Spring clean your Cupboards

For anyone who is about to overhaul their diet a good place to start is by taking a good look into your kitchen cupboards to see just what is lurking in there. And how convenient, this clear out just happens to coincide with my favourite season. I feel a Spring clean is in order! :-)

There's no point embarking on a healthy new lifestyle if you have stale biscuits and other nastiness to resort to when a moment of weakness or desperation strikes, never mind all the precious space these goods take up. So we've decided to try and do this the right way.

So what should stay and what needs to go? When I took everything out of my cupboard there was a big jar of white flour, half used bags of caster sugar, granulated sugar, muscovado sugar, wholemeal flour, and stale biscuits (which I am ashamed to say I actually ate recently in a moment of desperation), stale tuc biscuits, and white pasta. These items have no place in a healthy lifestyle as far as I'm concerned and I took great joy in dumping them in the bin. They have been replaced with lovely clean jars of brown rice, lentils, pearl barley, oats and quinoa. I also kept my rice flour, spelt flour, gluten free baking powder, cornflour, coconut sugar and mammy's home made raspberry jam (though I will replace this with the healthier home made version in the autumn).

My cupboards look uncharacteristically bare but I realised that I wasn't using half of it. Now I have all this extra space for the cool new stuff that I've bought like buckwheat, bulgar wheat, chia seeds, tapiocia and desiccated coconut. I will show you how you can use these healthier ingredients in the recipes to come. So go on, Spring clean your cupboards this weekend and maybe it will be the start of a healthier lifestyle for you and your family.

Alicia

Articles

About

This page is where we will post links to interesting articles.

Sam Smith's new healthy lifestyle

I'm not sure if two weeks is realistic to lose a stone but we think it is great is that Sam Smith is the most recent convertee to a healthier lifestyle. His inspiration came from Amelia Freer and her book titled Eat Nourish Glow. Definitely one for the reading list.

http://www.independent.ie/style/beauty/body/sam-smith-sheds-a-stone-in-a-fortnight-thanks-to-new-healthy-lifestyle-31079467.html

Can Raw Food Stop the Clock.....

Another great insipriation is Irish woman Bernadette Bohan who adoped a raw food diet following a cancer diagnosis. As you can see her healthy lifestyle has far more benefits than just on the scales. At 60 she looks at least 10 years younger and has more energy than she did in her 30's. It's never to late to change....just sayin :-)

http://www.independent.ie/life/health-wellbeing/healthy-eating/can-raw-food-stop-the-clock-31064046.html

About Us

We are Shonagh & Alicia Harpur, two sisters who share a passion for healthy eating. As you all know the food we eat has a big part to play in a healthy lifestyle. We know how hard it can be to make the right choices when it comes to food. There is so much information out there about what you should and shouldn't eat, so many diets that you should follow it's enough to send your head spinning!

We want to simplify the process and make it easier for everyone to make the right choices when it comes to food. In Ireland, we have access to some of the best local produce in the world, but unfortunately our love of fast food and nutrient lacking quick fixes means that by 2020 it has been predicated we will become the fattest country in Europe. We would like to help change this.

So a bit about us....

Shonagh. I recently graduated from UCC with a degree in nutritional science. My degree has taught me the importance of healthy eating and educating ourselves about the science behind the foods we eat. I would like to share my knowledge with others to help improve eating habits and ultimately lead to healthier lifestyles.

Alicia. My love of cooking, like most Irish girls initially came from cooking with my grandmother and then later developed when I studied Home Economics in school. It is only in recent years however that I am learning what it really means to eat healthy. Learning how to prepare quick and easy recipes that are healthy and fit in with my busy lifestyle, without falling into the trap of eating takeaways and processed foods is not easy but I have learned that with a little organization and forward planning this is easily achievable.

We have decided to start this blog to share healthy recipes and nutritional information with you. This will include a full 7-day eating plan that we follow, using local, fresh, seasonal food that doesn't cost the earth and can be adapted to suit all food preferences.

Our food philosophy is to eat simple, clean and non-processed food, that is in season and can be cooked from scratch without costing too much in terms of time and money.

We look forward to receiving all of your feedback and thoughts so please feel free to post pictures and/or comments.

Thank you,

Shonagh & Alicia