The past few weeks I have been dealing with A LOT of nausea. My tummy has always been a mess but this extreme nausea is pretty new. Smoothies seem to be the calmest thing on my stomach and easy to digest so I’ve been making a lot of them. I have a favorite which I will share in a later post. For now, I want to share the smoothie I make when I’m nauseas but hungry and know I need to get some food in me. This smoothie includes fresh ginger which 1) is pretty much my favorite flavor ever, you all should know that by now and 2) is great for nausea and an upset stomach as it helps decrease in inflammation, relaxes the stomach muscles, and helps the neutralize stomach acid.
Tummy Calming Banana-Berry Ginger Smoothie
Serves 1
Ingredients:
1 frozen banana
1/3 cup frozen raspberries
1 inch piece of peeled and grated ginger
1/4 cup full fat coconut milk
1/2 cup almond milk (you can use all coconut milk, I just prefer mixing the two)
1 handful spinach (optional but I like to add some greens to get my veggies in. Green veggies can also help detox out any toxins that may be contributing to nausea)
Throw everything in your blender and blend until smooth. Drink up and feel your nausea slowly dissipate.
Homemade nut butters are so easy and you can flavor them however you like! I love making my own food, even almond butter, because then I know EXACTLY what goes into it (yes, sometimes I’m even skeptical of the organic, raw labels in grocery stores). This recipe adds a little sweetness to almond butter to make it the perfect treat (or, ya know, part of your daily meal plan 😉 ).
I’ll be posting a full LDI update in the upcoming weeks so be on the lookout for that. In the meantime things have been a bit up and down. I had about 3 VERY rough weeks both physically and emotionally. I hadn’t changed anything treatment wise so I don’t know if it was the weather, a flare, or some weird moon cycle but I felt absolutely miserable. I was in horrible pain on many days (widespread body pain which I really never deal with), severe headaches (which I’m still dealing with), horrible cravings for non-lyme diet approved foods (that, yes, I gave into and we all know that didn’t help my symptoms), and pretty bad anxiety and depression. I’m not afraid to admit it, I deal with some pretty bad mood swings associated with Lyme and any little thing can set me off sometimes (I don’t even mean to go off!)… does anyone else deal with this? I also go in and out of a depression and generally deal with bad anxiety 24/7 (that one is just part of my personality!) but this past month was some of the worst it has been in the last 6 months. Hoping the worst has passed for now and I do get to see my doctor in two weeks.
Anyway, on to the good stuff.
Vanilla-Cinnamon Almond Butter
Ingredients:
3 cups organic, raw sprouted almonds (this is what I used but you can use roasted or raw or whatever works for you)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1/8-1/4 teaspoon pink Himalayan salt
Place the almonds into a food processor and turn it on. Let it run (it will be VERY loud at first) until the almonds are broken down. Before it becomes creamy, it will form this ball that just whirls around inside the processor, but don’t worry that will pass! As soon as the ball passes and it starts to become creamy, pause the processor and add in the vanilla, salt, and cinnamon. Continue to process until nice and smooth and it looks like the below picture.
Scoop out and store in a glass container… or do it the right way and eat spoonfuls of it straight out of the food processor praying that there will be some left for tomorrow. Yes, I have an almond butter addiction. We don’t need to discuss it.
If you are looking for a different, new, simple summer grilled dish then this is it!
This past weekend my parents and I went down to our river house and celebrated a belated Father’s Day. We made a delicious dinner Saturday night on the grill that included Hawaiian Pork Skewers (a guest post from Canada Girl Eats Paleo from a while back!) and grilled kale and romaine.
Ingredients:
1 bunch of Dino Kale
1 head of Romaine
Olive oil
Balsamic Vinegar
Get your grill ready! I used a charcoal grill on this occasion.
Kale first: Wash and dry your kale. Toss the kale lightly with some olive oil (about 1-2 tbs., you don’t need much). Next, lay the leaves of kale in an even layer over the grill and generously drizzle Balsamic over the kale leaves (trust me, Balsamic is your best friend tonight, you want to use way more then you think). Let the leaves cook for about 1-2 minutes then use tongs to flip them. Generously drizzle the Balsamic on this side of the leaves and again cook for 1-2 minutes or until the leaves start to char on the edges and the leaves look crisp. Place on a serving dish.
Romaine next: If you are using hearts of Romaine, cut them in half. If you are using a full head of Romaine, cut into quarters. Wash and dry the Romaine. You DO NOT need to coat the Romaine with olive oil. Place your Romaine on the grill and generously drizzle with Balsamic (like you did the kale). Let the Romaine cook for about 3 minutes before flipping and repeating the process. Again, pull the Romaine once it begins to crisp up and char on the parts that were touching the grill.
Serve along some grilled meat and you’ve got a new play on boring lettuce.
When I was in Santa Fe I had this amazing jicama fake potato salad at one of the raw food bars we went to. I wanted to re-create it but not exactly. I’m NOT a mayo fan plus I’m not doing eggs right now so I wanted to make a different type of “sauce” per-se for a jicama salad. I use mustard in this recipe so it does have a little bit of a different kick then potato salad but I like it :). This salad is very light and refreshing so it makes for a great side dish to classic summer dishes. It makes me happy because I think of warm weather when I eat it. Perfect for this sneaking up spring weather (yay!).
Jicama Fotato Salad
Ingredients:
1 small-medium jicama
4 stalks of celery
2 tablespoons of raw tahini
2 tsp. stoneground mustard
2 tablespoons of olive oil
juice of 1 small lemon
2 pinches of salt
1/2 tsp. cumin
Chop up the jicama into cubes and place in a bowl. Slice up the celery stalks into thin bites and mix with the jicama. Mix all the remaining ingredients in a small bowl. Pour the dressing over the jicama/celery and mix thoroughly.
Just store in the fridge. I find that when cooled in the fridge, it mutes the dressing taste a bit so feel free to add more mustard to the dressing when you make it (even though it may taste very mustard-y at that time). Simple and yummy. Get on it!
Lyme update is up first so skip over this next part if all you care about is food.
The past few weeks… okay months… have been hard. Really hard. Lyme wise. I feel like I’ve slowly been headed downhill. Despite learning all these things that may be affecting treatment and my health (mold, heavy metals, etc) and addressing them, it doesn’t seem to be doing much. I feel like nothing, treatment wise, touches me. It may help for a week or a few weeks then it’s like I’m not even taking anything. I start treatments that other people rave about (yes, I realize everyone is different but something has to work for me, right?!) and it makes no difference for me. I’m hoping to start more of an herbal protocol at some point in the next 6-months and see if that makes a difference. I take some herbs now but I mean a real hardcore herbal protocol.
Side note update: Last week I got my heavy metals test back which came back positive for mercury, lead, thallium, and a little cesium. I’ll be starting a chelation protocol for that within the next week or two. I’ll be doing 4 days a week of oral chelation then 3 days of mineral replacement (since chelating pulls out essential minerals with the metals).
A year ago at this time wasn’t great either but I was able to workout at least 3 days a week, go out occasionally, and do more (granted, I still had a lot of other symptoms and would crash at least once a week). The past few weeks I haven’t even been able to do any yoga because I’m EXHAUSTED beyond belief, my muscles feel weak, and my joints are killing me. I have to say, though, that I don’t feel like I have specific Lyme symptoms (like night sweats, air hunger, vision spots, etc) besides joint pain. I feel more just extremely fatigued, worn out like nobodies business, and like I am repeatedly being run over by a bus. Every little task of the day takes SO MUCH ENERGY. Brushing my teeth is like death. I’m wondering if it is just intense toxin overload from killing off the bugs and I am not detoxing enough or if I’m legit Lyme sick. Detoxing has been tough because 1) I’m in school which means less time for it 2)our water doesn’t get/stay hot so I can’t really take detox baths… unless a cold bath counts 3) when I feel like crap my eating goes to crap because I’m exhausted and don’t have the energy and frankly I stop caring because I feel shitty as it is already. I realize when I feel the worst is when my diet needs to be the strictest…. you don’t have to tell me. Come make me food, please?
It’s been extremely cold and snowy here, which also doesn’t help because cold makes me feel worse. This also means walking to class (in the cold) through snow and it feels like I’m hiking a mountain. So, my body is dead by the time I get home. BUT HERE IS THE GOOD NEWS! I saw a new doc yesterday. He is a Naturopathic Doctor who went to the grad school I am considering AND he has trained with Dr. Klinghardt (they are on a first name basis). He is not a Lyme-specialist but knows about lyme (obviously, Dr. Klinghardt) and works with other Lyme patients. I found him because he is also an acupuncturist, which is my main reason for seeing him (yay some detoxing help!), but figured he might have some other insight and ideas for treatment. My appointment went great and I felt able to be open and honest with him about my disease and symptoms. He was very receptive and listened intently. He writes everything down, even the information he wants me to remember (writes it down FOR ME to take home… doesn’t just say it) and maintains constant open communication with his patients (you can call whenever or email and he wants to make sure you keep him updated about how you are feeling with treatment).
Anyway, just by feeling my pulse (based on the Chinese Medicine standards) he immediately pointed out what systems in my body are out of whack… the exact ones I knew where and had been giving me hell all week! We did some acupuncture which helped a lot. I’m going to continue seeing him for acupuncture but he is also having me do ozone enemas. I AM SO EXCITED ABOUT THIS! I have heard that ozone is supposed to be great for Lyme and I also have heard good things about enemas for detox (plus my digestive system is whack) so I hope this helps at least some! He said he has tons of ideas but we will start slow and see how I respond. I’ll keep you guys updated.
So, food now? Yes? Yay. This was my first attempt at making any type of sushi period but it turned out AWESOME. This recipe is very flexible but below is a basic starting point. You can use whatever veggies you like for inside the wrap but I will post exactly what I used. There are some sprouted ingredients (the most important is the buckwheat), which needs to be done 2-4 days in advance. Buckwheat is awesome because it’s actually a fruit seed. Plus it is gluten-free. It is a complete protein and healthy for your heart and digestive system! Here we go:
Raw Vegan Sushi with Sprouted Buckwheat Spread:
Ingredients:
Nori Wraps (can get at local health food store like Whole Foods)
Beet
Jicama
(Any veggies would work… carrots, cucumber, zucchini, etc)
Pea Sprouts
Sprouted sunflower seeds*
Buckwheat spread (recipe below)
Avocado
*To sprout sunflower seeds: Get some sunflower seeds, shelled, from the store. Rinse well and soak in water overnight, first. Drain in a strainer and rinse again. If you have mason jars with mesh sprouting lids you can put them in there, without water, or you can spread them out over a strainer. You basically want to let them sit in the strainer or jars (spread out so they aren’t all piled on top of each other) for 2-4 days, rinsing twice a day, until they have sprouted. You can google videos for a better understanding if you need! 🙂
Let’s make the sprouted buckwheat spread first….
Sprouted Buckwheat Spread
Ingredients:
2 cups raw sprouted buckwheat*
1 tbs. apple cider vinegar
1/2 lemon, juiced
1/2 tsp. sea salt
2 tbs. olive oil
Water, as necessary
*First you need to sprout your buckwheat. Go to the store and buy raw buckwheat groats (THESE ARE GLUTEN FREE). Rinse and soak your buckwheat like you did your sunflower seeds. After soaking for 1-24 hours rinse VERY well (they will have a slimy mucous on them, which is normal). Spread them out on a plate and let them sprout for 2-4 days, placing in a strainer and rinsing well 2x a day. They are done once their little tails are about as long as the groats themselves (too long and the flavor changes). Now they are ready to go!
Place all ingredients, except water, in a food processor and process until smooth and creamy! May take some time like when you make other nut/seed butters. If it seems thick add a tablespoon of water at a time until smoothed out. Add more salt, lemon, or spices as you desire.
Okay, now onto The Sushi
First, you’ll need to peel and chop your beet and jicama. Cut your veggies into strips (so they look like french fries). Now, lay out a nori wrap on a cutting board and lay your chopped veggies in a line at one end of the wrap.
Next, take some sprouts and place them over top of the veggies. Sprinkle on your sunflower seed sprouts and sliced avocado. Spread the buckwheat spread onto the OPPOSITE end from your veggies.
(I used carrot and beet pulp from juicing as a “rice” for this one after an idea I got from detoxinista.com… have to say, didn’t like it, though).
Okay, time to wrap it up! Don’t be scared, this isn’t as hard as it may seem and I find it easier then wrapping a burrito (this is saying a lot… I can’t wrap a burrito for my life). Start at the VEGGIE END, rolling your wrap tightly. You may have to push the ingredients in on the ends. Roll until you get to the buckwheat end, the buckwheat spread will help seal the wrap and keep it closed.
Next up we will cut the wrap into sushi bites. This is easy, you guys got this! Just take a knife (I mean you can try it with a spoon if you want but I don’t think you will be very successful) and cut your roll into bite sizes so it looks like sushi.
YESSS! NOW IT IS TIME TO PUT IT ON A PLATE AND EAT IT!
Clearly that is snack size status right there ^^^. I would advise making a couple wraps if you are having these as a meal OR serving them along side something else. Below I served mine with marinated veggies.
Do you love sushi? What is your favorite kind? I love sushi and it was a blast to finally make my own, especially raw style. As always, let me know if you try these bad boys out and how you liked them.
Wishing you all the best and stay warm!
