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When you purchase an immediate annuity, you’re paying a lump sum now in exchange for a stream of payments over a fixed period or for your lifetime

Understanding your gut can be confusing, particularly when it comes to what to eat and which ingredients can support and improve digestive health. To help, Love Your Gut Week (18-24 September) has partnered with author and writer Dr Joan Ransley to share six new simple recipes that both you and your gut will love. Each dish is based on gut-healthy combinations of foods to showcase how easy and delicious it can be to cook to support digestive health. c. From a vibrant breakfast smoothie bowl, to tasty sardines and cherry tomatoes on toast, comforting smokey beans, a fresh pea and prawn stir-fry, herby meatless meatballs and a zingy Mexican chicken and black bean chilli, there’s a dish for everyone to enjoy this Love Your Gut Week and beyond. Breakfast smoothie bowl This smoothie bowl makes a great nutritious breakfast to help kick start the day. Thanks to the oats, muesli, fruit, nuts and seeds, this dish contains dietary fibre, which helps the passage of food through the gut and feeds healthy bacteria. Government guidelines recommend that adults in the UK should consume 30g of fibre per day, but most only manage about 20g. This recipe also provides plenty of plant points, as well as calcium, protein, vitamins and minerals, and a range of polyphenols – to help support the good bacteria in the gut. Prep time: 5-10 minutes | Cooking time: NA Serves: 4 Ingredients: 250g live, plain, dairy yoghurt or plain, vegan yoghurt 2 ripe, medium sized, peeled bananas 30g rolled oats 120g frozen mixed berries, defrosted 80g muesli (no-added-sugar) 20g mixed seeds ie, sunflower, pumpkin, poppy, linseed 30g walnuts, chopped 150g fresh seasonal fruit such as blueberries, raspberries, kiwi, blackberries, strawberries Method: Place the yoghurt, bananas, oats and defrosted berries into a blender and blitz until smooth. You may have to do this in batches. Pour the smoothie mixture into the base of four bowls. Scatter the seeds of your choice into a small pan and heat gently until they are just beginning to brown. Remove the pan from the heat and allow to cool slightly. Sprinkle the muesli between the four bowls, followed by the toasted seeds and walnuts. Finish it off by arranging an assortment of fresh seasonal fruit around the top of the bowls. Cooking tip: If the fruit is not completely defrosted it can still be added to the yoghurt and puréed, which is a nice touch during hot weather. Sardines and cherry tomatoes on toast This dish is made mainly from store cupboard ingredients and is ideal for weekday meals or as a snack. Tinned sardines are a cost-effective way of getting healthy fish oils such as omega-3 into our diet. Omega-3 fatty acids can have a positive effect on the type and abundance of gut microbes and could also play a key role in the gut immune system. The wholegrain toast provides a source of insoluble fibre, which can help decrease your chance of constipation dietary fibre, which can help decrease your chance of constipation. Due to the vibrant colours in the tomatoes and watercress, you will also get a wealth of polyphenols, which promotes the health of the gut. Polyphenols can act as antioxidants in the body, to neutralise harmful free radicals that can cause disease. When polyphenols which promotes good health in the gut. Prep time: 10 minutes | Cooking time: 15 minutes Serves: 4 Ingredients: 4 slices of toasted wholegrain bread 1 clove garlic, peeled 2 tins sardines in oil 150g cherry tomatoes, cut in half 85g watercress 1 lemon, cut in half 4 dessertspoons kimchi or sauerkraut 20g fresh parsley, chopped Method: Rub each piece of toast with the garlic and place on a plate. Remove the sardines from the tin reserving the oil. Cut each sardine in half lengthways along the side where it has been gutted. Divide the sardines between the four pieces of toast. In a small bowl, mix the oil reserved from the sardines with the tomatoes and the watercress. Squeeze a little of the lemon over the tomatoes and watercress and mix well. Scatter the tomatoes and watercress around the sardines on toast and add a serving of kimchi or sauerkraut on the side. Finish with a sprinkle of chopped parsley. Cooking tip: Store any leftover sardines in an airtight container. Left over sardines can be mashed with a little olive oil and lemon juice and used as a sandwich filling. Smokey beans topped with feta cheese and coriander Step aside beans on toast, this wholesome and warming smokey beans dish is packed full of different beans and tasty veggies to add depth and texture, helping to keep the gut happy. The beans are a good source of fibre and a complex carbohydrate, meaning it is digested slowly by the gut. The combination of herbs and spices also increases the diversity of plants in the dish and adds additional micronutrients. Prep time: 10 minutes | Cooking time: 25 minutes Serves: 4 Ingredients: 1 tbsp olive oil 1 medium onion, sliced 2 sticks of celery, diced 2 red peppers, seeds removed and roughly chopped 2 cloves of garlic, peeled and chopped 2 tsp smoked paprika 1 tsp ground cumin 2 x 400g tins of mixed beans, drained 400g can chopped tomatoes 150g feta cheese, crumbled Small bunch coriander, leaves and stalks chopped (or fresh parsley) Method: Warm the olive oil in a large pan and add the onion, celery, red peppers, garlic, smoked paprika and cumin. Cook for a few minutes until the vegetables are soft but not coloured. Add the beans and chopped tomatoes to the vegetables. Fill one of the empty cans with water and add it to the pan. Add half of the chopped coriander. Stir well and bring the pan to the boil. Turn the heat down to a simmer and cook for 20 minutes until the tomato sauce is rich and thick. Add a splash of water if the sauce for the beans gets too dry. Divide the beans between four plates and scatter with crumbled feta cheese and chopped coriander. Serve with baked sweet potato wedges or wholemeal brown rice. Cooking tip: Both the tender stalks and leaves of coriander can be chopped up and used in recipes. If you don’t like coriander, you can use fresh parsley instead. Pea and prawn stir-fry with ginger and coconut This tasty, one pot meal is a real crowd pleaser that screams gourmet but is super simple to make. It’s also great for the gut. The peas and sugar snap peas provide soluble dietary fibre. This means that it is a prebiotic, which acts as food for healthy gut bacteria to feed on. Soluble fibre dissolves in water and can help the passage of food through the gut and soften stools. It also contains ginger, which has been shown to help relieve gastrointestinal discomforts in clinical studies. The colourful vegetables also contain polyphenols, which are known to increase the diversity of bacteria in the gut. Prep time: 10 minutes | Cooking time: 20 minutes Ingredients: 6 spring onions 2 cloves of garlic, peeled and chopped 1-2 fresh red chillies, seeds removed and chopped ½ stalk of lemongrass (optional) 20g piece of fresh ginger, peeled and finely chopped 1 orange pepper, cut into strips 1-2 tsp olive oil 340g frozen king prawns, defrosted 150g sugar snap peas 100g frozen peas, defrosted 80ml coconut cream 100ml vegetable stock 2 limes. Juice and zest one. Cut the other into 4 wedges 30g coriander, leaves and stalks roughly chopped 1 tsp Thai fish sauce 4 nests of wholewheat noodles Method: Trim the spring onions and cut into 2cm lengths. Discard the outer layer of the lemongrass (if using) and finely chop the bottom part of the stem. Drizzle a little oil into a large frying pan or wok and cook the spring onions, garlic, chilli, ginger, lemongrass, and pepper strips over a medium heat until soft but not coloured. Add the prawns, sugar snap peas, peas, coconut cream and vegetable stock to the pan. Add the lime zest and add half of the chopped coriander. Bring the pan to a simmer. Cook gently for 5 minutes or until the prawns are cooked (they will turn pink) and the vegetables are tender. Just before serving add a splash of Thai fish sauce, a squeeze of lime juice to taste. While the vegetables and prawns are cooking, place 4 nests of wholewheat noodles in a separate bowl and cover with boiling water. Drain the noodles after 4 minutes and place a few noodles in the bottom of four warm serving bowls. Serve the prawns and vegetables with the noodles and a scattering of chopped coriander and lime wedges. Cooking tip: Other vegetables can be used in this dish instead of peas, such as baby sweetcorn, fine beans, or broccoli, which all have dietary fibre. Meatless meatballs with a herb flavoured tomato sauce Looking to cut down on red meat? These meat-free meatballs are the perfect substitute. Infused with spices and herbs, this dish is packed full of flavour and high in resistant starch and dietary fibre – all of which contribute towards a healthy gut. Resistant starch is important in the diet because it resists digestion, passing directly through the small intestine to the colon. It is then fermented by “good bugs” to butyrate which plays a key role in reducing inflammation, increasing calcium absorption, and maintaining the health of the gut lining. Prep time: 10 minutes | Cooking time: 30 minutes Serves: 4-6 (makes 20 “meat” balls) Ingredients: 1 tbsp olive oil 1 medium onion, chopped 2 cloves garlic, peeled and roughly chopped 1 x 400g tin chickpeas 1 x 400g tin red kidney beans 1 tsp ground cumin 1 tbsp wholemeal four 1 medium egg Pinch of black pepper Zest from 1 lemon 3 tbsp chopped coriander both leaves and stalks 1 tbsp chopped parsley 50g fine breadcrumbs e.g. panko Rapeseed oil for shallow frying For the tomato sauce: 1 tbsp olive oil 2 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped 2 x 400g tin chopped tomatoes ½ tsp dried oregano 2 bay leaves Method: Warm the olive oil in a small frying pan, add the chopped onion and cook for 5 minutes until soft but not coloured. Set aside and allow to cool. Meanwhile, place the chopped garlic in a food processor with the drained chickpeas, kidney beans, cumin, wholemeal flour, and egg. Pulse the bean mix so there are still a few visible lumps of beans and chickpeas. Transfer to a bowl and season with pepper. Add the fried onion, lemon zest, chopped coriander and parsley to the bean mix. Keep a little coriander back for garnish. Place the fine breadcrumbs onto a plate. Take a tablespoon of the bean mix (about 30g), shape into a ball, roll in the breadcrumbs and place on a sheet of baking parchment paper. Continue rolling the balls until you have used up all the mixture. Place the balls in the fridge while you make the tomato sauce. Preheat the oven to 200C/400F/gas mark 6 and place a shallow oven proof dish in the oven to warm. Warm the olive oil in a small saucepan and add the chopped garlic and cook gently for 5 minutes. Add the chopped tomatoes bay leaf, and dried oregano to the saucepan and heat until they just begin to simmer. Continue to simmer the tomato sauce while shallow frying the meatless “meat” balls. Remove the ‘meat’ balls from the fridge and shallow fry in oil for about eight minutes, or until the breadcrumbs are golden, draining the balls on kitchen paper after frying. You may have to do this in batches and place the balls in the dish warming in the oven. Pour the tomato sauce over the ‘meatballs’ and serve with brown rice and a scattering of parsley and coriander. Cooking tips: For a gluten free option, use gluten free bread to make the breadcrumbs by cutting it into small cubes and adding it to a food processor until fine. Spread the crumbs on a parchment lined baking sheet and bake for 20 minutes at 200°C until golden. Once the breadcrumbs have cooled, add seasonings of choice. For a vegan version, leave the egg out of the recipe and replace the flour with chickpea (gram) flour to help to bind the bean mixture together more firmly. This version of the recipe will be slightly crumblier than the original one, but the meatballs will hold together and taste great. Mexican chicken and black bean chilli Make it a Mexican night without the worry of gut troubles. This recipe contains more than 10 different plant foods and is high in dietary fibre thanks to the black beans. The dish also contains two types of onions. Onions are a major source of inulin, a naturally occurring prebiotic. Inulin travels through the gut and is fermented by the colon helping healthy gut bacteria to thrive, keeping the immune system functioning efficiently and the cells lining the gut healthy. Prep time: 15 minutes | Cooking time: 30 minutes Serves: 4 Ingredients: 1 tbsp olive oil 1 medium onion, peeled and thinly sliced 2 cloves of garlic, peeled and chopped 30g bunch of fresh coriander, stalks and leaves chopped separately 1 tsp ground cumin ½ tsp ground coriander 1 pinch of dried chilli flakes 2 skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1cm strips 1 x 400g tins of chopped tomatoes 1 x 400 g tin of black beans, drained For the tomato salsa: 4 ripe tomatoes, roughly chopped 1 green chilli, seeds removed and chopped 3 spring onions, trimmed Juice of 1 lime 1 tbsp olive oil To serve: 4 wholemeal flour tortillas 1 little gem lettuce, leaves pulled apart and torn 100g low fat Greek style yoghurt Method: Warm the olive oil in a large pan and add the sliced onions and chopped garlic. Cook gently for 5 minutes until soft. Sprinkle the chopped coriander stalks, ground cumin, coriander and chilli flakes into the pan and add the chicken strips, turning them in the hot oil. Add the chopped tomatoes and bring to the pan to the boil. Reduce the heat and simmer the chicken, partly covered, for 20 minutes. Finally, add the drained black beans and cook for another five minutes. The chicken and bean mixture should be quite thick. Mix the chopped tomatoes, green chilli and spring onions and place in a small bowl. Add the chopped coriander leaves, a squeeze of lime juice (to taste) and a drizzle of olive oil Warm each tortilla in a hot frying pan or griddle until the outside begins to char. Place the chicken and bean mix, torn lettuce leaves, a dollop of Greek yoghurt and a tablespoonful of salsa on the tortilla and fold in half. Cooking tip: To make a vegetarian version of this dish, omit the chicken and serve the beans with grated cheddar cheese, salsa, and yoghurt. Read More Leave Rick Stein alone – it’s totally reasonable to charge £2 for mayo and ketchup London’s best new restaurants from the past 12 months The dish that defines me: Michele Pascarella’s Neapolitan ragu Seven super simple recipes for each day of National Rice Week Three healthy recipes to get back on track after summer Is bottomless prosecco going to be killed off by climate change?

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A baby’s “beautiful big blue eyes” which were complimented by everyone - turned out to be a symptom of a condition causing blindness. Louise Bice, 34, was stunned when her daughter, Aretria, was born with big blue eyes - a trait nobody else in the family had. Her “beautiful” eyes would see the tot complimented “six or seven times every day” by strangers - which Louise loved. But at six months old, in May 2023, one of Aretria’s baby blue eyes turned “milky” and any light caused the tot to scream in pain. Louise and her partner, Connor Bice, 29, a chartered accountant, thought their youngest daughter might have hit her eye with a toy. But the family were told Aretria - now 10 months old - had a severe case of bilateral congenital glaucoma, a genetic abnormality which saw extreme and growing pressure on the optic nerve. Her much-loved big eyes actually required urgent surgery. Tiny Aretria had a four-hour operation at Birmingham Children’s Hospital in June to relieve the pressure - but follow-up tests showed it had failed. She had a second surgery in August and her parents are awaiting the results - although the tot has lost almost 100 per cent of her vision in one eye already. Mum Louise wants to warn other parents to look for the symptoms - and to not assume big eyes are “beautiful” when they could be a sign of something more serious. Louise, a stay-at-home mum, from Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, said: “I never expected Ari’s big, beautiful eyes to be a bad thing. “Suddenly one day her eye clouded over - one minute it was fine and 15 minutes later it was completely changed. “Specialists had to do horrific tests on her and I learned she had already lost some vision in both eyes. “After two surgeries we still don’t know what will happen - she already has just five per cent vision left in her right eye. “She’s in so much pain and I don’t know if she can cope with another surgery. “I just think if we had managed to get this diagnosed before the pressure got out of control, she might not now be blind in one eye. “If someone had said it was weird, she had big eyes rather than cute we might have got it checked - but none of us knew it was even a red flag.” After Aretria was born on October 20, 2022, her big eyes became a source of many compliments from friends and family. Her parents even lovingly likened their little one to a cartoon bug, thinking nothing of it. Even doctors and health visitors thought they were sweet - and nobody mentioned any risks. But on May 20, Louise popped to the shop and when she returned 15 minutes later one of her daughter’s eyes was clouded. Louise said: “Connor sent me a picture that morning of the two of them together while I was out and her eyes were fine. “When I got back her right eye had clouded over. “I hadn’t even got through the door when I said ‘we need to take her to A&E right now’.” They went to their local hospital, King’s Mill, Mansfield, then were sent to Chesterfield Royal Hospital, Derbyshire, where doctors identified the high pressure but couldn’t work out why it was happening. They were then booked in to see specialists at Queen’s Medical Centre, Nottingham, two days later on May 22. Aretria’s condition was finally diagnosed - as bilateral congenital glaucoma - and even the specialists said they’d only seen a handful of cases. Medics explained the little girl needed surgery but warned even then, she’d be left with little vision in her worst eye because the damage had already been done. Louise said: “Doctors said she had been exposed to high eye pressure from birth because her fluid drainage system didn’t form properly in her eye when she was still in the womb.” A surgery was scheduled at Birmingham Children’s Hospital, West Midlands, for June 13 which saw the tot go under the knife. The four-hour procedure was followed by a month of eye drops six times a day as well as having protective eye shields taped onto her face for a week. Louise said: “We didn’t get any sleep for about a week after and hoped that would be the last of it. “But two weeks later when we went back for her post-op, the pressure readings were even higher than before. “The operation had failed - and she would need more surgery.” A second operation was done on August 18 - and it was again followed by a gruelling recovery for the tot, who couldn’t understand why any of it was happening. They’re still waiting for official results, but signs so far suggest the surgery may have been unsuccessful for a second time. Louise said if that’s the case, medics will move on to a different kind of surgery to release the pressure involving drainage tubes or valves. She fears the tot “might not cope with another surgery” - but they may not have a choice. While Aretria’s vision is virtually gone in her right eye, her left eye is compensating - although Louise and Connor fear the vision will worsen in her good eye too. Louise wants to warn parents to look out for the symptoms - even if they might not seem sinister. She said: “Before, she used to get compliments about her eyes six or seven times a day. “Now I just feel really awkward when people say it. “Aesthetically it might be, but having these big, beautiful eyes isn’t always a good thing. “If we knew that before, she might not be blind in her right eye now.” Read More GoFundMe for actor blinded in attack over Covid mask tops $15,000 He couldn’t see his wedding. But this war-blinded Ukrainian soldier cried with joy at new love A camp teaches Ukrainian soldiers who were blinded in combat to navigate the world again ‘Millions of women and girls suffer severe pain’ during periods – research finds Miriam Margolyes jokes that her ‘longing for fudge’ caused her health issues 5 things everyone needs to know about eczema

The same week his state outlawed racial discrimination based on hairstyles, a Black high school student in Texas was suspended because school officials say his dreadlocks violated the district’s dress code

The United Nations World Heritage Committee voted Sunday to list the Tell es-Sultan archaeological site in Jericho as a "World Heritage Site in Palestine."

French President Emmanuel Macron is extending an olive branch to video gamers after previously linking computer games to rioting that rocked France earlier this year

This week’s new entertainment releases include albums from Drake and Doja Cat, a reboot of Robert Rodriguez’s “Spy Kids” franchise with a film starring Gina Rodriguez and Zachary Levi and the critically-acclaimed “Sex Education,” one of Netflix’s most popular shows, returns for its fourth and final season

Watch the highlights from day two of London Fashion Week 2023 on Saturday (16 September), as Jourdan Dunn appeared on the runway during an emotional evening for Richard Quinn. The show, which was dedicated to the designer’s late father, brought Quinn to tears as he embraced his mother at the end. Elsewhere in the city, the Roksanda SS24 collection was shown on an outdoor catwalk at the Barbican Centre. Designer Roksanda Ilincic said she was inspired by 15th-century fresco paintings from the monasteries of her native Serbia.

Balmain artistic director Olivier Rousteing says robbers have made off with more than 50 pieces of the new collection that his Paris label intends to show at Fashion Week this month

People in the front-line Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk gather three times a week for a yoga session to alleviate the stress caused by the persistent shelling of Russian artillery

A woman puts on make-up at a railway station in Beijing on December, 12, 2014. Hong Kong (CNN) -- A promotional video by a state-owned railway in China that asked women to refrain from putting on makeup during train journeys has sparked a fierce backlash and a debate about sexism.