Iron is an important mineral for our bodies, vital for physical and mental health and well-being. It helps to carry oxygen in the blood, maintains a healthy immune system and helps in energy production. That is why if you are low in iron you feel tired and lethargic, may struggle to fight off colds or infections, and may have difficulty concentrating.

Throughout the year I will be giving interesting and informative talks on nutrition and food at variety of venues in and around Warkworth.

The talks will cover a range of topics, and will hopefully provide you with answers to your food and nutrition questions.

The Nicole’s Nutrition Kitchen cooking classes are a wealth of information. Nicole brings together years of study (including current enrollment in post-graduate study in Nutrition at Massey University) and practical application (home-cooking, café cook, gluten-free bakery owner) to give you the opportunity to have your food and nutrition questions answered. It’s also a chance to learn some new tricks and to give you the confidence to try new things in the kitchen.

Simply put – dieting doesn’t work.

There is a little more to it than that really, but that's the gist of it. A much more sensible option is Intuitive Eating, which allows you have your cake and eat it.

When there is a topic that I am passionate about it is hard to shut me up, and going gluten-free is one such subject.

Which is why I have been giving public talks (with more scheduled) and I develop recipes and run cooking classes all revolving around making gluten-free living as easy and tasty as possible.

I have been lucky enough to be invited as a guest blogger over on the Eat Well NZ blog, talking about what you need to know before you go gluten free.

Eat Well NZ is a healthy living blog to guide you in learning to nourish your body and find balance in a world of confusing and sometimes extreme nutritional advice. Nicola Jackson of Eat Well NZ is a Registered Nutritionist, food lover, runner and believer in holistic well being. She posts on wellness, body confidence, body image and skin care; and how you don’t need to quit foods, follow rules, or go to the extreme to be healthy (unless you have a food allergy!).

Pop on over to the Eat Well NZ to read some interesting and informative posts.

Now how many of you made the “lose weight and get fit” New Year resolution... again? And, how many of you will fulfill that resolution? Or will some delicious temptation make you just give up and throw it all out the window?

According to the Ministry of Health there are 28 vitamins and minerals essential to our good health and we should include them in our daily diet. By having a widely diverse diet we can obtain all the nutrients we need. The best foods to get all of these goodies from is one full of wholefoods – fresh fruit and vegetables, meat, seafood, nuts and seeds, eggs, whole-grains and dairy.

Here at Nicole’s Nutrition Kitchen it is all about wholesome home-cooking with simple recipes and practical ideas.

For some people, the thought of making bread or a Smoked Fish Pie (simple hearty food to me) can be as daunting as trying to make a restaurant quality gourmet dish. There may be the odd gourmet-like dish here – or what I like to call ‘café styling at home’ dishes – but they will still be simple. I like simple food, made with simple ingredients.

You might think that your gut - from stomach, through small intestine, to large intestine - is simply there just to digest your food, absorbed nutrients and excrete waste.

Now while all of those are vital functions of the gut, research is building to suggest that the health of our gut is actually key to much of our overall health and happiness, including our immunity, resistance to chronic disease and even mental health.

In our gut we carry a unique population of bacteria - called our 'microbiome'. This microbiome is made up of some very impressive numbers:

• we carry around 2kg of bactera;
• that 2kg is made up of trillions of bacteria;
• they outnumber the cells in our bodies by about 10 to 1;
• more than 1000 different species have been identified;
• we carry about 150 - 170 different species each, which is a unique combination for each of us.

With winter comes one vegetable that has never been a favourite of mine. Apparently they need the cold to sweeten up which is why you only see Brussel sprouts in winter.

The hot summer weather is at an end and so too is the glut of summer vegetables. As much as I love tomatoes and courgettes I really am looking forward to a change.

I enjoy changing my eating to match the different seasons. There are a couple of good reasons for doing this.

Don’t you just love summer!?!

Summertime at my place means a glut of gorgeous summer vegetables. Tomatoes, courgettes, cucumbers, corn and beans galore! The great thing about so many delicious vegetables is that it is very easy to get the recommended 5+ servings a day. Tomatoes on toast for breakfast, cucumbers and beans with lunch, corn and courgettes for dinner. And they are all great accompaniments for a BBQ dinner too.

In saying courgettes for dinner, I am having to find 1001 ways to use them up. They grow like triffids. If you miss picking them you end up with more than you bargained for. I recently found a marrow hidden behind a pumpkin. I have had to get a bit imaginative with how to use them.