There’s nothing we like better at Kale & Cocoa than more evidence that a healthy, plant-based diet significantly reduces the risk of developing Alzheimer’s Disease. And when that diet includes a daily glass of wine we’re even happier! Researchers at Chicago’s Rush University have revealed a pattern of eating – christened (rather brilliantly) the MIND…
IS SUGAR THE NEW TOBACCO? DATES ON TOAST
A few weeks ago, the World Health Organisation cut its recommendated daily sugar intake by 50%. Whoa! If that’s not an acknowledgment of the dangers of sugar, please can someone tell me what is? The WHO now recommends no more than 6 teaspoons (25 g) of sugar a day. To put this in context, a…
WHY COFFEE IS YOUR NEW BEST FRIEND – COFFEE & CHOCOLATE BRAINIES
Coffee. To drink or not to drink? That is the question. 2015 kicked off with another spate of headlines on the benefits of coffee. Once demonised, coffee is increasingly proving to be the good guy when it comes to healthy ageing. Yes, one more of those irritating u-turns that makes us want to give up…
CHOLESTEROL AND COMFORT FOOD
We’ve been thinking a lot about fat recently at Kale and Cocoa – reporting here on news that eating plenty of natural fat could be the key to living a long and healthy life and here on how the food pyramid is being re-written in the US by advocates of the Low Carb High Fat…
RUSHING WOMAN’S SYNDROME AND THE PERFECT LENTIL SALAD
Just over a decade ago, I turned up at my Doctor’s surgery in tears. I had two toddlers, was six months pregnant, had a cold I couldn’t shift and was working a sixty hour week – all on four hours of sleep a night. As I sobbed into a tissue, my mobile phone blinked and…
WHY CHOCOLATE AND BUTTER RULE & CHOCOLATE CHESTNUT ORANGE CAKE
It’s official – fat is good for us! This week’s British Medical Journal tells us that a diet of ‘real food’ containing plenty of natural fat could be the key to living a long and healthy life. Wowza! Where did that medical u-turn come from? Apparently our obsession with low-fat food has contributed to the…
WILL CARBOHYDRATES KILL ME? WHOLEGRAINS AND MILLET PANCAKES
To carb or not to carb, that is the question – particularly when it comes to age-related, degenerative disease. The battle lines are being drawn in the fight for our health. If that sounds melodramatic, bear with me. The traditional view of our nutritional needs is encapsulated in the NHS-approved food pyramid, with plentiful portions…
WHY TEA AND CAKE WILL IMPROVE YOUR MEMORY AND HELP YOU LIVE LONGER
No doubt you’re dieting, detoxing or drying out – it is, after all, the month of penitence, atonement and resolutions (read ours here and here). But it’s dark n’ cold out there and my body’s begging for sugar and carbs. To top it all, my eldest daughter is mid-exams and comes home starving and exhausted. And…
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…
THE POWER OF VITAMIN D – HEALTHY CHRISTMAS CANAPES
With the darkest day almost upon us, it seems fitting to end the year with a few words on the sunshine vitamin – Vitamin D. A slew of new research has linked Vitamin D deficiency to obesity, dementia, prostate and colorectal cancers, fertility, multiple sclerosis, asthma, heart disease, high blood pressure, poor immunity, SAD, schizophrenia…