Hashimoto’s Food Pharmacology
Page 14
Avoid salt that is processed and/or fortified with iodine; instead, use sea salt with naturally occurring minerals! You can add generous amounts of sea salt in your food to address cravings you might be experiencing (underlying adrenal dysfunction can cause subclinical electrolyte imbalances that can increase cravings for salt). If you’re still using processed iodized salt, I suggest tossing it and picking up gray or pink sea salt for cooking and eating.
If you regularly feel light-headed and faint after getting up, you might also consider adding a teaspoon of sea salt to a glass of warm water and drinking it each day to see if this helps.
Please note, salt is not bad for us—it actually helps balance our electrolytes. However, you want to select the right kind of salt!
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Autoimmune-Unfriendly Spices
Additionally I want to make you aware that some spices are not allowed on the autoimmune dietary protocol. Thus we avoid nutmeg, cumin, and paprika during the autoimmune diet entirely, but you can make autoimmune-friendly versions yourself. Luckily, you can make your own spice blends! Just add the spices to a bowl and mix thoroughly. Throughout the recipe section, when you see the comment “(if tolerated)” next to an ingredient, you will know to make your own blend when necessary.
Additionally, although black pepper, allspice, and cardamom are generally safe on autoimmune diets, they can be reactive for some people. You may want to use them with caution.
Varied Cooking Methods
Varied cooking methods are key to keeping your palate happy, even when you can only tolerate a limited number of ingredients. Oftentimes we miss certain textures more than the foods themselves. We can create and replicate various textures by mixing up our cooking methods. Let’s use the humble carrot to demonstrate how many different options we can create with just one ingredient. Here are nine ways to enjoy carrots (and some recipes to try!):
1. Roasted carrots: Drizzle with olive oil and roast at 350°F for 30 minutes (or make Carrot Fries)
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SPICE RECIPES
AI Curry Powder
1 tablespoon ground turmeric
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon onion powder
½ teaspoon garlic powder
¼ teaspoon dried dill weed (not seed)
⅛ teaspoon ground cinnamon
⅛ teaspoon ground cloves
Curry powder has a host of ingredients that are not AI compliant, including coriander seeds, cumin, hot peppers, and cardamom. You may wonder why I’ve included dill in my recipe for curry powder—it adds a bit of tang to the flavor, but surprisingly is minimally detectable!
AI Pumpkin Pie Spice
3 tablespoons ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons ground mace
1 teaspoon ground ginger
¼ teaspoon ground cloves
Nutmeg and allspice are not compliant for AI followers. Simply make your own AI Pumpkin Pie Spice! Replacing these two spices with mace will yield a flavor very similar to traditional pumpkin pie spice.
AI Herbes de Provence
1 tablespoon marjoram
1 teaspoon basil
1 teaspoon savory
1 teaspoon rosemary
1 teaspoon lavender
1 teaspoon oregano
½ teaspoon thyme
You may be able to find an herbes de Provence blend on the market that does not contain fennel, but if not, just try this combination of dried herbs.
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2. Steamed carrots: Cut into ¼-inch pieces and steam for about 10 minutes or until fork tender
3. Shredded raw carrots with apple: Apple-Carrot Salad
4. Juiced carrots: Green Juice
5. Pureed carrot soup: Carrot-Ginger-Pear Soup
6. Mashed carrots: Parsnip-Carrot Mash
7. Carrot noodles: Use a spiralizer to create carrot noodles you can use as a side dish for meatballs (Citrus Bison Meatballs; Squashghetti and Meatballs)
8. Raw carrots: Slice into ¼-inch-wide sticks and use with dip
9. Stewed carrots: Chop into ½-inch pieces and stew in a slow cooker 6 to 8 hours (as in Beef Stew)
In each of these, you will find a different textural or even taste experience. Roasted carrots may caramelize and turn richly sweet; raw carrots provide a fantastically dense and satisfying crunch; pureed carrots enjoyed in a soup taste soothing and nourishing; shredded carrots with a bit of apple are reminiscent of summer picnic fun. I encourage you to try as many of these preparations as possible when cooking for yourself. In the recipes, you’ll see that I’ve used all of the cooking methods mentioned above, but I also love stir-frying, blending, and slow-cooking.
SAVING TIME
One of the biggest challenges of eating a real-food diet is that many meals require cooking from scratch. This can be a big feat when you have a full life and are fatigued, brain-fogged, and overwhelmed by dietary changes. I’ve created the recipes in this cookbook with this in mind. The majority of the recipes are simple weekday recipes (with some fancy weekend recipes thrown in just for fun!). You’ll notice that I try to minimize time-consuming food preparation techniques such as chopping, peeling, or dicing vegetables and instead opt for using whole, unpeeled vegetables whenever possible. This method doesn’t just save time but also provides more nutrients. Additionally, many of the recipes work really well with a busy schedule by utilizing freezing, slow-cooking, and batch cooking. Batch cooking is a method I personally use each week to ensure that, no matter how busy I get, I continue to nourish my body.
The Fine Art of Batch Cooking
When I first started cooking all my meals from scratch for myself, there were times when I felt overwhelmed by the effort it took to meet my nourishment needs. This feeling lessened as I got better at food preparation and cooking, and especially when I started batch cooking, which became a life-changing habit for me. I’ve since encouraged batch cooking as a food-prep strategy to my clients, and everyone who’s tried it has come back telling me how much it’s helped them.
The idea behind batch cooking is really just that you want to maximize the amount of food prepared for the week and minimize the mess you make. Most people already practice a form of this by doubling a dish and then eating leftovers or freezing food for later use. With a little more strategy, you can cook a week’s worth of food in a relatively short amount of time.
You can make batch cooking work even if you have a small kitchen. When I lived in an apartment that had four stovetop surfaces, a medium-size oven, and moderate amounts of counter space, I found a way to do it. I didn’t have too many kitchen tools at the time, but I did have a Vitamix blender, a slow cooker, and two roasting/baking dishes (a small one and a large one).
The first thing I recommend is picking part of one day to do some cooking; I like to dedicate my Sunday afternoon to this task. Here’s an example of how a batch cooking session might work:
1. Look around your kitchen. What types of surfaces and kitchen tools do you have? Make a plan of your kitchen and pick recipes that will help you maximize your space and time. For example, you may have a counter to chop veggies, a blender to prep smoothies or soups, a stovetop for making a stir-fry, an oven for roasting, and a slow cooker for brewing up some bone broth.
2. Pick five to ten recipes that will spread the activity out over your work surfaces and cooking areas. Get your recipes together and create a shopping list. Shop for all of the food you need (you can also get the groceries delivered), and once you have everything, prep your space before you get started cooking. I also like to have a timer ready to use to keep track of each recipe’s time.
3. Review your recipes to determine how to make the best use of your time. Which recipe will take the longest? Which requires the most prep? What can you do while one recipe is in the oven?
4. Look for any “repeat” ingredients that appear in more than one recipe. Include in this tally any fresh ingredients that you may be able to prep for smoothies and salads throughout the week.
Figure out the amounts you’ll need and write down the totals on a piece of paper. For example, if one recipe calls for 2 cups of chopped carrots and another ½ cup, you’ll want to chop 2½ cups of carrots. The goal is to be efficient and not have to go back to repeat a step with an ingredient you’ve already worked with or even put away.
5. Prep ingredients starting with vegetables first, followed by meats, and then dry or liquid goods.
6. Next, you’ll start cooking. I typically start with the recipes that call for roasting, as this often takes the longest (next to slow-cooker dishes). If I can fit different types of ingredients on one sheet pan, I will do that—it’s faster and I like when flavors blend together. After that, I like to get my slow-cooker dish going. Then, start steaming, boiling, and sautéing other dishes.
7. Set a timer for each dish so that you know when anything needs to be stirred, turned, removed, and so on.
8. Once everything is up and running, you can set up jar salads and smoothies for the week.
Busy Day Meals
In addition to batch cooking, I also like to keep eight to ten meals in the freezer for days when I know I’m going to be busy. Some great dishes for batch cooking and freezing include:
Soups, such as Barszcz, Chicken Soup; Polish Pea Soup; Cream of Broccoli Soup; and Carrot-Ginger-Pear Soup
Coconut-Fig Energy Balls
Cuban Ropa Vieja
Hashi Hash Hash
Hubby’s Carnitas
Chicken Tandoori
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GET STARTED WITH 10-PLUS BATCH-COOKED MEALS
Here are the kitchen spaces and tools to use for ten-plus meals you can make in a few hours:
Slow cooker: Add all ingredients for Bigos or Bone Broth and turn the slow cooker on low.
Oven and three baking dishes: Preheat the oven to 350°F and put in Root Veggie Bake, Hubby’s Carnitas, and Maple Meatloaf Muffins. Note down the time when each will be done baking.
Stovetop: one steamer, one stockpot, two pans: Steam veggies in the steamer, make Cream of Broccoli Soup in stockpot, and make Truffled Veggies and Hashi Hash Hash in the pans.
Counter space and Mason jars: Use to make Jar Salads and prep smoothies (Orange Cream Smoothie; Root Cause Original Smoothie; Hashi-Mojito Smoothie; or Root Cause Building Smoothie) for five days!
High-powered blender: Make smoothies, soups, and purees in minutes! I like to use it to make Goddess of Detox Dressing.
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HEALTH FOR THE WHOLE FAMILY: INSPIRING THOSE AROUND YOU
After switching to a nutrient-dense diet, I was pleasantly surprised at how tasty these foods could be. I began sneaking them into potlucks with friends and coworkers as well as dinner parties with family members. I didn’t make a big deal out of them or my dietary theories, but people soon took notice of how much better I looked and realized that healthy foods were not as horrible as they thought! Soon enough, one by one, people around me began to ask for recipes and dietary advice. Now countless friends and family members, including my hubby, mom, brother, and sister-in law as well as our dog, Boomer, are on nutrient-dense diets free of inflammatory foods, and so many health miracles have occurred! Here are some examples.
By using my dietary and functional-medicine protocols, my beautiful mom was able to eliminate three thyroid nodules, has been able to see a significant improvement in her asthma symptoms, and has even been weaned off her medications under her doctor’s supervision. She was 100 percent symptom free, but had a flare-up after accidentally consuming a bar that contained whey protein!
My husband, Michael, a lifelong athlete, was generally in great shape. Utilizing nutrition, functional-medicine protocols, and food-sensitivity testing results combined with his meditation and exercise routine, Michael has been able to shed the 15 stubborn pounds he wanted to lose, gained more muscle, and resolved his anxiety.
Last but not least, our ten-year-old Pomeranian, Boomer, was previously eating grain-free kibble and is now eating home-prepared, nutrient-dense foods free of inflammatory and reactive foods! His main improvements include better energy, shinier coat, weight loss, and no more needing to go potty every two hours! Each week, we use a pressure cooker and food processor to prepare his feast of stewed lamb and vegetables!
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WHAT I EAT
My readers often ask, “What do you eat on a daily basis? How do you stay balanced?”
My diet has changed so much since my Hashimoto’s diagnosis. Prior to my diagnosis most of my diet consisted of wheat, dairy, sugar, and processed foods. I hated salads and avoided red meat and pork like the plague, and I suffered dearly from blood-sugar swings, joint pains, mood swings, panic attacks, and a plethora of other symptoms.
At first, stuck in a state of paralysis by analysis, I researched the gluten-free diet for over a year before trying it! Unfortunately, my condition progressed during that time, and I developed even more symptoms!
Finally in January 2011, I decided to fully commit to trying whatever I could to improve my health—and I’m so glad that I did. It actually took doing a food-sensitivity test to get me to change my diet. Hey! I was a skeptical scientist—I needed to see the evidence on paper that foods could be a problem!
After eliminating gluten and dairy and the other reactive foods, I started to feel better in three days. It was quite funny, because I actually didn’t think the diet would work. I was shocked when I didn’t need to reach for my bottle of acid-reflux medication on the third day of the diet! The rest, my friends, is history. Through optimizing my hormone levels, nutrition, and digestion and addressing my stress response, detox pathways, and infections, I was able to recover my health!
Currently, I avoid gluten and dairy. I have an IgA reaction to dairy, which is a celiac-like reaction. Though I used to have horrific symptoms after exposure to both of these, recent accidental exposures resulted in only mild symptoms like arm tingling and bloating. For a while, I also avoided nuts because they caused me to have skin breakouts and emotional swings. (I would tell people that nuts made me nuts!)
I’ve changed my diet over the last few years and have an intuitive connection with what I eat. My diet changes with the seasons, with where I’m living, and with what I’m doing.
When I was working on tight deadlines for the Hashimoto’s Protocol book and the Thyroid Secret documentary, my body craved a lot of fat! My Duck Salad was one of the recipes that came out of that time period!
Once the book and documentary had come out and I was no longer on tour for the book, I became more active outdoors and craved more fruit and veggies and fewer heavy foods. I drank lots of green juices, ate lots of salads and salsas like the Mango Salsa and Katy’s Greek Salad, and incorporated fruit into my smoothies (like the Orange Cream Smoothie).
I was writing this very book when I was pregnant with my son, Dimitry, and he too inspired changes in my diet! I ate a lot of methylation-supporting beets (and the recipes for Heirloom Tomato and Beet Salad; Barszcz; and Sloppy Joes in a HeartBeet, were my favorites), and a lot of iron-boosting grass-fed burgers with pickles (it later turned out that, like many pregnant women, I was iron-deficient, or as my husband called it, “burger-deficient”). Dimitry also inspired me to make more sweets than I would normally eat! You can thank him for the Lemon–Banana Cream Ice Pops and the AI Very Berry Pie!
The amazing thing I’ve noticed since switching to a nutrient-dense diet and away from foods that were inflammatory for me is that my body often guides me in choosing the best foods for me! Once you rebalance, your cravings can actually dictate your dietary needs!
I still love starting my day with a Root Cause Original Smoothie. I generally add ingredients based on how I’m feeling that day. I developed the Rootcology AI Paleo Protein for myself, which is a daily staple. The smoothies were especially wonderful after I had my son!
For lunch, I will have a soup, salad, bowl, or a burger, depending on the weather and how I feel. These foods a
re usually batch-cooked or prepared on Mondays and Thursdays, so I don’t have to make them from scratch each day. Some of my favorites are the Maple Meatloaf Muffins, Creamy White Chicken Stew, Taco the Town Salad, and the Bibimbap Bowl.
Dinners are a family affair, and I love to have a side salad (like the Chopped BLT Salad) with a high-quality meat dish. For snacks I have Coconut Yogurt with berries and seeds, Beef Jerky, Cilantro-Lime Guacamole, or a smoothie.
On the weekends, I love to make Waffles or Plantain Crepes with bacon and eggs and a nice side of avocados, Coconut Yogurt with fruit and seeds, or Fermented Vegetables.
I love cooking, but when I’m busy juggling book deadlines and a newborn, I ask for help from my hubby, my mom, or another angel, order food from local restaurants that offer gluten-free, dairy-free, and health-conscious options, or use delivery services that offer Paleo-friendly meals. I also keep eight to ten freezer meals that can be thawed and cooked or easily thrown into a slow cooker for emergencies!
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You can freeze these in Mason jars or BPA-free plastic freezer bags and then reheat them on your stove for serving. Side dishes, such as Root Veggie Bake and Parsnip-Carrot Mash, can be frozen in glass baking dishes and then reheated in the oven once thawed.
I also love my slow cooker. When I’m prepping, I often put together the raw ingredients for a slow-cooker meal and freeze them. Then on a busy day, all I have to do is thaw them and pop them into the slow-cooker before I leave in the morning. The following recipes are fantastic for busy-day slow-cooker meals:
Bigos
Bone Broth
Chicken Tandoori
Chilly Day Chili
Cuban Ropa Vieja
Pulled Cherry Pork
Winter Oxtail Stew