It also contains two phytoestrogen thought to help prevent osteoporosis and other menopausal symptoms.

The native quinoa plant originated in the Andean region of South America and is now cultivated in Bolivia, Peru and the United States. It manages to survive in the harshest of conditions where virtually nothing else grows.

Its small-scale Andean producers have carefully developed many varieties of Quinoa over hundreds of years. In recognition of this contribution to food security, the United Nations has launched 2013 as ‘International Year of Quinoa’.

Quinoa can be used to produce a wide range of foods including bread, cakes and soup and juice. If you’ve not tried it before, how about celebrating Year of Quinoa with this delicious recipe from Real Foods‘ booklet ‘Recipes: Gluten-free, Wheatfree, Dairy-free’.

Quinoa with broccoli and cashews

Preparation time: 15 mins
Cooking time: 40 mins
Serves: 4

Ingredients:

• Half a medium onion, chopped finely
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 2 cloves of garlic, chopped finely
• 125g sun dried tomatoes in oil, drained and chopped
• 125ml vegetable stock
• 125ml dry white wine
• 2 tbsp lemon juice
• 110g uncooked quinoa
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 125g broccoli florets
• 110g roasted cashew pieces
• 2 spring onions, thinly sliced

Method:

1. Heat oil over medium heat in a medium pan
2. Add red onion and garlic, and cook for 3 mins
3. Add tomatoes, stock, wine and lemon juice, and bring to boil
4. Stir in quinoa and salt
5. Reduce heat and simmer, covered, for 20 mins
6. Arrange the broccoli on top of the quinoa, cover and simmer for an additional 5-6 mins
7. Remove from heat and toss gently to combine
8. Season with salt and pepper
9. Transfer to plates and serve garnished with cashews and spring onions

If you do hurt your back, massage treatments can help.

General advice

• Your spine: All spines have a hollow in the base of your neck and another in the lower back. Try to keep your spine in its natural shape whatever you do.
• Lying in bed: Your bed should support your spine so that its natural curves are maintained when lying on your back – your matress should be not too hard and not too soft. You should be able to slide your hand (palm down) into the small of your back.
• Sitting: When you sit on a chair, your feet should be on the ground (or on a foot-rest) with your hips slightly higher than your knees. Try not to sit for more than 20 minutes without getting up, having a stretch and moving around. Don’t sit up in bed to watch TV or read as this strains the back.
• Lifting and carrying: Avoid lifting heavy objects on your own if you can. Before lifting anything off the floor, bend your knees (not your back), kneel on one knee with the other foot flat on the ground. Once you’ve lifted the object, keep your feet wide apart to help you feel stable and keep the load close to your body.
• Resting: Rest regularly during periods of vigorous activity and only work within your tolerance levels.
• Clothes and shoes: Loose-fitting clothes allow you to bend more easily. Wear shoes with cushioned soles, like trainers, and avoid high heels.
• Keeping fit: Strengthening your back muscles and keeping fit is important. Walking is a good way to start keeping fit. If you want to do more, swimming is a very good exercise for your back, or you could try an exercise bike. Whatever you do, get some advice from a trainer to make sure you’re exercising in the right way.

Housework and gardening

• Washing up: as you wash up try to not to stoop, and rest one foot on a ledge in front of you (e.g. a low cupboard shelf below the sink) for a few minutes and then the other foot. Alternatively sit on a high stool.
• Ironing: adjust the height of the ironing board so that you don’t have to stoop over it.
• Vacuuming: push your vacuum cleaner in front of you rather than pulling and pushing from side to side.
• Bed-making: When making your bed, kneel on a cushion to tuck in the sheets. Fitted sheets and duvets may make bed-making easier.
• Reaching high up: use a ladder rather than over stretching.
• Gardening: Do some gentle stretching before and after. Bend from your knees or use a kneeler when weeding. Use long handled tools to prevent excessive bending. Switch tasks regularly and pace yourself to your own level of fitness. Ask for help with heavy digging, scarifying and hedge cutting.

Working at a desk and computer

• Sitting: Make sure that you can adjust your chair so that your lower back is properly supported. Have your knees level with your hips
• Arms: Ensure your elbows are no further forward than the line of your body when using the keyboard and mouse.
• Breaks: Move away from your desk on a regular basis and try some simple stretching exercises; Try to take a short walk at lunchtimes

You might also be interested in Desk exercises for the office bound.

And you’ll find lots more useful information about looking after your back on the website BackCare – the charity for healtier backs.

Here’s a summary of a healthy vegan diet:

More info: http://www.vegetarian.org.uk/goingveg.html

Dr Esseltyn has been researching the impact of diet on people with advanced heart disease for 20 years and has found significant results from a regime free of oil and animal products. Here are the essentials:

No, no, no…

• Meat, poultry and fish (nothing with a mother or a face, he says!)
• Dairy products
• Oil of any kind (not a drop, not even olive oil)
• Nuts or avocados

Yes, yes, yes…

• All vegetables, except avocados
• All pulses – beans, peas, lentils of all kinds
• Whole grains, and products made from them (e.g. bread, pasta) so long as there is no added fat
• All fruits

Reference: Love Heart, article by Juliet Gellatley

Further reading

• Prevent and Reverse Heart disease, Dr Caldwell B Esselstyn (available from Amazon or your local book shop)
• Have a Heart, from the Vegetarian and Vegan Foundation

1. Sit with your bottom against the back of your chair, shoulders relaxed with shoulder blades squeezed together. Now stretch your neck to one side taking your ear to your shoulder and hold for 5 seconds. Raise your head back to the middle and repeat on the  other side.
2. Fold your arms in front of you and rotate your body from the waist  first to the left and then to the right.
3. Now stretch your left arm in front of you and put your right hand around your left wrist. Imagine that you are pulling your left arm forward as though out of its socket. To do this, you need to roll your head forward to your chest and let your whole body relax and slump down. Repeat on the other side.
4. Move around a bit every 20 minutes, change position or walk to the water cooler.

After work, try to do something a bit more strenuous – have a walk, go to the gym, stretch, swim, do yoga, pilates, tai chi or cycle – anything to counterbalance the slumped static posture so often held during a day at the office.

1. Warm up the area with hot water bottle – heat helps to loosen the fibres
2. Wrap a compress soaked with caster oil and keep on the affected area for 60-90 minutes – this will help to break up scars and adhesions
3. Some people find that the herbal supplement Fibrovan helps to break up scars and adhesions. NB This is not a product endorsement or guarantee.

1. Wash your feet daily in soapy luke warm water. Don’t soak them too long.
2. Dry your feet thoroughly, especially between your toes.
3. Remove hard skin with sand paper, pumice stone or a file.
4. Apply moisturizing cream over all your feet except between your toes.
5. Check your feet regularly for any unusual growth e.g. verrucas, corns or calluses.
6. Take notice of itchiness – it may be a sign of fungal infection.
7. Trim your nails with a nail trimmer, cutting them straight across.
8. Wear sensible shoes and buy them at the end of the day when your feet are at their largest. Break them in slowly.
9. Massage your feet by rubbing the soles on a golf ball, either standing or seated.
10. In summer, walk barefoot on a pebbly beach.

Finally, and most importantly, don’t ignore pain – painful feet are not normal. See a foot specialist or have reflexology.

If you’re having trigger point therapy, it helps if you massage your trigger points between treatments. Your trigger point therapist can teach you or you can learn by yourself. Below is some information to help you get going.

How to find your trigger points

Trigger points are found in specific places. These have been mapped and linked to the muscles they affect. So, by identifying the muscles in the area where your pain lies, you can find the triggers.

There are a variety of free online tools containing trigger point maps to help you find your trigger points, including the Trigger Point & Referred Pain Guide.

You will know when you’ve found a trigger point because it hurts! However, not all trigger points cause pain in another part of the body – you can tell the ones that do because they cause an involuntary twitch or jerk when you press lightly on it.

How to self massage your trigger points

Massage your trigger points using short firm strokes. Each stroke should be no more than 1.5 inches long and last for around two seconds. Do 6-12 strokes per trigger point six times a day.

This will be moderately painful; however, this pain is therapeutic in itself. Take care not to not to bruise yourself when you apply pressure to a trigger point.

If you find you are not getting any pain relief, it is likely that you are on the wrong spot. It can take some practice to get this right on your own, so start by treating just one trigger point.

Using aids to treat your trigger points

Massaging trigger points can put strain on your hands and fingers, so try using a lacrosse or tennis ball. For hard-to-reach parts of the back, a tennis ball in a sock against a wall works well.

There are also several purpose-made tools which you use through your clothing, including The Grid (revolutionary foam roller) and Thera Cane. Benedetta recommends and uses The Grid, available from Run and Become.

Massage tool instructions often tell you to do press and hold techniques on your trigger points but the short repeated strokes described above are more effective.

More information

If you want to find out more about treating your trigger points, Benedetta recommends the Trigger Point Therapy Workbook.

• Too much of a particularly tiring exercise, like running, can damage your muscles so build up your training gradually and listen to your body.
• Leave good time between training and events for your body to fully recover and repair.
• Sometimes a particular aspect of your training may overuse a muscle. This could be because you are not doing an exercise in the right way or it is not right for you. So get advice before you get going.

Warm up

• Before training, prepare your body for the stresses it is about to endure by doing some gentle exercise first.
• Wear suitable clothing for the weather. Muscles are more vulnerable to damage when they’re cold.

Cool down

• Don’t end a training session abruptly – reduce your activity by around 50% for a short time before you finish. This helps your body to recover properly.

Stretching

• Stretching after hard exercise helps to re-align muscle fibres. It also prevents tightness and stiffness.
• Never stretch cold muscles as that they can tear.

Massage

• Regular sports massage helps tissue repair, nutritional supply and quality rest.

Recovery after running events

• Depending on your condition, a good way to recover is to take gentle runs or train gently after an event. Take the same number of days as the length of the event in kilometres. So, if you’ve run a 5k race, run gently for five days afterwards.
• If you don’t have a high level of fitness, rest for the same period instead.
• Generally the less fit you are, and the harder you pushed yourself, the longer the recovery period.
• If you don’t feel like running or can’t run well, stick to non weight-bearing exercises and walking until feel ready to run again.
• Massage within a day or two of a race helps the recovery even more.

Take more care as you get older

• You’re more likely to injure yourself as you get older, so give yourself longer recovery periods, and more cooling down, stretching and massage.

Drink enough water

• Drinking enough water is the best treatment for fluid retention. Drink eight glasses per day.
• Drinking too little water can cause the body to keep a store water for emergencies – this manifests as swollen limbs and hands.

Take less salt

• Having too much salt in your diet can also cause fluid retention. The body can only cope with a certain amount of sodium, after that it will hold water to try to dilute it.
• Drinking more water will flush out of the kidneys the excess sodium.

Scrub yourself

• Scrubbing yourself with a loofah sponge or a brush every time you shower will improve your circulation.
• Start at the top of your thigh or upper arm, slowly scrubbing or brushing upwards. (This moves fluid up allowing the fluid below to take its place.) Do this over the whole arm or leg, finishing up at the hand or foot.