A truly remarkable man.

The Urban Remedy girls went on a very special kind of date earlier this week. We put on our Sunday best and ventured down to the Sydney Opera House to listen (avidly) to one of the great minds of nutrition. If you haven’t heard of him already, he goes by the name of Pollan. Michael Pollan.

Why is he so special? Well, probably because few people combine such a harmonious assortment of attributes and interests in such an easy-to-listen-to package. Pollan is first and foremost a journalist and a teacher but his area of expertise (and passion) is nutrition/health, and he brings to the table the so often missing ingredients of history, culture, government policy and sustainability. After all, nutrition without these key elements is like bread without butter, a roast without gravy, salad without dressing… you catch our drift.

Back to Pollan. One of his best works ‘Food Rules’ (which lays out some really simple but powerful guidelines to healthy eating) can be summed up in seven tiny but mighty words:

 “Eat food. Mostly plants. Not too much.”

We think they deserve a little elaboration:

Eat food.
If it doesn’t look like food (and your grandmother wouldn’t recognise it as food) it probably isn’t! Pollan wants us to eat food the way nature intended, food that’s alive, food that rots! And this means no need for additives, wonder ingredients or complicated production methods. Food is food. You shouldn’t need a dictionary to interpret the ingredients list.

Mostly plants.
This is self-explanatory. Eat mostly plants (this includes grains, nuts and seeds – non-refined of course). However, Pollan is not suggesting we avoid meat/protein altogether – on the contrary, he encourages sustainably-farmed and cruelty-free fish, free-range eggs, and/or moderate servings of organic meat. Remember to wash veggies thoroughly or if possible go organic. Even better still, grow your own!

Not too much.
Pollan’s least popular piece of advice. However, far from suggesting extreme calorie restriction (or counting), Pollan is simply inviting us to moderate and listen to our body’s needs. Instead of supersizing everything, we should focus on quality over quantity and learn to recognise when we are hungry or full. Our body will guide us to wellbeing if we listen closely enough.

And here are 5 handy tips to get you started:
1. Ask yourself where your food came from and how it was made
2. Make your own meals when possible, or buy them from a reliable source
3. Tune into your cravings – they could be telling you something!
4. Rediscover the pleasure of eating (it’s fun, let’s enjoy it)
5. Eat mindfully. Eating is an experience. There is no need to rush it.

Here's a link to our favourite Pollan book & to one of his many amazing talks.

The rise and fall of bread

The history of bread can be dated back at least 30,000 years – that’s a long, long time before ovens or sandwiches. Before loaves of bread, there were flat breads, round breads, bread cakes and patties – all specific to the geographic region they stemmed from.

Bread quickly became a staple of our ancestors’ diets – hence expressions such as ‘earning your bread and butter’, ‘bread winner’, ‘bread of life’ etc. Bread was on every table, from rich to working class, and those who couldn’t afford it would risk everything for a meagre loaf.

So why then have we fallen so out of love with bread? Why is it the enemy of the health conscious? The guilty pleasure we reluctantly place in the same category as dessert?

Bread in its simple form is NOT bad for you. Fact. But add flour treatment agents, chemical oxidants, emulsifiers, genetically-modified enzymes, hardened fats, refined salt and sugar (the list goes on), and bread is nowhere to be seen. It got lost somewhere in the mass of chemicals, additives, and well… cr*p! On top of this, double up quantities of yeast for faster cooking and throw pre-baked dough into the mix and you have a recipe for absolute disaster.

Real baking requires minimal ingredients and maximum effort. Preparing good quality bread takes time – the ingredients often need to work their magic (read ‘ferment’) overnight, and a true baker could be awake and baking away anywhere from 3am onwards.

When it comes to healthy bread, you really only need 5 ingredients:

1. Flour (pref wholegrain and stoneground)

2. Water (filtered if poss)

3. Yeast or sourdough culture*

The last two are optional…

4. Oil (good quality of course)

5. Salt (make it rock)

*We recommend sourdough if you suffer from bloating, candida or acne.

As with so many of the big food myths, the answer is pretty darn simple: anything can be bad for you if you don’t read the label, and don’t know what to look out for. Bread is NOT the enemy. You just need to choose the right one.

Is it time for the humble loaf to make a comeback?

Sources:

Felicity Lawrence, ‘Not on the label’, Penguin, London 2004

Let’s keep it simple. Let’s get back to basics.

We were talking about what we like at the Urban Remedy HQ today. We like: green juice, warming soups, yummy smoothies (no surprises here)… and... well, we’re all a little bit methodical and organised (read geeky) so we also really like lists. When it came to discussing what we don’t like, we were pretty unanimous: we don’t like over-complicating things. And that definitely applies to the world of health.

It’s easy to get caught up in the hype of the latest fad or to feel overwhelmed by the multitude of nutritional choices and suggestions out there. Breathe. It’s okay. You probably know a lot more than you realise. When it comes to living well and being healthy, we like to believe that you know best. You just have to tune into your body and get back to the basics.

To help you do so, we’ve compiled a list of super simple guidelines to living well. We’re guessing you know it all already but that’s kind of the point. Sometimes it’s good to remember that it’s not rocket science, that we already have all the information we need to be healthy and happy.

And because we’re total list junkies, here’s... well, a list of...

10 simple health rules:

1.      Always eat breakkie – king. of. meals.

2.      Drink more water – nope, not 2 litres all at once… sip it, slowly

3.      Know your food – make your own or find out what’s in the stuff you buy!

4.      Read the label – look out for trans-fats, sugar and nasty additives

5.      Keep moving – if you can’t do a workout, get your walk or stretch on

6.      Get enough sleep –  6 hours min… find a routine that works for you

7.      Identify your cravings – better yet, find a healthy way to enjoy them

8.      Reduce your stress levels – ask yourself: will worrying change anything?

9.      Listen to your body – are you hungry, thirsty, in need of some TLC?

10.    Take the time to eat – food is there to enjoy!

You’re the boss. Tune into your awesomeness.

Butter me up, buttercup!

Before the days of margarine, people ate butter. They didn’t think twice about it. It was, along with milk and bread, a staple of their diet. When nutrition crept into the limelight, butter was cast aside due to its saturated fat content. It became one of the ‘foods to avoid’ in the quest to ward off heart disease, high cholesterol and blood pressure, and weight gain. We switched to margarine as a ‘healthier alternative’ but is marge really all that good for you? Let’s compare the two…

Butter
Made from churning cream that rises to the top of milk if it is allowed to set for some time. The churning process hardens the cream.

• Natural
• Unrefined
• Free from trans-fats
• Free from toxic metals
• Rich in natural fatty acids
• Rich in fat-soluble vitamins: ADEK
• Contains no casein or lactose

Margarine
Chemically-extracted refined vegetable oil. The oil is extracted at a high temperature (and damaged as a result) and hardened by bubbling hydrogen through it at a high heat.

• Chemically-processed
• Refined, treated product
• Contains trans-fats
• Contains toxic metals such as nickel and cadmium
• Contains colourings and other toxic additives and by-products
• Contains no vit E (destroyed in heating process)

Note: Trans-fats trigger inflammation in the body. They increase levels of bad cholesterol (LDL) and reduce levels of good cholesterol (HDL).

Butter vs Margarine
Our approach is to go for the natural unrefined option, butter, and to use it in moderation. If you can, opt for raw butter! We also suggest enjoying healthy oils alongside butter – olive oil on bread or with veggies/fish, coconut oil as an excellent substitute for butter in cooking. If you do opt for marge, read the label very carefully. Some are better than others! Keep an eye out for additives, preservatives (aka the nasties) and check the trans-fat and sat fat content.

Sources: 
1. Lawrence Wilson MD, Centre for Development, March 2011
2. Harvard Health ‘Health Beat’, June 2006