Recipe swaps for gut healing
Gut health—I have yet to have a client who wants to lose weight, clear their skin issues, have more energy, get rid of their brain fog or have less mood swings that does not have something within their digestive tract to rebalance.
Gut health is the key to total health, longevity and wellbeing.
Changing how we eat can be one of the most difficult things we do and I like to share ingredient swaps that are one tiny part of an elaborate “Sensitive gut Guide” used in deep gut healing protocols with me.
Starting with these teeny tiny changes will help your symptoms slightly lessen and start the process of habit change before diving deeper!
Replace Garlic + Onion
“Gasp!!!!” I know.
It will be a mindset shift more than anything and there are soooo many other flavors that get overlooked, underused and overpowered by these two. Onion + garlic, for a healthy digestive system are actually beneficial prebiotics. For an imbalanced intestinal flora, yeast overgrowth and inflamed leaky gut-these are harmful as they will feed the imbalance.
Alternatives: Fennel (especially in mirepoix to replace onion), Fresh herbs, Hardy spices like Star Anise, Five spice powder
Check if nightshades give you issues
Tomatoes, white potatoes, eggplant, bell pepper, chilis, red spices like paprika are the most common Nightshades.
How to know if sensitive without lab testing?
Eat 1-2 meals with 1 serving of nightshade every 3 days and see if you experience the following:
Brain Fog
Joint Pain
Skin rash flare up
Increased mucus
Watery eyes
An immediate reaction is a clear sign to avoid a food, but food can cause IGG reactions that can impact us for weeks and take up to 3 days to show the symptoms.
Alternatives: Sweet potatoes are technically yams and can be substituted for any potato; Pesto or olive oil to replace red sauce; Zucchini instead of eggplant; Black pepper in place of red pepper flakes.
Remove Gluten
I love bread as much as you do-so I am not here to tell you never eat bread. We also cannot deny that gluten is a highly reactive food that can both cause and worsen a leaky gut, thyroid issues, skin issues and autoimmune cases. There are so many alternatives that are healthy and not full of fillers.
Avoid: lots of gluten free made products with Xanthan and other gums, tapioca starch and other fillers -too much of this will create motility issues and more inflammation as well as have you miss out on nutrients form whole foods.
Alternatives: Buckwheat, Almond flour, flax seed flour, coconut flour, masa
Dairy
Dairy is often full of hormones disrupting our own balance. IT can create inflammation for most of us, especially cow’s milk which has a large protein molecule. I only miss it now when I am baking specific desserts, so I just minimize those so I can still enjoy them with original milk.
Alternatives: Plain coconut milk; goat or sheep’s milk based cheeses (less inflammatory for most); Ghee in place of butter or Olive oil
There are more but start here and see immediate change as well as have fun learning how to use new ingredients!!!