THE BLOG

I just wanted to wish all of our customers a happy holiday. Thank you for all your support

throughout the year.

Best wishes from everyone at Food For Thought!

Discover 24 pictures hidden around the town centre, each illustrating a Christmas verse from the King James Bible. This trail leads you around the Advent Calendar. Children will have the chance of winning a prize by collecting the texts illustrated by the pictures in as many windows as possible. Food For Thought will be displaying their advent window from the 15th December.

What is the new sweetener, Stevia, made of and is safe?
Stevia is an intense sweetener derived from stevia rebaudiana, a shrub-like plant indigenous to Paraguay. Its leaves, which look like a cross between basil and mint, contain naturally occurring, sweet-tasting substances that scientists call steviosides.
The leaves are up to 300 times sweeter than ordinary table sugar and have been used for centuries in Paraguayan cooking. However, it wasn’t until 1955 that scientists extracted steviosides and analysed their precise structure.
Japan was the first country outside South America to really embrace stevia. At first people simply used the leaves but from the early Seventies steviosides were extracted from the plant and put in a range of products. Other countries including Australia, New Zealand and Singapore followed.
Authorities in the United States gave the go-ahead for stevia to be used in food two years ago. It can now be found in tabletop sweeteners as well as many other products, including vitamin waters and sports drinks.
Ten days ago Europe also gave it the thumbs up and sweeteners such as Pure Via will arrive in UK stores on Friday. Pure Via consists of naturally sourced bulking agents and stevia, and contains two calories per teaspoon versus 16 calories in a teaspoon of sugar.
Unlike some intense sweeteners on the market, stevia is heat (and pH) stable. This means that it is suitable for cooking. For example, the tabletop version can be used in fruit scones, muffins and biscuits. It also works well in hot chocolate and chai teas.
Another advantage is its “natural feel”. The maker of Pure Via reports that half of its customers in France are new to the low-calorie sweetener market, implying that they are more comfortable with a plant-based intense sweetener than one that has been created in a lab.
It is likely that you will see the new sweetener in everything from “stevia-cubes” and sachets to fruit-flavoured fromage frais, custards, rice puddings, yoghurts and soft drinks. Although Pure Via will offer a wide range of products, Tate & Lyle is also entering the market.
Industry insiders are predicting products that you can put in your sugar bowl and blends of stevia and sugar that will offer an even more natural alternative to sugar. Watch this space.
If you have a nutrition question, e-mailamanda.ursell@thetimes.co.uk

A new study has found that Vegetarians developed notably fewer cancers of the blood, bladder and stomach.
Overall, their results suggested that while in the general population about 33 people in 100 will develop cancer during their lifetime, for those who do not eat meat that risk is reduced to about 29 in 100.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/8127215.stm
The study is published in the British Journal of Cancer.

Fairtrade Sales in the UK grew by 43% to an estimated £700M+, while worldwide sales increased by 22% in 2008 according to a report by the Fairtrade Foundation.

http://www.fairtrade.org.uk/press_office/press_releases_and_statements/jun_2009/global_fairtrade_sales_increase_by_22.aspx

In addition to being paid a price which covers the costs of sustainable production, producer organizations receive a Fairtrade Premium, which allows additional income for community development projects.

Our stores have also seen a jump in interest in Fairtrade products and I’m happy to say that we’re stocking more Fairtrade products than ever before. That’s in no small way thanks to Lisa, the Kingston store manager, who sits on the local Fairtrade committee and has added considerable focus to promoting and stocking fairtraded products across both Food For Thoughts.

Worldwide, the greatest growth areas were in Fairtrade Tea (which doubled), coffee, bananas and cotton. In our stores we haven’t seen much growth in cotton products but we have seen double digit growth in Fairtrade chocolate!

Your Thoughts on the best Fairtraded brands or products?

Alan Martin

Create Your Badge

Hear Alan Martin talking about the fantastic DELO booster caps on Sound Alternatives.   you can catch the full interview by logging into www.bonpom.com.   Not a member yet?   Then now is the perfect time to join.   Life is full of adventures, start yours today!

It might be better for the environment – but reusing your plastic shopping bags could make you sick.   Stuffing your dirty gym kit – or worse – in the same bag you use for your food shopping poses a health risk, a new study shows.

High levels of mould and bacteria were found in dirty reuseable bags, some even contained faecal matter, researchers said.

A third of the bags tested contained unsafe levels of bacterial contamination, the study showed.

People should treat plastic ‘bags for life’ like kitchen chopping boards, said researcher Dr Richard Summerbell, a microbiologist.   ‘People don;t think aof it like that but we shouldworry about hygene,’ he added.

Most of the shoppers’ bags tested were laess than a year old and looked clean – but had never been washed.

Almost two-thirds of them had some bacterial contamination, while new bags were found to be clean.   Supermarket checkout staff mightbe transferring microbes from one bag to another, the rport said.   Doctors should add reusable bags to the list of possible sources of contamination when investigating food poisoning, added Dr Summerbell.

Prof Martin Adams, an expert in food microbiology at University of Surrey, said he was not fully convinced by the findings of the Canadian research but people should still be concerned about the health implications of reusing bags.

He said: ‘It is common sence that if the bag gets wet inside or something leaks then you should clean it.’   His advice was echoed by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Afairs (DEFRA), which is running a campaign to encourage shoppers to reuse their bags.

A spokeswoman added: ‘We wouldn’t recommend using your shopping bags for carrying around dirty gym gear or dirty nappies.’

Would you like to improve your health this summer?
Maximise your health?
Transform your diet?
Learn new healthy cookery skills?
Magalie Papageorge – Nutritional therapist & Food Coach –
will be running a series of Spring/Summer Health Cookery
Workshops/Demonstrations.
Impress friends with mouth-watering recipes?
Spend ½ day learning about healthy cooking techniques, new
foods to include in your diet and enjoy sampling a range of
delicious healthy dishes. I will show you how to transform your
diet with quick and easy nutritious recipes to suit your needs.
SEMINAR 1 – Cooking to improve Energy Levels – I will
show how to use a range of nutrient-dense low/medium GI foods,
alternative ingredients as well as the best protein powder to use
for quick and best results.
Each workshop will focus on a different health topic.
Date: Saturday 6 June 2009. 11am-3pm.
Each session will consist of a 1 hour nutrition information
presentation with 3 hours devoted to the cookery demonstrations
and food tasting.
Each participant will be given a goodie bag with the recipes used
during the cookery demonstration as well as other useful
handouts and a 15% off on your next Nutritional Consultation.
PLACES LIMITED
Price: £65 per person
Tel. 07950291717
Tel. 0845 2252 911 or 0845 2252 811
Email: magalie@vibrantnutrition.co.uk
www.vibrantnutrition.co.uk