Carrageenan is a thickener used in many ready-made and free-from foods to improve the texture and stop things like yoghurts and plant milks from separating.
A long-standing puzzle is why this “harmless” emulsifier is used to induce gut inflammation in experimental medical research, yet it is also approved as a food additive. Associate professor of Clinical Medicine Joanne Tobacman from the University of Illinois has reviewed the data on this ingredient. Although in experimental research the degraded carrageenan used to produce inflammation was different from the undegraded carrageenan used in foods, there was in fact a marginal to non-existent distinction between types of carrageenan. Her conclusion was that this common additive causes colon inflammation. It causes inflammatory substances to invade your protective gut lining, causing ulcerations and evidence of colitis.
There is evidence to show that our increasing intakes of dietary emulsifiers like carrageenan are partly responsible for the explosion of inflammatory bowel disease. IBD has been steadily increasing in the late 20th century and has doubled worldwide since 2000.
Dr. Tabacman and her team went on to trial a no-carrageenan diet for people in remission from inflammatory bowel disease. They put all patients on a carrageenan-free diet. One group a capsule containing less than an average daily exposure amount of carrageenan. The other group got a placebo capsule with no carrageenan. The results were striking. Half the carrageenan capsule patients relapsed. None of the 100% carrageenan-free group did. Information kindly provided by Dr. Ben Brown writing in IHCAN.
What else might you be eating that’s keeping you ill?
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Toxic or “heavy” metals include mercury, lead, arsenic, and a few more. Many studies link high levels of heavy metals with autoimmune diseases, especially autoimmune thyroid conditions. 90% of people with hypothyroidism have autoimmune hypothyroidism. Standard medical tests miss this or get a false negative.
One study even found that women with high mercury exposure were more than twice as likely to have the antibodies found in Hashimoto’s and Graves’ disease. And unfortunately, these chemicals are a lot more common in our environment than most people realise. Mercury can be found in many things dental fillings and fish to vaccines to cosmetics. It can also be in the air as emission from coal-burning plants.
Lead can be found in old paints as well as old water pipes and cheap imported consumer goods. If you cycle on the roads a lot, you might be inhaling lead particles from road paint! The US FDA found traces of lead in over 400 lipsticks in 2012!
Arsenic accumulates in rice if the soil contains arsenic. It can also be in the water.
If you are short of nutrients because of digestive issues or a non-great diet of toxic metals your body will take up heavy metals more readily. This produces more toxic effects.
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“Sugar-free” products usually contain zero-calorie sweeteners aspartame, sucralose saccharin. You might think “what’s not to like?” One of the problems with sucralose and saccharin is that they stop you from digesting properly. They impair protein-digesting enzymes called proteases. This is a problem because when you can’t digest a protein, it becomes food for disease-causing bacteria in your bowel. Protein-rich foods include milk products, eggs, meat, fish, and beans. The now-overgrown disease-causing bacteria trigger inflammation resulting in damage to your gut lining. You cannot have IBD, IBS, or any autoimmune condition unless your gut lining is damaged.
Sucralose and saccharin also reduce friendly gut bacteria by 50%. Friendly gut bacteria are critical for bulletproof immunity, keeping inflammation under control, and restoring your bowel to perfect health. In fact, if you get your digestive and bowel health in order the rest of your health will follow.
According to research published in the Journal of Leukocyte Biology eating apple polyphenols (substances found in apple peels) can suppress out-of-control immune cell activation to prevent colitis. This study (on mice) is the first to show a role for T cells in polyphenol-mediated protection against autoimmune disease and could lead to new therapies and treatments for people with disorders related to bowel inflammation, such as ulcerative colitis, Crohn’s disease, and colitis-associated colorectal cancer.
What this means in plain English: substances in apple skins help heal your bowel, reducing the out-of-control inflammation that’s the hallmark of IBD. Stewed cooking apples also are a fantastic source of prebiotic fibre. Prebiotic fibre feeds beneficial gut bacteria that make daily repair substances to heal your bowel. When my patient’s test results show up with low levels of bacteria-produced bowel healing substances, one simple thing we do is get them eating either non-sugar home-stewed apple or a high-quality shop-bought product to build good gut bugs and soothe those inflamed linings.
Jerod A. Skyberg, Amy Robison, Sarah Golden, MaryClare F. Rollins, Gayle Callis, Eduardo Huarte, Irina Kochetkova, Mark A. Jutila, and David W. Pascual. Apple polyphenols require T cells to ameliorate dextran sulfate sodium-induced colitis and dampen proinflammatory cytokine expression. J. Leukoc Biol. December 2011 90:1043-1054; doi:10.1189/jlb.0311168
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Did you know that gut infections can kick off inflammatory bowel disease (IBD)? Why this is usually not obvious is that the infection might not cause any symptoms until your body comes under additional stress from something else. A stressor could be a traumatic few months, a viral infection, food poisoning, a course of antibiotics. Lack of physical activity, not enough sleep, too much alcohol are also stressors. Sadly, hospital testing usually does not look for these infections. An episode of food poisoning or “traveler’s diarrhoea” can cause IBS or IBD, sometimes many months down the line. Infections that can produce IBD include Proteus mirabilis or cytomegalovirus or overgrowth of normally harmless fungus. In IBS, many types of infection can cause your symptoms to develop. Together with your symptom history lab tests are a powerful tool for delivering you a truly personalized wellness plan.
Undiagnosed food sensitivities can be major. Food sensitivities are hard to pinpoint because it can take up to 48 hours for symptoms to manifest. The two most common symptoms involve your brain and your energy levels. Brain symptoms can include anxiety, mood issues, and brain fog. If you have IBD you will not be digesting a certain type of sugar (in many healthy foods) called a disaccharide. This is often also the case in IBS. The undigested disaccharide sugar can’t be absorbed into your bloodstream to give you energy. It lingers in your bowel and becomes food for harmful microorganisms. The toxins they give off damage your bowel. It becomes too permeable. Now undigested foods and toxins spill into your bloodstream. Your immune system reacts – causing inflammation and symptoms. Now you are starting to develop a food sensitivity. Some of the most common food sensitivities are foods that are hard to digest. Soya, egg, milk protein, and an array of grain-based proteins are collectively termed gluten.
High meat low veg low fruit diets correlate with IBD (both Crohn’s disease and colitis). In IBS the picture is a little different as certain vegetables can make matters worse until you’ve resolved the underlying infection or imbalance in gut bacteria. High meat diets impair the production of two very important families of bacteria you need for perfect bowel health. Bifidobacteria and lactobacillus. Who knew??
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Yes, viral infections can cause Crohn’s and ulcerative colitis!! When you get infected with a virus it never ever leaves you. It remains (hopefully) latent inside forever. In the event, your body has a big challenge the viruses can reactivate. You see this in cold sores. And in the reactivation of Epstein Barr virus which is seen in the majority of long covid sufferers. Why do viruses reactivate? It’s due to you being under metabolic stress. Something as simple as wiping out your good gut bacteria with a necessary course of antibiotics can do it. This is because 70% of your immune cells live in your gut! The good news is that you can get viruses back into latency so they are not harming you. I did this with a collection of viral infections that had kept me ill for 8 years.
The cytomegalovirus can cause uveitis (an inflammatory eye condition) AND inflammatory bowel disease. I first saw this in a patient a couple of years back who had come to me with Crohn’s AND uveitis. Alarm bells rang immediately. I use Elispot and cutting-edge PCR testing to check for viruses when relevant. Even if you’re on immunosuppressant medication the Elispot test works.
Some other complications of cytomegalovirus can include hearing loss, vision loss, seizures, lack of coordination, immune suppression, hepatitis, inflammation of your retina, pneumonitis, oesophagitis, high blood pressure, polyradiculopathy, transverse myelitis, subacute encephalitis, heart disease, and aortic aneurism.
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This is my current favourite way to use tofu or tempeh. I adapted it from Ottolenghi’s more complex recipe. My husband is a tofu-hater so when he disappears for a few days I always cook this. Keep in mind that unfermented soya products contain digestion-blocking proteins that damage your gut. So DO make sure to buy the fermented forms for this dish: tempeh or fermented tofu (it will say on the pack).
If you don’t have a small-bowl food processor, chop the chili finely, crush the garlic and use a pestle and mortar to bash the caraway seeds about as much as you can before mixing with the other spices and oil.
For 2
This is gorgeous served with cauliflower/broccoli “rice”, konjac noodles or brown basmati rice.
350g trimmed French (or use runner beans cut in 6cm bits)
Salt and black pepper
200g non-GMO tempeh or fermented tofu, cut into bite size cubes
A few sprigs of dill (small handful), destalked and roughly chopped
Small handful fresh coriander, destalked and roughly chopped
For the sauce:
4 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
1 green or red chili, deseeded (optional)
2 slightly rounded tsp sweet paprika
1 tbs caraway seeds
1.5 tsp ground cumin
½ level tsp ground Ceylon cinnamon
2 tbs + a little extra avocado oil or extra virgin olive oil
3 tbs tomato puree
250ml water or leftover vegetable-steaming water (full of nutrients!)
Optional: 1 heaped tsp honey or non-toxic sweetener e.g. Dr Coy’s Stevia Erylite or xylitol (from good health stores)
2 limes
Black pepper
Himalayan or sea salt
For the sauce put the garlic, spices, chili and 2 tbs oil in the small bowl of the food processer and blitz to a thick paste. You might need a touch more oil to bring it together.
Heat a pan on a medium heat and add a teaspoon more of avocado/olive oil and stir fry the garlic-spice mix for 30 seconds.
Then add the tomato puree, 250ml water and bring to the boil.
Stir in the honey or non-toxic sweetener, lime juice, generous pinch (1/4 a level tsp) salt and a few good grinds of black pepper.
Add the tempeh, turn down the heat, cover and simmer while you prep the green veg.
Steam the French/runner beans for around 2-3 minutes until the colour changes very slightly and they are softened but still have a bit of crunch.
Finally, just before serving, stir the herbs into the tofu and sauce, pile on top of your rice and enjoy.
Serve with:
Low carb: Cauliflower or broccoli rice https://www.annacollins.ie/cauliflower-rice/ or konjac noodles from Asian stores.
Medium carb: brown basmati rice cooked with a generous pinch of turmeric
Why this is good for you:
Spices are a powerhouse of antioxidants that help rebalance your gut bacteria in favour of the good guys. The good guys helps digest your food, repair and maintain your gut lining every minute of every day, and reduce inflammation in you. This has massive implications for your immune system, your gut health and even your mood. Yes, anxiety/depression states always involve brain inflammation. Type the name of just one spice into medline (the scientific journal resource) and you’ll find hundreds of peer-reviewed scientific studies.
This is another fantastic and quick recipe by Chetna Makan. Again I’ve taken out the toxic refined cooking oil and swapped in the better-for-you coconut oil. I’ve also added onions to bulk it up and add even more goodness for your long-term health. I’ve increased the quantity of sauce too, as I love sauce.
For 2
200ml natural full fat yoghurt (for SC diet use home made full fat kefir or 24-hour SCD yoghurt)
1/2 level tsp Himalayan/sea salt
1 tsp garam masala
½ tsp ground turmeric
½ level tsp chilli or (the milder) cayenne
2 large garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
300g boneless, skinless chicken thighs, cut into 3cm pieces
1 onion, finely sliced or chopped
1 tbs virgin coconut oil
1 tsp cumin seeds
2 tomatoes, thinly sliced
20g fresh coriander leaves, roughly chopped (a handful of whole coriander will give you enough).
1.Mix the yoghurt/kefir, salt, spices and garlic in a bowl. Add the chicken pieces, turn until well coated, then leave to marinate while you prepare the curry base. If you are planning ahead you can marinate these in the fridge overnight too.
2.Heat the oil in a pan and add the onion and cumin seeds, a splash (about 1 tbs) of water, cover with a lid or plate and cook over a medium heat for five minutes,until softened, translucent but not brown.
3.Add the tomatoes, then the marinated chicken and any excess marinade, mix well, then bring to a boil, cover and cook over a medium to low heat for 15 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked through. Sprinkle with the coriander.
Serve with :
Low carb/SC diet: 2 cups broccoli rice per person or 1 cup cauliflower rice and 1 cup steamed greens per person.
This is DELICIOUS, and simple and fast at 15 mins cook time. Had it for dinner last week and SO enjoyed its warming aromatic spices. I swapped out the refined cooking oil in the original recipe by Chetna Makan for healthier virgin coconut oil which doesn’t mess with your metabolism. If you don’t like coconut oil you could also use avocado oil or at a push light olive oil. The first 2 oils are healthier.
You’ll find tinned no-added-sugar black eyed beans in health stores and Asian shops.
Serves 4 (I like to make this quantity to have some yummy leftovers for the freezer)
2 tbs virgin coconut oil
2 large onions, peeled and finely chopped
2 big garlic cloves, peeled and grated or crushed
2½cm piece fresh root ginger, peeled and grated
400g tin chopped tomatoes
½ level tsp salt
¼-½ level tsp chilli powder or the milder cayenne (if you don’t like heat, leave out)
1 tsp garam masala
1 tsp ground turmeric
300g chestnut mushrooms, thinly sliced (white button mushrooms will do)
400ml tin full -fat coconut milk (organic brands, especially if you have any digestive issues at all)
2 x 400g tins black-eyed beans, drained and rinsed (or make your own – soak overnight 200g black eyed beans and boil hard until tender).
1.Heat the oil in a pan, add the onions, 2 tbs oil and a tablespoon of water. Cover with a plate or lid (or tinfoil) and cook on medium heat until softened, translucent and no longer crunchy.
2.Add the garlic and ginger, cook for a minute, then pour in the tomatoes and cook on a low to medium heat for five minutes.
3.Stir in the salt and ground spices, followed by all the remaining ingredients, stir well and bring to a boil.
4.Cover, then leave to cook on a medium heat for 15 minutes. (If you have more time, cook it over over a lower heat for 30-40 minutes.).
Serve warm with:
SC Diet: squash wedges sprinkled with curry powder and roasted in the oven + 2 cups steamed greens per person – nice ones are broccoli, runner/green beans or cabbage/spring greens.
Medium carb: ½ cup cooked brown basmati rice (avoid for SC diet) + 2 cups steamed greens per person – nice ones are broccoli, runner/green beans or cabbage/spring greens.
Low carb (SC diet-friendly): broccoli rice or cauliflower rice (available frozen in supermarkets). Super simple how to cook instructions at https://www.annacollins.ie/cauliflower-rice/
Why this is good for you: Beans are a good source of protein while spices are powerful anti-inflammatories. Spices modify your gut bacteria in favour of the good, useful ones that control every (and I mean every) aspect of your health. Spices are more antioxidant gram for gram than any fruit or vegetable. Small quantities pack a powerful punch. Did you know that 1g turmeric twice a day is shown to reduce acid reflux (heartburn). Herbs and spices now have thousands (or maybe tens of thousands) of scientific studies confirming their actions on the human body. Whats not to like? A more interesting range of flavours in your meals AND massive benefits to your present and future health – digestive, mental, immune and so much more…
I made this last weekend for a new gluten-free stollen recipe I was working on and wow its delicious. So was the Stollen just posted on blog now. The jam recipe comes from www.gimmesomeoven.com and it’s a good one. I swapped out the syrup for lower sugar sweetening options.
2 cups fresh or frozen fruit (see suggestions below)
2 tablespoons chia seeds
1 tablespoon freshly-squeezed lemon juice
Extra sweetness (only if needed): a few drops of pure stevia glycosides or some monk fruit extract, honey or erythritol (from www.pureandnatural.ie or www.iherb.com).
Heat fruit in a small saucepan over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, until the fruit is heated through and begins to break down and bubble. Use a spoon or potato masher to mash the fruit to your desired consistency.
Stir in the chia seeds and lemon juice until combined. Then taste, and stir in some of your chosen sweetener if needed.
Remove from heat and let cool for 5 minutes. (The jam will thicken considerably as it cools.)
Give the jam one final good stir. Then serve immediately, or transfer to a sealed container and refrigerate for up to 1 week, or freeze for up to 3 months.
Fruits that work well in chia jam:
Berries (strawberries, blackberries, blueberries, raspberries), cherries, peaches, apricots, plums, pineapple, kiwi…basically any “juicy” fruits. But bear in mind that very sweet fruits like pineapple and kiwi contain a lot of sugars so eating large amounts isn’t so great.
Optional add-ins:
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
lemon zest (to make your jam a little more tangy)
a pinch of spices (such as cinnamon, ginger, or nutmeg, etc.)
Why this is better for you: I’m almost embarassed to say this because it’s so obvious but most jams are loaded with sugar. Sugar as an ingredient added to food lowers your immune system, raises inflammation and can massively contribute to obesity. Standard jams are at least 45% added sugar while the “no added sugar” ones are sweetened with fruit juice concentrate. Although less refined, these jams are still a massive sugar dump into your system, which raises inflammation, slows detoxification and has other unwanted effects. Raw fruits (rich in vitamin C) are more nutritious than cooked but sometimes it’s just nice to have jam. When wet chia seeds swell and emit a gel which is rocket fuel for friendly gut bacteria. Friendly bugs are important for ALL areas of your health – mood, immunity, even blood pressure and mental clarity. Enjoy…
