Blogger brings perspective to harsh doctrine governing diets
Kindness takes the fight to shame in latest collection
NO TIME to cook from scratch every day, and still want to eat cake? You can master healthy eating – it’s just about being kind to yourself, says Madeleine Shaw.
The nutritionist is on a mission to improve our attitude towards food.
“The worst thing you can do is be hard on yourself and negative,” says the 26-year-old. “For me, it’s not just about the food you put on the plate, but the attitude you have to food and yourself. I want to start a revolution of people being kinder to themselves.”
And that means putting that extra-slice-of-triple-chocolate-cakeshaped blip into perspective.
“You’ve got to tell yourself that this one meal isn’t really going to change things,” she explains. “One piece of cake doesn’t really put on loads of weight. Tell yourself that, and then get back to eating healthy with your next meal.”
She believes with a bit of planning, nutritious fuss-free meals can be achieved even during busy spells, and has devoted her new book, Ready Steady Glow, to just that.
Divided into “fast weeks and slow weekends”, many of the meals take 20 minutes or less to make, but there are more timeconsuming recipes too.
Being busy is something Shaw can wholeheartedly appreciate. A year on from releasing her debut healthy-eating book, Get The Glow, life has moved up a notch.
Up until her teens, she admits she ate a “typical magazine diet of Diet Coke and low-fat yoghurt” to stay slim, but was plagued by digestive problems and energy slumps.
Things changed when she moved to Sydney aged 18 to study, and started working at a healthy cafe. Shaw admits her changes didn’t happen overnight, but inspired, she trained as a nutritionist and returned to the UK with renewed zest, eager to share her knowledge via her food and lifestyle blog.
So embedded is Shaw and fellow health blogger Ella Woodward’s positive message that comedian Bella Younger has even poked fun at their approach in her popular spoof Deliciously Stella.
“I love it!” says Shaw with a laugh. “Bella is a fan of healthy eating. It’s amazing how well she’s done in such a short time.”
The same can be said of Shaw, whose health and self-esteem have vastly improved since she started making changes.
“I felt much more at peace with myself; I realised that life was here to be enjoyed,” she reflects. “Quite a lot of the time, we’re expecting ourselves to be everything, especially as women.
“You don’t need to add your own self pressure. It’s not an overnight switch, but we could all be a bit kinder to ourselves.”
Show yourself some kindness with these three recipes from Ready, Steady, Glow. 1tbsp coconut oil or butter 3 garlic cloves, crushed 1tbsp freshly grated ginger 100g wild or button mushrooms, chopped in half 450ml chicken stock 1tbsp tamari 2 star anise 1 cinnamon stick 1 large carrot or 2 small, julienned 3 pakchoi, cut in half 4 eggs 1 red chilli, finely sliced, to serve 2 spring onions, finely sliced, to serve Heat the oil or butter in a pan, throw in the garlic and ginger, and cook for 30 seconds, then throw in the mushrooms and stir-fry for two minutes.
Pour over the stock, tamari, star anise and cinnamon stick and bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer and cook for 10 minutes. Throw the carrots and pak choi into the soup to cook for a further seven minutes while you prepare the eggs.
Gently lower the eggs one by one into a pan half-filled with boiling water. Boil for five minutes for runny yolks and nine minutes for hard-boiled. Drain and hold under cold running water to stop them cooking and to cool them enough to peel.
Ladle the soup into two bowls, slice the eggs in half and place on top of the soup. Throw the chilli and spring onions over the soup to serve. When you come across the cinnamon stick or star anise, remove them. They are there to add flavour to the soup, but not to be eaten. 2 lamb rumps (about 250g each) 1tsp dried rosemary 1tbsp coconut oil or butter Olive oil, to serve Chilli flakes, to serve Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste For the cauliflower mash: 1 cauliflower, roughly chopped 1tbsp coconut oil or butter 1 onion, finely chopped 2 garlic cloves, crushed 1tbsp dried rosemary Salt Preheat the oven to 190C/375F/ gasmark5. Trim off any excess fat on the lamb and score the top with a sharp knife. Season with salt and pepper and sprinkle over the rosemary.
Heat a pan with the one tablespoon of oil or butter and cook the lamb fat side down for four minutes, turning it over every minute until browned.
Pop it in the oven for 15 minutes then leave it to rest for five minutes.
To make the cauliflower mash, cook the cauliflower in a pan of boiling water for seven to10 minutes, until it is cooked through. Drain.
Meanwhile, heat the oil or butter in a frying pan and throw in the onion. Saute for three minutes then throw in the garlic, a big pinch of salt and the rosemary. Cook for another three minutes then leave to cool slightly.
Mash the onion mix with the cauliflower, scraping out all the spices and oil from the pan. Serve the mash and lamb together with a drizzle of olive oil, salt and pepper, a pinch of chilli flakes and a big smile. 120g unsalted butter 200g coconut sugar (available from Ocado and Amazon, as well as health food shops) 1 egg, beaten 200g Medjool dates, pitted 1 vanilla pod, seeds scraped 2 apples, grated 1tsp baking powder 1/2tsp bicarbonate of soda 280g rice or buckwheat flour (available in most supermarkets, including Morrisons, Tesco and Sainsbury’s) Pinch of salt 1tsp ground cinnamon 200g walnuts, chopped 75g raisins 1tbsp sesame seeds 100g ricotta or Greek yoghurt/ coconut yoghurt, to serve 200g seasonal berries, such as raspberries or blueberries, to serve Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/ gasmark4. Line a 1kg loaf tin with baking paper. Cream the butter and sugar in a food processor, add in the egg, dates, vanilla and grated apples, and pulse to combine. Sift in the baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and flour, with a pinch of salt and the cinnamon.
Fold in the walnuts and raisins and process for five seconds so the nuts and raisins are mixed in well but not too broken up.
Pour the mixture into the tin, smoothing over the top gently, and bake for 50 minutes to one hour, until just cooked through.
To see if the loaf is cooked, insert a skewer in the middle – if it comes out clean, it is done.
Leave the loaf to cool in the tin for a few minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Top with the sesame seeds.
Cut into inch-thick slices and toast. Serve with the ricotta/ yoghurt and berries. Ready, Steady, Glow by Madeleine Shaw is currently published in hardback by Orion Books, priced £20. It is available now.