Red Cabbage and Apple

I am on a mission to encourage midlife women to embrace the humble cruciferous family of vegetables and to include them in their menu rotation on a regular basis. We are talking, cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, bok choi, Kale, collard greens, Brussels sprouts, watercress, rutabaga, turnips, radishes and arugula.

Get them in your belly!

We know from the science that cruciferous vegetables provide our liver with the compounds it needs to breakdown excess estrogen in the body which reduces our uncomfortable symptoms of peri-menopause and protects us from breast cancer.

The fibre found in cabbages, broccoli, cauliflower and kale also supports a healthy microbiome. Emerging research points to the microbiome as playing a hugely important role in packaging estrogen metabolites safely, to be removed from the body. The link between breast cancer and an altered gut microbiome has long been established and there is also evidence to show that a healthy gut microbiome supports our healthy body weight at midlife and reduces the amount of inflammation in our body.

The fibre in cruciferous vegetables protects us from colon cancer and is protective of our heart health, the number one cause of death for women.

Let’s do this thing and eat more cruciferous veg!

Studies show that in the UK only 9% of people get enough fibre daily and that drops to 5% in the USA. The majority of the fibre intake in both of these countries comes from grains in the form of pasta and bread. This is an indicator of the extreme lack of vegetables in our diet and attests to the fact that what we think is normal and healthy in our diet is deeply damaging to our immediate menopausal health and long term to our longevity.

We have drifted so far from foods that build health and it is delicious recipes that will draw us back.

This recipe for Red Cabbage and Apple is easy to prepare and contains the sweetness and the pectin fibre of apple along with the health benefits of red cabbage.

Red cabbage contains additional polyphenols in their gorgeous purple colouring which offer us further protection from coronary artery disease and inflammation.

The non-negotiable ingredient in this dish is the spice, star anise, which takes the flavour to the next level.

This side dish is perfect with chicken sausage and mashed potato and can be refrigerated and reheated through the week. I paired it with scrambled eggs and mushrooms to make a delicious blood sugar balancing breakfast!

This side would also be perfect with my Turkey and Herb Breakfast Patties either at breakfast or for dinner!

Ingredients

1 large red cabbage quartered and thinly sliced
1 red onion diced
2-3 apples diced
2-3 cloves garlic
2 tbsp coconut oil
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
3-4 whole star anise
salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

Using a large knife quarter the red cabbage and remove the core
Finely chop each of the quarters
Core the apples and dice
Dice the red onion
Finely chop or crush the garlic
In a large pan with a tight fitting lid, add the coconut oil and melt over a medium heat
Add all of the chopped vegetables and stir until the onion starts to soften
Add the star anise pieces and stir until you can smell the spicy aroma
Add the apple cider vinegar and tightly seal the lid onto the pan, turning the heat to low
Braise the cabbage and apple in the pan with the soice for 15-20 minutes until all of the ingredients are cooked through
Add salt and pepper to taste

If you want to take your relationship with red cabbage further ;) try my recipe for Red Cabbage Sauerkraut

Roasted Cauliflower, Pistachio and Pomegranate Salad.

It is hard to emphasize the importance of cruciferous vegetables to women going through hormonal change.

Let’s take a step back and reacquaint ourselves with what is happening inside our bodies…

As we move through peri-menopause, our chill and juicy hormones of progesterone and estrogen begin to deplete. This is not a smooth curve down to our ovaries retirement, but is full of spikes and crashes of hormone. We are living animals and the organs of our body do their utmost to function to the best of their ability. As they splutter to a halt our ovaries can gather the building blocks for manufacturing estrogen only to spurt an excessive amount into the bloodstream. We can go from zero to 60 from one week to the next and our health needs to be good enough to handle these changes so we experience the least amount of symptoms and can roll with them with grace.

The organ helping us out here is the liver. Our liver grabs excess hormone from the bloodstream and deconjugates, or breaks it down into compounds that can be easily removed from the body via our poop. The magical daily detox!

If you have constipation, you are going to have issues with feeling excessive symptoms of hormonal change.

If you do not like vegetables or fibre in your diet…think standard American diet where 95% of people are deficient in fibre, then you are going to experience excessive symptoms of hormonal change.

The food we eat changes our experience of menopause.

Cruciferous vegetables support us by offering the body fibre and a healthy serving of a compound called 3,3-Diindolylmethane. This is the compound that gives cruciferous vegetables their cabbagey smell. It also helps the liver in its process of breaking down hormone. You have the fibre for the poop and the fuel for grabbing and smashing up the hormones that are driving you crazy with symptoms.

Eating cruciferous veg regularly in your diet, throughout menopause means you have constant liver support, reduced constipation and a reduction in your hot flashes, mood swings, breast pain and bloat.

Cruciferous vegetables are all those in the cabbage family.

Think red and green cabbages, kale, cauliflower, collard greens, broccoli and Brussels sprouts.

We wouldn’t want to just eat boiled cabbage…that would be punishing! But this Cauliflower Salad with its burst of Middle Eastern flavour is something you are going to want to ladle onto our plate.

For this dish I roasted a stunningly beautiful, lime green, romanesco cauliflower but a regular white cauliflower or broccoli would be great too.

The roasted veg is paired with nuts, pomegranate seeds and the warming spice blend Baharat from Turkey. Think black pepper, cardamon, cloves, paprika and nutmeg.

The beauty of using nutrition as your first line of defence against menopausal symptoms is that as you nourish your body with these gorgeous crucifers, you are also protecting your heart health, preventing colon cancer and introducing an easily absorbed plant based source of calcium into your diet…as well as delighting your taste buds.

Ingredients

1 medium cauliflower or 1lb of broccoli
5 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
5 tbsp raw pistachios or hazelnuts
1/3rd cup pomegranate seeds fresh or frozen ( approx 1/2 a pomegranate)
2 sticks celery sliced on the diagonal
1/3rd cup roughly chopped parsley
1 tbsp Balsamic Vinegar
1 tsp Baharat spice mix.
1/2 tsp sea salt

Instructions

Toss the cauliflower or broccoli in 2 tbsp of olive oil
Roast in the over a 400F /200C for 20 minutes.
Add the pistachios or hazelnuts for the last 5 minutes of roasting the cauliflower to toast them and bring out the flavour.
Meanwhile chop the celery and parsley and prepare the pomegranate seeds
In the bottom of a bowl whisk the remaining 2 tbsp of olive oil, 1 tbsp of Balsamic vinegar, the Baharat spice mix and the salt.
Add all of the ingredients to the bowl and toss in the dressing.
Serve with roasted chicken or salmon.

Turkey Herb Breakfast Patties

When our hormones start to fluctuate at midlife, there are long term health implications for us as women, outside of our midlife experience of menopause and it’s sometimes uncomfortable symptoms.

Hormonal change is not a cause, but a risk factor for poor cardiovascular health, dementia and Alzheimers disease.

Estrogen holds a protective effect over both our metabolic health and the neurons of our brain. As estrogen depletes we are pushed, incrementally, towards insulin resistance; which has implications for our brain and cardiovascular health and experience a pruning of our neurons; which has implications for our brain health and would explain our brain futzes and short temper at midlife.

This can feel horrifying to learn and can cause us to feel overwhelmed and helpless. Many women DREAD menopause and our perception of the process of hormonal change impacts our symptoms with negativity resulting in stronger and more uncomfortable symptoms.

It’s good to take a deep breathe, step out of fear and get some perspective as, in reality, the gold standard for protecting both our brain health and our cardiovascular health as we age is still nutrition, reducing stress and exercise.

Regardless of being women and experiencing hormonal change at midlife, we have all the tools we need to protect ourselves from future health complications.

One of the most impactful ways we can support our health for the future is to take great care with our diet to balance our blood sugar levels on a daily basis. No more sugar roller-coaster with its energy buzzes and crashes, mood swings and exhaustion. Just calm, consistent energy throughout the day.

Believe it or not, this can be challenging.

1. We live in a terrain that is OVERLOADED with sugar in every product we buy. It takes effort and stepping outside of the Standard American Diet to break-up with sugar.

2. If we are addicted to cortisol, our stress hormone, we REALLY enjoy the sugar roller-coaster and it is hard to let it go. Scan your life for clues and notice where you are drawing stress in…overeating for a sugar-high, an argument for no reason or a coffee to get amped up.

3. Our microbiome can become unhealthily overgrown with yeasts due to years of excess sugar in our diet (hello those with a sweet tooth!) and when we suddenly cut back on sugar, we experience nasty flu-like symptoms and off-the-chain sugar cravings as Candida yeasts demand sugar from our brain.

One of the ways we can release the grip of sugar from our bodies is by eating a healthy, sugar-free breakfast, packed with protein, healthy fats and fibre on a daily basis. These make-ahead Turkey and Herb Patties will help you to follow through on your health goals at breakfast.

The protein found in turkey is rich in the amino acid, tryptophan. Tryptophan is a building block for both serotonin and melatonin in the body. When we eat turkey we are helping ourselves to keep our mood balanced and our sleep consistent.

By adding herbs and garlic to this recipe, not only do we pack in deliciousness and flavour, but we are supporting a healthy microbiome and a reduction in our sugar cravings. Garlic and sage are toxic to Candida, the unhealthy yeast that can take hold of our microbiome. As Candida dies off, you may feel headachy and low in energy but, balance is being created in your microbiome for healthy microbes, that help you to metabolize excess estrogen from the body and will bring a reduction in menopausal symptoms.

By eating these patties with eggs and vegetables in the morning, you are increasing the amount of protein you ingest at the beginning of the day. Breakfast is the most important meal for balancing blood sugar levels and climbing off that roller-coaster.

When you ditch the unhealthy, but well advertised, box cereal breakfast, the muffins and the doughnuts, you give your brain and your body the steady energy it needs to get through your morning

Additional protein with your meals at midlife is also supportive of tissue health and with exercise, such as lifting weights, prevents muscle wasting as we age. When we maintain muscle in our glutes, thighs and hips, we are protecting our mobility and also our continence!

Make and cook these patties ahead and store them in a sealed container in the refrigerator for a week to make protein at breakfast a breeze!

Ingredients

1lb ground organic turkey thigh
2 tbsp chopped fresh sage or 1 tbsp dried sage (use fresh sage if you can, it’s delicious!)
3 green onions finely chopped
1 bunch parsley finely chopped
1 clove garlic minced
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp ground pepper

Instructions

Put all of the ingredients in a large bowl and combine using your hands
Go lightly and try not to overwork
Preheat the oven to 350F 175C
Line a large baking tray with parchment
Take a table spoon of the mix at a time and form a patty in your hands
Place the patties on the baking tray and bake for 30 minutes until cooked through
Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator to reheat at breakfast
Patties will keep for a week in the refrigerator and can be frozen for up to 3 months