Many people think of grapefruit as being sour and unpalatable – but they can actually be quite delicious if served correctly.

Grapefruits are packed full of powerful antioxidants such as vitamin C and citrus bioflavonoids. Pink or Ruby grapefruits are particularly high in antioxidants. They contain good levels of lycopene, the same antioxidant that gives tomatoes and watermelon their red hue.

Grapefruit helps detoxification, reduces allergies and boosts your immune system!

Many people eat grapefruit as part of their detoxification routine. Grapefruit is best to be consumed at night, after dinner as it down regulates phase one and up regulates phase 2 detoxification, which naturally occurs as you sleep.

Try eating half a grapefruit or drinking 200ml of unsweetened grapefruit juice an hour before bed.

To improve taste, try sprinkling cinnamon on your grapefruit, for an aromatic flavour. You could even sprinkle a little xylitol on top to make it sweeter if you like.

I love lentils. Although they take a long time to cook this soup is very easy. It is a great source of iron and protein – enjoy!

Ingredients:

• 1 cup green or brown lentils
• 2 large onions, finely diced
• 1 small bunch fresh thyme, or 1 tbsp dried thyme
• 2 large portobello mushrooms (about the size of your hand), diced
• 4 tomatoes, diced
• 1 red capsicum, diced
• 1tbsp butter or rice bran oil
• filtered water
• sea salt and pepper

Directions:

1. Cover lentils with water and soak for 24 hours. Discard water, rinse and place in a pot with 4 cups of water. Bring to the boil then simmer for 90 minutes with the lid on.
2. In a large saucepan, fry onions and thyme in butter or oil until softened. Add mushrooms, tomato and capsicum. Cook on low for 10 minutes, stirring frequently.
3. Add lentils (and the water they were cooked in), plus 1 extra cup of water. Bring to the boil then reduce heat and simmer for 15-20 minutes. Add sea salt and pepper to taste.
4. Take off heat and allow to cool for 10 minutes. With a stainless steel stick blender, blend to desired consistency.
5. Serve with sourdough bread drizzled with olive oil.

Stress is often overlooked and deemed part of a normal life, however did you know that stress contributes to more illness and disease than smoking and alcohol combined?? Stress can affect your digestion, cause headaches, disrupt hormone balance and sleep.

When you are under stress, your adrenal glands secrete a hormone called cortisol, which puts your body into response mode and helps you to deal with the stress. What happens when you experience chronic stress, is that your adrenal glands get depleted of cortisol, leading to adrenal exhaustion and fatigue.

Stress comes in many forms, the most common being long hours at work, deadlines and emotional turmoil. Other things that put stress on the body are excessive or intense exercise, chemical toxicity, eating the wrong types or foods, troublesome health conditions and high levels of pain.

The stress response

Stress is a normal part of life, and for some people lowering their causes of stress can be difficult. Your stress response is the way that your body reacts to stress. Some people find that they used to handle stress well but now they can feel the effects much more easily. This is because chronic stress depletes the body of what it needs to lodge a stress response. Support with herbal medicines and good nutrition can help you to deal with stress more effectively.

Remember to breathe

Studies have shown that yoga breathing (pranayama) reduces, stress, anxiety and depression. Pranayama focuses on slowly breathing into your belly, which encourages use of the whole lungs. Most people are shallow breathers, using only one third of their lung capacity.
For best results, take a slow, deep breath all the way into your abdomen, then slowly exhale all the way out, feeling your muscles relax as you exhale.

Take care of your adrenals

Your adrenal glands have a lot of work to do, so you need to keep them functioning at their best. More than one cup of coffee a day can lead to over stimulation of the adrenal glands, and although you will get a quick burst of energy in the long term your energy levels will be reduced.

To function well the adrenals need good levels of vitamin C (found in berries, kiwifruit, citrus, capsicum and pineapple), the amino acid tyrosine (almonds, avocado, banana, beans, meat and eggs), B vitamins (wholegrains, vegetables, legumes, egg yolk) and zinc (pepitas, oysters, ginger, seafood, wholegrains).

Eating well reduces stress

A diet balanced in complex carbohydrates, protein and good fats is essential to combat stress. Try these diet tips to make your diet work for you:

1. Eat protein with every meal. Good sources are meat, fish, seafood, eggs, lentils, chickpeas, beans, nuts, seeds and tofu.
2. Ensure adequate omega 3 in the diet. Good sources include mackerel, canned salmon, sardines, herring, snapper, linseed oil, chia seeds and walnuts.
3. Use complex, not simple carbohydrates. Complex carbohydrates include brown rice, rolled oats, wholegrain breads.

Katherine’s top 10 stress busting foods

1. Almonds
2. Salmon
3. Blueberries
4. Turkey
5. Oats
6. Kiwifruit
7. Organic eggs
8. Linseeds
9. Tahini

Naturopathic care is very effective in combating chronic stress. For appointments, call Katherine’s Brisbane clinic on 07 3367 0337.

Ingredients:

• 2 large roasted or boiled beetroots, peeled after cooking
• 100g organic feta cheese
• 2 large handfuls baby spinach
• 1/2 red onion
• sunflower seeds
• Extra virgin olive oil – cold pressed
• Balsamic vinegar

Directions

1. Cut beetroot into 5 – 10cm cubes, and finely slice red onion.
2. Combine all ingredients in a large bowl.
3. Add a large glug of olive oil and a generous splash of balsamic vinegar
4. Gently toss together and serve now or later.

Serves 2

Buckwheat is a little known grain with great medicinal properties. Although the name contains ‘wheat’ buckwheat is in fact not a wheat at all, but an ancient gluten-free grain.

Buckwheat is one of the few grains that has alkaline properties, meaning that it has an antiinflammatory effect in the body, improving blood pH. This makes it useful for inflammatory disorders such as arthritis, autoimmune disease, endometriosis and diabetes.

Buckwheat is high in vitamin C and rutin, having powerful antioxidant activity. It is also a good source of protein, being high in the feel good amino acid tryptophan.

Buckwheat has been studied extensively, with its intake being linked to lower cholesterol levels, better cardiovascular health and lowered risk of diabetes. It also has been found to be beneficial for breast cancer and gall stone prevention.

You can buy buckwheat as a flour, the whole grains, in pasta and even as a pancake mix.

Try these ideas to include buckwheat in your diet:

• Use as a flour substitute in all your favourite recipes. This works especially well in sauces where a thickener is required.
• Make buckwheat pancakes! The Orgran one (available at coles) is great and really easy to use.

Buckwheat Sprouts

1. Soak some groats (this is the grain with the husk removed) in water for 30 – 60 minutes.
2. Rinse very well (until water runs clear).
3. Drain and store anywhere out of direct sunlight at room temperature.
4. Rinse and drain every 4-8 hours
5. 2 or 3 times.
6. Once you see the sprout growing out they are done. This should take 8-12 hours after your final rinse.

You can use the sprouts in salad or they make a yummy breakfast served with fruit, yoghurt and LSA YUM!

Ingredients:

• 1 fresh cob corn – corn cut off the cob
• 1 cup roast pumpkin – cut into small cubes before roasting
• 1/4 red capsicum, diced
• 1/4 cup pepitas or pine nuts
• 1 small handful of fresh parsley or coriander, chopped finely
• Extra virgin olive oil – cold pressed
• Balsamic vinegar

Directions:

1. Mix all vegetables and seeds/nuts
2. Drizzle with olive oil and balsamic and toss to combine.
3. Serve after at least 30 minutes in the fridge to help infuse dressing.

Serves 1 and keeps well.

Beetroot has been used for centuries as a food, dye and even a source of sugar. It’s no wonder beetroot has been so popular – it’s packed with antioxidants, is great for detoxification and is a great source of energy.

The scarlet red colour of beetroot is due to a combination of betacyanin (yellow) and betaxanthin (purple) pigments. These phytochemicals are potent antioxidants, showing promise in studies for the prevention of cardiovascular disease and cancer.

Beetroot is also one of the highest sources of the nutrient betaine. Betaine helps with liver detoxification, stomach acid production and also improves mood boosting levels of serotonin, relaxing the mind. Betaine also helps increase levels of the amino acid carnitine, which helps with energy production and fat metabolism.

When most people think of beetroot they refer to the canned variety, but fresh is much better! Canned beetroot has added sugar, and has a lot of the goodness cooked out of it.

So how do you eat it fresh? There are several delicious ways that you can prepare whole beetroot.

Boiling

The easiest way to prepare beetroot is to boil it. Trim the leaves off (if still attached) and put beets into a pot and cover with cold water. Bring to the boil and cook until you can stick a skewer or knife in easily.

Once cooled, peel the skin off with your hands by pushing gently – it should peel right off! Boiled beetroot is delicious cut into cubes and put into salads.

Roasting

Another easy method, roasting beetroot is done like any other veggie. Put on a tray, coat with a little macadamia or olive oil and roast at around 180 degrees for 30-40 minutes. Stick a knife in to see if it is cooked.

Like boiled beetroot, you should be able to peel the skin off easily with your hands. Try making a beetroot puree or dip by adding tahini or yoghurt.

Grating

This method preserves the most antioxidants. Simply peel the skin off and grate. It works well to peel the skin off half and use the other half to hold on to. Grated beetroot is great in salads, and has a fresher flavour than cooked, try it!

Juicing

Beetroot juice is a great source of antioxidants, and makes other vegetable juices taste sweeter. try with celery, carrot and cucumber – yum!

Serves 4

Ingredients:

• 600g organic or free range chicken breast
• 1 orange
• 3 tbsp balsamic vinegar
• 3tbsp macadamia oil
• 2 large ripe peaches
• 1 small red onion
• 1 punnet (250g) cherry tomatoes
• 1 cup raw macadamia nuts

Directions

Juice orange and place 1/3 of the juice in a bowl with 1tbsp balsamic vinegar and 1 tbsp macadamia oil to make a marinade.

• Slice chicken breasts in half or thirds through the middle, leaving you with large 2-3cm thick slabs of chicken. Place in marinade and leave for at least 1 hour.
• In a food processor or using a knife and chopping board, process macadamias in small pieces.
• Place chicken on a preheated BBQ or grill plate. Cook for 4 minutes, turn and cook for another 4-5 minutes or until cooked through.
• Cut red onion in half and slice into very fine strips. Cut cherry tomatoes in half.
• Slice peaches in half and remove the stone. Gently slice into thin wedges.
• In a large bowl place rocket, onion, tomatoes, macadamia, peaches and remaining orange juice, oil and balsamic vinegar.
• Remove chicken from grill and slice into strips. Add to salad, toss gently and serve immediately.

TIPS:

1. Try substituting orange for pomegranate juice
2. Also works well with mango

In an analysis of over 205,000 children aged 6-7 years old, from 31 countries, the use of paracetamol in the first year of life was associated with increased risk of asthma, allergic inflammation of the eye and eczema.

This means that paracetamol use in infants under 1 year old could have a detrimental effect on their undeveloped immune systems, leading to sensitivities to allergens in childhood.

Paracetamol is commonly recommended for children with many conditions, from fever to the common cold. This research highlights the need to rethink about medicating children at such an early age and consider safer options for managing health in infants, such as dietary support and natural medicines.

Beasley et al 2008, Lancet 372, pp. 1039.

This dish is great for breakfast, lunch or dinner. For the protein component you can serve with some organic meat, organic chicken or fish. For a vegetarian option, serve with some quinoa or add some drained and rinsed canned legumes of your choice to the roasting pan at the last minute.

Ingredients:

Rosti

• 900g potatoes, halved if large (scrub skin and leave on if possible)
• Pinch sea or Himalayan salt
• Rice bran oil, for frying

Roasted Vegetables

• 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• I tbsp balsamic vinegar
• I tsp honey
• I red capsicum, deseeded and quartered
• 2 zucchini, sliced length ways in quarters
• 2 red onions, quartered
• I small fennel bulb, cut into thin wedges
• 16 cherry tomatoes
• 8 garlic cloves, skin on
• 2 fresh rosemary sprigs removed from stems
• Sea salt and pepper

For vegan pesto dressing

• 1 fistful of basil leaves
• ¼ cup pine nuts
• ¼ cup cold pressed extra virgin olive oil
• Sea salt and pepper
• Boiling water

Directions

1. Toss roasting vegetables in the oil, vinegar, rosemary and honey mix together in a large shallow dish. Leave to marinade for at least one hour.
2. Preheat the oven to 200°C . Cook the potatoes in a saucepan of boiling water for 8-10 minutes, or until partially cooked. Strain and leave to cool, then coarsely grate.
3. Transfer the vegetables, except the tomatoes and garlic to a roasting tin with the marinade. Roast in the preheated oven for 25 minutes, then add tomato and garlic and roast for a further 15 minutes or until vegetables are tender and slightly blackened around the edge.
4. To cook the rosti take a quarter of the potato mixture in your hands and form into a roughly shaped cake. Heat just enough oil to cover the base of a frying pan over medium heat. Put the cakes in, two at a time and flatten with a spatula to make them 2cm thick.
5. Cook the rosti for 6 minutes on each side, or until golden brown and crisp.
6. For the dressing, blend basil, pine nuts, salt, pepper and olive oil in a food processor. Add enough boiling water to make the liquid thin enough to pour.
7. To serve, top each rosti with the roasted vegetables and drizzle with a little pesto dressing.