Just Natural Health & Beauty magazine - January - March 2022 (issue 9)

Jan - Mar 2022

www.justnaturalhealth.co.uk

ISSUE 09

Saving

the Planet

One Bite at a Time

Herbal Teas for Winter Health

Dry January

or Natural Wine Know-How?

Plant-Based Nutrition: The Power-Ups and the (Very Few) Pitfalls

Fabrics of Compassion

& the Ethic of Care in Fashion Eat Them to Defeat Them:

Getting Kids on the Veg

Editor’s NOTES S

o it is that we waken to a New Year. The past twelve months were a strange, multi-layered and tentative affair, their uniting thread between diverse worrying themes the uncertainty of whether to leave our masks at home once all restrictions from the lockdown at the beginning of 2021 were finally lifted – a decisionmaking process revivified late last year, when the increased efficacy of airborne transmission of the Alpha and Delta variants was discovered, the former releasing between 43 times and 100 times more virus in small, exhaled aerosols than older versions, according to Science Daily. A frightening figure, indeed. A fair few of us therefore hedged our bets – December (as well as January) being peak season for viral epidemics, let alone pandemics – and remained behind the veil, so to speak, even before Boris started to question more closely whether to enact Plan B as the year drew to a close.

Such freedom of choice, of course, has not been afforded women in the thick of the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan, fearing a fatal step back in time with regard to their civil liberties, including code of dress and access to education.

To assist, Afghan Aid resurrected the #MyAfghanEvening fundraising campaign, providing recipes for inspiration for charity dinner parties/ gatherings/afternoon teas, and for general appreciation of that country’s cuisine as a prompt for global discourse. On which subject – human rights being integral to the climate conversation – one cannot but mention in passing the muchanticipated COP26 back in November, train cancellations its prelude (so much for public transport offsetting emissions…), though world leaders still made it on time for discussions. The result? In the words of Matt Crossman, “just barely good enough for now”.

But while we can’t necessarily predict extreme weather patterns – and being told to “adapt or die” by the Environment Agency doesn’t exactly

help matters – we must find a means of soothing resultant psychological distress if our eco-activist actions aren’t immediately efficacious.

Maintaining our optimal health and feeling confident in and at peace with our bodies without harming non-human animals and the planet takes as much mental effort as it does physical. To which purpose, a new branch of therapy, climate psychology, has been developed: surely a boon when Earth is still sadly on course for a deadly 3°C rise in temperature by the close of this century. We have been mentally exhausted by the pandemic, an all-too-keen reminder that we need to live in harmony with Nature, not against it – and yet, what seems to be changing? And why are the changes we are seeing happening so slowly?

Well, that’s not wholly true; it’s not all doom and gloom (even though a recent cumulative study across ten countries of 10,000 young people discovered that 56% think the human race is indeed doomed, with 75% frightened out of their wits by consideration of what the future will look like). For, apart from the exciting advancements in cellular agriculture we cover this issue, January has for some time now successfully leant itself to plant-based purpose, with Veganuary pretty much an established practice for most. Hurrah! Yet, aside from ditching animal products for cruelty-free alternatives (guidance on which you’ll also find within these pages), one can take a foray into veganic eating even further with consideration of the “root to stem” approach. Essentially “whole food” eating, waste becomes a thing of the past as edible skins, pith, and seeds of both fruit and vegetables are consumed. Given that a plant’s defence chemicals are in such parts, those sections can be used by humans as medicine. Plant-based, functional nutrition, then, is a concept which should ever be held in mind as we venture forth into 2022, unsure what next our bodies will need to protect against.

Indeed, short of reading the stars like an augur, who knows what 2022 has in store? In the interests of propagating positivity and “good climate news”, though, we should note the innovative solutions to plastic pollution that have been developing recently, support the World Health Organization’s endorsement of the first ever preventative vaccine for malaria, and applaud the effectiveness of the indigenous rights movement which, through opposition to some 21 separate fossil fuel projects, managed to prevent roughly a quarter of projected carbon emissions in the USA and Canada last year. Thus, to positivity, and to vegan options rolling out through restaurants and cafes across the nation: we’re looking at you Pizza Express on The Strand, and at you Costa, partnering with Finnebrogue’s Naked Bacon Without The Oink! for a breakfast without butchery (sorry, Greggs).

Time spent nibbling on such plantbased indulgences can be spent in contemplation of how to practically implement climate solutions and, also, consider that a recent UK study found that the majority of kids aged between 5 and 16 years old today want to be meat-free.

The future, as is becoming clearer and clearer, can very much be a green one at the same time as well-fed, with hunger mightily satisfied – no need to mass cull young pigs. A hearty baaram-ewe to that, we say.

NICOLE RALEIGH EDITOR

MARKETING MANAGER MARK SHARP DESIGN CLARICE LEIGH & JAMES HEATHCOTE MARKETING EXECUTIVE ELLIE RANGER WEB DESIGN ANT PAPA Produced by Just Natural Health, 210 Mauretania Road, Nursling Industrial Estate, Southampton, Hampshire, SO16 0YS Just Natural Health make a conscious effort to ensure accurate content at the time of publishing. The views expressed by advertisers do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the publisher.

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Great Weekly Offers see page 30

JA N UARY - MARC H 2022

32 20

Nutrition: The PowerUps and the (Very Few) Pitfalls

Sorting through the essential vitamins and minerals to watch out for when you go plantbased, and what to eat to thrive.

15 Eat Them to Defeat

Them: Getting Kids on the Veg Join the campaign that tasks kids with the mission of heroically chomping down on their carrots to save the Earth from those nasty vegetables…

20 The Palm Oil Case We dive deeper into industrialised seed oils and consider the use of the notorious palm for fuel.

WFH took us to new levels of multitasking, but are we as on top of things as we suppose? Signs to watch out for and how to decompress.

What’s Yours?

The early bird might catch the worm, but the night owl oversees a different world of creativity…

Bite at a Time

12 Plant-Based

of Stress: Mental Health & Battling Burnout

49 Sleep Chronotypes:

06 Saving the Planet One We take a look at Eating Our Way to Extinction and consider the pros and cons of reductarian diets this Veganuary.

46 The Seriousness

52 Mad for Mushrooms: 24 How Would You Like Your Steak?

Plant-Based or Lab-Grown?

It’s the age of 3D printing and cellular agriculture: what does that mean for your supper plate?

32 Coffee Beans and Matcha Powder (But Leave the Pastries Alone)

Coffee, brain health, and the optimum amount of bean-derived caffeine to be having each day…

the Magic of Mycology

How fungi in all their mushroom and mycelium glory are creeping back into the limelight, offering myriad physical and psychological benefits.

ON THE COVER

36 Garden Tea: Serenity in a Cuppa For those who seek a gentler warming sip – how tea leaves might be just the thing for winter health.

39 Cocoa, Carob, and Finding Sweet Comfort in a Changing Climate

There’s no such thing as too much chocolate: or is there? Environmentally future-proofing our favourite treat.

42 Dry January or Natural Wine KnowHow?

Shunning sulphites, pesticides, and other non-organic methods – natural wine is the ancient technique making a comeback. Cheers!

56 Fabrics of Compassion & the Ethic of Care in Fashion

Out with leather, wool, and fur; in with sustainable fabrics that don’t mean ethical fashion is a fall down the synthetic materials rabbit hole.

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“The [Allan] Savory devotee will argue that humans can’t eat grass and that well-managed grazing can turn the Earth’s four billion hectares of pasture into a huge carbon sink. The vegan will counterargue that all that pasture could be returned to forest and that all the arable land used to grow corn and soybeans for cattle feed could be repurposed to produce organic vegetables, grains and seeds for human consumption. Everyone is right.”

- Craig Sams

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One Bite at a Time ivergence of viewpoint is a fact of life, and yet sometimes there is more substance to one line of argument than another. Just stepping outside our front doors, we can no longer be oblivious to the very real fact of climate change – the distorted seasonal cycle, the intensified weather patterns to the point of infernal-seeming fires and homedestroying floods. This reality can also be gleaned from television and the online world: the state of the Earth is all around us, tangibly and digitally. We have driven ourselves to this point (quite literally), we have polluted the skies both from terra firma and in flight, bulldozed the forests and destroyed innumerable species’ habitats, and – as a recent Kate Winsletnarrated film stated in no holds barred manner – we are still Eating Our Way to Extinction.

Directed by Otto Brockway, the film also features Sir Richard Branson, Dr Sylvia Earle, and Tony Robbins in its presentation of the very real facts about the planet-destroying effects of animal agriculture. From global deforestation to water pollution and oceanic dead zones, from soil degradation to contributing

14.5% to humanity’s total annual GHGs (according to the United Nations) – meat consumption is a serious problem for now, and for the future. And that is why Veganuary has become a mainstay of the first month of the year each and every year since its inception in 2013 by husband-and-wife duo Matthew Glover and Jane Land.

From only 3,000 pledges just under a decade ago, the pandemic with all its valid zoonotic transmission concerns saw January 2020 garner over one million participants (and thereby save more than 41,200 tonnes of GHGs and a million – yes – one million animals in that singular month). As for 2021, Veganuary reported back in September that 82% of participants had stayed (at least 50%) on the plant-based wagon through half a year. So, who knows what Veganuary 2022 will be like… Particularly given the explosion of vegan-certified products now adorning chilled, frozen, and long-life shelves throughout the country, and the plant-based ethic being spoken aloud not just in those street-closing protests of yore (not that they’re defunct, mind), but in print, on radio, on television, on social media, and even at the cinema.

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When the WWF released its heartbreaking Living Planet Report, finding that agriculture in general was responsible for 68% of wildlife population loss, the UN further noted that, of that land, 77% was specifically for livestock purposes. Eating Our Way to Extinction, though, informs the viewer that (according to a 2020 environmental report), if only 10% of animal agriculture were replaced, it would equate to saving 2.7 billion trees in CO2 emissions – all numbers which cannot be ignored (and that’s certainly not an onerous reduction). Documentaries being cinematographic vehicles for promoting social change, Brockway wanted to thus aesthetically transfer his passion (science) to his audience and utilise that field to hopefully enact the necessary amendments humanity as a whole needs to make to its diet.

And that change must take place right now, in the home.

Researchers at Oxford University (other than the now-famous Dr Joseph Poore, who features in Brockway’s film) having found that an 80% reduction in meat and dairy consumption would keep the average global temperature increase below 1.5°C, Brockway wants people to open their eyes, ears, and minds and finally, consciously decide to make a change before it’s too late. Meatless Mondays are not enough and a meatless month is insufficient in itself, also. Not, however, promoting a blanket panacea of veganism, rather, the director sees flexitarianism – in the sense of the Michael Pollan adage of “Eat Food. Not too much. Mostly plants.” – as the wisest path forward. After all, humankind has indeed been eating meat for thousands of years (whether it should have been or not, odontologically speaking), but not by any means on the scale and by the methods that it does today.

That’s thanks to the industrial revolution. So it is that, presently, there is very little that is natural about the food production process, save in small and conscientious pockets fighting for a return to traditional ways and slower, kinder methods.

Certainly, one feature of Eating Our Way to Extinction is the experience of indigenous peoples, those who still adhere to the seasons, to the natural cycles of the Earth; those who have noticed a change in those planetary rhythms, to the point of an immediate danger to their existence.

In the West, the green economy is booming at the moment; surface environmentalism is having its moment. But plant-based hasn’t become the diet of all, despite the plethora of futuristic innovations taking place. Yet, there are signs we are heading in that direction. One German company, Creapure, is – um – creating vegan creatine, a natural component in animal products from which we derive energy. The creatine monohydrate being used as a fortifier in meat substitutes, we’ve certainly come a long way from calcium fortification of orange juice.

On the subject of drinks, in fact, Vegconomist recently reported that one in three Britons is now opting for oat milk over the dairy stuff and a taste for that oaty goodness has far surpassed that of almond milk, too. Indeed, in the 25- to 44-year-olds demographic, 44% have opted to go dairy-free. From being a market worth £74 million in 2019, oat milk’s value rose to £146 million in 2020, while the entire plant-based milk sector hit the £394 million mark in 2020 (almost £100 million more than in 2019).

Prompted by health concerns (including rising obesity rates) as much as environmental ones, outside of the UK some logic can be seen in Amsterdam’s drive to urge half of its citizens to be fully plant-based by 2030, and 60% so by 2040.

Currently, the Dutch city’s population is 39% plantbased and, in addition to questions of sustainability and combatting climate change, the Netherlands wants to see a downward curve in overweight and obesity figures imminently. In 2018, for example, one in eight children was classed as overweight, while 50% of adults were.

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Health, however, is not simply about what the scales say: three new urological studies have found that a plant-based diet results in lower levels of PSA (a prostate cancer marker) in men, than in those eating a high proportion of meat in their diet. Happily, we here in the UK are eating significantly less meat, according to BBC News, daily consumption having fallen by 17% in the past ten years. It’s not quite enough to be meaningful in the grand environmental-salvation scheme of things, but nor is it too far off the National Food Strategy’s goal of a 30% reduction in meat eating by 2030. According to Christina Stewart, lead Oxford University researcher of a recent study of the dietary habits of over 15,000 people nationwide that was published in Lancet Planetary Health, the problem is that while less red and processed meat is being consumed – approximately 17g per day; a wonderful way to avoid developing cardiovascular problems, Type-II diabetes, and certain types of cancer – more “white” meat is being eaten instead. Again, vegetarianism is not being promoted, but reductarianism.

Also, there is the caveat, as Just Natural Health & Beauty has reported on previously, of not all meats – whatever type – being created equal: the factory farm confined piglet bears no resemblance to the free-ranging heritage breed who wouldn’t know a metal bar of a compact pen to look at one.

However, dietarily, things are not as clear-cut as is often thought.

Whereas those vegans who not only passionately decry animal foods on ethical grounds, but also claim the fully plant-based way is the only way for heart health and avoiding certain cancers, in fact both plant and animal foods naturally contain both unsaturated and saturated (the heart attack causer) fats. According to Dr Georgina Ede in Psychology Today, some plant foods are actually higher in saturated fats than animal sources (one only has to look at coconut oil, made of some 90% of the stuff; that’s over twice the saturated fat of beef tallow). Additionally, pork – that sadly news-worthy meat at the end of last year when a mass cull of pigs was deemed necessary due to a Brexitcaused lack of trained butchers in this country – is replete with the MUFA (monounsaturated fatty acid) oleic acid, the same fat that we laude in olive oil.

The Babe Complex: Pigs, Ham, and the Oddity of Cognitive Dissonance Pork: Britain loves it. From bangers and mash to bacon and eggs, from ham and cheese sandwiches to a roast loin with crackling on a Sunday – it seems our nation can’t truly enjoy a meal unless some part of a pig has gone into it. Indeed, Waitrose & Partners recently reported how, on average, each person in the UK consumes 25kg every year. You don’t need to be a mathematician to figure out that that’s a lot of pigs, but in case you were wondering: there are over 700 million pigs on the planet.

Yet, essentially, pork has a lower carbon footprint than production of either lamb or beef. Unfortunately, outside of the UK, worldwide at least 50% are reared on factory farms, with the EU and the rest of the globe having no legal requirement to permit the pigs any fresh air at all. Intensive-method farmers also use feed which has irresponsiblysourced soy or fish in it, and that contributes to deforestation and overfishing. More importantly, factory farm pigs become unhappy, bored, frustrated in their prison-like environment and start to chew on the tails and ears of other pigs. This seeming cannibalism has been well-documented by PETA and Compassion in World Farming, among other such organisations. Horrifically, though, to avoid real damage from this behaviour, intensive-method farmers blunt the teeth and dock the tails of piglets – without pain relief. Meanwhile, sows are in pens so small they cannot move around, only lie there and suckle their young.

In Britain, however, sow stalls have been banned since 1999.

Nonetheless, most pigs are still reared solely indoors and the piglet tooth blunting and tail docking continues. That’s why you should always look for the label “outdoor-bred” (if you must consume meat): sows for outdoor-bred pork literally live their lives outside, a straw-lined shelter provided for when they need it, and their piglets aren’t weaned from them until 5 weeks old. On one acre of an outdoor-bred pig farm, you would find only 10 sows. “Free-range” and “Organic” have even more room and, what’s more, the piglets continue roaming outside until 7 weeks old. Apart from, apparently, a “deeper, richer flavour” to the meat, the pigs raised free-range and organically live longer lives. Heritage breeds are particularly suited to the outdoor lifestyle and organic farms use the manure as fertiliser in the crop rotation of fields: a circular system, a natural system harmonious with the rhythms of the Earth.

By now, humans should know what they’re doing when it comes to pig rearing, domestication of wild boar first occurring as far back as 9,000 years ago. Nevertheless, we’ve developed a cognitive dissonance when it comes to pigs, too. We laugh and we cry over Hollywood’s Babe, we keep micropigs as pets, and don’t even mention E. B. White’s Wilbur without a tissue to hand. How then can White write that Fern saved her piglet before tucking into to a breakfast of bacon? Or micropig owners lay out a platter of prosciutto and parma ham for guests? Ironic that it is a pig’s organs (a kidney most recently, a heart due to be trialled this year) which can be successfully transplanted into humans… justnaturalhealth.co.uk | Just Natural Health & Beauty

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All so far, so discombobulating, granted. And that’s where the notion of balance comes in. Just as in the old wisely muttered statement of our elders “Moderation in all things” when we were younger (and were content to gorge ourselves on treats too fatty or sugary), so moderation is seemingly the very concept humanity as a whole has forgotten when it comes to animal product consumption. Yet, as nuts and seeds are more frequently promoted for the essential PUFAs (polyunsaturated fats) they contain, one has to dig a little more deeply, as those PUFAs – the Omega-3 ALA (alpha-linolenic acid) and Omega-6 LA (linoleic acid) – are parent Omegas, i.e. they subsequently make the Omegas our body truly needs: EPA (eicosapentaenoic acid), ARA (arachidonic acid), and DHA (docosahexaenoic acid). EPA is anti-inflammatory and healing, ARA ensures the proper functioning of our muscles, and DHA is crucial for brain health and eyesight – and all three can only be found in animal products.

Yet, with ready-to-eat vegan boiled eggs now available, thanks to the innovation of Crafty Counter, the fact that a GlobalData survey found 30% of consumers are wanting to substitute the ovum plant-based rather than animal says a lot about animal welfare information reaching those who want to re-establish humans’ harmony with Nature. The Wundereggs are cholesterol-free and contain the same amount of saturated fat as a chicken’s egg, but are made from cashews and almonds, as well as probiotics, coconut milk, nutritional yeast, agar-agar, turmeric extract, and the notoriously eggy kala namak (sulphuric black salt). Due to a high-pressure processing method, they keep in the fridge between three and four months. Other ingredients to be explored in the vegan egg market include mung beans, chickpeas, and peas.

So, what if you, also, have gleaned all the information on the impact of animal agriculture on our environment and personal health and you do actually want to go the whole – pardon the expression – hog and undertake Veganuary not for 31 short days, but perhaps for the entirety of 2022 and beyond? Well, you’ll need a little nutritional guidance to make sure you don’t do vegans a disservice and fade to the floor like a wilted flower deficient in more vitamins and minerals than you can name before you’ve even time to run a marathon for a cause. Indeed, if you do it right, you’ll have such an increase in vitality that you’ll look back at the shadow of the person you formerly were and wonder how you ever dragged yourself from bed and through the days. What’s more, it’s thought that an ethical life can increase our sense of happiness… Win-win.

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According to a 2016 study, pursuing “selfactualization” (realising one’s singular life matters and one’s actions alone can make a difference) is far more rewarding than a narcissistic path. That’s why we feel so light-footed and joyful when we buy that Fairtrade chocolate (nothing to do with serotonin release from the sweet taste of the cocoa at all, nope); that’s also why plantbased living is becoming more and more popular in these environmentally challenging times (plus, carbohydrate-rich diets have been found to spark more joy than ketogenic…).

Essentially, despite urbanites’ protestations to the contrary perhaps, humans are biophilic animals: we are connected to the planet, to each other, and Nature as a habitat is where we have come from and wherein we return to in order to rediscover calm and a sense of “coming home”, switching off from technology and enjoying being in the present, no noise or air pollution. It is this innate biophilia, also, that lends hope to acting on climate change and finding a solution now, before it’s too late. And it is vital that we instil this lesson in our children.

Lofty ambitions, perhaps. What about inspiration, though? A lot of us don’t often have the impetus to get going on these changes in lifestyle.

To this end, it can be helpful for some of us to know our favourite actor, sportsperson, or other famous personality or Instagram influencer has made the decision to go vegan or largely plantbased themselves and – importantly – is thriving.

Orlando Bloom, for instance, is self-descriptively “90 percent plant-based”, still eating a steak upon occasion, while Jessica Chastain has been vegan for around 15 years. Alicia Silverstone – she of eternal Clueless fame – has been vegan for over twenty years and has even released vegan cookbooks and a vitamin brand. Moby, of course, tops that with three decades behind him as a vegan and as an animal activist (with neck tattoo with the words, “Vegan for life”, to boot). So, too, does Woody Harrelson, not as regards the tattoo, but he’s been a vegan for over thirty years and even asked the Pope to go vegan in 2019 in conjunction with his work with the Million Dollar Vegan campaign. There’s also superstar filmmaker James Cameron, who’s eaten plant-based for a few years, believing in a “relatively meatless world” in two or three decades. Meanwhile, Stella McCartney, daughter of Beatle Paul, is vegan just like her father, and like her mother, Linda (there are surely few who do not know this), but has also taken her ethics into mainstream high fashion (see our article, “Fabrics of Compassion & the Ethic of Care in Fashion”, p.56). Finally, of course, there’s Joaquin Phoenix.

Vegan since three years old, a large proportion of the actor’s 2020 Oscars acceptance speech was taken up with his thoughts on animal agriculture and its exploitation of livestock species.

Plant-Based Options in a Food Desert Not everyone’s access to vegan options is equal, but where there’s a will there’s a way. You don’t have to live in the capital and shop at Whole Foods to take part in Veganuary. That’s not the point at all.

Even if you get by from week to week on a very tight budget, vegan eating is actually rather affordable – particularly if you think in whole food plant-based fashion, rather than meat alternatives and preprepared vegan products, per se.

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Shop Online

We hate to say it, but if there is no “local” at which to shop, no market fruit and veg stall nor possibilities in the nearby shop, then head online and go from there. You can also often find discounts on favourite products that way, too.

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Shop at Asian & Ethnic Food Markets

A vegan’s foodie heaven, Asian markets stock a multitude of tofu and miso choices, as well as rice and noodles and dairy-free cakes and tasty condiments, while other ethnic food markets will provide those veg that might be missing elsewhere, as well as a cornucopia of herbs and spices and grains and pulses. They’re mostly not too costly, either.

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Think Simple

You only really need fresh fruit and vegetables and pantry staples in order to eat well as a vegan. That means beans (dried or canned, depending on your preference and availability), grains, bread, oats, nuts and seeds, and the like. To reiterate, don’t think you have to buy in expensive vegan versions of animal products in order to survive plant-based – just the opposite! justnaturalhealth.co.uk | Just Natural Health & Beauty

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Plant-Based Nutrition: The Power-Ups and the (Very Few) Pitfalls Power-Up 2: Fibre If you want fibre, the Whole Food Plant Based way of life is incomparable. Vital for gut health, aim to have between 4 or 5 cups of dietary fibre each day. That includes wholegrains (and sprouted grains), pulses and starchy vegetables such as sweet potatoes and squash, as well as fruits like pears and even berries.

Remember, without fibre, our bowels wouldn’t work and without water, that fibre wouldn’t be effective – so keep hydrated and reach for the fruit and veg!

Power-Up 1: Protein That macronutrient which non-vegans will never let you hear the end of… Containing essential amino acids (the building blocks of the body, ensuring bone and muscle and tissue and cartilage, as well as our skin and blood are all formed correctly and can repair as and when necessary) – adequate protein intake is crucial for hormone and enzyme production, too. One of the key macronutrients alongside fats and carbohydrates, the RDA for a person is determined by the simple sum of 0.36g multiplied by body weight in pounds. So, someone weighing 130lb would need 47g of protein each day. Those who are active bods and never go a day without a short jog or a brisk walk (or gym-bunny devoted trip to the gym) should certainly consider investing in a good protein powder, but others should strive for 3 servings of protein per day. Whereas omnivores will turn to Greek yogurt, salmon, and dark turkey meat, vegans should think beans and legumes in the first instance, of which you only need half a 400g tin or less than a cup for one serving, as well as tempeh.

Pitfall 1: Iron Alas, it is that bit more difficult to get adequate iron on a plant-based diet, but not because of a lack of it. Rather, phytic acid (aka phytates) in some vegetables (we’re looking at you, spinach) inhibit non-haem (plant-based) iron absorption by the human body. Vital for the health of our red blood cells, iron forms our haemoglobin (that oxygen-transporting saviour of the blood, without which our immunity crumbles away and our energy becomes less than a limp lettuce leaf; though, more seriously, heart damage can occur if anaemia is left for too long unresolved). Nonetheless, to overcome absorption problems, have some vitamin C-rich foods with your iron-dense veggies: cooked spinach with a drizzle of fresh lemon juice, a warm kale salad with slices of orange, or rocket scattered with raspberries…

Taste-tastic enough to make Popeye jealous, we’d say.

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Delicious and full of starchy goodness!

Pitfall 2: Fats The human brain needs fat; it’s that simple. The brain itself consisting of two-thirds fat, 20% of that is the Omega-3 fatty acid DHA (docosahexaenoic acid). Over 500 million years of evolution, DHA has remained unchanged and as necessary as ever to vertebrate health (we creatures with backbones).

And oily fish is the best source... DHA forms the myelin and assists development of the cortex – in short, in order to think, we need fat. “Fat” as a concept is not just insulation (sometimes a little too much insulation) and energy storage, but is also critical for nutrient absorption, cell signalling, and a properly functioning immune system (pretty crucial during these lingering pandemic days).

Unfortunately, although Omega-3s per se are bountiful in such plant-based sources as hemp seeds and flaxseeds, walnuts and pumpkin seeds, and dark green leafy vegetables (really), that is the shorter chain ALA (alpha-linolenic acid). Plantfoods do not contain DHA at all, and although it is possible for the body to turn ALA into DHA, as well as EPA (eicosapentaenoic acid), most studies have found the conversion rate to be less than 10%; some have even found nil efficacy. Happily, algae oil is a natural plant-based source of DHA and can be supplemented.

Power-Up 3: Calcium Ah, calcium: another point of correction needed in a conversation, just like protein, when the topic of the pros and cons of a vegan diet pops up. Calcium consumption throughout life is incredibly important if we want strong bones in later life (as well as properly functioning muscle contraction and blood clotting, generally) and the RDA is between 1,000mg and 1,300mg dependent on age. Clever marketing having ingrained in people’s psyche that calcium is only available in dairy products, plant-based sources of calcium actually do away with the risk of potential absorption of antibiotics, hormones, and trans fats from animal product calcium sources.

The human body, which stores 99% of calcium in the bones and teeth, is only able to absorb 30% of whatever calcium we do consume, but the calcium in plant-based foods is up to 65% absorbable.

Soaking beans and nuts helps our body better take in their calcium content, while tofu and plant-based alternatives to milk which are fortified with calcium are another option for the budding vegan. Be wary of relying on green leafy vegetables: they contain calcium, yes, but it is nearly voided by the presence of oxalates (particularly spinach).

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Pitfall 3: Vitamin B12 By contrast, water-soluble vitamin B12 – crucial for a long list of physical processes, including DNA production, nerve function, cellular division, balanced homocysteine levels, cognitive performance and heart health – exists naturally in neither meat nor most plant-based foods. And we require roughly 6mcg per day… In fact, water lentils are thought to be pretty much the only significant source of readily bioavailable vitamin B12. Nutritional yeast, on the other hand, is grown on a B12 medium for human consumption, while fortified plant milks and cereals are numerous these days (and if you eat too much of it, B12 simply gets stored in the liver for future use). As for meat and the surrounding myths of its B12 magnificence: what B12 can be absorbed from eating animal products is thanks to the B12 both fed to the livestock and present in their own intestinal bacteria. Appetising.

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How to Make the Switch s Alex Laird wrote in Root to Stem: A Seasonal Guide to Natural Recipes and Remedies for Everyday Life, it is shocking-but-true that, after smoking, poor diet is the planet’s second biggest cause of premature death. The situation is not helped by the fact that though there is a wonderfully inclusive rolling out of vegan alternatives to animal products, a lot of those products are ultra-processed, their taste come from a hearty measure of salt, sugar, and fat. That way health most certainly does not lie. Real food, by contrast, is unprocessed – think not white rice but brown, not white bread but wholewheat. As Laird put it: “We, not machines, are designed to be the food processor”.

While some of us might balk at the thought of picking nettles and dandelions for their health benefits, in fact a large number of plants are edible (Laird estimates 100,000 species). Nonetheless, 75% of what we currently consume is sourced from just 12 species, whether market stall-bought or conglomerate. Both types happily sell a good range of herbs – from basil and parsley (flat or curly) to chives and mint, as well as rosemary and thyme. Part of the process of “root to stem” eating (the plant-based equivalent of nose-to-tail eating), however, is to eat seasonally and locally.

Being in the depths of winter as we yet are, obviously now is not the moment to be munching solely on salad leaves (though we’re certainly not one to turn our noses up at a flavoursome winter lettuce leaf). Nonetheless, you can plan for the seasons ahead and note that although January has become a month of cleansing, for the Romans February was the time to purify oneself, while the Anglo-Saxons deemed the second month of the year that of kale.

Thus, Nature provides us with free medicine, not just fruits and vegetables and herbs, with nuts and seeds and leaves, but with light as well (or, at least we here in Ol’ Blighty hope so!). We might not photosynthesise, but we absorb vitamin D from the (grantedly scant) sunlight of winter. Further, what we eat does photosynthesise and without light we would therefore perish. Winter, of course, is otherwise a dark season: hence SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder). Yet, if it snows (a rare occasion here these days due to global warming), the snow apparently reflects an added 80% of light, so – in addition to UV protective face cream, but not sunglasses if you can help it as the natural light aids our circadian rhythms – pop on those boots, gloves, scarf, and woolly hat (pompom optional) and trudge and frolic and make snow-angels in the frozen white stuff to your heart’s content (plummeting temperatures to the edge of frostbite duly cautiously watched out for).

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Winter is, nonetheless, also interpreted as a sleeping season out of doors: plants and animals both in hibernation, storing their energy reserves, on pause until the moment of rebirth following the winter equinox. Well, that having just passed, the lengthening days will start to see the first beautiful developments of this new year. While we wait, we too sleep longer, our metabolisms boosted by the cold weather. Indeed, Laird’s nugget of wisdom is “put on more clothes to keep warm, saving energy and saving your money, to boot – a shiver each day keeps the doctor away!”. Green living at its best?

Winter, if not plant-based, is dietarily the time for wild game and shellfish, winter cheeses and truffles. But for the vegan, it is the time for Jerusalem artichokes and turnip, and celeriac; the moment for parsnips and root vegetables in general. Additionally, those dried beans and nuts and seeds in the cupboard are most useful at this time of year, made “meaty” with mushrooms of the season (see our article, “Mad for Mushrooms: the Magic of Mycology”, p52). Following TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine) beliefs, Laird advises eating two-thirds cooked in the winter and one-third raw (in summer, the proportion flips).

According to the Food Foundation, apparently the “counter intuitive” approach has already proven effective, resulting in “over 517 million additional [sales of] children’s portions of vegetables, worth £63 million”. Last year, the campaign rolled out to 1,900 primary schools and 500,000 children within their own homes.

Getting Kids on the Veg

As COP26 approached last year, in the spring Sugar Smart ran its #GoFizzFree campaign, highlighting the negative health and environmental impacts of fizzy drinks, loaded with sugar and sugar substitutes.

Full of empty carbohydrates, and the plastic bottles leaving a considerable carbon footprint (just one 330ml coke can producing 170g of CO2 and 43% of them not recycled at all), meanwhile the sugar beet – a fizzy drink main ingredient – uses as much land as the land area of all other vegetables combined, according to Sugar Smart. The other key ingredient, sugarcane, is a major deforestation contributor, with demand due to necessitate what is estimated to be 50% more land clearance again by 2050. And as for water, 310l are required for just one 500ml bottle of the fizzy stuff…

Sugar, of course, can come in the more natural form of fruit’s fructose, and if you’re getting your kids on the fruit, it’s not too wide a step from that mark to having them enjoying their vegetables, in all shades of colour. To this end, the #EatThemToDefeatThem campaign – sponsored by the majority of mainstream supermarkets, from Tesco to Asda, Sainsbury’s to Waitrose & Partners – has channelled the ethos of the videogame generation and turned devouring one’s cruciferous veg into a challenge the world depends on.

Supported by Jamie Oliver, the campaign debuted in 2019 and is expected to reach 5.2 million households with children. Featuring “evil, attacking vegetables” and the need to “prepare for battle”, Eat Them to Defeat Them lets kids “become the heroes” – simply by chomping down with relish on those veggies that mum or dad place in front of them.

After all, how can one be a hero without proper nutrition? As Popeye his spinach, so little Timmy his broccoli and peas.

Eat Them to Defeat Them is all too crucial, given that a recent study in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that junk food accounts “for almost 20% of calories consumed by children in the US”. With teenagers – as parents know all too well – fussier even than toddlers, it is actually kiddies between one and four years of age who care to be foodie adventurers, according to a survey by HelloFresh, which also found that 11% of parents gave up trying to introduce new ingredients into their kids’ diets for a decade.

There are ways to circumvent the problem outside of the Eat Them to Defeat Them campaign, however. In addition to cookie-cutter shapes for vegetables, a simple jug of water with fruit and vegetables in it can tempt youngsters into appreciating what they might otherwise shun on a plate when they think they don’t have to eat the items. Similarly, bento boxes and colourful presentation intrigue, as does being involved in the food preparation process and going grocery shopping together.

Nonetheless, it is important to consider the potential reasons behind fussiness, too. Food scientists at the University of Oxford have caveated that such perceived pickiness might be an early attempt at autonomy, while others have questioned whether or not digestive issues could be to blame. Probiotics, for instance, are particularly important for those children born by Caesarean.

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Foods for Focus this Scholastic Season Though teenagers might rejoice to discover that there is no overt negative neurological impact from their Smartphone habit (an article published in the journal Nature: Human Behaviour finding no evidence that cognitive abilities are being harmed by digital advancements; save map reading), that’s not to say that one can do simply anything to the brain and body and hope to get away with it.

Now integrated fully back into the academic way of life, a little nutritional savvy goes a long way in keeping young minds fed and focussed in a plant-based manner as we go from winter into early spring – a beneficial boost to the tough scholastic year (and exams) ahead. Instead of letting them supercharge on tea, coffee, or both, make sure the toast (what teenager doesn’t hog a loaf of bread?) is wholewheat and that liquid intake includes cell-hydrating water, plain and simple.

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Pumpkin Seeds

Rich in immunity-supportive zinc (crucial, given our increased wariness of the truly nasty colds and other bugs our kids – and we – picked up in the autumn when social distancing was that bit more lax), memory is both enhanced and thinking skills aided by a sprinkle of pumpkin seeds on a soup or warming bowl of porridge.

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Avocados

An amazing source of healthy fats (the prime fuel for the brain), avocados can reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease and lower bad cholesterol later on, also. Delicious on toast, on top of rice, or simply scooped fresh from its alligator-like skin, as long as you’re not chomping on these savoury pears every day of the week, the brain benefits outweigh the environmental implications.

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Wholegrains

Wholegrain foods are brilliant for fibre and vitamin E – both critical for improvement and maintenance of memory.

Vitamin E can be found in dark green leafy vegetables as well, but a breakfast inclusive of wholegrains really improves circulation and keeps blood glucose levels stable: perfect for frantic weekday mornings before catching the bus.

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Cranberries

Few things are cooler than a cranberry for coordination and memory: chock full like other berries with antioxidants, the cranberry is, of course, most suitable to wintry days either as topping to a seasonal granola or popped into muffins and nut roasts. Then, there’s cranberry sauce…

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Blueberries

Another awesome antioxidant source, blueberries help protect neurons from damage and serve to build receptors between brain cells. Also a good source of vitamin C, keep those thought processes perky with a decent handful each day.

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Walnuts

Sometimes, there are foods which look like the body part they nourish: walnuts are one such example. A small handful per day provides a veritable booster shot of antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals brilliant for improving cognitive function and alertness. It is thought that the high vitamin E content can also potentially reduce risk of Alzheimer’s later on in life.

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Tomatoes

Lycopene, the tomato’s antioxidant extraordinaire, is believed to prevent free-radical damage to brain cells. So slice a few up with a side salad or to pop into that packed lunch sandwich. A drizzle of olive oil will aid absorbency, too.

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Broccoli

Providing a hearty portion of our RDA of vitamin K, necessary for brainpower and general cognitive health, broccoli has also been found to be high in glucosinolates, which slow the breakdown of the neurotransmitter acetylcholine. This means a sharper memory and a topperforming brain. Perfect for exam season. justnaturalhealth.co.uk | Just Natural Health & Beauty

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Nuts and Seeds: The List

Patrick Holford recently wrote on the health benefits of nuts and seeds. The single best food group for good health (conversely the single worst is sugar and sugary drinks and snacks). Not one, not several, but a plenitude of studies have shown that “regular nut- and seed-eaters have lower risk of a whole host of diseases and early mortality”. A more recent study conducted by a team of researchers at the Institute for Physical Activity and Nutrition, Deakin University, Australia found that from 2,000 participants over the age of 60, those who consumed a minimum of 15g of nuts and seeds each day displayed the highest cognitive performance.

So, what are you waiting for? If you fancy a snack, grab a handful of nuts.

*NB: Nut allergies can be fatal. Please make sure your home is a nut-free environment if a family member or visiting friend of the family is allergic to nuts.

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Walnuts

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Almonds

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Chia Seeds

Rich in brain-beneficial Omega-3s, a wonder nut for (potential) wisdom.

An awesome source of magnesium (and vitamin E, also).

Move over eggs: this is where Omega-3s are veganically at.

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Cashews

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Brazils

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Sunflower Seeds

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Pumpkin Seeds

Carbohydrate-rich, and culinarily versatile (not to mention tasty) as well.

Seriously good for some daily anti-carcinogenic selenium.

Just a handful and you’ve your Omega-6s sorted.

Sunny indeed.

Who needs fish when you’ve pumpkin seeds to hand for Omega-3s?

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Sesame Seeds

A simple sprinkle and any dish can have a smattering of Omega-6s.

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Just Natural Organic Walnut Pieces 125g £2.49 Just Natural Organic Almonds 250g £5.49 Just Natural Organic Chia Seeds 250g £1.99 Just Natural Organic Cashews 125g £2.59 Just Natural Organic Brazils 125g £1.99 Just Natural Sunflower Seeds 125g £1.09 Just Natural Pumpkin Seeds 250g £2.69 Just Natural Sesame Seeds Hulled 250g £2.19

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Pine Nuts

Not inexpensive, pine nuts are a rather coveted culinary item. Sourced from only 29 species of pine globally, in addition to antioxidants, pine nuts are made up of 2% water, 13% carbohydrates, 14% protein, and 68% fat. Furthermore, they’re a rich source of micronutrients, including manganese (419% RDA), phosphorous (82% RDA), magnesium (71% RDA), copper (65% RDA), zinc (67% RDA), vitamin E (62% RDA), vitamin K (51% RDA), and B vitamins thiamine and niacin (29% to 35%).

The stone pine species (pinus pinea) contains twice the protein of Chinese (pinus koraiensis) and Pakistani (pinus gerardiana) pine nut species, though these have more carbohydrates and fat.

A misnomer, some people are intolerant of these pine tree seeds: “pine mouth syndrome” results in a bitter or metallic taste in the mouth developing within 48 hours of eating pine nuts, a symptom which can last for weeks.

Just Natural Organic Pine Nuts 80g £4.79

Find the range in your local health food retailer

Beware, though: not all seed oils are created equal. Refined, bleached, and deodorized, just because an oil claims to be of a seed originally doesn’t mean it bears any resemblance to the husk-enclosed nugget of nutrition from which it came.

We are, of course, talking about vegetable oils (otherwise known as industrial seed oils).

High-temperature heating means that the unsaturated fatty acids within become oxidized, by-products of which have been found to be harmful

to human health. Then, the seeds are processed with a petroleum-based solvent (most often hexane) in order to maximise the amount of oil that can be extracted.

Next, chemicals are added to deodorize the stench of those extracted oils, resulting in trans fats. Finally, more chemicals are added to improve the colour of the product. If that doesn’t sound awful enough, three further reasons you might want to step away from the bottle of industrial seed oil include:

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That adulterated oil is an evolutionary mismatch. We must eat in adherence to our species’ specific needs. The modern environment we’ve crafted isn’t compatible for the most part with our genes, and that is why there is the proliferation of chronic disease today, increased by consumption of industrial seed oils ever since the 1900s, as well as of refined sugar and excessive calories. Between only 1970 and the millennium, in fact, median consumption of soybean oil and other such industrial seed oils rose from just 4lb per annum per person to a stomachchurning 26lb per annum per person.

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Those oils are generally from genetically modified crops.

Certainly in the United States, where 88% of corn, 93% of soy, 94% of cotton, and 93% of rapeseed crops are GM.

Industrial seed oils are imbalanced in their Omega-3 and Omega-6 fatty acid ratio. Linoleic acid (the primary fatty acid in industrial seed oils) now forms 8% of total calorie intake; in hunter-gatherer societies, it was only 1%-3%. Yet, we humans cannot make fatty acids (polyunsaturated fats) ourselves and must eat them. Omega-3s (ALA, EPA, and DHA) are antiinflammatory, but Omega-6s are pro-inflammatory due to their increasing of arachidonic acid production – nonetheless, they’re necessary. Given that, ancestrally, the two were consumed at a ratio of 1:1, it is eye-opening that in the West that ratio is now between 10:1 to 20:1.

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Craig Sams last year wrote on industrial agriculture over the decades, its “rallying cry” the as yet necessary “Feed the world”. After all, only a few years ago a diurnal death rate of 25,000 was from hunger, just under 50% of that figure solely children. Shockingly, the number has since then doubled.

Surplus doesn’t always go to waste in more affluent countries, of course. In Brussels back in the 1970s, looking for a way to avoid food shortages, the Common Agricultural Policy conceived of “renewable fuel”, farmers producing enough (the “butter mountains”, the “wine lakes”) to also provide for burnable food, in order to generate energy and transportation fuel if necessary (indeed, the EU Renewable Transport Fuels Obligation states that 10% minimum of fuel should be renewable). Coupled with the processed food industry, excess rapeseed oil became hydrogenated fat (liquid fat turned into a solid) – and the rest is a mightily (heart) unhealthy history.

For industrilised seed oils are relatively new to the human diet, in comparison with olive oil and coconut oil. Rapeseed, cottonseed, soybean, and corn oils are highly processed and – terrifyingly – cottonseed oil (originally deemed “toxic waste” in the States) was used in soapmaking before hydrogenation made it a viable butter alternative… Farmers do need rapeseed as a break crop, otherwise fungal diseases creep in when wheat and barley are planted without cessation year after year (and no-one wants to promote excessive use of fungicides, do they?)…

As Sams writes, hydrogenated fat comes as a fine dust of plastic consisting of vegetable oil, rather than fossil fuel oil. It is, in other words, ethylated vegetable oil; the same process with fossil fuel oil results in plastic, or polyethylene. The reason hydrogenated vegetable oil has been such a hit with the processed food industry is because of the nearly incomparable benefit it has on the structure of their foods. Luckily for humans, however, in the 1980s the companies realised how deadly the stuff was – not so lucky for the environment, though.

As soybean oil and other industrialised seed oils were phased out, palm oil (and coconut oil) took their place – and not just in our diet. Just as rapeseed oil has been blended with diesel and wine has been distilled and mixed with ethanol and added to petrol, so two-thirds of the UK’s palm oil imports end up in diesel (yes, really). Further, when a supermarket claims that its products are “palm oil-free”, that doesn’t take into consideration that its vehicles are running on the stuff.

Palm oil is an edible vegetable oil from the reddish pulp (or mesocarp) of the fruit of oil palms and in 2014 accounted for circa 33% of global edible oil production. Nonetheless, they have been used by humans for around 5,000 years, including in tombs in Ancient Egypt, as well as employed as a machinery lubricant during the Industrial Revolution and more recently forming the basis of soap products. However, since the mid-1990s cold-pressed oil from the fruit has been used as a cooking oil and blended into mayonnaises and vegetable oils. Not to be confused with palm kernel oil (which is not red), palm mesocarp oil is 49% saturated fat, whereas palm kernel oil is 81% saturated fat.

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Health-wise, though, should we actually be eating this? Like all fats, palm oil is composed of fatty acids. Especially high in saturated fat (notably the 16-carbon saturated fatty acid, palmitic acid) and the monounsaturated oleic acid, unrefined palm oil also contains a sizeable quantity of tocotrienol, part of the vitamin E family.

Further, a 2015 meta-analysis and 2017 advisory study by the American Heart Association included palm oil in foods to be wary of due to saturated fat increasing blood levels of LDL cholesterol.

Unhydrogenated vegetable oils were recommended instead. Subsequently the WHO (World Health Organization) and the US National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute have suggested consumers limit or cut out palm oil and saturated fats.

Solid at room temperature like coconut oil (which is 86% saturated fat), in 2018 to 2019 73.5 million tonnes of palm oil were produced. The projection for 2050’s annual production is 240 million tonnes. This estimate allows for the fact that although only 5% of “vegetable oil farmland” is used for palm oil plantations, palm oil itself accounts for 38% of global vegetable oil supply. This is in no small way because palm produces 10 times the oil yield of soybeans, sunflowers, and rapeseed – due to the fact that both the fruit and the kernel provide usable oil.

Numerically, this becomes even clearer when you consider that per hectare oil palms produce 4.17 metric tonnes of oil, in comparison to 0.56 metric tonnes from sunflowers, 0.39 metric tonnes from soybeans, and 0.16 metric tonnes of oil from peanuts per hectare.

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Only late last year The Independent reported on big name companies such as Heinz and Campbell using unsustainable palm oil in their products (meanwhile, Ferrero Rocher and Ikea were found to be leading the way along the sustainability path).

Perhaps counterintuitively, in 2018 a study undertaken by the IUCN (the International Union for Conservation of Nature) found that “replacing palm oil with other vegetable oils would necessitate greater amounts of agricultural land, negatively affecting biodiversity”. In other words, it is about that old utilitarian ethic of the greater benefit for the greater number.

And that’s never to forget the orangutans…

How Would You Like Your Steak?

Plant-Based or Lab-Grown?

Steak: the meat that keeps people from the plant-based path. Similar to possessiveness over bacon (“I couldn’t possibly be without my bacon.”), asking omnivores to put down the serrated-edge knife and try a lovingly prepared Portobello mushroom instead is often like saying you’ve been on the phone to Rumpelstiltskin and he wants their firstborn child.

Hyperbole aside, whether rare, medium-rare, or well-done (and served up avec frites, of course), steak is a very real hurdle to overcome in addressing climate change – as bizarre as that sounds – and it can arguably be described as environmental problem number one.

The issue is not so much (vegan ethics aside) with steak itself, but the ravenous appetite for it. This is no doubt as a result, in the first instance, of the sheer global mass of the human population (though we won’t further pursue Sir Attenborough’s thoughts on that particular topic here). It is also because of industrial farming practices that provide cheap meat. Steak was historically a status symbol, due to its cost. Yet, now? Now, there is steak, and then there is steak (and, in fact, the most nutritious part of the cow is the offal – but that’s a different matter). Factory farming permits those on a lower income the ability to purchase meat that would otherwise be outside their budget, which is socially positive, but if we move away from steak alone, the availability of “affordable” meat products in general comes from supply and demand: a large number of families are having meat at every meal, every day. This rate of consumption is environmentally absolutely unsustainable; it is also greatly detrimental to our health.

Red and processed meats have been linked with a number of chronic conditions, including cardiovascular disease, diabetes Type-II, and increased risk of cancer. And yet we continue to place ham between bread and call it a sandwich, we toss spaghetti with ground mince and label it in evocation of its Italian origins, we call our children to the table on a Sunday with a roasted body as gastronomic centrepiece… An infantile fear of vegetables and the old image of a vegetarian subsisting on lettuce leaves, thin soups, and nut roasts has been haunting the public psyche – until now. More recently, and definitely over the past couple of years, masterfully innovative companies have been changing perceptions and worked up the appetites of even the most die-hard beef fans. It all starts with a vision.

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While a San Francisco-residing design technologist has been creating coral skeletons via 3D printing methods in order to promote new natural oceanic coral growth – the Float Lab prototype successfully becoming home to crustaceans, algae, and microogranisms (bravo!) – on the culinary side of things, 3D printing has been proving effective, too. On the edible front, as Vegconomist reported last year, scientists at Osaka University created the “world’s first 3D-printed Wagyu beef” (that extortionately expensive meat). Taking “bovine satellite cells and adipose-derived stem cells” from Wagyu (literally, “Japanese cows”) cattle, the lab was able to create realistic steak – muscle, fat, blood vessels and all. And that fat, “intramuscular fat”, is what Wagyu beef is famous for. Also known as “marbling” (or Sashi), the fat – as any chef will tell you – is what provides the flavour and texture of a piece of meat.

It’s not the first time that Wagyu beef has been on the petri dish, though. Back in 2018, Eat Just (creators of JUST Egg) teamed up with Japanese beef producer, Toriyama in a “clean meat partnership” to develop a cell-cultured version.

Meanwhile, in 2020, V Meat was released in Australia, marketing itself as a “vegan Wagyu beef” (livestock farmers were outraged) and in Canada “Waygu” (sic.) vegan beef was so good it deceived the tastebuds of world-renowned Master Chef Hidekazu Tojo. As of last year, “Waygu” made its way into the US and Silicon Valley-based Orbillion Bio is currently working on not just Wagyu beef, but other heritage meats, too. These plant-based “beef” creations provide a case in point, however: companies want us not to have the black and white decision between a veggie option or the carnivorous, but the choice between land-raised meat, plant-based alternatives, and lab-grown meat.

Although there is the slight ick factor and mad scientist vibe to the concept of meat being lab-grown, its development has come about due to the unsustainability of livestock agriculture: the planet cannot withstand the current state of affairs, and it will crumble under any expansion to feed even more mouths, as the global population explodes to an estimated 9.8 billion by 2050. Cellular agriculture is also a speedier process than raising living animals and lab-grown dairy is just blossoming now. Precision fermentation, as it’s called, “programmes” bacteria and yeast to produce milk proteins without the requirement of impregnating a cow and separating her from her calf. Cellular products are already popular in Singapore and Israel and elsewhere looks to follow closely behind plant-based alternatives, which sector itself is widening into grains slowly but surely, of which barley has been notable. Using less water than almond milk, offering a bigger yield than oats (also because it’s simply easier to grow), barley milk is one trend to look out for this year.

But back to the lab: poultry, seafood, and eggs are being finessed within those four walls, too. Bluu Bioscience, for example, is aiming to release a whole fillet of lab-grown fish in 2023. Thus, it’s hoped that that near-10 billion figure will be provided for with animal protein, if they so wish (the ethical debate over still exploiting animals for their cells, even with slaughter removed, remains in the vegan mind); and thus, it’s sincerely hoped that we can go some way to arresting climate change and providing this planet and our children with a future. That vision of the horizon of “animal products without animals” is so far proving true. Even Leonardo di Caprio became a key investor in the company behind the first cultured hamburger, Mosa Meat, way back in 2014.

Conversely to cheap meat, however, what “clean” (labgrown) meat needs for success in the home is for prices to reduce. According to a report by IDTechEx, the majority of global cultivated meat companies are in North America (40%), while Asia-Pacific and the Middle East together account for 30% of clean meat producers worldwide.

Nonetheless, large-scale production is still cost-prohibitive and, until that is addressed, we’ll have to make do with clean meat as a restaurant-style luxury or be content with a plant-based alternative instead. Certainly, the latter scenario looks promising, with the ‘i’ reporting last year that the UK “could become a nation of diners who choose vegetarian by default”, according to Professor Mark Maslin, a climate change scientist at University College London.

Professor Maslin noted that Britain “already has some of the highest rates of veganism in the developed world” and also predicted that there will be a ban on “poor quality meat imports”, resulting in people having “good quality meat rarely”. However, it would depend on getting “the incentives, the regulation, and the taxes right”. Currently, the food system alone in Britain accounts for 20% of the country’s carbon emissions.

Environmentally speaking, incentives are right in front of us, of course, and plant-based alt-meat companies Impossible Foods and Beyond Meat are pretty well mainstream, thanks to their branching of the divide between persons vegetarian and omnivore, and promotion of flexitarianism as a stepping-stone or safe space for those not yet ready to ditch animal products entirely, nor ready to extend Veganuary’s pledge through the entirety of 2022 and – um – beyond. However, Nicolette Hahn Niman – an environmental lawyer and, until two years ago, a vegetarian of 33 years – recently questioned the cure-all qualities of “fake meat” and delved more deeply into the repeated persuasion of moving beyond “physiology and the brutal ways of our ancestors”. Her mission statement comes from her favourite slogan t-shirt from White Oak Pastures: “It’s not the cow, it’s the how”. justnaturalhealth.co.uk | Just Natural Health & Beauty

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“[I]n the two years I’d been working on agricultural issues as an environmental lawyer, I just scratched the surface in terms of understanding the real daily issues of agriculture.”

- Nicolette Hahn Niman

Hahn Niman takes issue with any health claims of alt-meat options, notably Beyond Meat, given its high saturated fat content, sodium content, and often GM ingredients (which is fair enough). In short, as laudable as “fake meat” innovation is, it is not “natural”. Plant-based living – whole food plant-based living – consists of fruits and vegetables, leaves and herbs, grains and nuts and seeds, as well as seaweeds. It none of it is processed; yet, processed is exactly what alt-meats are. In fact, nutritionists deem them “ultra-processed”, what the National Institute of Health considers a key obesity driver and what several European studies have found to be a cause of cardiovascular disease.

Radio 4’s James Gallagher even presented an entire Inside Health episode on the subject, interviewee Dr Giles Yeo (an obesity expert at the University of Cambridge) noting the “very good PR” of such products, which have been made “hyperpalatable” due to the added salt, fat, and sugar (one starts to see a correlation with industrial seed oils; see our article “The Palm Oil Case”, p.20). Indeed, in the grand scheme of vegetarian and vegan alternatives, it was plantbased milks that came out “best” (if it can be called that), Professor Susan Lanham-New, Head of Nutrition Sciences at the University of Surrey, conceding that on the whole – despite the concerns over calcium and vitamin D fortification – such products “have their place” in a balanced diet.

Impossible Foods’ Pat Brown has admitted in interviews that he finds little pleasure in the act of eating, viewing food merely as fuel for the body. For Hahn Niman, that says everything. So it was that Hahn Niman found herself debating the veracity of the documentary Cowspiracy’s claims with the film’s director, Kip Andersen, at a conference in San Francisco, realising that she’d “never sat next to someone who knew less about agriculture in my life”, as reported in The Guardian. So, too, was it that Hahn Niman did a little research into “clean meat” in addition to plantbased alternatives and was horrified by what she found, lab26

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grown meat’s entire smoke-and-mirrors premise. An article in Wired magazine in 2018 uncovered the growthinducing serum used to grow the meat: in most cases, it is FBS (foetal bovine serum). So necessary is FBS to cellular agriculture that slaughterhouses in the United States were found to be offering incentives to farmers to bring in pregnant heifers for slaughter. Not such an ethical choice, then.

At 50, Hahn Niman was diagnosed with the precursor to osteoporosis, osteopenia (there have been studies that link a lower bone mineral density to long-term vegetarianism in post-menopausal women). The lawyer-turned-rancher (thanks to marrying a farmer) now falls into the camp of ethical omnivorism, which Just Natural Health & Beauty covered briefly last issue: grass-fed, pasture-raised and roaming livestock, often heritage breeds; organic eggs home-reared or from a local farm; fish only seasonally, locally sourced. And, in addition to the duty of care in tending the animals, noise-to-tail eating being engaged in to save on waste, not just of the animal’s body, but of its life too. If animals are “allowed to roam and eat diverse natural grasses and shrubs as their wild ancestors did, they can restore soils, enhance natural diversity and help capture carbon”.

In other words, regenerative biodynamic organic farming; a naturalistic method which does not mean that meat would be the reserve of the rich. Rather, as Hahn Niman sensibly notes, “many poor people graze livestock this way already”. Impossible Foods might have coldly dubbed regenerative biodynamic methods as the “clean coal of meat” (back to Brown’s fuel perception of food, then…), but ethical omnivorism is eating with awareness of provenance and with respect to the life taken. “Respect”: that golden word which we should ever hold in our mind and heart, for our neighbour and our planetary home, Earth, in harmony (Aretha Franklin melodiousness optional).

Stiff and Achy Joints A symptom of vitamin D deficiency, the sunshine vitamin is also the one that helps us absorb calcium – that main building block for our bones. The soreness comes, potentially, from loss of bone density as a result. Omnivores can more easily re-establish equilibrium by including vitamin-D rich salmon and egg yolks in their diet, but otherwise supplementation is the quickest way to arrest any worsening of symptoms (especially in a country as sun-deprived as Britain).

A Twitchy Eye

Reading the Signs:

A symptom of low magnesium levels (as well as stress and fatigue), it is happily simple to increase magnesium levels on a plant-based diet: reach hungrily for nuts and seeds (especially pumpkin seeds) and adorn bowls of cereal and rice (and even pasta and salads) with the nutritional powerhouses. No more embarrassing eye twitches (was that a wink?) to mask in the office or on that Zoom call.

You Bruise Like a Peach Black and blue from a mere light bump to the end table? Random nosebleeds and bleeding gums when flossing (gingivitis aside)? You’re probably deficient in vitamin K, the body’s blood coagulator. Found bountifully in fermented food such as sauerkraut and aged cheese, also present in dark leafy greens, vitamin K is also found in chicken and eggs. However, this is one vitamin you might want to supplement as only circa 17% can be absorbed from food, whereas a supplement permits up to 80% absorption.

Vitamin and Mineral Deficiencies As The Times reported last year, Nice (the National Institute for Clinical Excellence) has been advising doctors to prescribe “exercise and acupuncture” instead of painkillers or antidepressants since Spring 2021. A “move away from pharmacological options to a focus on physical and psychological therapies”, it seems an apt shift in healthcare for the modern age – and it also seems a suitable frame of mind for looking at our health overall, finding within our diet the potential causes for vitamin and mineral deficiencies and correcting our consumption habits, rather than simply relying on a bottle of supplements.

However, if you’re wanting to make an impact and try plant-based eating for a while, it is important in this pandemic day and age to be mindful in your menu planning. Iron-deficiency is a primary concern, as it can negatively affect the immune system and our very brains; worse, anaemia in pregnancy can even affect the baby. Nonetheless, though you’ll soon become adept at allowing for sufficient quantity of beans and legumes and lentils, nuts and seeds and quinoa, as well as oats and tofu, in your diet, there are other nutritional deficiencies to be aware of.

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Brain Fog Low vitamin B12 is your culprit if you’re feeling as if you haven’t slept for a week and perpetually wonder whether you’re coming down with a cold. As vital to our blood as iron, vitamin B12 also plays a crucial neuronal function. While whole grains and fortified breakfast cereals and alt-milks are all good and well, it is the omnivores who thrive in rebalancing levels of B12 in the body: from salmon and tuna to clams and trout, as well as – yes – offal.

Dry, Flaky, and Scaly Skin Winter is the time for an onslaught to our skin in general, due to the cold and drier air, but when our face looks as if it’s more parched than a desert lizard, it could be a sign you’re low on fatty acids. This is because Omega-3s play a leading role in moisture retention, as well as UV protection and an even skin tone. Happily, the vegan diet offers walnuts and chia seeds, flaxseeds and myriad others such seeds and nuts, as well as avocados. Omnivores should dine on oily fish and it is recommended that food should be the source, rather than supplements.

When Life Gives You Lemons

Lemons being one of the eight key fruits of the Blue Zone Diet (due to their prevalence in the diet of long-lived Sardinians), it is worth pausing over the sun-bright yellow fruit the next time you’re shopping: a single lemon contains around 50% of the RDA of vitamin C, while just two tablespoons of lemon juice hold 20%. What’s more, studies have found that the antioxidant flavonoids provide heart health protection, too, by lowering cholesterol and aiding blood flow. Not so sour a fruit, after all.

“Citrus” as a category covers not just oranges and lemons (and maybe the bells of St Clement’s), but satsumas and tangerines, mandarins and Bergamot, too.

And the pith and rind of a citrus fruit are where the truly medicinal properties are: from a mere 50p piece of peel added to a smoothie, say, you can maintain supple blood vessels and a lower blood pressure over time. With twice the vitamin C content of the flesh, pith and rind are thought to be anticarcinogenic, as well.

The fibre content, meanwhile, is beneficial for the gut microbiome. Pith is one of the highest sources of pectin available and maintains regular bowel movements: move over, coffee, marmalade is the new kid on the block!

Indeed, made from the Seville orange (Citrus aurantium), available for only 6 weeks at the start of the year, proper marmalade is not a condiment to be sniffed at while sat at the breakfast table. It makes for a delicious option for

on-the-fence vegans through Veganuary and beyond, particularly when coupled with a nut butter on wholegrain wheat or rye bread, or sourdough, as these options slow down the release of the sugars into our bloodstream.

Grated peel, of course, can adorn a wide variety of dishes, and is also appetising in tea (even Bergamotscented Earl Grey). So, what are you waiting for? Go grab some lemons, but don’t make lemonade (no, make lemon water and avoid the pitfalls of sugar).

Instead, squeeze lemon juice over a meal to add the acidic element a dish needs to release all the flavours (vitamin C is also destroyed in the cooking process, so keeping it fresh and raw is where the benefit lies).

Life provides us with a lot of proverbial lemons: let’s grasp the real ones and reach for those citrusbenefit health heights of Blue Zone centenarians.

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(But Leave the Pastries Alone)

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Winter might very well be the time for hygge and hunkering down in our cosy and hopefully still heated homes (rising energy prices, be damned), yet which warming drink should we really be imbibing: coffee or tea? Our British heritage denotes the latter, but we’ve very much gone Continental over the years and developed a taste for the caffeinated beans, too, appropriating the Scandinavian notion of fika into our daily routines.

Nutritionist Patrick Holford recently wrote on the pros and cons of coffee consumption.

While it has polyphenols that act very like antioxidants, while it contains around 1,000 different compounds, it sadly also increases inflammation in the body, notably homocysteine levels, which also signal increased risk of dementia.

Nonetheless, in a study of some 400,000 people in the UK, it was found that those who drank between one and two cups per day benefitted cognitively from coffee, whereas anything less or more than that quantity resulted in a higher risk of dementia and increased brain shrinkage in the hippocampus (a sign commonly associated with Alzheimer’s).

Indeed, a study published in Nutritional Neuroscience found six or more cups of coffee per day increased a person’s risk of developing dementia – by 53%. Another study found that between three and four cups of coffee each day decreased the risk of liver cancer by 38% to 41%, while a study published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute discovered six cups of coffee per day halved the risk of incurable prostate cancer.

So, is it a case of sacrificing one’s brain for the good of the body as a whole? After all, coffee has also been found to protect against diabetes Type-II, potentially reducing insulin resistance. Tea, although also a caffeinated beverage, does not provide these benefits.

However, it might not be the caffeine. Even decaf coffee is thought to maintain healthy insulin-producing cells.

Nevertheless, be warned: dunking a croissant or other pastry in that liquid ebony has the reverse effect on blood sugar levels. Thus, in a moment, we lose forever the peaceful scenario of comfort, coffee served just so, cinnamon Danish on the side – an afternoon pickme-up cherished when the days are short and the nights are long.

Or perhaps quintessentially British afternoon tea was on a wise path indeed: no need to say no to a scone when your caffeine is from a leaf…

However, a study published in the journal Nutrients last year found that moderate mocha coffee consumption is linked to higher cognitive function and mood status, while a study published in PLoS One in 2014 had shown benefits from green tea, but not black tea or coffee, in reducing cognitive decline in participants under 60 years of age in Nakajima, Japan.

With regard to findings on mocha coffee consumption (and enjoyment), a study published in BMC Nutrition in 2017 stated that although both chocolate and coffee are beneficial on their own for alertness, cocoa’s properties are increased when combined with coffee, while addition of chocolate to coffee lessened the volatility of participants. Want to sweeten up the after-lunch atmosphere in the office? Make it mocha lattes all round then!

Nonetheless, these days you’re a pretty rare creature if you don’t like coffee in some form – Americano, vanilla latte, cappuccino with a sprinkling of cocoa, or whichever sickly new abomination has been concocted in the mainstream cafés. Coffee is so popular, in fact, that cell-cultured coffee is on the horizon. Yes, you read that right. Just as there are ongoing developments in clean meat and lab grown fish and dairy, so too is coffee – that more and more environmentally endangered bean – having a little explorative work done with its cells to see whether we can keep the cups of caffeine coming in the future. As Vegconomist recently reported, coffee cells were successfully produced by Finnish scientists (it had to be the Fins, being the biggest per capita consumers of coffee in the world) who were on the path to find a more sustainable and ethical means of coffee production for tomorrow.

Finland’s population consuming roughly 10kg of coffee per person annually – the day divided into aamukahvi (morning coffee), päiväkahvi (day coffee), iltakahvi (evening coffee) and even saunakahvi (sauna coffee) and matkakahvi (travelling coffee) – the VTT Technical Research Centre scientists used a cellular agriculture bioreactor wherein the cell cultures are filled with a nutrient medium. Already, the smell and taste created is not far off from being wholly successful.

In moderation, coffee is still of benefit to the mind, body, and maybe even one’s soul if your nose has been buried in spreadsheets all day. A one-off overindulgence in coffee to pull an all-nighter also won’t do too much damage in the long run. But if you’re worried, make sure you hydrate well (coffee is a known diuretic), get adequate sleep, exercise, and – of course – eat a balanced diet.

Furthermore, you’ll know if you’ve been overdoing it if you go a day without the beans: the resultant headache won’t let you forget it. If you find yourself tired after coffee, in fact, it could be that (a) you’ve built up a high tolerance, probably because (b) you’ve drunk it in lieu of getting adequate sleep and (c) you were sipping on the strong stuff far too late in the day. In the case of (b), you’re better off scheduling in a power nap than making another cup: set an alarm for around 15 or 20 minutes, and you’ll be amazed at how refreshed you feel in the afternoon.

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Rather than another coffee, activities that cognitively challenge are a great addition to the week, as well: don’t just rely on a seeming cure-all. Reading is a good place to start and goes some way in explaining the long-lived popularity of the library.

Despite children being sponges for language, it really is never too late to get your tongue (and head) around some Spanish or Italian (or more complicated language system – Mandarin anyone?). If foreign lingo isn’t your thing, however, then maybe try the tango, or other form of dance.

A 2018 study of some 500,000 people, though, found a link between coffee consumption and longevity. This, despite the majority of people in the much-talked-about Blue Zones (yes, them again) predominantly being tea drinkers. Returning to that alternate (somewhat competitor) beverage, tea: in the leaves versus beans stakes, both are rich in antioxidants, but tea has been found to lower the risk of certain cancers and lessen the likelihood of developing heart disease. Similarly, tea is a huge (cupful of) immunity support and its catechins are notably of benefit to the health of the brain, especially EGCG (epigallo catechin 3-gallate). Coffee’s hydrocinnamic acids, meanwhile, act in an anti-inflammatory capacity, neutralizing free radicals and thereby preventing oxidative stress.

Caffeine-wise, per cup, tea typically contains between 20mg and 60mg, while a normal cup of coffee has around 100mg to 300mg of caffeine. It increases production of the stimulant norepinephrine and also dopamine, with its focussing effects, which is why a cup or two in the morning helps us to feel more awake and prepped for the day’s work. If sensitive to the caffeine content of drinks, green tea is the way to go, its l-theanine causing a slower absorption of the caffeine (it also produces a calming effect in the drinker).

It is the caffeine, in fact, which makes coffee the go-to for people with sluggish digestive systems, as it stimulates the production of stomach acid and contracts the intestines.

If doing this on an empty stomach, gastroenterologists recommend adding some ground turmeric, ginger, or cinnamon to your morning mug. The thought might make you smile, but on the subject: if we’re talking dental effects of coffee and tea, amazingly black coffee stains teeth less than black tea. Yet, tea contains fluoride, which has been shown to lessen cavities.

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In the end, the choice is a personal one. Perhaps there isn’t a decision to be made at all: coffee in the morning and tea of an afternoon? Now, what could be better than that? That is unless we’re talking about varieties of beans or leaves. From Ceylon to Assam, Chai to Lapsang Suchong, and green versus white, and the whole gambit of herbal options – tea selection is a subjective decision-making process that takes into consideration the ebb and flow of one’s mood and energy levels. Coffee bean choice, on the other hand, is more a matter of strength and acidity. Nevertheless, what matters most is how you store your selected beverage in its dry form (particularly in a climate as chill and damp as ours!).

Tea leaves, for example, are 97% dry: a drop of moisture in the air and they will absorb it. So too any strong cooking smells. Lovely. Rule number one: do not store your tea in the fridge. Rather, make sure it’s in a sealed container, in the dark (the leaves, although dried, will still absorb sunlight and thereby damage the flavour), and not next to a heat source (the leaves will degrade).

There are, however, exceptions to any rule, and that includes Pu’er tea (fermented, those leaves need a breathable container) and matcha green tea powder (extremely absorbent, matcha should be tenderly put away in an airtight container in the freezer).

A Buzz for Humans, Deception for a Bee In a study published in the journal Current Biology in 2015 – “Caffeinated forage tricks honeybees into increasing foraging and recruitment behaviours” – it was stated that caffeine, as a “pharmacologically active secondary compound whose main purpose is to detract herbivores” is in fact purposefully produced in the nectar of some plants in order to attract pollinators. In short, it is thought that caffeine “may enhance bee reward perception”, by assisting memory recall of “a learned olfactory association”. However, it also dupes them into “sub-optimal foraging” and honey storage, believing that the supply is better than it is. Thus, plants which do have caffeine within their nectar are exploitative.

A 2013 study published in the journal Science pre-empted the research, wherein the Coffea (or coffee plant) was found to use this method of attraction.

When a plant does use caffeine as an appeal to pollinators, it is in very low doses (high doses are toxic, and can actually be used against garden slugs, if you were wondering). The honeybees used in the study were three times as likely to remember the scent of a caffeine-containing plant and stick out their tongues for reward after 24 hours; they were twice as likely to do this 72 hours after the first tasting.

Transfer this concept to humans and the wherefores of why – despite its bitter, bitter taste – we keep coming back to the bean (particularly in the mornings, you know, 24 hours after our last waking sip of the black stuff), and you start to worry about the veracity of our freedom of choice...

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Garden Tea:

Serenity in a Cuppa

Those ethics extend to being Vegan-certified, too. It might seem a strange thing to consider in relation to tea, but some teas use animal-based products for processing. Honey aside, if there is lemon peel in a tea infusion, for instance, often the wax on lemons has come from shellac (a resin secreted by female beetles). Not a particularly appetising thought for that planned warming cup of lemon and ginger…

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We all cherish a particular hour of the day for taking pleasure from a nice cup of tea. You might be someone who wakes for the dawn light and chorus of the birds, steam rising in parallel to the mist from the grass as you sip from a mug of your favourite breakfast blend (commonly a mixture of Assam, Ceylon, and Kenyan varieties).

Or you might be the night owl tea connoisseur, a pot of smoky Lapsang Souchong beside you as you indulge in a book while all the world rests. Even die-hard coffee fans have been known to harbour a secret love of green tea and herbal options, if only because of the moment it gives us for ourselves: one sip, an exhalation of satisfaction, and we relax.

It might still be too cold outside to enjoy a cup of chamomile in the garden (though this never prohibited winter picnicking, granted), but if you shiver merely at the thought of such a chilly sojourn, Garden Tea is now available to bring you the healing effects of the herbaceous outdoors brought indoors, in an environmentally and socially principled manner. Organic and Fairtrade, Garden Tea uses only ingredients grown without use of chemical herbicides or pesticides and its standards are strictly ethical, everyone in the supply chain being paid fairly for their work in bringing these serenely sippable herbal teas to the market.

Garden Tea isn’t loose-leaf; rather, it comes in practical and – importantly – unbleached sachets. Whereas most big household tea brands have encased their products in plastic-containing white teabags bleached with chlorine dioxide (harmful to both humans and the environment), Garden Tea uses only unbleached, 100% plastic-free sachets to ensure no microplastics end up littering the planet and that no nasty dioxins are leeching into your cuppa and into you.

As for the range itself, you won’t be left wanting. Organic Green Tea consists purely of its titular self and nothing more, while Organic Three Mint is for those looking for the refreshing taste and digestive properties of infused peppermint, spearmint, and apple mint. Garden Tea’s Organic Lemon & Ginger, though, is a perfect pick-me-up choice.

Containing vegan lemon peel, myrtle, verbena, and ginger, as well as liquorice root, fennel, verbena, anti-inflammatory turmeric, and elderflower – your mind, body, and soul are sure to be invigorated (and colds kept at bay).

By contrast, Organic After Hours Infusion is for those looking to unwind from the day’s cares, with a relaxing blend of chamomile, valerian, and passion flower (as well as fennel, verbena, liquorice root, and warming cinnamon).

Garden Tea offers a sustainable herbal cuppa for the discerning British tea drinker. Simply steep a sachet in freshly boiled water, wait five minutes, and then sip and sit back, floating on a wave of relaxation. Bliss. And the sachets are fully compostable, too, so when you’re done, just pull out the tag and string, and pop the used teabag on/in the home-composter and enjoy the zero-waste moment. *NB: Those with hypertension should avoid excessive consumption of liquorice root.

Herbal Teas for Winter Health All of these are nutritional powerhouses on their own, but why not get creative and blend some together in a pot? Don’t forget the tea cosy!

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Ginger

Good for nausea, ginger also helps to reduce stress.

High in vitamin C, Hibiscus is a useful addition to the immunesupportive home holistic medicine cabinet.

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Fennel

Also good for the stomach, fennel is a beneficial digestive after meals.

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Hibiscus

Chamomile

The traditional herbal go-to tea for relaxation, chamomile is also antibacterial and sedative in nature.

Cinnamon

Warming, spicy, tasty – you can’t go wrong with cinnamon.

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Peppermint

The refreshing taste of peppermint is renowned for helping digestive issues, but is good for colds, too.

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Nettle

The refreshing taste of peppermint is renowned for helping digestive issues, but is good for colds, too.

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Lemongrass

Also rich in vitamin C, lemongrass has been shown to be of benefit in strengthening the immune system.

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Olive Leaf

An antiviral, olive leaf is traditionally used as a common cold preventative.

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Wake Up and Smell the…

Why Not to Start the Day with Coffee Humans are creatures of habit. Sadly, few of us are able to get the recommended 8 hours of sleep each night, so we frequently wake up to an alarm (chimes, birdsong, sirens – whatever does it to pull you from that sweet sleep) tired and groggy; we shuffle through the motions of dressing and lunch prep, one eye on the clock (if icy, calculating roughly how long it will take to defrost the car). That’s why we do it, reach for the coffee: we need a reinvigorator, we need to become, well, more human. And so, we brew the coffee. Whether we’re cafetiere users, percolated filter coffee-only drinkers, pre-ground buyers, grinders of our own whole bean connoisseurs, or of the a-quick-stirof-instant-once-the-kettle’s-boiled exceedingly rushed few – coffee is what gets and keeps us going.

However, now we’re being told to hold our horses: apparently, we shouldn’t be having coffee as our first beverage of the day. Instead, reach for a tall glass of water (quite literally: put one on the bedside table for the morning). Sleep being a dehydrating activity – however little of it you’ve done – the body needs rehydration first and foremost when we wake, which makes diuretic coffee the last thing we should be sipping. What’s more, anxious as we are for the day ahead and the challenges therein, coffee raises cortisol levels, making us feel more awake, yes, but also even more stressed than we already are (especially if running late; cursed be that snooze button…). In fact, our body itself releases cortisol to help us wake up, peaking half an hour after having awoken.

In short, then, hydration comes first, folks; caffeination, after.

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Ah, chocolate: most likely, you’ll have had your fill of the stuff last month and are aiming for abstinence throughout January (for the sake of that New Year health kick, and all that). You might even, low and behold, be trying out Veganuary and continuing under the misconception that good chocolate can’t possibly be vegan.

Well, you’d be wrong.

Cultivated cacao, however, has some climate change hurdles to overcome. As temperatures rise, a steady decline in cacao plants is being recorded and a recent Peruvian study of cultivated cacao estimated a decline of approximately 10% due to global warming over the next few decades. Native to the damp environs of the Amazon rainforest, cacao is considered to be one of the most important

crops in the tropics. Nonetheless, wild species have dwindled due to over-farming of cultivated species (similar to monocrop concerns with other plants, such as soya) – that is, wild species have dwindled except for in the rainforests of Peru. And it is hoped that under cover of those trees, those lungs of the Earth, that wild cacao will propagate and increase in numbers by around a third by 2070.

Don’t go out and gorge on chocolate just yet, though (despite the myriad vegan options lining the shelves these days): wild cacao will never replace cultivated species of cacao as cash crops (the study also didn’t allow for any increases in pests or disease that might blight the plants). So it stands that scientists are looking to research which wild species are hardiest, and which will pass the taste test – not just for the benefit of the keen consumer, but for those whose livelihoods depend on cacao farming and the chocolate trade. justnaturalhealth.co.uk | Just Natural Health & Beauty

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Here in the UK, though, Mr Bean Chocolate has just been released. A premium vegan-certified chocolate range, Mr Bean Chocolate globally sources the most decadent and ethical of ingredients for its creations. Using only the finest blend of cocoa beans from Peru and the Dominican Republic, the result is a product of rich flavour and depth that consumers can be sure didn’t come from cultivated crops covered in chemical herbicides or pesticides. This is organic chocolate, made in that historic chocolate-making capital Belgium, and it is oh-sodeliciously Fairtrade chocolate, too.

What’s more, when you’re left with only an empty wrapper, simply cut it up and put the pieces in your home compost heap: the plant-based film has been designed to break down just like any other vegan food waste. Sweet.

Conversely, carob is doing very well as a chocolate alternative. An ancient superfruit tree lauded in the Bible, carob – according to CarobWay, Ltd. (a FoodTech and agriTech startup founded in 2020) – can even grow on desert land other crops would wither away on and thrives in arid areas of Africa and Asia (tolerant of temperatures up to 50°C). With a low GI, carob’s nature-given sweetness is suitable for those with diabetes, as well. Each fruit pod consisting of around 90% pulp and 10% seeds, the food industry is no stranger to carob. CarobWay’s ambition, however, is to make use of part of the some 46% arid land mass on the planet and ensure in the process that carob harvesting is made less labour-intensive, also.

In the confectionary industry itself, meanwhile, a Swedish chocolatier has gone – erm – cocoa for vegan artisanal chocolates recently. As reported by Vegconomist, as far back as 2016 entrepreneur Anahita Vazvan was inspired by Roald Dahl’s Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory to start her Vegan Delights store, funded by her mother and uncle who had sampled her chocolate experiments and been amazed. Its range includes the “Vegickers” vegan Snickers bar (a bestseller) and the products always use 100% vegan and sustainable ingredients, often mostly organic as well.

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From Dry January to the Wisdom of Natural Wine hile multiple lockdowns pushed a fair few of us towards the brink of alcoholism (one in five of us, according to Drinkaware), pandemics aside, January has for a long time been the established month in which to ditch the booze for a brief (or extended) while. At Christmas we all over-indulge (save for those who are teetotal, of course) and our livers start getting nervous, pulling on the safety cord for a little time out, a rest from tilting a glass filled with hops or grapes from the vine. So it is that Dry January exists, run by Alcohol Change UK, who work to make sure people know the facts about their favourite poison (quite literally), and how it’s the leading cause of death, ill-health, and disability for people aged between 15 and 49 in the UK.

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Yet, when February comes round, don’t just revert to the same habits you had before. In addition to a general trend to better care for oneself, eat healthily and exercise, these are also ecologically awoken days, too. Therefore, consider a “cleaner” way of drinking: think natural wine. Still a “magical world”, that niche of 100% grape juice from an organic vineyard undergoing fermented witchery and wonder is “rapidly expanding” in popularity, as recently reported

by The Chalkboard Magazine.

The premise is that the grapes themselves have everything a winemaker could want and need: they contain the water and sugars, the vitamins and enzymes, even the yeast and bacteria. Crush the grapes and they will ferment – as long as intervention by the vigneron is minimal, then it’s natural wine.

And who would want to pass up on the resveratrol antioxidant benefits of red wine, eh?

Taste-wise, there isn’t too much difference (barring the missing razor blade metallic tang you might get an aftertaste of from commercial Continental vineyards).

Most natural winemakers don’t use

sulphites out of principle, but some use a minimal amount. In general, though, the fewer the sulphites, the less likely you are to have a hangover (consideration of volume consumed always helps, of course). Nonetheless, visually a natural wine looks, well, a bit more natural: cloudy, with the presence of sediment. These are necessarily earthy wines. If you’re patient, you can filter off the sediment; if you’re not, then how much of an issue is haziness after you’ve imbibed a couple of glasses anyway?

It pays, also, to have a little faith in the taste of natural wine. Like an artisanal cheese, natural wine will surprise and be different to what one is used to as poured from the conventional bottle. It has been suggested that those new to natural wine should think with “their stomach, gut, reactions and instincts, rather than with their heads”. Don’t compare that first sip with run-of-the-mill chardonnay or cheap and cheerful pinot grigio.

Indeed, natural wine is thought to age better than commercial wines, as well. Prep your cellars… Or at least a cool storage area, in this space-at-a-premium age we live in.

The other exciting thing about natural wines is their diversity. Made “from hundreds of different grape varieties in hundreds of different places”, assessing a natural wine is a far cry from comparing mainstream malbecs. To reiterate, natural wines are a far cry from conventional methods that dust grapes with sulphites to kill off natural bacteria and yeasts, that add a foreign yeast strain, taking the wine in a direction far from natural. And that’s before colour or tannin is added, or the wine is filtered with charcoal, or even fined (the liquid made clearer) with gelatine or egg whites or fish derivatives… Definitely not plant-based palatability.

Such a controlled environment is the exact opposite of the natural winemaker’s experience who, in order to provide consumers with a unique product, must submit to the fickleness of the earth and trust in Nature to work her magic well over their spell of viticulture: 90% of the finished wine depends on it. That’s why soil health is so crucial and, for the most part, natural wine vineyards are biodynamically regeneratively managed, ensuring vines grow in microbiologically rich soil full of nutrients (not dirt sterilised by years of chemicals): the vigneron must work organically, in harmony with their plants and the ground in which they grow.

One comparison made between natural and conventional wines has been the difference between a child raised free-range – playing in dirt; allowed to eat something dropped on the floor, say – and a child mollycoddled and surrounded by a sterile environment, too often put on antibiotics for common infections: there will be no resistance to disease, no strength to their natural immunity. Indeed, 99% of commercial wines are synthetically altered, with circa 95% of the sulphites used as preservatives sourced from the petrochemical industry.

Logic dictates, then, that natural winemaking is a process which benefits the planet, as much as the palette. Certainly, natural winemakers are folk conscious of their carbon footprint and the key to transferring such an eco-minded conscience into the sector is setting up a vineyard in a location that doesn’t require irrigation and thus excessive water use. Similarly, the vines are planted alongside grasses and other plants to promotes insect and animal diversity: a small-scale nature reserve.

Begun, or rather re-started, in the mid-2000s, at the time the natural wine movement combined traditional farmers and those moving away from the cities with a certain vision. It was the film director, Jonathan Nossiter who really brought natural wines into the spotlight, however, with his book Cultural Insurrection: A Manifesto for the Arts, Agriculture, and Natural Wine. As he wrote, it’s all about “the protection of biodiversity, the preservation of that biodiversity for new generations via cultural transmission, the promotion of a human and fraternal ethic, an emphasis on qualitative rather than purely quantitative democratization”. We talk about animal agriculture a lot when it comes to the future of farming, but livestock are not the only issue, as Rachel Carson showed only too well in Silent Spring. But it was Nossiter who reminded us: “We’ve forgotten that it’s agriculture – sedentism and faith in the future – that enabled the birth of human civilization”.

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Additionally, in the same way as certain foods help our liver to cleanse and stay in optimum condition, so there are herbs which work similarly:

Milk Thistle A traditional liver tonic, milk thistle is rich in silymarin, an anti-inflammatory antioxidant with immune system supportive properties. Studies have shown the beneficial effect of milk thistle in treating both alcoholic liver disease and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, with other studies suggesting a lower risk of liver cancer, also.

Liver Health and Awesome Antioxidants

Even if you drink natural wines, of course, you’re still consuming alcohol, and alcohol, sugar, and fat all make our liver work more intensely. If you overindulged in December in one or all of these, then why not try a few of the following foods to restrengthen that amazing organ and help detoxify for the year ahead, so that the liver can continue assisting your metabolism, energy levels, and support your immune system in these ongoing Covid times.

Artichoke Rich in cynarin and chlorogenic acid, artichokes help the liver in its detoxification processes, providing protection against oxidative stress and reducing overall risk of liver damage.

Burdock Root TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine) has a long history of using burdock root as a liver tonic – and not for nothing. Rich in antioxidants and brilliantly antiinflammatory, studies have shown it protects the liver from damage by toxins.

Curcumin Turmeric’s active compound, curcumin is antiinflammatory and protects the body from free-radical damage. Frequently used in Ayurvedic medicine, supplements which combine curcumin with piperine are best, the black pepper compound increasing absorptive capabilities.

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Broccoli Sprouts Similar to other cruciferous veg, broccoli sprouts are rich in sulforaphane, a detoxifying compound that assists – you guessed it – the liver in doing its detox thing.

Grapefruit High in naringin (metabolised as naringenin), an anti-inflammatory antioxidant, it is thought grapefruit can help reduce risk of cirrhosis and hepatic fibrosis, as well as generally metabolise alcohol and offset some of its damaging effects.

Blueberries Rich in anthocyanins, blueberries protect against oxidative stress and – like cranberries – help reduce liver damage and risk of hepatic fibrosis.

Beetroot Juice A traditional remedy for activating liver enzymes and increasing bile, beetroot juice is high in betalains – compounds that reduce inflammation in the body and – yes – help reduce liver damage.

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The Seriousness of Stress: Mental Health & Battling Burnout According to the World Health Organisation, 264 million people worldwide live with depression.

Each year in England alone, 1 in 4 people experiences a mental health problem. On a weekly basis, 1 in 6 will suffer from ongoing anxiety and/or depression. Indeed, every week 8 in 100 people are newly diagnosed with such, according to Mental Health Resource. And in a person’s lifetime, 1 in 5 of us with have suicidal thoughts, 1 in 14 of us will self-harm, and 1 in 15 of us will actually attempt suicide. Women are more likely to do so than men, but men are three times as likely to succeed. In fact, it is the number one killer of men under the age of 50.

Our minds, then, are critical and are in a precarious position.

Nonetheless, only 2.7% of mental health research is funded by public donations, according to MQ. There might have been a spotlight shone on the state of young people’s mental health in recent months, given that 1 in 7 children in 2020 were diagnosed with a mental health condition, but overall the situation and the support system is not ameliorating fast enough. It is better than it was, certainly, and there is an openness to the reality

of psychological conditions that did not exist even a decade ago – yet, is it wider public acceptance of mental health problems that is seeing the stats we do today, or is there a source cause in the very way we live our lives in the twenty-first century that is to blame for an increase in those psychologically suffering?

The world today is a hypercompetitive one: is it any wonder there’s been a tidal wave of anxiety disorders?

Biological mental illness aside, mental health disorders are arising more frequently as society looks for coping mechanisms to a way of life evolution surely didn’t mean to bring us to (one only has to look to the lack of synchrony with our circadian rhythms to understand there had to be a fallout at some point). Multiple lockdowns might have afforded us some thinking time, but even that period of isolation wasn’t natural and led to dire loneliness and cave syndrome in some people. Now that we’re back on the treadmill of a bustling life, though, what have we learnt? Or have we gleaned nothing from our WFH sojourn?

“Crisis… is an attempt to dislodge us from a toxic status quo and constitutes an insistent call to rebuild our lives on a more authentic and sincere basis.”

- Alain de Botton, The School of Life: An Emotional Education

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More happily, selfawareness is a bit of a thing at the moment, and is becoming a frequent practice to fall back upon in order to survive these challenging times.

There are signs, after all; certain ticks and tells that our body (and our minds) give us, so that we go, “Oh, right: time for a mental health day”. And this is simply wonderful that we have reached this point of self-understanding, and acceptance. You might not be the sort who considers taking an extra adaptogen or rustling up a superboost smoothie so as to recharge, but self-care can sometimes be solely some extra sleep and a favourite pot of tea in silence. We are all unique – that is the beauty of the human race, its diversity. Of course we don’t all fit the box or suit the same societally dictated schedule; what sane animal ever could (or should)?

Warning Signs of Imminent Burnout 1

You've always got a deadline. Life is forever urgent.

2

You frequently forget to eat because you’re so busy.

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You’re unable to delegate: without you, everything would crumble.

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You don’t have time for rest and relaxation.

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Despite success, you haven’t got the time to celebrate and find no enjoyment in doing so.

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Poor sleep, fast pulse, rapid breathing, disordered thoughts: this is stress.

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You don’t ponder, you react – everything is an assault on you personally.

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Cortisol has turned you into a veritable emotional rollercoaster.

Survival mode is all good and well for a brief while, but after a time the nervous system is impacted, and our hypothalamus, pituitary gland, and adrenals become overworked.

Continued cortisol release (the stress hormone) leads to the breakdown of muscle protein and release of amino acids into the bloodstream. Its usual purpose is to regulate blood pressure and assist heart function and the immune system when fighting infections and inflammation. When we’re stressed, though, the fight-orflight mode never gets switched off and so, instead of supporting the body, cortisol causes a range of issues, from hypertension and anxiety to depression and chronic fatigue, even infertility and weight gain, as well as insomnia (among other problems).

Stress itself can be a killer.

Systematic inflammation is signalled by a constantly sore and stiff body, aches and pains felt in the joints and muscles on a daily basis; that brain fog shrugged off as not enough caffeine after working late nights on a deadline, but which has become a more common occurrence lately, is actually a sign of brain inflammation come from stress and a lack of sleep. And no, it is not a normal part of the ageing process.

Inflammation in the body can also raise cholesterol levels and C-reactive protein production, leading to heart problems.

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Rebalancing with a Handful of Herbal Remedies If your nervous system has gone out of balance, take back control and try some of the following for an infusion to reset and restore:

Skullcap Good for muscle tension relief, skullcap is anti-inflammatory and assists blood flow generally. If you find yourself suffering from tension headaches, this will help you relax.

Traditionally used in European and Native American medicine, skullcap is thought beneficial in the treatment of insomnia, anxiety, hysteria, and even epilepsy.

Passionflower Anti-anxiety, anti-inflammatory, and mildly sedative, passionflower is traditionally used in Latin America for muscle pain and bruising, but also for insomnia. Containing quercetin, its antioxidant properties powerfully protect against free radicals, too.

Albizzia Otherwise known as the Tree of Eternal Happiness, both the bark and flowers are used – and have been for many centuries – as a calming sedative. TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine) uses it for people suffering from anxiety and depression, believed to enhance neurotransmitter secretion and regulation.

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Nevertheless, remember, as modernday philosopher Alain de Botton has explained, that normalcy is but a myth and – not that any of us want to go there – breakdowns can be an important stepping-stone from one life stage outgrown or ill-fit to an entirely new platform for living, to a point.

Breakdowns, he suggests, should not be viewed as “a failure of our growthprocess”, but instead as “assuring evidence of our ongoing search for better understanding and tending to ourselves”. In other words, “it is an attempt to jump-start a process of getting well – properly well – through a stage of falling very ill”. And society as it stands is making too many of us very, very unwell.

Of course, there are things we can do to help ourselves before tumbling into the abyss. Even going to sleep and waking up one hour earlier has been shown to have a marked effect on improving mental health. A recent study in JAMA Psychiatry showed a 23% reduced risk of depression in those who got some shut-eye 60 minutes earlier than usual and who rose earlier the next morning by the same amount of time - the early bird catches the (happiness) worm and all that… Yet, the study didn’t necessarily take into consideration sleep chronotypes.

Sleep chronotypes are sleeping pattern personality types. Unlike women’s magazine personality tests, sleep chronotypes are up to 42% determined by our genetics, according to researchers at the University of Colorado, Boulder and at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, who analysed the genetic data, prescription records, and medical surveys of approximately 840,000 people.

However, over half of our sleep chronotype is determined by lifestyle.

This gives hope to night owls, who could do with a shift to an early bird’s habits. Indeed, a previous 2018 study published in the Journal of Psychiatric Research found that, from 32,000 participatory female nurses, those who rose earlier were about 27% less likely to develop depression over the four-year study.

In general, it is recommended that children aged 6 to 12 get between 9 and 12 hours sleep per night, while teens aged between 13 and 18 should have roughly 8 to 10 hours, and that those aged between 18 and 64 try to get between 7 and 9 hours sleep every night. Over 65 years of age, between 7 and 8 hours of sleep are thought to be optimal each night. Of course, and here’s the rub, life doesn’t always permit such an even-keel sleep schedule.

That’s where napping can be a boon.

A short nap, between 30 minutes and one hour, can offset the negative effects of sleep deprivation, providing an energy boost. It might not correct longterm sleep deprivation itself, but a nap will refresh body and mind enough to lessen any impairments from fatigue. After just 20 minutes, we can enter the slow-wave sleep stage – the deepest and most restorative cycle of our sleep. Such power napping (also referred to as “micro-napping”) has been shown to aid the physical performance of athletes, as well. A full REM sleep cycle, though, would require at least 90 minutes to be set aside for “napping” – not exactly practical.

Nevertheless, adequate sleep on a continued basis helps support heart health, the immune system, brain function, and overall general health: in other words, don’t skimp on sleep.

One reason for increased insomnia cases is hyper-stimulation (remember, this is a hyper-competitive world). So it makes perfect sense that more of us our tuning out to white noise and natural soundscapes, whether rain on headphones or strolling through the trees whilst forest-bathing. A non-scheduled alternative to booking another exercise class (even if it is yoga), just being in the present, surrounded by sound entirely non-reminiscent of the hustle and bustle can do wonders for the soul – and, by extension, our disposition for sleep and a stress-free life, thriving rather than simply surviving.

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Sleep Chronotypes: What’s Yours?

When someone asks what type of person you are with regard to being your best self in the morning or at night, the automatic response is like the toss of a coin, two-sided and either-or in response: early bird or night owl. According to a 2019 study, however, the variety in circadian rhythm fluctuation across different persons and when they feel sleepy within a 24-hour period actually exhibits two other sleep personality-types, or chronotypes, in addition to the morning and the evening: the afternoon and the napper.

Cortisol is a wakefulness hormone, while melatonin is a canceller of that effect so that we can sleep. Cortisol production promoted by daylight and melatonin by darkness, they nevertheless fluctuate besides such stimulus throughout each day – and that’s what determines a sleep chronotype, outside of and in addition to genetic cause, the age factor, and one’s environment. The pandemic and the necessary WFH lifestyle might have changed our sleep patterns somewhat, but essentially which type are you?

Early Bird (The Morning Type)

Night Owl (The Evening Type)

You wake before the alarm, never sleep in on weekends, and can quite happily work away from first light. Physically, this means your cortisol release happens earlier than average in a 24hour period. However, by extension, it also means your melatonin is released earlier in the evening and so you’re known for going to bed relatively early.

You love that snooze button, don’t you? Not one for meaningful conversation of a morning, your true energy sparkles as the sun dips once more beneath the horizon’s edge. Inversely to early birds, your cortisol is being released far later than most folk, while your melatonin release stage might not occur before midnight’s struck and most others had hit the sack long ago (or turned into pumpkins).

The Afternoon Type

The Napper Type

Most alert in the afternoon, mornings aren’t particularly your favourite part of the day, but from 5pm onward you’re feeling tired again. Very much a daytime person, then, you pretty much suit the modern work schedule and couldn’t possibly imagine drafting documents pre-dawn, nor slogging through preparatory work for tomorrow’s meeting after supper. And that’s okay: you do you.

You’re a bit of enigma: perky as an early bird in the mornings, and content to keep up with the night owls for as long as you can come the night, the napper can do what they do in seeming Energiser-bunny style because between roughly 2pm and 3pm they steal a bit of shuteye to recharge (we won’t tell if you don’t). However, the body battery boost won’t last long after 10pm.

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Good Mood Food for Grey Days Nutritional psychology looks more closely at the relationship between our dietary and nutrient intake patterns and the effects on our mood, our behaviour, and mental health. Mind-body nutrition, then: that essential symbiotic connection. Through conscious reappraisal of our habits – a guided journey to develop perception, cognition, and our psychological skillset – that assessment of our DMHR (Diet-Mental Health Relationship) can result in an epiphanic moment of discovery of why it is we feel the way we do about ourselves, brain, body, and beyond.

A 2019 study in European Neuropharmacology: the journal of the European College of Neuropsychopharmacology stated that “the scientific evidence demonstrating the unequivocal link between nutrition and mental health is only beginning to emerge”. In other words, just like new discoveries orbiting around the central place of our gut microbiome in overall health, we are on the cusp of enlightenment in general when it comes to physical wellbeing and optimum psychological health. Indeed, Giuseppe Grosso’s 2021 study, ‘Nutritional Psychiatry: How Diet Affects Brain through Gut Microbiota’ posited that research into the “gut-brain-axis” is facilitating development of the new discipline of “nutritional psychiatry” against a background setting of “the ‘stressogenic’ environment we live in”.

Let’s face it: today is not yesterday; it certainly isn’t the past that was everyday life for our ancestors. Just as we are genetically mismatched with industrialised seed oils, so we are struggling in the exceedingly competitive society that we have created. Our genetic heritage does not suit the new and jarring rhythms of the “information revolution” that has taken place in the past half century: the longer days (hello, electricity), the hours upon hours sat static in front of blue-lit screens of computers and Smartphones, the not just creeping urbanization but seeming countryside obliteration of expanding bounds of cities and their commuter belts; the suburbs become the “new green” landscape. When you talk to a child and ask them what they think of when they consider the Earth and their response is houses and roads, you know you have a real disconnect and a critical problem for tomorrow.

In fact, that problem is here today and – climate considerations aside – it is a psychological one.

So grave is the issue that it has been projected that by 2030 the leading cause of “disease burden globally” will be mental health. A 2021 Spanish study published in the journal Nutrients stated that, in Catalonia, “only 14% of people over the age of 15 consume five or more servings of F&V [fruit and vegetables] a day”. The situation is similar in the US and Europe, with some 200lb of meat being eaten by the average American in just one year.

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The anti-inflammatory benefits of a plant-based diet have been well-publicised, but when it comes especially to helping our mood, there are certain foods that are great for our emotional well-being (and no, we don’t mean a plate full of cookies; though, occasionally, a sweet treat harms no-one).

Wholegrain bread

Fortified wholegrain bread is a good source of B vitamins, crucially important for brain health, as well as carbohydrates metabolization for energy. B vitamins also assist with stress management.

Avocado

Depression being linked to a deficiency in folate, avocados provide a delicious source of it. Additionally rich in antioxidants, this is one food with heart-healthy fats that you want to be including in your diet.

Porridge

Rich in soluble fibre, which helps regulate blood sugar (and mood) in similar vein to berries – oats also contain selenium and cholesterollowering beta-glucans.

Berries

Full of fibre, slow-digesting fibre helps stabilise blood sugar, which helps us avoid sudden dips and low mood.

From flavonoid-plenteous blueberries to raspberries, add some to a serving of soya yogurt at the breakfast table.

Tomatoes

Containing lycopene, which has been connected to reduced risk of depression, why not serve up a salad of tomatoes and avocado?

Chia Seeds

Hello, Omega-3 fatty acids.

Awesome for brain health and mood regulation, chia seeds have a hearty quantity of magnesium, too, which has been shown to calm the mind and assist that lovely tumble into slumber.

Just Natural Organic Porridge Oats

Just Natural Organic Chia Seeds

500g £1.79

250g £1.99

Find the range in your local health food retailer

Mad for Mushrooms:

the Magic of Mycology Fungi are unique, their own category. They are neither plant nor animal, but some of the most ancient living organisms on the planet. And they are as popular as ever right now, not simply as a result of the Fantastic Fungi: The Magic Beneath Us documentary (2019), either.

A Moving Art production directed by Louie Schwartzberg, the essential premise of Fantastic Fungi is the general leitmotif of the entire environmental movement: oneness. We must accept that as humans, as an animal species, we are very much part of the ecosystem that is planet Earth. When we accept that, low and behold we start to care what happens to that ecosystem and the part we truly play in it.

Fungi offer “the wisdom of a billion years”, fossils of mycelium having been found in lava sediments in South Africa, thought to date back some 2.4 billion years. The film concentrates on the work of mycologist Paul Stamets, who owns the factory FUNGI PERFECT 1 in Washington state and who gave the TED Talk “6 Ways Mushrooms Can Save the World” (describing how oyster mushrooms turned an oil spill into an oasis). Stamets is utterly in awe of his specialism: “mushrooms represent rebirth, rejuvenation, regeneration […] Fungi generate soil that gives life”. Indeed, with regard to the environment at large, earth become deadened by years of chemical pesticides and fertilisers, fungi can return it to a nutrient-rich soil; they are “ecosystem engineers”. As for insecticides, there are bug-eating fungi out there, too (including cordyceps; see below).

Suffering from a terrible stutter as a boy, Stamets would stare at the ground in embarrassment – which is how he began finding mushrooms (and fossils). His mycological fascination is mirrored by food journalist and author, Eugenia Bone, who explains, “mushrooms were the window by which I came to understand nature in a deeper way”. She notes that, in contrast to Stamets’ focus on their life-giving qualities, mushrooms symbolise death for many, but that berries too can kill. In other words, fungi are both at the beginning and at the end of life; the unifier of the cycle of existence and interconnector of all beings. As Stamets says, “Mycelium is the mother of all of us”.

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Fungi varieties are myriad, but “mycodiversity is biodiversity”. Indeed, there are over 1.6 million species (six times the number of plants) and new species are being discovered on nearly a daily basis. However, only 20,000 of those produce mushrooms (the sexual organs of fungi, used to reproduce the spore of the fungus). It seems fruitless to list any, given the breadth, yet those of us who cook can note ceps or porcini (Boletus edulis) and chanterelle and girolle (Cantharellus cibarius); we can recognise enoki (Flammulina velutipes) and chestnut and common mushrooms (Agaricus bisporus); and we sometimes hunt down some shiitake (Lentinula edodes), maitake (Grifola frondosa), and oyster mushrooms (Pleurotus ostreatus) for an exotic healthy boost. We might not realise it, but there are sacrobes in our favourite wine, cheese, and beer, as well (sacrobes break down anything hydrocarbon based).

Meanwhile, a penicillin mould runs through Roquefort and blue cheeses.

Then, of course, there are truffles.

Often referred to as “black gold”, truffles are renowned (expensively) for their pungent, umami taste. From wild black or brown truffles (Tuber uncinatum, Tuber aestivum) to Black Périgord (Tuber melanosporum) and white or northern Italian (Tuber magnatum) – truffles are a foodie’s idea of heaven. Resulting from a fungus on tree roots (whether oak, beech, birch, or hazel or other arboreal species), a once thriving truffle industry – using dogs to sniff them out – was, erm, snuffed out by WWI and “dog tax”, as well as loss of biodiversity from modern farming land degradation, through woodland and hedgerow removal. Only a small amount of truffle is needed, though, in order to flavour incomparably-well a bowl of pasta or risotto; it can even simply be grated over tenderly cooked vegetables. Containing up to 30% protein, truffles benefit the gut microbiome (with the complexity of its microbial content) and also protect the liver, while providing anti-inflammatory benefits and immune system support.

Worth the investment, in our opinion.

Culinary considerations aside, however, there are some mushrooms which are chosen for their medicinal properties, rather than as gastronomic delicacies:

Turkey Tail

(Trametes versicolor)

Cordyceps

(Cordyceps militaris)

Lion’s Mane

(Hericium erinaceus) Used primarily for healthy brain function and the regeneration of our neurons due to the NGF (nerve growth factor) content, lion’s mane mushrooms are rich in immunemodulating antioxidants, as well.

Otherwise known as caterpillar fungus, cordyceps is lauded for its energy promoting benefits. Increasing ATP via adenosine and cordycepin stimulation, in TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine) cordyceps is used for asthma and lung-related issues. The most expensive mushroom in the world is cordyceps sinensis, selling at $20,000 [c. £15,088] per kilogram in Asia…

Chaga

(Inonotus obliquus)

Reishi

(Ganoderma lingzhi) Historically believed some 2,000 years ago to promote “immortality”, the mushroom’s polysaccharides are thought to provide immunity support, as well as aid sleep and reduce stress and related fatigue.

Taoist monks have long used reishi for calm in meditation.

Not technically a mushroom, chaga is nonetheless praised for its digestive and skin-clearing properties. Rich in antioxidants, it is thought to help immune function and provide liver support and even increase longevity. Actually a woody canker (or “sclerotium”), chaga is commonly found in the northern hemisphere on birch trees. First used medically in Russia in the 16th century (as a tea for stomach complaints and as described in Solzhenitsyn’s Cancer Ward), it is thought that the main part of chaga is not actually mycelium, but birch wood fibre (including the betulin and betulinic acid).

The mushroom that is believed to have beaten Stamets’ mother’s breast cancer, turkey tail mushrooms stimulate cytokine production, which increases the number of our body’s natural killer cells. One of the most well-researched mushroom, turkey tail has one of the highest concentrations of beta-glucans of all mushrooms.

Shiitake

(Lentinula edodes) Superb for cardiovascular health, shiitake mushrooms also assist liver function and immunity. Great in cooking, the Ming Dynasty in China considered this mushroom “the elixir of life”. Replete with B vitamins, shiitake grow on beech and oak trees and are believed to promote longevity, too.

Maitake

(Grifola frondosa) Most suitable for lowering blood pressure, maitake also bolster the immune system by stimulating lymphocyte production (such as t-helper cells). justnaturalhealth.co.uk | Just Natural Health & Beauty

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The Portsmouth News recently reported that, by 2026, mushrooms will play a key role in matters of immunity, whether eaten, taken as supplements, or powdered into drinks. They’re also due to assist us in plastic riddance and the “smart farming revolution”. Considered “brain boosters”, it is perhaps the vitamin D factor that has captured, um, minds most recently, in the fight against Covid. Marks & Spencer even released “functional mushrooms”, enriched with vitamin B6 to reduce fatigue, in addition to a higher than usual vitamin D content.

In the words of the UK and Ireland Mushroom Producers, “nature has been our pharmacist for thousands of years”.

They are, quite literally, a superfood. From anticarcinogenic properties to lowering bad cholesterol and even oral health – if you’re not mad for mushrooms right now, then you need to catch up. Naturally rich in selenium (beneficial for not just immunity, but healthy thyroid function), mushrooms possess that sought-after umami flavour which means those on a low-sodium diet can still feel as if their dishes are flavourful and not lacking in the taste stakes. And the plant-based alternative scene is looking into fungi-based vegan options for prawns, sushi, and calamari according to Vegconomist. Chicago-based start-up Aqua Culture Foods, for instance, uses microbial fermentation technology to create its whole-muscle seeming seafood products.

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At the same time, London Nootropics released its range of three all-natural adaptogenic coffees in 2020, blending adaptogenic mushrooms with other adaptogens, such as rhodiola, Siberian ginseng, and ashwagandha.

Meanwhile, Fungtn (the Fungtional Brew Company) has produced the first adaptogenic alcohol-free and vegan beer, using – you guessed it – functional mushrooms.

Founded by Zoey Henderson, they predominantly use Reishi, Lion’s Mane, and Chaga mushrooms for their brews. Essential for both cognitive and neuronal health, BDNF (Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor) is particularly stimulated by the erinacines and hericenones in Lion’s Mane. All these mushrooms, though, as well as Cordyceps, have been found in animal studies to improve BDNF and potentially lessen depressive symptoms and stress markers. Chaga is also replete with antioxidants such as triterpenes, polyphenols, and superoxide dismutase.

Henderson, certainly, is self-descriptively excited by “the future of fungi”. As she says, “mushrooms and mycelium are coming back into the light”: where research into medicinal mushrooms might take us in the healing practices of tomorrow will no doubt be illuminating.

The not-so-magical side of all this (depending on how you look at it), then, is medical mycology, an “area of urgent medical need, with more than 1.5 million deaths worldwide each year caused by fungal infections”, according to the MRC Centre for Medical Mycology at the University of Exeter. That’s a higher fatality than malaria.

This is because “of all microbial pathogens of humans, fungi are the least well studied and understood”.

Indeed, Covid highlighted the lack of research even more, in severe cases the “invasive pulmonary aspergillosis” become a complication of the virus when Patients were in intensive care units, a worldwide occurrence in fact. The situation was the worst in India, headlines reading “Deadly black fungus threatening India’s Covid-19 patients”. Research has since found that the coronavirus does increase risk of susceptibility to mucormycosis, “referred to as Covid-19 associated mucormycosis (CAM)”. Nonetheless, a study published in 2021 in the Lancet Infectious Diseases journal had found that 82.5% of patients with reported CAM were diabetes sufferers (one of the most prevalent conditions in India). In comparison, only 34% of those who had invasive pulmonary aspergillosis had diabetes.

A study published in the journal Nutrients last year looked at the impact of the beta-glucan content of mushrooms on human health, finding that on a cellular level fungi extract could be of use in the treatment of “recurrent infections of the respiratory tract or complications of major surgery”. Furthermore, in addition to “promising application of beta-glucans [..] on cancer”, researchers would like further opportunity to undertake human studies specifically in the betaglucans of mushrooms, in comparison to those of oat and barley. It is believed there could be protection offered to the cardiovascular system, also, due to mushrooms’ “bioactive phenolic compounds, vitamins, and mineral elements”.

In Fantastic Fungi, the medical mycological focus is on psilocybin, that area of psychedelic research shut down during Richard Nixon’s war on drugs. The files not reopened until 1999, it is hoped now that studies into psilocybin’s benefits to cancer patients and those with debilitating depression can be advanced, as trialled at John Hopkins University. What psilocybin permits is a gateway to the infinite and a loss of the fear of death for patients. The “stoned ape hypothesis” having been proposed by ethnomycologist Dr Dennis McKenna and his brother, Charles, Dennis explains that “two million years is nothing when it comes to evolution” and that “language is essentially synaesthesia”, prompted by a trip on mushrooms. After all, mycelium networks are basically memory membranes and the brain’s plasticity provides possibilities of neurogenesis.

The Mayans, that ancient mycophillic culture, even had mushroom stones to worship. Ethnomycology looks at the historic and sociological uses of fungi, notably psilocybin. Pioneered as a serious field of study by Robert Gordon Wasson in the late 1950s, the McKennas furthered Wasson’s research.

Yet, mycelium is also being used to craft furniture and coffins and even “create habitats in lunar missions”. Sci-Fi fans amongst our readership are probably right now thinking, “Well, yes: Space is the final frontier, after all”… But to return to Fantastic Fungi, Michael Pollan, author of This Is Your Mind on Plants, and also author of The Omnivore’s Dilemma (as well as he of the muchrepeated mantra “Eat food, not too much, mostly plants”), finds himself explaining that “if we didn’t have fungi, we would have a blanket of plant matter that would choke the Earth”. The Omnivore’s Dilemma was critiqued back in 2006 upon its release,

by Tyler Cowen for The Slate. However, rather than dive too deep into Pollan’s exploration of the use of fossil fuels to process corn to feed livestock (as well as humans), instead of utilising the sun to grow grass to feed the livestock in the “supply chain” or how when transportation costs are taken into account imported Chilean grape consumption becomes the equivalent of petroleum drinking – it is in his more recent The Botany of Desire (2001) in which he discusses the concept of “co-evolution”, how humans have a historic and ongoing evolutionary relationship with four plants in particular: apples, tulips, marijuana, and potatoes, fitting – respectively – our appetite for sweetness, beauty, intoxication, and control. Where, then, does fungi fit in?

In one breath, 10 fungal spores can be inhaled without us knowing. Certainly, biomimicry inventor, Jay Harman believes mycelium are the dominant species. Stating that mycelium have “more networks than our brain has neural pathways”, similarly working with electrolytes and electrical pulses along a network design that rivals the intricacy of the internet, Dr Suzanne Simard of the University of British Colombia adds that plants put 70% of the carbon dioxide they ingest below the surface, where once stable it can be stored for thousands of years – what lay underneath our feet is another world, absolutely full of potential. For one thing, research is beginning to show that plants can recognise their own kin…

In fact, the IUCN together with Re:Wild has called for fungi to be recognised as “critical to protecting and restoring Earth”, focussing initial efforts on the situation in Chile. Stating that fungi need to be worked into conservation strategies, that “there would be no life […] without fungi”, the IUCN and Re:Wild have identified “yeast, moulds, and mushrooms [as being] critical to decomposition and forest regeneration, mammalian digestion, carbon sequestration, the global nutrient cycle, antibiotic medicine, and the bread, beer, and chocolate we consume.”

In short, without mycelium, we would not be the species we are today. We split from mycelium some 650 million years ago, dividing into fungi and animals. Now, as a higher-consciousness being, isn’t it time we returned to our interconnected roots and reintegrated the marvellous mysteries of fungi and mushrooms into all that we do today and, importantly, tomorrow?

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According to Empathy.co, some 35% of us in Britain shop only for “responsible brands” when doing our online shopping (whether guiltily, still wrapped in a dressing gown and seeking a little high from a spot of retail therapy, or not….).

While, in comparison to 62% of decisions about food and drink being dictated by their sustainability and eco-friendly credentials, what we buy for ourselves otherwise is 52% determined by ethics, both environmental and humanitarian.

However, a recent study conducted by The Vegan Society found that 95% of us here in the UK want more vegan fashion.

Apparently, 97% of us also want more vegan-certified toiletries and cosmetics, even though, as of August last year, of the 55,611 products registered under the Vegan Trademark, already 24,117 of those were cosmetics and toiletries (circa 43%). Fashionwise, in 2019 the market worldwide for women’s vegan clothing and accessories was worth an estimated £289 billion, and it is predicted that by 2027, that figure will have reached £799 billion.

Countries are cottoning on to the fact that people no longer want to be buying products begotten from animal suffering.

With Ireland’s fur ban due to be fully implemented this year (the Prohibition of Fur Farming Bill first passed in 2019), it will become the 15th European country to ban fur. The cruelty of such a trade is evident. Take mink, for example: solitary and highly territorial animals that thrive in watery environs, to place these creatures in cramped cages tightly packed next to other mink, all to harvest their fur, is unconscionable. However, the fundamental ethics of mink fur farms was somehow secondary to fears of Covid-19 spreading through them and potentially infecting more humans, and the mass cull of mink infected with the virus in the Netherlands made headlines.

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Meanwhile, Heller-Leder – the globally recognisable name in leather – has teamed up with Bolt Threads, makers of mushroom leather Mylo. Really. HellerLeder, the conventional tannery of choice for outfitting Porsche, has not worked with another material in its entire 100year history. Bolt Threads has said that the partnership came about due to Mylo’s “quality, functionality, and durability” comparable to animal-sourced leather.

Later this year, we’ll apparently see further Mylo collaborations with Adidas, Lululemon, and Stella McCartney, following the latter’s Mylo bag debut at Paris Fashion Week last year, subsequent to a duo of garments crafted from the material. Mylo’s Director of Sustainability, Libby Sommer, explained the recent success of mushroom leather succinctly: “A planet of 10 billion people cannot live like a planet of 1 billion people”.

In other words, needs must.

Certainly, vegan inroads aren’t the remit of haute couture only.

Even H&M has gotten in on the act, its first collection using alternatives to animal-sourced materials having gotten the nod of approval from PETA. The Co-Exist Story range of clothing from the fast-fashion store claims “the future of fashion is stylish and animal-free”. A key component of H&M’s new range is FLWRDWN, a “cellulosic material created with natural wildflowers”, as used in its newly available puffer jackets, padded trousers, and reversible quilted shoulder bags. Another new material is VEGEA, which comprises upcycled grape skins, stalks, and seeds from vineyards.

And ECONYL fibre has been fabricated from regenerated nylon sourced from discarded fishing nets and scraps of fabric.

Yet, what of “vintage” finds on the high street, as can be sourced by the pennies-minding consumer looking to craft an identity that doesn’t cost a fortune? Those who loathe mainstream fast-fashion (for atrocious worker exploitation for the most part, if nothing else) swear by thrifting. After all, buying second-hand clothes from charity shops is one way of avoiding waste on this dustbin of a planet we’ve been turning the Earth into. Instead of increasing our carbon footprint, thrifting reduces it, as it diminishes the new products being made. But can one still self-classify as vegan if wearing thrifted wool or leather?

When it comes to discovering the holy grail of vêtements on the rack you’ve painstakingly searched through, and it’s made from an animal – whether leather, wool, fur, or even silk – what is to be done? Do you leave the item for another, omnivorous soul to acquire, or do you purchase it yourself? And just how eco-friendly are synthetic materials in comparison?

Intention is one aspect, of course. If you’re purposefully out shopping for a leather jacket, then perhaps your veganism is more dietarily than ethically directed.

Nonetheless – the new breed of vegan clothing lines utilising sustainable materials aside – wearing polyurethane leather and cable-knit sweaters of plastic in lieu of wool are not harmless actions in themselves. A large proportion of oceanic microplastics come from laundering acrylic jumpers, nylon leggings, and poly-blend jeans. As for the durability of such clothes, some consumers believe if recycled there’s no harm done: quite the opposite. Fossil fuel-derived clothing can take up to 200 years to biodegrade in landfills. Conversely, leather gloves and woollen coats seem to last in a wearable state for decades, and can be handed down to family members, as well, instead of piling up discarded like fast fashion.

Another case in point are jeans, our beloved denim. Whereas jeans once were dyed with indigo from the Indigofera plant, now it is synthetic indigo that is employed, a manmade replacement that consists of chemicals, including formaldehyde. Some 40,000 tonnes of indigo are massproduced each year for the jeans industry, a single pair requiring 150g and using up 7,600l of water through the process. As it degrades, formic acid and carbon monoxide are released into the atmosphere. And the factory that produces the dye? Often, the run-off pollutes the local water supply, killing aquatic species and sickening local people.

That said, in the autumn last year Wrangler released a line of sustainable denim in collaboration with the Infinited Fibre Company that utilised recycled “Infinna” fibres (made from cellulose and textile waste) foam-dyed by an in-house developed “Indigood” technology. As a result, the company claimed a 99% reduction in wastewater and 60% reduction in energy usage. Infinited Fibre Company’s aim is to “unlock a new level of circularity in the textile industry” as a whole.

Considered from these angles, it’s clear that coveting a cashmere cardigan at an Oxfam shop doesn’t mean that that tofu katsu was a fruitless choice for lunch. Rather, it respects the fact that an animal’s life was lost for the garment, a life-in-fabric that shouldn’t languish on the rails.

Circular fashion before the term was made popular; a circularity to mirror the cycle of life itself. Furthermore, thrifting counteracts wastefulness and an entire era of disposability that has to a certain extent landed us in the environmental (toxic) mess we’re in. justnaturalhealth.co.uk | Just Natural Health & Beauty

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Bio Resonance – finding the root cause of your health issues

Are you feeling less than 100% and fed up with your doctor telling you there is nothing wrong, that your bloods all look fine..? Sound familiar? Then, perhaps it’s time to look at an alternative approach with Bio Resonance.

First, though, it’s helpful to understand a little about how it works.

Quantum physics has revealed that all particles of matter vibrate and emit electromagnetic waves at frequencies that can be measured and influenced.

Each cell and group of cells in the human body has its own specific frequency which can be detected and measured using Bio Resonance equipment. Researchers have recorded optimal, healthy frequencies which can be compared to personal frequencies. Variances between the two values can then help practitioners identify health issues, thereby finding the root cause of health issues. Subsequently applying a corrective frequency can help restore function and reduce stress-related inflammation, thus helping the body to self-heal.

Applying a known frequency to particles in order to achieve a desired result is nothing new. When a specific

frequency is applied to water molecules, they get excited and oscillate (vibrate) at a faster rate, causing them to heat up. We generally use this to our advantage in the form of a microwave oven. And did you know that many reservoirs, lakes, and ponds are kept algae-free by installing a device that emits micro waves at a frequency which excites the molecules in the algae’s cell walls? This damages the structure, causing the algae to die off and leave the water clear.

EfficientSonics.com make a device that does this.

Bio Resonance equipment can be used to collect the frequencies your body is emitting and can also detect the presence of mould, fungi, bacteria, parasites, or viruses, all of which produce toxins, in addition to our daily toxin exposure from our environment.

This challenges our immune systems

Peter Jackson CNM Nutritional Therapist & Bio Resonance Practitioner

I have been in the health industry for most of my life and much of that as a nutritional therapist.

In 2015, I got Lyme disease on a trip to Devon.

Bio Resonance helped me recover from Lyme disease and this equipment is now an integral part of my daily practice. Many people visit my clinic with symptoms for which they have been unable to get a proper diagnosis: my priority is to find out why someone has the symptoms they do and find the root cause. I rely heavily on my Royonex Bio Resonance equipment to help me achieve this.

For more infomation email peter@petershealthproducts.com or visit www.petershealthproducts.com 58

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and compromises optimal health. Bio Resonance equipment is used to send a corrective frequency back into the body to disrupt specific pathogens, thus helping the immune system return the body to optimal health.

The German scientist Dr Alfred Pischinger postulated that the main causes of ill-health are the accumulation of different kinds of toxins in connective tissue, the space between the cells in the tissues of the body. In this scenario, our cells’ ability to receive oxygen and nutrients and to eliminate metabolic waste is compromised and the toxins eventually enter the cells and cause chronic illness. However, one of the great advantages of Bio Resonance is that, by testing for specific frequencies, practitioners can guide you in taking appropriate action and thereby restore your overall health.

Victoria Collar

Bio Resonance Practitioner, Diploma in Anatomy & Physiology

I had a Bio Resonance health screening in 2013 after suffering for years with IBS and Eczema. Frustrated with conventional doctors and seeking the root cause of my health issues, I found Bio Resonance. After completing a course of scans, I had remarkable and measurable improvements in my overall health, especially my digestive and skin issues. For me, this was life- and career-changing.

I wanted to help other people achieve similar results, so I invested in Bio Scan equipment and now offer clinics in Bristol and London.

“I can’t express just how fantastic it is to help my clients go from pain, irritation, and discomfort to being vibrant, fit, and healthy!”

For a free phone consultation, call 07766 307188 www.victoriacollar.com @NutritionAllergyandHealthscreen