The Greenher Journal

Why iron tablets make you feel so awful, and what the research says to do about it.
Why iron tablets make you feel so awful, and what the research says to do about it.
If you have started iron, felt dreadful within a week and stopped, you are in large company. The reason is more interesting than most people are told. Read more...
Ask for your ferritin number.
Ask for your ferritin number.
If you have been told your iron is fine while feeling tired and flat, there is a reasonable chance nobody measured the thing that would explain it. Read more...
Iron absorption is mostly about timing.
Iron absorption is mostly about timing.
The same meal, eaten with a coffee or with a squeeze of lemon, delivers quite different amounts of iron. Here is how the timing works.   Read more...
Barley and pea pot, with whatever protein you like.
Barley and pea pot, with whatever protein you like.
Warm enough for a cold night, green enough that it does not feel like the middle of July. And one of the better iron meals you can make. Read more...
There are two fibre numbers, and most advice only gives you one.
There are two fibre numbers, and most advice only gives you one.
Most people have heard 25 grams. There is a second figure behind it, and the gap between the two is where the interesting part lives. Read more...
Find five grams of fibre.
Find five grams of fibre.
You are not trying to add twenty five grams of fibre. You are trying to add about five, and these are the cheapest ways to do it. Read more...
What 28 grams of fibre actually looks like.
What 28 grams of fibre actually looks like.
Twenty eight grams reads like a project. It is mostly ordinary meals with one or two additions. Here is what a day actually looks like. Read more...
The average adult is not you.
The average adult is not you.
The iron labelling reference is 12mg. Women aged 19 to 50 need 18mg. Here is what the average adult figure hides, and what to do about it. Read more...
What 100% on a NIP actually means, and the number that matters more.
What 100% on a NIP actually means, and the number that matters more.
An RDI is a target, not a ceiling. The number that describes a ceiling is called the Upper Level, and it sits a long way above. Read more...
Where women often fall short on nutrients.
Where women often fall short on nutrients.
The nutrients women most commonly run short on are all available in ordinary food. Here are the numbers, and what to put on the plate.   Read more...
How to read an ingredient list, starting with the first three.
How to read an ingredient list, starting with the first three.
Ingredients are listed by weight, heaviest first. So the first three tell you what a product mostly is. Here is what to look for, including every name sugar hides under. Read more...
Three things worth making yourself.
Three things worth making yourself.
A jar of dressing can run to twenty ingredients. Yours is five and takes thirty seconds. Three things where homemade beats the shop version. Read more...