Read the Label!

   In a previous job I was trained to constantly review and reassess everything I do, and it's a habit that I'm very glad to say has stayed with me. So today I had a look back at the top tips for eating a plant-based diet that I first picked up from the Planeat website. After all, I wouldn't want to revert back to any bad habits and take a small step forward and then a massive leap back.
   No 8 on Ann Esselstyn's Principles is to Read Labels. As a vegetarian this is something that I've been doing for years anyway. Even after the V logo was applied to most vegetarian foods in the UK, I still checked the ingredients out of habit. And it's the ingredients that are the important thing to read. Having worked in food retail myself, I know that food packaging can be very deceptive. This is particularly true here in the UK, where laws and rules are a little more relaxed than in other countries such as the USA and Canada. It's easy to think that if something is labelled as 'low fat' or 'diet' then it's better for you. Unfortunately, this is rarely the case. Personally, I try to only eat things that come in a packet if they're wholefoods and as close to their original state as possible.
  If like me, though, you're trying to start change by taking small streps, then the important thing to remember is always read the ingredients. As a general rule, if you can't pronounce it or you don't know what it is, it's probably best to put it back on the shelf.

fork2fork

   I just checked out www.fork2fork.org.uk, a great website for anyone who lives in Wales and wants to eat fresh, direct and local food. Frustratingly, the website sends you round in circles a bit and some of the links don't work, but it's a good reference point for anyone who doesn't know where to start in buying local. You can pledge to buy local, find out where your nearest farmers markets and farm shops are, and read about Welsh producers. They will even send you a seasonality calendar so you know what best to buy when. Buying local isn't just about food, either. This year I bought Christmas presents from my local farmers market and Christmas market, including Welsh ale for my dad (he gave it a definite thumbs up), Welsh wine, chutney and preserves.

Pears in soup? That's as crazy as garlic and bread!

   Today I'm going to share with you a cooking tip that my mum shared with me recently.
My favourite soup is sweet potato and butternut squash (either of these can be substituted for pumpkin depending on what is seasonal to your area), and it is super easy to make. Chop an onion and a chilli and fry them in a large pan. Add the sweet potato and squash, chopped, and enough vegetable stock to cover the vegtables. Give it a stir, and leave to simmer until the veggies are soft. Leave to cool, and then blend in batches.
   Thanks to my mum, I now add an extra ingredient to my soup. Pears! That's right, adding some chopped pairs to the mix gives the soup a sweeter taste. British conference pears are really tasty at the moment, too, so it's the perfect winter warmer.

What to do in a hummus emergency

   I had a bit of a hummus incident a few weeks ago. I put a can of chickpeas into the blender, then my intention was to add a little water to make it smoother and to prevent my blender from catching fire. Unfortunately, I accidently added too much water, so I then had to add another can of chickpeas to thicken it up again. I was left with way more hummus than I could ever eat in a week.
   As you know, I'm always keen to try a new kitchen experiment. So I thought I'd put some of the hummus into the freezer and see if it survived. Well, the results are in, and I'm pleased to say I've been eating defrosted hummus since Saturday and I haven't been sick yet.

Buy Local

I've been trying hard recently to only buy fresh produce that is grown as locally as possible. As I've previously said , this is relatively easy for me because I live in a city where we have weekly real food markets and a local farm shop. I did have a slight panic on Saturday, though, when I discovered the market was closed for New Years Eve. Aaaaarrrgghh! Where was I going to shop? I headed into the local Tesco, and in all honesty I wasn't expecting to find much Britsh produce. I have to say, though, I was pleasantly surprised. As well as some Braeburn apples to snack on, I picked up some parsnips, carrots, potatoes, onions, leeks and mushrooms. All grown in the UK, and perfect to make a huge stew (I think I bought a bit too much veg - it only just fitted into my stew pot) for my lunches this week.

The Latest Accessories for 2012 - A flask and a water bottle:)

The purpose of this blog is to see if making small changes to our lifestyle as individuals can have a bigger impact to us as a species. Although I have generally been good at sticking to the changes I have made, I will admit that over Christmas I ended up consuming more dairy products than I would have liked. With the combination of visiting restaurants for Christmas meals, where vegetarian meals are pretty much guaranteed to contain cheese because they think we'll keel over without it, and staying with family who are not yet fully aware of what a plant-based diet is, it became too much of an effort to avoid it. In a way I'm glad I did, though, because it made me notice how ill dairy products make me feel. Admittedly, due to my eczema I am more prone than most people to having a reaction to dairy, but I'll deifinitely avoid it as much as possible in the future.
If you feel you can only make one change to your lifestyle at the moment (and don't worry, it all counts) than my tip would be this - buy a water bottle and a thermos flask. I carry both almost everywhere with me, including to work. Compared to my colleagues, who waste countless disposable cups and bottles everyday by buying drinks from vending machines and the coffee shop, I wash and refill my water bottle and flask everyday. I also carry some herbal teabags with me, so I can refill my flask during the day. As well as the environmental advantages, there are two other huge benefits to using your own water bottle and flask. The first is that it's healthier. The best thing you can drink is water (although, depending on where you live in the world, your tap water may not be good). Any soft drink that comes in a bottle, regardless of whether it says 'diet', 'sugar free' or anything else on the bottle, will never as good for you as water is. I promise you, if you cut out soft drinks from your diet, you will notice weight loss within a couple of weeks. Plus, if you cut down on caffeine and start drinking herbal tea instead, you'll sleep a lot sounder at night and feel much better when you're awake.
The other benefit is that you save a lot of money. When I see how much my colleagues spend throughout the day on bottles of cola and take-out coffees, I can't believe that I used to do the same. If you work out how much you spend on these items over the course of a month, I'm sure you'll find something else much more worthwhile to spend the money on.

The British Christmas Stress

Over my lifetime I've lived in a few different countries and experienced different cultures. One of the common threads wherever I have lived, whenever and however it is celebrated, is the 'excitement' of Christmas. However, since moving back to the UK, I've noticed that on the island of my birth Christmas is nothing more than a stress. So much so that last year I spent Christmas on my own. And before you say 'bah humbug!' I have to say I had a really nice, relaxing few days off work, although I did have to fight for my right to celebrate Christmas how I choose to (so much for the season of goodwill!).
Here in the UK, the Christmas celebration lasts for a month. Basically, from the 1st December the whole island builds itself up for the biggest come down on 26th December. Today I visited Tesco to do a bit of last minute shopping before I drive to visit family in England. Although I have been doing my best to shop at local markets recently, in all honesty I went to Tesco because I had some vouchers to use up and I needed to fill my car up with petrol. After today's visit, however, I really don't want to go back there again. There's still two days to go until actual Christmas, but the supermarket was like some post-modernist film's prediction on utopian hell. Without wanting to cause offence to anyone, as I include myself amongst them, the whole shop was full of people who would genuinely starve if Tesco and other supermarkets like it didn't exist. Because they honestly have no idea where food comes from.