Our cleansing green barley before harvest.

Best in store

Few of us feel happy throwing food away: it wastes not only the food itself but also the water needed to grow it. Producing our uneaten food accounts for over five per cent of our UK water supply and, in the case of imported food, huge quantities in countries where water is increasingly scarce.

According to the government-funded Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP), UK households throw away 8.3 million tonnes of food every year, most of which is perfectly edible.

Buying and storing food in a conscious and careful way can really help to minimise food and water waste. Here are some of our favourite food-preserving stratagems;

- Actively manage your fridge and food cupboards; stick lists of contents and expiry dates on the doors to help you remember to use up food in time.
- Make meal plans before you go shopping. The best, most reliable way of saving money and reducing waste.
- Buy smaller quantities of whole grains; the germ can become rancid more quickly than that of refined grains.
- Avoid washing vegetables before storing them, as wet veg is more vulnerable to bacteria.
- Cut off the leafy tops of root vegetables to keep roots robust for up to two weeks.
- Transfer mushrooms and sweet peppers to a paper bag or kitchen towel (they dislike plastic bags).
- Keep spices and dried fruit in air tight containers in a dark cupboard. The fridge is too moist for them.

We think very carefully about storage for Green Bay products and package them to retain quality.

WRAPs campaign Love Food Hate Waste provides helpful information on reducing food waste. www.lovefoodhatewaste.com

High fives for low sugar!

In the UK we currently spend around 1.8bn annually on breakfast cereal: 95 percent of British households buy them and we consume more of them than other Europeans. (In our experience, a teenage boy can eat about a packet a day. At one sitting.)

Recent reports have shown that some of the more sugary cereals – usually those aimed specifically at children – may contain more than four teaspoons of sugar per serving. However, new research from Yale's Rudd Centre for Food Policy and Obesity indicates that children don't necessarily crave these high-sugar options.

In a study of 91 children aged five to 12, those offered a range of low-sugar cereals ate and enjoyed them. They also added more fresh fruit to their breakfast bowl than children in the study who were offered a choice of high-sugar cereals.

Even when offered extra sugar to spoon onto their cereal, the children in the low- sugar cereal group ate an average of 0.7 teaspoons of sugar, compared with 5.7 teaspoons eaten by the high-sugar cereal group.

Interestingly, children in the high-sugar category ate considerably more breakfast than those in the low-sugar group, suggesting perhaps that fresh fruit provided a more satisfying meal.

Nuts and seeds added to porridge, with a teaspoon of Green Bay honey, is our favourite start to the day.

Find out more

• You can add our Honeys to foods for some naturally healthy sweetness!
• Green Bay's Flax Fibre is a great aid to digestion.

Alliums for joint relief

Eating plenty of alliums (garlic, onions and leeks) may help prevent arthritis, according to a recent study from Kings College, London. People whose diets are high in alliums and non-citrus fruits appear to have a significantly lower incidence of hip osteoarthritis.

The study established that a compound contained in garlic, diallyl disulphide, inhibits enzymes that are linked to osteoarthritis, the most common joint condition found among the elderly.

This makes good common sense: alliums contain good levels of sulphur, a mineral that helps dissolve waste materials in the body and flush out toxins from joints. Happily, garlic, onions, winter leeks, spring onions and shallots are widely available most of the year. Combining alliums with foods rich in vitamin C maximises the benefits.

Garlic has also been shown in clinical trials to reduce blood pressure, increase antioxidant enzymes and keep bacteria, including salmonella and candida, at bay.

Cure with the colour purple

A ground-breaking study of the link between disease and the ‘wrong’ type of iron, carried out at Manchester University, could radically change our approach to the prevention and cure of many degenerative illnesses.

Poorly-bound iron in the body gives rise to toxins, known as hydroxyl radicals, which can cause lasting cell damage throughout the body. The brain is acutely vulnerable to poorly-bound iron as it can cross the blood-brain barrier.

Fortunately, antioxidants which bind to excess iron and contain it can protect us from its dangerous effects. Purple fruits are the best sources, with other brightly coloured vegetables and fruits, green tea and some honeys also providing valuable protection.

Honey guru Dr Peter Molan has measured the capacity of antioxidant-rich foods to bind with iron. He found that blackcurrants and honeydew were particularly effective. Dr Molan discovered that when poorly bound iron was present, the rate of oxidative damage was 25 times higher than it would have been without an excess of free iron.

Although vitamin C is the best known antioxidant, it will only work well once the free iron has been properly bound, or chelated. If added to poorly bound iron, vitamin C actually becomes a pro-oxidant.

Much of the iron in red meat is unbound and freely released into the blood.