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I Cook This Simple Chicken Thigh Recipe Every Week And I’m Still Obsessed

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I like to think of myself as a foodie, a home cook, a kitchen whizz if you will but, in the middle of the week when I’m tired and rushed off my feet, I’m more of a kitchen… wimp.

I just want to have a delicious, nutritious meal with almost 0 effort on my part and minimal cleanup, if possible. Is that really too much to ask?

Well, I thought it was until I stumbled upon this chicken thigh recipe one desperate night when I didn’t know what I wanted but I did know I needed to use up the chicken in the fridge and I’d had a hankering for honey for a while.

Listen, if nothing else, I always know I’ll be eating this through the week.

The chicken thigh recipe that saved my sanity

I came up with this myself so, for the most part, measure with your heart. Maybe measure a little with your heart health, too, let’s not go too hard on the sodium.

The ingredients I use are:

  • Soy sauce
  • Honey
  • Ginger
  • Lemon

I personally am intolerant to garlic but if you are blessed with garlic tolerance, I recommend throwing some in there, too.

First, grab yourself a bowl. Into that bowl, you should grate a nub of ginger, squeeze in some lemon juice, add a little honey and soy sauce. Mix all of these together before adding just a tiny bit of the oil of your choice.

Then, spread this mixture over your chicken thighs.

You can cook them straight away or leave them to marinade throughout the day (which is what I do).

To cook them, either use the air fryer at 190° for 20 minutes, turning halfway through or in the oven for 30 minutes or until juices run clear at 200°.

I usually serve them with basmati rice and some steamed broccoli and spinach with a little sesame oil.

Finally, if you have a little lemon juice and ginger left over, boil the kettle, add them to a mug with some honey and have a lovely, soothing drink while you wait for your culinary masterpiece to cook.

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Is Your Turmeric Actually Benefiting Your Health? Here’s What To Look For.

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Golden milk lattes, turmeric face masks, turmeric pills and turmeric powder are everywhere, from social media advertisements to retail stores and shopping malls. You may opt for one, tempted by the promise of natural health benefits.

But before buying into any trend, it’s important to understand what the product is, what’s in it, how to consume it, and how it can benefit you specifically.

“Turmeric being called the ‘new’ superfood is a misnomer,” said New York-based registered dietitian Esther Tambe. “Turmeric has been around in many cultures for a long time, and we should respect that heritage and try to understand the what, why and how.”

But there’s more to the golden spice.

It’s All About The Curcumin

“If you’re turning to turmeric because you’ve heard that it can help fight inflammation, you should know that curcumin is the active ingredient that’s doing the good work,” said Carolyn O’Neil, a registered dietitian nutritionist and co-author of “The Dish on Eating Healthy and Being Fabulous!”

However, curcumin content in most turmeric sold in the U.S. is only between 2% and 3% by weight, which means that the turmeric may have a deep yellow-orange colour and earthy flavor, but very little nutritional benefit. High-potency turmerics can contain upward of 7% curcumin.

Lakadong turmeric, also known as haldi, is a high-potency turmeric that contains as much as 7-12% curcumin — and you can always look at your turmeric’s label to see if yours is made with Lakadong (many brands use it).

When Ushma Patel and Malvika Mohan, the co-founders of Humble Origin Superfoods, were researching quality turmeric to source from, they turned to Lakadong. Grown only in the fertile land of Lakadong Village in Meghalaya, a state in northeastern India, Lakadong turmeric is the only one of its kind. Its higher curcumin level comes from the unique growing conditions and the genetic traits of the plant in this region.

“Lakadong turmeric is specifically grown for its medicinal properties, particularly its strong anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effects, making it more valuable for health benefits than regular turmeric,” Patel explained. Educating consumers about turmeric became paramount for the two women, who saw their own health improve by substituting Lakadong for the commercial variety of turmeric they had used most of their lives.

Cooking turmeric with fat will make it easier to absorb, according to experts.

Brian Yarvin via Getty Images

Cooking turmeric with fat will make it easier to absorb, according to experts.

How To Source And Store Turmeric

“Where you source the turmeric from makes a big difference,” confirmed Dr. Vrinda Devani, a board-certified obstetrician and gynecologist who is a practitioner at The Ayurvedic Institute in Asheville, North Carolina.

She recommends asking the manufacturer for a certificate of analysis (most good herbal companies will have one) that discloses the presence of any heavy metals or pesticides and confirms the quality of the turmeric.

Before buying turmeric, Devani said, she always checks the labels (single-origin, organic, GMO-free, sustainably sourced, ethically grown, etc.), visits the company’s website and looks at their values. Producers who are thoughtful in their sourcing should be able to answer those questions fairly quickly, but if they hesitate, that’s not a good sign.

Low-quality and discounted turmeric may be adulterated or contaminated with starch, lead chromate (to enhance colour) or synthetic curcumin, compromising purity.

“Also, many mass-produced turmeric powders lose potency over time due to poor storage (exposure to light, heat, and moisture) on store shelves for months at a time,” Mohan warned.

For best results, opt for fresh, high-curcumin turmeric like Lakadong and store it properly in dark, airtight containers to maintain its effectiveness. Devani additionally recommends purchasing herbs and spices from specialty stores rather than big box retailers, and from boutique brands such as Gaia Herbs, Banyan Botanicals and Organic India.

Store spices in a cool, dark place, like a cabinet or pantry, and away from heat, light and humidity to preserve potency.

Certain Foods Help Your Body Absorb Turmeric

In traditional South Asian cooking, turmeric and other spices are often sautéed with ghee or oil, not just for flavour and technique, but because the fat makes it easier to absorb the curcumin. She recommends balancing turmeric with another extract — piperine (a chemical compound found in black pepper and long pepper) for bioavailability, drinking preferably raw and whole warm turmeric milk at night, and sautéing turmeric in oil with vegetables, rice, quinoa and beans.

A turmeric latte, aka golden milk, contains milk to help your body better absorb curcumin.

Rocky89 via Getty Images

A turmeric latte, aka golden milk, contains milk to help your body better absorb curcumin.

Patel recommends a daily dose of a pinch of turmeric in the morning on an empty stomach combined with black long pepper and a spoonful of honey, coconut oil and warm water. Tambe tells her clients to use turmeric as a natural salt alternative to season food if they are trying to cut down on sodium.

The Truth About Turmeric Supplements

Many nutritionists recommend turmeric supplements if you can’t consume turmeric in its natural form. “Since turmeric typically contains less than 10% curcumin, it’s more effective to take supplements which may contain up to 95% curcumin,” O’Neil said. “Also, since curcumin is often hard for the body to absorb, it is recommended to choose a supplement that includes black pepper and take it with a meal or snack that contains some fats to help enhance absorption.”

Devani also warns against turmeric supplements that have low potency, filler substances or don’t contain activating ingredients (piperine, for example). Always check the labels for a list of ingredients.

Also be aware that you can risk consuming too much turmeric when taking supplements.

According to the Botanical Safety Handbook by the American Herbal Products Association, 8 grams (or 3 teaspoons) of extracted turmeric with a high concentration of curcumin (or pure curcumin supplements) per day is plenty. However, some people end up consuming much more.

“If you have gastro-intestinal side effects, liver or gallbladder issues, or are already on blood thinners or undergoing chemotherapy, turmeric can counteract and cause more harm than good,” Devani warned. It is best to consult your doctor or a dietitian about your eating habits and food-drug interactions before consuming supplements.

Even if you use high-quality turmeric activated with fat and piperine, it is important to be consistent. You won’t get immediate results from just a few golden lattes.

“It is important to understand that herbs and spices are not a cure for a disease, but simply an aid for better overall health. You can’t just take herbs alone and expect everything will be solved for you,” Tambe said.

When used in conjunction with eating well, exercising and maintaining a balanced lifestyle, turmeric can help enhance your well-being and immunity and help your recovery from ailments. A popular ancient Ayurvedic proverb says, “Without proper diet, medicine is of no use. With a proper diet, medicine is of no need.”

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Supernanny Jo Frost Delivers Punchy Riposte To Those Shaming Parents For Sleep Training

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Is there anything more divisive in the parenting sphere than sleep training? Probably not. And TV personality Jo Frost has had enough.

In an Instagram post shared on Tuesday, the Supernanny star shared a video in which she targeted those who are making parents feel bad for trying it.

“Enough with the guilt-tripping against parents who sleep train their toddler-age children,” she said. “Most times it’s needed for the entire family.

“Let’s not normalise parent and child functioning every day on sleep deprivation – because that is what’s harmful to a child’s developing brain and a parent’s mental health.”

She continued: “If you don’t do it, that’s up to you. But let’s stop putting information out there … that’s misleading parents and guilt-tripping them, because that’s just unkind.”

What is sleep training?

The premise of sleep training is fairly simple: parents are aiming to teach their little ones to fall asleep without their help. So that means no rocking, swaying, feeding to sleep, etc.

But putting it into practice is less than simple. Often it involves a bit of trial and error and possibly some crying while your child figures out how to get themselves to sleep.

When are you meant to start sleep training?

The Sleep Foundation suggests babies aren’t ready for sleep training until they’re about six months old. This is because prior to that “they haven’t developed the circadian rhythms that will help them sleep through the night”.

“Just as there’s no exact right age to begin sleep training, you also don’t have to sleep train,” the foundation says.

“Babies will eventually learn to sleep on their own. However, sleep training is effective and offers significant benefits to both babies and parents, with no evidence of negative long-term effects.”

There are a few different methods parents try, from the Ferber method to the fading method and the more controversial cry-it-out method.

Here, we’ll quickly break down what they entail:

Ferber method

This involves putting your baby in their cot while they’re “drowsy but awake” and then leaving the room. If they cry, wait for three minutes (roughly) before going back in to check on them and comfort them.

The idea is that you console them but you don’t pick them up.

Then you leave the room again, this time for five minutes. And repeat. Each time you increase the amount of time you leave the room for until they’ve fallen asleep.

And if your little one wakes up in the night, the idea is you repeat the process to help settle them again.

With sleep training, parents are aiming to teach their little ones to fall asleep without their help.

Laura Ohlman on Unsplash

With sleep training, parents are aiming to teach their little ones to fall asleep without their help.

Cry-it-out method

This strategy involves leaving your baby to fall asleep on their own without comforting them and then leaving them until a set time in the morning.

“Parents are instructed not to intervene and to ignore crying and tantrums unless there’s a concern that the child is ill or hurt,” according to Huckleberry.

Fading method

This is another more gradual approach where parents camp out in the child’s room until they fall asleep. The premise is that you pop your child into their cot when they’re drowsy and then stand nearby or sit on a chair in their room, offering minimal levels of comfort, until they fall asleep.

“Each night, the parent gradually moves further away from their child while still remaining in their sight,” explains the Sleep Foundation.

Pick up/put down method

This one requires a little more patience. According to The Mother Baby Centre, parents put their baby down drowsy and if they start to then cry, you let it happen for a bit before picking them up and soothing them.

Then you put them back down again while still awake and repeat the process until they go to sleep.

Controlled timed crying method (CTCT) method

In the caption for her Instagram video, Jo Frost talked about her own CTCT technique.

Her approach is that you do your bedtime ritual as usual, say ‘goodnight’ to your child after popping them in their cot and then leave the room.

When your child cries, take no action for two minutes. Then, go back into the bedroom and comfort them but without picking them up (this might involve lying them back down and putting your hand on their tummy while shh-ing them).

Go back out of the bedroom and then stay out for four minutes. Then repeat the exercise until your child goes to sleep.

Is sleep training good or bad?

It’s hard to definitively answer this.

“Looking at how babies slept for most of human history (together with caretakers) we realise that sleep training today is more about suiting parental lifestyles than what’s biologically and evolutionary normal for babies,” explained science communicator Violeta Gordeljevic, on the Science for Parents Instagram account.

She advised proceeding with caution if you do try it: “When in doubt about physical and emotional safety, choose caution. This may mean choosing gentler methods.”

In a video that might put parents’ minds at ease, Professor Emily Oster recently set out to share what the research on sleep training says in an informative video.

The CEO of ParentData, who has two children of her own, said sleep training can be a “very polarising” topic but suggested the data is “pretty good” in this area (although Gordeljevic disagrees) and came up with a summary for parents who are deliberating whether to give it a go.

“First, on average, sleep training improves the quality of infant sleep,” said Prof Oster. “It is not a panacea, it doesn’t work perfectly for every kid, but on average it improves sleep.”

Her second point is that sleep training, on average, “improves mood and happiness for parents” probably because “parents are sleeping better”.

And her last point is that when looking at either the short-term or the long-term impact, “we do not see any differences in attachment measures, in emotional regulation, in any of the metrics you might worry about with sleep training”.

“It just does not look like sleep training makes kids worse off,” she concluded.

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Just 3 In 10 Brits Still Think It Was Right To Leave The EU In Record Low

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Only three in 10 Brits still say it was right for the UK to leave the European Union, according to a new poll.

That’s the lowest support for Brexit recorded since 2016, when the EU referendum happened and the country narrowly voted (52% to 48%) to leave.

The YouGov findings were released on the eve of the fifth anniversary of the UK formally quitting the bloc.

The data also found that 55% of Brits think it was wrong for the UK to choose Brexit nine years ago.

And that number only increases when looking at the results from the younger generation.

Among those who were not able to vote in 2016, who are now aged 18-24, 75% say Brexit was a mistake compared to just 10% who say it was a good idea.

Even one in six Leave voters (18%) now say it was wrong for the UK to leave the EU, although 66% of Leavers still think it was the right move.

Meanwhile, 88% of Remainers stand by their vote to stay in, compared to 7% who now think it was right to leave.

Overall, a total of 62% of Brits think Brexit has been a failure so far, with just 11% saying it was a success.

Dr Mike Galsworthy, chair of the anti-Brexit think tank the European Movement UK, said the survey shows voters are “becoming increasingly fed up with the negative impacts that leaving the EU is having on our country”.

He said being outside the European single market costs the UK economy £115 billion a year, and the public finances more than £40 billion a year.

He added: “We have seen soaring import costs, increased workforce shortages and reams of new red tape.

“No wonder exports to the EU by our small businesses are down by 30%, and 20,000 small firms across UK have stopped all exports to the EU.”

He also pointed out that research from LSE shows a £27bn decline in exports sent to the EU – noting that sum exceeds the £22bn black hole Labour say the Tories left behind in the public finances.

He added: “Politicians must now face the facts – five years on, Brexit is still an ongoing accident, and its damage is far from done.”

It comes as Labour faces growing pressure to move closer to the bloc and set up a youth mobility scheme which would enable young people from the EU to live in the UK and vice versa.

However, prime minister Keir Starmer has already ruled out setting up such a programme.

In August, he said he was “absolutely clear” that the government wanted to reset relations with Europe.

But he added: “We do not have plans for a youth mobility scheme but do have plans for closer relationship between us and the EU.”

He continued: “That does not involve reversing Brexit or re-entering the single market or the customs union.

“But it does mean a closer relationship on a number of fronts, including the economy, including defence, including exchanges.”

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Snoop Dogg Responds To Critics After Backlash Over Performance At Pro-Trump Event

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Snoop Dogg has responded to the backlash surrounding his performance at an event celebrating the inauguration of Donald Trump.

While the Grammy-nominated rapper did not perform at the inauguration itself, he was part of the line-up for the Crypto Ball, held in Washington D.C. two days before Trump was sworn in as president for the second time.

Since then, Snoop has faced a severe backlash, and seen his Instagram followers plummet by half a million in the space of just over a week.

Addressing the controversy in an Instagram video, Snoop said: “Y’all can’t hate enough, I love too much.

“Get your life right, stop worrying about mine. I’m cool. I’m together.”

Insisting he’s “still a Black man”, Snoop concluded: “All out, till you ball out. or till you fall out.”

See more of Snoop’s comments in the Entertainment Tonight report below:

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In the early years of Trump’s political career, Snoop had been one of his most vocal critics, and branded any Black artist willing to perform at the 2017 inauguration an “uncle Tom” in an Instagram post.

Later that year, Snoop pointed a toy gun at a clown-like Trump lookalike in the music video for his song Lavender, prompting the president to suggest on the website then known as Twitter that the (in his words) “failing” rapper should face “jail time”.

However, last year, Snoop insisted he had “nothing but love and respect for Donald Trump”, after he pardoned Michael Harris, the co-founder of Death Row Records, who was in prison on drug offences, before leaving office three years prior.

Other artists to have faced criticism for performing at pro-Trump events in the wake of his victory in last year’s presidential election include American Idol winner Carrie Underwood, country star Billy Ray Cyrus and rapper Nelly.

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