We’ve made no secret of our passion for nuts – many of our recipes include a sprinkle of toasted nuts or a slug of almond butter. We’re not alone: our almond butter dipping sauce is one of our most shared and pinned recipes on social media. When it comes to ageing well, nuts are one…
CHOCOLATE CAN HELP PREVENT DEMENTIA? AND CHOCO-MATCHA COOKIES
We called our blog ‘Kale & Cocoa’ for a reason – while we love the health benefits of kale, we love a bit of chocolate too. So yet more evidence that chocolate is good for us is a bonus! Early in the summer it was widely reported that around 100g of chocolate a…
WHY MUSTARD IS A MUST-HAVE, AND MUSTARD-MAPLE SALMON
As a kid, I hated mustard. I couldn’t understand the pre-Sunday lunch ritual of mixing bright yellow powder into a paste with a teeny tiny spoon (does anyone still own a mustard spoon, I wonder?) or the fervour with which my parents would seek out good Dijon on trips to France. But now I get…
SALMON: LET ME COUNT THE WAYS, AND THE EASIEST AFTER-WORK SALMON SALAD
If someone says ‘brain food’ what’s the first thing you think of? My guess is that it’s going to be fish – and probably oily fish. And if it’s oily fish, it’s got to be salmon. It’s become synonymous with healthy eating in recent decades. And it’s not just the brain that salmon can help….
ONE YEAR ON – COOKIES FOR KIDS (AND ADULTS!)
Happy Birthday to us! Kale & Cocoa is a year old today and we’d like to thank our 1000 followers for all their support. You’ve made all the hard work worthwhile! But our first birthday has got me thinking. During the last twelve months, we’ve immersed ourselves in hundreds of research reports, medical studies, blogs,…
GET FAT TO BEAT DEMENTIA, REALLY? VITAMIN E AND A CRUMBLE RECIPE
This is bonkers, but fat and obese people are less likely to get dementia. Yes, really. Recent research published in The Lancet suggests that being overweight has an 18% reduction in dementia risk and being obese a staggering 24% reduction. It’s brilliant news if you are overweight of course, but it flies in the face…
THE MIND DIET, BLUE ZONES AND EASTER LAMB
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…
