Fermented foods have exploded (in some cases literally) onto the shelves of health food stores and even some mainstream convenience stores. Many cafes and restaurants are embracing the unique flavour profiles of these often mysterious foods and drink items. With names like kombucha, jun, kefir and crazy alive giant mushroom looking SCOBYS that brew away in cool looking glass and ceramic crocks, hipsters are all over it. But these curious fermented foods aren’t anything new- in fact most of the traditional ferments pre-date historical records. Fermenting started out as food preservation, and according to records it was the humble cabbage, transformed by the microbial wonders and turned into a preserved nutrient dense vitamin C rich sauerkraut that kept Captain Cook’s fleet free from scurvy whilst on their expedition. Since the advent of refrigeration however, many of these fermented foods have fallen by the way side, until recently when they have jumped back on the scene in a flurry, and for good reason……
Healthy Subscription Box Round Up
In this age of text messages, facetime, emails and online chats- how nice is to recieve something tangible in the mail?? We admit to feeling more than a little nostalgic for handwritten letters, postcards and brown-paper-and-twine-wrapped parcels. So it’s no surprise we’ve jumped rather eagerly on the monthly subscription box bandwagon. Especially now that there are so many fantastic healthy box options out there, each with their own little twist and flavour. And along with getting to sample some of the best health food and wellness lifestyle brands out there, you also get that sweet simple joy of getting something special from the mail-man/woman every month.
But with so many options popping up these days, where to begin? We’ve rounded up three of our favourite boxes in the UK, USA and Australia- and there are a few that we’ve even secured our Three Silver Spoons readers a discount code- woohoo! Read on below for a run down of each box, what they offer, price and delivery details. Don’t forget to let us know in the comments box which is your favourite, or if there are any cool subscription boxes we’ve missed.
UK Boxes
Bee Free Box
Founded by a Clinical Nutritionist and her daughter, a Nutritional Therapy student, the Bee Free Box is the bee’s knees if you’re looking for a subscription box that is free from gluten, wheat, yeast, and dairy. Their food intolerence boxes are available in snack, kids, basic, midi and large sizes, so there’s an option and size for everyone. There are also three types of boxes for your canine friend (Puppy, Dog and Senior), some excellent information about various food intolerences, as well as some yummy “free-from…” recipes on their website.
How often: Subscription boxes available weekly or fortnightly.
How much: Boxes start from £14.99 for the Little Snacks box. The Basic box costs £17.99, and the larger boxes range from £24.99 to £49.99.
Delivery: Free shipping within the UK.
Life Box
Lifebox is a supercharged subscription health box, packed to the brim with meticulously and lovingly selected health foods. The darling UK company has 5 types of boxes on offer, including the Everyday (Gluten Free), The Cleanse (Vegan), Women’s Health, Men’s Health and the Junior. What’s extra nice is that you can also try about any of these boxes with a one off trial.
How often: Subscription boxes available monthly.
How much: Boxes start from £13.95 for the Junior box. The Everyday and the Cleanse boxes cost £19.96, and the Women’s & Men’s boxes cost £21.95.
Delivery: £3.50 flat rate or £5.00 express delivery within the UK. For international delivery, email for a postage quote.
TSS Exclusive Discount: Enter “LB3SS” at checkout for a 10% discount on your first box. Valid till 31 January 2016.
Primal Snack Box
Primal Snack Boxes are comprised of grain, gluten, dairy, soy and refined sugar free products. There are three boxes available: The Savannah box is designed for those on a paleo diet and includes dried meat snacks. The second, The Forest box, is the vegan and vegetarian version and is full of animal-friendly nutritious snacks. Finally there is a protein-rich, high-energy Barrecore box (not vegan), designed by Barrecore founder, Niki Rein. Lots of cool sweet and savoury brands affiliated with this one!
How often: Boxes available as one-off purchases and the classic monthly subscription.
How much: Monthly subscriptions cost £19.99 for the Savannah or the Barrecore boxes and £17.99 for the Forest box. The explorer sampler boxes cost £9.99 each.
Delivery: Free shipping within the UK.
TSS Exclusive Discount: Enter “PRIMALTSS” at checkout for 10% off on your first box. Valid till 31 December.
USA Boxes
Vegan Cuts
This long running American cult classic offers both food and beauty boxes. The snack box includes 7-10 vegan goodies, while the beauty box includes 4-7 cruelty-free skincare/cosmetics products. They also have a couple of other one-off boxes that sound pretty cool, like the Goddess Box and the Yoga Box.
How much: $19.95 USD per month.
How often: Monthly subscription, with monthly, 3, 6, and 12 month payment options.
Delivery: Worldwide shipping. Free shipping to the USA. Shipping to Canada: USD$8.00. Shipping to other international destinations: USD$15.00.
Bestowed
Get 7-10 super healthy snacks, beverages and lifestyle products every month with the classic Bestowed box. All the products which make the Bestowed cut have to meet the following high standards: Made with all-natural ingredients, no artificial preservatives, colors, flavors or sweeteners, no trans fat, partially-hydrogenated oils or high fructose corn syrup, organic, whenever possible, and be made with sustainably-sourced ingredients. Sounds pretty good to us!
How much: $20.00 USD per month. Discounted pricing for the 3, 6 and 12 month subscriptions.
How often: Monthly subscription, with monthly, 3, 6, and 12 month payment options.
Delivery: Free shipping (USA only).
TSS Exclusive Discount: Click this link for 10% off any Bestowed Membership.
UrthBox
Urthbox is another great healthy snack box subscription that’s all about making healthy food easy and convenient for you. They offer their classic, gluten-free, vegan and diet boxes in four different sizes, and each are available with month-by-month, 3 month and 6 month subscriptions. The 3 and 6 month prepaid options award you with a substantial discount. There are also gift and office box options.
How much: Month-by-month prices are: $12.99 USD for the mini, $19.99 for the small, $29.99 for the medium and $39.99 for the large box.
How often: Monthly subscription, with monthly, 3 and 6 payment options.
Delivery: Free shipping to the USA. Shipping to Canada: USD$6.95.
TSS Exclusive Discount: Enter “CRUNCHWEEK” at checkout for a $5 discount on your first box.
AUSTRALIA/NEW ZEALAND Boxes
The Vegan Box
Horray for an Australian vegan box! This animal-friendly subscription box appears at your doorstep monthly, complete with a selection of 5-8 vegan and palm-free products. The products could include assorted snacks, superfoods, skincare and/or lifestyle products, in a combination of full size, travel size and sample sizes. There is also a Beauty Vegan box, which is shipped once every 2 months and is a cool way to discover luxurious, cruelty free and organic brands for your body.
How much: $26.95 AUD per month for the Vegan box, and $49.95 every two months for the Beauty Vegan box.
How often: Monthly subscription.
Delivery: $3.00 shipping to Australian destinations. Worldwide shipping also available (cost varies by destination).
TSS Exclusive Discount: Enter “threesilverspoons” at checkout for $7 off on your first box. Valid till 31 December.
Goodness Me Box
One of our all-time favourites, the GoodnessMe Box is designed to get you excited about eating pure and wholesome food that is always natural and GMO-free. Every month you’ll be treated to 5-10 of the latest and greatest health foods from some of the best delicious and nutritious new health-food brands, You can even earn points by reviewing the products on their site, which can then be redeemed as a bonus product in your next month’s box.
How much: $25.00 AUD per month.
How often: Monthly subscription, with monthly, 3, 6, and 12 month payment options.
Delivery: Free shipping (Australia only).
TSS Exclusive Discount: Enter “SILVER10” at checkout for $10 off on your first box. Valid till 29 December.
The Wellness Bag
Brand new out of the box (pardon the pun), is the latest in addictive health subscriptions. What makes The Wellness Bag so darn attractive is that it doesn’t play favourites – you’ll get samples of a mix of health foods, skincare and home products, all with a focus natural ingredients. Even their packaging is eco friendly, with biodegradable paper bags a seeded paper tag (which you can plant!).
How much: $30.00 AUD per month, $75 for 3 months, $140 for 6 months and $250 for 12 months.
How often: Monthly subscription, with monthly, 3, 6, and 12 month payment options.
Delivery: Free shipping in Australia.
TSS Exclusive Discount: Enter “TSS01” at checkout and recieve a bonus surprise product in your first box! Valid till 31 December.
Is Gluten-Free a Healthy Choice?
I am often asked whether going gluten-free is a healthier choice. My answer, which may surprise you, is usually no. Now before you start booing and throwing loaves of grain-free artisan sourdough my way, let me explain (although if you do have any grain-free artisan sourdough available, I won’t say no to a loaf or two).
In growing numbers, the world is embracing a gluten-free lifestyle. Where the health food aisle in your local supermarket was once sparsely stocked, it’s now overflowing with choice. Most of these choices are assumed to be a healthier option. However, unless you cannot process the protein, there is no proven health benefit to going gluten-free. When studying nutritional food labels, it becomes apparent that gluten-free products contain fewer vitamins and fibre while having higher sugar and fat content. While I appreciate that the popularity of the gluten-free lifestyle has led to many companies expanding their product ranges, I am also concerned that the availability of these products has lulled us into a false sense of ‘healthfulness’.
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Intuitive Eating: Release the Guilt & Trust Your Body
Broccoli: Yes. Coffee: No. Carbs: Yes. Fats: No.
Nowadays we are constantly bombarded with so much information and conflicting opinions about how and what to eat. Because of this, our internal queues and responses have become deceptively clouded by the rigid rules created from all these external influences. So many of us have been on at least one diet of some kind at some stage in our lives – and these diets always initiate rules and unhealthy boundaries around eating. Often, much to our chagrin, these food rules stick with us long after we have given up on the diets. The danger is that such an approach to food can leave us with reoccurring feelings of guilt, shame and disgust – when really, we should be feeling the very opposite when we reflect on the food that nourishes and sustains us.
We are all born with the internal wisdom for eating intuitively. Have you noticed how toddlers always stop when they’ve had enough? They know instinctively when to stop. This is the very instinct that dieting blurs. Once you have lost the natural response to your hunger signals and have recognised how negatively it’s affecting you, it’s time to reconnect and learn how to distinguish between physical and emotional queues.
Your health and worth do not change because of the food you eat, e.g. “I ate a slice of chocolate cake- therefore I am a bad person”. How much your eat is entirely disconnected from the core values that define you as a person. But in order to reboot and take you back to a state of intuitive eating, you’ll need to learn to trust your body and make peace with food. This is a complex process and can take some time – after all, you are re-programming your brain after years of dieting and food rules. But it’s a process that’s well worth it. Learning to eat intuitively brings a satisfying freedom so you can finally leave diets as a thing of the past.
So here are my top tips for intuitive eating. By starting with baby steps you are setting yourself up for long-term success:…
The Delicious Benefits of Raw Cacao
In this world of over processed and sweet-tooth inducing foods, you’ve probably been more aware of cocoa rather than cacao. Both are from the same origin, it’s just the process or lack of processing that differentiates the two. Cacao is the pure, unroasted form, whereas cocoa is generally roasted. The roasting leads to a bitter flavour, which you’ll find most manufacturers cover with refined sugars and dairy products.
I first discovered raw cacao (raw means it’s never heated above 42’C) around 3 years ago and it’s since become a key part of my own diet. The small bean, which grows in pod-like fruits on cacao trees in Africa and South America, is cold pressed in its unroasted form. This process separates the fat (the cacao butter) whilst protecting the enzyme content, overall nutritional value, and natural flavour. Raw cacao is a bit of a superhero when it comes to nutritional benefits.
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The ABCs of Healthy Skin
Want healthy skin that glows? Want to prevent deterioration? Or to cure skin concerns?
Your skin will show you the truth (the good, the bad, and the ugly) about how you are looking after your most valuable asset: your body. Just as the food that we crave is a signal from our bodies, everything troublesome that occurs in our skin can be interpreted a sign of negligence, product overuse, internal disharmony or nutrient deficiency.
We live in a world where we research obsessively to try to decipher how to be the very best we can be. But honestly, the only information you need is within you. Our bodies are the most amazing machines we will ever have, and even today with our advanced technology we don’t understand it completely.
The body will send you signals when it requires something, or when you have created an internal imbalance. Much like the pain you might feel after eating gluten or a highly saturated meal, or the after pain of a workout, your body is telling you exactly what is happening inside- we just need to stop and listen.
Here’s the ABC’s of skin care you need to know:…
My Vegan Pantry
Switching to a plant based diet? Or perhaps you’ve been vegan for a while and need a refresher on the fundamentals of a successful, healthy, plant based diet. Stocking up a vegan pantry can be a daunting task, if you’re unsure of which ingredients are best to supplement a plant based lifestyle.
A successful vegan diet takes a lot of passion, planning and commitment. For me it is a wholesome, affordable and sustainable way of life. I recognise that this is what works for me and that every individual has different needs- so whatever your requirements are, use the below list as a guide and make sure your listen to your body…
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The Switch to Vegan Wellness
I read an article recently, which stated that 80% of people that attempt the switch from a meat to a vegetarian or plant based diet fail. Its not hard to believe- we’ve all heard it before at some point.
As someone who was raised vegetarian and is now vegan, I don’t really know how big of a switch it is from a carnivorous to a plant based diet but I do know is that a wholesome, well planned, plant based diet provides me with all the nutrition that I need. In addition, it’s good for the planet, our fury friends, is affordable and completely satisfying. More than ever, it’s becoming a choice that is easy to stick to, if you know how.
When I was first introduced to veganism I didn’t think it was for me- I didn’t think I’d ever want to, nor be able to, give up the foods I enjoyed (now I wonder how I ever enjoyed them in the first place) so much. Veganism sounded so restrictive and bland but oh how naïve I was! I have never felt healthier or happier in my life than I do now as a vegan. The stigma around changing to a plant based diet is that you will be ‘giving up’ so much, even though I’ve gained far more foods than I ‘lost’. It did take time, patience and learning, however, and was a long road to the nourishing, satisfying and abundant diet I have today.
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Nature’s Gentle Cleansers
With the ever increasing variety of skincare and cosmetics products on offer, it’s easy to be swayed by glittering promises advertised by enchanting spokespeople. We’re all smart, intelligent humans, most of us alert to the half truths charaded within magazine pages or splattered over life-size billboards by winking supermodels airbrushed to an inch of their life. But despite our ability to understand the difference between irrational marketing ploys and realistic product claims, it’s impossible not to be somewhat influenced by products specifically marketed to “fix” precisely the things we think we need perfected.
When it comes to our skin, for example, women have long been targeted by the skincare and cosmetics industries- though in recent years has seen products for men marketed with just as much gusto. And on many levels, it makes sense. Our faces and our bodies physically and literally form our tangible connection to the world. If we feel like our faces are not of a “good enough” standard- we make various changes to try to improve it. Whether it’s acne, sun spots, wrinkles or scars, most of us have something we would like to change or refine, so that we feel like a better version of ourselves….
Vitamin B12 on a Plant Based Diet / Part II
Best Sources of B12
Vitamin B-12 is the only essential vitamin produced exclusively by bacterial synthesis and is found in the colon of healthy mammals.1 In healthy humans, B-12 is produced in the colon and can be found in saliva,7 but there is no proof that this B-12 is the active vitamin, or is abundant enough to contribute as a reliable source of vitamin B-12. Drinking water, raw home-grown vegetables, fermented foods, fortified soy products, breakfast cereals, faux-meats, nutritional yeast and mushrooms are other possible sources of vegan sourced vitamin B-12, but the reliability of these sources is extremely untrustworthy, unless specifically fortified with the vitamin.8
Tempeh and fermented foods
Tempeh is actually a good source of vitamin B-12 in its home country, Indonesia, however its Western counter-part is not so unless specifically fortified with B-12. While the Balinese street vendor is a viable place for bacteria to synthesis B-12, the sterile, air conditioned western tempeh kitchen is not so. This was discovered by a study in the 1980s, which showed that, oddly, Western-produced tempeh was completely devoid of vitamin B-12.9…