Soul Food

About the show

Soul Food is on every Saturday from 3pm to 4pm, a show that focuses on local and ethnic cuisine, providing our listeners with recipes, tips and nutritional advice.

Tune in every Saturday to Soul Food, your weekly serving of local and global gastronomic goodness. Recipes, tips, nutritional advice, from growing to eating we chat about all things food often with a good dose of music mixed in.
On the team we have Chef Jenny Fitzgerald and Nutritional Therapist Anne Marie O’Connor. John Hassett Food Enterprise officer with Ballyhoura Development often pops in to keep us up to date on how they can help you get into the food business and Miriam also joins us each week with a look at various tasty herbs and spices. There is also a segment where you can join the menu and tell us your favourite recipe or travel tales of exotic foods.
We don’t believe in there ever being too many cooks in the kitchen so if you would like to join us on Soul Food drop us an email or call into the station on Smiths Lane.

On Soul Food next week

On The Show...

This week on Soul Food Chef Jenny Fitzgerald and Nutritional Therapist Anne Marie O'Connor are talking about eating right to lose weight. 

John Hassett Food enterprise officer with Ballyhoura development is in giving us the low down on the food side of the recent Bloom festival and whats ready for picking on the allotments this month

Plus theres a few great tunes as well as a recipe especially for Dad on Fathers day

Enjoy the show!

WEIGHT CONTROL AND DIET MYTHS.

Reasons to stop dieting....

Diets don’t work

Since 1920 26,000 diets have been published, all offering a solution to weight problems. Out of every 2000 people who go on a diet approx 190 fail ,of the 10 that initially succeed, nine will put weight back on within 5yrs.

Diets have more to do with becoming obsessed with losing weight then actually losing weight.

In process many dieters gain weight.

Diets are stressful and often harmful-cited as 1 of the strongest risk factors for developing an eating disorder in both men and women.

Dieting created negative emotions.

Lose our inner intelligence. We are born with inner intelligence that operates numerous internal bodily systems .the system responsible for processing our food intake and regulating our body size is known as metabolic system. it works best when we eat when we are hungry and stop when we are full-diets over-ride this inner intelligence system and instead instruct us what to eat and how much.

They create vicious cycle-from depriving to overindulgence.

They are expensive.

WHAT’S THE SECRET? 

Instead of focusing on numbers on scales, develop healthy and sustainable eating and exercise habits and build a more positive body image.

Lose the diet mentality, if everyone stopped talking about eating, weight and body shape all the time, it might cease to be such an important and debilitating issue in our lives. Cut out all the negative, guilt ridden comments about food(I ate so much last night)

Plan ahead-stock presses, fridge and freezer with healthy foods, and plan realistic exercise routine.

Assess your obstacles and avoid them where possible, identify those people, places, times and situations that set you up for failure, and have back up plan.

Have a goal-it is helpful to frame your goal in the positive, i.e. (I aim to be a healthy weight) but the goal must also be simple, measurable, attainable and realistic.

Avoid having a set “goal weight or size “findings show people with a goal weight are unlikely to achieve it, and people who insist on attaining their goal weight are less likely to maintain weight loss.

Break down goals in short measurable steps, steady progress through well chosen realistic stages produces lasting results in the end.

Be accountable for your actions and non actions.

READY TO START, WHAT NOW?

Firstly discuss any changes in diet and lifestyle with a caring medical professional or nutritional therapist, especially if currently taking medication or being treated for chronic disease.

Make slow subtle improvements to nutrition and habits, eating more whole foods, unprocessed, undamaged foods, getting carbs primarily from veg and fruit and wholegrain, not refined grains and baked goods.

For many eliminating or at least reducing refined carbs and sugar is enough to see real benefits.

For 2 weeks do a gentle cleanse –cut down tobacco, alcohol, caffeine in all forms, transfats, artificial sweeteners and refined sugar and salt, additives, artificial colourings, msg, over the counter medications.

Cut down on time spent in front of TV, laptop etc.

Learn to eat slowly, when relaxed and chew each mouthful well.

Check in with how you feel every day, in beginning may feel little worse before better as body begins to mobilise fat and the toxins stored, these are released into bloodstream.

This is why it is so important to drink lots of water and herbal teas to flush kidneys and liver.

Exercise moderately every day, aim for at least 20mins.

Take up skin brushing, it stimulates circulation of blood as well as lymphatic system and breaks down fatty deposits.

Baby steps will take you far if you keep taking them.

Detoxify-Alfalfa, dandelion, liquorice, nettle, parsley, red clover.

Invigorate and boost digestion-cinnamon, ginger, green tea, fennel, lemongrass, peppermint, yeba mate.

HEALTHY EATING TIPS.

Start day with glass warm water and juice of half lemon or teaspoon of apple cider vinegar.

Eat slowly and chew well to aid digestion.

Eat regularly-3 small meals and 2 healthy snacks, to balance blood sugar levels and boost energy.

Choose organic and free range where possible.

Avoid processed foods and limit sugar, alcohol, caffeine, salt, wheat and dairy.

Use coconut oil or butter in cooking and avoid hydrogenated vegetable oils and transfats.

Good sources of easy to absorb calcium are-green leafy veg, beans, sesame seeds and almonds.

Aim to include a small amount of seaweed and garlic or onion into your diet most days.

Eat adequate protein at every meal, especially breakfast.

Eat within 1 hr of waking.

Eat healthy fats, particularly foods rich in omega 3’s like salmon, mackerel, sardines, flaxseed, chia seeds, udo’s oil.

Limit caffeine to 1 or 2 cups a day, preferably from green tea.

Pay attention to portion size, aim for half plate to be filled with veg or salad, quarter protein and quarter carbs.

Remember to hydrate-aim for 1.5-2litres per day.