I created this as a keep-you-fuller-for-longer version of classic leek soup. I swapped the potatoes for white beans because potatoes are mostly just sugars whereas beans are full of nutrients and protein. This is a fantastic winter warmer and a meal in itself. If you feel like it, eat it with some wholemeal bread such as gluten-free or (if you can eat gluten) 100% rye sourdough or other wholemeal 100% sourdough bread.. Enjoy.
For 3:
600g leeks, including all the green part
800ml chicken stock (or use 1 Kallo chicken stock cube and water)
1 large clove garlic, peeled and sliced
About 425g of cooked, drained no-added sugar white beans
(eg. white haricots, canellini or butter beans) – use a tin if you can’t soak and cook your own beans.
Black pepper
1 tbs extra virgin olive oil and extra for drizzling
2 tbs fresh or frozen chopped parsley if you have it
1. Wash and slice the leeks and place in a large saucepan with the garlic and 1 dtbs olive oil and 1 tbs of clean water or stock.
2. Sweat, covered, until leeks are wilted and soft.
3. Add the stock, beans and simmer for a few minutes to warm through.
4. You can eat this soup 3 ways: a) As it is, lots of things floating in broth b) blend half of it with the parsley and mix back in with unblended soup c) blend the whole thing for a totally smooth end product.
5. If you have blended the soup, add water if too thick, reaheat and serve with lots of freshly ground black pepper and a generous drizzle of extra virgin olive oil.
Variations:
Adding a squeeze of lemon juice when serving helps digestion by raising stomach acidity (often low in those over 50 or who suffer from bloating after eating).
Add a heaped teaspoon of dried tarragon when the soup is cooked. It has a lovely buttery flavour and as a herb helps reduce unhelpful bacteria in your gut.
Why this is good for you: Leeks, garlic beans are both a rich source of soluble fibre which encourages friendly bacteria (“probiotics”) to flourish in your gut. Probiotics help balance both male and female hormones, keep skin clear and healthy and promote a healthy, resilient digestive system. They are also critical for a strong immune system that sees off infection AND doesn’t overreact (as seen in autoimmune and inflammatory conditions like hypothyroidism, arthritis, eczema and asthma).
Soluble fibre also binds (sticks to) toxins such mercury, cadmium, lead and arsenic in your gut. If you have mercury fillings, eat tuna, non-organic rice or smoke, you can accumulate mercury, arsenic and cadmium in your body. All toxins need to be quickly eliminated from the body in the stools. Soluble fibre absorbs water, helping to bulk up stools in your colon, thus reducing the risk of constipation. Constipation allows reabsorption of toxins from your bowel which can lead to a variety of health effects such as poor skin, anxiety, headaches, hair loss, hormonal imbalance and weight gain. The protein in the beans and the extra virgin olive oil both help you feel fuller for longer after eating this hearty soup.
Harira is a delicious, rich Moroccan soup that’s really delicious. With a green salad and maybe some gluten-free wholemeal bread, or some leftover cooked millet or brown rice stirred in it makes a main meal. This looks like a complicated soup but it is easy to make, provided you keep a storecupboard of some basic spices and some beans and pulses. Freeze it in single or multiple portions for TV dinners. I so love this on a dark winter’s night or after coming in freezing from working in the garden. Yum!!
If you are not used to eating beans and pulses then you might want to start with a small serving at a time, accompanied by some of your more “normal” (i.e. starchy) foods.
For 4
50g chickpeas
50g butterbeans
50g flageolet beans or white haricot beans
50g black-eyed beans (or black beans)
50g red kidney beans
50g large green (continental) lentils
50g yellow split peas
400g tin peeled, chopped tomatoes
225g onions, coarsely chopped
¼ level tsp black pepper
1 heaped tsp (teaspoon) ground turmeric
1 level tsp ground ginger
1 heaped tsp ground cinnamon
1 heaped tsp ground paprika
A good pinch of cayenne (optional)
Juice of ½ lemon
1½ tbs gram flour (chickpea flour) or brown rice flour. If you eat gluten, its OK to use brown spelt or wholewheat flour but do avoid if you are coeliac or intolerant)
1 very large handful fresh coriander (or parsley, if you don’t have coriander) chopped
2 heaped tsp dried mint
Pick over the pulses and discard any sticks or bits of grit.
Put chickpeas, butterbeans, flageolets/haricots, black eyed beans and kidney beans in a large saucepan and cover in twice their depth of clean water. Leave to soak overnight. If you forget to soak them then cover in lots of boiling water and soak for 1 hour. Drain off the soakwater and add 1.1L boiling water and simmer for 1½ hours.
Add the pulses (lentils and split peas), onions, tomatoes chopped with their juice, pepper, turmeric, ginger, cinnamon and lemon. Boil fast for 10 minutes and then simmer for another hour. Add about 1.1L more water.
Add about 2 dessertspoons of cold water to the chickpea flour (or whatever flour you are using) and mix it to a smooth paste. Beat in a few ladlefuls of broth and pour this back in the soup, stirring vigorously. Continue to stir until the soup is bubbling again and has thickened without leaving any lumps. The flour gives the soup a texture which the Moroccans call “velvety” and which they usually achieve by stirring in leavened dough left over from breadmaking. Simmer the soup until the beans are soft.
Chop the herbs and add them with the paprika and cayenne, stir well and serve.
Note:
All beans and pulses come equipped with protease inhibitors – these are substances designed to stop them being digested by our protein-digesting enzymes (proteases). You can de-activate most of the protease inhibiters by soaking in cold water overnight – this helps inactivate the protease inhibitors. Then you need to cook till tender, boiling hard for at least 10 minutes of the cooking time. To make your beans/pulses ultra easy to digest, soak them at room temperature in clean cold water for a day or two until they start to sprout. Then cook and use as normal. If you never eat beans, then start with small portions and build up. Beans contain soluble fibre which feeds good gut bacteria. This can cause flatulence initially, which passes as you keep eating beans regularly.
Cook’s Handy Tip:
To reduce the cooking time of your beans/pulses soak a 7-10cm piece of Kombu seaweed in hot water for a few minutes. This removes the salt which could make the beans leathery as they cook. Chop it up and add to your beans before/during cooking. This also helps reduce the protease inhibitors and make the beans more digestible. It reduces the amount of cooking time needed and won’t be tasted in the final soup.
Why this is good for you: Beans and pulses are a great source of magnesium and potassium. They are also rich in protein so a cupful, cooked, is enough protein to keep you satisfied for hours. Thousands of scientific studies have been done on the health-boosting effects of spices. Eating a variety of spices in your daily diet is a great way of helping your health, soothing your digestive system and getting clear, younger-looking skin. spices also have an anti-inflammatory effect.
Seaweed, which you can use to speed up the cooking time of your beans (see tip), is a rich source of iodine. Iodine is needed for proper thyroid function and to keep your breasts or prostate healthy. Most Irish people are deficient in iodine. Iodine utilisation is blocked by fluoride and chlorine in our water, and by bromide which is used to “improve” white flour. Irish people also eat less iodine-rich foods than ever because iodine is deficient in our soils. Iodine is needed by your body to clear used-up sex hormones (oestrogens in particular including the toxic xeno-oestrogens from our environment). This helps keep you free from breast and prostate tumours. You can get rid of chlorine from your water by filtering it, or by boiling the water and leaving it to cool. Fluoride can only be removed by a special fluoride filter like those available from www.simplywater.ie You can reduce bromides by switching from wheaten flour to other, more nutritious wholegrains like rye (contains gluten), millet, brown rice, wholemeal spelt and buckwheat flours.
I love this and so does everyone that tries it. It’s a really useful recipe: make a batch, cut or roughly break it up and keep it in the freezer. It can be served from frozen, which makes it wonderfully chewy and a little like a chocolate ice cream bar, and is a brilliant standby for when you have unexpected guests. It may taste decadent, but the ingredients are all very nutritious, the dark chocolate included. This recipe comes from Patrick Holford’s The 10 Secrets of 100% Health Cookbook.
Serves 10
200g dark chocolate, minimum 70% and ideally 85% cocoa solids, broken in to chunks
125g rough unsweetened gluten-free oatcakes (or normal unsweetened Nairn’s rough oatcakes if you are not gluten-sensitive)
50g goji berries
50g Brazil nuts, roughly chopped
50g pumpkin seeds
4 tsp ground mixed seeds (grind your own blend of flax, sesame, sunflower and pumpkin or use Linwoods milled mixed seeds)
2 heaped tsp ground cinnamon
50g hazelnut butter or unsalted no-added-sugar peanut butter – or make your own by grinding the raw nuts finely and mixing in a little extra virgin nut seed or avocado oil (or at a pinch, light olive oil) to make into a spreadable paste.
1. Melt the chocolate, stirring occasionally, in a heatproof bowl over a pan of gently simmering water, making sure the base of the bowl doesn’t touch the water.
2. Put the oatcakes into a mixing bowl and crumble into small pieces. Stir in the goji berries, nuts, seeds and spices.
3. Stir the nut butter into the melted chocolate and mix until fairly smooth. Stir the chocolate mixture into the remaining ingredients, making sure the ingredients are evenly coated.
4. Spread the mixture over a baking sheet and put in the fridge or freezer to chill and harden. Break into shards or cut into rough pieces when set, ready to serve.
Why this is good for you: These crunchies are packed with raw nuts and seeds, a precious source of raw omega 6 oils. These oils are important for healthy skin, digestion, energy, mood and immunity. Most people have lots of cooked or refined omega 6 oils in their diets and these interfere with your body’s ability to use the good (raw) ones. Raw nuts and seeds and good quality (over 70%) dark chocolate are a good source of magnesium. Magnesium helps you feel chilled out and happy. It also helps your liver function more effectively. Good news after the Christmas excess…
This is a really easy reliable way to cook brown rice so it’s perfect every time. Here I use turmeric to give the rice a golden colour, meaning that you’re less likely to get objections if you are feeding fussy children (or partners) brown rice for the first time.
For 2 people (with protein and at least 2 servings of veg to accompany)
100g/half a mug of brown long grain rice or brown basmati (organic if possible)
275ml/1 mug boiling water
1/4 level teaspoon turmeric powder
Measure out your rice into a small saucepan with a lid. Add the turmeric and boiling water, cover with the lid and bring to the boil on a medium heat. You want the whole thing to boil gently until cooked. DO NOT STIR.
When the rice is done it will have soaked up all the water. This takes about 25 minutes for long grain and about 20 for basmati. Cooking times do vary depending on the hardness of your water. Adding salt or (salt-containing) stock cubes increases the cooking time. This is because salt lowers the boiling temperature of water, making it boil at less than 100C.
When the rice is done, you can keep it warm for up to 20 minutes by simply taking off the heat and wrapping the whole saucepan in a towel. This will also help everything become more fluffy.Why this is better for you: Brown rice contains more vitamins, minerals and fibre than white. This is because the outer layer of the grain contains most of the nutrients whereas the inside of the grain is composed mostly of (natural) sugars. When you eat a wholegrain, like brown rice, it comes with the vitamins and minerals needed for your body to benefit from it. By contrast, white rice is stripped of the nutrients your body needs to process it. The body takes vitamins and minerals from elsewhere, to help it deal with the nutrient-poor white rice. Let’s look at magnesium. This mineral is needed for good digestion, skin, mood and more. Deficiency can make you very stressed. 100 grams of cooked brown rice (about a cup) contains 110mg of magnesium whereas 100g of cooked white rice contains 11mg.
I love this warming, filling soup that’s rich in protein. A complete meal with a little green salad on the side (or some spinach leaves or leftover cooked greens stirred in at the end) it makes a complete meal. I usually freeze the leftovers in individual serving sizes to take to work on a cold, frosty day.
For 4 (or 2 with generous leftovers)
1 large onion, chopped
2 sticks celery, sliced thinly
2 cloves garlic, chopped roughly
500ml carton of passata (sieved tomatoes) or a 400g can tomatoes chopped or whole
750ml water or leftover vegetable cooking water (e.g. from steaming veg)
175g red lentils
1 teaspoon additive-free vegetable stock powder. Dr Coys Organic Vegetable Bouillon is best and suitable for SC diet. From health stores.
3 heaped tbsp freshly chopped or frozen chopped parsley
Freshly ground black pepper
1-2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
Optional extras (health and flavour boosters) to add to the :
1 tablespoon finely grated fresh ginger + heaped teaspoon turmeric powder added during cooking
1. Put the onion, celery, garlic, tomatoes and water into a large saucepan. Add the lentils afterwards making sure they are submerged in liquid. Lentils tend to stick to the bottom so I don’t stir this until they are cooked.
2. Boil for 20 mins/until lentils are soft. Only stir the lentils gently at the very top if they are stuck together, otherwise leave them alone.
3. Mix the veg stock powder into a little water and add to the soup AFTER the the lentils are cooked otherwise the salt will make the lentils take forever to cook.
4. If you like a smoothish soup then add the parsley and olive oil and blitz with a stick blender or in a food processor.
Variation:
Add 2 sliced carrots along with the celery and onion.
Health boosting tip:
Soak your lentils overnight in cold water. This starts them sprouting, which makes them even more digestible. I don’t bother unless I have extra time to spare.
Why this soup is good for you: Lentils are rich in magnesium which is Nature’s tranquiliser, helping reduce stress. They and onions are also rich in soluble fibre, which feeds beneficial bacteria in your gut. “Good” bacteria help produce digestive enzymes to help you digest your food. They also generate butyrate, which aids daily repair of your bowel – good news for your skin, your hair, your digestion, even your mood. Lentils, like all beans and pulses, need to be either sprouted or boiled for at least 10 minutes to make them digestible. However, lentils, split peas and all sprouted or fermented versions (eg bean sprouts, tofu) are the easiest of the beans/pulses to digest because they are lower in protease inhibitors. Protease inhibitors are substances that inhibit digestion and are found to some extent in all plant foods – vegetables, nuts, seeds, beans. Remember that beans, seeds and nuts are designed to be eaten by an animal, pass through the gut undigested, and then be deposited by the animal in a nice blob of “fertiliser” to grow into a new plant! Protease inhibitors are found in the skins of beans and pulses and are neutralised by soaking in cold water for at least 12 hours and then sprouting or fermenting or boiling hard for 10 minutes.Sieved tomatoes (passata) are rich in lycopene and beta carotene – fantastic for eye health and getting heathier looking skin. The extra virgin olive oil helps your body absorb the beta carotene.
I ate something similar to this on my first Christmas away from home, which happened to be Italy (as au pair to a hoard of screaming children!). They really knew how to do amazing things with chestnuts but my favorite was the turkey stuffing. We use this every year for our turkey and love it. You can use leftover uncooked spare stuffing to make a fantastic quick roast fish (baked mackerel with chestnut stuffing). Buy vacuum-packed cooked chestnuts from delis or (better-value) dried chestnuts from health stores such as Asia Market, Drury St, Dublin 2 or Down to Earth in South Great George’s St, Dublin 2. Enjoy…
Makes 600ml stuffing (enough to stuff the body cavity and neck of a 1.8kg bird) with about 1 cup of leftovers which you can use to make my delicious stuffed mackerel fillets for another dinner…
250g cooked peeled chestnuts
or
130g dried peeled chestnuts , soaked overnight, then boiled till tender, drained
1 heaped dsp fresh thyme leaves (or a 1 level tsp dried, but fresh is much nicer)
1 rounded dsp chopped sage
2 heaped dsp chopped parsley
A few good grinds of black pepper
1/4 level tsp Himalayan or Atlantic sea salt
60g onion, finely chopped so it cooks properly (1/2 a medium onion)
1 level dsp light olive oil, virgin macadamia oil or clarified butter (these 3 options are all good for people on a dairy-free diet), or regular butter if you eat dairy.
Process or mash thoroughly the chestnuts until they resemble coarse breadcrumbs, tip into a bowl with the chopped onion, herbs and seasoning.
If using butter, melt it gently. Add your butter or oil to the bowl and mix well. This stuffing can be stored for a couple of days in the fridge before using.Variation:
If you prefer, use half chestnuts and half brown gluten-free (or granary if you eat gluten) breadcrumbs. For each cup of processed chestnuts use 1 cub of breadcrumbs. Why this is better for you: Chestnuts are lower glycaemic index (lower sugar) than bread so are a much healthier alternative. They also contain potassium, which helps your body neutralise the effects of eating too much meat at Christmas. Fresh herbs are antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and anti-ageing – good news especially at Christmas when all that extra sugary, bready food and alcohol can take its toll.
This is another lovely recipe from Food, Glorious Food by Patrick Holford. If you are using pumpkin for this recipe, use a small one, rather than the large watery-fleshed ones used for carving Halloween lanterns. We loved these and other people seem to love them too. Great hot, warm or at room temperature as an accompaniment to lots of green vegetables and some form of protein (e.g. beans, pulses, meat, fish).
For a more Mediterranean flavour use oregano/Herbes de Provence and ground sweet paprika instead of cumin, coriander and turmeric.
For 4
950g pumpkin or a large butternut squash, washed but unpeeled
Level tsp turmeric
Rounded tsp ground cumin
Rounded tsp ground coriander
Half level tsp Himalayan salt or sea salt
2 tbs (140g tin) tomato puree
1 tbsp olive oil
Preheat oven to 200C (180C fan).
Cut the squash or pumpkin in half length-ways and scrape out the seeds and pulp with a spoon. For the squash, cut each half into 4, length-ways, so you have 8 long pieces. If using pumpkin, aim to cut into lengthways wedges about 3cm thick.
Mix the turmeric, cumin, coriander, salt, tomato puree and oil together in a bowl, then rub the paste all over the squash or pumpkin until evenly coated.
Place the squash in a roasting dish and cook for 45-60 minutes or until the flesh is soft when pierced or squashed.
Serving ideas:
Use as an accompaniment to my chickpea and cauliflower curry for a filling meal.
Substitute for baked potatoes as an accompaniment for meat, fish or a salad
Cut the leftovers into bite sized chunks and mix with salad and beans, fish, meat or eggs for a healthy lunch or lunchbox
Why this is good for you: All orange vegetables are rich in beta carotene, which helps give your skin an attractive golden glow. Most peoples bodies convert beta carotene to vitamin A, needed to protect against infections and for good vision and healthy skin. Herbs and spices are powerful antioxidants, which fight inflammatory conditions like eczema, Crohn’s, colitis and rheumatoid arthritis. Squash or pumpkin is a healthier alternative to potatoes as it contains more nutrients, more fibre and less (natural) sugar.
Wholegrain millet is an earthy tasting fluffy grain when cooked. It’s really cheap and is great for mopping up sauces/juices. Its a far healthier choice than couscous but looks really similar when cooked. Make sure to buy millet wholegrains instead of the flakes (which will become porridge!). Millet is naturally gluten-free and high in nutrients whereas couscous is made from white flour, low in nutrients.
Enough to feed 3 people as an accompaniment (NOT suitable for SC diet)
Put your millet into a small saucepan. Add the boiling water and cook, covered, for 8-10 mins. No need to stir.
The grains are done when you can see little steam holes in the surface, the water will be absorbed and it looks fluffy like couscous. Make sure you don’t put the millet in cold water or cook for too long or the result won’t be nice.
Variation:
After cooking, drizzle a little extra virgin olive oil on top of the millet, and sprinkle over some ground paprika. This looks lovely in a serving bowl. You could also sprinkle on some fresh coriander leaves.
Why this is good for you: Millet grains are a rich source of magnesium and also of vitamin B17. Magnesium helps clear toxins from the body and also aids relaxation, helping you stay chilled under pressure. Its also great value. Vitamin B17 is a powerful nutrientwith action against cancer cells. Vitamin B17 is also found in many bitter tasting seeds such as those of apples, pears as well as bitter apricot kernals. Millet is an alkaline grain, which helps support bone density, joint health and vitality generally. An alkaline food is one that after the body has “burned” it for energy, leaves an alkaline residue. Fruits, vegetables, beans, pulses, millet, buckwheat and apple cider vinegar are alkaline whereas cheese, milk, wheat, meat, fish, and eggs are acidic. Acidic foods, when not balanced by alkaline ones, can cause skin, digestive, bone, joint, kidney and heart problems. Eating about 80% of your diet as alkaline foods is associated with a longer healthy lifespan.
I adapted this recipe by Xanthe Clay and the result was lovely – and easy to make. They are cooked in a frying pan rather than an oven, stick together really well and have a slight crunch. Unlike “normal” sugar, molasses is unrefined so still contains many nutrients. It has a sort of toffee flavour and can be a great choice for kids as it’s high in iron. Using the sunflower and pumpkin seeds raw at the end rather than toasting them on the pan will increase the nutritional value of the bars further but there will be a bit less crunch. Use organic ingredients where possible. Delicious as a snack or lunchbox filler.
Makes 24 small squares
25g gluten-free porridge oats* (or use normal porridge oats if you can eat gluten)
85g virgin coconut oil
55g sesame seeds
55g sunflower seeds
55g pumpkin seeds
85g dried chopped unsulphured* apricots, blueberries, raisins or sultanas
85g raw cane molasses * Check out my “larder & shopping” section for where to buy all unusual ingredients
1. Line a baking tin around 27x18cm with silicone/baking paper cut to size
2. Heat a large frying pan and add the oats, sesame seeds, sunflower seeds and pumpkin seeds. Cook for about 10 minutes, stirring often at the beginning but more or less continuously toward the end to stop the mix burning. Its ready when you can hear the sesame seeds starting to pop and see the oats beginning to turn golden.
3. Tip into a ceramic or metal bowl or saucepan to cool and mix in the dried fruit.
4. Put the coconut oil with the molasses or honey in a saucepan. Heat the pan gently until the butter/coconut oil melts – do not allow to bubble.
5. Pour contents of the pan into the oat mixture. Stir until all the dry ingredients are well coated.
6. Tip the mix into the tin. Press down very firmly (it helps to put another sheet of non-stick parchment on tip). Allow to cool and then cut into 24 small squares or rectangles. Store in an airtight container for up to 10 days. After that, they tend to soften but can be firmed up by putting them on a baking sheet in the oven set to 160C and cooking for 15 minutes.
Why this is better for you: If you are starting to convert your children (or yourself) from a high sugar diet then over time you can reduce the quantity of molasses or other sweetening you use in home baking. Cravings for very sweet foods are caused by mineral and vitamin deficiencies. As these are addressed, people start to be able to taste and enjoy foods which are less sweet. Oats are a much better choice than wheat if you want to avoid upsetting blood sugar balance as oat fibre slows digestion down, keeping you fuller for longer. Nuts/seeds also help delay the release of sugars (from grains, fruit and molasses) into the bloodstream. This helps balance blood sugar levels to help energy levels, brain function and immunity. This recipe is free of harmful refined vegetable oils. Virgin coconut oil is a useful source of medium chain triglycerides , that are used by the body directly to make energy instead of being stored as fat. The oils in the sesame seeds, although damaged by heating, cannot be absorbed by the body as whole sesame seeds are not digested (they are too small so pass through and out the other end intact!). As I mentioned before, you could avoid adding the pumpkin seeds and sunflower seeds until the end to boost the nutritional value of these bars further. Raw nuts and seeds contain beneficial omega 6 oils.
This is my recreation of a delicious little dish I once ate in a simple whitewashed cafe in Cadaques in Northern Spain. Washed down with a rustic red, it was heaven on a plate. If you want it to taste it at its most delicious slip each bean, once cooked, out of its leathery skin. The skins of large broad beans have a slightly bitter taste which most people don’t like. This is fiddly so do this when you have a bit of time, for a special meal, or at the weekend! If you are lucky enough to get baby broad beans (not much more than 1cm long), you can leave them in the skins as they are not bitter. This is the nicest eaten lukewarm, in my opinion. You can make it in advance but do allow it to come to room temperature before serving, or warm it very gently in a pan until lukewarm.
For 2 as a starter, with leftovers
1kg fresh broad beans in their pods OR 350g, frozen (see larder for stockists)
1 heaped tbsp chopped fresh mint (or more, to taste)
Extra virgin olive oil to drizzle
A pinch of Himalayan or Atlantic sea salt (see larder)
Freshly ground black pepper
If you have fresh beans, pod them. If the beans are large, steam for around 5 minutes. If they are baby beans, steam for around 3. You want them to be softened but not overcooked.
Drain the beans, and as soon as they have cooled down enough to handle. Slip each bean out of its leathery skin and place in a bowl.
Drizzle on enough extra virgin olive oil to coat the beans generously, sprinkle on a pinch of salt, and a few good grinds of black pepper.
When the beans have cooled to lukewarm, add the mint (if you add it when hot, it will turn brown, which you don’t want). Taste, and adjust the amount of mint and seasoning. Eat a small portion as a starter, or a larger one as a main with a large mixed salad and maybe some cooked millet mixed with pesto.
Why this is good for you: Beans and pulses are a rich source of soluble fibre, which helps nourish healthy bacteria in the gut. These bacteria make butyric acid that repairs the bowel and helps prevent abnormal growths. They also are important for detoxification of hormones, chemicals, and naturally-produced toxins – all good news for skin, energy levels, and healthy digestion. Beans are also rich in magnesium which helps keep you relaxed as well as supports healthy bowel function. Mint has soothing, anti-spasmodic properties in the digestive system. Extra virgin olive oil is rich in vitamin E and health-enhancing polyphenols. The Italians always say that raw olive oil gives you smooth skin and they are right. Olive oil also helps weight management and delays the effects of ageing. If you have difficulty digesting beans then this is a sign that you may need to pep up your gallbladder function or address a possible imbalance of bacteria in the gut.
