HEALTH FOOD HAUL

My beautiful bounty of health food

Just got in from a fabulous morning out with my dad and have jumped straight on my laptop to blog it. Rest of the family are away so we went to the local town of Petersfield and visited this great health food shop called 'The Bran Tub' then loaded with goodies headed over to a health food cafe called 'The Natural Apothecary'. Seriously I'm buzzing from this trip, we never get specialized health stores this good in where I live. So here are the things I chose to buy and some pictures of the health food cafe for you all!

 Ok, this is my first try at kale chips and seriously I don't know why you would choose potato crisps over these. THEY ARE AMAZING. These ones are, raw, vegan and gluten free and as they're raw the chips are made though dehydrating them so no oil is needed for baking or frying. The cheesy taste comes from nutritional yeast and cashew nuts so not only do you get the goodness of kale but B12 and protein  from the yeast and nuts. Admittedly they are a little pricey (£3.95 for the tub if you cant see) but I would pay the money again for it with out a thought. Its worth it for the nutrition and intense crunchy savory hit you get.



Here's the Miso paste I got. Now I adore Miso soup and this Miso paste looked really interesting as it's a field bean barley Miso that's 'live' and unpasteurized. Because this Miso is made from field bean barley it means it's produced locally in the UK as the beans and barley can be grown in the cool climate of rainy Britain. Also being used to white Miso I thought it would be interesting to try a darker version as it's ment to have a deeper stronger flavor. If your anemic (like moi) or vegan or even vegetarian and need your B12, Miso is high in it and it can also help your immune system so get it down your gullet lads.

Next is some Buck Wheat puffs! Originally I was looking to see if they did Quinoa puffs but then I found these! I had trouble deciding between these and the Millet Puffs but these had less fat in them (however the Millet had more protein, you win some you lose some). BigOz are a great organic company, all there cereals are gluten free, nut free, GM free and dairy free. BigOz also support some thing called 'Project Le Monde' which helps underprivileged communities in Uganda, so you can feel good while eating your cereal. These buckwheat puffs taste nuttier (and better) then your average rice krispie and have 2.91g of protein per 30g serving which isn't bad for a cereal..

As you can see I've already got in and had a square of this chocolate bar and I can happily say it's wonderful. It's a raw, vegan organic bar of chocolate goodness with goji berries and vanilla. I don't really need to say any more..

 
 To the left is some smoked tofu. Again it's organic which is great and it's a slightly different make to what I normally buy. See, I often buy 'Dragonfly Organic Tofu' which is made locally in Devon but this tofu had less packaging, was cheaper and looked pretty good so I thought, why not? I normally grill my smoked tofu with a little soy sauce to really bring out the smokiness. I really want to try some different tofu products as tofu is really good for you, it's literally just a block of protein and fiber.

 This is the best Jam ever. Honestly.

 It's a high fruit jam and has no added sugar, instead it uses fruit juice concentrate to give it that jammy sweetness. This means its brilliant for diabetics, low GI diets and controlling the amount of refined sugar you intake. PLUS it tastes delicious. I've had these jams before  but never the black cherry one but its so darn good. In nearly every spoon full you get a whole juicy cherry and the jam really tastes of sweet lovely fruit rather then sugar, which I like. A lot.

Get this jam you will thank me.

I also bought (that isn't individually pictured) vegan cheddar cheese, white tea with goji berry and some cartons of strawberry coconut milk alternative, all of these I am exited to try. Below are some pictures of 'The Natural Apothecary Cafe'. The decor was beautiful, there were cushions with tea cups on them, floral wall paper, and quaint little details like a gramophone and miss-match light bulbs. Me and my dad shared a detox juice that contained broccoli, orange, pineapple, milk thistle, macca powder and few other things and a flowering green tea called 'flying snow'  that had coconut shreds in the flower. The Juice was actually really nice and refreshing and the after taste of the broccoli was surprisingly pleasant and went really well with the pineapple. And the tea! Well I think my self as a tea connoisseur and this tea was really wonderful. It was delicate and floral with a sweet coconut after taste and what made it even better was the fact you could see the flower opening up before your eyes. I will definitely be returning.

Time for Tea

The weather was so lovely yesterday and due to my beau and my best friend finishing their last exam a impromptu tea party had to be thrown!

I have two tea sets one, the brown, is from my sister who brought it back from Vietnam. It is carved from coconut shell and is traditionally used for honey tea (a combination of bee's pollen, special honey and green tea). My other tea set is just cool. It's glass and has a glass infuser so you can use and loose leaf or tea ingredients and see it infuse. At this tea party in the glass pot is lemon and ginger with optional honey and in coconut pot is white tea and pomegranate. Just in case you were wondering..

Because of this tea party i thought it would be appropriate for me to tell you a little bit about the benefits of different teas and a few facts about them.

All Teas

• All teas help hydrate and detox as they are liquads filled with differnt anitoxidants and help flush out the bad stuff
• Hot teas help keep you full where as iced teas help boost your metabolism 
• Tea was originally only used as a tonic and for medical uses only

Green Tea

• Made from the same plant as black tea but the leaves aren't allowed to oxiadize by heating on a high heat for a short amount of time, stopping the fermenting reaction
• Lower in caffeine then normal tea and drunk with out milk (often with honey or lemon)
•  Full of antioxidants that benefit your skin and general health
• Can help aid weight loss as it improves the function of the liver, burning fat effectively
• Can help with bad breath and immuntiy as it is a natural anti bacterial drink
• Can help prevent cancer

White Tea

• White tea is very similar to Green tea however it is harvested at a younger age and is less processed then Green tea as it is steamed then dried
• Due the process (or lack of it) white tea has the same as, but more of the antioxidants found in green tea
• White tea has very little caffine
• However white tea is less common and often more pricey

Herbal Teas

• Peppermint tea helps problems with gas and digestion
• Camonmile tea is ment to calm and help with sleeping
• Rooibos tea is rich in vitamin C and other minerals some beleive it helps with skin problems
• Echinacea tea helps boost the immune system

Hope that has added to your tea knowledge! If not there will (hopefully) be more post on tea things such as how to make your own tea and how long and the best way to brew tea.

Keep calm and drink tea.