Here are our top picks for November. The health and food picks to keep you going through the cold winter months. Let us know what you think.

Brilliant Beetroot

Although not everyone at Frost loves Beetroot, those of us who do love this tasty and healthy drink. It is also refreshing and guilt-free. ‘Brilliant Beetroot’ – a beetroot juice blend from Cawston Press that now has 90% beetroot and 10% pure apple juice. Once confined to the pickle jar at the back of the fridge, beetroot’s now a well-established juice drink for those who enjoy its rich and earthy, yet sweet, taste.

It also has an amazingly rich source of vitamins and minerals. Available from Ocado

Yau’s Black Bean Sauce and Zumba Dipping Sauce

These Asian sauces are super tasty and not a bit artificial. They taste authentic and wholesome. Like they have been homemade. We tried the black bean sauce and the zumba dipping sauce – both great.

Bonnie and Philip Yau have a background in food from childhood, spanning from Vietnam to Shropshire and now to Peterborough. It has always focused on oriental food and the very best of this. They feel that oriental food is lacking the profile of other ethnic foods, perhaps based on poor takeaway experiences and the association with the monosodium glutamate and what this brings with it – the ‘Chinese gloopiness’! Their range of fresh, zingy, healthy sauces with only the good bits, are set to challenge this perception of their native food – they hope that it means that they can share their passion with their customers. They have developed a launch range that includes some recognised names such as sweet & sour and black bean, mixed in with more unique recipes – Zum marinade, dip and dressing was originally developed by Bonnie’s grandmother in Vietnam. All sauces have no MSG (monosodium glutamate) and are gluten free.

Restaurant, retail, cooking courses and now sauces

Bonnie’s interest in food started in Vietnam when she was growing up – she steered the boat whilst her grandmother sold hot meals to locals. The smells and sights that were part of every trip along the river have stayed with Bonnie – fresh ingredients and simple cooking methods were key to this style of cooking. In the UK Bonnie spent time working in a family-run specialist food shop developing her knowledge of Vietnamese, Chinese and Thai cooking. Philip began life in the food-haven of Shropshire; his parents ran a Chinese restaurant in the now well-known Ludlow. Their shared interest in food led them to setting-up a specialist oriental store in Peterborough and also a takeaway restaurant. Their approach to quality food, fresh ingredients and excellent customer service has been carried across their businesses. The idea for the sauces came from repeated customer requests – from both chefs and consumers, for oriental sauces that were authentic and easy to cook with – supported by ways to cook with them, for the oriental amateur. Bonnie has taken this education into people’s homes with her interactive and fun cooking and learning courses.

Cook, marinade, dip and dress

The launch range of sauces has been developed by Bonnie and Philip – they started their production in the kitchen and sold through their specialist store, Janson Hong. Due to the positive reaction and interest in the products, they have taken the business forward and sourced a British manufacturer who is working closely with them to produce the recipes exactly to Bonnie’s taste but at the same time enabling them to extend production beyond the scale of their home kitchen. The sauces are made by Eastern Country Foods in Wisbech, Cambridgeshire. There are six sauces with some recognised names such as the Black Bean and the Sweet & Sour and then some more unusual names; Kung Po and Zum. Yau’s recognise the lack of understanding of oriental food and part of their launch is about recipes and re-education into just how tasty, healthy and easy oriental cooking can be for the whole family. The sauces are also a solution for caterers seeking authentic flavours for restaurant dishes.

Bonnie Yau explained why they had created Yau’s; “We love the food from China, Vietnam, Thailand and feel that in the UK Indian and Thai food is widely accepted as part of the cuisine but food termed ‘Chinese’ food has a bad image. Our aim has been to develop sauces that we would use in our home cooking, so that we can share our food. We think that there is a gap on the shelves of retailers for an artisan product in this sector and hope that we can fill it. We also believe that our product will help in restaurant kitchens – the feedback so far in our region, is very positive. We hope to spread this across the country.”

Kallo Rice Cakes

Kallo Rice Cakes are delicious. Too delicious for something that is so healthy. We have been eating the lightly salted ones at Frost with hummus on top. They taste good and make you feel good. We will be buying in bulk in future. From Ocado.

Each packet includes a charming original folk tale inspired illustration and matching short poem in vibrant, Scandinavian eye-catching colours.

Kallo uses only the finest natural ingredients to create delicious products – celebrating their ethos for eating well and enjoying a healthy lifestyle. All Kallo’s rice cakes are made from the highest quality wholegrain, puffed brown rice and corn with no artificial colours, preservatives, gluten containing ingredients or MSG and are suitable for vegetarians.

Priced from £1.19 per pack.

Mr Singh’s Hot Punjabi Chilli Sauce

This sauce is hot, super hot. Perfect for spice lovers. The sauce which made Mr. Singh’s famous. Hot and delicious! Deep, rich, umami flavour with a hint of sweetness. You get delicious flavour with a pleasurable chilli kick at the back of your throat. The original and one of the best chilli sauces ever created! Created over 25 years ago, this sauce is historically hot! Yummy with chips, fish fingers, soups, pasta, casserole, cheese on toast and whatever else you can think of!

From Selfridges

Lucy’s Dressing – Golden Dressing

This sauce only lasted for a day and a half at Frost. It was so amazing we put it on everything. A kitchen essential. Lucy’s Dressings are inspired in their family kitchen in Suffolk, using their own unique recipes. Having hand-picked the finest quality local ingredients.

Golden because it’s made from cold pressed rapeseed oil, which has half the saturated fat of an olive oil based dressing.

The good news with this dressing is that although it’s incredibly good for you, it tastes rich and full bodied and that’s because it’s made from award winning Hillfarm cold pressed rapeseed oil, cyder vinegar, mustard, lemon juice and a touch of honey for the sweetness you all love. Fantastic on salads or for roasting vegetables.

From Ocado or Selfridges

Verdesse

Our writer used these for less than a month and made no other changes. He was less bloated and lost four pounds. Impressive. From Nature’s Best.

Expert nutritionist Dr Sam Christie comments “We know that coffee drinkers are protected against type 2 diabetes – a condition characterised by blood-sugar irregularities that leads to excessive abdominal fat accumulation. Now, even non-coffee drinkers can benefit. Scientists now understand that what we eat has an enormous influence on whether or not we succumb to this type of disease. Green coffee that provides more of the sugar-normalising compounds (but without the caffeine) is a natural approach to a flatter stomach and part of your protection against this type of condition”.

Nature’s Best Verdesse contains a high dose of 400mg green coffee extract – the trial used a high dose of 500mg. Verdesse™ (£14.95 for 60 tablets from www.naturesbest.co.uk or call 01892 552 094) is a decaffeinated green coffee extract containing ‘5-caffeolyquinic acid’, proven to help you lose weight by speeding up your metabolism. Take every day for an additional metabolic boost.

Verdesse™ is a slimming supplement used to speed up the metabolism and help you lose weight faster. Verdesse™ is a decaffeinated green coffee extract with Svetol™ which contains high levels of active compounds called ‘chlorogenic acids’. One in particular which is called ‘5-caffeoylquinic acid’ is scientifically proven to help you simultaneously lose weight by speeding up your metabolism. These compounds contain powerful antioxidants that help fight free radical damage. The roasting process changes the chemical profile of the coffee bean and this is why unroasted coffee beans are used in Verdesse™. Although you could get as much ‘5-caffeoylquinic acid’ from 3 cups of green coffee, it is quite an acquired taste, taking Verdesse is an easy way to get this into your diet.

Potter’s Herbal Cold & Flu Relief

Natural and it really works.

Potter’s Cold & Flu Relief (formulated with Elder Flowers with Peppermint Oil and Composition Essence) relieves fever and discomfort of colds, chills and sore throats. It contains Bayberry Bark, Hemlock Spruce, Elder Flowers and Peppermint. Now available in Holland & Barrett – RRP £6.32.

Deep Heat Muscle Rescue Neck and Shoulder Cream

It is tempted to use this anyway in this weather, but if you have an injury or some aches and pains it eases the pain. Handy applicator too.

Works to help ease tension from tight, stressed muscles with a warming combination of rosemary and vanilla delivered via a no-mess sponge applicator. It can be used on other parts of the body, but is designed especially for the tense neck and shoulder area. The soothing, warming cream has a beautiful herbal fragrance and comes with a soft sponge massage applicator so you can massage it in at home or use it on-the-go. Massage is well known for its ability to relieve muscle tension and stress, especially when accompanied with aromatic oils. The sponge applicator enhances the tension easing properties of the warming cream through gentle massage. Both available from Boots.com

Deep Heat Muscle Rescue Bath Soak.

Perfect for helping overworked muscles. Great for the end of a long day – great stuff that unwinds and heals.

It’s specially formulated to soothe and ease muscular tension, stresses, strains and tired aching muscles. Key ingredients include electrolyte minerals (which help to prevent cramp) and essential oils of rosemary, patchouli and orange. A warm bath with Electrolyte minerals helps stressed muscles to loosen and relax, and the essential oils of rosemary, patchouli and orange assist in emotional, as well as physical, relaxation and the release of muscle tension.

Deep Relief

Great stuff that really works. I am addicted to it. Available from Boots.

A grim portrait of pain has been revealed by a new study for Deep Relief, a topical, clinically proven analgesic gel which uses both analgesic ibuprofen and counter-stimulant levomenthol to deliver a dual attack on pain to provide, effective pain relief.

In this survey of 1000 adults, almost half (43%) said they were blighted by pain on a daily basis. A similar proportion (45%) reported living with pain for more than five years. The back is the number one sore spot with more than half of pain sufferers reporting the lower back to be the main source of discomfort. The neck and shoulders come a close second affecting two out of five (42%) people.

Commenting on this latest pain data, Dr Sarah Brewer a media GP notes: “Worryingly, this new Deep Relief report revealed that three out of five (60%) who suffer regular aches and pains put their health at risk because they rely on oral pain-relief pills. Long term use of oral painkillers such as aspirin and ibuprofen has been linked with a corrosive effect on the digestive system and long term use of ibuprofen and diclofenac at high doses have been linked to an increased risk of heart attack. It is estimated that this family of medicines, known as non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs or NSAIDs, is responsible for 2,600 deaths a year and 12,000 hospital admissions out of 25 million prescriptions not to mention the number of people that buy NSAIDs Over The Counter.”

GRIN AND BEAR

A staggering one in two people (48%) simply ‘grin and bear pain’. Standing for long periods (41%), household chores (40%) and sitting at a desk for long periods (33%) all aggravate discomfort and a third (32%) report that cold weather makes their pain worse.

Nagging pain can also have a huge emotional impact, with a third (29%) admitting they get upset because it restricts their activities and the same number complaining they are constantly exhausted.

“This can become a vicious cycle as there is evidence to show that low mood lowers our pain threshold and depression increases our sensitivity to pain, which makes it feel worse.” Dr Sarah Brewer

Dr Brewer adds: “The survey found that pain also prevented one in four respondents from exercising, which may exacerbate this downward spiral. In fact, we know that exercise releases mood-boosting endorphins, so remaining as active as possible is an important part of pain control in long-term conditions such as arthritis.”

Using an effective topical pain relief product such as Deep Relief gel can help maintain mobility and prevent pain from undermining the ability to enjoy daily life.

In summary, Dr Brewer notes: “This survey also found that two out of five (38%) people had not discussed their pain problems with their GP or a pharmacist and as a result many may be unaware of the risks associated with oral painkillers, and the potential for interactions with other medicines such as blood-thinning drugs. A number of studies have linked the long-term use of NSAIDs to serious side-effects and these medicines must be treated with respect. Sadly, almost one third (31%) of respondents in the Deep Relief survey believed there is nothing they can do to prevent pain.

Overall this survey paints a grim picture of debilitating pain in a significant proportion of the UK population together with a worrying lack of knowledge on how to treat it.”

However, the good news is that Deep Relief is a topical analgesic gel which uses two weapons to help fight pain – analgesic ibuprofen and counter-irritant levomenthol — to deliver a dual attack on pain which has been clinically proven to provide, effective relief.

The ibuprofen reduces pain by damping down inflammation and swelling while the levomenthol provides a counter-irritant effect which delivers cooling pain relief.

“And the synergistic action of these two key ingredients enhances penetration of the ibuprofen suggesting that Deep Relief may deliver more analgesia than products containing ibuprofen alone.

Deep Relief has been subjected to a randomised, double-blind placebo controlled trial — the toughest scientific test there is — and is proven to significantly reduce pain in walking, standing and at rest.

So if you suffer from muscular mild to moderate pain niggles opt for a topical pain relieving gel like Deep Relief gel. However, if the pain becomes severe or worsens, always seek GP advice immediately.

LEVOMENTHOL NO LONGER A MYSTERY

Menthol has been used to relieve aches and pains for centuries but it is only recently that scientists have begun to understand how it works.

Messages to the brain are relayed via a system of transient receptor potential (TRP) ion channels which act as gateways on cells and allow electrical signals to pass back and forth.

A 2007 study at the University of California confirmed that one of these TRP ion channels — known as TRPM8 — is not only essential to signal the sensation of cold, but also responds to menthol. This means at a cellular level these chemical messengers cannot tell the difference between something which is physically cold and the menthol-induced sensation of cold — so applying menthol activates the same pain-relieving response as an ice-pack and triggers a barrage of ‘it’s cold’ signals to the brain which compete with pain signals and dilute their message.

Another piece of the puzzle emerged last year in a study from researchers at the Research Center for Neurobiology and Neurophysiology at Aix-Marseilles University who suspected that menthol’s pain relieving properties went beyond this counter-irritant distraction.

Their laboratory tests confirmed that menthol also blocks at least three of the ion channels which relay the sensation of pain and they reported: “We found that low concentrations of menthol cause analgesia.”[8]

This shows that menthol works in two ways: by both blocking pain signals and by diluting the impact of those which get through to the brain.

Another advantage of adding menthol to a pain-relieving gel is that it aids the penetration of ibuprofen. In vitro studies show that when levomenthol — the type of menthol used in Deep Relief — is added to ibuprofen 2.6 times more analgesic is absorbed by the skin in the first hour and at ten hours the combination of ibuprofen and levomenthol delivers 1.4 times more analgesia than ibuprofen alone.

Deep Relief is the only topical NSAID to combine ibuprofen and levomenthol to provide this two-pronged approach to pain-relief.