Tag: yeast free

Eat your greens – they really are so good for you!

Remember growing up and being told to eat your greens? That they would make you grow big and strong? Well, it’s true! In fact, there’s been some research that shows that cruciferous vegetables contain unique sulphur containing compounds that convert to isothiocyanates (thankfully shortened to ITC!!), phytochemicals that have immune boosting, anti-cancer effects.

Cruciferous vegetables, so called because their flowers have 4 equally spaced petals that form a cross shape, include kale, cabbage, collard or spring greens, cauliflower, brussel sprouts, turnips, broccoli and watercress. The sulphur containing compounds are kept in the cell walls – this is what gives these veg a slightly pungent, bitter flavour. Clever scientists have discovered a complex chemical process which is triggered when these veg are chopped or chewed; the sulphurous compounds are released and mix with an enzyme forming the wonderfully dynamic ITCs.

So what do ITC’s do? Apparently there are 120, all different with different actions; combined together they have been found to be anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, immune boosting and anti-cancer, removing carcinogens and killing cancer cells. Broccoli, for example, can stop cancerous changes that occur within the cell, protecting it from DNA damage. Cruciferous veg fuels the bodies natural protective processes, turning on its internal defences. One study found that a 20% increase in green veg lead to a 40% decrease in cancer rates* – pretty good stuff!

Apart from fighting against cancer, these veg stimulate the immune system to help protect against viruses and bacterial infections, helps the cells to process toxins and waste, help prevent heart disease and generally reduces the general effects of ageing. No wonder we are told they are good for us!!
The enzyme that’s required to form ITCs is destroyed by heat, but ITCs themselves are not, so cruciferous vegetables are best chopped and blended first and either eaten raw (in a juice for example) or added chopped or pureed into stews, soups etc. Alternatively, veg like cabbage or broccoli  can be lightly steamed to keep as many goodies active as possible.

Of course, the veg also contain an array of other nutrients such as vitamin B, C, magnesium, iron, calcium, fibre – the list goes on! So they really are an amazing powerhouse of goodness. All these goodies aid the body to detox and heal, so great for overcoming food intolerances and allergies as well as other chronic diseases. When I was in India I had massive cravings for green vegetables, and even stir fried cauliflower leaves to satisfy them. Eating a minimum of 2 portions of cruciferous veg a day is recommended which is pretty easy if you have access to a wide variety of produce, not so easy if it means eating cabbage every day!! Mind you, there are lots of ways to eat cabbage….. And in the days things that shouldn’t be eaten, isn’t it great to have something we can eat more of!

A bag of Swiss Chard turned up in my veg box last week, one type of cruciferous veg. Chard has a deep, earthy flavour and works well with garlic, tomato and lemon. So I threw together this dish and it tasted rather wonderful – a hearty, warming weekday supper.

Swiss Chard and white bean stew(ish)
300g (or so) swiss chard, wash and roughly chopped
1 onion sliced
1 tablespoon olive oil or veg stock
2-3 cloves garlic chopped
1 tomato sliced
1 400g tin cannelloni or flageolet beans rinsed and drained
lemon juice
salt and pepper
Heat the oil or veg stock (if you’re wanting a fat free dish) in a pan and fry the onion on a low heat until it’s soft. Add the garlic for a minute, stirring so it doesn’t burn. Throw in the swiss chard, adding a little more veg stock if necessary, and cook for a few minutes until it starts to soften. Add the tomato and then the beans, and cook for a couple more minutes. Turn off the heat, add lemon juice and seasoning to taste and serve with mash or warm bread (or toasted flat bread if you’re yeast intolerant). Simple, healthy and delicious, all in one!!

* Michaud, D et al (1999). Fruit and vegetable intake and incidence of bladder cancer in a male prospective cohort. J Nat. Cancer Institute 91(7).

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Sunday vegetable bake

We do love a good, hearty Sunday meal in our house. Eating a plant based whole food diet, it’s sometimes hard to find a dish that will satisfy everyone Sunday lunch desires, without having to cook three separate meals.. This wasn’t so much of a problem out in India;  putting together a roast dinner was a real challenge – the hot weather, lack of something suitable to roast and a rubbish oven was just all too much!. And once we started to (over) indulge in long lazy Sunday brunches laid on at Bangalore’s lovely hotels, it became a non-issue.

But now we’re back in the UK, the challenge returns. It is possible to buy roast meat replacements, but these do tend to look quite unappetising and have a long list of processed ingredients – not suitable for a wholefood diet at all. Quorn products tend to be a bit better, but it’s fermented, which is no good for someone with an allergy to yeast! In fact, it was eating more Quorn products when my daughter became a vegetarian a few years ago that finally tipped my body into mega-migraine mode and prompted my journey into finding out what was going on. So really, I should be thanking Quorn!

As the weather has been so cold and wintry, I wanted a Sunday lunch that was warming and cosy, as well as tasty and pleasing to everyone in the family. There was one spice that was needed – my new favourite, smoked paprika.

I’d not cooked with smoked paprika until we returned from India last month. It seems to have become popular in recipes recently – or maybe I’ve just noticed it more. No chance of finding it in Bangalore though so it’s new to me. I’ve experimented with this spice in soups and stews, and it’s a corker!  Smoked paprika generally comes from Spain. Pimento peppers are smoked over oak then ground into a powder. This gives the paprika a deeper, more complex flavour. It’s great for replacing the smokey flavour of bacon in vegetarian dishes.

Proper smoked paprika has three levels of ‘heat”; dulce which is sweet and mild, agricdulce which is bittersweet and medium hot, and picante which is hot. My Tesco version didn’t give any indication and claims to be sourced from more than one country, so guess it’s  probably dulce, sweet and mild, but still has a deep rich, red colour.

The smoked paprika in this bake makes it beautifully rich and warming, a perfect dairy free, wheat free, almost every allergen free Sunday lunch. In case you wonder why there’s broccoli stem in the ingredients, I served it with broccoli and I hate throwing away the stems, so bunged them in the bake.

Sunday vegetable bake
1 onion, chopped
1 leek, washed and chopped
splash of olive oil
1 – 2 cloves garlic, diced
3 carrots, chopped
1 broccoli stem, chopped (optional)
4 big mushrooms chopped
400g tin of chopped tomatoes
400g tin of mixed beans, rinsed well
thyme
smoked paprika
4 large potatoes
salt and pepper
First, scrub the potatoes and par boil them so they are soft enough to slice but not so soft they fall apart. Leave to cool whilst you prepare the rest of the dish. I used a Le Creuset casserole dish (one of my favourite things!!) that goes on the hob and in the oven – if you don’t have something similar, then you’ll need to start in a saucepan and transfer to an oven proof dish (more washing up!!).
Pre-heat the oven to 180oC. Heat the oil and fry the onion and leek until soft. Add the carrots and broccoli stem. Cook for a couple of minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the thyme and mushrooms. Mix well, pop on the lid and simmer for 10 minutes or so until everything is soft. Add the tomatoes, beans, smoked paprika, salt and pepper and simmer for a few minutes.Meanwhile, cut the cooled potatoes into thin slices.
Transfer the mix into an oven proof dish if needed. Season with salt and pepper, then layer the slices of potatoes over the top until its all covered. I dotted the top of the potato with some dairy free spread to help brown the top. Place in the over and bake for 25-30 minutes until the top is golden brown and the bake bubbling underneath. Leave to cool for a couple of minutes, then serve with broccoli or any green veg of choice and feel your self being hugged warm by the rich, yummy flavours!

The sensitive foodie1 Comment

New Year eating

The more I learn about food and it’s affect on the body, the more I realise just how much we take ourselves and our health for granted. Our bodies are finely tuned machines, wonderful at adapting to different situations and assaults, developing incredible coping strategies and processes so complex it’s too mind boggling to comprehend. The appropriate fuel is needed to ensure this continues – the right vitamins, minerals, micro nutrients as well as a good dollop of carbohydrates, and moderate amount of protein and fat. It shouldn’t be too complicated.

To many, a car is an essential item. It needs to be looked after though, so it gets checks at the garage, cleaned, the oil and water gets topped up the right levels and of course we put in the right fuel – diesel in a petrol engine spells disaster and the engine just conks out. Looking at it this way, we care for our cars better than our own bodies. Why is that? Maybe we don’t make a direct financial investment in our bodies or we just take our bodies for granted, then when it goes wrong find ways to patch it up until eventually it conks out. Or maybe we just don’t really know what we should eat, or have been fed the wrong information. Or maybe, we just care for our cars more than we care for ourselves.

Traditionally at this time of year, thoughts turn to the new year and our aspirations for the future. New year, new you. Losing weight or being more healthy usually heads up the top 10 new year resolutions along with quitting smoking and doing more exercise. But as nearly 80% of new years resolutions fail to be achieved, are they really worth making? Personally, I think they are, but maybe not to start on 1st January. That has to be the worse day to start anything positive, as most people are feeling pretty rubbish from the night before, be it from lack of sleep or too much alcohol – or both!

To make a positive change, there needs to be a specific aim or reason, a real desire to achieve something. For me, my aim is to get rid of my food sensitivities and to feel well again – a short term and (so it seems) very long term project! People ask me how can I live without cheese, or wine. I’m no health food saint, but I honestly feel so much better without dairy or yeast, it’s not really a hardship any more. Making changes depends on your perspective – I gain, not lose (although I would really love to eat bread and drink wine again!!). Making a positive change in your life can be hard but also so good.

Eating a plant-based wholefood diet is one the best treats you can give your body and your health – a real new year spring clean. If you want to give it a go, try the PCRM’s vegan kickstart programme http://www.pcrm.org/health/diets/kickstart/kickstart-programs. They have food plans for Western and Indian tastes, and it’s pretty easy to follow. If you are a big meat and dairy lover, I would suggest you break yourself in gently – spend January reducing your meat and processed food intake and trying some of the menu ideas. Then try the kickstart in February when you’re ready for it and see what happens! Be prepared for lots of energy and feeling pretty good!

So don’t make a New Years resolution to go on a diet. Make a promise to be kind to yourself and make a positive change, to be in charge of what fuel you put in yourself not be a slave to an addiction to sugar, or fat. Have a tangible goal and above all respect yourself and your environment. And have a wonderful foodie New Year!

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Planning Christmas dinner

Since my last post at the beginning of the month, I’ve moved continents!. The weather outside the window has changed from blue skies and 28 degrees to grey, cold and raining. Oh yes, I’m back in England! But to make up for the weather, it is Christmas time, and for the first time in 3 years it actually feels festive, with decorations in every home, the shops bulging with gifts and seasonal food and Christmas songs constantly played on the radio.

Now the jet lag has worn off, the present shopping is complete and we have an idea of where we are going to live, my attention is turning to food, particularly Christmas Day. Being dairy and yeast intolerant is hard at this time of year – all the mince pies are made with butter pastry, Christmas cake includes dairy and the brandy butter that melts so enticingly on top of the steaming Christmas pud is a non-starter! Then there’s bread sauce and stuffing which I love, but certainly don’t love me! This year I’ve made it even more complicated by eradicating meat from my diet too, so no traditional turkey either.

All is not lost, however. There’s still the roasted parsnips, potatoes and other veg. And being back in the UK, alternatives are more easily available in the shops. This though, is a bit of dilemma. Meat alternatives can be a bit gross to be honest, and tend to be full of a long list of fake ingredients and chemicals that don’t sit well in a wholefood diet. So it’s a nut roast for me, filled with brazil nuts and hazelnuts for a festive flavour which won’t over power all the delicious veg on offer.

By the way, brazil nuts are packed with nutrition. Unfortunately for some, they are also the second most common for nut allergies after peanuts. But if you’re safe to eat them, they are fabulous for health, eaten in moderation of course. Whilst fairly high in fat, they are monounsaturated, so help deal with ‘bad’ cholesterol. They also have good levels of vitamin E, vitamin B’s and selenium, a mineral that acts as a powerful anti oxidant. There’s also a mix of other minerals such as manganese, potassium, calcium, iron and zinc, all wonderful for your health and your skin.

This nut roast recipe is easy and tasty. It does use bread crumbs – in the past I have either used Orgran rice crumbs or whizzed up a tortilla wrap which works but gives a different texture. This year I am going to experiment with using quinoa instead. Using this and chickpea flour instead of wheat flour, this can become a gluten free recipe too. Now what sauce to put with it………

Normal nut roast
1 onion finely chopped
1 tbspoon vegetable oil
2 tomatoes skinned and chopped
30g flour (wheat, corn or chickpea)
140mls water
1 tbspoon soy sauce/tamari
230g nuts (brazil and hazelnut in mine) finely chopped or ground
85g breadcrumbs or bread alternative
1 tsp mixed herbs
Heat the oil in a pan and saute the onion until it’s tender. Add the chopped tomatoes, lower the heat and cook for 5 minutes or so until pulpy. Stir in the flour, add the water slowly whilst stirring constantly to prevent lumps forming. Once it’s all mixed in, turn off the heat. Add all the other ingredients, mixing together thoroughly and place in a lightly greased bread tin. Bake at 180o C for 45 minutes or so until it’s firm and crusty on top. Leaving to cool slightly in the tin, then turn out on to a plate and enjoy with all the Christmas trimmings and a glass of something bubbly!

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Up for a challenge?

Over the last few years I have been changing my diet to try to solve my dairy and yeast intolerance, but both have persisted. Mind you, the more I find out about milk and dairy products, the less I want it anyway, but that’s another post. Since August, I have been mainly eating a plant-based whole food diet in order to heal my gut, as I really want to be able to eat bread and drink wine again at some point in the future!

This has involved a change to the way I eat, but I have to say I feel great. Apart from clearer skin and less bloating, the chronic itching that I’ve suffered from for years has disappeared, which is amazing – and a relief!!! Certainly an unexpected bonus. I’ve managed a glass (actually it was 3!!) of wine one night with limited after effects but as yet haven’t been brave enough to try bread, even though I am longing for a thick chunky slice of a rustic seedy loaf. The last time I ate a roll, I had a migraine for three days afterwards, so it’s a risky business.

China Study

It’s not been too difficult changing to a plant based wholefood diet – it just needs some planning and the right frame of mind. It’s not what you’re missing out on, but what you’re gaining – a whole new way of eating that makes you feel great. The research is out there that people who eat this way have lower rates of heart disease, hypertension (high blood pressure), diabetes, obesity, arthritis, cancer, asthma, stomach problems, skin problems, joint pains and psychological problems. I’ve just finished reading The China Study by Colin Campbell, an eminent scientist in the US; it’s packed full of research which shows that the western diet is responsible for so many chronic diseases which blight the lives of millions of people. It also shows how food can not only prevent these diseases from developing, but can also reverse the process and lead people back to good health – something nigh on unheard of when managed through orthodox treatments. I mean, once a diabetic, always, right?

Dr Neal Barnard, an American doctor has established a reversing diabetes programme. This same programme works for other chronic health problems, either to treat, or prevent. For those in India, there is a free 21 day kickstart programme starting on Monday 5th November. So if you’re up for the challenge and fancy seeing how your health can be changed purely eating a different way, check out this link and register – remember it’s free!!! http://www.21daykickstartindia.org. There are some cooking videos featuring Dr Nandita Shah. The cooking demo I wrote about recently was run by her and I was lucky enough to have dinner cooked by her a few weeks ago – it was delicious!!!
There is a non-Indian food programme you can follow too which would be easier if you’re living outside the country or prefer western style food – http://pcrm.org/kickstartHome/index.cfm.
Go on, give it a try – what have you got to lose?

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