Hello,  

Recipe of the Week

50g white beans, cannellini or haricot, soaked overnight
4 rashers smoked lean-back bacon, cut into strips (optional)
4 small shallots, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
4 large carrots, diced
2 large baking potatoes (approx. 175g), diced
2 x 400g cans chopped tomatoes
2 tbsps small pasta shapes
2 tsps chopped fresh oregano
2 - 3 tsps vegetable stock bouillon powder
black pepper
 

1. After soaking the beans overnight, rinse well and place in a large saucepan with the bacon, shallots, garlic and carrots.
2. Cover with water and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat and simmer gently for 30 minutes, topping up with water as required. Add the potatoes, tomatoes, pasta and oregano. Taste the soup and add sufficient stock powder, adjusting the consistency with more water.
3. Continue to simmer for a further 25 minutes until the beans are soft. Season well with black pepper and serve hot.

Fun, Facts & Fitness from Mary Morris MSc.

As we approach the colder weather, and with rising energy costs for all of us, it gets us thinking about how we might manage the situation. There has been a lot of talk about reducing our room temperatures to save energy, even by just 1 degree, or putting on an extra layer of clothing to help us stay warm. However, it does feel like we have got a bit too used to living in well-insulated cosy environments and rarely subject ourselves to truly feeling cold.  I remember as a child waking up to ice on the inside of the windows and putting on my school uniform under the bed covers!

Strangely, and you may not know this, being that cold occasionally is actually good for our health, and there is much work going on by scientists to find out why.  You may have heard recently of those who take a dip in a freezing cold lake on almost a daily basis or those who have a blisteringly cold shower every morning.  Well, there is mounting evidence as to why this is good for you.

Studies on healthy people who had cold baths three times a week over a 6-week period showed a significant increase in levels of infection-fighting white blood cells in their bloodstream, therefore aiding their immune system. Also, when you exercise outdoors in the winter the cardiovascular system has to work a lot harder.  So, if you are healthy and moderately fit then winter runs or brisk walks can bring you extra benefits to your heart and lung function. This is all good news as we enter the winter months, but there is something else called 'brown fat' that has come into the mix, and is creating considerable interest in the scientific community. 

What is Brown Fat?

This type of fat is found in greater quantities in newborn babies but, unfortunately, as we move into adulthood it significantly decreases.  That's rather annoying as the purpose of brown fat is to burn lots of calories as it contains a large number of iron-containing mitochondria - the energy (calorie) burning engine in our cells. It is found in small supplies at the front and back of the neck and upper back and is often referred to as the 'good' fat as it helps us to burn, (not store), calories. You may now be thinking what I'm thinking, in that if we had loads of brown fat, we would all be slim! 

The other type of fat is called White Fat and is the type of fat that lies just under the skin (adipose tissue) and in and around your vital organs called 'visceral' fat.  As a species, white fat is very important to our survival and has many important uses. It's just a matter of how much of it we have. Visceral fat is considered the most dangerous as it is closely associated with heart disease, diabetes and cancer. 

Monitoring your waist measurement is really important in keeping your fat level in check.  The recommendations are:

• Men:  Less than 40 inches
• Women:  Less than 35 inches   

Put simply, we generate too much white fat by consuming too many calories and spending too few calories.  But then I am sure you know that already!

Can we make our brown fat burn more calories?

Research shows that living in the winter temperatures of the 1950s homes, as I did, boosts the speed at which we burn calories and that may account for us all being a lot slimmer in the 1950s when we suffered much colder conditions.  Basically, when the body is placed into a very cold situation of needing lots of heat quickly, then the body automatically generates more brown fat.  Exciting stuff!  In contrast to that, the most recent research shows that when people over-eat, they not only increase their total amount of white fat, but the overconsumption results in their brown fat not working and therefore not burning the calories.

It is still early days and scientists have a lot more work to do to find ways of increasing the calorie burning of brown fat.  But some basic ideas are starting to gain popularity:

• Reduce the temperature in your home to the recommended level by the World Health Organisation to 20°C.  It has been shown that when the thermostat has been lowered, we adapt quite quickly to the new temperature and begin to feel warmer.
• Exercising outside in cold conditions has significant benefits on your overall health.
• Hands and feet are the areas of the body to be most affected by the cold so insulated gloves and warm socks with waterproof footwear are needed.  I have invested in a good pair of 'Gortex' walking boots.
• There is evidence that we sleep better if the bedroom temperature is close to 14°C.

In the months ahead we are all going to need to find ways of saving energy.  Generating our own 'heat' by taking that brisk walk and getting out of a house that is expensive to heat goes some way to solving the problem.   Make your own heat... keep moving!