Chicken and chorizo minestrone

One of my favourite winter warmers! Ingredients 1 Chorizo sausage, chopped 1 brown onion, chopped 1 carrot peeled and chopped 2 celery sticks, chopped 1 zucchini, chopped 2 garlic cloves, crushed 400g can diced tomatoes 500ml chicken stock 2 chicken breast fillets ½ cup risoni pasta 40g spinach leaves To serve: Lemon zest Parsley Crusty…

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Food labels explained

Reading food labels is important if you’re interested in what ingredients / additives you’re buying and feeding yourself and/or your family. Besides the expiry date, the Australian Government requires all processed foods to have full ingredient lists, nutritional breakdown and allergen information on the packaging. But, do you know what you’re looking at on the…

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Mexican Chicken

Shredded Mexican Chicken My family loves this recipe and one whole chicken feeds my family of 5 at least 2 full meals.  We have it with wraps the first time and left overs go with pasta or rice. 1.6kg whole chicken 800g kidney beans, rinsed and drained I medium onion, sliced 3 cloves garlic, crushed…

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Italian Zucchini Soup

Neil Perry’s Italian Zucchini Soup my current fav winter warmer – give it a try for a delicious, low cal, nutrient rich lunch or light dinner       1 kg zucchini, cut into cubes 60ml olive oil15g garlic cloves, chopped 750ml chicken stock basil leaves – chopped parsley – chopped 50g grated parmesan cheese…

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Sugar makes you old!

Wow! you look amazing vs Are you ok? You look tired? Which would you prefer? Daft question I guess – nobody wants to look old before their time, in fact we’d probably all prefer the “Wow, you don’t look old enough to…” type of comments. Most of us know the usual suspects in the ageing…

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Get pumping!

Do you shy away from the weights room at the gym? Ever wondered how to use the odd looking equipment in the park? Or maybe you’ve noticed a growing trend in women lifting weights in the gym or doing body weight training out in the park. Whatever your level of knowledge or experience, it’s important…

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Wake up sleepy head

Always tired? No energy? Could one of these be the reason? You’re buzzed Keep the phone, iPad etc out of the bedroom.  Researchers in Sweden have found that using a mobile phone an hour before bed may interfere with sleep patterns and lead to less time in the deeper sleep stages. You’re dehydrated Dehydration reduces…

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Get out of the gym!

Six reasons to get out of the gym OK, it’s May already, time to reassess the New Year’s resolutions you may have made. Hands up who had “lose weight”, “get fitter”, “tone”, “exercise more” on their list How are you going with your goal? On target?  Congratulations – keep going, your body, mind, mood and…

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Exercise and appetite…

Does more exercise = increased appetite? First of all, we need to clarify the difference between hunger and appetite. Hunger or the need to eat, is controlled by signals from the gut; signals from energy stores carried by the blood, hormones and body temperature. Appetite is the desire or liking to eat rather than need…

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Metabolism and weight loss

Metabolism is the process of your body converting the food you eat to the energy you need for every day activities and exercise. The metabolic process takes the calories from the carbohydrates, fats and proteins that you eat, combines them with oxygen to release energy.  This energy allows your body to function. Daily energy expenditure…

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