Being unwell for the past two weeks slowed me down enough to notice something obvious: autumn had moved in, and my body was updating its settings, whether I gave it permission or not.

1. Autumn’s first chill: your body’s cue to cold adaptation

Since late summer, I’ve been in observation mode.

As the outer clock (daylight length) started contracting, and mornings grew cooler on my skin, I noticed how my inner clock (temperature, cortisol, appetite) started responding [1].

But when the temperature suddenly dropped from 24°C to 12°C last weekend, I felt wrecked. With a decisive voice, my body demanded warm foods and energy conservation.

I realised this wasn’t a setback; it was intelligent design.

Metabolism wants and needs seasonal change [3]. This builds adaptability and flexibility, enabling the body to thrive in different conditions and allowing the system to renew itself.

So, when the external clock changes and your internal one is listening, what do you actually do?

You turn the chill into skill with two moves: a tiny cold dose and a warm, protein-first bowl.

2. From chill to skill: The 7-day adaptation playbook

That shiver we all find annoying when it gets cold? It isn’t body failure, it’s a system check.
If cold is the push notification, then the shiver is “Update now.” Press it and BAT (brown adipose tissue) [2], the hardware responsible for cold adaptation [3], begins to do its job.

Here’s how to use that cue.

For the next 7 days, run this simple pairing: one tiny cold dose followed by one warm anchor.

Morning

• Brisk, cool walk (10–12 minutes) with sunlight.
  No time to get out? Crack the windows open for 3–10 minutes and let the fresh, cool air flood your room, letting sunlight hit your retina
  Re-warm: a hot mug of tea, warm socks, then 2 minutes of easy mobility..

• Face & neck cold splash (10–30 seconds, 2–3 rounds).
  It feels sharp at first, but becomes easier by day three as your body adapts.
  Re-warm: Rinse with warm water, then use the hot mug and mobility sequence.

• (Optional) Cool-finish shower (30–60 seconds) if that’s your easiest route and you shower in the mornings.

Breakfast

• Eat a warm, protein-first breakfast (recipes below).
  Use the steadying formula: protein + fibre + fat + an acid (such as lemon drizzle or greens).
  Examples: eggs + 1/2 avocado before porridge; savoury oats finished with lemon; stewed fruit + cottage cheese with mixed seeds.

Evening (bonus worth doing)

• Dim lights after 8 pm—overheads off [1]. Catch the earlier sleep wave.

Why this works: the tiny cold dose from the walk recruits brown fat and vascular control; the warm, protein-first breakfast tells your body “you’re safe.” Together, they turn that first shiver into adaptation, not a sugar hunt.

Tweak for real life: skip cold on illness/low-sleep days. Late-luteal or extra cold-sensitive? Swap the cold for heat (bath/sauna blanket/hot-water bottle) and keep the rest.

Tried any of these? Comment AUTUMN+10 with your Day-7 takeaway.

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3. Cold Adaptation & Brown Fat, Explained

A while back, I wrote this article on heat/cold exposure, which briefly mentioned BAT (brown adipose tissue). BAT is the mitochondria-rich fat that can burn fuel as heat and is key to cold adaptation.

Cold adaptation is how your body learns to generate heat with less panic (shivering) and more non-shivering thermogenesis (NST). With repeated mild cold, shivering drops, comfort rises, and heat output is shared by BAT + skeletal muscle. You acclimate [2]; cold days feel less like an argument.

What’s happening physiologically

Short, consistent cool cues (morning air, a brief cool rinse) tell your system, “winter is coming.” Vessels become more efficient at directing blood flow, and BAT becomes more readily available to generate heat. Over days, you rely less on shaking and more on NST. That’s the feeling of being okay outside without immediately wanting to go back and cranking the thermostat or eating sugar to stay warm.

Why BAT matters (and where not to overhype it)

• Thermal comfort & energy. Repeated cool signals recruit/activate BAT and sharpen blood-flow control. You feel less rattled by cold snaps and steadier while you’re out in them.

• Glucose & insulin sensitivity. In small human trials, ~10 days of mild cold improved insulin sensitivity [4], particularly in metabolically challenged groups.

• Acute reality check. On Day 1, most heat still comes from shivering and general metabolic work [5]; with practice, the balance shifts toward NST (BAT + muscle doing more of the lift).

• Mood & timing assist. A brief cold hit raises norepinephrine (alertness). Pair morning cold with morning daylight, then dimmer evenings, to support the serotonin→melatonin handoff and help sleep arrive earlier.

How researchers dose it (context, not a prescription)

Classic lab protocols look like ~10 days at 14–16°C, 1–2 hours/day, staying just shy of shivering. Your home version is gentler: seconds to minutes of cool + full re-warm, every morning for a week.

How you’ll know it’s working (real-life signs)

• You shiver less in the same weather than you did on Day 1.

• Cool finish or window breaths feel more tolerable by mid-week.

• The “I need sugar to feel warm” urge is quieter before lunch.

• Bedtime drifts earlier when you keep lamps after 8 pm.

Ready to feed the adaptation? Let’s build breakfasts that warm you without the glucose crash.

4. Comfort without the crash: Two warm, protein-first bowls to support the changes your body is going through

I know, I know. Porridge gets a bad rep. But that’s because, eaten by itself, it does spike your glucose. However, there are a few tricks to make it not only glucose-friendly but also super nutritious and filling.

First, I always pair it with fibre, good fats, and protein, so that it keeps me full and is glucose-friendly [6].

Second, I use spices that have anti-inflammatory properties and help with cold adaptation.

So I’ll share two recipes I like to use in the cold season that keep me balanced and full.

1. Turmeric latte spiced porridge.

Serves: 1 | Time: 15–18 min

Ingredients

• 1 cup of almond milk /other milk of choice (250 ml)

• 5-6 tablespoons of oats

• 1/2 teaspoon of turmeric latte mix ( see recipe below)

• 1 pinch of salt

• 1 pinch of pepper (to activate the curcumin in the turmeric latte mix)

• 1 anise star

• 2 small cardamom pods

• 1 tablespoon of seed mix (chia, hemp, flax, pumpkin)

• 1 small banana (optional for sweetness)

• Fresh or frozen berries to top

• Protein side before the porridge: simple omelette or two soft-boiled eggs + ½ avocado

Method

1. Add the milk and oats to a pot and let them sit for 5 minutes to absorb some of the liquid and soften slightly. (This step is important as it helps create a creamier porridge and reduces cooking time.)

2. Place the pot over low to medium heat, add the spices, salt, pepper, and latte mix, and bring to a boil. Once boiling, simmer for about 10-12 minutes, stirring constantly to prevent the porridge from burning.

3. When the porridge is nearly done, add the seeds and banana, if using. Let the mixture simmer for an additional 3 minutes before removing it from the heat.

4. Transfer to a bowl and top with fresh or frozen berries of your choice (I usually use a mix of blueberries, raspberries, and kiwi).

5. While the porridge cools slightly, you have two options: either prepare a simple omelette or two soft-boiled eggs with half an avocado, which you should eat before your porridge.

Why it works: This warm, protein-forward, fibre- and mineral-rich blend (seeds + latte mix) combined with eggs and avocado ensures a steady glucose level and keeps you full for at least 4-5 hours.

Turmeric Latte Mix

Ingredients (makes ~10 servings)

• 3 tbsp ground turmeric

• 2 tbsp ground ginger

• 1 tbsp cinnamon

• 1 tsp ground cardamom (optional)

• 1/2 tsp ground black pepper ( for curcumin bioavailability boost)

Method
Whisk to combine. Store airtight. Use 1/2 tsp per serving; adjust pepper to taste.

2. Savoury Oat-Eggs Bowl (stock, greens, lemon)

Serves: 1 | Time: 12–15 min

Ingredients

• 50 g jumbo or steel-cut oats

• 300 ml stock (chicken or veg), plus a splash of water if needed

• 2 eggs, soft-boiled or poached

• 80–100 g mushrooms, sliced

• 1 big handful spinach (or chopped chard)

• 1 tsp ghee/butter

• Pinch salt + black pepper

• Finish: lemon wedge + chopped parsley

Method

1. Over medium-high heat, sauté the mushrooms in ghee/butter with a pinch of salt until they are browned.

2. Stir in oats and stock; simmer until creamy and tender, about 10-12 minutes.

3. Fold in the spinach to wilt.

4. Reduce the heat to low.

5. When it’s cooked through, transfer to a bowl and add the soft-boiled or poached eggs on top, half an avocado sliced, and a few halved cherry tomatoes.

6. Finish with black pepper, lemon, and parsley.

Why it works: warm, protein-forward, mineral-rich (stock + greens), with acid to keep the curve flat—perfect partner to tiny morning cold doses.

As always, thank you for reading Salt, Pepper, Stories. If this post helped you, please give it a heart, comment, or share. We grow when friends tell friends.

Until next time.
xx, Ana

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Cortisol isn’t the villain. Wrecking its rhythm is

Edgy mornings, 2 p.m. crashes, wired-but-tired nights. Sound familiar?

If you read my ‘Breaking the Fast’ series kickoff, you know I spent years side-eyeing breakfast like a toddler, working out first, checking email inbox next, my brain sprinting by 8 a.m. This routine felt productive. What I didn’t know at the time was how badly it was wrecking my cortisol rhythm.

So when the science landed on my plate, I had a literal wake-up call.

My realisation was simple: Cortisol should rise in the morning and decline throughout the day [1][2]; my routine kept it high, late in the day.

I soon learned that my friends were experiencing the same after having coffee first thing in the morning. I’m not a coffee drinker, but I quickly understood why: cortisol is nature’s espresso shot; adding caffeine on top, it turbocharges it [3][4].

This leads to a mid-morning slump and an afternoon crash due to a drop in glucose levels, as cortisol and glucose work in tandem.

Translation: Cortisol isn’t the villain. Wrecking its rhythm is.
Try this instead: sunlight exposure → protein first → then coffee in the morning; dinner → walk 10 +connect , in the evening.

Share your results in comments.

Harness cortisol: sequence to a steadier day

Now that we know cortisol is not the villain, let’s focus on how to support its natural rhythm.

Run this sequence today:

AM — Sunlight → Protein → Coffee / Workout

• 3–10 min of sunlight soon after waking [7] [7.1].

• 20–35 g protein with your first meal within 30–90 min of waking.

• Coffee/workout ideally after you’ve eaten. Ride the peak; don’t pile on it.

DAY— Sprints → Reset

• Work in 25–50-minute sprints.

• Between sprints, take a 2-minute reset: hallway loops or a double-exhale physiological sigh [11].

• (Deeper reset) between long working blocks: 10-minute Yoga Nidra.

PM — Dinner → Walk 10 → Connect

• Plates down, muscles on: 10 minutes (walk outside, take the stairs, or living room loops) [8][9].

• Add connection (call/chat/dishes together) to tilt your nervous system toward rest and digest.

Weekly extras (if you want more)

• 2-3 x 10-12 minutes of sauna sessions, followed by cold showers, can help lower cortisol levels [12][13]. I wrote an article on this hot/cold exposure here.

• Exercise - I personally go for 3 to 4 weight training sessions/week, combined with 1 or 2 HIIT sessions/week. Here’s a HIIT example by Dr. Stacy Sims.

Try one from each row today and tell me in one sentence: Which changed your 10 p.m.?

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Friend in pulses, foe in floods.

Here’s your 101 on Cortisol biology.

The HPA axis (hypothalamus → pituitary → adrenals) raises cortisol before you wake; a short cortisol-awakening response (CAR) fires in the first hour [1][2].

Cortisol mobilises fuel, sharpens attention, and briefly antagonises insulin [5][6]—a good thing early in the day.

Like other hormones in the body, it follows the circadian rhythm and is also influenced by sleep, food intake, and physical activity.
Pushing it late in the day by stacking caffeine, fast carbs, or screens on top leads to jitters, crashes, and poor sleep [14][15].
Using timing levers (light, protein before caffeine, post-meal movement), it becomes a tool.

Conclusion: Cortisol itself isn’t good or bad—wrecking its rhythm is.

Women vs men: Same hormone, different physiology

As Dr. Stacy Sims emphasised in countless podcasts, women and men run similar hardware on different settings. She even trademarked the phrase “women aren’t small men”.

This matters because oestrogen/progesterone modulate the body’s stress response; in peri/menopause stress or poor sleep can push cortisol levels higher later in the day [16][17][18].
Action: Pick your column; run it for a week. See what changes.

Let’s see how we can put this knowledge to use with two “just assemble me like a Lego” breakfasts.

Protein first, coffee after

Useful for busy mornings, when you want to ensure you’re well-fed and have your cortisol and glucose levels remain stable throughout the day.

The first option is sardines on sourdough bread with your choice of herbs, accompanied by a lemon juice and olive oil drizzle, and boiled eggs, along with a salad of your choice.
The second one is a recipe for mashed peas on toast that I am sharing below.

Serves:2

Cooking time: 7-8 minutes

Ingredients for the mashed peas

• 200g frozen green peas

• 1 1/2 tablespoon tahini

• Juice of half a small lemon

• Salt and pepper to taste

• 1/2 teaspoon of za'tar herb mix

• A drizzle of olive oil

• 1 teaspoon ghee for sautéing the peas

Method

1. Place the frozen peas in a pan over medium heat with the ghee and sauté for 3-5 minutes, until they begin to thaw.

2. Add the za'atar herbs, season with salt and pepper, then continue to sauté for an additional 2 minutes.

3. Use a hand blender to mix the peas, then add the lemon juice, tahini, and a drizzle of olive oil. Make sure you leave some whole peas for texture.

4. Place the mixture on toasted sourdough bread, and then add prosciutto or other cured meat of your choice. Halloumi makes for another excellent option due to its contrasting taste.

5. Enjoy with a side salad or pickles.

As always, thank you for reading Salt, Pepper, Stories. If this post helped you, please give it a heart, comment, or share it with someone who needs the tools to harness the power of cortisol.

xx, Ana

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1. Pan to walk: the 10-minute hack that beat my gadgets

Orzo with fish and greens shouldn’t count as a biohack, but last week it beat my gadgets. If you read my previous article, you'll remember that the people we interact with regulate our physiology. Think cortisol, blood glucose, hormonal balance, and more.

Add another habit to that, a 10 minutes of movement right after dinner [1][2], and the effect cascades. (I often go for 30-minute walks or longer; ten is enough to do the trick on your glucose curve, though.)

The next morning, my Oura app confirms it: HRV +15 ms. Time-to-sleep –43%. Energy steadier.
No magic involved here, just timing and predictable results of a simple physiological principle.

Stand within five minutes. Move for ten.

2. Your muscles are a glucose vacuum

Blood glucose rises after you eat.

Contracting big muscles immediately—quads, calves, glutes acts like a glucose vacuum, pulling sugar into cells before insulin finishes knocking.

That flattens the peak and cuts the body’s insulin spend. Do that often, and you protect insulin sensitivity over time.

Add people you enjoy spending time with in the loop, and you nudge the rest-and-digest (parasympathetic nervous system); your body reads safe.

Because connection before correction leaves fingerprints on physiology.

Translation: calmer curve, calmer you.

To put this to the test in creative ways, I bundled my favourite post-dinner rituals into the Stand, Move, Connect — The 5-Minute Cheatsheet to a Better Glucose Curve. Seven after-dinner rituals, zero gadgets.

The 5 Minute Cheatsheet To A Better Glucose Curve

607KB ∙ PDF file

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Download it, try the rituals and let me know: Dinner + ten =? Tag me @anastate with what changed.

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3. Same dinner, two curves: the data doesn't lie

Tuesday: Fish, orzo, greens and a 10-minute walk while the bowls were still warm.
Thursday: same meal, sat and scrolled.

The research echoes this.
A recent randomised crossover study [1] found that a 10-minute walk immediately after eating lowered the glucose peak more than sitting, while a longer walk done later didn’t move the needle as much.

Reviews line up: the sooner you move, the better the spike behaves; small bouts add up [2][3]. Classic trial? 3 × 15 minutes after meals, beat 1 × 45 for all-day control [3].

Lower peaks → less insulin spent to do the same job → better sensitivity over time, easier sleep.

So, copy Tuesday. Move while the pot’s still steaming and your muscles vacuum glucose; wait an hour, and you’re mopping after the spill [3].

Rain? Stairs. Tiny flat? Living-room loops. The rule is the same: plates down, muscles on.

4. Keep the menu, change the timing

Here’s how you can make dinner work for you without even changing the menu:

Before you eat:

• Start with protein and greens (fibre first)

• Add a squeeze of lemon and a drizzle of olive oil (both act as a buffer)

• Let your carbs play a supporting role, not lead actors (I know you love sourdough bread as much as I do).

• Keep some bite to your veg when you cook them; that satisfying crunch isn't just for show, it keeps your glucose in check.

While you eat:

• Chew like you mean it; it signals your stomach to slow down, smoothing out the glucose rise.

• Put your fork down between bites.

Plates down, muscles on

• Stand within 5 minutes of your last bite.

• For 10 minutes: dance, do the dishes, go round the block, up and down the stairs, or walk your neighbour's dog (I bet she’ll be happy).

What you’ll notice: a flatter curve, less 10 p.m. static, fewer cupboard raids.

And if a snack taps your shoulder, answer it with protein + fibre and call it a night. (Greek yoghurt plus chia seeds, nuts, etc)

Let’s now put these suggestions to work with a beautiful, simple recipe.

Cook this: summer orzo with fish & greens.

This recipe should have been a risotto, but I ended up cooking orzo instead. It’s easy to cook because it uses leftovers and greens you probably have in the fridge or freezer already.

Serves: 2

Prep time: 10 mins

Cooking time: 25 mins

Ingredients:

• 2 medium bream fillets per portion

• 250g mixed greens (asparagus, green beans work great)

• 140g orzo

• 25g Parmesan (or rind from Parmigiano Reggiano)

• 1 garlic clove

• 1 small shallot

• 1 tsp ghee

• Juice of half a lemon

• 1-2 tsp herb mix (Italian, Provençal, whatever you have)

• Salt and pepper

Method:

1. Wash and trim your greens. Pat fish dry, season with salt, pepper, and herbs.

2. Dice shallot and garlic.

3. Sauté shallot and garlic in ghee over medium heat until translucent.

4. Add orzo, stir. Add 400ml water/broth (2:1 ratio) and parmesan rind. Cook per package instructions, stirring continuously.

5. While orzo cooks, pan-fry the fish (6 minutes), steam the asparagus (3-5 minutes), and steam the greens (5-7 minutes).

6. Rest greens 2 minutes, then drizzle with olive oil and lemon juice. Season.

7. Chop fresh parsley and add to finished orzo.

8. Plate in this order: Vegetables first, fish on top, orzo last. Extra parmesan on top.

9. All’s left to do is enjoy!

As always, thank you for reading Salt, Pepper, Stories. If this post helped you, give it a heart, comment, or share it with someone who needs a big hug and delicious food.

Be well, eat well, walk ten.
x, Ana

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“Show me who you spend time with, and I’ll show you the state of your mitochondria.” —said no one, but they should have.
(Stay with me for the why—and grab your free 7-day Co-Regulation Cheat-sheet in Section 6.)

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1. I tried every hack in the book. And something still felt off

In April, I posted an essay arguing that friendship and connection are as vital as food. Gratitude flowed in, but then a hollow feeling swept through me.

Why?
After more than a decade of consistent habits, a good sleep routine, proper nutrition, movement, sauna, therapy, and journaling, something still felt off.

Ever felt that too, doing everything “right,” yet missing a connection you can’t name?

Two weeks later, knee-deep in AGEs research for another post, I’m earbuds-in when nutrition scientist Dr. Michelle Davenport drops this:

“If you have access to a kitchen and a bed, the sun, a place to move and loved ones around, you pretty much have everything you need to live a healthy life.”

The part about loved ones hit me like a train. I’d been thousands of km away from my closest circle of friends for years, and my body was keeping score. In an instant, my brain connected the dots:

• Donella Meadows’ rule of every system, “stocks–flows–feedback”.

• Lisa Feldman Barrett’s 24-hour body-budget model

• Dr. Michelle’s reminder that people are the ultimate inflow.

They echoed in unison:

“Your nervous system responds to relationships first, then to routines.

Safety is co-regulated. Who you’re with shapes your biology.”

But what does this look like in real life? Let me take you back to a little story about my friend Anca, happening in the spring of 2020…

2. Lockdown calls with a friend: A story of co-regulation

Spring 2020. Outside my London flat, the streets are silent, except for one cheeky bird who has the stage. I can hear it because the car noises are nowhere to be found these days, and the world as we know it is rapidly changing.

I grab my phone to call Anca, whom I hadn’t seen since 2019 when she left Amsterdam for the US. A call turns into a weekly ritual: mug of tea in one hand, headphones in the other, life downloads spilling across the Atlantic.

Mid-conversation, she lets out a long, rib-cage sigh. My shoulders drop; I hadn’t noticed they were up to my ears.
Forty minutes later, laughing, she says: “Every time we talk, I feel lighter by the end of the call.” And in an instant, I realise I feel the same way.
Neither of us knew that yet, but we’d just experienced co-regulation: two nervous systems syncing over Wi-Fi, trading cortisol for calm.

It takes that to notice a brutal contrast: how a quarrel with my flatmate R flips the script into dysregulation in minutes. One unfriendly remark and my heart rate rockets past 110, mouth dry, body tense.

Same body, opposite input; the ledger flips red in seconds.

That’s when it clicks: all the metrics I see in apps are echoes of the conversations and human interactions I have, a token of my lived experience.
Blue-Zone elders don’t outlive us because of diet alone; they feast on community and belonging.

So go text that someone you trust and count how many exhales it takes before your shoulders drop.

3. The Body-budget ledger: People in, cortisol out

Remember that rib-cage sigh I mentioned earlier? Here’s WHY it matters. According to Meadows, a system is “stocks–flows–feedback”. If we label ours the Body-Budget Ledger, then it looks like this:

When deposits exceed withdrawals, there is a surplus of energy, which leads to strong immunity and high HRV (heart rate variability); both are indicators of an adaptable and resilient nervous system.

Flip the equation, and you get inflammation, insomnia, and weight gain.

The catch? The ledger isn’t a closed-circuit inside your skull. Most wellness advice focuses on increasing inflow through solo protocols: cold plunges, blue-light glasses, breath-holds, you name it.

That’s because the solo protocol illusion feels concrete; relationships feel slippery. We can set timers, but a friend’s availability is a factor we can’t control.

So we default to what we can measure, the “wrong-goal” trap that Meadows warns about in her systems thinking. We optimise behaviours instead of buffers (community, trust) because they fit in our apps and spreadsheets.

But buffers are exactly what make a system resilient. Both Barrett’s data and my lockdown calls with Anca support that claim.

Numbers shift faster when:

• You add richer, warmer human signals and prune chronic threat signals.

• Your environment makes it easy for your body to feel safe.

So before you add another routine to your morning stack, ask the question that rewires your system:

Who can I connect with now?

4. When evidence says it all: Your social circle beats cold plunges

Seven new studies, one verdict: warm human connections beat cold plunges.

Here’s the proof found through my scrounging:

*See footnotes for sources

5. Two-week experiment: Dinner with friends vs the “perfect” routine

With this data in mind, I’d like to propose an experiment.

The setup

A two-week sprint where we alternate two protocols: Protocol A in week 1 and Protocol B in week 2.

Protocol A: The “Perfect” solo routine (yours will probably look different)

• Sunrise exposure

• Cold plunge/cold shower

• 10k steps walk

Protocol B: Humans at the table

Skip the plunge, and replace it with hosting dinner with two friends.

My readouts (Oura + CGM) after having tried this were:

Just one variable changed: humans across the table.

Screenshot this table, try your A vs B week, and either share your results in the comments section or DM me your numbers.

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6. Eat, connect, repeat: A recipe ＋ A 7-Day Challenge

Stephen King says fiction is a telepathy machine: his thoughts jump from his head to yours through squiggles on paper.

Friendship and connection are the biological version of that magic.

Every laugh, sigh, and silent nod is a packet of data that your neurons translate into safety or threat. Meadows would call this an information flow with the highest leverage point in the whole system.

Let’s then, turn tables into test-beds. Because data is cool, but dinner is cooler.

1. Download the 7-Day Co-Regulation challenge below

The 7 Day Co Regulation Challenge

598KB ∙ PDF file

Download

Download

2. Cook the Fish stew recipe below.

3. Share it with friends, then check your HRV tomorrow, and DM me the screenshot. Best jumps land in next week’s notes.

Onto the recipe.

Four friends’ fish stew

This is by far one of my favourite homeland recipes, and I always go back to it when I feel homesick. The best part of cooking it? Prep once. Nourish many.

Serves: 4

Prep time: 10 mins

Cooking time: 45 - 50 mins

Ingredients:

• 1.5 kg carp and bream (or a mix of bream, trout and carp for a deeper flavour)

• 1 medium red onion

• 3-4 medium peppers (a mix of romano (pointed) and bell peppers, of different colours)

• 6 medium tomatoes

• 1 garlic head

• 1 chilli pepper

• 2 sprigs of thyme and 1-2 sprigs of rosemary

• Parsley

• Salt and pepper to taste

Method:

1. If you are using a mix of fish, as I recommend above, keep one fish whole and slice the other into 3 cm chunks.

2. Wash all the tomatoes, peppers, capsicum, chilli and onion (first layer peeled), and place them on a baking tray.

3. Cut the top part of the garlic head, season with salt and pepper, and sprinkle with a bit of olive oil. Then, cover it with baking paper and close it in a small sachet.

4. Place your fish on the tray too and season with salt and pepper.

5. Place the tray in the oven and bake for 20-25 minutes at 180 °C.

6. When everything’s done, take it out of the oven. Let the veggies cool a bit, then clean the skin of the tomatoes and bell peppers. Next, dice the peppers and onion, and squeeze the baked garlic cloves out.

7. In a Dutch oven (or any other pot you have at hand), add a spoonful of ghee, one rosemary sprig, two thyme sprigs, and two fresh garlic cloves.

8. After 2 minutes, add the tomatoes, diced onion, peppers, and baked garlic, and let everything simmer for about 15 minutes—season with salt and pepper.

9. Then, add the fish and let it continue to cook for another 10 minutes.

10. Once everything is cooked, finely chop 5-10 sprigs of fresh parsley and add them on top. Serve with polenta.

After all the data that I gathered, the tables, and the research papers, the conclusion is embarrassingly simple:

People are the protocol.

As always, thank you for reading Salt, Pepper, Stories. If this post helped you, give it a heart, comment or share it with someone who is in need of a big hug and some delicious food.

xx, Ana

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Isn’t kale vs. carbs, but skillet vs. clay pot? How would your cells feel if tonight’s sear became a slow, fragrant tagine instead?

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PART 1. SURF TO SAUFFRON: CLAY POT TAMES FIRE

November 2018. I’m flying to Morocco for sun, waves, and a week of surf lessons. Not for cooking wisdom. Our car arrives at the surf camp around 9 p.m. on a cold night; hunger is howling from our bellies louder than the ocean. The camp in Imssouane sits between the Atlantic coast and the foothills of the Anti-Atlas Mountains.

Inside the main hall, three house cooks (who I later learn are named Latifa, Zahra, and Hiba) are waiting for us, cradling clay pots with cone lids just out of the oven. They usher us inside for dinner and set the pots in front of us. The lid on my pot lifts, and a puff of saffron escapes. Chicken, preserved lemon, olives. Beside it: steaming couscous with seven vegetables. The flavour hits me like a train.

“What’s the secret to this flavour?” I asked one of the women.

“Low heat,” she says, patting the tagine, “and a lot of love.”

I file the thought under Moroccan folklore and start eating. Then a memory grabs me by the neck: a month ago, my Tunisian-French colleague Nourredine raved about “tagine” when I mentioned my trip to Morocco.

I finally connect the dots; the same word for the dish and the pot.

The seed is planted. My rabbit hole begins.

PART 2. THE GOOGLE RABBIT HOLE: MEET THE AGEs VILLAIN

Back in sub-zero Bucharest, I try to replicate the magic in my cast-iron skillet: medium heat, high heat, then oven finish.

They taste good, but something nags at me.

So I start Googling: “Why does tagine taste so moist? How can a skillet mimic tagine texture?” Down the page, a PubMed article catches my eye: “Effect of Traditional Tagine Cooking on Formation of Advanced Glycation End-Products in Lamb Meat.”

“Advanced…what?” I mutter to myself.

Down the rabbit hole I go. Reading through the article, I find answers to my original question and a ton of new information. I get to a different article by Jaime Uribarri, MD. Each new paper gets grimmer.

And the science in these papers? It would ruin my grill forever.

PART 3. AGEs 101: SUGAR, PROTEIN, AND TOO MUCH HEAT

What the heck are AGEs? Simply put, AGEs are compounds of ageing.

According to Dr. Michelle Davenport, a nutrition scientist, there are two types:

• Endogenous (made inside the body), and caused by high blood sugar, oxidative stress, and ageing.

• Exogenous (eaten or inhaled), caused by charred food, cigarette smoke, or smoggy air.

Let’s focus on the charred foods for a minute.

When sugar meets protein and is heated to 150°C or higher, it forms a brown crust and produces AGEs. This is called the Maillard reaction.

The usual kitchen culprits that promote the formation of AGEs include frying pans, grill grates, ovens, and air fryers.

In contrast, using a tagine, you’ll get: sugar + protein + 95°C steam = tender meat, with minimal AGEs. Lemon, tomato, or yoghurt drops the pH and further blocks the chemistry.

The difference is illustrated in the table below.

Translation: Same chicken, ten-fold fewer AGEs, just by trapping steam.

PART 4. YOUR CELLS ON AGEs: DAMAGE CONTROL

As Dr. Michelle puts it, “AGEs cling to everything from DNA to the collagen in our skin, ageing us from the inside out.”

One in ten slips past your gut wall, glues itself to collagen, and rings a cell doorbell called, no joke, RAGE.

This results in:

• Oxidative stress → tired cells

• Chronic inflammation → stiff vessels, achy joints

• Protein cross-links → wrinkled skin, brittle organs

• Blood sugar chaos

A significant aspect of AGEs is absorption.

A 5”2 woman absorbs ≈ the same number of AGE molecules as a 6”2 guy, but has only 2/3 the blood volume to dilute them.

Moral: shrink the browning, not the people.

*All figures are rounded and intended for illustrative purposes only, not clinical use.

The good news: AGEs are hackable.

PART 5. FIRE OUT, STEAM IN: A QUICK KITCHEN FIX

My taste buds loved grill lines. The data? Hated them. Now I picture collagen cross-links and smell my RAGE receptors ringing every time smoke curls off a steak.

I sulked. Briefly. Then I remembered the ace in my sleeve: en papillote.

A French technique I've used countless times: cooking a whole fish in parchment paper with zero char. Proof that a better way existed.

The night before I left Morocco, I bombarded Latifa with questions; the verdict was clear: “Pot with a lid beats flame.”

Every. Single.Time.

Science backs her up. Dr Michelle Davenport talks extensively about water-based cooking + acidic marinades on her Instagram account. I’ve been cooking that way for the last eighteen months; my taste buds haven’t filed a single complaint.

The new longevity math is simple:

Ageing well = (what you eat) × (how you heat it).

• Steam, poach, en papillote—sauna inside, zero scorching outside.

• Tagine, Dutch oven, slow-cooker—flavour up, AGEs way down.

• Acidic marinades—lemon, vinegar, yoghurt: the culinary bouncers that shove AGEs

Ready to taste the proof? Grab a pot—Dutch oven, tagine, whatever holds water and secrets—and test-drive the recipe below.

Try the recipe below, then reply and let me know: did your smoke alarm catch you?

Leave a comment

(Then forward this to the friend who thinks “burnt is a flavour.” Their collagen will thank you.)

DUTCH OVEN (OR TAGINE )RICE - THE RECIPE THAT PROVES THE CASE

The inspiration for this uncomplicated recipe came from Cooking for Levi. I adapted my ingredients to what I had on hand at home. It hit the mark and more, so good it turned out.

Serves: 4

Prep time: 5 -10 mins

Cooking time: up to 35 mins (depending on the type of rice you use)

Ingredients:

• 2 free-range eggs

• 125-150g white rice (I used a mix of what I had at hand in my home)

• 4 chicken sausages (or beef/pork)

• 125-150g greens (broccoli, green beans, sugar snaps, baby bok choy)

• 500 ml chicken stock

• 4-5 big shiitake mushrooms

Method:

1. Wash the rice and add it to a pot with the chicken stock. Set on a low to medium heat and bring to a boil.

2. Wash and trim the greens and shiitake mushrooms, then dry them; set aside.

3. Cut the sausages into four chunks. Add the rice to the pot.

   * If you’re using white rice, you can cook the veggies, sausages and the greens all together.

   * If you’re using black rice or a mix, add the sausages when the rice is cooked halfway through, and the greens when the rice is almost done. This way, you avoid overcooking them.

4. Serve warm, topped with poached or soft-boiled egg.

As always, thank you for reading Salt, Pepper, Stories. Do share your version of pot rice, and if this post helped you, give it a heart, comment or share it with someone who is on the hunt for delicious and AGEs-friendly recipes.

xx, Ana

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Goodbye June, Hello July: When the heat takes over.

With London turning furnace-hot, I’m longing for the crisp, cold air of the Dolomites on my cheeks. Although I love the water, I’ve always been a mountain lover and preferred the pine-lined lake shores and cold swimming to the crowded seaside in summer. I believe this explains a lot about me and my devotion to sauna practice.

Which brings me back to 2014 and my very first ski lessons.

Those who know me well—looking at you, R—know two things: (1) I used to chase the last chairlift like a golden snitch, and (2) I like to vanish into a 90°C sauna, twice a week, non-negotiable.

This habit started when a stoic Scandinavian instructor, whose English vocabulary consisted of “bend your knees,” “no parallel,” and “muscle recovery tonight,” first taught me how to ski. He couldn’t explain to me the biochemistry or why alternating heat and cold exposure mattered, so in my quest to figure it out, I’ve been sweating, chilling, and channelling my Mike Ross-like energy, consuming information like no one you’ve ever seen.

Throughout my research, I came across a few key studies, including Dr. Susanna Soeberg's work on how cold exposure induces mitochondrial remodelling and increases insulin sensitivity in humans.

Headline discovery from all the research across the board?

Alternating heat and cold is hormesis—tiny, calculated stress that sculpts the power plants inside our cells called mitochondria, forcing the body to adapt and upgrade.

Today I’ll unpack how that works, why women and men adapt a tad differently, where electrolytes sneak into the plot, and—because a story without a recipe is just homework—a pineapple-ginger drink that puts those minerals right back where they belong.

Stick with me: the science is spicy, the recipe is easy, and the pay-off is metabolic rocket fuel.

Mitochondria 101: Meet the power plants of our cells

Think of mitochondria as the batteries of the cells in our body. Their primary function is to turn food and oxygen into ATP (adenosine triphosphate), the energy powering your quads to hold a squat or your brain to fire off a sentence.

Throughout history, humans have been exposed to extreme temperature fluctuations, and mitochondria are the key element that have helped their bodies adapt. Think of the people who were living in the Sahara desert, where the temperature varied dramatically across a single day, or the ones living in icy climates like Siberia.

Besides energy conversion, these powerhouses play a key role in other metabolic processes:

• juggle calcium

• cell growth, redox balance, and signalling

• decide when a cell should self-destruct (apoptosis).

Most importantly, they’re shape-shifters: they fuse, divide, and self-recycle (through mitophagy) in response to stress. Two of the most potent, drug-free stressors with a visible effect on mitochondria are heat and cold.

Heat protocol effects on mitochondria (sauna, geothermal water, a July hike)

When the body is exposed to high temperatures, direct sun or sauna — 80°C - 90°C(176 °F) for 10-15 minutes, a few things happen:

• Core temperature rises 1-2 °C→ Heat-shock proteins (HSP70/72) refold damaged proteins and tag dying mitochondria for recycling.

• PGC-1α surges post-sauna, prompting your cells to build new, more efficient mitochondria.

• Blood flow increases by up to 70% in muscles and by 200% in the skin, accelerating the delivery of nutrients and the removal of waste.

Starter dose: Go for two or three 10-15 minute sauna rounds up to two times a week, cooling to normal body temp in between rounds (I usually go for two sessions per week for best results).

Women in the late-luteal phase may feel hotter sooner—trim a minute or two if dizzy.

Cold protocol effects on mitochondria (cold showers, ice baths, plunging into alpine lakes)

Dropping your skin temp below 15 °C (59 °F) spikes norepinephrine (NE) to 300 %; in fat cells that unlocks UCP-1 (Uncoupling Protein 1), turning mitochondria into space heaters (non-shivering thermogenesis). Two things then happen:

• COLD + NE flips mTOR ( a protein kinase with a key role in regulating cell growth, metabolism, and autophagy) down, and AMPK up → boost for mitophagy and mitochondrial renewal.

• Brown adipose tissue (BAT) becomes active. Because women have more recruitable BAT around their organs, cold exposure is an especially potent metabolic tool for them, and they often experience a larger calorie-burning and insulin-sensitivity boost (Soeberg et al., Cell Metabolism, 2021).

Starter dose: 11 minutes total per week at 10 - 15°C (per Soeberg protocol), split however as needed.

Why women and men respond differently to cold and heat exposure

TL;DR: same tools, subtly different operating systems.

Estrogen upregulates mitochondrial antioxidant enzymes (SOD, GPx), which partly explains why women exhibit less oxidative damage after heat bouts and often recover more quickly.

Progesterone slows cooling, and that’s one reason why the late-luteal phase feels like wearing an invisible wool sweater.

Testosterone boosts muscle mass, so men often see larger absolute gains in mitochondrial density in Type II fibres after repeated sauna. Still, women frequently score better in oxidative efficiency (more ATP per O₂ molecule).

Translation: Adjust duration, not the practice.

Let’s see where minerals come into the picture.

Enter the Electrolytes (a.k.a. the mineral muscles)

Heat and cold both drain or shift four key minerals:

Replenishment 101

1. Replace 100–150 % of the weight you lost within two hours.

2. Target 500–750 mg sodium per litre, plus supporting minerals.

3. 4–6 % carbs (1/2 -1 tsp of honey per cup) speeds absorption without spiking glucose.

Now—how do we make that delicious?

Pineapple lemonade - a summer electrolyte dream drink

This drink is summer in a glass: sweet pineapple, spicy ginger, earthy turmeric, a whisper of salt. Drink it cold for its electrolyte benefits or hot as a comforting tea. Yes, it simmers for an hour, but it’s oh, so worth it; your patience will be rewarded with three big, mineral-rich servings.

Yield ≈ 1.2 L (3 tall glasses)

Prep time: 10 min | Simmer: 1 h 20 min

Ingredients:

• 1 very ripe pineapple (large)

• ½ Tbsp baking soda

• 1.5–2 L water

• 2 cardamom pods

• dash of cinnamon

• 1 star anise

• ½ tsp turmeric

• 3 – 4 cm ginger, sliced

• Dash black pepper (to activate the curcumin in the turmeric powder)

• Hefty pinch salt (¼ tsp) (Celtic salt works best for this recipe)

Method:

1. Soak the pineapple in lukewarm water with baking soda for 30 minutes; then rinse and pat dry.

2. Cut off the crown & base, peel the skin, and reserve the flesh for snacking.

3. Add skin, core, and a few loose pineapple pieces to a pot with spices, salt, pepper, and 1.5-2 litres of water.

4. Bring to a boil (15 minutes), then simmer for 60 minutes, maintaining a volume of at least 1.5 L.

5. Cool, strain, bottle, refrigerate. Serve cold over ice or hot as tea.

MINERAL SNAPSHOT (per 400 mL glass)

Sodium 300 mg 

Potassium 420 mg 

Magnesium 40 mg 

Calcium 25 mg

Carbs: 8 g (all pineapple fructose)

In a hurry? Express version: 400 mL hot water + 100 mL pineapple juice (from fruit, not bottled) + ¼ tsp sea salt + ⅛ tsp “Lite-Salt” (extra potassium) + pinch turmeric+dash of pepper to activate the curcumin in the turmeric powder.

Shake, add ice and go.

As always, thank you for reading Salt, Pepper, Stories and riding the temperature roller-coaster with me. Stay salty, stay curious, and let me know in the comments: What’s your best sauna or cold-plunge ritual? If this post helped you, tap the heart or share with a friend who’s fighting the heatwave wherever they are in the world right now.

xx, Ana

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At the end of my first post in the “Breaking the Fast” series, I mentioned that I’d share some frameworks and practices that transformed my breakfasts. If you’ve been following along and reading my posts, you’ll know by now that I’m a firm proponent of tuning in—both to what’s unfolding within our bodies and what’s happening in the world around us.

In this post, I explored the interplay between the menstrual cycle and food rituals and how they can align beautifully with each phase of the cycle.

Today, I want to add another layer to that post and show how the rhythm of the seasons shapes what we crave, cook, and need throughout the year, especially as women.

Over the past decade of learning about nutrition, body science and metabolic health, I’ve discovered how deeply connected my body’s physiology and nutritional needs are not only to my monthly cycle but also to the movement of the seasons and the shifts in my circadian rhythm.

I’ve learned, for instance, that my body goes into “energy preservation mode” during autumn and winter, requiring warm, nourishing foods. But spring—and especially summer—hit differently. These two seasons present at once as an invitation and a challenge.

Mornings burst open at 6 a.m., the markets flood with berries and snap peas, and my energy shifts almost overnight. I used to chalk it all up to the sunshine like Klara and the sun, but as I leaned in and paid closer attention, I noticed how my hormones ebb and flow, sometimes sync smoothly, sometimes less so, with the heat, the longer days, and the market catch piling up in the kitchen.

There’s a reason why our ancestors ate with the seasons— adapting their meals to what nature offered after harvest or during the leaner, colder months. Their bodies thrived on this rhythm.

The bit of science for the curious: Did you know that cold adaptation ramps up tryptophan hydroxylase activity, boosting serotonin (the “feel-good” hormone) and increasing our drive for carbs? It finally all made sense—my persistent carb cravings in winter and my shift toward lighter, fresher foods as the weather warms up.

That inner calendar is always at play, too.

During my follicular phase (those first, post-period days), everything feels lighter inside and out. I want fresh salads, juicy peaches, and all things bright and refreshing. As ovulation gives way to the luteal phase and the hot days linger, I find myself craving grounding warmth; not the kind from winter stews, but rather a “steady me, hydrate me” nourishment, such as cooked and cooled buckwheat bowls with roast chicken, roasted summer veggies, and herbs.

Summer gently nudges me toward those foods that soften the edges of both the heat and my hormonal shifts.

It fascinates me how the cycle and the season interact—sometimes amplifying one another, sometimes pushing in opposite directions.

High estrogen in the first half of my cycle often brings more energy and better heat tolerance (which might explain my urge for chilled, fruity breakfasts when July hits). As my body prepares for menstruation and progesterone takes over, I naturally become more protective, reaching for mineral-rich, hydrating foods and...intuitive rest.

If I’ve learned anything in these years of curiosity and observation, it’s that listening to both sets of rhythms—the inner and the outer—has transformed the seasons for me. Summer is no longer a season to “get through” and put up with the heat, but a chance to nourish my body on its terms.

For me, it became a playground for new experiments—like my variation of protein pancakes, topped with whatever seasonal berries or veggies are most alive that week, a swirl of kefir or cottage cheese, and a scattering of seeds for grounding. It’s the kind of breakfast that feels bright yet nurturing, and one that my hormones genuinely love during these sun-filled weeks.

Recognising these patterns has truly been a game-changer. Swapping in-season foods—such as fresh salads in the heat or warmer versions in the cold—has brought me more stable energy, a more balanced mood, and meals that are simply more satisfying.

Do you notice these shifts, too? Are there foods that call you more strongly at different points in your cycle or at certain moments in the summer? I’d genuinely love to know what rituals or cravings carry you through this season.

Leave a comment

And now, let me take you through the recipe.

Savoury summer protein pancakes

This is the breakfast I return to again and again in July and August—a grounding dish, on days when I’m craving lightness, extra protein, or just a moment of self-care.

As you make these pancakes, notice what your body asks for—maybe you’ll change up the seeds, add some dill or basil, or play with toppings based on what’s freshest or calls to you right now.

Serves: 2 ( generous servings, about six medium-big pancakes each)

Prep time: 5 -10 mins

Cooking time: 15 mins

Ingredients:

• 4 free-range eggs

• 100g cottage cheese (or Greek yoghurt for a creamier vibe)

• 100g buckwheat flour

• 1–2 tbsp olive oil

• 25g fresh grated parmesan

• a few fresh dill sprigs minced

• Salt and pepper to season

• ½ tsp Italian herbs or oregano

• 1 grated medium zucchini

• 1 tsp baking powder

• 1 generous tbsp seed mix (I like chia, hemp, flax, pumpkin seeds, and sesame)

Adapting the seed mix to your cycle:

• Follicular or ovulatory phase: Add an extra tablespoon of ground flaxseed or chia seeds—great for estrogen metabolism, and they add a lovely texture. Top with a swirl of kefir for a little digestive boost.

• Luteal phase or lower-energy days: Add some crushed walnuts or pumpkin seeds for magnesium and healthy fats. If you’re feeling it, a little avocado or a few slices of smoked salmon on top is grounding and divine.

Method:

1. Whisk the eggs and olive oil with cottage cheese until smooth and airy.

2. Add buckwheat flour, parmesan, grated zucchini, herbs, baking powder, salt, and pepper. Fold together gently—don’t overmix.

3. Heat a nonstick skillet with a bit of ghee.

4. Drop spoonfuls of batter onto the pan and cook for 2–3 minutes on each side, until golden.

5. Serve warm, topped with avocado and salmon, and a fresh salad of your choice.

I love sharing this recipe because it adapts to me. Some mornings it’s all sunshine: light, savoury, unfussy. On other days, I build it out as my body asks for something a bit heartier.

As always, thank you for reading Salt, Pepper, Stories. Do share your version, and if this post helped you, give it a heart, comment or share it with someone who is on the hunt for delicious summer recipes.

xx, Ana

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After years of ongoing internal renovations, my mind and body have finally stopped being at odds and have become more attuned to each other than they were before. It’s like the bridge between the two has finally reopened after years of reconstruction—new shiny steel, smoother roads, toll-free traffic flowing.

Rather than choosing function over form, I integrate them subtly and consistently, often pausing to feel before I think and make a decision.

What’s helped me most is the conviction that a “gut feeling” isn’t just a metaphor but a tool I can always use, since a network of neurons rivalling a small city is camped out in my gut—bright, moody, and surprisingly good at sending signals.

One area where this mindset change is palpable? Hormonal health.

Last night, as I pondered the relationship between female hormones and food, and how they influence cravings, mood, sleep, and food tolerance throughout the menstrual cycle, I decided it was time to dig deeper into the matter.

I’d recently written this post in the Breaking the Fast series, and it felt like the next logical step.

Not only was I keen to explore the mechanics of it more deeply for myself, but I also wanted to create a resource for teens, women in their 20s and 30s—and yes, the men who love them, too.

Because knowledge without a support system? That’s like a car without an engine.

A tale of estrogen, progesterone, LH and FSH and their role in the menstrual cycle

Let’s take a peek backstage at the hormonal cycle.

Each month, four performers—estrogen, progesterone, follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), and luteinising hormone (LH)—are busy directing, cueing, and occasionally sabotaging one another through a four-phase cycle: follicular, ovulation, luteal, and menstruation. They regulate ovulation and the uterine lining while constantly talking via feedback loops between the ovaries, pituitary, and brain (the hypothalamus).

Think of them as:

1. The cycle builder —> estrogen

2. The caretaker —> progesterone

3. The follicle nurturer —> FSH

4. The ovulation signal —> LH

Here’s how the show unfolds, based on a combination of research ( 1, 2, 3 ) and experience:

• Early Cycle: Estrogen is low, and feedback to the brain is weak. So, GnRH (a hormone from the hypothalamus) pulses stimulate FSH release. Multiple follicles begin to grow.

• Mid-Follicular: Estrogen rises and tells the pituitary, “Okay, enough FSH,” via negative feedback. This helps one dominant follicle mature.

• Ovulation: Estrogen peaks, flipping the feedback from negative to positive. GnRH pulses more rapidly, triggering a surge in LH, the ovulation signal.

• Luteal Phase: Progesterone rises (produced by the corpus luteum), supported by moderate estrogen. Together, they tell GnRH, LH, and FSH to chill out and not trigger another ovulation.

• Menstruation: If no pregnancy occurs, estrogen and progesterone levels drop, lifting the suppression. FSH gradually increases again, and a new cycle begins.

Why does this matter?
Because these guys are the behind-the-scenes stage managers of your moods, energy, cravings, and how your gut reacts to everything you eat.

Of cycles, summer and raw salads: When your gut becomes a fussy toddler

As we've entered proper summer, and the temperature is significantly increasing, my body has invoked its right to fresh salads, plenty of fresh fruit, and cold treats.

While during the follicular phase, my gut and stomach are all in—and raw veggies and fruit are welcomed like VIP guests, as I move into the luteal and menstrual phases, my digestive system becomes a fussy toddler. Suddenly, my gut is suspicious of everything.

Raw carrots? Too crunchy.

Salad? Too cold.

It's giving toddler energy, demanding warm, comforting foods and side-eyeing anything green. In a nutshell, here’s what my body naturally prefers—and no, that is not coffee, it’s golden milk.

I tend to get bloated easily, and the sensation of discomfort after meals makes it difficult for me to love raw veggies.

This means I have to adjust not just what I eat, but also how I eat it, to keep my body happy—and to replenish the vitamins and minerals lost each month through bleeding. And it’s not just digestion. A few other patterns started emerging:

🔍 My body's luteal & menstrual clues:

1. Sleep: I need a solid 9–10 hours instead of 8 (REM and deep sleep take a hit starting in the luteal phase).

2. Heart rate: My nighttime heart rate creeps up from 50–53 bpm to 60–65 bpm.

3. Energy: I lean into more nurturing activities—slow mornings, gentle walks, softer workouts, lots of NOs. It’s cocoon mode.

4. Productivity: Planning and execution take a backseat; reflection comes front and centre.

The nutrient drop: What the body loses (and how you feel it)

A while back, I started tracking symptoms and cravings, and dug into what the science says about nutritional changes across the cycle.

Turns out, the menstrual cycle is a nutrient and immune rollercoaster for the body. Here's what your body sheds—and how you might feel it:

* (1), (2), (3)

🧠 TL;DR: Your body’s losing more than patience—it’s losing key nutrients. Refuel accordingly.

When food enters the equation: A phase-by-phase survival guide

So then, what do you eat to replenish lost nutrients? That’s a good question, and what experience has taught me is that preparation begins long before the menstrual phase.

🌱 Follicular Phase & Ovulation Phase (Protect the egg, mature the egg)

Focus: Boost estrogen naturally and support egg formation and maturation.

Key foods:

• Protein: Eggs, salmon, mackerel, turkey, chicken, yoghurt

• Healthy fats: Seeds, nuts, avocado, olive oil

• Fibre: Berries, citrus, greens like broccoli and spinach

• Complex carbs: Quinoa, oats, lentils, chickpeas

🍂 Luteal Phase (Brace for impact)

Focus: Increase protein and portion size by 5-10% + magnesium, ease PMS symptoms.

Key nutrients:

• Magnesium & zinc: Dark chocolate, pumpkin seeds (my fave), nuts, seafood, whole grains

• Vitamin C: Bell peppers, berries, broccoli

• Anti-inflammatories: Ginger, turmeric, cardamom, fennel

• Greens: Broccoli, edamame, green beans

• Complex carbs & fibre: Sourdough, quinoa, sweet potatoes, legumes to stabilise mood and energy.

🌙 Menstrual Phase (The cocoon)

Focus: Rest, restore, replenish, reduce inflammation.

Key nutrients:

• Iron-rich foods: Beef, liver, organs, lentils, chickpeas

• Vitamin C: Citrus, berries, peppers (helps iron absorption)

• Magnesium: Avocado, bananas, nuts, seeds

• B Vitamins: Quinoa, eggs, room-temperature yoghurt, leafy greens

• Omega-3s: Salmon, sardines, mackerel, walnuts, hemp, chia, flax seeds to help with bloating and inflammation.

What you eat matters. How you prepare it, even more 🥘

One of the things I’ve learned from Dr. Michelle Davenport is that what you eat is as essential as how you prepare it. Turns out, your gut is a fan of comfort and technique. Just like bad dates, the wrong cooking method can turn a good thing into a regret.

During the luteal and menstrual phases, gentle cooking methods like steaming, sautéing, and slow cooking are not only easier on digestion, retaining nutrients and tolerance, but also great for longevity.

Outro (and a recipe for you to try)

When your hormones are running the show and your jeans are staging a rebellion, food can be your peacekeeper. Below you will find a cosy recipe to soothe both your hormones and your belly.

What’s your go-to comfort meal when your body says ‘hibernate’? I’d love to hear your cycle-support staples — drop them in the comments.

Leave a comment

Duck liver with creamy polenta, sautéed mushrooms and greens

Need a comforting dish that feels like fuzzy socks and a hug from the inside? Enter: duck liver with creamy polenta, mushrooms, and greens. Rich, earthy, buttery-soft and unfussy—this meal is your hormone-friendly dinner date.

Serves: 2

Prep time: 10 minutes

Cooking time: 25 mins

Ingredients

• 400g duck livers

• 2 garlic

• 150g green beans and broccoli or a mix of greens of your choice

• 250g shiitake mushrooms or a mix of shiitake, oyster, and Shimeji

• 3-5 sprigs of fresh parsley (to the duck livers and mushrooms after they’re cooked )

• Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

• Juice of 1/2 lemon

• 2-3 teaspoons of ghee to cook the mushrooms and duck livers

• 1/2 cup of polenta

• 10 g salted butter

• 15-20g of grated parmesan or pecorino

Method

1. Wash and trim the duck livers of sinew, then pat dry.

2. Trim and wash the green beans, then cut the broccoli into florets. Add the broccoli florets to water with a bit of bicarbonate of soda for about 5 minutes to clean them thoroughly. Then rinse and set aside.

3. Wash the mushrooms, pat them dry and then cut them into strips.

4. Meanwhile, preheat a pan over low to medium heat and add 1-2 teaspoons of ghee. Fry the duck livers for 6-7 minutes; when nearly done, deglaze the pan with a splash of water. Season the duck livers generously with a mix of your choice (I used a mix of dried Italian herbs, salt, pepper, paprika, and onion powder), and then garnish with diced parsley. Cover and set aside.

5. In a different pan, add one teaspoon of ghee and sauté the mushrooms. We want the mushrooms to become slightly charred but not dry. Season with salt and pepper, then drizzle a bit of lemon juice and olive oil over them. Toss them in the pan and garnish with parsley.

6. Set the green beans in a steamer and, after 10 minutes, add the broccoli for about 3-4 minutes as well, so both are done at the same time.

7. Lastly, prepare the polenta according to the package instructions. When done, add the butter and grated Parmesan and continue to whisk until it becomes creamy.

8. Add polenta to a plate, then place the mushrooms on top and next to it, followed by the duck livers, as shown in the picture above.

9. Serve with the steamed greens.

If you made it this far, your hormones and I thank you. Try the recipe, trust your gut (literally), and if this post helped you, give it a heart, comment or share it with someone whose uterus deserves better snacks.

See you next cycle, friends. xx, Ana

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A body is like a lighthouse that constantly signals

In a world full of noise, it sometimes takes a gargantuan effort to make space for silence and whispers—the kind that our bodies hum to us in hushed tones daily.

This is both a recurring thought and a feeling I have. Stillness, an essential ingredient for listening to and interpreting body signals, seems rarely cultivated nowadays. Not because we don’t want to, but because our environment makes it harder than ever.

Growing up, the notion of attuning to my body was never discussed at school or home. Yet as a child, I instinctively sensed when something was off or simply shifting. Whether it was a heaviness in my chest when faced with a difficult decision, a subtle discomfort after a meal, or a sense of unease that something bad would happen, my body always seemed to “catch” the signal before my brain did.

The gap of silence when that shift happened, moments before my brain interpreted the body’s message, was always there, even if, at the time, I didn’t have the language for it.

In a recent conversation with a close friend, I learned that this kind of listening has only recently become a habit in her life. We were debating how we got here and why we weren’t taught about these things earlier. I said, “What if the thing to do now is just to whisper to our bodies, “I hear you” , “I feel you” , “I’m here” , to acknowledge our bodies and their sensations, emotions, and changes?”

You might ask: “What does this have to do with food, blood glucose, and hormones?” Depending on who you ask, the answer might be: everything.

The body keeps the score

One of the reasons I decided to write an article on this topic was because about two and a half years ago (2 years and 8 months to be more exact) I started experiencing all sort of symptoms out of the blue: loss of apetite, severe insomnia, brain fog, extreme fatigue (even after sleeping 8hrs/night), mood swings, frequent night sweats and much more. Although at the time I was going through a very stressful period and was arguably close to burnout, these symptoms seemed to overlap with something more.

Understandably, I started to think something was very wrong, so I began documenting everything and went to the doctors.

Through the answers I got, the most frequent was that they had no idea what was going on, with the symptoms being so widespread. What surprised me most was that no one asked about my lifestyle or my hormonal health, even when I was voicing my concerns about that.

So I decided to take matters into my own hands and became a Sherlock Holmes of my case: blood tests, habit tracking, documenting every phase of my cycle, you name it.

And then it hit me.

My mother had experienced similar symptoms at about the same age, but at the time, she lacked the resources we have today. This led me to learn about the role of female hormones in brain and body health, how they oscillate throughout the month, and what I can do to better support them.

Consequently, this triggered changes in my eating timing (I stopped eating later than 90 minutes after waking up), the type of nutrients I consumed (I payed attention to having more iron-rich foods in the luteal phase, although eating red meat more regularly was a challenge), how I worked out, and how I prioritised proper rest and recovery routines. My sleep hygiene was already good, so rather than changing or adding something to it, I subtracted everything that didn’t serve me.

And so it began with cultivating stillness.

Female hormones’ cycle, blood glucose, and stillness

You see, the female body has a magical rhythm to it. And stillness creates the space to listen to this rhythm.

Unlike men, whose bodies operate in 24-hour cycles and reset every day, women’s bodies move through cycles of roughly 28 days or longer (34 days, in my case).

This is why in women, blood glucose is modulated not only by cortisol but also by estrogen and progesterone, which fluctuate across the menstrual cycle.

• Estrogen enhances insulin sensitivity and helps the body respond effectively to insulin, thus supporting stable blood glucose, especially in the follicular phase.

• Progesterone rises in the luteal phase, reducing insulin sensitivity. This often leads to higher blood glucose and increased cravings or mood changes.

Several studies ( 1, 2, 3) show this variability, which I have also observed through my notes, CGM, and Oura ring data: foods that are fine in the follicular phase cause a higher blood glucose in the luteal phase. Mood, sleep, and energy follow these patterns, too.

Besides modulating blood sugar, estrogen plays a crucial role in brain health and helps convert glucose, the brain’s primary fuel source, into energy.

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When food enters the equation

Food and hormones nurture a very intricate relationship.

Like all matter in the universe, food carries energy—chemical energy. Every time we eat, and food is broken down, chemical reactions happen, triggering a release of energy inside our bodies (my chemistry teacher would be so proud to hear this).

The energy produced from such a reaction powers our body movement, warmth, healing, and regeneration. But beyond energy, food is also information: it “speaks” to our bodies, influencing blood sugar, cortisol, hormones, and mood.

For women, timing and meal composition matter more than I’d like to accept. From experience, I can attest that delaying or skipping breakfast or eating late elevates cortisol, disrupts blood sugar, and throws off hormonal balance. This is why I made a habit of eating breakfast within 90 minutes of waking up.

You know the drill by now. I aim for balanced meals rich in protein, fiber, good fats, and complex carbohydrates.

Ain’t enough to have good meal timing, what you eat and how you eat also matter.

The interplay of listening, adapting, and growing

Adjusting my breakfast timing was just one of the small, consistent changes I made, along with learning to listen to my body’s signals, which didn’t happen overnight.

It took a while to accept that I needed to stop pushing breakfast late, ignoring fatigue, and powering through cravings in the luteal and menstrual phase, which was my body’s way of telling me it needs a different kind of fuel and support.

But once I arrived at this realisation, it stuck with me.

The reason for that? Internalising and experiencing how food impacts my cortisol, blood glucose, and other bodily systems, including female hormones (estrogen, progesterone, LH), hunger and satiety hormones (hello, ghrelin and leptin), and the gut.

This isn’t just my story; many amazing women in my circle have experienced something similar. Going through these challenges together and engaging in open conversations about the complex and ugly parts of them created the space to support ourselves and one another, which has truly strengthened our bonds.

I want to close this article with a few bits of information that I hope will be helpful to you in approaching change. I would’ve loved to have known these things when experiencing the rollercoaster of symptoms.

1. Your brain and body will always prioritise survival: is there enough glucose, water, minerals, etc, to maintain allostasis? This is why nutrition, sleep, and movement are core to anything else (learning, play, etc)

2. Female hormones are not just that; they are also brain hormones, and I wish I had learned much sooner about their importance (especially estrogen) for brain health. This article goes into great detail about it.

3. When you make changes, it will take a while for your body to calibrate, because a change in one system will trigger changes in other bodily systems too (e.g., regulating sleep will regulate hormonal health and mood )

4. This may sound cliché, but believe your body when it signals you. Most symptoms or signals are there to provide information, whether it’s an unmet need, some calibration required, or a need to slow down. Your body doesn’t fight against you; it fights to keep you safe.

For breakfast, I’d like to share a favourite meal of mine, the “put me together like a Lego” type.

Soft scrambled eggs on sourdough bread

Last summer, I became obsessed with making the eggs this way. I loved the texture and softness, and I loved how well they combined with the avocado and smoked salmon/prosciutto.

Also, it keeps me full for at least 4 hours, which I love. I passionately dislike feeling hungry mid-morning, merely two hours after having breakfast.

Serves: 2

Prep time: 5 minutes

Cooking time: 8 mins

Ingredients

4 large eggs

20g butter

2-3 sprigs of fresh dill and 2-4 sprigs of fresh chives, finely chopped

sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

1/2 avocado

4 slices of smoked salmon or prosciutto

Method

1. Whisk the eggs with a pinch of salt and freshly ground pepper until they are airy and fluffy.

2. Preheat a pan over low-medium heat and add the butter. When the butter starts frothing, pour in the egg mixture and stir slowly with a wooden spoon. We want to slowly remove the mixture from the edges of the pan, making sure the eggs don’t overcook.

3. When the eggs look slightly runny and silky, they're ready. Then, turn off the stove and toast your bread. The eggs will continue to cook slightly, as the pan will remain hot.

4. On the toasted bread, add slices of avocado, and season with salt and pepper.

5. In the pan, add the chopped chives and dill to the eggs and mix slowly. Then, layer them over the avocado. On top, add the smoked salmon or prosciutto.

6. Serve with a small salad of choice.

Let me know if you try it.

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After years of skipping breakfast, performing grueling workouts on an empty stomach, and rushing to the office in the mornings, I reached a point of no return when my gut memo’ed my brain: "This isn't going to cut it anymore. Tell Ana that if she skips breakfast again, I’ll release cortisol like it’s Black Friday.

Sincerely, Your Overworked Gut.”

The message came as a smack in the face because it coincided with some health issues I just couldn’t ignore anymore. So, after holding a decade-long grudge against breakfast, I finally waved the white flag.

Something had to change—and fast.

I became determined to make breakfast something I enjoyed, to regain my health, and to keep it. But I knew this wasn’t going to be an easy feat.

The gut microbiome: the conductor of your health

Back in 2012, I wasn’t into health trackers and all that gist yet. I also didn’t know much about metabolic health, the gut microbiome, cortisol and blood glucose rhythms, and how skipping breakfast was flipping off my metabolism.

But I already had two things going for me: a passion for cooking and an insatiable curiosity to learn as much as I could about how my body functions and how the food I eat affects it (a.k.a Googling “Why am I so tired all the time?” at 2 a.m.).

The first thing I learned was that the gut microbiome is vital to overall well-being. Think of it as the conductor of your health, orchestrating a harmonious balance between different microbial species and influencing everything from digestion to mood regulation. Recent studies show that the gut microbiome also plays an essential role in regulating blood sugar, insulin sensitivity, and overall metabolic health.

This shifted my focus from “I hate breakfast” to “How can I make breakfast fun, colourful, and diverse for the gut?” I also started paying attention to how I felt after eating certain things.

Lucky for me, this exploration coincided with a time of frequent travel and contact with different cultures. Naturally, I was exposed to what people in other countries had for breakfast. From shakshuka in Israel to beans on toast in England (yes, beans), I shattered the belief that there are “rules” for breakfast and discovered savory dishes and novel ways of having breakfast. Naan with poached eggs? Sign me up. Sardines on sourdough bread? Yes, please. 

Through experimentation, I realized that both protein and fiber contribute to satiety. Rather than obsessing over one or the other, or worse, counting macros, I kept playing with different options until I settled on the holy trinity I mentioned in the previous article: protein (eggs, sardines, and cottage cheese), good fats (avocado and olive oil), and fiber (vegetables and seeds), plus the additional slow-energy-release carbs (sourdough, sweet potatoes, etc.) that don’t ghost me by 10 a.m.

The vagus nerve (the brain and the gut had a chat)

But the revelation in my quest for breakfast came when I learned about the vagus nerve—the pathway that helps the gut and the brain communicate. It wasn’t until 2015, though, that I stumbled upon Diego V. Bohórquez’s Ph.D. work on neuropod cells, and I grasped how remarkable the gut really is. 

And yes, ‘neuropod’ is a real word—I didn’t make it up after three espressos. I don’t drink espresso.

According to his recent study and this Hubermanlab podcast episode, these tiny cells quickly transmit information about food pH and composition (micro and macro nutrients) to the brain via vagus nerve connections. They act as an overachieving food critic who is living in your gut, judging if that pastry you just ate deserves applause or a side-eye—and shaping cravings accordingly:

• High sugar intake = neuropod cells partying in your brain’s pleasure centers (hello, cravings).

• Protein = stable blood sugar levels and fewer snack attacks later.

This insight helped me understand why certain foods trigger specific reactions in my body, enabling me to adjust my breakfast and other meal choices accordingly. It explained why, after a poor night's sleep, my body craved pancakes smothered in jam for breakfast.

Through all the experimenting and learning, I got three key insights:

• Diversity is fundamental to a healthy gut microbiome, and no single food can ensure that. This is why consuming a variety of foods like fruits, vegetables, legumes, nuts, and seeds supports microbial diversity.

• The gut microbiome plays a crucial role in regulating blood sugar, insulin sensitivity, and overall metabolic health. It also interacts significantly with multiple body systems, like the immune system and the brain.

• There needs to be a balance between beneficial microbes in the gut microbiome (e.g., Bifidobacteria, Lactobacilli) and opportunistic species that can cause harm

Now that you know how breakfast can impact your gut and mood, let's play a game. Leave a comment below about your favorite savory breakfast. The more diverse the answers we get, the better.

What is your savoury go-to breakfast personality?

A) Shakshuka enthusiast

B) Avocado toast and poached eggs lover

C) Eating like a chef omlette

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To close this article, I’ll share a recipe that these tiny judges will love. I call it a neuropod-nourishing breakfast because “holy trinity” sounds like a Dan Brown novel.

Comforting Tuna melt panini

This tuna melt recipe uses homemade hummus for extra fiber instead of mayonnaise and celery for crunch. Store-bought hummus also works well in this recipe if you're short on time.

If you love mayonnaise, like my friend D, you can swap the hummus for mayo.

Serves:2-3

Prep time: 15 mins

Cooking time: 10 mins

Ingredients

For the tuna mix

2 cans of tuna

2-3 celery sticks

1 small bunch of dill

Salt and pepper to season

For the hummus

1 can of chickpeas

1 garlic clove

juice of half a medium-sized lemon

1 generous tablespoon of tahini

1 1/2 tablespoon of olive oil

1 1/2 teaspoon of zatar mix or other herbs you like

Salt and pepper to season

2-3 ice cubes to make the hummus smooth

Method

1. Wash and finely dice the celery stalks and dill.

2. Drain the liquid from the canned tuna, then shred it using a fork or a food processor. Mix the tuna, diced celery, and dill, and season with salt and pepper.

3. In the meantime, drain the liquid from the chickpeas can, wash them, and pat them dry.

4. Add a teaspoon of ghee or oil to a pan over medium-high heat and the chickpeas. Cook them for 5-8 minutes, adding the zatar spice mix halfway through and seasoning them with salt and pepper.

5. Transfer the ingredients to a blender or food processor with a tablespoon of olive oil, a generous amount of tahini, a clove of garlic, and lemon juice.

6. Mix them until smooth, then taste and adjust the taste if necessary. Check to see if more olive oil is needed.

7. Add 1-2 cubes of iced water to the blender and continue mixing. The humus should be smooth-textured.

8. Add half of the hummus to a bowl with the tuna, dill, and celery and mix well. You should obtain a thick tuna spread.

9. Cut generous slices of sourdough bread, add the paste, and assemble the sandwiches. Toast the sandwiches in a sandwich maker or in a pan for a few minutes on each side.

10. Serve with a fresh side salad, extra avocado slices, or some pickled onion slices.

Let me know in the comments if you try it.

P.S. I hope you enjoy this as much as I did. x

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During a recent conversation with a friend, I nervously confessed that I had passionately disliked the idea of breakfast for years. I was curious to see her reaction, as for the longest time, she thought I had it all together, like the perfect poached egg, when it came to that specific meal of the day.

Suffice to say that her wide-eyed countenance said it all, as did her ”You? No way!” expression.

I have wondered if other people felt the same way and if, like me, they had morning stand-offs with well-meaning adults during childhood, where they were told that “breakfast is the most important meal of the day” while rolling their eyes and crossing their arms in defiance.

To breakfast or not to breakfast? That is the question.

I was never the type of person who “rises and eats" (mind you, I’m still not). As a kid, my stomach was in open rebellion in the mornings like Peter from The Great, treating breakfast at 7:30 as one of Catherine's progressive reforms—unwelcome, misunderstood, and destined to create chaos.

While adults fretted about the most important meal of the day, my digestive system’s motto was “food before 9:30 a.m. is tyranny.” Much to their dismay, my appetite would never arrive until that hour, and some days, even that was debatable.

By my second year in university, I would sit through 9 a.m. lectures clutching only my water bottle while my classmates devoured sandwiches and sipped coffees—their breakfast enthusiasm as baffling to me as that of people who choose to wake up at 4:30 a.m. My stomach would audibly growl in protest—not from hunger, but in solidarity with my anti-breakfast sentiment.

Does your stomach also rebel at dawn? If yes, how did you overcome this challenge? Let me know in the comments.

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The day breakfast turned on me.

This act of rebellion continued into my early twenties when I got my first office job. Mornings became a blur of 6 a.m. wake-ups, fast showers, and sprinting to catch a metro that would take me across the city to the office.

But then I started resistance training, a pursuit that turned my body into a metabolic drama queen, sending frantic SOS signals that could no longer be ignored. Suddenly, skipping breakfast wasn't an option anymore - it was sabotaging my recovery, hormonal balance, mood, and ability to focus past 2 p.m. My body started staging a coup against my lifelong breakfast boycott, as I found myself in unfamiliar territory: hungry in the mornings (especially after workouts).

It wasn't until some tidbits of science arrived on my plate, though, that I understood why my body was staging this coup. As it turned out, cortisol—nature's espresso shot—naturally begins to rise before awakening and is modulated by the circadian rhythm, which prepares the body for the day ahead. Then, it peaks shortly after waking up.

This is when I realized why eating a protein-rich breakfast within 30 minutes to 1.5 hours of waking is essential. It helps control the body's cortisol rhythm (which should steadily decline throughout the day), regulate blood sugar, and balance hormones.
My body wasn't being dramatic; it was being scientifically accurate.

Something had to change, fast.

And change it did

The realization of change marked the start of a messy, trial-and-error process long before I learned how a protein-rich breakfast impacts cortisol.
So I went from the "fruit juice or smoothie as breakfast" debacle (which didn't last long; my blood sugar didn't approve ) to overnight oats, which proved to be a stomachache in a jar. It turns out cold foods on an empty stomach are a bummer for the body unless it's summer and 40 degrees.

Next came the yogurt, croissant, banana, and one boiled egg combo, and it was then that I realized the egg made a difference.

But when I settled on the holy trinity of protein (eggs, sardines, and cottage cheese), good fats (avocado and olive oil), and fiber (vegetables and seeds), something clicked. The conversation between my brain and gut changed from "Here we go again" to "We're onto something, girl. Keep going."

I also had an aha moment about savory foods and leftovers, so I started thinking how I could reuse them for breakfast—breakfast tacos, anyone?

Which takes us to this series

My rollercoaster breakfast journey—from defiance to acceptance to actual enthusiasm—is one of the reasons I decided to create this series. When I started thinking about it, I wanted it to go beyond the one-size-fits-all nutrition dogma and tell honest, humorous stories about the things that I, and people close to me, have grappled with for over a decade, like food's impact on sleep, the importance of both protein and fiber and their role in satiety, the gut microbiome, whether breakfast is important, or even personal anecdotes.

Alongside stories about spectacular failures and discoveries, I will share some of the frameworks and practices I learned and my favorite recipes, all of which have transformed my breakfast since I implemented them. I will also share "just assemble me like a Lego" meal ideas because, let's be honest, we all have more rushed mornings than we'd like to admit and endless to-do lists to get to the bottom of.

What challenges are you facing with breakfast and nutrition in general? What things would you like to learn more about? Let me know in the comments.

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Now, onto the recipe.

Hearty Spring Frittata

This is one of those recipes that is so versatile that it can be served for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. It’s also packed with protein, fiber, and good fats, so it will keep you full for longer.

Serves:3

Prep time: 15 mins

Cooking time: 30 mins

Ingredients

6 eggs

150 g cottage cheese

10-12 big olives, cut in small circles

1 small zucchini

1 garlic clove (optional)

10 cherry tomatoes, halved or quartered

30g feta cheese

1/2 teaspoon of Italian or Provence herbs or simply oregano

Pinch of salt, freshly ground pepper

Method

1. Set your oven to 180°C (350°F) or 160°C (with the fan function)

2. Beat the eggs with salt, pepper, and herbs, then mix in the cottage cheese. Let the mixture rest for a few minutes.

3. Meanwhile, slice the shiitake mushrooms into strips and sauté them in a pan on medium-high heat. Do not crowd the pan; we want the mushrooms to become crispy, not watery, as they will give a nice texture to the frittata. Set aside.

4. Using a mandolin, slice the zucchini into thin, small circles, then repeat the sautéing step.

5. Add the sauteed vegetables to the egg mix and transfer to a baking dish. Then add the cherry tomatoes, olives, and feta cheese.

6. Pop the baking dish in the oven for 25-30 minutes or until the eggs are set.

7. When it is done, let it cool for a few minutes, then serve.

Enjoy it with a fresh side salad. I like a simple one with rocket and cherry tomatoes.

P.S. I hope you enjoy this as much as I did. x