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Dr. Rupy Aujla is the doctor and nutrition expert who has appeared on the likes of This Morning giving his food and wellness tips. Founder of The Doctor’s Kitchen, he advocates for adding more mushrooms to your diet to boost gut health and get more of the sunshine vitamin.
The doctor told Express.co.uk: “There are different ingredients that can improve your overall health and getting whole, quality ingredients like mushrooms are fantastic for that. The interesting thing about mushrooms is there’s a whole bunch of benefits that I think people don’t really realise.
“And it’s accessible. It’s one of those really novel ingredients that is actually a good source of vitamin D.”
While vitamin D is essential to health, very few foods have it, and mushroom is the only vegetable that contains it.
“Vitamin D is quite a popular subject during the winter months because we don’t get enough vitamin D due to the lack of sunlight,” Dr. Rupy said. “The government advice is to take vitamin D3 in the winter months.”
It is possible to enrich your mushrooms with vitamin D at home by leaving them on the windowsill, Dr. Rupy explained.
He said: “You can get vitamin D enriched mushrooms, which is really interesting. And a lot of people don’t really realise that.
“Some mushrooms are naturally high in vitamin D and you can further enrich them by putting them on your windowsill with the gills up.
“That actually increases the amount of vitamin D in them.”
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But vitamin D isn’t the only health benefits mushrooms offer.
Mushrooms can benefit your gut health, too. Dr. Rupy said: “One of the interesting attributes of mushrooms is that they’re actually very good for your gut health.
“This is because mushrooms contain specialised types of fibres, which enhance your gut microbes, and they also contain bioactive compounds and antioxidants that are actually very helpful for nurturing your gut and that’s not really well known.
“You just think of mushrooms as ingredients. People don’t really think of them as the mainstay of a meal.
“But there are specific beta-glucans found mushrooms that have this beneficial effect on your gut.
“We know now better gut health means better immunity, better cardiovascular and better metabolic health.
“Anything that can improve your gut health can feasibly improve your overall well-being and that’s why mushrooms deserve a bit more attention.”
The UK and Ireland Mushrooms Producers has partnered with Dr. Rupy to inspire the nation to cook new and flavourful food that highlights the versatility of mushrooms in recipes.
For inspiration on how to use tasty mushrooms in an array of meals, head to @madewithmushrooms on Instagram to see the latest creations.
Rupy’s Balsamic mushrooms on toast
Serves 2
Ingredients
- Prep time 5 minutes
- Cook time 10 minutes
- Cook’s tip: Rub the toasted bread with a garlic clove
- 2 thick slices of sourdough bread
- 3 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil, plus extra for drizzling
- 160g mixed vitamin D mushrooms and oyster mushrooms
- 2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
- 60g pine nuts
- 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
- 30g capers, drained and rinsed
- 2–3 sprigs of rosemary
- 160g trimmed cavolo nero, shredded
- sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Method
Toast the Sourdough. Drizzle the slices of bread with oil and set aside.
Add two tablespoons of oil to the pan and sauté the mushrooms for five minutes.
Add the garlic and pine nuts to the pan and fry for two minutes to colour, then add the vinegar, capers and rosemary and plenty of salt and pepper and cook for a further minute.
Finally, stir in the cavolo nero and cook for two to three minutes until tender.
Serve the sautéed mushrooms on the golden toast.
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