Always soak your oats
If you want to make your breakfast porridge truly healthy, soak your oats overnight, says Jenny Tschiesche: “Grains, including oats, contain phytic acid in their outer layer that can bind to certain nutrients in the gut and block their absorption. That actually means people who consume a lot of unfermented grains can be lacking in certain nutrients, but the best way to get around this is to soak them first (for at least seven hours) as that breaks down the phytic acid.”
Soak oats either in water with a pinch of salt or make a bircher muesli – soaked overnight in natural yogurt, grated apple and lemon juice with the options of added honey, cinnamon, nuts, dried fruits, coconut and berries.
Bring your water to life
Here’s an easy, tasty and fairly economical way of looking after your body: introduce a fermented food into your diet. If you don’t fancy spending all your time fermenting vegetables, you could try water kefir. It’s full of beneficial bacteria, which will help support digestive, immune and brain health. It is similar to kombucha, a form of fermented tea, minus the caffeine. Available from culturesforhealth.com.
Buy 'heavy’ bread, or bake your own, instead of going gluten free
If you suffer from coeliac disease, gluten-free bread is essential. But if you aren’t allergic, and just want to avoid the bloat associated with gluten, processed gluten-free loaves are not necessarily your best option. Try sourdough instead, whether you make it yourself, like Swedish cook and writer Malin Elmlid, or buy it. Malin believed she was gluten-intolerant until she tried sourdough bread, and has now built her life around it and its health benefits, with her project The Bread Exchange. She is right to advocate it. Though not strictly gluten free, it contains a much lower level of gluten, which makes it more digestible and so leads to less bloating than other types.
Vary your veg
Last year I discovered that I’m mildly intolerant to broccoli. I can munch my beloved florets only once every fortnight these days, or my stomach gets furious. Apparently it’s common in those who try to be healthy and eat too much of anything. Intolerances such as these are on the rise because gone are the days when certain fruit or veg were available only during a certain season. Now we can eat broccoli every night if we want, so varying your veg (the easiest way is to eat what’s in season) should help reduce the risk of developing intolerances, which might mean you have to avoid that nutritious food altogether.
Green juice and fish and chips: an opera singer's day on a plate
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