Jamie Oliver’s nutritionist gives us an insight
into the best and healthiest things to include in your diet this
winter.
I crave comforting starchy root vegetables at this time of the
year. I find my body gravitating away from salads - they just look
too cold and uninviting in their bags - and instead either I dream
of devouring a plate of roasted carrots, parsnips, swede and
celeriac, with some roast chicken, or I find that at the end of the
day a crispy-skinned jacket potato fluffed out with butter and
grated cheese hits the spot. If you haven’t already tried it,
check out a roasted Maris Piper - I think it makes the best jacket
potato. The trick to making the skins crispy is to rub them with a
little olive oil before popping them in to the oven. Ever since the
arrival on the bookshelves of the nutritionally very worrying
high-protein Atkins-style diets and the more recent and much more
nutritionally sound glycaemic index (GI) charts (these, as you
probably know, are concerned with how rapidly certain foods,
because of their sugar and fibre content, cause glucose levels in
our blood to rise and hence are converted into fat, listing baked
and mashed potatoes as high-GI foods, quickly absorbed and more
likely to turn into fat than low-GI), millions of people have been
led to believe that root veggies are bad news. This just
isn’t the case - like all foods when taken in balance, they
can offer very positive nutritional as well as comforting
stomach-satisfying benefits. Potatoes have become perhaps the most
vilified vegetable of all, even though the GI scale tells us boiled
potatoes have a medium GI rating so we should be able to eat them
(and anyway, who said we have to always live the GI way?).
If you’re really worried that potatoes will whizz through
your gut and be converted into sugar too quickly, you can partner
them with some protein, such as eggs in a frittata or fish in a
fishcake, as the protein slows down the sugar conversion.
Interestingly, sweet potatoes despite their name are listed as
medium-GI and are therefore healthier to eat - make a mixed mash of
them and normal potatoes. I find sweet potatoes wonderfully
satiating - both the white- and orange-fleshed varieties contain
vitamins C and E and the orange one also contains beta-carotene.
Potatoes are one of the cheapest sources of vitamin C, potassium
and fibre. The skin contains the most fibre and the flesh just
underneath hides all the vitamin C. New potatoes contain the most
vitamins, so remember this for next summer, but for now, to
maximise the amount of vitamin C gleaned from old potatoes, either
cook them in their skins or peel them just before cooking - peeling
potatoes and leaving them soaking in water means a lot of vitamin C
is lost.
Carrots, potatoes, celeriac, parsnips, beetroots and the
not-sure-what-todo- with-them Jerusalem artichokes can all
contribute a great deal nutritionally. The last-named
knobbly-looking root in particular is one of the richest sources of
prebiotics, special types of starch (sugar), but unlike most sugars
and starches, prebiotics cannot be digested and pass into the colon
intact. Once there, they act as growth-enhancers for
health-promoting lactobacillus and bifidus bacteria - the
probiotics. As these good probiotic bacteria multiply,they secrete
enzymes that break down prebiotics into acids such as acetic and
butyric acid, which inhibit the growth of disease-causing bacteria.
The whole prebiotic area of nutritional research is one of my
passions, because I believe if we support a good bacterial presence
in our gut, we not only help alleviate conditions such as irritable
bowel syndrome but, as research shows, can improve our chances of
not succumbing to some types of cancer and even reduce our risk of
heart disease.
"Potatoes are one of the cheapest sources of vitamin C,
potassium and fibre. The skin contains the most fibre, and the
flesh just underneath hides all the vitamin C."
So artichokes are very good news, though not many people know
what to do with them. I usually make them into a mixed vegetable
mash with carrots, swede, sweet potatoes and parsnips: just peel
the artichokes along with the other veg, chop everything into
similarsized portions, then boil or steam them and mash with
butter, natural yoghurt to give a slight tang, plenty of black
pepper and a little sea salt. It’s even more delicious if you
have other leftover roast vegetables such as tomatoes, aubergines,
onions and garlic as well - just mash everything roughly together,
pan-fry like bubble and squeak and serve with lean meat,oily fish
or chicken.
Carrots, as you would expect from the name, are the richest
source of betacarotene (more easily absorbed when carrots are
cooked) which converts in the body to vitamin A. If you’re
lacking this vitamin you can suffer from poor night vision - so
carrots do literally help you see in the dark. Beta-carotene also
helps fight cancer and heart disease. Parsnips have beta-carotene,
vitamin B1, nicotinic acid, folate and vitamin C and are rich in
potassium and iron.
Another very fashionable root vegetable is beetroot - usually
purple, but you may also be lucky enough to find yellow beets. I
tend not to boil it because I hate the smell while it’s
cooking; just drizzle the halved beets with olive oil and roast
them in a moderate oven, say gas mark 5, for about 50 minutes to
turn this vegetable into a delicious roast potato substitute.
Beetroot juice (as used raw in juice bars) is said to aid kidney
function, but there is no scientific proof of this. The leafy tops
make an excellent green vegetable, rich in calcium, beta-carotene
and iron - steam them, then drizzle with olive oil, freshly ground
black pepper and, if you need it, a little Maldon salt.
Finally, celeriac is a useful source of folate and vitamin C. I
use it as a base for leek and potato soup - just sneak some
celeriac (equal weight) in to replace some of the potato.
I hope I’ve persuaded you to look at carrots and other
root vegetables in a different light - they’re not the
prettiest foods (especially the organic ones) but looks are
deceiving and they can be one of the best foods to eat at this time
of the year when your body needs both nutrients and good old
warm-feeling-in-the-stomach satisfaction.
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