I’ve been thinking about doing a food blog for ages and now I’ve finally got around to starting it.

In 2008 I published my first cookery book “Focus on Flavour – Recipes inspired by living in South West France”. I did it mainly for myself, to get rid of dozens of book with notes and crossings out and a heap of scribbled pieces of paper with ingredients and recipes. I sold far more copies than I ever expected to, then in 2011 the book became available in electronic format on the Apple store and on Lulu. I’ve used the book myself a huge amount, as the recipes that I chose for it are largely the ones that I created for our guests on Images of France photography courses. I included indicators of whether each of the recipes is wheat-free, dairy-free, vegetarian, low-fat or low-sugar – as I often get asked to cater for special diets.

Now whilst flavour is still hugely important, I particularly want to ensure that the food that I eat and share is healthy. I need to lose some weight and I am keen to keep my blood pressure and cholesterol levels within normal range without taking any medication. So I have made some recent changes to my diet:-

• I use little or no salt in cooking
• I rarely use butter when I eat bread and prefer to use olive oil and sunflower oil for cooking and making dressings. I do not use margarine or reduced-fat butter, as these contain additives
• I don’t use sugar in beverages and use as little as possible with desserts – I’m now of the view that it’s better to use sugar, honey or maple syrup rather than any kind of artificial sweeteners
• I am increasing the amount of fruits, vegetables, pulses and nuts that we eat and reducing the number of meat-based meals that we have
• I am limiting my intake of alcohol to within current guidelines or less
• I am following the 5:2 approach (2 days a week restricted to 1/4 of my daily calorie requirement, i.e approx 400 calories) as explained by Michael Mosley in his book “The Fast Diet“

My working relationship with food – growing and cooking it – goes back a long way and certain fundamentals remain:-

• I prefer to use local, seasonal and organic produce where possible
• I believe that whole foods are better for you than processed foods
• I am appalled by over-fishing and the plight of fish stocks globally has radically changed the way that I buy fish
• The human body can heal itself of many conditions given the right inputs
• You are what you eat

I think that’s enough of an intro.

Over the coming days/weeks/months/years I hope to build up a collection of great ideas and recipes for healthy eating.

If you wish to contact me, please use the comments box, or you can find me on Twitter @bp_berry

Belinda Berry