Keep calm and make tea!

If you've read all my blogs then you know that I am NOT a fan of doctors or medication. I talked, in this post, about my experience with the flu a couple of weeks back and how I'd managed to beat it using alternative remedies which included things like food, tissue salts and herbs. I'd like to go into a bit more detail about those herbs, today.

Herbs are nothing new under the sun. Long before there was synthetic medication, people were using herbs to cure various ailments. They were used for centuries, in their natural form. These days you find a lot of those herbs, in synthetic form, in medications, beauty products and household cleaners. Companies have tried to harness the healing power of herbs, in a form that can make them some money. My question is, why would you buy the synthetic version for R100 or more, when you can buy a box of the actual herb for about R20, that lasts you several months and is far better for you, and that works? I'm not an expert, as I've said, but I have had great success with my herbal teas over the years and I'd like to share what I've learnt, with you.

Anyone who knows me knows how crazy I am about my teas! I have been drinking herbal teas for years and there is never a shortage of every type and flavour of tea when we have visitors over. Actually, that's not entirely accurate! The one tea that is often missing from my cupboard is your garden variety black tea. I often forget to buy it because it is the ONE tea I don't drink. One or two friends have actually arrived with their own tea because they KNOW I forget to buy normal tea;) Most people assume that, if you are going to have a hot drink, it'll either be normal tea or coffee. You definitely get "tea" people and "coffee" people and the "tea" people will mostly drink normal tea. The lack of variety drives me nuts. I find normal tea so boring since I discovered the world of "all different types of teas" and so I never buy it, or drink it.

Of course, you also get the rooibos drinkers, but, considering rooibos tea is distinctly South African, there are actually very few rooibos drinkers, compared to normal tea drinkers, in South Africa. My gran used to call it "camel's pee" ;) That was my gran, a real character! But a lot of people seem to dislike the taste of it. I started drinking rooibos because the caffeine in normal tea dried out my throat and, as a singer, I found that, drinking rooibos with honey and lemon was very soothing for my throat. It was especially helpful to sip on during a particularly long show on a cold winter's night. I always arrived at a gig with a bottle of water and my tea flask! I wasn't a fan of the taste to start with, either, but it grew on me.

Fortunately, over the years, manufacturers have gotten more experimental with teas and, more and more flavoured teas have started appearing on shelves. I bought every new one to try as I discovered them. I eventually bought myself one of those teabag trays you find in hotels and at catered functions, because I had so many different teas and it was easier than keeping them in separate boxes which took up loads of cupboard space! That's how tea crazy I was;)

Given my obsession with health and my aversion to medication, it was a natural progression to start exploring teas for their medicinal benefits. I was delighted to discover Dischem's HUGE selection of herbal teas. I began to see the benefits of tea leaves, instead of tea bags. I started my teapot collection (with built in tea strainer!) and my tea collection grew steadily. Over the years I have discovered which teas work for what, and I am STILL learning, because there are so many of them!

SOME of the teas in my cupboard;)

So why loose tea leaves instead of tea bags? Well, have you ever torn open a teabag and seen the quality of the tea leaves inside? Unless it says "whole-leaf teabags" you are pretty much getting dust, and what they call, fannings. It's the dregs of the pile of tea leaves after the good leaves have been scooped up and packed into boxes. The smaller the leaves, the less quality and flavour your tea will have. Tea leaves contain essential oils and, when the leaves are broken up, some of those oils will evaporate which will leave you with a tasteless, nutrition-less tea. If the leaves are larger pieces, they will still contain all the necessary goodness and flavour that you are drinking it for. A teabag is also limited, space-wise, which means that the leaves will not be able to absorb water and swell the way they are supposed to. You won't find any of the medicinal herbal teas in a teabag. That's because they won't actually do what they are meant to do, which is heal you, if they are squashed in a tea bag, made up of dust and fannings, and very little goodness. Long story short, stick to tea leaves if you are drinking tea for health purposes or if you are really fussy about flavour! And needless to say, organic is the way to go because herbs can also contain pesticides and less goodness due to bad quality soil.

So what tea helps what ailment? Here is a list of the teas I favour, and why:

• Rooibos: This little leaf has MANY health benefits if you drink enough of it! It's caffeine free for those with a caffeine sensitivity. It is loaded with antioxidants which bind with free radicals, preventing them from damaging cells and causing cancer or from oxidising with cholesterol to clog blood vessels. Rooibos also protects the liver from disease, boosts the immune system, relieves allergies and helps digestive disorders. You need to drink about 6 cups a day to really feel the benefits and it doesn't matter how you drink it really, as long as you drink it!
• Peppermint: Personally I have found peppermint teabags to taste awful no matter what the quality so I really recommend tea leaves! I drink mint tea on a daily basis because it is GREAT for IBS. It is incredibly soothing for sore, bloated colons, stomach cramps and diarrhea. It promotes good digestion and eases heartburn. It also helps to ease a headache, PMS cramps and sinus problems. If you steam with it, it is a great decongestant and just the smell of it makes you more alert and focused so it's a good thing to have if you're studying.
• Milk thistle: This herb has become more and more popular of late for those who are preparing for a big party night where lots of alcohol is going to be imbibed! It is often used as a treatment for liver problems. It is a natural antioxidant. Silymarin (the active substance in milk thistle) appears to have anti-cancer effects and is currently being studied as a possible cancer preventative. A use you probably would never have guessed is that it can be used as an antidote for deathcap mushroom poisoning. Milk thistle counteracts toxins in the mushroom, as long as it's taken within 10 minutes of ingestion. However, even if it's given within 24 hours of mushroom poisoning, it significantly reduces the risk of liver damage and even death. Milk thistle is also recommended as a natural remedy for morning sickness and nausea.
• Echinacea: You've all heard of this one. It's well known for boosting the immune system and preventing, or lessening the impact of, colds and flu. You get it in many different forms, but, because I love teas so much, I drink it! It is a great preventative herb to drink just as winter is starting and everyone is getting sick. If you are too late, it will shorten the amount of time that you are sick. It can also be applied to skin to heal eczema, sunburn and slow-healing wounds. It's not a good idea to drink it for longer than 8 consecutive weeks though because it can inhibit the production of T-cells eventually.
• Lemon Balm: This herb has many benefits! It's great for insomnia, it eases digestion and stomach ailments, much like peppermint tea, it can be used to treat herpes lesions and cold sores if applied externally, it can also help treat the symptoms of alzheimer's disease, it is good for bronchial inflammation, earache, fever, headaches, high blood pressure, influenza, mood disorders, palpitations, toothache and vomiting. It also soothes menstrual cramps and helps relieve PMS. I have used it for many of the above reasons and it works.
• Stinging Nettle: And you thought all it did was irritate you;) It has such a wide range of uses though! It's good for allergies, relieves hair loss, treats celiac disease, bladder infections, acid reflux, excess gas, sore throats, hemorrhoids, nose bleeds, mouth sores, skin irritations, neurological disorders, arthritis, gout, rheumatism, and soft tissue conditions such as fibromyalgia and tendonitis. Patients with Lupus and other auto-immune disorders, suffering from joint pain, experience relief from drinking a cup of nettle tea a day. It removes metabolic wastes and is both gentle and stimulating on the lymph system. It is used to help treat alzheimer's, it helps with night time bed wetting in children and supports the endocrine system. 
  
• Chasteberry herb: This is known as the "Women's herb" because it's all about women! It's used for menstrual cycle irregularities, PMS, a more severe form of PMS called premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD), and symptoms of menopause. It is also used for treating “lumpy” (fibrocystic) breasts, female infertility, preventing miscarriage in women with low levels of a hormone called progesterone, controlling bleeding and helping the body force out the placenta after childbirth, and increasing breast milk. I find it works really well for PMS and that's good enough reason for me to drink it!
• Green tea: You all know about this but I bet most of you don't drink it because of it's bitter taste? Well that's just because you aren't buying tea leaves AND you aren't preparing it correctly;) Did you know that green tea is just a younger version of normal, black tea? It is a GREAT cancer fighter and preventer, it prevents heart disease and strokes by lowering cholesterol. Even AFTER a heart attack it prevents cell deaths and speeds recovery. It's anti-aging and promotes longevity and  it also promotes weight-loss and speeds up your metabolism.
• White tea: If normal black tea is the grandmother, green tea is the mom and white tea is the child! They are all the same plant, picked at different times of it's life. White tea has all the benefits of green tea but you can multiply them a hundred fold because it is the least processed of the teas and therefore the best quality. It's exceptionally good for all the same reasons that green tea is good, but it's even better. It's the tea of all teas when it comes to goodness:)
• Marshmallow Root: I drank this by the bucket load when I had bronchial pneumonia and it really helped my voice come back! It's great for sore throats, laryngitis, whooping cough, bronchitis, digestive disorders like IBS, ulcers, hernias and mouth ulcers. It is good for treating cuts and skin irritations like eczema externally. It also helps soothe teething babies!

I think that list is enough for now but it really is an endless list. I'll revisit it sometime again. The teas I drink depend largely on what is ailing me at the time. I don't drink all of them, all the time. Remember that herbs are powerful. They may be natural but they are, in a lot of cases, more powerful than synthetic medication because they are in their most natural form. You wouldn't take medication constantly and so you shouldn't drink certain teas constantly except for rooibos and green tea of course. All the other teas I've listed here are remedies for certain things and should be treated as such.

The way to make them all is easy. Place a teaspoon of tea leaves in a teapot and fill the pot with boiled water. Leave to steep for about 10 minutes and then drink. Green tea is slightly different. It's loaded with caffeine and it can get too strong and very bitter in a short space of time. Green tea should actually have a sweet taste if you buy the tea leaves. The bags will taste horrible and bitter and, of course, won't be nearly as good for you. I only steep green tea for about 5 minutes and that's it. Any longer and it tastes horrible. White tea can go for 3 minutes and that will be enough. It can also tend towards the strong, bitter side if it's left too long. 

Most herbal teas don't taste great on their own. I never suffer through a bad pot of tea anymore. I have learnt that the key to getting all the nutrients into my body, is to make it as easy to drink as possible. So I buy a few different flavoured rooibos teabags and I add them to whatever herb I need to drink and they mask the flavour of the bitter herbs. I also add a small spoon of raw honey to my tea and a drop of lemon juice and it makes it really tasty. You'll find most herbal teas taste awful with milk and I wouldn't recommend it!

Our morning teapot consists of 4 different rooibos teabags, some flavoured, some plain (to get as much goodness as possible out of them), a spoon of green tea and then whatever herbal tea we may need. If we had a glass of wine the night before then I add milk thistle. If I have a stomach ache, I add mint, if I feel fluey, I add echinacea. I make a big pot and drink it throughout the day when I'm home. You can never get enough tea in you as far as I'm concerned so, the more, the merrier. And winter is the best time to be experimenting with teas! It's not only warming, but it's also so good for you!

In the words of Mrs Tiggywinkle from Beatrix Potter: "When the troubles of the day are over, there is nothing that comforts me like a real, hot, strong cup of tea!"

Until tomorrow!

Real Food Friday Feast - Banana Bread

This is the first of many Friday posts, all related to my real food recipe for the week. Why banana bread, you ask? Well, simply because it's my FAVOURITE cake:) I went without it for many years thinking it could only be made with wheat flour and, as an IBS sufferer, I couldn't eat wheat, so that meant no banana bread. It was hard, I can't lie!

At first I played around with a few different flours like spelt flour and rice flour, but I find I battle with most grains, and they tend not to rise very well either, so they weren't really working for me. I always found that the recipes included stuff I'd rather not be eating as well and, as I'm not much of a baker, I really needed a recipe to follow that was tried and tested.

One day, while I was googling (something as common to me as breathing in case you hadn't guessed) I happened upon a link that mentioned grain-free cake. It immediately hooked my interest for obvious reasons! Intrigued, I clicked on the link and discovered a recipe using...

I didn't know it existed either!

Here are some of the benefits of using coconut flour:

• It is rich in protein, fibre and fat which makes it really filling. 
• It is also a good source of lauric acid, a saturated fat thought to support the immune system and the thyroid. Like most healthy fats, lauric acid also promotes good skin health. 
• It is an very good source of manganese which helps you to better utilize many nutrients such as choline and biotin (found in eggs), vitamin C and thiamin. Manganese also supports bone health, nervous system function, thyroid health and helps to maintain optimal blood sugar levels.
• It isn't grain-based, and so, doesn't present many of the issues that accompany grains for people with grain allergies or intolerances, such as myself. 
• It is gluten-free and, while it does contain food phytate, the mineral-binding effects of phytates in coconut are virtually non-existent which means that coconut flour doesn't need to be soaked (but that is something I will cover in another post!)

So, the recipe I found was NOT for banana bread unfortunately but I was undeterred! I now knew what I needed to do. The hunt for coconut flour was ON!

It actually wasn't too hard to find! I am a frequenter of Fruit and Roots in Bryanston and it was the first place I thought of when I headed off on my search. They specialise in all things organic and natural and they also, conveniently, have a 20% off sale every last Thursday of the month. Coconut flour is pricey to be honest. But an upside to it is that you use far less than you would normal flour. For example, if the recipe said you needed 2 cups of normal flour, you'd only need about 1/2 a cup of coconut flour. It's highly absorbent and too much flour will dry out a recipe. The general rule, when baking with coconut flour, is to add extra moisture in the form of eggs or milk or even fruit juice.

I did some more googling and found a few recipes for banana bread and then the experimenting started! Not only was I a coconut flour newbie, but I also needed to figure out a recipe that suited my organic, healthy needs. That meant no refined sugar or vegetable oils or margarine. I also couldn't do cow's milk and I didn't want just normal baking powder because that's full of aluminium. (FYI) I found an aluminium free baking powder at Fruit and Roots again:)

There were a couple of different types but this one was the most affordable.

I tried quite a few different recipes. Most of them ended up coming out very dry and hard and FLAT. They didn't rise at ALL. My wife (we'll call her GLM), angel that she is, dutifully told me every time that it was DELICIOUS, bless her heart;) But I was NOT satisfied. I knew I could do better and wanted it to taste like my mom's banana bread used to taste. There HAD to be a way.

One day, I decided to add a teaspoon of bicarb to the mix and VOILA! The perfect banana bread:) I was overjoyed and, this time, GLM could honestly say that it was delicious;) 

Before I give you the recipe, I need to stipulate that ALL the ingredients used in this are either organic or free range. Oh, and there is only ONE raw honey that I use. It is THE BEST honey in all the world and I buy it by the crate direct from the farmer. I refuse to eat any other. If you would like to order some, please email me: mellowhealth@melanielowe.co.za

Without further ado, here is the recipe: 

Grain-Free Banana Bread with Coconut Flour

4 eggs
2 Tbs honey
1/3 cup salted butter or coconut oil (if not salted butter add ¼ tsp salt to recipe)
2 or 3 (depending on the size) very ripe bananas, mashed
3 full Tbs plain yogurt
3/4 cup coconut flour

1 tsp baking powder 

1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

Method

• Whisk up the eggs, honey, butter, yoghurt and mashed bananas 
• Sift flour, baking powder and bicarb into the batter and stir until completely mixed 
• Pour into a greased loaf tin and bake in a pre-heated oven (175°C/350°F) for 40-50 minutes 

NOTE: Please keep an eye on your loaf because my oven has a door that doesn't close properly and I have had to play around with temperature and time to avoid over or under cooking it! Stick a toothpick in and it should come out clean.

Here are a few really nice ideas to make it more interesting and delicious!

• You can make it a chocolate banana bread by adding 3-4 Tbs organic cocoa powder 
• Make it a cinnamon banana bread by adding 1 tsp organic ground cinnamon 
• Make it a ginger banana bread by adding 1 tsp organic ground ginger
• Give it an extra omega 3, crunchy boost by adding 2 Tbs of flaxseeds
• I also occasionally add a handful of dried cranberries and the same can be done with raisins or nuts

Honestly, once you have mastered your banana bread, the sky is the limit. I tried an apple and cinnamon loaf this morning and it is YUMMY!

A slice of this banana bread has only 6 grams of protein, 9 grams of fat and 18 grams of carbs! That will alter slightly depending on what fruit you use, but it will still be low in calories at only 170 calories a slice. You  can triple all those amounts if you use a grain flour like wheat and even more if you use normal, refined sugar. The amazing thing is that every single calorie of this banana bread is GOOD FOR YOU. Kinda blows your mind a bit huh?

If you find coconut flour is out of your price range, fear not! I have since discovered chickpea flour! 

It is also a grain-free flour and it is a lot more economically viable. It DOES give your baked goods a slightly nuttier flavour but I enjoy it and hopefully you will too! You will just need to alter the recipe slightly with the chickpea flour and these are the changes below:

Grain Free Banana Bread with Chickpea flour

3 eggs
2 Tbs honey
1/3 cup salted butter or coconut oil (if not salted butter add ¼ tsp salt to recipe)
2 or 3 (depending on the size) very ripe bananas, mashed
2 full Tbs plain yogurt
11/2 cups chickpea flour

1 tsp baking powder 

1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

You will use the same method to make this one.

The nice thing about chickpea flour is that you can buy it at dischem. In fact, dischem is going to become your favourite shopping place for all your organic needs;) What's really handy about Dischem is that they have a loyalty card system. Not only do they use the money you spend to help various charities, but you also get rewarded with money back. There is an added advantage for FNB bankers in that you can shop there with your ebucks. I love shopping at places that reward you:) And I really like that dischem has good ethics when it comes to protecting their customers, animals and the planet.

I have plenty of other suppliers that I get all of my organic goodies from. It has been a journey of discovery over the last year and I have slowly but surely built up a good, solid list of organic suppliers and nothing would give me greater pleasure than to bring them all business! I think they deserve it given all that they are doing for a healthier world. That will be a blog post for next week!

Please let me know how your banana bread turns out! Happy baking:)