The Foodwatch Blog

A "natural" sweetener, Stevia was approved for use in late in 2008 in Australia and the US and the first Stevia products are now appearing on the supermarket shelves.

It's not considered "artificial" and marketing for stevia makes much of it being 100% natural - which appeals to consumers - compared to aspartame or acesulphame-K which are often regarded as "chemical" and can't escape the cancer-scare rumours that have been circulating for years.

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Guest post by nutritionist Josephine Mollica

Eating a wide variety of different foods is a key principle of good nutrition - if you're short on iodine, selenium or some other trace element, for instance, you stand a better chance of getting it from 40 foods than from just 10. This principle of Variety is so important it's enshrined as the first of 13 Dietary Guidelines for good health.

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Soup is one of my favourite winter meals. Thick and hearty, it's warming and satisfying. It's a key food if you want to lose some weight without going hungry.

Soups are pretty easy to make (unlike pastry or fiddly finger food) but, depending on the type, can take 2 or 3 hours, as they often require long, slow simmering.

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I'm in flavour heaven

My taste buds died and woke up in flavour heaven! I've just bought my first bottle of pomegranate molasses and can't believe how magnificent the flavour is! How come I got to the ripe old age of 50-something and never ever sampled this before? Something as basic as a marinade for lamb, pork or chicken now sends me into raptures. A salad with a teaspoon of the molasses in the dressing has me drooling. Even sipping a ‘cordial' made pomegranate molasses in a glass of water is refreshingly divine.

I know you'll think I've gone insane but I've never tasted anything so sublime. Honestly. It's the combination of understated sweetness with that astringency that you only find in balsamic vinegar or too-strong tea (must be those amazing polyphenols - aka tannins - which the tea blenders tell me is what makes you mouth pucker).

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