what did you eat for breakfast?

[Simply_Logical]

I like fennel tea but had to get it from amazon as I couldn't find it from local supermarkets

Ive had peppermint tea but not spearmint tea, is it just another minty tea, so similar in taste?

Not had dandelion or nettle tea tbh what's the benefits to them?

I want to start growing stuff in the garden but got no idea how and don't know anything about gardening but I would like to grow chillies In sha Allah

Not so much biscuits but chocolate and crisps are a big fitna for me tbh lol 🤷

Fennel tea is nice too. It is similar in taste to be honest but I have spearmint tea because it's very good for a health problem I have.

i think there are lots of teas out there and every herb has some health benefits which we can benefit from. I don't know the benefits of dandelion or nettle tea from the top of my head but you can Google them. I think a lot of us have so many health problems now because of all the superficial food we are eating. We need to get back to nature and eat wholesome food and allow our bodies to heal themselves.

Go for it InshaAllah. You can just buy a plant from a gardening centre and you just need to water stuff once in a while. Most plants come with some instructions that say where to place the plant and how often to water it

talking about tea (chai) so i went to somewhere today and within there they had a shop basically got chatting to the woman and they're a new a new tea start up company

If you're familiar with karak chai then you'll know how it taste anyways I grabbed some tea powder from this new shop and interesting thing is she told me it's just a mattering of adding the tea powder and boiled water plus sugar (optional) and no milk whatsoever

I found that really intriguing as within the asian tea culture milk is a big part of the tea regardless to what type of tea it is...

Anyways had the pink kashmiri chai at home and not gonna lie Im really impressed Alhamdulillah Allahumma Bareek 💯🔥👍

[neelu]

Honestly I found out about eating nettles from some food shows on TV. Someone told me about 20 years ago that nettles are edible and people eat them and at the time I thought that sounded SO GROSS that people would eat the weeds that grow on waste land and the fact that they cause pain as well I just found the idea repulsive and forgot about it. Then a few years ago, I was watching a programme about Italian food and an Italian chef went out foraging and as well as picking mushrooms she picked nettles as well and mentioned that it's an integral part of their culture to eat it. In fact a lot of Italian items we see in the supermarket with spinach are traditionally made with nettles for example you might have seen tricolor tagliatelle (where a packet of pasta contains some white, some red pasta coloured with tomato puree and some green pasta coloured with spinach) and the green one is traditionally coloured with nettles- then she made fresh pasta with blanched nettles mixed into it and suddenly it looked tempting and like something I'd want to try... so that's what prompted me to eventually try it in a recipe and I found that I quite like it.

Wow that's so impressive mashaAllah I did not know people eat nettles and I am blown away at how much culinery experience you have, is it a cultural thing or where did you learn to eat nettles from? And only 1 minute to get rid of the sting really? I'm surprised considering how nasty the sting is when you get it. I got stung so many times but there was a plant called lambs ear which was supposed to help with the aftermath of a sting, I was amazed SubhanAllah seeing natural remedies out in the garden.

I'm just starting my journey out on trying to eat better for my health so I'm still clueless about a lot and I'm not much of a cook to be honest, I try to do what is simple and easy. I'm avoiding dairy and carbs in general so I probably couldn't use them recipes but thank you for sharing, definately very inspiring.

I think it's the roots of the dandelion which are more expensive. Since I'm inexperienced at the moment I'm going to buy the packet for now. My brother has a massive garden and they have all sorts of amazing things in there but none of us know what to do with any of it. InshaAllah slowly slowly I'm going to learn how to use them. There's so much potential out there

[A Wandering Soul]

Honestly I found out about eating nettles from some food shows on TV. Someone told me about 20 years ago that nettles are edible and people eat them and at the time I thought that sounded SO GROSS that people would eat the weeds that grow on waste land and the fact that they cause pain as well I just found the idea repulsive and forgot about it. Then a few years ago, I was watching a programme about Italian food and an Italian chef went out foraging and as well as picking mushrooms she picked nettles as well and mentioned that it's an integral part of their culture to eat it. In fact a lot of Italian items we see in the supermarket with spinach are traditionally made with nettles for example you might have seen tricolor tagliatelle (where a packet of pasta contains some white, some red pasta coloured with tomato puree and some green pasta coloured with spinach) and the green one is traditionally coloured with nettles- then she made fresh pasta with blanched nettles mixed into it and suddenly it looked tempting and like something I'd want to try... so that's what prompted me to eventually try it in a recipe and I found that I quite like it.

Do you remember the name of the program by any chance? I would love to watch that, I love looking at how people use nature in day to day life. Yes I've seen that type of pasta and next time I see I'm definitely going to check the ingredients lol

[A Wandering Soul]

talking about tea (chai) so i went to somewhere today and within there they had a shop basically got chatting to the woman and they're a new a new tea start up company

If you're familiar with karak chai then you'll know how it taste anyways I grabbed some tea powder from this new shop and interesting thing is she told me it's just a mattering of adding the tea powder and boiled water plus sugar (optional) and no milk whatsoever

I found that really intriguing as within the asian tea culture milk is a big part of the tea regardless to what type of tea it is...

Anyways had the pink kashmiri chai at home and not gonna lie Im really impressed Alhamdulillah Allahumma Bareek 💯🔥👍

Did you check the ingredients? Most of those kind of teas have milk powder in them which is just dried milk. That's why it probably still tasted nice and milky when you added the water in.

I wonder where abouts in Kashmir they actually drink pink tea because my aunty lives there and she's never had it before it kind of feels like someone just made it up and named it after Kashmir

[Simply_Logical]

talking about tea (chai) so i went to somewhere today and within there they had a shop basically got chatting to the woman and they're a new a new tea start up company

If you're familiar with karak chai then you'll know how it taste anyways I grabbed some tea powder from this new shop and interesting thing is she told me it's just a mattering of adding the tea powder and boiled water plus sugar (optional) and no milk whatsoever

I found that really intriguing as within the asian tea culture milk is a big part of the tea regardless to what type of tea it is...

Anyways had the pink kashmiri chai at home and not gonna lie Im really impressed Alhamdulillah Allahumma Bareek 💯🔥👍

Did you check the ingredients? Most of those kind of teas have milk powder in them which is just dried milk. That's why it probably still tasted nice and milky when you added the water in.

I wonder where abouts in Kashmir they actually drink pink tea because my aunty lives there and she's never had it before it kind of feels like someone just made it up and named it after Kashmir

Yea dw I'm such an idiot I realized after reading the ingredients it's got dried milk lool 😂🙊🤦🤷

Interesting you say that because i just thought it was a common type of tea which originated from the whole of Kashmir but yea obviously not if your aunty from there has never had it and she's from that region

I got two packets yesterday, the pink kashmiri tea and also karak coffee which I had with breakfast today and that was good too but I do prefer the pink kashmiri chai one

Is there any loose tea you could recommend?

I got one of those loose teapots and want to start getting more into them in sha Allah

[A Wandering Soul]

Yea dw I'm such an idiot I realized after reading the ingredients it's got dried milk lool 😂🙊🤦🤷

Interesting you say that because i just thought it was a common type of tea which originated from the whole of Kashmir but yea obviously not if your aunty from there has never had it and she's from that region

I got two packets yesterday, the pink kashmiri tea and also karak coffee which I had with breakfast today and that was good too but I do prefer the pink kashmiri chai one

Is there any loose tea you could recommend?

I got one of those loose teapots and want to start getting more into them in sha Allah

Lol good to know you read ingredients however eventual that is.

nope I don't think it's common at all which is why I'm curious. I did see a documentary once where they were drinking pink tea in the himalayas, maybe that's where it originated from

I'm no tea connoisseur, and I've not got the most delicate tastebuds, I eat and drink pretty much everything lol. What kind of teas are you looking for? I used to like making English tea with some spices, I used 2 cardomoms and1 clove per cup and it's lovely especially in winter when the spices warm you up. These days I'm mainly drinking herbal teas.

[neelu]

RE: Kashmiri tea
I don't know if the extent to which people drink it in Kashmir, but my family comes from Kashmiri ancestry (although they lived in Punjab for generations) and the pink tea is a big thing in my family and it's considered to be part of Kashmiri food heritage. Admittedly though, me and my mum haven't been to Kashmir.

Do you remember the name of the program by any chance? I would love to watch that, I love looking at how people use nature in day to day life. Yes I've seen that type of pasta and next time I see I'm definitely going to check the ingredients lol

I don't remember the name of the program, the title had "Italian" in it such as "so and so's Italian kitchen" but I can't remember her name. I also remember that the cook/chef had grown up in Wales but was from an Italian family. I think if you buy the green pasta, it'll probably have spinach in, cos spinach is better suited to mass production but traditionally in Italy, it was made with foraged nettles (at least that's what the presenter said). After WWII, many Italians were quite poor, so they foraged for food to survive, cos they couldn't afford much. It turned out these foraging traditions meant they ate better than kings and the foods were good for their long term health. They foraged for mushrooms, nettles, chestnuts, apples and would go into rivers to catch fish, octopus and shellfish and didn't eat much red meat cos they couldn't afford it- in fact many couldn't afford eggs and made pasta without it. A similar lifestyle in Greece is what led to the big fuss these days about how the "Mediterranean diet" is the healthiest in the world: active lifestyle herding goats in the mountains, foraging for local greens and herbs, breathing fresh sea air, a diet low in red meat (as they couldn't afford it), eating fresh seafood and goats cheese, consuming plenty of good quality olive oil. It means the key to good health in general is usually these same things: fresh air, active lifestyle, fresh local produce, foraged foods, don't eat too much red meat. I think in the West in colder climates, most people can't be bothered partly cos we're hooked on convenience and junk foods, partly cos we don't have a culture of growing our own food (or it's not that widespread, or many don't have the land for it), we have too much access to mass produced, cheap, factory farmed red meat which probably isn't good for us and also we live in cold climates where there's often less enjoyment in being active outdoors, so people travel in cars and don't walk or cycle enough.

Another interesting thing I discovered in a book about herbal medicines, is that nettles is part of the arthritis treatment protocol. Apparently centuries ago, people with arthritic conditions were stung with nettles as part of a therapy to alleviate such conditions- nowadays people refer to bee venom therapy for similar reasons and the book was claiming there is some scientific merit to doing this (I'm too much of a wimp to try getting stung though lol)- maybe your getting stung is therapy and good for you lol. The book also said nettles are good for the joints and collagen and it's an anti inflammatory. I was so pleased with myself that I've incorporated it in my diet. I used to feel a bit guilty that perhaps wrapping it in buttery puff pastry will make it unhealthy but now I no longer feel guilty about it.

[Simply_Logical]

Lol good to know you read ingredients however eventual that is.

nope I don't think it's common at all which is why I'm curious. I did see a documentary once where they were drinking pink tea in the himalayas, maybe that's where it originated from

I'm no tea connoisseur, and I've not got the most delicate tastebuds, I eat and drink pretty much everything lol. What kind of teas are you looking for? I used to like making English tea with some spices, I used 2 cardomoms and1 clove per cup and it's lovely especially in winter when the spices warm you up. These days I'm mainly drinking herbal teas.

himalayas huh?yea may be linked in one way or another huh

im just open to any teas that taste nice where i dont need to add any sugar because tbh ive got a bit of a sugar addiction,
also if it helps with my health and in aiding in losing weigh that would be a major bonus tbh

i started watching this vid and about 8 mins in i thought i'd check out his site to see the prices, i was stunned, like wth charging so much for tea, dont they know im asian? lool

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-h7KNfRs4E&t=482s

i do lurve having cinnamon in my tea, cant explain it but it adds such an amazing taste to the tea,
bit like danya in curries, just adds nice flavour and makes it look amazing imo

[Simply_Logical]

well i had chicken pilau and pink tea for breakfast, so much for doing intermittent fasting,
swear im soooo weak mentally

[Simply_Logical]

just coffee today straight from the moka pot which i used after some time

cant lie not sure if coffee is a good idea with my current state of mind as my anxiety is off the chains and coffee can cause anxiety apparently

[neelu]

just coffee today straight from the moka pot which i used after some time

cant lie not sure if coffee is a good idea with my current state of mind as my anxiety is off the chains and coffee can cause anxiety apparently

Have you considered keeping some sort of food diary so that you can track how your body reacts to certain foods? I started doing this years ago it helps me figure out which foods I'm okay with and which to avoid. You can also experiment with which foods are meant to improve your mood and see if they work. Apparently saffron tea is meant to be a good natural anti depressant (if you can afford it)

[Simply_Logical]

just coffee today straight from the moka pot which i used after some time

cant lie not sure if coffee is a good idea with my current state of mind as my anxiety is off the chains and coffee can cause anxiety apparently

Have you considered keeping some sort of food diary so that you can track how your body reacts to certain foods? I started doing this years ago it helps me figure out which foods I'm okay with and which to avoid. You can also experiment with which foods are meant to improve your mood and see if they work. Apparently saffron tea is meant to be a good natural anti depressant (if you can afford it)

tbh I suck at keeping diaries, journals or whatever you want to call it

I was thinking about doing intermittent fasting again but I lack the motivation as I'm struggling to keep motivated for anything in life when I'm feel so low and depressed

[Simply_Logical]

just coffee today straight from the moka pot which i used after some time

cant lie not sure if coffee is a good idea with my current state of mind as my anxiety is off the chains and coffee can cause anxiety apparently

Have you considered keeping some sort of food diary so that you can track how your body reacts to certain foods? I started doing this years ago it helps me figure out which foods I'm okay with and which to avoid. You can also experiment with which foods are meant to improve your mood and see if they work. Apparently saffron tea is meant to be a good natural anti depressant (if you can afford it)

@neelu saffrons expensive isn't it?

[neelu]

neelu saffrons expensive isn't it?

yes it is, that's why I mentioned if you can afford it.

I understand what you mean about not feeling motivated to keep a diary or commit to IF. I go through this a lot as well especially over the past year or so. I keep thinking I should be doing something more worthwhile with my time than whiling away the hours on the internet each day commenting on stuff and intellectually in my own mind sometimes I think hey I'm good at sewing or I used to make good radio shows or could do a podcast, but then I never actually get round to it and the following day I go back to the same old just scrolling through the newsfeed or commenting on the random thread and then feel like I've wasted the day.

Years ago when I was in touch with my best friend, he was suffering from depression and social anxiety and he described the exact same thing. He ended up dropping out of uni cos he just couldn't commit the time towards doing the homework. It's not that the subject was hard or beyond his level of intellect, it was just that hard for him to feel driven to sit down and spend that time on it, but then he'd spend his time procrastinating and sitting in his room doing nothing, then lament about how he was wasting his day and wasting his life and was a failure at everything. Good deeni brother as well, it was really sad watching him beat himself up like that so much. I always reminded him that you commit to prayers and have good character in a society where it's normal for people to do zina and take drugs and even a lot of that fitnah is in our community- but that didn't really register and he was always putting himself down.

[Simply_Logical]

yes it is, that's why I mentioned if you can afford it.

I understand what you mean about not feeling motivated to keep a diary or commit to IF. I go through this a lot as well especially over the past year or so. I keep thinking I should be doing something more worthwhile with my time than whiling away the hours on the internet each day commenting on stuff and intellectually in my own mind sometimes I think hey I'm good at sewing or I used to make good radio shows or could do a podcast, but then I never actually get round to it and the following day I go back to the same old just scrolling through the newsfeed or commenting on the random thread and then feel like I've wasted the day.

Years ago when I was in touch with my best friend, he was suffering from depression and social anxiety and he described the exact same thing. He ended up dropping out of uni cos he just couldn't commit the time towards doing the homework. It's not that the subject was hard or beyond his level of intellect, it was just that hard for him to feel driven to sit down and spend that time on it, but then he'd spend his time procrastinating and sitting in his room doing nothing, then lament about how he was wasting his day and wasting his life and was a failure at everything. Good deeni brother as well, it was really sad watching him beat himself up like that so much. I always reminded him that you commit to prayers and have good character in a society where it's normal for people to do zina and take drugs and even a lot of that fitnah is in our community- but that didn't really register and he was always putting himself down.

i donwloaded a mood tracker app on my phone yesterday its called bearable, im going to try it out, doesnt take long to fill in the details got like mood tracker and productivity tracker as well as other stuff, might be good and come in handy for you neelu as its even got a sympton tracker too, check it out, its free on the play store