Culinary Medicine Cookshops

30/08/2025

🥘 Gigantes – the giant beans of Greece! 🇬🇷

Have you tried them? Beans, peas and lentils aren’t just for vegetarians – they’ve long been the everyday protein in the Mediterranean diet. Traditionally, Greeks eat at least twice a week, especially during religious fasting when animal foods are set aside rather than all calories (meaning every Wednesday, Friday and before major religious holidays). Note - it's a good way to remember to eat your legumes 🤓

The good news is, you can order bean dishes in any taverna in Greece today.🌱

This practice of eating legumes regularly may explain the low rates of chronic disease and long lifespans once seen here – though sadly it’s fading with modern eating.

The beauty of beans? Their prebiotic fibre keeps you full for hours. After a plate of gigantes (and salad, of course), I’m satisfied for 5+ hours before my next meal. 💪

29/08/2025

One of my favourite little finds in Thessaloniki 🇬🇷 – a tiny sourdough microbakery that’s full of innovation and heart. They’re constantly playing with sourdough as the wrapper and teaming it with interesting fillings… making yummy edibles from traditional pites to modern focaccias and paninis 🥖✨. Each bite is rustic yet creative. Gotta love places like this!

If you’re ever in Thessaloniki, be sure to look it up – you won’t regret it. 💛

29/08/2025

Did you know Greece isn’t just about turquoise seas and ancient ruins? 🇬🇷 Hidden in Agia Paraskevi, Halkidiki, are the Natural Springs – a therapeutic thermal spa that soothes tired muscles, boosts circulation and nurtures the skin. 💦✨

Each year when I’m staying on the First Leg of Halkidiki, I spend a day here. Only 8 Euros entry fee and you also enjoy exceptional views! It’s the perfect outing with friends – make it a little day trip! 🌿🧖‍♀️ Once you pop a peg on your nose, the sulphur smell is no bother… and your skin will feel silky smooth when you step out. Bliss! 💙

28/08/2025

Okra 💚—one of the most underrated cholesterol-lowering foods! I often mention it to my patients because it’s rich in viscous fibre, just like eggplant 🍆, yet far fewer people know about it—or how to cook it.

The little ones (pictured here) are the most delicious as they’re tender and less stringy. Okra or eggplant even feature daily in the famous Portfolio Diet, clinically proven to lower high cholesterol levels.

This plate was from a humble family-run spot in Thessaloniki 🇬🇷, which I revisit each year to enjoy local flavours and support the remaining traditional food supply.

Have you cooked with okra before?

👉 Unless you’re visiting Greece, Lebanon or India any time soon to have it cooked for you, try my okra in fragrant tomato sauce recipe from Food as Medicine: Cooking for Your Best Health! 🍲 it’s a great way to get started!

27/08/2025

After a long, hot Greek day 🇬🇷, nothing beats a simple balcony dinner: sun-ripened village tomatoes 🍅, Halkidiki olives 🫒, a sprinkle of dried oregano 🌿 – drenched in extra virgin olive oil 🫒✨… with sourdough village bread to soak it all up. Pure joy! 🥖💛

When tomatoes are this juicy and full of flavour, they become the meal. 😍 If you’ve ever grown your own or tasted them in the Mediterranean, you’ll know exactly what I mean. 😜

👉 What’s your favourite way to enjoy summer tomatoes? I do appreciate that for some of you it still may not be summer. But it's something to look forward to, so try to recall, if you can.

27/08/2025

Forget the packet snacks ✋ In the Mediterranean you’ll still find simple, traditional options—like roasted and boiled corn on the cob 🌽🔥. High in fibre to feed your gut and packed with antioxidants like lutein and zeaxanthin for healthy eyes 👀✨, it’s a satisfying, wholesome snack that beats the ultra-processed snack alternatives any day. Who wouldn’t enjoy this? 💛

24/08/2025

Even Food as Medicine takes a little vacation ☀️📖 … but I’m always on the lookout for inspiring and healthy food ideas wherever I go 🌿🍇🥗.

Because good food is not just about eating—it’s about exploring, learning, and sharing new ways to nourish both body and soul ❤️.

19/08/2025

On the way to 🇬🇷- an ancient city of Biblical significance - one simply must stop for refreshments when passing such a clear potami (river)! ❤️🏞️ Which inspirational places have you stumbled upon to eat or drink?

14/08/2025

In the traditional Mediterranean diet, bread was a daily staple — up to 500 g per day! 🍞 People were also far more active than today, farming the land or working as shepherds. Processed starchy foods were absent, and sugar was rare — it had to be purchased, as sugar cane and sugar beets weren’t grown in the Mediterranean region.

The bread itself was of superior quality, often made from barley flour or unrefined wheat, not the ultra-refined white flour common in Western diets that’s used to make fluffy supermarket breads that taste like cotton wool and are not so filling. The overall carbohydrate intake was therefore moderate — and of far better quality than most people consume today.

Pictured here is a delicious sourdough bread we enjoyed in Paros 🇬🇷with the best skordalia I’ve ever had — a garlicky potato dip that’s as bold in flavour as it is in history 🧄🥔.

14/08/2025

New research alert! 🔔👏🌿

A landmark paper from the Adventist Health Study-2, led by Dr Gary Fraser and colleagues at Loma Linda University, has just been published on diet and “medium frequency” cancers – melanoma, endometrial, renal, thyroid, ovarian, lung, re**al, pancreatic, liver, stomach, esophageal, lymphoma, leukemias, and more.

Many of the nutrition and health findings we take for granted today were first uncovered in studies of Seventh-day Adventists – thanks to their generally healthy lifestyles but varied diets, which allow for meaningful comparisons with less confounding. That’s why the US government has funded this work for over 50 years to the tune of millions of💰💰💰

Key finding:
Plant-based diets lower cancer risk – with vegans seeing a 24% reduced overall risk compared with Adventist non-vegetarians.

While modest reductions were seen for total and medium-frequency cancers overall, results varied by cancer type – adding new insight beyond well-known diet links with colore**al, breast, and prostate cancers.

In relation to some medium frequency cancers:
• 45% lower relative risk of stomach cancer
• 25% lower relative risk of lymphoma

Importantly, the “non-vegetarian” group in this study already eats much less meat and lives far healthier than the average American. Yet, a difference still emerged – meaning the protective effect of plant-based diets could be even greater in the general population. Remember, Adventists already have a 30% lower overall cancer incidence compared with other Americans.

Is it time you started eating more plants?

📄 Read a media summary:
https://plantbasednews.org/lifestyle/health/plant-based-diets-cut-cancer-risk/

📚 Read the open-access scientific paper:
https://ajcn.nutrition.org/article/S0002-9165(25)00328-4/fulltext

Note:
Figure 1 shows multi-variable adjusted HR of vegetarian diets combined vs. non-vegetarian (omnivorous) diet.

Figure 2 shows multi-variable adjusted HR of the 3 types of vegetarian diets followed (vegan, lacto-ovo, pesco-vegetarian) vs. non-vegetarian diet.

Associations between vegetarian diets and risk of common cancers are somewhat understood, but such data on medium-frequency cancers are scarce and often imprecise.

10/08/2025

Greek cafe, with at least three languages in earshot 🇫🇷🇩🇪🇮🇹, and sage-green trims everywhere 🌿✨

09/08/2025

Have you ever seen such sunset colours? If so, where? Shot taken on iPhone 16 with no filter.