A packed Queen Elizabeth Hall is an exciting place to be, with the buzz of expectation that an audience brings. When at least half that crowd are under the age of 5, there’s an additional frisson and organised chaos. This is a very demanding bunch – quick to be critical, bored, scared, sleepy, hungry….
[Frankie Turton, Amelia Gabriel and Jack Benjamin]
Tall Stories are a company well-aware of their target audiences. Touring nationally with The Gruffalo, Room on the Broom, The Gruffalo’s Child and The Smeds and The Smoos, this latest show fits straight in. The Elmer Adventure is a collection of three of David McKee’s classic Elmer stories, with songs and participation along the way.
[Frankie Turton and Jack Benjamin]
The performers – creating a relaxed atmosphere throughout – appear calm and in control. Wide-eyed Amelia Gabriel, casual Frankie Turton and cool Jack Benjamin guide us through a 55-minute adventure that has genuine surprises, too. Plus plenty of witty one-liners to check the adults are still awake!
[Elmer visits the Southbank Centre]
I’m sure, for many, this is their first theatrical experience. The colours, the characters and the genuine warmth and respect for the material shine through. This company cares about its shows and its audiences. Everyone leaves quite satisfied, if not a little wet (ah – that’s one of the surprises!) …
Photography Mark Senior
Producer Tall Stories
Elmer’s Creator David McKee
Director Toby Mitchell
Puppet Director Yvonne Stone
Music & Lyrics Matthew Floyd-Jones
Set & Costume Amanda Mascarenhas
Movement Director Sundeep Saini
Cast Jack Benjamin, Amelia Gabriel and Frankie Turton
Venue Queen Elizabeth Hall, Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road, London
Mamma Mia makes a great gift for friends and family, or a light and refreshing treat to serve guests this festive season.With Limoncello being the shining star of supermarket Christmas collections, including Waitrose’s
Limoncello infused Panetone, Stollen and Stilton, it’s a must have for your home bar too.
I love Limoncello. It’s delicious and refreshing. Mamma Mia uses only natural ingredients and it perfect for the party season.
Mamma Mia is made with the oldest variety of Italian lemons, the “Femminello del Gargano” which are small, flavourful organic lemons from the Puglia region in Southern Italy. The lemons have been harvested by hand since 1850 by the Ricucci family who continue to cultivate them to this day. The lemons are hand peeled and the outer part of the zest is infused in Italian grain alcohol for 30 days. Mamma Mia is made with all natural ingredients, is free of preservatives and artificial colouring and is less sweet than traditional Limoncello. As part of Mamma Mia’s sustainable production process, the labels of the Mamma Mia bottles are entirely made of recycled lemon peel.
Mamma Mia Limoncello Spritz 40ml Mamma Mia Limoncello | 50ml Prosecco | Sparkling Water or Tonic Pour Mamma Mia Limoncello and Prosecco over ice. Add some sparkling water or tonic and stir. Garnish with a lemon zest or a mint leaf.For an extra Christmas sparkle, add some edible glitter and watch your spritz glisten.
The Limoncello Spritz is not just a summer serve, it makes the perfect Christmas Cocktail too. Requiring just three ingredients; Mamma Mia Limoncello, Prosecco and Soda Water, this is a delicious serve for the busy Christmas hosting season.
The Mamma Mia Spritz is not only delicious but also lower in alcohol content and less sweet than traditional Limoncello, it is a great option for a light and refreshing drink.
Mamma Mia Shooter 25ml of Mamma Mia Limoncello Pour into a shot glass, and cheers to a Mamma Mia Christmas!
A delicious sweet treat for welcoming guests, or serving as a digestif after an abundance of Christmas food.
Temperate rainforests are lush, humid environments. The constant moisture creates the perfect conditions for a staggering array of ferns, lichens and fungi to thrive. They carpet the trees, meaning the forest floor extends upwards.
In this setting, green leaves projected on to the ceiling formed a forest canopy, and the recorded sound of bird song immediately transported me to a woodland forest.
Fifteen mini platforms, big enough for 2 or 3 musicians, were seemingly scattered throughout the space and thus the orchestra, with the intention of encouraging the audience to promenade throughout the space, as if meandering in an actual forest.
Seating, or rather the lack thereof, was a conundrum. Provide it, and the audience are unlikely to wander through the space. Don’t provide it and the audience (at least the younger members) sit on the floor towards the rear, whilst the more mature, seek purchase on the base of the columns holding up the roof.
An audience of 200 or more filled the space, soon to be joined by the musicians, who entered one by one, with slow deliberate steps, each carrying their instrument, before settling themselves on some of the mini stages.
Gradually, music replaces the bird song at first soothing and ethereal, and later more strident. The music was interspersed by short narratives which offered small nuggets of information such as, at one time, as much as 20% of the UK was covered in temperate rainforest. Today, as little as 0.07% remains.
Mendelssohn’s overture from Midsummer Night’s Dream with its soothing familiarity, seemed the perfect choice to transport one into the forest.
The audience begins to explore the space slowly moving between the islands of musicians, in a rare, if not unique opportunity, to get so close to the performers, and hear pockets of sound, although I was pleased that my perch was behind the brass so that I could appreciate the playing rather than being overpowered by it.
I am in awe, as Maxime Tortelier, the conductor, held everything together, in a sterling 220 degree performance, eliciting the best from top class talent.
Almost imperceptibly the sound of buzzing was introduced, which developed into the unmistakable sound of the chain saw, followed by the crashing of felled trees. One by one the musicians lay down clutching their instruments. I cannot be alone in contemplating a world without music, at the same time as a world without trees. Surely the purpose of the evening. Joyously, the musicians stood and resumed their places, the music returned, and the sound of a regenerating forest filled the space. Some of the music choices were less to my taste and whilst the Midsummer Night’s Dream and Nadia Boulanger’s wonderful Patience of Trees were excellent, I was less enamoured by Strong on Oaks, Strong on the causes of Oaks, by Michael Nyman
This is the second time that I have heard Sinfonia in the Square and once again I was blown away by the talent in such a young orchestra. If you get the opportunity to experience Orchestral Forest or to hear Sinfonia Smith Square, you absolutely should.
‘A person starts to age the moment they are born’, says Dr Miglė Tomkuvienė. A biochemist at Vilnius University (VU) Life Sciences Centre (LSC) explores what old age is and what methods could potentially delay its effects, should such methods exist.
‘This is not a new question. It has always been relevant, as the search for the elixir of life has been ongoing throughout human history. The new wave of interest results from the most recent scientific data on the ageing process at the molecular and cellular level. This is stimulating interest, both among the general public and among scientists, in how to halt ageing, or prolong a healthy and active life’, says Dr Tomkuvienė.
The scientist explains how we begin to age as soon as we are born: ‘Ageing is influenced by both environmental factors and the body’s own characteristics. At the molecular level, the way the body itself disposes of waste is important. It is also about the level of negative influence of the environment. All of these external and internal detrimental factors are slowly damaging us. And although we try to repair the damage, it eventually builds up, leading to a deterioration in the body’s functions, commonly known as old age.’
Causes of ageing
Many factors determine how this happens, including genetics and environmental influences. Scientists have now identified twelve molecular mechanisms that lead to the ageing of cells and, therefore, the body.
‘This can be a variety of DNA damage that can lead to mutations and diseases such as cancer, for example, epigenetic alterations. There can be defects in proteins that are important as building blocks; disorders of metabolites, which are our metabolic waste disposal system; dysfunctions in the responses to nutrients; disorders of communication between cells; and stem cell exhaustion, where stem cells can no longer divide and regenerate, so the body can’t regenerate along with them. I would also like to mention that it is not only the health of the cells that is important for humans but also the health of the microbiota. This is the health of the bacteria that live in our gut and on our skin. It also contributes to our health, and when the microbiota is dysfunctional, we see an acceleration of ageing,’ explains the scientist.
We all know the preventative solution: a healthy lifestyle
In response to the question of how to stay young, she says that all these mechanisms are highly interconnected and that we can make a variety of choices in our daily lives that can lead to better bodily functions. Everyone knows the answer is simply a healthy lifestyle: a healthy diet, plenty of exercise and sport, and the absence of harmful habits.
‘Everything we do has an impact on our organ functions and, ultimately, our cells and genes. Epigenetics, now widely discussed, describes the mechanisms that regulate gene activity. Our genes don’t all have to work evenly at the same time because different functions in the body require different genes to play like an orchestra – some louder, some quieter, depending on their needs. The body has day-night patterns called circadian rhythms. Therefore, some genes must work at night and others during the day. They change in waves. If sleep is disturbed, so is gene activity. When the orchestra is out of tune, it can also lead to organ function deterioration, which manifests as ageing.
Food and nutrition are essential for the microbiota, which I have also identified as one of the factors influencing ageing. Researchers now recommend consuming at least 30 different plants a week to get the widest possible variety of nutrients from them. It’s also important to absorb the fibre found in fruit, vegetables, seeds, and nuts. Sport is essential for the cardiovascular system: the blood vessels tend to clog up as we get older, so sport helps keep them working well.
Epigenetics can explain what happens in the cell nucleus
‘Epigenetics is the blueprint that aligns the body’s processes. Biochemical and genetic methods allow the study of genes that are marked by chemical markers in cells. Epigenetics works like this: we have gene sequences written in DNA, but what is also important is what is happening in the nucleus of the cell – around and attached to that DNA are what we would call ‘road signs’ that tell us where to stop. What researchers can do is extract DNA from human cells and look not only at its sequence but also at the epigenetic marks that are attached to both the DNA itself and the surrounding proteins. Current science already has a great deal of knowledge about which chemical molecules transcribe which epigenetic signals. As a result, we can extract a gene and know what gene it is and what its function is; we can also see what epigenetic marks are attached to it and, therefore, whether the gene is active in the person being studied. From this information, conclusions can already be drawn, Dr Tomkuvienė stresses.
She argues that this allows us to study different aspects of everyday life and how they affect our epigenetics. For example, studying the gene activity of people who smoke (both traditional cigarettes or e-cigarettes) and comparing it with a control group of non-smokers. This study showed that smoking alters the activity of a person’s genes. For researchers, such studies may help explain how smoking traditional cigarettes causes cancer and other lung diseases and how smoking an e-cigarette affects cells in a similar way to smoking a traditional cigarette, as well as how the effects of e-cigarettes and traditional cigarettes may differ. This makes it possible to identify the molecular pathways by which such bad habits can lead to later diseases, lung failure, etc.
Aiming for customisable therapy
According to Dr Tomkuvienė, many studies are currently underway to develop specific drugs or complex therapies that can be applied as age-reversing interventions to our bodies: ‘Scientists have already identified specific genes and proteins that, if activated and perhaps with additional cellular input, could stimulate cells to rejuvenate themselves, and thus rejuvenate the whole organ.
Of course, the results are not yet as great as in a science fiction movie. The current focus is on how to rejuvenate individual organs. As I said, the body is a complex system with different organs, so we cannot rejuvenate everything with modern means. So far, we know that one of the mechanisms of ageing is the accumulation of aged or inefficient cells. Therefore, if they were rejuvenated or removed, organ function would be restored, and there would be less chronic inflammation, often suggested as one of the mechanisms driving ageing.’
Signs of ageing and how to reverse them
‘The signs of ageing for doctors are likely to be vascular blockages, dementia, cartilage damage, etc. For biochemists and epigeneticists, the cellular DNA level will be more important. We will see ageing as the phenomena I mentioned – ageing mechanisms, the accumulation of mutations, and epigenetic and protein-level disorders. When we are young and healthy, everything works in harmony: the organs and the cells, of which we have about two hundred types and 30,000 genes. As we get older, it all gets out of sync.
How can cells be influenced to renew themselves? In the future, maybe there will be pills. But right now, we are thinking about encoding the necessary proteins that give cells their youth. This would take place in the RNA molecule. This would be similar to when we had RNA vaccines against the virus during the Covid-19 pandemic. They encoded the information to be transmitted to the cells about what virus to protect themselves against. This is very similar to the way in which you can encode the proteins that make a cell’s genes youthful in an RNA molecule. Inserting them at the cellular level should make gene activity more like that of a young cell.’
However, all this is yet to be seen because, according to Dr Tomkuvienė, it is challenging to find the sweet spot in terms of how much we should rejuvenate. A Nobel Prize has already been awarded to a scientist who has figured out how to rejuvenate mature cells with a specific function to the embryonic level, where the cells do not yet have that function. But we do not want to become giant embryos. We want to rejuvenate the cells so that they perform their function perfectly but retain their identity – so that the heart cells function like a heart, the skin cells function like skin and so on. So, the challenge is to rejuvenate, but not too much or too little. Also, no research has been done on humans.
No other genre offers the unique ‘triple E’ rating as much as Historical Fiction: education, entertainment and escapism. Best are those books that revive a hitherto hidden heroine: a woman with agency, who isn’t formulaic. Finding them isn’t easy, and the leap from fact to fiction a labour of love. Let me take you by the hand and lead you back in time for a millennium.
My new novel ‘The Last Princess’ is about Gytha Godwinson, the daughter of England’s true House of Dragons and of its last Anglo-Saxon King, Harold II. Godwinson – isn’t that in 1066, that hour zero of the British Isles? Yes, it is. But if this vast timespan is an enormous challenge, it also gives you great liberty.
Yet rule number one of writing historical fiction is stringent research before you even think of picking up the pen. I read for almost a year to immerse myself in this long bygone world. Research is the rigid, non-negotiable frame in which the story and the plot may teem and swarm as the most colourful of images – an image I am determined to paint in ‘The Last Princess’. A reader gives me their most valuable – and that is not their money, but their time.
But the Anglo-Saxons treaded famously lightly on the surface of this earth, building in mud, wattle, and daub and living in harmony with nature and its seasons: call it medieval mindfulness. If their ‘settlements’ are long gone, Bosham’s chapel is largely unchanged since Anglo-Saxon days. The distinct two storey architecture of Gytha’s family home, Bosham Manor, is depicted on the Bayeux tapestry. It is here that Gytha’s story starts, during a raucous Modranecht, and the candle-lit glory of a great Hall. But already, the seed of discord is sewn, and it turns the ground beneath her feet into quicksand. The events of that evening will swallow her life and her world, forcing her forward into her fabulous fate. This fills the firm framework of research such as an image popping with colour, swarming and surprising! Gytha’s times – the High Middle Ages– were an era of intense change, especially for women.
By autumn 1066, Christianity had reached most corners of the European world. Historically, there is much more evidence of women and how they interacted with the world around them, both religious and secular. Yet it also triggered a type of repression in which women’s bodies are seen as inherently polluting. At the same time, Christianity enables female spiritual growth and the development of canon law also impacted Christian women’s status. If the Fourth Lateran Council solidified the need for consent within marriage, Thomas Aquinas dictated that women owed their husbands ‘a conjugal debt.’
It is in this field of tension that Gytha grows up: ancient rites clash with strict Christian morals. This gives Gytha the courage to question the powers in place and makes her story irresistible: prepare yourself for a wild ride. ‘The Last Princess’ is stringent historical fiction that teems with trolls, malevolent stars, green-faced fairy folk, giants, nasty Norse sorceresses, handsome hunks, and an evil spell that keeps our beautiful, flame-haired Princess captive – and it’s all true. After she witnesses the Battle of Hastings through a crazy twist of super-natural story-telling – we are a 1000 years ago, aren’t we? – Gytha’s life has different plans for her; or does she have different plans for her life? She dares the unthinkable and as she faces fight or flight, she picks both: Gytha lives trial, terror and finally triumph. Her story bridges myth and modernity: She speaks in a strong, clear and modern voice about the demise of a cursed kingdom and the emergence of a new empire.
But which empire is it that the last Anglo-Saxon Princess founded?
Let me surprise you: I am writing book two of the series ‘The Sunrise Queen’ as we speak.
Ellen Alpsten was born and raised in the Kenyan highlands and holds a MSc from the IEP de Paris. She worked as a News-Anchor for Bloomberg TV before writing fulltime. Her debut novel ‘Tsarina’ and its sequel ‘The Tsarina’s Daughter’ (both Bloomsbury Publishing) is widely translated and were shortlisted for numerous awards.
Cream liqueur is my weak spot, and at Christmas I don’t bother trying to resist. This one from Cotswolds Distillery is absolutely gorgeous. I could drink it all day, but of course I won’t. Grab a bottle now. For yourself or as a gift. Cotswolds Distillery was born from a dream to produce outstanding natural spirits in one of the most beautiful parts of the world and focuses on quality and flavour above all else. Cotswolds Cream Liqueur is no exception and is a blend of fresh cream and Cotswolds Distillery’s award-winning single malt spirit, which is made with locally-grown Cotswolds barley. Like all good cream liqueurs, this is excellent over ice or in a coffee and gives the best excuse to relax by the fire after a long lunch.
Christmas is almost here and if you are anything like me you hate shopping. Don’t panic, Frost is here to help. We will have the perfect gift in our pages. You just sit back and scroll.
Anything from L’Occitane. L’OCCITANE Christmas Gift Guide 2024
Advent Calendar.
The Best of L’Occitane. An absolute gorgeous set of the best L’Occitane has to offer.
Le Grand Voyage. A perfect gift with the best skincare. Wow-worthy.
Shea Butter Body Care Collection. I love shea butter and this gift set from L’Occitane is one of the best.
The Perfect Bra: Bravado Designs | Everyday collection | From RRP: £28.00 | Stockist: Bravado Designs
These are so comfortable and I usually hate bras. I actually bought another one after reviewing them.
Give the gift of comfort this Christmas, thanks to Bravado Designs Everyday lingerie collection. With an extensive range of sustainable options made from the softest eco-conscious quality fabrics, Bravado continues to offer comfort with a conscience. Known for their maternity & nursing bras, the lingerie experts support women from pregnancy, through to breastfeeding and beyond. The latest launches include the Balconette bra, offering a feminine and flattering sweetheart neckline, designed to lift from below the breast to accentuate a shapely silhouette. And the Sculpt, a best-selling design for a good reason, the bra will truly elevate the wearers day in more ways than one –seamless, wire-free and engineered beautifully.
Smart Toys & Games | IQ Gears | RRP: £12.99 | Stockist: SmartToys&Games
This is a brilliant gift for kids and adults. We have already had hours of fun with it and there is a lot of levels you can do. Love it.
Get those brains geared-up this Christmas with the award-winning compact IQ Gears! With up to 120 challenges, players 7+ must fit all the gears on the gameboard to make the cogs rotate!
The Puppet Company | ECO Sockettes | RRP: £19.99 | Stockist: The Puppet Company
These hand puppets are beautifully made and children love them. A great way to entertain.
For the big kids of the family, these fabulous, fun, knitted Sockette puppets with a squeaker in the tongue, are sure to get the conversation started around the Christmas dinner table! Designed to be both eye-catching and highly functional, these easy-to-use creations work well alone and look even more striking when used with some of their other Sockette friends! With larger than life characters, they are full of mischief with friendly faces and big mouths. Making a really unique gift, they are now made from recycled materials and embroidered eyes, with no plastic in sight.
Advent Calendar From Sockshop. Finding matching socks in the morning is always a pain. This advent calendar is joy encapsulated. Brilliant, comfortable socks which are high quality, along with a little fun everyday.
SOCKSHOP Advent Calendars Available for men & women
Priced at £59.99 with 10% of sales going to their partner charity Emmaus
Perfect Books For Children
The Story Orchestra. A Midsummer Night’s Dream. A sound book which is a retelling of Shakespeare’s Classic. As fun as it is entertaining. I love this series and I have a few others in the collection now. Everything about this is perfect, from the illustration to the story.
Spin To Survive Deep Space Danger. A game-in-a-book where you survive on a space ship heading for disaster. It’s thrilling and perfect for family fun this Christmas.
Enter The World of Dinosaurs. Immersive 3D Viewer. See dinosaurs in 3D with this immersive 3D viewer. It has 30 dinosaur cards with facts and observational dinosaur games.
12 Days of SkinCycles Advent Calendar
Another gorgeous beauty advent calendar. The products are premium and full-size. This exclusive 12 Days of SkinCycles Advent Calendar – a curated selection of best-selling products in full sizes, is perfect for anyone who wants to experience the full range of clinical-grade skincare. It’s a luxurious way to count down to Christmas while treating the skin to scientifically backed, rejuvenating skincare. The advent calendar will be available for pre-order by November 1st.
With sustainability and ethics at the core of SkinCycles. Products are PETA-approved and coral reef-safe. They were also awarded the Butterfly Mark for r dedication to ethical beauty practices.
SkinCycles, a cosmeceutical skincare brand that merges advanced dermatology treatments with the luxury of at-home skincare – perfect for Christmas gifting!
The Perfect Gift for Film Fans. The official DC Cinematic book has landed, DC Cinematic Universe, published by DK books. Comprehensive and a great read.
See how DC’s characters, locations, costumes, and weapons have been adapted from page to screen and evolved over the decades. Witness some of the world’s finest actors, such as Academy-Award winners Marlon Brando, Jack Nicholson, Christian Bale, Nicole Kidman, Joaquin Phoenix, Viola Davis, and others transform into the Super Heroes, Super-Villains, and supporting cast for their times.
ShelterBox Book Club
A charity book subscription service with a difference. Every six weeks our 2,000+ members receive a physical book in the post and access to exclusive online events like live Q&As with the authors and discussions with the other members.
It’s no ordinary book club. It’s a community of book worms, passionate about books and ShelterBox’s vision: No one left without shelter after disaster.
A UK based international disaster relief charity that supports people with emergency shelter, and basic items like solar lights, blankets and mosquito nets, when disaster or conflict has torn them from their homes.
The ShelterBox Book Club has been running for 6 years and since then over 90,000 books have been read and nearly £1.5 million has been raised.
It’s a perfect Christmas gift for a book lover. Every 6 weeks members vote their favourite choice from a specially selected shortlist reflecting the countries and cultures ShelterBox has worked in. The book with the most votes is the one that’s posted out to everyone to read.
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Noughty’s 2024 Christmas Gift Shop – Perfect Haircare Gifts for Everyone. Haircare is so mood-boosting and these products are brilliant.
Noughty’s 2024 Christmas Gift Shop, a festive selection of natural, sulphate-free, and vegan-friendly haircare bundles perfect for gifting this season. With products designed for every hair type and concern, cruelty-free gift sets are ideal for Christmas. I loved the Sensitive Scalp Starter Bundle: £22.49 – Instant relief from itching and dryness, fragrance-free and ideal for eczema-prone scalps.
Biovene Barcleona – Great Products and Clean Beauty.
Biovene Barcelona has now launched at Morissons. These make great gifts, and stocking stuffers or add-ons for Christmas!
Biovène Barcelona is a multi-award-winning, socially conscious, brand, which promotes ‘Clean’ Beauty; and where transparency is found in the formulations of products without Sulfates, SLS, SLES, parabens, formaldehyde, phthalates, mineral oil, microplastics, oxybenzone, hydroquinone, Triclosan, Triclocarban and less than 1% of synthetic fragrances. The brand does not test on animals and strives to provide product options that are either vegetarian or vegan.
Born in Barcelona, Spain, the brand embraces diversity in gender identity and culture, as it does in its world-renowned inclusive city. Spanning all over the globe, from Europe to the Middle East & America, Biovène Barcelona innovates prestigious products defined as ‘premium’ but accessible and believes beauty should be fair it of religion, ethnicity, or any part of life- it should not be limited the access to life and beauty.
The brand instils confidence and establishes itself as a trusted name by assuring consumers that products are made with integrity and free from harmful ingredients. Available from Morrisons.
In this article, Jane McClenaghan, one of Northern Ireland’s most esteemed nutritionists with over two decades of experience, explores how these tiny seeds can support your gut. Jane, who runs Vital Nutrition and regularly contributes to media outlets such as the BBC and The Belfast Telegraph, explains the importance of flaxseeds’ fibre content, their prebiotic effects, and their role in maintaining a healthy gut microbiome. Through her expert insight, you’ll discover easy ways to incorporate flaxseeds into your diet and the science behind their digestive benefits.
How do flaxseeds improve digestion?
Flaxseeds contain a lovely balance of soluble and insoluble fibre, making them the perfect addition to your diet if you are serious about optimising your digestion. A portion size of flaxseed can contribute over 4g to your daily fibre intake.(1) Not a bad start to the recommended daily intake of 30g fibre a day (2). For optimum digestive benefits, choose a form of milled flaxseed, as whole seeds can pass through the digestive tract undigested, and won’t have the same beneficial effects.The Role of Soluble and Insoluble Fibre in Digestive HealthSoluble and insoluble fibre work together to help regulate bowel movements and keep things moving. Both types of fibre have benefits for digestion. Soluble fibre is the stuff that dissolves in water to form a gel and may be helpful for people with loose stools, and insoluble fibre helps to speed up transit time. It is important to have a combination of both types of fibre in our diet, so flaxseed definitely ticks the fibre box.Flaxseeds and Gut Health: The Power of LignansFlaxseeds also contain a class of polyphenols called lignans. Once lignans are metabolised by the bacteria in our gut, they have various health benefits that may include anti-inflammatory effects and hormone balancing effects.
How much flaxseed should I consume daily for gut health? Just two dessertspoons a day (20g) is all you need each day. You can take it all in one go – in your favourite breakfast for example, or divide your intake over a couple of meals in your day.
Studies on Flaxseed and Constipation Studies show that just 10 g of flaxseed twice a day for 12 weeks significantly improved constipation symptoms, particularly stool consistency (3).
Gradually Increasing Fibre for IBS If you have IBS, you may prefer to increase fibre in your diet a little more gradually until your body gets used to it.
What is the best way to incorporate flaxseeds into my diet? Flaxseed is really versatile and easy to add to lots of foods. Linwoods have a range of milled flaxseed products that are lovely to add to any meal of the day. Try adding a spoonful of milled flaxseed to your favourite breakfast of porridge, overnight oats of Greek yoghurt. For added crunch and a little extra antioxidant benefits, try adding a spoonful of Linwoods Flaxseed, Sunflower, Pumpkin & Chia Seeds & Goji Berries onto salads or use as a tasty topper for soups at lunchtime. There are lots of ways to incorporate milled flaxseed into your diet, and you will soon find your favourite.
Are flaxseeds beneficial for overall digestive health? Flaxseeds have lots of benefits for gut health, thanks to their anti-inflammatory and prebiotic effects.
Flaxseeds and Gut Microbiome Support As well as helping to keep us more regular, flaxseeds may change the balance of bacteria in our gut microbiome for the better, reduce bloating and help support overall digestive health.
Flaxseed with Probiotics for Enhanced Digestive Benefits If you are looking for a little extra help from your daily flaxseed habit, then take a look at Linwoods Milled Flaxseed with Bio Cultures & Vitamin D. This combination contains a unique strain of a probiotic bacteria called Bacillus coagulans that has been shown to help reduce tummy pain, gas, wind and bloating (4).
Boosting Gut Health with a Variety of Plant Foods Did you know that eating 30 different plant foods a week can help support our gut microbiome? Linwoods Flaxseed, Sunflower, Pumpkin & Chia Seeds & Goji Berries is a great way to boost your intake of plant foods, with five different plant foods in one healthy product.
Do flaxseeds help support a healthy gut microbiome? The soluble fibre in flaxseeds acts as a prebiotic to help nourish the bacteria in our microbiome. Think of prebiotics as the fuel that our gut microbiome needs for a healthy diversity and abundance of good bacteria.
Flaxseeds and Increased Probiotic Bacteria One study showed that the addition of flaxseed for 6 weeks increased the abundance of 33 species of probiotic bacteria (5).
Variety of Plant-Based Foods for a Healthy Microbiome The more variety of plant-based foods in our diet, the greater the abundance and diversity of beneficial bacteria in our gut microbiome. Make flaxseed part of your daily routine to help feed your gut.
Adding Flaxseed to my diet everyday has made a huge difference to my life. As a busy mum I find it hard to eat healthy. Linwoods do a lot of different types of seed. I have tried most of them and adding them to yoghurt, salads and porridge really ups my nutritional game. They are convenient, you just add a couple of dessert spoonfuls to a meal, or even a smoothie, and you’re good to go. I even like the taste and the texture they add to meals. Win win all round.
