After years of unfair persecution nuts are finally back on the healthy shopping list and not just as an occasional treat but as a daily prescription for good health. Most health authorities now recommend that we eat a handful of nuts a day. Not the salt-laden roasted nuts loitering beside your beer or the sticky chocolate coated, honey roasted types. We’re talking about natural, straight from the shell walnuts, pistachios, hazelnuts, macadamias, almonds, cashews and Brazils.

How can eating a handful of nuts a day help keep us healthy?

Eat less, exercise more. Weight loss is a simple equation, or is it? Recently at the Australian Institute of Food Science and Technology conference I was intrigued to hear a number of speakers mention how the type of bacteria living in our digestive system can influence our weight.

Does that mean if I eat a whole lot of probiotic yogurt I will magically lose that extra padding around my stomach? It’s not quite that simple.

Our digestive system is teeming with microorganisms. In fact our body contains more bacteria than cells. We have around 10 trillion cells but around 100 trillion bacteria. In recent years scientists have discovered just how essential they are for health including:

• stimulating the immune system
• breaking down toxins and carcinogens in food
• fighting against bad bacteria such as e.coli, salmonella and clostridia
• fermenting food to release and absorb nutrients
• regulating inflammation
• regulating energy uptake from the gut

Chocolate brownie is popular with adults and kids alike. But it is usually packed full of fat, sugar and calories. Here is a quick, healthier version adapted from the Healthy Food Guide chocolate brownie. This version uses wholemeal flour which gives an extra nutty flavour and texture that goes well with the walnuts. It has no butter which slashes the saturated fat to almost zero while the walnuts provide a few healthy omega 3 fats. Both the walnuts and wholemeal flour add fibre which hopefully prevents a complete pig-out of this yummy treat! The best thing about this recipe is how quick and easy it is to whip up. Give it a go…

It’s another beautiful day in Sydney and my good friend and I are in relaxed school holiday mode with no particular plans. “Let’s go to the Friday market at The Rocks. The food’s great and the boys can take their scooters,” she suggests. I grab my camera and we walk/scoot the few minutes down the hill to the ferry. Catching a ferry across Sydney Harbour never fails to make me feel like a tourist. We bask on the sun-drenched deck and watch lunch-time joggers and people fishing on the renovated wharves in the shadow of the Sydney Harbour Bridge. Within five minutes we are docking at Circular Quay and walking past the didgeridoo player towards the Rocks.