Super food, for me, is a new way of thinking.
'It's not about goji berries and green drinks.
'It's about cooking smart with simple foods
'that are nutritious and delicious.'
I think it can be really confusing these days.
There's such a lot of kind of noise about what is
and what isn't healthy.
'So, in this show,
'I'm going to some of the healthiest places in the world,
'where people live the longest, to find out what they eat...'
It's really, really good.
'.. and how they live.'
88 years old. Still in charge of the kitchen.
'From the jungles of Costa Rica...'
It's absolutely jam-packed full of vitamin C.
'.. to the islands of Greece...'
This is what life's all about --
the old, the very young, all having a party. Great food.
'.. and Japanese city life.'
Keep practising.
'They're all using humble ingredients
'to make some of the simplest and tastiest dishes I've eaten.'
I've picked the bowl up now, cos it just makes me want to hug it.
'Inspired by what I've learned, I'm going to show you the tricks
'and tips to build my version of super food into your life.'
Who said eating healthy was boring and tasteless? Rubbish.
'Breakfast, lunch and dinner.'
I don't want you to eat healthy food because you have to.
I want you to eat healthy food because it's delicious.
Super food, for me, isn't one ingredient.
It's a collection of incredible, nutritious,
delicious things to make a wonderful dish.
'I want to show you what really good healthy food looks like.
'So tonight, I'm off to two of the healthiest places in the world,
'where people live longer than the rest of us,
'and remain active well into old age,
'to find out what awesome food's keeping them going for so long.
'I learn the secrets of the good life in Greece...'
It's about... this.
'.. and I uncover an unlikely super food ingredient
'that adds a creaminess to any dish for a fraction of the calories.'
Enjoy this beautiful skinny carbonara. Crack on!
'And hanging out with Costa Rican cowboys...'
It's just like Essex!
'.. gives me an idea for a delicious powerhouse dinner.'
That, for me, is a super food classic.
'An incredible super food day, high in nutrients
'and all for under 1,600 calories.
'So, plenty of room for healthy snacks and treats too.
'But first up, a gorgeous, incredibly good for you, breakfast.'
The most important meal of the day,
and you know what? If you were looking at maybe your health,
or doing a little bit better, the one place to start
that's really, really important, time and time again, is breakfast.
'My sweet potato muffins are a super food take on a breakfast classic.
'Absolutely delicious, and bursting with goodness.'
So, let's take a muffin and a coffee.
So many of us have it every single day.
If you actually focus on it, calorifically, they're way up there.
500 calories. They're packed full of sugar.
They're not necessarily that balanced or nutritious.
So, we can do better than that.
Let me show you what I've done with the super food muffin.
This is coming in at 360 calories for two!
So, I'm doing these with sweet potatoes,
which by the way, are ranked way up there
as one of the most healthy vegetables on the planet.
'Low in fat, and packed with nutrients, they're amazing.'
You can actually use a sweet potato in so many ways
that you can use a potato.
So, a little swap out in the week, a couple of times a week --
bingo-bango-bongo!
'Take 600g of unpeeled, scrubbed, grated sweet potato,
'and add six protein-packed, free range eggs.'
Just crack them in.
'Add 250g of whole grain flour,
'finely slice four spring onions
'and two chillies with their seeds left in.
'Put one in the mix, and one on the side.'
Then we're going to go cheese. So, I'm going to use cottage cheese.
One of the lowest in fat.
You got that milky texture in here and those curds,
which go nice and kind of curdy and bendy when you cook them.
'Add three tablespoons.'
I want 50g of Parmesan in there.
Bearing in mind, no oil in here, no butter.
But I promise you,
you will not miss any kind of form of moisture or richness at all.
'Add to the mixture, and season with pepper and a small pinch of salt.'
Yeah! Best equipment. Get in there and scrunch it.
'Grab a stick or rosemary, or a pastry brush
'and lightly oil some squares of greaseproof paper.
'Then heap in a good tablespoon of the filling.'
I know you might be thinking,
"Baking muffins in the morning, really?"
But you can do it at the weekend.
So, it's kind of like making a breakfast in advance.
'Sprinkle on some fragrant rosemary,
'some leftover chilli for some heat.
'Poppy and sunflower seeds for crunch,
'and just a few fine gratings of Parmesan.
'Cook for 45 minutes at 180 degrees Celsius or 350 Fahrenheit,
'until golden and delicious.'
Let's take a look in here.
They're just beautiful.
And I can have not just one, but two of these for 360 calories.
It's balanced, it's healthy.
Ahh! Gorgeous!
And those lovely curds of cheese are so nice in there.
And I can't tell you how delicious that bad boy is.
For all the recipes, go to...
'In this series, I'm travelling to some remote parts of the globe,
'famous for health and longevity,
'to unlock the secrets of some of the world's healthiest diets.
'First stop is the Aegean island of Ikaria,
'with its idyllic coastline, boat-filled harbours,
'and a population proven to live longer lives than most of us,
'remaining physically active well into their 90s.
And "active" here means digging.
'Most families here grow and eat their own fruit and veg.
'I've been invited for lunch with a local here who's 84 years old,
'and still works his two acres of land, single-handed, every day.'
Me and my mate Yorgos here, AKA Poseidon --
because he's strong --
he's going to show me what he does with his land at his house.
'Yorgos' land is dotted around the hillside terraces.
'He's asked me to help clear a field for planting vegetables
'before we have lunch.'
A lot of people back home, they'd have a strimmer out, you know?
They're using quite old school kind of implements,
but it's all good movement.
'On Ikaria, an astounding 60% of 90-year-olds are physically active,
'and experts say frequent physical activity
'is a key factor in their longevity.'
He's still doing six hours a day, graft,
but that whole thing about growing and planting and eating well,
it kind of... It's a beautiful circle.
And you think about all those expensive fad diets,
and fad gyms and then, this --
Ikaria is a gym.
No-one goes to the gym here. No-one.
It's about... this.
'It's clear that self-sufficiency is a double whammy.
'You get great food and get fit at the same time.'
This is like a virtual supermarket.
Lemons, clementines, mandarins...
You got wild fennel and greens all around here.
'But Yorgos has one secret ingredient he carries with him,
'to keep him going all day.'
Cheers, mate.
These are like the perfect snack.
They're so good for you.
'Walnuts are a source of copper,
'which helps our immune system work properly --
'and folic acid and magnesium reduce tiredness.'
'And believe it or not, a recent study found that
'eating a handful of nuts a day
'can increase your life expectancy by two years.'
I don't know what's happening in his trousers, but like,
he keeps pulling nuts out and it's never-ending.
I've done about a kilo. I'll probably live to about 200 now.
'Yorgos and I joined Stella, his wife, for a well-earned lunch.'
Thank you. Bon appetit.
All the veggies here, from his garden.
Homemade wine,
figs and nuts, nuts in the salad.
Mmm!
Nuts are such an important part of the Ikarian diet.
And they are amazing things -- any nuts.
They're all different and they're all wonderful.
So, these guys, they're getting a lot right.
I've completely cleaned my plate.
And I'm going to have some more wine. Yamas!
Let's talk about nuts.
If you have a handful of nuts a day, right,
it reduces your risk of heart disease by 50%.
50%! So I mean, look, food is for enjoying.
It's to be scrumptious, good times,
but like, you can't start ruling out the fact that food is medicine.
'So, in this super food day,
'nuts are definitely one of my hero ingredients,
'and my next recipe is a brilliant way to work them
'into an old comfort food classic.'
We're going to do a beautiful skinny carbonara,
with smashed spring peas, basil, Parmesan and beautiful almonds.
'A creamy plate of mouth-watering food,
'that, using my clever super food nut trick,
'rocks in at only 493 calories.
'Much lower than what you get in a classic carbonara,
'but with loads of flavour.'
First up, we've traded up our regular pasta for whole wheat pasta.
This is gorgeous. Look at the colour.
And you got more fibre in there,
so that's a brilliant, quick little trade-up
that we're going to get straightaway from our pasta.
'Season with a pinch of salt
'and leave in boiling water for around 12 minutes.
'Next, put a pan on a low heat.
'Add 90g of flaked almonds, and while these are toasting,
'crush a clove of garlic, along with a pinch of salt.'
Going to give you an incredible hum of flavour.
Then we go in with my lightly toasted nuts.
'And this is my super food trick.
'I want to use their natural oils to add a real creaminess to this dish.'
When you have a traditional carbonara, it is very laden
in eggs and cream and Parmesan, you know,
and loads of bacon and bacon fat.
This is a way of loving something, enjoying something,
but also really reducing those calories.
And then, once they're smashed up,
we're then going to go in with some basil.
There's so much about herbs and health, but one thing's for sure,
the more herbs you use, the more flavour you get,
the less salt you need.
Double pleasure.
'Smash up half a bunch of basil, along with 200g of peas.
'Then finely grate yourself 15g of Parmesan.
'Sprinkle it into the mix, then squeeze in a lemon.'
You're getting that nuttiness from the almonds,
but also that kind of creaminess, as well.
Let's talk bacon.
Now, in a traditional carbonara, absolutely gloriously,
there's loads and loads of chunky, big, fat pork lardons.
We can't do that. We can't do that in everyday super food.
'And we don't actually need to.
'One rasher, finely sliced,
'will give you loads of smoky bacon flavour
'with a fraction of the calories.
'Put a teaspoon of olive oil in a pan on a medium heat
'and add the bacon.'
As it starts to take on some colour, very importantly, black pepper.
Quite a bit of it.
'Once it's crisp and golden,
'take the bacon out, leaving the fat behind.
'Go into the pan with three quarters of your pea mixture.'
Mix up the peas in that lovely bacon fat.
We're not going to waste any of that.
Drag in all of our pasta to the pan.
'Next, make a delicious sauce
'with some organic zero fat yoghurt and one egg.
'Beat together and add to the pan, and turn the heat off.'
If you have the heat on the pan,
you're just going to scramble the egg, and you don't want that.
You want the residual heat of the pan and the pasta
to slowly cook the eggs, almost like a custard.
Then, let's just serve it. Look at all that lovely sauce.
'Sprinkle over some basil, the leftover pea sauce,
'and your crunchy bacon bits.'
And then, one last little stroke of Parmesan
will give you the most beautiful finish.
'And there you go.
'An indulgent plate of creamy deliciousness --
'and all for 493 calories per portion.'
Mmm! It's really comforting.
You know, you got one of your five a day in there,
protein, carbohydrates, dairy...
It's spectacular.
'Next, I head to a Costa Rican cattle ranch
'to find a super food ingredient
'keeping the cowboys riding, day and night.'
Is that for me? You lovely lady. Look at that!
'Inspired by my trip, I cook up a lip-smacking dinner --
'a smoky black bean stew that's as healthy as it is hearty.'
That's flavour, right there.
I've travelled the world to see some of the longest-living,
healthy people on the planet.
And there's these commonalities that keep coming back --
in food, in ingredients -- that I need to share with you.
'I'm cooking a day's worth of delicious super food.
'So far, we've had scrumptious, sweet potato muffins for breakfast.
'And inspired by my trip to Greece,
'we're celebrating nuts to make the creamiest carbonara for lunch.
'Next on my journey to find out
'how we can all get more super food into our lives,
'I'm heading to Costa Rica.
'The Nicoyan Peninsula is famous for stunning beaches,
'dramatic plains, and some of the healthiest people on the planet.
'Nicoyan men in particular
'are some of the longest-living people in the world.
'So, what are these guys eating?
'Who better to ask than one of Costa Rica's toughest cowboys,
'60-year-old Canfi.'
People in this part of Costa Rica work manual labour jobs
until much later in life than average.
So, I'm here on a cattle ranch
in one of the most physical jobs -- cowboys. Yes!
We're going to go and do a bit of ranching, get in some cattle,
and then have a little bit of lunch. Nice.
We're trying to just keep them all in the same direction.
Push them over the hill, back to the ranch.
With the cattle now in, it's time for lunch.
And Roma, the ranch cook, puts me straight to work.
Roma, what are you making?
How long have you cooked here?
Wowzers!
Got black bean soup over there,
which, from what I can tell, is the juice of black beans,
having cooked them, and she's just put peppers,
garlic, coriander and some onion in there.
Stirred it through.
And then, look what she's doing now.
Basically, poached eggs into the soup.
And when the eggs are cooked,
which I guess will be about four minutes, five minutes later,
the soup's done.
Very cool.
'Black beans are one of the highest protein beans on the planet,
'packed with fibre and great for muscle and bone health.'
There's no mistaking,
these guys know exactly what they're talking about.
They've been cultivating and cooking these for thousands of years.
'The traditional Nicoyan diet still resembles that of their ancestors,
'the Chorotega Indians.
'In fact, beans have been grown here for over 7,000 years.'
How important do you think these black beans are
to the long life expectancy of Costa Ricans?
'Time to plate up for lunch.'
Oh, Roma!
You are the best thing that's ever happened to cowboys --
and Essex boys.
'Roma's black bean soup is just for starters.'
It's a very simple soup, but I tell you what, it's really tasty.
'With soup finished, it's time for the main course.'
Chicken, potatoes. We got rice, got beans. Loads of salad in there.
Lovely.
Is that for me? Gracias.
How many times a day would you have black beans?
It must be very windy round here?
No, no, no, no!
People from this part of Costa Rica
are some of the longest-living people on the planet.
Why do you think that is?
So, what can we learn from these lovely boys? Well, food.
Food, food, food. Lovely, organic, fresh food. It can be simple.
It can be humble. It doesn't have to be expensive. Absolutely not.
But big up beans.
I'm not saying you have to have it three times a day,
but beans are really, really good for you.
'So, in my super food day,
'black beans are definitely a hero ingredient.
'We all need to get this super little legume into our lives.
'Protein-packed, full of fibre, and totally delicious.'
For dinner, we're going to do this gorgeous, smoky black bean stew,
and this is all vegetarian, and it really, really is scrumptious.
'A stunning, hearty, super food supper,
'rocking in at only 532 calories a portion.'
The thing I like about this is, it's four of your five a day.
It's delicious, it's comforting, but very, very, very healthy.
It's going to be based around veggies
and you're going to see so much colour.
'All the healthy hot spots I've visited
'eat a mainly plant-based diet.
'So, we could all do with trying to eat a little less meat.'
I never want you to eat veggie dishes
because you think you should, or you have to, or it's healthy.
I want you to eat them because they're delicious.
'First up, roast off some veg.
'Take half a butternut squash --
'a wonderful source of vitamin A, high in fibre, and low in fat.
'Remove the seeds and cut into 3cm chunks.
'Then pop into a roasting tray with a pinch of salt and pepper,
'and a teaspoon of ground coriander and oil.'
Get your hands in and just have a little toss up.
'Slice and add three peppers to a separate roasting tray.'
I really love peppers. Peppers, full of vitamin C.
'Season with salt and pepper,
'then a teaspoon of smoked paprika for a big, smoky flavour
'and add a teaspoon of oil.'
We're going to massage those flavours, seasonings into this.
Look at that. That's flavour, right there!
'Add both trays of veg to the oven for 30 to 35 minutes,
'at 200 degrees Celsius, which is 400 Fahrenheit.'
Get yourself a pan on. I like using a nice casserole-style pan.
We're going to big up more veg.
'To kick-start the stew, peel and roughly chop two onions,
'but reserve a quarter for the salsa later.'
One tablespoon of oil into the pan. Just put it to one side, like that.
'Put in four bay leaves and crush in four cloves of garlic.'
Then, we can go in with our onions.
Normally in cooking, you'd want to drench it in oil
and every tablespoon of oil,
you're sort of pushing another 120, 130 calories.
So, let's just be restrained.
And what I want to do is
really help the natural sweetness of the onion come out,
without loads and loads of fat.
So, a lovely way to do it is just take a little cup of water,
and just stop that frying.
And what's going to happen is,
it's going to allow that oil to dissipate around the whole pan.
Also, it's sharing all the flavours.
And as it naturally sort of cooks down and evaporates,
then you've softened the onion to the point
where we can turn it right down, right?
And that's the key. With big flavour and vegetables,
it is all about intensification and concentrating natural flavours.
'After about 15 minutes,
'when the onions have softened and intensified,
'add some balsamic vinegar and turn the heat back up to full whack.'
Then, I'm going to add the kind of hero of this dish, really,
because the powerhouse of this dish and the kind of iconic colour,
is the black beans.
'Pour two tins, with the juice, into the pan.
'Half fill both tins with water, swish round and add.'
They're really high in fibre.
They've got loads of lovely minerals,
and they're really, really good for you.
'Get your veggies out of the oven,
'and then add them straight to the pan.'
If I just put a little swig of water in there,
that is all caramelisation and sweetness.
That's all the juice of the peppers. That's almost like gravy.
One more ingredient before we let that simmer -- okra.
What I love about it is, if you finely slice it,
it's kind of like a natural thickening agent.
So, you can put it in stews and soups and stuff,
and it just makes it absolutely gorgeous.
'Add 100g of okra to the stew.
'Turn down the heat and simmer for 15 to 20 minutes.'
OK, time to make an amazing, colourful salsa.
Salsas are just dreamy when it comes to contrast.
'Finely chop a quarter of the onion, and your coriander.
'Then de-seed and finely chop two tomatoes.
'De-seed and chop one chilli and add the zest and juice of one lime.
'Then season to perfection.
'This spicy, citrus salsa works so well with the smoky stew.'
Look at that! An absolute picture.
Time to serve up. The best bit!
'Serve with some brown rice, a dollop of good yoghurt,
'and a sprinkle of coriander.'
And then, of course, our lovely salsa.
Gorgeous!
'There you go -- an absolute super food classic,
'and rocking in at only 532 calories. Beautiful!'
Let's try it.
Oh, that's delicious.
Investing that time in the vegetables just makes them sing.
You've got to give that a try.
'So, there you have it. Sumptuous muffins for breakfast,
'creamy carbonara for lunch
'and a hearty, black bean stew for dinner, with all the trimmings.
'A day's worth of delicious, nutritious meals,
'and all for under 1,600 calories per person.
'But you know what? It's not about the calories.
'It's about filling your bodies with the good stuff.
'That's super food.
'Next time, an extraordinary Japanese hero ingredient
'inspires a hearty, wholesome and nourishing lunch...'
It's definitely a super, super broth.
'.. and the tropical jungles of Costa Rica
'bring a fresh and fruity spin to a colourful dinner dish,
'perfect for sharing with friends and family.'
Really delicious flavour.