Supercharged Food: Heal Your Gut

Supercharged Food: Heal Your Gut

Lee Holmes knows firsthand how important the gut is to feeling your best, and in Heal Your Gut she shows the reader in a logical, stepwise fashion how healing your gut is the gateway to healing other health issues. - Dr. Vincent Pedre -

Gut problems are at the forefront of everyone's health concerns: bloating, constipation, indigestion and food intolerances. Importantly, the causes of these sorts of digestive problems can be helped without resorting to pharmaceuticals. But research is also linking an unhealthy gut to serious medical concerns such as IBD, IBS, Crohn's disease, coeliac disease, thyroid problems and diabetes amongst many others.

In her new book Heal Your Gut, Lee Holmes says, 'think of your gut as a garden that can only thrive when the soil is healthy. Healthy soil requires healthy foods and nutrients that will allow the -good guys' to flourish. By feeding our bodies all-natural, easily digestible foods, we can help our gut to function optimally, without the need to resort to dietary supplements."

Heal Your Gut is a beautiful book especially designed to help restore inner gut health, including a treatment program, supported by 90 delicious, anti-inflammatory recipes to heal and nourish your gut. These include warming drinks, teas, juices and tisanes; broths and stock; soups; and dessert. It also covers fermented foods for when your gut is strong.

Lee Holmes lives at the crossroads of western and eastern medicine practices and in her newest book, she shows us how the right foods can assist in reaching our health goals. Lee Holmes holds an Advanced Certificate in Nutrition and is a certified holistic health coach (IIN), yoga teacher, wholefoods chef and author of three bestselling titles: Eat Your Way to Good Health, Eat Yourself Beautiful and Eat Clean, Green and Vegetarian. In 2006, Lee was diagnosed with a debilitating autoimmune disease. After incorporating a wholefoods diet and successfully recovering, she created her award-winning blog, Supercharged Food www.superchargedfood.com. With both an Australian and English- Indian background, Lee promotes a holistic approach to health, combining both eastern and western medical practice. Lee writes on the subject of health and wellbeing for leading newspapers and journals in Australia as well as internationally and is a regular contributor for Wellbeing Magazine, The Huffington Post and a Healthy Eating expert on lifestyle food network.

Supercharged Food: Heal Your Gut
Murdoch Books
Author: Lee Holmes
ISBN: 9781743365601
RRP: $29.99

Anti-Inflammatory Toddy

 

Serves 1

Inflammation lies at the root of many chronic illnesses, and a majority of them start within the gut as an autoimmune reaction that develops into systemic inflammation. This tea is your drug-free weapon of prevention, laced with creamy cashew milk and perfumed with healing spices.

Ingredients

250 ml (9 fl oz/1 cup) cashew milk (see page 120)
1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated ginger
pinch of vanilla powder
pinch of freshly cracked black pepper
6 drops liquid stevia

Method
Heat the cashew milk in a small saucepan over medium heat for 2–3 minutes or until just warmed. Add the spices, ginger, vanilla and pepper, then stir to remove any lumps.
Remove from the heat and pour through a fine sieve to remove the grated ginger. Add the stevia and enjoy warm.

Supercharged Tip: Piperine, a key ingredient in black pepper, enhances the bioavailability of turmeric.

Garden-Fresh Asparagus Soup

I just love the healthy snap of a bright-green new-season asparagus stalk. Enjoy their uniquely grassy, sweet flavour and their healthy-bacteria-boosting proteins in this fresh and uplifting soup.

Serves 4

Ingredients
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, plus extra to serve

2 spring onions (scallions), finely chopped, plus extra, curled in cold water, to serve
1/2 teaspoon curry powder
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
grated zest and juice of 1 lemon
2 medium turnips, peeled and diced
750 ml (26 fl oz/3 cups) vegetable stock (see page 151)
270 ml (91/2 fl oz) tin additive-free coconut milk
175 g (6 oz/1 bunch) asparagus, cut into 1.5 cm (5/8 inch) pieces
1/2 teaspoon Celtic sea salt
freshly cracked black pepper, to taste

Method
Melt the butter with the oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the spring onion and cook, stirring frequently, until soft. Add the curry powder, ginger, turmeric, lemon zest, juice and turnip and cook, stirring frequently, for 5 minutes.

Add the stock, coconut milk and asparagus, and simmer, partially covered, for 15 minutes or until the turnip is tender, then add the salt. Remove from the heat and allow to cool slightly, then purée the mixture in batches in a food processor or blender until smooth. Reheat gently if necessary, then drizzle with olive oil, grind over black pepper and garnish with curled spring onion.

Baked Blueberry Custards

Ultra-comforting and soft like a big downy blanket, this is one of my favourite sweet comfort foods to cuddle up to at the end of a cold day. Coconut milk is an excellent replacement for traditional dairy, making an allergy- and digestive-system-friendly custard.

Serves 4

Ingredients

400 ml (14 fl oz) tin additive-free coconut milk
4 organic egg yolks
1 teaspoon alcohol-free vanilla extract
8 drops liquid stevia
155 g (51/2 oz/1 cup) blueberries

Method
Preheat the oven to 140°C (275°F).
Heat the coconut milk in a medium saucepan over medium heat for 2–3 minutes or until just warmed.
Meanwhile, whisk the egg yolks to ribbon stage (when you lift the whisk the mixture falls slowly and forms a ribbon that holds its shape for a while). Slowly add the coconut milk to the egg, then return to the saucepan and place over medium heat, stirring constantly, until it starts to thicken. Remove from the heat, then stir through the vanilla extract and stevia.
Divide the blueberries between four ramekins or ovenproof bowls, then pour the egg mixture over the top. Place the serving dishes in a baking dish, then pour enough boiling water into the baking dish to come halfway up the sides of the ramekins.
Bake for 30–35 minutes or until the custards wobble when shaken gently.
Allow to cool, then refrigerate until you're ready to serve.