Greenwood - SuperSlaw

About the Book

SuperSlaw includes high-nutrient veg-basedrecipes that will help you to eat more healthily,boost your energy, improve your immunity andhelp you to recover after exercise.

The slaws can be whizzed up in an ordinary food mixer (or witha knife and chopping board) making preparation simple andfun for those with busy lifestyles. Recipes also suggest howto transform the slaws using tasty toppers such as nuts, grainsand meats, as well as how to morph them into substantial,flavoursome meals including soups, wraps and bakes.

These delicious SuperSlaws provide maximum nutrition,variety, value and taste.

About the Author

Jill Greenwood is a personal trainer and health coach. She developedSuperSlaw as a solution for clients who wanted to improve their dietsbut struggled to find vegetables interesting or fulfilling, and also lackedthe time to prepare a healthy meal from scratch every day.

The creation of #SuperSlaw

Opening a near empty fridge after work one night I noticed a common theme had emerged.

Firstly, I had returned home after a long day at work, feeling like a woman possessed, with food rage. Food rage is an acute condition, leading to anyone or anything standing in the way of the fridge being at risk of possible severe harm. Sensible and balanced food choices at a time of H-anger are a challenge. Fellow sufferers may empathise when I say that in moments of food rage the family pet sometimes starts to look appealing as a side order with extra fries. At times of such uncertainty in our blood sugars, our mind tends not to be our own, and the rational decision to take time out and prepare some healthy vegetables to meet our clean living, five-a-day targets is unlikely to happen thanks to the symptoms of irritability, mood swings and total irrationality that have taken us over. This is never a great time to nip to the local shops. You will return with most of the supermarket, but probably nothing that actually constitutes a full and balanced meal.

Secondly, I found myself bored by the requirement to prepare a meal so it covered the full range of nutrients that my body needed. I had reached crisis point. I had become stuck in a veggie rut, using the same monotonous vegetables and salads each night, through pure habit and a lack of imagination. I was bored by five-a-day. I wanted something new. Steamed kale and broccoli no longer hit the spot for vegetable excitement. I needed to act.

As a personal trainer I advise my clients to try and prepare their meals in advance, but as I also have a second job that involves work in front of a computer for very long hours, I know what its like to struggle to find healthy choices whilst stuck in an office. To make it even harder, prepping veggies and salads seemed to be a dull and laborious task. I noticed my fitness clients often ended up filling lunch boxes with expensive green powders, bored with the peeling and chopping of mundane salads or carrot batons. What we all lacked was time and inspiration. How else could we plan and prepare interesting vegetables ahead of time without it being laborious?

So, returning to my food rage moment, with a need for extra nutrition, a few green veggies sitting alone in my fridge and a lack of time and patience to prepare, a light bulb moment struck. Noticing my food processor gathering dust in my kitchen cupboard, I thought how could I create an easier method of mixing my greens into a healthful meal? I began experimenting by chopping away with haste. I soon found myself using condiments, herbs and spices that would otherwise have remained untouched in my kitchen. Supermarket shopping became more vegetable focused and recipe requests soon started flowing.

Introducing the concept of SuperSlaw to clients and fellow coaches scored an overwhelming victory for those who needed extra vitamins from the stress placed on their bodies following endurance-based or extreme training schedules. Those who were looking for extra fibre or greens for a fat-loss plan were also excited by the ease at which SuperSlaw could be added into everyday meals.

This was the moment SuperSlaw was born. It was a solution to my troubles. I hope it will now be a solution for you too.

How SuperSlaw will make you healthy and happy

Health is often defined as the absence of disease. One of the biggest problems with health is that we overlook it, taking it for granted until one day it starts to fail. Signs and symptoms of disease begin to show. Usually at this point we lean on the medical profession for drugs and quick-fix solutions so that we can get back to our superfast life with the same ferocity. Others may send themselves off to the latest detox camp for a week of self loathing, living off a bowl of cabbage, committed to a life of repentance until the next social event calls and they are back to square one! Tiredness is seen as normality. Energy is seen as something that happens in a gym or following a caffeinated drink.

A key point about good health is the relationship this area has with happiness and contentment. Youd be hard pushed to find someone who is suffering with stress, anxiety and depression, but who also appears full of vitality and looks a picture of glowing health. Health and happiness are interconnected. This is why when our diet is unhealthy, void of proper nutrition, or loaded with chemicals, we get mood fluctuations.

Have you ever fed a child a giant bag of multicoloured sweets? I am willing to bet you will see a change in their mood that is not usually restaurant-friendly. Have you ever grabbed a quick pick-me-up (in the form of the same bag of sweets)? What did you notice about your energy in the aftermath? My guess is a stimulated synthetic fix, followed by a low-level mood slump. Am I close?

Conversely, when our diet is rich in vitamins and minerals, research suggests there can be a positive mood change and a stable supply of energy. Our skin, hair, nails and personalities begin to glow. Medical treatments now increasingly look to diet as an essential aspect of treating severe health-related conditions. Ask anyone who has ever suffered with high blood pressure or a gout attack what the first thing their GP asked them about and diet will be top of the list.

Hormones are pivotal in driving our mood and food plays a key role in driving our hormones. Its all a cycle of chemical reaction, thats just how the body works. What we eat influences our mood and thereby influences our overall happiness. It is increasingly up to us to manage our own health through good nutrition. So, as busy as we are, we need to handle it.