Healing Your Gut

So let's talk about it! We'll chat briefly about your gut and maximizing your gut health with 3 easy steps you can try RIGHT NOW to make positive changes in your whole healing journey.

To maximize our health, we are a gluten and *mostly* dairy free household here. I love to create EASY, fast, nutritionally dense food, and I also prefer to batch cook it too when I can. Since I work evening shifts as a nurse, there are just some nights I'm not around to cook. While the Hubs does a GREAT job managing the home too, batch cooking - or cooking double+ the amount of food one night so we can eat for a couple meals - allows me to make it just a little bit easier on all of us.

One genre I find easy to batch cook, and flexible on ingredients, is gluten free pasta dishes. Add in seasonally fresh/garden fresh ingredients, some kind of meat/protein, and VOILA! Quick, nutritious, one pot fuel for the fam! AND kid approved too! 

I have a pot large enough to just barely cook 2lbs of pasta at once, so that’s where I start. We need that much for our family of 6 to eat this meal at least 2x. So take whatever your family size would normally eat and plan to at least double it for this! The quantities are VERY flexible here. The goal is to use what you have, don’t overthink it, and keep it both tasty and healthy (I’ll help you with that!). Grab your biggest pasta pot and let’s go!

Summertime One-Pot-Wonder Pasta

~2lbs gluten free pasta of choice - penne and fusilli are recommended (we love Aldi’s options!)

~1-2 med zucchini, cut in bite-sized chunks

~1 lg or 2 sm tomato(es), cut in cubes

~2-4 generous handfuls of baby spinach

~Any other seasonal veggies you choose! Some suggestions: onions, asparagus, squash, beets, broccoli, etc! You really can’t go wrong here!

~Meat of choice. I use anywhere from 1-2lbs typically. Sausage is a favorite, but chicken, venison, and ground beef also work great! If you prefer to be meat-free, try some white beans thrown in.

~1 can black olives (optional)

~4Tbsp EVOO (Extra Virgin Olive Oil!) or any other healthy fat you choose

~Fresh garlic, minced - I think 3 cloves is a great amount! But you do you!

~Additional seasonings as you prefer. Think about throwing in fresh, dried, or essential oil* forms of Oregano, Mountain Savory, Marjoram, Parsley, Black Pepper, etc. These herbs not only amp up flavor, but they all have great healing properties too. Keep in mind that the dried version will naturally have the lowest level of healthy constituents left though. 

1. Cook pasta according to package directions. Drain, reserving about 1c of starchy pasta water.

2. While pasta drains, in same pot you cooked the pasta in, add a few Tbsps oil and meat. Brown in oil. Ideally for this step I’d use ground or cut into bite sized pieces, depending on the meat type, to keep it cooking fast, and to keep cost down. If going meat free, skip this step!

3. Once meat has browned, add in chopped veggies and saute roughly 3-5min. Do not overcook.

4. Add in minced garlic and give in a swirl. If using canned white beans, add them here and make sure they are heated through before proceeding.

5. Toss pasta back into pot and mix with “sauce.” Add olives too, if using them. Add reserved pasta water if needed to keep pasta/sauce moist and help disperse sauce. 

6. Add in herbs/seasoning/essential oils of your choosing. Adjust salt to taste preference.

7. Voila! One pot, yummy goodness you can eat over a couple days!

*I recommend looking for garden-fresh or organic options for all ingredients here if possible, especially meat and any produce on Dirty Dozen list (found HERE). Minimizing chemical exposure is a key for healing.

*For me, I like to take it easy on the carbs and grains (they just don’t serve my body well right now), so I like to do the toppings for this recipes over roasted spaghetti squash or cauliflower rice for myself.

*Ingesting essential oils may not be for everyone, but our household loves this option. We are VERY specific about using oils in this way, and I cannot endorse ingesting oils whose origin and growing practices are unknown. Please do your own research and take caution with essential oils you are using. While they can have great benefits, they are also very concentrated and powerful. If you’d like to discuss what I have learned and what oils I recommend, feel free to contact me!

If you’re looking for a wellness community for support and information while you heal, I’ve got you covered! Join us HERE!

Hippocrates, the “Father of Modern Medicine,” has often been quoted as saying “Let food be thy medicine, and medicine be thy food.” Diet (as in: what we put into our bodies as food fuel) is one of the main components of healing from all types of illness, Lyme and tick borne illnesses most DEFINITELY included. 

Our diets are what fuel our bodies, impact the power behind our immune system, and keep every cell, DNA strand, and body system running at maximum and ideal capacity. 

Sadly, our American diet - the Standard American Diet - is indeed, well, S.A.D. The S.A.D. is notoriously heavy in saturated fats, partially-hydrogenated oils, refined carbs, and highly processed foods. Not to mention even healthy fruits and veggies (and other health-promoting foods) often have sub-par health value these days due to poor farming practices, pesticide usage, depleted soil, and many shortcuts taken to increase production over quality.

All of this S.A.D “food” (because let’s be real, some of it is definitely NOT real food) contributes to dis-ease and unbalance and toxic burden in our bodies. Healing WELL and staying WELL depends on nourishing your whole being. 

So HOW then??

There’s no denying that there are many healthy ways of eating out there these days. From Paleo, to Keto, to AutoImmune Protocol, Specific Carbohydrate Diet, Wahl’s, and allergen-friendly diets, as well as every “low” diet out there (histamine, inflammation, carb, nightshade, etc) - there’s something for every body and every food preference/need. 

And all have tremendous potential to help anybody’s body along a healing journey. 

“Really?” you ask. “ALL of these COULD help?!” 

Well...yes! I always say - in this healing journey there is FREEDOM. 

The bottom line is that ANY of these ways of eating could potentially be helpful to you. And every body and body need is different. So many factors are at play, including genetics, starting gut health, food preferences, etc. This is one area where working with a specialist can very much help (it definitely did for me!), but also, so can researching for yourself and basing decisions off of WHOLE, REAL food above all else. No one says you have to stick to only ONE way of eating to be healthy. And no one can tell you how to best eat for your body’s needs. 

But you wanna know a secret? Yes, all these gut-healthy changes and ways-of-eating are important. But even MORE important is sustainability - YOU sticking to healthy habits for long-term healing and health. 

That being said, my BIGGEST piece of advice is this - pick one way to better your diet TODAY. Don’t wait. Don’t overthink it. Don’t try to change everything all at once. Plan out some baby steps to get you to the end goal you desire. Chances are, you already know exactly what you could do to eat for your health right now. Maybe it’s giving up sodas. Or reducing/eliminating sugar (a true killer). Or adding in more of the foods that fuel your body. Or trying a new low-inflammatory food every week. 

Whatever it is, go set those goals and take that next step towards healing and freedom, my friend!