Healthy Eating Can Really Cheer You Up

“One cannot think well, love well, and sleep well, if one has not dined well”. This quotation from Virginia Woolf ‘s A Room of One's Own seems to sum up what nowadays represents a widespread and commonsensical idea: the foods we eat can affect the overall way our body and mind operate, as well as the way we lead our lifestyle.

Healthy nutrition plays a crucial role in ensuring and maintaining a well and proper body functioning.  Food represents the main source of energy our body needs to work properly, to build new tissues and repair worn-out ones, as well as to regulate metabolism.

Eating the right foods and in the right proportions helps to optimize overall health and performance of both body and mind.

In fact, not only are certain kinds of food highly beneficial in preventing diseases such as diabetes, obesity and heart diseases, but they also have a positive impact on our mood and on the way our brain functions.

Some foods provide us with “good mood” nutrients, such as amino acids, vitamins and minerals necessary for the creation of the natural chemicals neurotransmitters , which convey messages between brain’s cells. The main neurotransmitters are serotonin and catecholamines, well known to play an important role in the brain's emotional center, boosting cheerful mood and increasing motivation, feelings, alertness and even creativity!

For instance, foods high in antioxidants, such as nuts, fish, broccoli, red fruits and vegetables and so on,  can help enhance and aid the “dialogue” between brain cells, their capabilities to exchange information  with each other.  They prevent the death of brain cells and encourage the generation of new ones, preserving the vitality of the brain. The result is a more stimulated cognitive functioning.

Finally, according to what experts at Psychology Today say,  we should “think color" when choosing what to eat, as “anything brightly colored is brain food, loaded with vitamins, minerals, and phytochemicals that maintain brain health and enhance mental performance."

So, if you feel like giving a fresh, dazzling and creative shape and looks to your dishes, try to choose different kinds of healthy colored food and  “put a rainbow on your plate”, whose nice appearance will also stimulate your sight in a positive and pleasant way.

By Erica Romano   

Food & Creativity

Eating the rich things helps you maintain both a physically healthy body and mind. It keeps you fit with nutrients and vitamins and is used to build neurotransmitters and serotonin, the happy chemical, which boosts good mood and good thoughts! But is this all we can do with food? Some people think not! Here’s how some people have been creative when it comes to food:


Art
There is a giant colourful family of Jelly Baby Sculptures at Marble Arch (although not actually edible) in London’s West End. Created by Bompas & Parr, standing at 10.5ft

Breaking World Records
Nonni’s Italian Eatery hold the world record for the biggest burger, weighing in at more 13 stones!

Relaxation
Epsom salt can be used in bath to relax sore muscles. A few table spoons of yellow mustard will enhance the soothing effects.

Celebration
Every year, 30,000 In Spain in the village of Brunol, Valencia, 30’000 people come together to  chuck tomatoes at each other to celebrate the town’s patron saints Luis Bertrain & Mare de Deu dels Desemparats and has been a tradition since 1944.

You’ll never look at your dinner the same way again. Maybe there’s something creative you can do too - although it’s not advanced to start throwing food around to celebrate your mum’s birthday!

By Jessica Heath

Food For Champions

The Mini Cooking Club is thrilled to invite you to join us as we celebrate the Olympics the best way we know how, with the Food for Champions Programme.

Together with Southwark Council we have created a fantastic one off programme in which your children will learn about some exotic ingredients, where they come from and how to use them to make some exciting recipes from around the world.

Over the course of eight weeks you are invited to come to our friendly kitchen at The Copleston Centre, Copleston Road, SE15 4AN to try your hand at cooking delicious meals with the full support of our chefs and trusted volunteers. We'll then eat them together as a group with our new friends. Be quick though, as we have limited spaces don't wait too long to sign up.

Don't miss out on this unique opportunity, we're looking forward to seeing you there!

By Yancy Jensen

'Can you pass the salt please?'

When having a meal it is not uncommon for someone to ask for extra salt. This widely used condiment enhances the flavour of food and can be found in almost every household. Salt is an economical way of adding an extra zing to our food but it is also an essential component that the human body needs to function.

Salt, which is made up of sodium and chloride, cannot be produced by the human body. The human body needs these minerals for various physiological processes such as maintaining a good fluid balance and enabling electrical impulses through body. Because salt plays such an important role in our body we need to find ways of consuming these minerals, which is why we add it to our food.

Even though salt is good in the way that it may enhance the flavour of our food and it also helps our body function, we need to be careful about the amount of salt we consume as having too much of it can cause damage to our body.

The thing about salt is that it likes water, so every time we consume salt our body is retaining water. This retention causes additional pressure in our blood vessels. When there is too much pressure then our blood vessels start to get damaged.

This damage causes inflammation in the blood vessels which then affects the blood flow and leads to hypertension, otherwise known as high blood pressure. What we also have to remember is that we cannot feel if we start to develop hypertension. That is why we have to be careful about how much salt we take in.

The Department of Health recommends that the daily salt intake for an adult be less than 6g. This is equivalent to one teaspoon. However, adults in the UK, on average, consume 8.1g of salt a day. Most importantly, we also need to be weary about the processed products we buy, as they are the ones that typically contain more salt. In fact, 75-80% of the salt we eat daily is already ‘hidden’ in the foods we buy, before we add any at the table!

So how can we reduce the salt content of what we eat? Well, look at the labels on foods before you buy them to check their salt content, especially everyday items such as cereals, soups, sauces, tinned products and stock cubes. Try cooking from scratch, so you can keep an eye on how much salt you are adding. To add flavour to food, use alternative seasonings such as herbs, spices, pepper and chilli flakes. And if you still need that salty flavour, try a reduced sodium salt, such as LoSalt, which has two thirds less sodium chloride than regular table, sea and rock salts.

By Yancy Jensen

A child’s habits reveal all: parenting styles influence a child’s attitude towards food

It is likely that many of the attitudes and perceptions you have will in some way be influenced by those of your parents. Your eating habits are an excellent example of this. Often, the foods and flavours you have enjoyed (and equally, disliked) from both your childhood to the present, will have been shaped by the diet provided to you by your parents. Equally, the attitude you develop in your child towards their own eating habits will affect their perceptions to food both in youth and in later life. 

It is therefore important to encourage your child to have an interest in healthy eating from a young age, which will hopefully provide them with a passion for food that will remain with them for the rest of their lives. In turn, this should provide them with the necessary skills to make healthy food choices which should allow them to live as healthy a life as possible. 


There are a variety of ways you can encourage children to make healthy food choices. For example, you could:


Prepare fresh meals together and delegate tasks. Children love cooking  when it makes them feel important, but hate it if they are made to do it as  a chore. Make it fun! After taking part in sessions run by The Mini Cooking Club, parents have commented on how enthusiastic and eager their children are to help in the kitchen at home.

Research healthy eating together.  Set your child a task to find a  healthy snack in a book, or online and then go buy it together. Not only does this allow children to make independent decisions, but it may also reduce their interest in junk food.


Explore your local food market or inner city farm. There are a number of farms within London, such as Vauxhall City Farm. These may encourage your child to take an interest in the whole food chain, not just the final product in the supermarket.


Finally, the most important message is to relax! Food is fun and interesting and it is important to let children discover this for themselves! 

My First Mini Cooking

As a new volunteer with The Mini Cooking Club, I made my first visit to the ‘Cooking with Kids’ session last Wednesday. The MCC runs a six week programme called “Cooking with Kids” at the Copleston centre around the corner from Denmark Hill station in South London. I went there to take a video for the website and discovered the kids were more than happy to feature, posing with their peeled carrots and cored apples. 

As soon as I arrived I was struck with how inclusive, welcoming and enjoyable the club was. I had already met Cecilia who founded the club (she is the one generally responsible for keeping all the mayhem in order). I was introduced to Desmond who was running the class, who told me he also worked full time as chef. 

All the action happened in a little community kitchen which opened into a seating area where parents can oversee the creative chaos. The kids wore little plastic aprons, diced, chopped and giggled, and generally infuse the atmosphere with liveliness and fun. I watched as Cecilia and Desmond led a band of eleven children to produce a successful spaghetti bolognese and apple crumble, catching the magic on camera. 

As well as practical skills, the session taught children about healthy living.  Cecilia and Desmond explained the difference between whole grained and refined – even I learnt a thing or two about how pasta was made. There was a lot of excitement and one of the mothers told me that it carried on into the kitchen at home. Her daughter, aged 7, was always jumping at the chance to help out.

Most importantly, the club was a safe and warm environment for the children learn to cook, gain a more educated perspective on food, and have a well-earned meal at the end. 
The kids were keen on me sending out their appreciation out on Twitter, which I duly did. 

It was a great visit to the Mini Cooking Club. I wished I was attending the class rather than helping... 

I think the ‘Cooking with Children’ programme is a fantastic charity idea and was a delight to see in action. The Mini Cooking Club is worth keeping on your radar. I took some great pictures and am underway in putting a video together for the website. Watch out for the Mini Stars.

I am looking forward to meeting the people the next programme, which is run for people with mental health concerns. Hoping there will be a ‘Cooking with Lowly Student Bloggers Next...’

By Jessica Heath

Positive Living: Do you have a healthy relationship with food?

It's well known that a diet full of fruit and leafy greens will keep us in good physical condition, but there is also a growing awareness of how diet can affect our mental health. It is possible that improving our relationship with food can help us achieve a better mood, emotional wellbeing and overall happiness.

We all eat, but food can play a very different role in one person's life to the next. Some of us are "comfort eaters"; food can become a way to make us feel better about something in our lives. Others might be too busy to prioritise, grabbing a sandwich on the way to the office or a late night takeaway when the fridge is empty. At the darker end of the spectrum, anorexia nervosa is condition where one deprives one's body of food entirely. Food plays a huge part in our culture and a bad relationship with it can be a sign that something is wrong.

So, does food play a healthy role in your life?

It’s not all about counting calories and looking slim. Here are some other reasons why we must take the time to give our body what it needs:

The Body

Mood and Energy: fluctuations in blood sugar levels are associated with changes in mood and energy, and are affected by what we eat.

Brain: brain chemicals (neurotransmitters, such as serotonin, dopamine and acetylcholine) influence the way we think, feel and behave. What we consume has a huge impact on the production (or lack of) such chemicals.

Mental Illness: a recent British & French study examining the connection between what we eat and our overall mental health found that people who eat more processed foods are more likely to develop depression than those eating healthier. Perhaps for some this may be common sense, but in addition the study found that those of us who are more health conscious will have, on average, higher energy levels over sustained periods.

Work by Fernando Gómez-Pinilla, a UCLA professor of neurosurgery and physiological science who has spent years studying the effects of food, exercise and sleep on the brain, found that dietary deficiency of omega-3 fatty acids in humans has been associated with increased risk of several mental disorders, including attention-deficit disorder, dyslexia, dementia, depression, bipolar disorder and schizophrenia.

FYI: Omega-3 fatty acids are found in salmon, walnuts and kiwi fruit.

Although a good diet is not the only thing that will keep you mentally healthy, it certainly plays a large part. It isn’t just about nutrients and vitamins; there might be a link between good diet and mental health because of the reasons you choose to eat what you do, and how you do it. Your attitude towards food is just as important as the food itself.

Psychological Relationship

Eating disorders are evidence that if life is right, it will show up in one's eating habits. Eating too much or too little are problems people of all ages and backgrounds face. If life is not going well, one might reach for the ice cream or lose their appetite entirely. Even on an everyday basis a lot of us don't take the time to make sure our body gets what it needs. If you are tired, prone to illness, feel low, have problems sleeping, it is likely that this is related to your attitude towards life. A positive attitude can make all the difference. After all, we all need to eat - our approach to feeding ourselves will reflect our personality.

This means that someone who exercises every day, has five portions of fruit and vegetables minimum and never gives in to eating chocolate might not be leading a balanced lifestyle. What they are eating is healthy, but the way they choose to do it is may not be! One’s approach to healthy eating must be healthy too.

Note: remember, if you are making the effort to be good to your body, then you are releasing all sorts of positive chemicals. Your body is a part of you, and it knows when it is being loved!

Being good to yourself means you feel good about yourself, and this positive attitude may mean that you attract good luck in other areas of your life. Treat yourself some days and be good others - do not go to the extreme!

So it’s not just about what we are eating, but why we choose to eat what we do. Think again about what you put in your body, and the reasons why you choose to eat what, when, and how much you do. The key here is is not following rigid rules of health: it is mainting personal equilibrium.

Your mum might make your meals, you might have a busy work schedule, be recovering from a break up, low on cash or simply hate cooking... your wellbeing and eating habits are closely tied, and everyone wants to be happy and healthy. Make the effort and cook yourself a fresh meal, or invite a friend over for dinner and turn it into an event. Cut back on the pizza and chips and snack on some carrot sticks and hummus. There are many healthy ideas on the internet, available for free. Take a good look at your diet, cut out the rubbish and reach for those greens. It might just pay off!

Sources: mind, essence.com, psychcentral.com
Author: Jessica Heath