More than a hot flush remedy

    Did you know?

However, if you find you could ‘wind’ power a small town when you eat pulses, try adding a pinch of the Indian spice, ‘asafoetida’ (aka; hing) to the cooking and ensure you soak and rinse your lentils well before cooking.

Season with salt at the end of the cooking process, otherwise your lentils will not soften.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup red lentils
• 2 cups water (you may need to add more when cooking)
• 1 teaspoon turmeric powder
• 1 dried chilli
• 1 tomato chopped

Throw all this in a pot and bring slowly to a simmer and cook away until very soft (I keep the lid on and use a simmer mat). You may need to add a bit more water as you go.

Whilst your lentils are doing their thing put some vegetables on to roast.

If you would like a good gut mix then I highly recommend using a combination of:

• Onions
• Garlic
• Jerusalem artichoke (a great winter veg but very wind producing…)
• Fennel

Season with salt, pepper and cumin powder and roast until soft at about 190C.

When your lentils are done, dry fry, until aromatic, the following: ***

• 1 tspn nigella seeds (may be helpful in treating diabetes and headaches)
• 1 tspn black mustard seeds (may help menopausal women get to sleep – so says The Times of India…)
• 1 tspn fenugreek seeds (great for balancing blood sugars)
• 1 tspn fennel seeds (chew after meals to aid digestion)
• 1 tspn cumin seeds (another spice great for digestion)

Throw (or gently place) this into your lentils and appreciate the sizzle. Add salt to taste.

***If you like this combination of spices (it’s called panch poron), make up a batch (e.g. one tablespoon of each) to keep in the cupboard.

I enjoy this as a meal on its own, but you can add basmati rice (low on the glycaemic index) to make a fuller meal of it.

To make this meal super sexy, drizzle a little mustard oil over the top when you serve. YUM!!!

More reasons to love lentils

• The lignans and isoflavones in them may help lower the risk of some hormone-related cancers AND protect against osteoporosis.
• They’re high in both soluble and insoluble fibre. If you know anything about me, it’s that I love my fibre, so much so, that when I retire, I’m going to hang a sign on my door that says:

Eat fibre

Meditate

All is well

• We love fibre because it helps protect against many of those age related diseases that tend to turn up at this stage of life
  • Cardiovascular issues
  • Insulin resistance
  • High cholesterol (to name a few…)
• They also contain one of my other faves, Vitamin B – so helpful for our head space.

Hey, do find you’ve been more bloated than usual? Can I recommend you download The Ultimate Survivor’s Guide to Menopause. Not only is it FREE, it’s filled with useful  AND practical information to help get your symptoms sorted.

OR

If you’re feeling totally at a loss, take a deep dive and get the Insiders’ Guide, Bloaty McBloatface. It’s only $89 and comes with a 30 minute consult. Together we’ll figure out what’s going on and help you get your s*** together (pun intended…)

In the meantime, keep being great and remember to embrace the change (one hot flush at a time),