Real Food Rocks: Easy To Prepare Real Food Recipes For All The Family To Enjoy

The Public Health Collaboration created this cook book after regularly being asked questions such as:

“so what do you eat?”,
“what about packed lunches?”,
“what if I want to feed the whole family?” or 
“how do you cope eating out?”

This book is a collection of their favourite, easy to prepare real food recipes which are suitable for all the family to enjoy. Recipes from their board of doctors and others from public members from around the world.

Recipes include breakfast muffins and no grain pancakes

A cake recipe supplied by Dr Jen Unwin is shown below.

You can by this recipe book from Amazon




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11 Important Tips on Carbs Protein calories and Fat

Diabetes and your HbA1c level

HbA1c is your average blood glucose (sugar) levels for the last two to three months.

A high HbA1c means you have too much sugar in your blood. This means you’re more likely to develop diabetes complications, like serious problems with your eyes and feet.

Four Years of Low Carb Primary Care

Four years of low carb primary care: “It’s a lifestyle not a diet” - Dr David Unwin & Dr Jen Unwin

Omega 6 and Omega 3 in Plant Based Cooking Oils

Omega 6 and Omega 3 in Plant Based Cooking Oils

In western society we all consume far too many Omega 6 essential fatty acids and not enough Omega 3. The ideal ratio is 1:1 but most people are far from the mark. See The importance of the ratio of Omega-6/Omega-3 essential fatty acids to see the effects of adding or decreasing Omega 6 in the diet.

Here is a chart showing the number of grams of both Omega 6 & Omega 3 in every 100g of popular plant based cooking oils. The nearer the top of the chart the better the oil performs in the criteria however I would urge you to only use palm oil products that come from a responsible source that protects wildlife and their habitation. 

For UK please note that Canola oil is Rapeseed oil.

What is “high oleic” oil?

High oleic oil is any oil that is high in monounsaturated fats.  Olive and canola oil are naturally high in monounsaturated fat, but they are also high in polyunsaturated fats which mean they are not very shelf-stable.  In recent years, scientists have developed sunflower (and other) oils that are bred to be high in monounsaturated fats and low in polyunsaturated fats so they can be used in products that need to be shelf-stable.

The Importance of the Ratio of Omega 6 to Omega 3 EFA

The importance of the ratio of omega-6/omega-3 essential fatty acids.

Several sources of information suggest that human beings evolved on a diet with a ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 essential fatty acids (EFA) of approximately 1 whereas in Western diets the ratio is 15/1-16.7/1. Western diets are deficient in omega-3 fatty acids, and have excessive amounts of omega-6 fatty acids compared with the diet on which human beings evolved and their genetic patterns were established.

Excessive amounts of omega-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) and a very high omega-6/omega-3 ratio, as is found in today's Western diets, promote the pathogenesis of many diseases, including cardiovascular disease, cancer, and inflammatory and autoimmune diseases, whereas increased levels of omega-3 PUFA (a low omega-6/omega-3 ratio) exert suppressive effects.

In the secondary prevention of cardiovascular disease, a ratio of 4/1 was associated with a 70% decrease in total mortality. A ratio of 2.5/1 reduced rectal cell proliferation in patients with colorectal cancer, whereas a ratio of 4/1 with the same amount of omega-3 PUFA had no effect.

The lower omega-6/omega-3 ratio in women with breast cancer was associated with decreased risk. A ratio of 2-3/1 suppressed inflammation in patients with rheumatoid arthritis, and a ratio of 5/1 had a beneficial effect on patients with asthma, whereas a ratio of 10/1 had adverse consequences.

These studies indicate that the optimal ratio may vary with the disease under consideration. This is consistent with the fact that chronic diseases are multigenic and multifactorial. Therefore, it is quite possible that the therapeutic dose of omega-3 fatty acids will depend on the degree of severity of disease resulting from the genetic predisposition.

A lower ratio of omega-6/omega-3 fatty acids is more desirable in reducing the risk of many of the chronic diseases of high prevalence in Western societies, as well as in the developing countries, that are being exported to the rest of the world.

Source

Almond Flour

What is almond flour?

Almond flour is simply ground almonds which makes it gluten free. Ideally chose a flour made from blanched almonds (white without the skin) as flour made with the skin on is usually referred to as almond meal. Some brands will interchange the names so you might want to check the ingredients. It is often used as a low-carb substitute for wheat flour in cooking. If you are making something more delicate like cakes then you ideally want to go with the flour where as breads and breadcrumbs you could use either

How to use almond flour

If you are on a low-carb diet then almond flour will become a staple ingredient in your baking, along side coconut flour. Wheat flour contains gluten, which helps to stick all the ingredients together (did you ever make glue from flour and water?). As almonds are gluten free the dough you making from it won't have the same properties as a traditional dough, eg. yeast doesn't cause it to rise. So when you use it in your baking you will need to add something else to help it absorb liquid and bind together. The most usual ingredients used for this purpose are ground psyllium husk powder, protein powder and/or eggs. I am sure you will have noticed that many low-carb recipes contain a lot more eggs than standard recipes.

If you have a recipe for breaded fish, meat or vegetables you can use almond flour or meal mixed with spices and/or Parmesan cheese as a substitute for breadcrumbs.

Other things you need to know

The amount of carbs in almond flour can vary from product to product this is because of where and how the almonds were grown so always check the packaging for actual figures but as a rule of thumb almond flour will contain approx 4-8g of carbs per 100g.

This makes almond flour low-carb but because it is often used in quite large quantities in baking the total carbs per dish can add up so bear this in mind when contemplating portion sizes.

Almonds are also considered to be low in omega 6 due to their protective skin and vitamin E content but this gets destroyed by the grinding process and so when they are exposed to high temperatures in the oven the oxidation process in intensified so there is a possibility that too much could be unhealthy. Almond flour can be used in no bake recipes without any consideration but it might be wise to not overindulge in baked goods.

Substitutes

Coconut flour is an alternative to almond flour and can also be used combined with it. This would obviously be a serious consideration for people with nut allergies. However you don't need to use as much coconut flour as you would for almond flour, the ratio would be about 3:1, ie you need about a 1/3 of the coconut flour but as coconuts are much drier than almonds you may need to add additional eggs.

Nutritional Information per 100g

Fat: 54g, Protein 19g, Carbs 4.3g, Fibre 11g - 610 Kcalories

Where to buy

Most healthfood and wholefood stores will stock it as well as some supermarkets. You can also buy online here