Merry Christmas from MyMT™
Start your Christmas morning with this beautiful platter, to keep your symptoms at bay throughout the day!
We have all witnessed the change in dietary patterns over the past few decades haven’t we? Globally, diets have evolved from traditional healthy diets, high in fruits, vegetables, leaner meats and a small amount of dairy and grains, to westernized diets, which are highly processed. These types of diets are known to have deleterious effects on human health, as well as on symptoms in menopause, due to gut and immune health changes.
Meeting micronutrient needs through a healthy diet ensures a good functioning of all body systems, and it’s something I inspire women on the MyMT™ programmes to aspire to every day. There are specific nutrients that are known to reduce midlife menopause symptoms, and this is why findings from numerous studies associate the Mediterranean Diet with a favourable inflammatory profile, lower risk of osteoporotic fractures, higher muscle mass and better mobility performance [Kassis et al, 2023].
I often get asked ‘how long do I need to stay on the Mediterranean diet for?’ and my answer is always ‘for the rest of your life because your organs are ageing and this in itself, contributes to inflammatory changes – a perspective now known as ‘inflammaging’.’
Your food choices over the Christmas and New Year period, are an important consideration and to draw the entire family and friends into your healthy choices, why not plate-up this platter, make the beetroot hummus and enjoy watching them enjoy the delicious taste of the Mediterranean too!
The MyMT™ Kitchen: Mediterranean Christmas Platter
- Roasted zucchini or eggplant (baked in oven for 20 – 25 minutes on 180 degrees Celsius).
- Dried apricots (or cranberries)
- Mixed nuts
- Cherry tomatoes
- Olives
- Raspberries (or other berries)
- Bread or crackers – try traditional sourdough or whole meal
- Carrot sticks (or cucumber sticks)
- Low fat cheese
- Pesto
- Beetroot Hummus (recipe below)
- Olive oil and balsamic vinegar
The MyMT™ Kitchen: Beautiful BEETROOT HUMMUS
This recipe makes enough for two jars. I recommend freezing some to keep it on hand, but if you don’t want to do this then just half the mixture.
Note – if you don’t like beetroot, you could follow the same recipe but use red peppers or a herb (like coriander).
- 4 medium cloves of garlic (sliced)
- 2 spring onions (scallions) chopped
- 2 cans of chickpeas (or use dried chickpeas, soaked and cooked) – make sure you drain and rinse the canned chickpeas.
- handful of parsley and I added 3 Kale leaves (medium)
- 6 tablespoons of tahini (this is crushed sesame seeds, so I used 1/4 cup of sesame seeds that I had in the pantry).
- Juice of 2 freshly squeezed lemons
- 1 teaspoon salt (I used organic iodised sea salt not Himalayan salt).
- 4 small-medium beetroot, baked with a small amount of olive oil on low heat until soft. Then cooled.
- Place the garlic, spring onions, parsley and kale (optional) in the food processor or blender. Mince this up.
- Add the rinsed chickpeas, tahini (or sesame seeds), lemon juice and 2 tablespoons of the lemon-infused olive oil) and salt. Then the cooked beetroot. Puree until it becomes a thick paste.
- Cut up carrot sticks, celery, red peppers and place on a plate to serve with the hummus and yes, some organic corn chips as well.
