Feb 27, 2014


It has often come as a surprise to me when I get chatting to someone in the shop, and find out that they kinda have no clue about pantry items when it comes to health. And it's only normal if you're used to only ever doing grocery shopping at a big brand supermarket, where everything (beside the fresh fruit and veg) is highly processed. Yes, I can also say that gluten free/dairy free/sugar free pastas, biscuits, crackers, dips, and so on are also highly processed. And this is exactly where I want to challenge what you have been stocking your pantry with so so many years, and get you trying, buying and loving other items that are far better for you health.

1. Coconut oil
I loooove seeing an elderly couple come in for this! Everyone is on it now and for good reason. If youre not - read on. Use coconut oil in place of vegetable oil or olive oil when you're cooking. As a saturated fat, coconut oil does not change structure or shape (chemically) when heated (unlike vegetable and olive oil) which means it will not morph into something that can potentially damage your health. Butter is the same - great to cook with. Save olive oil for salads, and ditch the vegetable oil mix all together. You've no idea what's in that stuff, and it's likely rancid, doing big no-no's to that healthy body of yours (ps. I'll be doing a coconut oil review soon as I get a lot of questions about different brands).

2. Sea salt or Rock salt
Ditch the no-name iodised table salt void of any nutritional value whatsoever, and instead start using natural stuff that tastes incredible, and boasts up to 84 different minerals for the functioning of your body. Put a pinch in your water bottle if you find you continually pee the water you drink out - this way your body will be like "whoah, hold on a sec, there's a bucket load of nutrients in here (now), let's keep this stuff!"

3. Flaxseed oil
This one should actually be kept in your fridge, but regardless, this stuff is packed with omega 3 essential fatty acids; essential being the key word here, because our bodies cannot make these imperative nutrients. Drizzle this on your salads and veggies, or throw in your smoothie for you daily dose of brain-boosting, skin-smoothing, anti-inflammatory oils.

4. Cacao powder
No, not the cocoa powder you've had in there ever since you needed half a cup in a chocolate cake. Cacao (ka-kow) is the unheated, unprocessed version of cocoa powder, and therefore has loads more nutritional content - for example, magnesium, manganese, iron, calcium, phosphorus just to name a few. Add this to smoothies, make choc puddings or home made chocolates. Once you have this stuff, you'll never go back!

5. ABC Butter
Think peanut butter, not yellow spreadable butter. ABC stands for Almond, Brazil, Cashew butter, and this is the perfect alternative to peanut butter. More and more children are being diagnosed with peanut allergies so it's good to have something else on hand if someone with an allergy pops over for afternoon tea (although you could just whip up some home made chocolate with cacao and coconut oil). Using a nut butter other than just peanuts also means you're getting more minerals in your diet - ABC butter has selenium, calcium, magnesium amongst many others. And the beauty of them, you can pick and choose... macadamia nut butter, cashew nut butter, almond nut butter, pepita seed butter, sunflower seed butter...

This is a really easy and short list to begin with. Start here and you'll most certainly notice the differences to your health.

Have you switched something else up in your pantry to benefit your health? I'd love to know in the comments below.

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  1. Christie I can't cope with the taste of coconut unfortunately as you read so much about its benefits and it is in so many recipes (in its various forms). Any alternatives. I sometimes use almond meal and inca inchi oil instead. Thank you. Gail

    1. Hi Gail, You can buy tasteless coconut oil, although I'm not sure what processing is involved to get it like this... Inca Inchi oil is great also but I'm not sure of it's heat tolerance and whether its suitable to cook with. Grapeseed oil and rice bran oil are good to cook with, but I'd use butter if you can't do coconut oil as it doesn't change structure with heat, and so doesn't turn into a transfat, which is not good for your health at all. Butter also contains plenty of vitamins and other nutrients. I hope this answers your question :)