What is the best way to heal your gut? As people work to get healthy and feel good, many search for anti-Candida foods that taste great and are healthy.
But do they really exist? There’s a lot of bad information out there, that unfortunately is taken as gospel. But don’t worry! In today’s post, I’ll be sharing 4 time-saving tips that will heal your gut and help you make better food choices.
Heal Your Gut and Avoid C.R.A.P
The key is to eat foods that are actually food, and that also nourish your gut. Yes, I know that may sound simple but a lot of people mess up here. There are a few culprits that need to be avoided/eliminated first. The next step is to add in a few essential foods that help heal your gut.
If it comes in a box and has a list of ingredients you can’t pronounce then chances are it’s C.R.A.P, and it’s not nourishing to your gut. Watch out for:
• Carbonated sodas,
• Refined sugars, refined grains, refined carbohydrates
• Artificial ingredients
• Processed foods
here’s the catch – your gut microbes have evolved to eat foods known to humans for thousands of years…
and newly-concocted ingredients like refined sugars and lab-synthesized flavorings, colorings, and preservatives were never on the menu until recently.
Candida and other pathogenic microbes are the garbagemen – ready to spring into high gear when we eat crap – so your mission should be to eat REAL food.
If you want to learn more about C.R.A.P foods and how to avoid them click here
Recipes That Will Heal Your Gut
Start With Bone Broth
What the heck is bone broth you may ask?
Well, grandma had it right when she would make chicken soup when you were sick – the collagen protein and minerals in bone broth help heal your gut lining and repair damage done by Candida overgrowth.
Here’s a great shortcut if you eat meat and get as busy as I do:
• Pick up a rotisserie chicken from a market that uses natural or organic chicken (containing no antibiotic residues – remember that your good bugs matter), eat the meat with a nice salad or cooked vegetable, then toss the rest of the bird in a crockpot or soup pot.
• Cover with water, and add a splash of vinegar (the acid helps pull extra vitamins and minerals into the broth so you get the highest amount of ABSORBABLE nutrition).
• Toss in some onion carrot and celery ends. Bring it all to a boil and then reduce it to a simmer for a few hours.
• Strain, add some salt and pepper, and, voila, you have bone broth!
The key here is to get started and whip up a batch this week – your gut will thank you!
You don’t have to be a foodie and you don’t have to break the bank – I can get a great chicken dinner for two, plus an amazing bone broth for $10, max $15.
If You Want to Heal Your Gut, Add Probiotics to Each Meal
Now I’m actually going to show you how to make your own probiotics, and give you a little bit of a back story while I’m at it.
Did you know that all of the ketchup, relishes, chutneys, pickles, sauerkraut, hot sauce and other condiments we’re used to seeing in bottles and jars in the middle of the grocery store were originally probiotics.
That’s right, the original recipes were lacto-fermented and contained the good microbes we’re looking for to help keep Candida in check.
When industrial food production took over in the 1900’s, profiteers realized that the natural fermentation process took way longer than simply adding vinegar. And with this change, food products could now be produced in hours in a factory when they used to take days or weeks at home.
While this may sound like progress, what it means is that all these foods are devoid of the beneficial bacteria found in naturally fermented foods.
The Key to Health Is in Your Genes
Our ancestors sustained themselves by always including a dose of live probiotics in every meal, and the modern replacements do the opposite.
Most condiments are now highly acidified with GMO grain vinegar and citric acid plus a ton of refined GMO sugar / high fructose syrup, all of which feed Candida and further inflame your gut lining.
So what do YOU like? Sauerkraut, kimchee, or perhaps pickles?
Step one – go find a natural market and ask for “lacto-fermented” unpasteurized sauerkraut / kimchee / pickles (your choice), buy them, take them home and eat them daily with every meal they fit with.
Lacto-fermented foods will be more expensive than the cheap industrial knock-offs we’re used to, but remember – you’re not only buying good food, you’re also adding more Candida-fighting beneficial microbes to your system with every bite.
Here’s How To Quickly and Easily Make Your Own Probiotics
When you’re getting close to the end of the jar, go back to the natural market and pick up the ingredients you’ll need to make more.
It’s crazy simple:
• Green cabbage for sauerkraut,
• Napa cabbage for kimchee
• Small cucumbers and garlic for pickles.
Then what you do is…
• Take the veggies home, wash them, cut them up, and place them BACK in the “brine” left in the jar from the original mix.
• If the original brine doesn’t cover your chopped veggies, simply make a little more by mixing 1 Tbsp salt in 1cup warm water and add enough to cover to veggies.
• Put the lid on the jar, put it back in your fridge, and crack the lid every other day to release the CO2 released by the good bugs that are fermenting your veggies.
Try your first homemade ferment in a week or so and ENJOY – you are now cooler than almost anyone else you know, and you’ll soon be feeling better too.
• Always use clean hands and utensils when taking from or adding to your jar
• If the level of the brine does not cover the veggies you added, just add some more saltwater (1Tbsp salt per 1cup water is the magic ratio).
Besides getting a steady supply of probiotics through fermented foods, here’s another thing you can start doing now which will help heal your gut tremendously…
Anti-fungal Foods Available In Your Kitchen Right Now:
Many other culinary herbs and spices contain natural phytochemicals that have powerful antibacterial and anti-fungal properties.
• ginger
• raw garlic
• onion
• rosemary
• basil
• cilantro
• cayenne
• cinnamon
So try using more spices than you’re used to, especially raw in salad dressings where their benefits are not reduced by being heated.
Take turmeric for instance, it masquerades itself as a simple spice in curry powders, but according to over 5000+ peer-reviewed studies, it may be the most powerful medicinal herb discovered to date.
When put under scientists’ scrutiny, Turmeric either equals or outperforms conventional medicines, from pain killers like Ibuprofen to anti-depressants like Prozac (except without any harmful side effects.)
This extraordinary herb definitely deserves a spot in your spice rack.
Again, the trick is to use whole foods – garlic salt from the center of the store is not going to perform like a clove of fresh garlic chopped up in your marinade or salad dressing.
This brings to mind one of my favourite quotes from Ayurvedic medicine…
“When Diet Is Wrong, Medicine Is of No Use. When Diet Is Correct, Medicine Is of No Use.”
Food is indeed our most potent tool for healing our body, especially once Candida overgrowth is eliminated and the body has its long-awaited chance to regain its healthy baseline.
I hope these simple recipes that have helped so many others give you an easy way to kick off the New Year in style and health – let your food be your medicine!
If you want to learn more about how to heal your gut and live a healthier website check out my blog here