Five Super Soups for Autumn

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autumn, bacon, chicken, cold, comfort, decleor, dermalogica, ham, minerals, nutrition, pea, soup, tomato, vitamin A, Vitamin C, wild rice, winter

One of the best things about the changing seasons is the different produce which becomes available and now that the weather is starting to cool down, our thoughts are turning to comfort foods. Soups are excellent in so many ways; not only are they warming and comforting, they’re easy to make, use fresh ingredients and can help us to get several of our five-a-day in one meals. We’ve got five suggestions for seasonal super soups which contain huge amounts of nutrition for our skin and hair whilst making you feel like you’re getting a hug in your bowl!

Butternut Squash with Chilli and Crème Fraiche

Butternut squash is the perfect example of a tasty seasonal offering and epitomises autumn for us here at Pure Beauty. As well as offering an enormous amount of Vitamin A (over 200% of your RDA in just 100g!), the hint of chilli will give you a warming boost and the crème fraiche will give you a creamy touch and a calcium boost without adding millions of unwanted calories.

Tomato Soup with a Grilled Cheese Sandwich

This is probably one of the simplest yet most popular suggestions for soup and is packed with essential vitamins and minerals. The grilled cheese may not be the lowest-calorie option but it won’t hurt to indulge every now and again and the tomatoes contain lots of vitamin C, which is important for cell growth and skin healing.

Pea and Ham Soup

This retro-tastic soup may not be such a popular option these days but you can bring it up to modern day by using split peas and a whole load of bacon! The beauty of soup is that you can add pretty much anything you want to make it to your taste and the saltiness of the extra bacon combined with the freshness of the peas will combine to make a flavour explosion.

Sweet Potato Soup

Sweet potato is another amazing ingredient to use as the base of a soup as it contains a whole load of vitamins and minerals, and gives a sweetness which can be built upon to create an amazing flavour. Experiment with flavours and textures such as avocado and kidney beans for a truly different and tasty creation.

Chicken And Wild Rice Soup

No list of soups is complete without a chicken soup on it, but we’ve gone for something a little different to the usual plain old cream of chicken soup. Chicken and Wild Rice soup has a delicious flavour, a creaminess thanks to the starchy rice and is also super filling and packed with protein. It’s really simple to make and contains at least three of your five-a-day in just one bowl!

Spring Produce – What Should You Be Eating?

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Alzheimer’s, bones, brain, cancer, diet, fibre, food, fruit, hair, health, minerals, nails, nutrition, prevention, produce, seasonal, skin, spring, vegetables, Vitamin C, vitamin K, vitamins

Spring is a fabulous time for year for new fruit and veg as there are a whole bunch of new things in season which are great for your health. Here’s a guide to what’s in season, how they can be eaten and, most importantly, how they benefit your health and beauty regime.

Sorrel

Sorrel is a leafy veg which doesn’t make it into many day-to-day dishes, but it’s actually packed with vitamins and minerals while being very low in calories. It has a unique flavour which is a little bit ‘love it or hate it’, but if it’s your cup of tea it’s great when added to a leafy salad, or can even be chopped finely and used more like a herb to flavour other dishes. It’s full of vitamin C, with half a cup fulfilling your daily needs and also contains many cancer-fighting compounds.

Spring Greens

Probably the most obvious ‘spring’ veg, spring greens (also known as Collard greens in other parts of the world) are similar to kale and are best when cooked down and eaten hot, especially with some lardons and a little red chilli. These are an essential part of your diet if you have any sort of dairy intolerance as they contain high levels of calcium without the need for milk. They are also a great source of dietary fibre, which will reduce the risk of bloating, as well as containing a whole host of other vitamins and minerals.

Radishes

Radishes are largely under-appreciated here in the UK, consigned to being the bit of the salad that no-one eats, but they’re actually a tasty, nutritious and fairly versatile veg. They’re actually used in a lot of ancient medicines for their ability to cool the body and and hydrate the skin and they’re also full of cancer-fighting phytonutrients.

Rhubarb

Rhubarb is a fruit which is best known for being used in crumbles and pies, which is largely because the fibrous fruit (which is technically a veg!) needs to be cooked down a lot to be made palatable, but once you’ve prepared it, it’s both delicious and good for you. Every serving of rhubarb provides 45% of the daily value in vitamin K, which supports healthy bone growth and can limit neuronal damage in the brain, even to the point of Alzheimer’s prevention.

Jersey Royal New Potatoes

Popular opinion of potatoes is largely negative – many people think that potatoes are just a ‘filler’ which contain very little nutrients but this couldn’t be further from the truth. Jersey Royals contain complex carbohydrates which are essential for energy and just 100g of them contain 25% of your daily RDA of vitamin C, which is essential in the diet for maintaining healthy skin, hair, bones, teeth and gums.

Christmas Dinner Beauty Bonuses

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Christmas, dinner, hair, nutrition, skin

With Christmas just around the corner, there’s a good chance that you’ll have started to enjoy seasonal treats and a tipple or two. It may seem like the over-indulgence around the Christmas period is all bad, but there are actually several elements of your Christmas dinner which are very good for you. We’re taking a look at what those elements are and how they benefit your health and beauty:

Brussels Sprouts

Brussels sprouts may be your least favourite part of Christmas dinner but they’re actually packed with things which will contribute to healthy skin, hair and nails, such as vitamin C – in fact, just 100g of Brussels (about 5 sprouts) contain 141% of your recommended daily vitamin C!

Raisins

Raisins are in just about everything at Christmas time, from stuffing to stollen, and although they’re very sugary, they do contain some goodness. As well as being an excellent source of dietary fibre (the thing which will keep you regular after all that marzipan!), they contain potassium which is crucial for heart function and muscular growth.

Parsnips

Parsnips add a lovely sweet flavour to your Christmas dinner, especially when roasted slowly in maple syrup, but they also contain magnesium, which is a powerful compound which can help with glucose regulation, blood pressure regulation, chronic fatigue and healing skin conditions.

Turkey

Turkey is a really underrated meat which a vast number of people only eat once or twice a year, however it has both a low calorie content and a high protein content, making it perfect for anyone hoping to lose weight or build muscle. Protein is also essential for keeping skin clear.

Cranberries

Cranberries were always recommended for use with urinary tract issues, however their effect has recently found to be negligible in this area. However, cranberries have excellent anti-inflammatory properties and contain a huge amount of antioxidants, which are vital in the fight against the signs of aging. So, don’t forget to pile the cranberry sauce on your turkey – your crow’s feet will thank you for it!