Tag: Digestive Disorders

Autumn thick warming roasted carrot and pumpkin soup, lactose free, milk free, egg free – vegeliscious!

Roasted carrot and pumpkin soup

600g peeled carrots, cut into 4 lengthwise

500g pumpkin

1 tablespoon of garlic infused olive oil

1 teaspoon of turmeric

1 teaspoon of cumin

1 teaspoon of coriander

1 teaspoon of ground ginger

1.2 litres of water

small bunch of coriander leaves (depends how much you like the taste.)

Salt & pepper

coriander leaves and nigella seeds to serve

Method

Peel and slice carrots and pumpkin and place in a roasting tin, pour in the olive oil and coat the vegetables well. Sprinkle on spices and mix well.

Roast till the vegetables are soft in texture.

Place in a food processor or blender, add the other ingredients and blend well.

Warm the soup again then serve with a sprinkling of nigella seeds and coriander leaves.

Serves 6

(approximately per serving)

Kcal 67

Protein 1.2

Fat 2.9

Carbohydrate 9.0

Fibre 2.8

There is some debate as to whether pumpkin is safe for the FODMAP diet – it contains mannitol – amount varies on where it is grown, the one I used was grown within 10 miles of home. If you have problems with pumpkin, or are on a FODMAP exclusion you could replace the pumpkin with more carrot and this should work just as well.

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Beans, beans are good for your heart…………fill in the rest!

You may have heard the following rhyme,

Beans, beans are good for your heart – well so far this is true they are full of soluble fibre, soluble fibre reduces cholesterol levels and lowers the risk of blood clots preventing heart attacks and strokes.

The more you eat the more you f****, again some real truth here.

The more you f*** the better you feel, well no actually, beans and pulses are known for causing intestinal gas and this can cause havoc with people who have IBS, increasing the level of pain felt and generally making life really miserable. Beans and lentils (pulses) contain a type of carbohydrate called raffinose, this is indigestible by everyone, but with people who have IBS the bloating that results stretches the bowel wall and causes pain. I don’t really need to explain f*** do I? I’m much too polite, I’m afraid.

So let’s have beans for every meal – erm, again possibly not, if you are prone to bloating and pain after eating them.

BUT I MISS BEANS! I’M VEGETARIAN – BEANS ARE MY PROTEIN AND IRON! 😦 HELP!

You should only exclude foods that are actually causing problems, variety in your diet is very important. Good sources of protein for vegetarians are quinoa and quorn and iron can be found in dark green leafy vegetables – ensure you have a SMALL glass of fresh orange to aid the absorption into your body, only if you are not intolerant of fructose. Ask to see a dietitian if you require more personal dietary advice here.

Is there anything I can do to make this food a little more tolerable?

Well possibly.

When buying dried pulses (lentils and beans) please ensure you use them up quickly – leaving them in your cupboard for more than a year really doesn’t help, the longer they are stored the tougher they become. They then require more soaking and boiling to make them more digestible. Ensure the surface is without shriveled skin and the colour is bright. Store your dried beans in a sealed container in a cool dark place.

Soaking is then required, don’t add anything to the beans but water and change this a few times during the soaking process, if you can. Don’t be tempted to add salt or sodium bicarbonate to the beans, salt will inhibit the soaking process. You will need to soak the beans at least eight hours or preferably overnight and rinse the beans after soaking prior to cooking.

Cooking times vary depending on the age and water hardness, again before adding the beans to another dish don’t be tempted to use the water for stock as this does contain more raffinose. See the link at the bottom of the page for a useful information leaflet from Pulse Canada on cooking times for beans. Don’t add acidic foods to the beans whilst cooking such as tomato, vinegar or lemon juice as this makes the cooking process longer.

Tinned beans need to be rinsed before use, again don’t be tempted to use the liquor to add to other dishes – the beans have been cooked in the tin and not given the same treatment. Some of the cheaper tinned versions can be a little tough, necessitating longer cooking time to avoid excessive wind – buying cheaper versions may be false economy if you need to cook them for longer!

A word of warning about kidney beans, cannellini beans and broad beans, they all contain phytohaemagglutanin a protein that if consumed in large amounts is a toxin, it is found in large amounts in kidney beans. It is denatured by correct cooking. Tinned kidney beans are better to avoid the risks, but do rinse them well before using them!

Some information was found about adding a piece of seaweed (Kombu) to the beans during cooking to aid with reducing raffinose content of beans, lots of un-referenced information on the web. Kombu was suggested to contain alpha galactosidase an enzyme that digests raffinose. I have, despite a good hunt on the internet and research sites, been unable to find the source of this information, so I am actually unsure if this does work – any help here from food technologists would be gratefully received! Please reply!

Make your own baked beans!!

Gluten free, dairy free, vegetarian.

500g dried haricot beans

20 sprigs of fresh thyme

2 medium potatoes

400 ml passata

salt (not too much!)

Soak the beans for at least 16 hours with water, change water at least four times.

Peel potatoes and boil till soft, mash.

Cook the beans for 30-40 minutes or until soft in fresh water, then drain.

Add the potato to the beans and the passata, fresh chopped thyme and a small amount of salt. Cook for ten minutes – eat & enjoy!

See link for lots of useful info on pulses!

http://www.pulsecanada.com/food-health/fact-sheets-resources

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Paella Low FODMAP, dairy free, gluten free, wheat free – obviously!!

1 Dessert spoon of garlic infused oil

1/4 teaspoon of asafoetida (check wheat free)

1 teaspoon of Spanish smoked paprika

1 generous pinch of saffron

1/2 teaspoon of turmeric

6 skinned boned chicken thighs

250g of seafood selection (skinned)

4 cups of basmati rice

500 ml chicken stock (ensure you check the label for onion & garlic)

One orange bell pepper

Pinch of salt & pepper

Method

Measure oil into a pan and add spices (except saffron)

Fry chicken, remove from oil and place in an oven at gas mark 6 (admittedly mine were a little over cooked, but I prefer it that way – honest!)

Add rice to oil and fry for 30 seconds and the add chicken stock

Add the pinch of saffron to a small dish and cover with boiling water to leach out the saffron, add this to rice mix.

Cook till rice is softened and add pepper, cook then add back the chicken, add the seafood selection and cook till warmed through.

Serve.

One of my favourite pastimes when I am on holiday is to look around the food markets, here is a market in Barcelona. I love to wander and look at the different foods that are sold and to get some ideas of what to cook when I get home.

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Book Review The Complete Idiots Guide to Eating Well with IBS Kate Scarlata RD

This book is a comprehensive guide to eating with irritable bowel syndrome. It is very user-friendly, you can dip in for a quick read or take your time. I liked the summaries at the end of every chapter and the hints and tips are very useful. The book contains lots of recipes all with nutritional breakdown and a gut fact attached to each one! Covering the fact that healthy eating – with foods that are tolerated – is very important.  The foods that can be problematic are covered and Kate does explain, in user-friendly terms, the reasons why these foods can result in symptoms, but also adds that everyone’s symptoms are individual, so it’s advisable to use the advice accordingly. She also explains how to use a food and symptom diary to identify problematic foods, which is extremely useful for those people who are managing their IBS symptoms themselves.

The book is published for the American market, red flag symptoms are discussed, however one area that does differ in the UK is the identification of people with coeliac disease. Please note that everyone (children and adults,) who have IBS should be, or have been, screened by serological testing (blood tests – endomysial antibody (EMA) IgA and/or tissue transglutaminase antibody tTGA) for coeliac disease, in the UK. At the time of the writing of the book, the emphasis on testing IBS patients for coeliac disease was geared more toward those with IBS-D in the US, the author (in her private practice) however, recommends that all of her IBS clients be tested for coeliac prior to altering their diet. These are guidelines from the National Institute of Clinical Health & Excellence (NICE) available here:-

http://guidance.nice.org.uk/CG86

I have seen patients’ whose main symptom of coeliac disease is constipation, so everyone is at risk and should be tested. Ask your GP and eat wheat, barley and rye (bread, pasta, chappatis, some breakfast cereals) before your test, see above guidelines. Read what Coeliac UK have to say here:-

http://www.coeliac.org.uk/coeliac-disease/how-to-get-diagnosed

Other differences I noticed was histamine intolerance was mentioned in the book – this is not well recognised in the UK, but it can be identified by your dietitian by using elimination diets and is likely to be covered somewhat in an additives free diet (benzoate additives for example, but substances that promote a histamine response are also found naturally in some fermented foods.) It is also advised for people on certain antidepressants – the MAOI (Monoamine Oxidase Inhibitor) diet, to help people avoid dangerous rises in blood pressure, this diet is rarely seen now in general dietetic practice.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monoamine_oxidase_inhibitor

Other food intolerances are also mentioned, it is important to see a state registered dietitian if you suspect you have histamine intolerance as identifying these rare intolerances can be challenging.

This book is certainly worth considering if you want to buy a book to help you manage your IBS symptoms, I particularly liked the chapter on travelling and eating out, often areas where it is difficult to acquire advice. The book also discussed lifestyle factors and other areas outside the area of Low FODMAP foods, which is also included, and as such it should contain advice that can help most people with IBS who feel that their diet, or eating in general is problematic.

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This book was provided free of charge by the author.

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1612 – 2012 400 years since Lancashire witch trials and Lancashire hot pot.

 

Lancashire has a long tradition of matriarchs – Lancashire women take a no-nonsense attitude to life and are strong characters. This attitude may have been seen as a threat in past times and it’s maybe unsurprising that Lancashire was the scene of witch trials in the early sixteen hundreds, where 10 people (including two men incidentally) were hanged as a result of accusations and a guilty verdict of being witches. This weekend a commemoration of the events four hundred years ago took place around Pendle Hill, Lancashire. My husbands thoughts on this was that it shouldn’t be a celebration, “what’s to celebrate?” he remonstrated, these people were killed. My view is, it’s important that the date is remembered, I was heartened to read that Arthur Studdard a retired barrister, felt that these women should have been pardoned, but this has not happened mainly because of the length of time since it happened and the quality of evidence to review. He felt strong enough to request the Queens support. This weekend’s event did make me think about how far women have come in terms of equality, we have come some considerable way since 1600 I feel, but have some way to go yet perhaps. Another ‘event’ earlier on in the year was the discovery of a cats skeleton bricked up in a wall of a derelict house, found under a mound during a construction project in the area around Pendle Hill. This area is certainly dramatic, bleak and atmospheric, a climb up the hill on the anniversary in the cloud and mist certainly made you feel that there was something in the stories told of these women. The picture below is of a ‘snow witch’ on the side of Pendle hill (a strange coincidence – spooky ;-))

Lancashire hot-pot.

400g Neck or middle neck of lamb

250g Stewing lamb

Potato (waxy potatoes are best such as King Edwards)

2 Carrots

500 mls of water

2 Teaspoons of cornflour mixed in some water

Salt and pepper

Spray oil

Method

Peel carrots and potatoes, add lamb to a strong casserole dish.

Add water, cornflour and sliced carrots to the dish, add salt & pepper.

Slice potatoes to 3-4 mm thick slices and place on the top of the stew, spray with oil,

It is better to use a casserole dish with a well sealed lid if you have one – if not check the dish is not too dry, you may need to add more water during cooking.

Cook for at least 3-4 hours at gas mark 5 (traditionally this hot-pot was left to cook all day.)

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Orange superfood, cheap and not too hard on the digestive tract ‘THE CARROT’ – yes, seriously!

Before I studied to be a dietitian I disdained the carrot, cheap nasty veggie filler, used too often in cheap food in my uninformed view. However as they say, knowledge is power, and I’ve had a bigger sheepish U-turn than David Cameron (they often use carrots in pasties too, you know, although this is less than traditional!) Carrots are full of fibre, and not too much of the gut fermentable stuff, so they are an excellent vegetable to choose. The main nutrient the carrot contains is beta carotene, the veggie Vitamin A, more available to the body if carrots are cooked, but they are also really nice grated raw, as crudities with low-fat dips. Carrots are also very good when cooked with cumin, thyme and coriander. Carrot juice also reduces the acidity of orange juice, making orange juice a less sharp drink, if you find its acidity a problem. Beta carotene is stored under the skin and converted to vitamin A (retinol) by the liver. Carrots are also suitable to have frozen as well as fresh, beta carotene is a fat soluble vitamin it is not easily leached during cooking or storage of the vegetable. Does eating carrots help you see in the dark? Well retinol is a required vitamin for vision, but most people do get adequate amounts, it helps you see better in the dark only if you are deficient in this vitamin, replenishing low stores will improve your vision. But it doesn’t improve it if you are eating enough, it is not exponential e.g. you do not get better and better vision if you eat more and more. Retinol is also needed for skin, teeth and to help your bones grow. Also a word of warning here – as with any food, variety is key to getting the range of nutrients your body needs – seriously overdosing on beta carotene – carrot juice or supplements, will turn you orange, carotenosis, although harmless and reversible on stopping consuming the offending item. 😉 Actually the lesson here is that there are no real ‘super’ foods eat a variety of foods to get what you need.

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