Tag: recipe

THE HISTORY OF MOTHERING SUNDAY – 19th MARCH 2023…

Like many traditions and festivities, Mothering Sunday began with a religious purpose. Held on the fourth Sunday in Lent, exactly three weeks before Easter Sunday, it was a originally a day to honour and give thanks to the Virgin Mary, also known as Mother Mary. Such celebrations required people to visit their ‘mother’ church – the main church or cathedral in a family’s area.

The spread of Christianity throughout Europe in the 16th century increased the celebrations and firmly put Mothering Sunday on the calendar. It was believed to be essential for people to return to their home ‘mother’ church to make it a true family honoured occasion. The gatherings reunited families and gave children who worked as domestic servants, or as apprentices away from home (from as early as ten years old), the opportunity to have the day off to join their family and see their mother.

Throughout the year in England and Ireland people would regularly and devoutly visit their nearest chapel, their ‘daughter’ church, whereas on Mothering Sunday, as well as baptisms, people would visit their ‘mother’ church loaded with offerings of thanks. Such celebrations were similar to, and most likely adopted, the Roman ceremonies of the Mother Goddess. The religious day increased its scope from thanking Mother Mary to a ‘mother’ church celebration and finally opened up as an occasion to thank and appreciate all mothers; thus creating Mothering Sunday.

Whilst the day had a firm following for many centuries since the 16th century, by 1935 it started to decrease in popularity and was celebrated less and less in Europe, until WWII. The Americans and Canadians celebrated Mother’s Day during the war, feeling a crucial need to give thanks to their mothers whilst away at war. The Brits and other Europeans followed their comrades and they too gave thanks to their mothers; since then it earns pride of place on the UK calendar.

Source: Find Me A Gift

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MARCH IS NATIONAL NUTRITION MONTH…

National Nutrition Month is a time when we all take a step back, evaluate our eating habits and ask ourselves ‘Is there something we can change to be healthier?’

National Nutrition Month takes place in March and in this blog post from Get Nourished they will discuss everything you need to know. We’ll talk about what it is and what are some simple changes you can make to improve your health!

National Nutrition Month is an annual campaign created by the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. The focus is to educate people on making healthier food choices and developing healthy eating habits. 

If you are looking to get involved in this month’s holiday, then here are 5 simple steps to make healthier changes in your daily lifestyle.

One simple change you can make is to cook more meals at home. Cooking at home allows you to control the ingredients that go into your food, and it can be a fun activity to do with family or friends.

We are all busier than ever and sometimes that makes it even more tempting to order a takeaway or quickly put a ready meal into the microwave after work. But developing a relationship with food where you truly understand exactly what you are eating can be very powerful.

If you already cook from scratch, then you can take part in this year’s theme of ‘Celebrating a World of Flavours’. When cooking, why not try to incorporate some alternative ingredients from different countries into your usual classics. The National Nutrition Month website has an official guide you can follow week by week and examples of how to incorporate new ingredients into your meals, for example filling a fried omelette with fried rice, which is also known as ‘omurice’ in Japan.

Another way to eat right is to focus on portion size. Oftentimes, we eat more than we realise because we’re not paying attention to how much we’re eating. By being mindful of portion sizes, we can make sure that we’re not overeating.

Understanding what you put into your body is a key piece of knowledge that can unlock how we can control our health. There are many applications out there across IOS and Android devices that allow you to scan or input the foods you are using, learn how calorie-heavy they are and understand the balance of macros inside each product. Downloading a free food tracking app is very simple and you can be set up within seconds.

This leads on nicely from their last point, as meal planning and meal prepping can be a great way to stick to healthy eating.

Meal prepping is simply preparing your meals ahead of time, which can be extremely beneficial to those leading busier lifestyles. This saves time, allows you to control portion sizes (which can also directly result in saving money per portion), and can become an effective way to develop a routine of healthy eating.

For more ideas on eating well go to Get Nourished website here.

Source: Get Nourished