My Food Philosophy

Food is medicine.

There is nothing I believe more strongly than that when it comes to health. Food has the power to cause disease as well as prevent and even cure disease.

In my case food caused me to suffer from severe chronic diarrhea, headaches, skin rashes, fatigue and poor sleep.  When my symptoms were at their worst, I was having diarrhea up to ten times per day. I had to plan my life around the nearest bathroom and had to give up many of the things that I loved like eating out at restaurants, running, and high intensity exercise. I spent many days in bed so sick that I couldn’t even make it out of the house. And unfortunately for me, no physician ever thought that what I was eating could be the cause of my symptoms. They reassured me that I didn’t have Celiac Disease, Crohn’s or Ulcerative Colitis and that I should be thankful for that. Diet was never even considered to be a factor. I had to learn this on my own. And like many things in life, sometimes the biggest struggles that we face become our biggest success stories.

In order to find a way to heal my body I initially turned to the Specific Carbohydrate Diet (also known as the SCD diet). I saw dramatic improvements in my health by changing to that diet. However, SCD wasn’t perfect for me, so since then I have experimented with many other dietary protocols including paleo, the autoimmune paleo (AIP), the gut and psychology syndrome (GAPS) diet and a grain-free low FODMAP diet. What do all of these diets have in common? They are grain free, and focus on wholesome, nourishing ingredients that are free from processing, additives and chemicals. This is the food that my body thrives on, and this is the food that humans were meant to eat. I now eat a paleo diet, with a focus on low FODMAP foods. This seems to be the ideal diet for me. But it took me years of experimentation to figure this out. Because what works for one person doesn’t work for everyone. This is a crucial point. When it comes to food, everyone is individual. There is no prescription, one-size-fits-all diet that works for everyone. What will allow one person to thrive can have devastating results for others. This is one of the reasons why you will never see great “scientific evidence” when it comes to treating diseases with nutrition. It is extremely challenging to study, and there is no profit to be made from treating chronic illness with food. A sad but true fact.

Through this blog I want to show you that healthy food can still be delicious and fun to make and that changing to a grain free or paleo diet really can help your body heal, and shouldn’t feel restrictive. On this site you will find recipes that comply with many different diets. Whether it be paleo, AIP, GAPS, SCD, Whole 30, Vegan or low FODMAP, there is something here for everyone. The one thing that all of my recipes have in common is that they are all paleo and grain free. Because when it comes to chronic disease, I firmly believe that grains are one of the most damaging foods, leading to leaky gut syndrome and systemic illness. If you, or someone you love is suffering from any chronic health condition, or just generally not feeling well, I encourage you to eliminate grains from your diet for at least one month and see if you notice a difference. I can almost guarantee that you will. Beyond that you may need you to eliminate other foods to fully heal, it all depends on the type of illness you have and its severity. I encourage you to read more about the various healing diets out there including the SCD, GAPS and AIP diets and choose the one that seems right for you. And if you have any questions please feel free to contact me. I am always happy to give advice, and I love hearing from readers.