Lamb Chops with Cumin Pesto

Serves 2-3

(Paleo; no gluten, dairy, egg, nightshades or legumes)

Finger-licking and succulent. The marinade or its mixing with the meat can be done well in advance. Prep on the night is therefore quick and easy. I’ve tried this on the grill and the barbeque. Although good, this pan fried version has the best flavour. Serve with potato or kumara wedges and salad. Or with mixed steamed veg (eg cauliflower, carrots, Brussels sprouts, pumpkin, chopped garlic) tossed with more olive oil and sea salt with kelp. Guests rave about these vegetable combos, yet they couldn’t be simpler. Read more

IRON: Are You Red-Blooded, Hot-Headed or Pale-Faced?

Iron levels are like most nutritional issues: too much or too little can leave you tired, sick, even fatally so.

If you tend to: low blood pressure, fatigue, dizziness, depression, restless leg syndrome; swollen, sore or bright red tongue; acne; mouth corner sores; frequent infections or slow to heal; menses heavy, missed or with spotting; are cold, pale, weak or breathless, you might be low in iron. If you tend to: high blood pressure, fatigue, irritability, depression, inflammatory conditions such as cardiovascular disease (CVD); dislike heat, get red in the face; bronze or gray skin; joint or abdominal pain, you might be high in iron.

THINK ZINC for Clear Skin and Eyes; Strong Nails and Immunity; Prostate, Reproductive and Hormonal Health

Zinc is very busy in your brain. It is needed by the hippocampus, which is the central train station for relaying messages to and from the ceaselessly busy nervous system, endocrine system and the rest of your body. Without zinc, people do poorly in both memory and cognitive tests and are more likely to suffer mood disorders. Zinc activates brain centres that process data from taste and smell sensors and thus influences appetite. People with anorexia and bulimia usually suffer from low levels, which distort their appetites further. Athletes and those who perspire profusely lose this mineral through fluid loss; as do those with diarrhea, vomiting or after gastrointestinal surgery.

STRONG BONES: How to Build Them and Keep Them

Bones are like massive bridges. They have to support an enormity of weight and pressure. Yet important maintenance must somehow be accomplished while the structure is still in use. Small areas are constantly being broken down and reformed: sections get removed and stronger new bone is deposited. In youth, bones grow in width, length and increase in density until about age 30. From then on breakdown is faster than bone formation, and density begins a gradual decline. Or the rate can be speedy depending on your lifestyle.

MINERALS: Your Most Important Ingredient For Healthy Bones, Nerves, Muscles, Sleep, Digestion, Brain Function, Stress Management and More

Without minerals your heart would stop beating, you couldn’t move a muscle or transmit a thought, and you wouldn’t have a leg – or the rest of your skeleton – to stand on.

Minerals are only found in the soil, and the rocks that erode into it. From there they go into waterways – and thus fish, seafood and ‘sea vegetables’ such as seaweed – or on land are taken up by plants, and the animals and people who eat plants and animals. Carbohydrates, proteins and fats are called macronutrients while vitamins and minerals are called micronutrients. Plants can produce vitamins such as the vitamin C in an orange, but they cannot produce minerals. If the soil is deficient then so is the plant and anyone who eats it.

CHROMIUM: Your Fat-Busting, Vitality Mineral

If you want to promote lean muscle mass and prevent excess fat storage, if you want a steady fuel supply for buoyant mental health and an energetic body, then the mineral chromium can help achieve all this and more.

For an easy, tasty source try my Dynamite spread recipe as below.

Are You ACIDIC? Why You Need POTASSIUM to Keep You Alkaline

…and Your Heart Beating; Nerves Calm; Digestion Working; Nails, Joints and Bones Strong

Potassium is powerful: too much or too little can make your heart stop beating. Although many foods contain this alkaline mineral, your storage sites can become depleted if you are frequently stressed, or your body or diet is too acidic (check for aches, pains, reflux and other digestive complaints, coated tongue, bad breath). Your body prioritises keeping your blood slightly alkaline. If it is too acidic, then potassium and other alkaline minerals (especially magnesium and calcium) will be withdrawn from bones, joints, teeth, hair, nails, and your muscles including the heart.

ACHES and PAINS: What Your Joints, Muscles and Nerves are Trying to Tell You

Arthritis New Zealand states* that by age 65 more than 45% of people have some form of arthritis. Do you have any stiffness, aches, numbness, cramps or shooting pains? Your body is trying to get your attention.

Discomfort is an arrow pointing to Inflammation that urgently requires resolution (see website TIPS for related article). Detective work is needed to determine the causative factors. If these are not addressed then the damage can intensify, move or spread elsewhere, or become systemic and even appear unrelated.

MAGNESIUM: The Stress-Challenged Person’s Best Micronutrient Friend

Nutrition can be as affected by fashion as skirt lengths are. Calcium for instance, has current cover girl status and its role in good bone structure seems to warrant this celebrity attention.

The workings of the human body though are not based in a star system, but in the interrelationships of equally significant contributors. While calcium can help build bones, without sufficient magnesium – its key partner in life – those bones will be brittle. Likewise calcium allows muscles to contract, but only with enough magnesium are muscles and their owners able to relax.

CALCIUM: A Marketing-Hype Success Story

Consider this line of reasoning. If all tables have four legs, does that make everything with four legs a table? Or what about the incontrovertible fact that most people who develop breast, ovarian or cervical cancer wear dresses. Should we then assume that dresses cause cancer?

This is the problem when a real or apparent fact is applied broadly and taken out of context – which alters its meaning. Marketers and lobbyists with big budgets have successfully implanted public and institutional mindsets with concepts about calcium that are similarly askew. Calcium is critical for bones: fact. Dairy products contain calcium: fact. Therefore everyone needs milk for their bones: fiction. Yale University researchers reviewed 34 published studies in 16 countries and found that countries with the highest rates of osteoporosis (weak bones) “…are those in which people consume the most milk…”. Read more