Don’t let your happiness depend on anyone, self-love is a must!

Self-love and self-care are not the same as being selfish. We need to love ourselves first in order to flow over to others - it’s like the saying: ‘you can’t pour from an empty cup!’

But what if you don’t like what you see in the mirror, or have something that you are highly insecure about? Perhaps it’s something you got mocked and teased at about at school.

In this week’s Mindful Living with Izelle Hoffman, we meet Dr Melinda Burger to talk about some solutions from her perspective as an Aesthetics doctor. 

“I think the best part of what I do is to see how I change people on the inside by doing what I do on the outside,” says the Pretoria-based doctor on the podcast.

ALSO LISTEN TO: Health food guru meets junk food lover

In the podcast, Dr Melinda reveals her favourite recipe from Izelle's book Mindful Living. We've got it below.

Almond blueberry crumble

Prep time: 10 minutes
Baking time: 30 minutes
Serving: 1 large crumble 6-8

Filling

400g fresh or defrosted frozen blueberries
¼ tsp Oryx desert salt
1 tsp caramel essence

Crumble

120 g almond flour, plus 1 Tbsp extra for dusting
50 g flaked almonds
50 g pitted dates, chopped
1 tsp ground cinnamon
½ tsp Oryx desert salt
100 g almond butter, melted
2 Tbsp raw honey, plus extra for drizzling
1 tsp vanilla essence

1.      Preheat the oven to 180 °C. Spray a 23cm ovenproof dish with non-stick cooking spray and dust with 1 Tbsp almond flour.

2.      In a large mixing bowl, combine all of the filling ingredients. Transfer to the prepared dish, spread out evenly and press down gently.

3.      Place all of the crumble ingredients in another mixing bowl and, using your fingertips, blend until the mixture has a large crumb-like texture.

4.      Spread the crumble evenly over the blueberries and bake for 20–25 minutes. Remove from the oven, drizzle over some honey and bake for another 5–10 minutes.

5.      Serve warm or cool.

For a Peachy Twist!

Add some freshly cut dessert peach slices to the blueberries before covering with crumble for a Peach and Blueberry alternative! (use 1 large or 2 small peaches) 

Why do we make use of these ingredients:

Cinnamon

Cinnamon is loaded with antioxidants, lowers blood sugar levels and has a powerful anti-diabetic effect. It is anti-inflammatory, antiviral, antifungal and antibacterial.

Blueberries

Blueberries are one of the best antioxidant foods, second only to baobab powder. I always have frozen blueberries in the freezer and baobab powder in the pantry to bake blueberry crumble or make a nutritious breakfast smoothie.

Almonds

Whether in the form of milk, flour, butter or flakes, almonds are packed with nutritional benefits. They boost the immune system, help repair damaged skin, help prevent cancer, reduce the risk of osteoporosis and have alkalising properties. They are also a source of vitamin E, magnesium and high-quality protein. 

Dates

Dates are rich in selenium, manganese, copper and magnesium, all of which are required to keep bones healthy and prevent conditions such as osteoporosis. 

Oryx Desert Salt

What is the purpose of adding salt during cooking? It’s to enhance flavour, right? So why not start by using a good-quality salt to do the job? Sundried and unrefined with no additives will bring out the best in your food in the healthiest way possible.

Raw Honey

Salt needs sweet and vice versa to enhance taste and flavour. So when you add sweetness, choose a sweetness that has a healing effect on your body and health. Raw honey is antiviral and antifungal, and contains powerful antioxidants. Its helps ward off allergies, stabilise blood pressure and balance blood sugar levels. It also boosts the immune system and promotes digestive health.

Find more episodes from Mindful Living with Izelle Hoffman in the channel below.

More about Izelle:

Lifestyle chef and cookbook author Izelle Hoffman is a rising star in South Africa's culinary firmament. Raised in a farming environment that placed great importance on good food, she’s convinced that eating correctly adds significantly to a life of overall wellness.

Izelle is well known to local television audiences as the lifestyle chef on a number of programs and she has also been food editor on a range of fitness magazines. She is author of Mindful Eating.

Follow Izelle on social media:

@IzelleHoffman on Instagram
Izelle Hoffman Lifestyle Chef on Facebook