
In praise of Mexican food, with a Moroccan twist - three recipes for a small, simple feast of Huevos
I adore Mexican food. I would eat it every day if I could – lime, avocado, beans, rice, coriander… heaven. I want to share these three recipes which go together perfectly to make this feast. Sadly it’s a FODMAP, nightshade, AIP nightmare so I don’t eat it often anymore. If you have no digestive complaints then tuck in! Please, do it for me. This is a colourful, healthy and satisfying meal. And in case you never use the recipes below (foolish) here is a thing I learned this we

The tools for a sugar-free December - that's right, you heard me! Well, until the 23rd.
So today is the 24th of November, and I have decided to sign my family up for a sugar-free month. Seems pretty harsh in the run-up to Christmas, but actually I think it's very logical. We are always trying to eat as little sugar as possible, but we are sugar junkies. It’s a disaster. We try to be careful but it’s just not good enough. Life and circumstances seem to conspire to confound our efforts. Birthdays, special occasions, a bad day that seems to have earned you a treat.

An ideal Christmas gift for children
I absolutely want Flora to love cooking, and like all kids she always wants to be involved in what her mum is doing, whether it’s in the kitchen, if I’m vacuuming, hanging the laundry, or trying to go to the toilet. But the kitchen seems like a good place to try and involve her in my activities, and she’s keen, so it makes me feel a bit sad when I tell her she can’t really help me peel the sweet potatoes or do the washing up. So as soon as there’s something she can do, even i

How MS helped me decode my anxiety problem
I used to think I was just an anxious person - that was my cross to bear - but now I know it’s not as simple as that, and I really hope this will help someone. If you know someone who suffers from anxiety, please share this with them. It can’t do any harm but it might make all the difference. This post may seem long, but it’s a question that deserves to be addressed more than cursorily. I do tend to write rather too much rather unnecessarily, but here I have made sure to keep

Seasonal delight: winter salad of roasted beetroot, lentils and feta
This is a great salad because it can really be eaten as a pretty satisfying meal. It’s certainly substantial enough to be the main constituent of one, perhaps eaten with some baked fish on the side. It’s also great to make in advance for a dinner party, or if you feel up to it, it’s fabulous served warm. Roasting beetroot is a bit intimidating - not being patronising, speaking from experience... You can just buy a packet of roasted beetroot and that will work fine. But home-r

My take on steak: why I quit being a lifelong vegetarian at 35½, why a functional medicine approach
I know you probably don’t need me to tell you how to make steak, or to remind you that it exists, or how good it is, but you might need a reminder of how perfect and simple this is for a Friday night treat. For me it’s still a novelty, so please share in my newfound enthusiasm, and listen while I unburden myself about why I was a vegetarian and now I’m not. Not that long ago there was nothing anyone could have said to make me eat meat. I was committed to vegetarianism. I had

My top 3 gluten-free breakfasts, intermittent fasting, and the migrating motor complex
When you don’t eat gluten, breakfast can feel like a nightmare. Even worse if you avoid grains altogether as in the paleo diet, in which I dabble, mostly unsuccessfully. Not eating toast, cereal or oats (which sadly I can’t tolerate due to the gliadin I assume – a much greater loss that gluten) was something I found it very hard to come to terms with. I can find fantastic GF pasta, I eat a lot more rice and sweet potatoes, but I do miss toast and cereal in the morning. My mum