I’m a bit obsessed with my Nutribullet and I’m always being asked about smoothies so I thought it was only fair to share my 5 favourite Nutribullet recipes with you. 

There are lots of other blenders out there in various price ranges so there’s no need to feel left out. I’ve recently been introduced to the Breville Blend-Active which comes with portable spouted bottles that I personally feel are less cumbersome than the large Nutribullet cup. However, I do so love my Bullet!

Smoothies are such a versatile food/drink. They are great for breakfast but equally fab for a mid-afternoon snack instead of a slab of sugary cake. They’re also great for sneaking extra veg into kids without them realising! Who knew you could hide spinach in a blueberry milkshake?!

The key to making a well-balanced smoothie is to make sure you include the following components:

– Vegetables – you really can blend any veg. Green leafy veg like spinach and...

Paleo Bars

These sound rather delicious don’t they? Well, they are! There are lots of different ‘paleo bars’ out there at the moment, which are so easy to make at home and are a great snack, pre or post exercise boost, or even an on-the-go breakfast. But don’t be fooled by the fancy title. They are suitable for everyone –  not just gluten/grain free people – even hungry husbands who’ve just got home from work!

I am forever looking for snacks for both myself and the kids (and the husband) that are not totally laden with sugar and unhealthy fats – and are also gluten free. Nakd bars do a pretty good job but they are fairly pricey, and most other gluten free granola bars/snack bars are just loaded with sugar and other ingredients like ‘glucose syrup’, ‘rice syrup’, ‘brown rice syrup’, ‘evaporated cane juice’ which are basically fancy-pants words for…you guessed...

Tasty, filling gluten-free granola bars for snacks and lunchboxes

If you are the mother of a boy, you will be used to hearing the phrase ‘I’m hungry’. Seriously, I must hear it at least 100 times a day. I simply cannot get enough food into my six-year old son. My daughter eats like a fairy, but that boy is an eating machine.

Snacks can be particularly challenging because children tend to beg you for every type of food you don’t want them to have. I’m prepared to allow a little junk as long as it’s in combination with something healthy and, ideally, protein-rich. Whilst it’s the sugar and the carbs that they are craving, it’s so important that they also eat some protein at snack time. 

In addition to being essential for growth and development, protein will help to balance their blood sugar levels and help with further sugar cravings later on.

Snacks in our house have got to be gluten-free, and if they’re going in a ...

Looking for a quick and easy, carbohydrate and sugar-free snack?

Try this for a tasty mid-afternoon sugar-free snack:

Take a stick or two of celery and fill them with some almond butter. The protein and the healthy fats in the almonds will fill you up for longer than a sugar-laden biccie. High sugar snacks only provide very instant gratification and usually leave you hankering for something else 5 minutes later.

Snacking helps to keep your blood sugar levels more stable which helps with energy, weight loss and headaches. Just be sure to include a good source of protein will all your snacks, such as nut butter, houmous, avocado or seeds. Combine these with some vegetables instead of a carb-based cracker and you’ve also got yourself a grain-free, paleo friendly snack!

This delicious gluten free coconut bread is so easy to make and so versatile. It has an almost cake-like texture so you can eat it as a sweet or a savoury bread. It is equally delicious smothered in avocado or houmous as it is with a cheeky bit of jam. You could probably grate cheese onto it and stick it under the grill, though I’ve not tried this!

I was given this recipe from a homeopath, though I’m not sure where she originally obtained it. As I am gluten free, and now dairy free as well, I am always on the lookout for delicious recipes that can emulate some of the foods that I cannot have. Not that I really miss bread and cakes, but this coconut bread certainly hits the spot!

The first time I made this coconut bread was to take to lunch with two nutritionist friends. I made the fatal schoolboy error of not greasing the loaf tin and most of it stuck to the bottom of the pan. I managed to rescue most of it, and it was still delicious. My nutritionist friend...

These date and almond energy balls are hugely popular in our house and have even been named ‘coconut balls’ to make them more palatable for the children! They think they’re having a sweet treat but I’ve actually sneaked in a load of really wholesome ingredients that they don’t even know are doing them good! I do this quite a lot with the kids. If they had any idea what I put in most of their meals they’d probably never eat them, but it’s all about the sneaking and the subterfuge.

These energy balls are just delicious, very filling and packed with protein and good fats for those growing bodies and brains. Be warned though, more than 2 or 3 at a time could cause a small case of the trouser trumpets.

Ingredients:

10 pitted medjool dates (or if using dried dates, soak them beforehand)
100g seeds and nuts of your choice – sunflower/pumpkin seeds, cashews, walnuts, pecans and almonds all work well
35g dessicated coconut, plus extra for dusting...

I wish I was an accomplished enough chef to dream up baked treats such as these, but I’m more of savoury specialist, so I scour the internet searching for gluten free delights so that I can bring them to you! These cookies are from one of my favourite wholefood websites, Petite Kitchen. I aspire for my family to eat like this all the time, and we are transitioning to a completely gluten and sugar free household, so these are the perfect tasty morsels to get the kids on board.

These gluten, dairy, sugar and egg free cookies (yes, you CAN achieve deliciousness without these ingredients!) are packed full of protein and essential fats so you don’t need to eat many to feel full, and they are a perfect lunchbox accompaniment.

Ingredients:
1 cup ground almonds
4 tbsp organic cashew butter (you can use any type of nut butter)
1/2 cup shredded/dessicated coconut
4 tbsp honey
zest of 2 lemons
juice of half a lemon
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
about 1/2 cup...

Whilst I am enjoying my new work challenge as a lecturer and clinic supervisor at the College of Naturopathic Medicine, I may have a come across a little too keen to impress the boss. I made the rookie error of happily volunteering to take 167 exam papers home to mark. Don’t get me wrong, that’s a nice little bit of remuneration, but boy is it monotonous. I’ve taken to timing myself. My personal record is 9 minutes 42 seconds, but that poor student had left so many blank spaces, I’m not actually sure they turned up on the day. And then there’s the super-students who have clearly revised so hard, they want to make sure they fill every line, even if the information they are providing is a little superfluous. Sadly, there are no extra marks for extra knowledge. Just answer the question.

ANYWAY! (can you see how I’m procrastinating?)

I needed a break from the marking, and something delicious and energy-boosting to get me through the rest of the pile...

You know you need to get out more often when you whoop with excitement at receiving a bag of kale in your organic veggie box. Yes, this is what it has come to. But then I am a nutritionist, kale is supposed to excite me. The best thing about the kale that comes in a veggie box as opposed to in a bag from a supermarket is that the leaves are so thick and leafy. The supermarket stuff is always a bit limp. So I highly recommend trying to source your kale from a farmer’s market or an organic store. Kale is one of those lovely cruciferous dark green leafy vegetables that us nutritionists are always banging on about eating more of.  It’s packed full of nutrients and antioxidants which help to reduce the risk of cancer, lower cholesterol, reduce inflammation, improve digestive function and balance hormones. And it’s so delicious and versatile, you can can add it to almost anything. For example:

• Add a couple of handfuls of kale to a wonderfully alkalising green juice...

I have been inspired to write this post in advance of my appearance tonight on the lovely Parent’s Show on my local radio station in St Albans, Radio Verulam 92.6FM. 

The topic got me thinking about Christmas and about our traditions of allowing ourselves to completely stuff our faces with the knowledge that we’ll mop up all the damage in January. This tradition is about as ingrained in the British psyche at the Queen’s Speech. But it’s not exactly sending out the right message to our children is it? Especially at Christmas. Truckloads of chocolate + a bucket of sweets + a skipful of Santa excitement + a day of insane present-opening = MELTDOWNORAMA!!! I mean I think we’ve come to expect a level of completely tearful tantrums at some point over the festive season (and that’s not just because I have NOTHING to wear on Christmas Day), but is it really fair on our children’s little bodies to let them eat whatever they want, keep...