Coconutty Pumpkin Soup

It is winter here in NZ, well almost, so what better way to warm up than making a big pot of yummy soup?  I do love soup it has to be said and I could eat it for breakfast, lunch and tea quite happily however lately it has been a bit of a necessity for me as a way to rest my digestive system.

We have been lucky enough to have a free place to park our bus for the past 9 weeks, while himself has been working to restore the railway after earthquakes last year, beside a large paddock of a local Irish Pub.  While we haven’t had to pay for the spot we have felt obliged to spend a bit of money here to keep in the owner’s good books so we have been going out for tea up at the pub at least once a week.  I’ve been thoroughly enjoying not having to cook however my digestive system has had other thoughts.  Being a vegetarian in a small country area has its downsides … namely that there are only a few items on the menu you can have and of these few selections most contain gluten, dairy, a combination of both, or are deep fried.

View from across the paddock back to our bus … the kids love it!

It has been an exercise in having the things that effect me least or trying to just have things sparingly.  Trouble is that I’m not that good at sparingly and I’m really not a have one and be satisfied kind of girl!  So let’s just say that over the past 9 weeks my eating has been very ‘off’ and I am now paying for that prolonged accumulation of foods that my body just doesn’t agree with.  Over the last few days I have been experiencing pain due to diverticulitis (flaring up of diverticular disease) and I completely know why it has reared up …. I only have myself to blame and myself to sort it out.

My main way, and this may not suit everyone, is to rest my system as much as I can until the pain subsides and my body feels ‘normal’ again.  I tend to go liquid for a few days so that my body isn’t having to deal with too much in the way of digestion in the hopes that it will have more time to deal with healing.  So far this has worked, on the few occasions that I have needed it, however the best plan is always to keep my diverticular disease at bay by eating well, exercising and having good fluids.

As it is pumpkin time here, and we New Zealanders love our pumpkins, I have been enjoying making up some pumpkin soup and my latest pots have been a little different after getting a few ideas at a local community dinner.  I usually just love pumpkin soup with a few onions and garlic thrown in, nothing fancy just yummy pumpkiny goodness, however I may have changed that for good after adding some coconut cream and ginger to the mix.  This recipe doesn’t really have any measurements, sorry, aside from 1 tin of coconut cream which you may want to increase if you are making  a large pot of soup. Experiment with what you like using this simple recipe as a base.

Crown Pumpkin

• 1/2 a large Crown Pumpkin (this is the best flavoured pumpkin for soups)
• Ground or fresh ginger
• Garlic
• Veggie stock cube
• 1 can of coconut cream
• Water

– Fry off the garlic in a pot with a little oil

– Add in pumpkin chopped into cubes (should come to almost the top of the pot)

– Pour in coconut cream (should cover 1/2 – 3/4 of the pumpkin in the pot) and then cover the rest of the pumpkin with water

– Bring to the boil and add in the stock and ginger

– Boil until the pumpkin is all soft.

– Take off the heat and mash until you have a thick soup.  You can add more liquid if you like it runny or mash less if you like your soup chunky.

– Enjoy!!

 

Hope this finds you free of pain and full of life.

Arohanui

Y

www.becominghealthy.co.nz

 

 

Five things to quit this year.

Welcome to 2016!!  Hope you are having a fabulous one so far.

I’ve had a great break with the family and decided to ease back into work. So in line wiht that easing here is a cut and paste of a great wee article I saw at the end of 2015.  It is a good reminder about the things that really matter and stay the same year after year.  Thanks Healthy Balance Fitness for the blog post which I have copied below.

Things you should quit this year (Sugar is not one of them!)

Fitness ‘Best of’, Mind body, The Moderation Movement

The top 5 things you should quit to improve your wellness

New Year brings a renewed focus on health goals, and unfortunately so many people feel like they need to quit foods to achieve improved wellness. Over the past few days I’ve heard people saying they’ll quit alcohol, sugar, bread, dairy, gluten… You don’t need to quit these things to be healthy.

A great majority of wellness messages in the media focus on what we need to cut out in order to be healthy. More and more foods are being heralded as the most important thing to quit if you’re going to achieve longevity, happiness, success and the validation of everyone around you.

You don’t need to quit the food you love in order to be happy and healthy. And how you eat does not determine your worth as a person.

Here’s my top 5 things you should think about quitting instead:

#1: Guilt

Try to let go of feeling bad about food, exercise and your body.  Food is morally neutral and neither ‘good’ nor ‘bad’. You can enjoy all foods and still be healthy. Learn instead about mindful or intuitive eating, and a non-diet approach to eating. Similarly let go of feeling bad about inactivity. Try to move most days doing activities you enjoy, but if you have a few inactive days in a row don’t feel bad, just get moving again doing something you love.

#2: Shame

Quit shaming yourself and others for their food choices, their exercise habits and their body. There is more than one path to wellness. We all have to choose our own way.

#3: Comparison

Stop comparing yourself to strangers on the internet. What most people publish online is their most shiny, happy, glamorous moments. Comparing your life to someone else’s highlight reel is a recipe for unhappiness. Also stop comparing your body to others. We’re not all supposed to look the same.

#4: Seeking quick fixes and miracle solutions

Every time I blink there seems to be another ‘miracle’ diet, exercise plan, or supplement that will apparently be the end to all your insecurities and help you find the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. If we all stopped giving our dollars to the celebrities and online salespeople pushing such fads, we’d see a lot less of them! Unfollow the fads, find your own moderation.

#5: Believing you can see wellness

Health and fitness comes in all shapes and sizes. Truly. You cannot tell by looking at someone how fit or well they are. You don’t know if they have strong mental health, absence of illness, physical strength, and stamina or if they have a disordered approach to food, suffer from mental health issues or struggle with fatigue. A person’s size cannot tell you these things. Set yourself wellness goals that are not related to appearance and let go of thinking you can see who is fit by their body size.

By Healthy Balance Fitness (16 December 2015)

 

Hope this finds you exploring an exciting new year.

Arohanui

Y

www.becominghealthy.co.nz