The Secret Ingredient: Delicious,easy recipes which might just save your life

exercise - the secret ingredient

I know we’d all like to take a magic pill that will make us healthier and help us to lose weight. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if that pill could also reverse our heart disease, stop us from getting cancer, help us look younger, and actually make our whole lives happier, easier and longer?

Well, there is something that will do all of the above, but it is not in the form of a tablet. You don’t even need to get it on prescription. And it is not so secret after all, although many people seem to have problems realizing how easy it is to do and how fast the benefits will come.

The Secret Ingredient is simply increased physical activity. There’s nothing like it, and there’s nothing that will replace it!

I’m not necessarily talking about joining a gym or getting into pink and purple Lycra, leg warmers and ‘feeling the burn’, but I do practise what I preach and I call it ‘active living’.

When I first came out of hospital after my heart attacks, all I could manage were a few steps to and from my front gate. I couldn’t manage the short walk to pick my son up from school like the other mums, so I had to be inventive to keep up appearances. I would spend all day getting ready. I’d have a shower - then sleep for an hour. Dry my hair - exhausting work - then sleep for two hours. Add a bit of lippy - another nap and it’d be time to go.

I’d get a lift around the corner to the school and would then settle myself on the school bench before all the parents arrived, and when they did, I would smile and wave as if everything were completely normal. I did catch a few looks, as if to say, ‘I thought she was meant to be ill; she looks OK to me!’ I would then manage to stand up to greet my little man as he ran out of school, and give him the big hug that he’d been waiting for. Luckily, he was happy to be walked home by a friend; he didn’t seem too bothered that I didn’t actually walk him home, only that I was there to see him when he first came out of the school door. I would then sit back down on my ‘life-saving’ bench and wait for all the other parents to go before I’d catch my lift back home again.

baby step by baby step

Each time I did this little journey, I was left completely exhausted. Add to this challenge that I also had a nine-month-old baby girl and a very active two-year-old at home. For obvious reasons, I had to have a full-time nanny for a while to do all the physical stuff, but I even found talking to my little ones incredibly tiring. However, because I had started to push myself, baby step by baby step, I soon realized that I was getting stronger. I knew my heart was very damaged, and none of the doctors could give me a positive prognosis for survival at this stage. Thankfully, I started to tune in to my body and listen to what it was telling me. When I felt strong enough, I started to walk for maybe three or four minutes. Other days, I could manage only one or two. Little by little, step by step, I built my strength to the level that I’m at now.

Would you be surprised to hear that I now exercise every day? I swim, I walk, I cycle with the kids. I don’t do anything dramatic, I keep my heart rate nice and steady. I allow myself to get gently out of breath, never gasping, and I still listen to my body. When it tells me it’s time to stop and rest, I do just that.

The good news is that it works. My cardiologists are amazed at my recovery. They cannot believe the levels of fitness that I have achieved and the way my heart is responding. I am so happy that I have taken control of my ‘active living’, and it is having such a positive effect on my health that I wouldn’t want to live my life any other way.

So back to the Secret Ingredient - why don’t you try a bit of active living yourself? Enjoy your food, eat for health by following some of my recipes, then go for a walk! Make a resolution to begin today. Start by just taking a walk around the block. Then build it up slowly, listening to your body. Walk as though you are late for an appointment. When you’re on the telephone, walk around instead of sitting still. Go for a wander in the park at lunchtime. Do your grocery shopping in half the time it usually takes you. Before you know it, you will start to lose a little weight, you’ll start to feel a bit more energetic, and you’ll probably want to try some other activities: cycling, swimming, gardening, dancing, or anything else you enjoy that will get your heart rate up.

Promise yourself you’ll live actively for three months. If you can honestly say after that trial period that you don’t feel 100 per cent better, then quit. But you will feel better, and you won’t quit.

The Secret Ingredient. Try it, you’ll like it - I promise!

easy hummus

everyday

Great as a starter with some toasted wholemeal (whole-wheat) pitta bread or vegetable sticks.

serves 4

2 small garlic cloves, peeled and roughly chopped

1 mild red chilli, deseeded and roughly chopped

400g/14oz can chickpeas, drained and rinsed

4 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil

handful fresh flat-leaf parsley or coriander (cilantro), roughly chopped

juice of ½ lemon

freshly ground black pepper

1 Put the garlic, chilli, chickpeas and 1–2 tablespoons olive oil in a food processor and whiz until completely smooth - this may take several minutes. Add the herbs and a squeeze of lemon juice and whiz again until well blended. Taste and add more lemon juice and olive oil, as needed, plus some black pepper.

2 Spoon into a serving bowl and drizzle over a little more oil, then cover and chill in the fridge until ready to serve.

sardine and olive tapenade

everyday

For a delicious starter, load this tasty tapenade onto small slices of wholemeal (whole-wheat) toast for a flavour explosion!

1 Put all the ingredients into a food processor, or use a hand blender and a large bowl. Whiz until you have a coarse paste.

2 Taste to check the balance of flavours and add a little extra lemon juice if needed.

3 Serve on small pieces of toasted wholemeal bread.

serves 6

150g/5½oz/scant 1 cup pitted black olives

3 sardine fillets (canned, in tomato sauce)

3 tbsp capers (in brine, rinsed and drained)

2 tsp dried rosemary

1 heaped tsp fennel seeds

zest of 1 lemon

squeeze of fresh lemon juice

2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil

freshly ground black pepper

the five ‘f’s

I’m going to share with you my most precious tool for maintaining good health and happiness: the five ‘F’s. Family. Food. Fitness. Finance. Future. Pay attention to these and your life will change! It’s just a way of altering your thinking - of paying attention to the simple but important things in life, and it works for me.

Family is the most important element, I would imagine, in everyone’s life. And the older you get, the more precious your family becomes, especially if along the way you have lost a close family member. We can all show our family how much we care by feeding them well and by nourishing them with healthy food. As a mother, I know that my happiest moments in the day are when my children eat a lovely meal that I’ve cooked for them and they leave the table glowing, eyes sparkling and full of energy! So, by caring for a family through food, you are enabling fitness. Kids have good energy to play, adults have good energy to work, play sports and make the most of life. When we have good fitness, we also have the energy to take care of our finances. We are more efficient, we can work until the job gets done and be satisfied we have achieved our best, financially. And this in turn leads to a better future - physically, emotionally and financially.

the rainbow

When you are planning your ‘five a day’, try to think about a rainbow. The more colours you can incorporate into your diet, the healthier you’ll be.

If you are not aware of the need to eat five fruit and vegetable portions, it’s easy to eat only two or three portions day. The most important thing is to count and rotate your foods throughout the week. Eating a rainbow of colours is the best way to ensure that you are getting your full quota of nutrients. It’s the phytochemicals that give fruit their colour, so if you eat lots of different-coloured fruit and vegetables, you get a whole range of benefits.

RED: tomatoes and watermelon contain the essential nutrient lycopene.