I’m just back from Jordan where we celebrated The Husband’s Big Birthday – rather belatedly, thanks to Covid-19. I always take great interest in how other cultures eat and live, and what they can teach us. The Jordanians (who have much lower rates of dementia and cancer than we do) eat beans for breakfast. Not…
WHY THE TIMING OF OUR EATING AND MOVING MATTERS
No sooner have we mastered exercise and eating – by which I mean we’re eating the rainbow, walking daily and lifting a few weights – than those pesky scientists discover it’s timing that matters. OK I exaggerate. But recent studies suggest that when we move is almost as important as how we move, with new…
HOME-COOKING, EGGY MUFFINS AND EASTER RECIPES!
Spring is springing and Sunday brings one of my favourite days of the year – right up there with my birthday – Daylight Saving. I love the clocks going forward, bringing lighter evenings and the promise of warmer days ahead. The move into spring, and the approach of the Easter break, is particularly pertinent this…
WHY BERRIES ARE YOUR BEST FRIENDS IN LOCKDOWN
If you look at our Instagram or Facebook feed, you’ll realise I’m very excited by the start of berry season! I love English berries and am thrilled when they arrive in the shops. Their blazing colour, sweet perfume and promise of summer never fail to make me happy. And this Summer, in particular, we’re being…
WHAT WE NEED NOW: COLD SHOWERS AND WARM RECIPES
We’ve had a bit of a week of it at The Age-Well Project: Annabel’s computer blew up, leaving her without thousands of precious documents, notes and creative work. I’ve been juggling a sick teenager, an injured puppy, a defunct boiler (so no hot water) a broken dishwasher. And, to cap it all, Tuesday’s storms saw…
THESE VEGETABLES WILL STRENGTHEN YOUR BONES – AND KALE SHAKSHUKA
Growing up, I was very close to my paternal grandmother. She was widowed young and filled her life with a cohort of doughty female friends and relations. They became, by extension, my ‘aunties’. They played whist, shopped and shored up the Women’s Royal Voluntary Service together. As time passed they all started to break bones,…
SAVE THE NHS: LOOK AFTER YOURSELF (AND PERFECT PANCAKES)
I love the NHS (that’s Britain’s beleaguered National Health Service, if you’re not from round here): the dedication of its staff never fails to humble me, its extraordinary achievements at the cutting edge of science awe me. It’s the envy of the world and we should do everything we can to keep it …. The…
COULD YOU FAST EVERY DAY? AND OVEN-BAKED PORRIDGE
No we haven’t lost the plot entirely. And no, we don’t mean not eating anything ever. We mean the hottest area of healthy ageing research: intermittent fasting. Intermittent fasting has been in the news a lot in recent years: the runaway success of Michael Moseley and Mimi Spencer’s 5:2 Diet (eat normally for five days,…
HOW TO BE HAPPY, AND CHOCOLATE PANCAKES
Can food make us happy? Not as in ‘Oh God, this cheesecake makes my tummy smile’, but in terms of micronutrients which boost mood. The short answer is yes, and the good news is that happiness is – theoretically – just a salad away. Studies from all over the world support the idea that those…
DEMENTIA, BLACKCURRANTS – AND CHIA SEED PANCAKES
It’s official – middle-aged Britons have cut their risk of developing dementia by 22%. A report from Cambridge University identifies healthy eating, increased exercise and not smoking as the critical factors. Apparently the life style changes made by so many of us, from middle-age onwards, have resulted in an annual 200-300,000 fewer cases of dementia….
