Eat wisely and well and you’ll look and feel good

Aug 8 2008 by Mieka Smiles, The Journal

A HEALTHY diet is your key to looking and feeling fantastic. And the only way to achieve this is to make sure that you are eating a range of fresh foods, from across the main food groups.

This ensures that your body has the right supply of vitamins and minerals essential to your health and well-being.

Vitamins are essential nutrients required to assist in the maintenance and well-being of the body. They come in two forms – water soluble and fat soluble.

Water soluble vitamins are not usually stored inside the body.

You must try to eat foods containing these vitamins every day to keep your levels high.

Fat soluble vitamins are stored in your body fat, as well as in your liver and kidneys.

Vitamin A

Vitamin A is essential for healthy eyes. It helps the eyes to function properly in all conditions and prevents a type of blindness in the elderly called age-related macular degeneration.

It also helps the immune system fight infection and illness by helping the epithelial tissues grow and repair.

Without enough of it these cells - that make up the skin and organ linings – become stiff, dry allowing germs to pass into the body.

Children and teenagers need vitamin A in particular for a wide range of functions including cell repair, growth and to keep bones and teeth strong.

Vitamin C

Vitamin C is required to make collagen. This is the strong connective tissue that holds the skeleton together, attaches muscles to bones, builds blood vessels and keeps organs and skin in place.

Collagen is the glue that holds the body together; it cannot be produced unless there is enough Vitamin C.

Collagen is needed to fix damage to the body and this is why Vitamin C helps heal wounds such as broken bones, sprained joints, cuts and other injuries. It is also required to manufacture many of the body’s hormones.

Vitamin C is a top antioxidant as it helps rid the body of the free radicals. It also helps the absorption of other vitamins; without Vitamin C folic acid and minerals such as iron cannot be used properly.

Put simply a person that does not have enough Vitamin C is more likely to get sick and to stay sick longer.

Why vitamin E (tocopherol)

Vitamin E is required by the body to act as an antioxidant and to get rid of free radicals in the body.

It is especially good at protecting cell membranes against free radical damage. Damage to the cell membranes is often the first step that can lead to health problems such as cancer and heart disease and, for that reason, Vitamin E is particularly vital. Vitamin E is a fat-soluble vitamin and is therefore able to get into the cell membrane and stop any free radicals that get through.

Vitamin E, vitamin A, betacarotene and vitamin C – are the main antioxidant vitamins, that give protection against illness and disease. Fresh fruit, vegetables, meat and other quality produce are you best chance to stock up on these vital vitamins. There are plenty of farm shops and organic food dealers across our regions that can help you get the right balance.

The Blagdon Farmshop

The Blagdon Farmshop can help you to eat a more varied diet.

Becoming conscious of local foods and choosing to buy from Blagdon can help you appreciate what’s in season and because you can’t buy the same things every week you’ll find yourself cooking differently.

Locally or own-grown produce from local farms will be freshly harvested when it’s ripe, ready and in tip-top condition.

For these reasons the produce is filled with nutrients and goodness, not tired and tasteless through being transported around the country.

Meat from Blagdon Farmshop is free range and produced on a small scale by farmers who know about animals and treat them with respect.

You might well pay a little more for your beef, lamb, pork or chicken from the farm shop butchery; but the difference in eating-quality is a real eye-opener There is ample free parking at Blagdon which is less than a mile from the A1 north of Newcastle.

North Acomb Farm Shop

Most of the produce on sale at the Routier-listed family-run North Acomb Farm Shop, near Stocksfield, Northumberland, is either grown or made on the spot.

Ham and bacon are cured on the premises and own-recipe sausages are sold alongside milk, homemade butter from the farm’s Friesian herd, British cheeses and free-range eggs.

Hexham Farmers’ Market

Hexham Farmers’ Market is the jewel in the crown of one of the finest market towns in England.

Located in the historic market place, in the heart of the town, the market provides a well-balanced selection of produce.

Customers are offered a selection of vegetables, cheeses, soups, preserves and baked goods.

The quality of the meat is exceptional. Also available are more unusual products unique to the area, such as wild venison, game pies, fresh wild mussels from Holy Island (September to April) smoked salmon from the Tyne, perennial plants from the high Pennines, organic breads made with locally grown and milled flour, chillies and exotic sauces as well as sheep and goats cheeses. More than a quarter of the producers are registered organic and more than half are primary producers.

The market is held on the second and fourth Saturday of each month from 9am to 1.30pm but shoppers should come early to get the pick of the produce. Tel: (01434) 608456 or 07963 426932.

The Country Barn

The Country Barn, in Widdrington, prides itself on supplying the freshest quality, local produce whenever possible.

It stocks a wide range of fruit and vegetables so that getting your five a day couldn’t be easier.

The staff are always on hand for advice on recipes and food nutrients.

The farmer is based on site so can answer any questions on nutritional values as well as information on fats and protein and so on.

Staff will also source any foods specifically for you, should they not be regularly in stock.

The Country Barn is a working farm producing all of its own beef and lamb.

Northumbrian Heritage Meats

Did you know a fabulous selection of local and organic meat is available in Fenwick?

Its renowned food hall promotes and retails the very best meats from the farms and fields of Northumbria.

With today’s focus on healthy eating, the ethos is simple: it aims to provide its customers with the very best beef, lamb, mutton, pork and poultry at an affordable price, without compromise to animal welfare or to the environment.