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butter bean mash
Butter Bean Mash
Our new favourite dish – butter bean mash ?
 
My son is in love with beans. He loves all kinds of beans so we decided to try this new butter bean mash recipe.
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weaning baby
Healthy way to feed and wean your baby
Breast milk offers your baby so much more than just comfort and a full tummy. As breast milk flows from you to your baby, It releases nutrients in order of importance to keep your baby’s blood sugar balanced.
 
The first to flow from breast milk is predigested protein in the form of amino acids. Then fats are released to support brain and nerve development and lastly, sugars help energy for the rapid growth your baby is experiencing.
WHEN TO START WEANING YOUR BABY
Start weaning your baby around 4-6months. A good indication of when a baby is ready for first food is when He/She is able to sit up on their own.
 
Start off with avocado. Avocado is a great nutrient-dense food that is a full meal on its own. Avocado has the closest composition to breast milk. It is full of healthy fats and has 20 different vitamins and minerals that your baby needs to grow and be healthy.
 
Veggies are more nutrient dense than fruits so try to get them in before introducing cereals or grains. Start with single veggie purees like butternut, sweet potato, baby marrows, and carrots, then move on to combined vegetable purees
after 2 weeks.
 
Introduce finger-size amounts of protein e.g. white fish pureed with veggie after the first month. Then chicken, and then lastly red meat.
 
In the first year of a baby’s life, their intestines are porous, so we want to limit typical food allergens like gluten and wheat because they can an immune reaction which may lead to allergies and eczema later on. Gluten-free grains include; millet, sorghum, chia, rice and corn.
 
For the first year, a baby’s digestive system is still trying to develop so they may struggle to digest citrus fruits, and nightshade foods like tomatoes, eggplants, mushrooms and peppers.
 
Pulsers, dairy, and eggs can be introduced towards the end of the first year.

This is an exciting time for you and your baby, so don’t let this become stressful. Don’t be too rigid about following these suggestions. Use them as a general guideline and adjust them according to how your baby is responding.

Let your baby get used to one flavour at a time. Let him/her discover each food’s texture and smell, and let them be messy.
 
Investigate for yourself what ‘baby-led weaning’ is all about and if you would like to give it a try. Teach your baby how to eat and enjoy food by eating with them. Meals are more enjoyable when we eat together.
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Secrets to a healthy heart
Secrets to a healthy heart

We now know that heart disease is caused by long-term low-grade inflammation of the arterial walls. Cholesterol is merely trying to help by adhering to lesions in the arterial walls, much like a plaster does on our outside skin.

Foods and lifestyle habits can cause and exacerbate inflammation, but there are many foods, herbs, spices and nutrients as well as lifestyle choices that help reduce it. Backed up with the necessary changes – a healthy diet, regular exercise, not smoking and reducing alcohol – many people find rapid improvements in their cholesterol ratios, blood pressure and other indicators of risk. 

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Immune action plan
Immune boosting action plan

The purpose of the immune system is to identify the body’s enemies and destroy them. These enemies include defective body cells as well as foreign agents such as bacteria and viruses.

The main ‘gates’ into the body are the skin, the digestive tract, which lets in food, and the lungs, which let in air. Healthy, strong mucous membranes in the respiratory and digestive tract are the first line of defence against invaders

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Improving your digestion
Improving your digestion

Nothing created by man compares to the magnificent design of the human body. For example, today you will produce 10 liters of digestive juices to break down the food you eat to enable it to pass through your ‘inside skin’, the gastrointestinal wall. Your intestine is a 30-foot long tract with a surface area the size of a small football pitch, which effectively replaces itself every four days. The health of your gastrointestinal tract is maintained by a team of between 300 and 4,000 strains of bacteria and other microorganisms.

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Cravings
Why do we get cravings?

With every diet, however tasty the food, however, committed you are, unless you are superhuman, there will be times that you give in to cravings. This is normal. Yet, the frequency and duration of an overeating episode will determine how successful you are with weight loss and weight maintenance. It may seem like there is nothing you can do about it – that you are completely out of control. This usually spirals into feelings of guilt, failure, and despondency, so you give up – feeling more miserable than ever.

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