs that pass the test will have a small certification triangle on the label, so an easy way to ensure that you get the best quality EVOO is to choose an Australian band with the symbol.
What is the best solution?
The best choice is a cold pressed, Australian brand in a dark bottle that has the certification triangle on the label. They do cost more, but in the case of EVOO, you are more likely to get what you pay for. This will give you peace of mind that you are consuming a quality product with amazing health benefits for you and your family.
You may also be interested in reading our article on Good Fats.
Cooking Matters and the Benefits of Micronutrients
The Benefits of Micronutrients
We know fruit and vegetables contain healthy micronutrients – vitamins and minerals, but did you know that different methods of food preparation can affect the levels of vitamin content and bioavailability (how well they’re absorbed).
It appears some micronutrients are most available and better absorbed:
- eaten raw
- if food is cooked
- when foods are eaten with other foods
- when their structures are broken down first (such as chopping or crushing)
For example:
- The compounds in blue-red foods (called anthocyanins) such as plums or eggplant are digested relatively quickly. Many types of anthocyanins, such as those in berries, are readily available and best eaten raw.
- Water-soluble vitamins found in vegetables such as dark leafy vegetables and capsicum can be lost when cooked in water. To preserve vitamins the best method is steaming, blanching, sauteing or roasting.
- Micronutrients in tomatoes or many carotenoids in yellow, orange or red plants, are often better absorbed when cooked.
Micronutrients, such as those in dark leafy vegetables, become more (or less) available when combined with other foods. Examples of this are:
- Fat-soluble vitamins need fat to absorb them. So put olive oil, real butter, avocado or nuts with your salad or vegetables.
- We need vitamin C to maximise iron absorption, so squeeze lemon juice over your leafy greens
- Combining vegetables with extra virgin olive oil is the magic combination of the healthy Mediterranean diet
- Chopping or crushing garlic, then letting it sit for a few minutes before cooking, will release allicin, a powerful disease-fighting chemical.