Healthy meals in 30 minutes

We are all busy me included. Many people often ask me, including my clients, how I cook every night. I rarely spend more than 30 minuted preparing a meal,  I am going to start to post my 30 minute meals which may inspire you to try cooking more!

Roasted cauliflower and new potatoes with wild salmon. 

 Variations: 

You can switch the cauliflower for broccoli or broccoli Rabe
Switch the salmon for quick cooking grass fed meat, thin steak or chicken breast that has been smashed thin.

Benefits

• Low GI
• High in nutrients
• Alkaline forming
• Candida free
• Grain free
• Dairy free

Time: 30 minutes
Serves: 2
Ingredients: 

• 1/2 cauliflower chopped into florets
• 1 cup of chopped new potatoes leave the skin on
• 2 tablespoons of olive
• 1 stick of rosemary
• 1 tablespoon of slithered almonds (optional)
• 1 teaspoon of garlic powder
• Sea salt
• 2 steaks of wild salmon
• Salad of your choice 
• 1/2 Lemon

Methods

• Preheat oven to 400 f
• Cut up the potatoes and the cauliflower into bite size bits put in a bowl
• Add oil garlic, almonds and rosemary and salt to taste and toss together.
• Line baking tray with foil
• spread the cauliflower potato mixture on the tray and put in the over
• Set the timer for 15 minutes and make a cup of tea!
• After 15 min give the vegies a little shake to make sure they get evenly brown sometimes I skip this if I am busy in which case set the timer for 30 minutes.
• 15 minutes before you want to eat get a skillet / frying pan out and put on a medium heat. Prepare a quick salad.  I like tomatoes, cucumber and baby spinach (as my kid like this and it is nutritious!) If you want to save time use a pre-washed salad mix. Dress with olive oil and lemon.
• By now you should have 10 minutes before timer goes off. In the hot pan add a little olive oil and place salmon skin side down. Let it cook for 5 minutes until skin is crispy. Season with salt and pepper now if you wish. Flip and cook on other side for 5 minutes (NOTE: all salmon is not the same thickness so this may vary a little also depending on how you like it cooked.) Switch off heat and leave salmon in pan while you serve.
• The timer on the vegies will have now gone off. Serve them and the salad so that 1/2 your plate is salad and 1/4 is roasted vegetables. Then serve the salmon and squeeze a bit of lemon over it.

Natural treatments of headaches

Style.com are running the answers to a series of health questions they asked me. I am sure they will be greatly edited down! Here is a sneak peek of the full answer to the first question.

I have been suffering with headaches recently. Can any teas of herbs help?

Headaches can have many different causes and these are treated in a myriad of ways. I will run through the common types and how to alleviate each  type.

Stress/ tension  headache:

Symptoms: A dull aching headache or sensation of tightness across the forehead and/or on the sides or nape of the neck associated with scalp, neck,or shoulder muscle tenderness. Advice: As the name suggests these headaches are worse during periods of stress and can go on for days at an end. Luckily they can be treated naturally. I recommend taking a nervine herb like American skullcap (Scutellaria lateriflora). This is a  relaxant herb and has been shown in trials to have an anxiolytic effect, this is possibly why it is useful at relieving tension headaches.  Acupuncture is also effective at for treating these kinds of headaches. Dietary nutritional supplements also can help. I suggest taking 300mg of magnesium, a  25 mg b-complex and 500 mg vitamins C. This help with stress levels and also the magnesium can help to relax the muscles that are involved in tension headaches.

Migraine

Symptoms: Migraine Is a neurovascular disorder which gives periodic headaches often with prodromal symptoms called an aura, these can range from nausea to visual disturbances. The mechanism starts in the brain and then spreads to the blood vessels where high levels of serotonin causes contraction then dilation of vessels which give rise to painful headaches.

Advice: Prevention is best here. Taking the anti-inflammatory herb feverfew leaf (Tanacetum parthenium) daily reduces the number of migraine attacks possibly by affecting the hyperreactivity of the blood vessel wall, thus preventing the cramping and subsequent dilation. I have used this herb successfully with many clients of mine,  it has also been widely studied and shown to be successful in the treatment of migraines.The dose is the equivalent to two leaves a day, so even keeping a plant and nibbling on a leaf is a good bet! Make sure to get a good quality brand if taking a pill or tincture.  As well as feverfew there has been good evidence to suggest butterbur (Petrasites) is an effective treatment for migraine sufferers. Discovery of the high incidence a mutation in a gene  causing a resulting  elevation of homocysteine levels in patients with migraine with aura led to a trial of b12, folate, and b6 in these patients. This trial showed that taking these three supplements resulted in a reduction of homocysteine levels and improvement of migraine symptoms. So taking a b-complex can help reduce migraines. If your migraines are worse around your period also follow the advice below for hormonal headaches. Lastly lavender oil has been shown to be effective in trials for reducing the severity of migraine headaches. Use throughout the day on the pressure points and in the bath at night.

Hormonal headaches

The type you get before your period.

Advice: Taking magnesium and b6 every day can have a preventive effect on these kind of headaches. It also helps with PMS and period pains which is an added bonus! The addition of the hormone balancing herb agnus castus can also be very helpful having been shown in clinical trials to significantly reduce all PMS symptoms including headache. You take this herb in the morning, daily without skipping a dose and for a minimum of two months. Keeping blood sugar up before your period is also helpful at preventing headaches, so eating protein with slow release carbohydrates and not skipping meals is a good bet. If you are also dizzy, pale and tired the headaches may be related to anemia rather than hormonal imbalances. These headaches tend to be on the top of the head. Taking a blood tonic throughout the month like floradix tablets or liquid can help these kind of headache.

Sinus headaches

Its nearly that time of year for allergy season! Sinus headaches are horrible.

Advice: I suggest treating the underlying inflammation by taking a combination of quercetin and bromelain. These anti inflammatory plant chemicals have been shown in trials to reduce histamine and inflammation in the sinuses as well as symptoms of chronic sinusitis. In my experience taking these daily is more effective that taking claritin or some other over the counter medication. Bromelain is in raw pineapple and quercetin is high in nettle. I have been known to grab raw pineapple when I have forgotten to taken my herbs  and within 15 minutes the sinus pain has gone. Its important to take bromelain or fresh pineapple away from food as it is an enzyme it will basically digest food you eat with it rendering it ineffective. As well as the quercetin and bromelain I love the nasal spray sinol M. It contains capsicum, thats right chilli. After the initial burn it clears sinus headaches very nicely. I always pre-order a couple of bottles to be ready for the allergy season.