Although the sun is setting later these days in Canada (yay!), it’s still very chilly. Soups are a great way to warm up, get your recommended vegetable intake and fill your belly with a low-calorie, high-nutrient meal.

Thanks to the rice and variety of veggies, this soup is uber hearty. It’s also simple enough to throw together when you’re short on time; just make sure to cook your brown rice ahead of time.

And since it’s short on spice but just flavourful enough with a few herbs, it’s guaranteed to please those who have sensitive palettes!

Steph’s Tasty Garden Veggie & Rice Soup

Makes: a whole pot-full.

Get ready to freeze!

Ingredients

• 2.5 cups brown rice, cooked
• 6.5 cups broth, veggie or chicken
• 1.5 cups filtered water
• 3 garlic cloves, chopped
• 2 small onions, chopped
• 2 stalks celery, chopped
• 2 carrots, peeled and chopped
• 1 zucchini, quartered and chopped
• 1/2 small green cabbage, chopped
• 1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and chopped
• 2 cups cauliflower, chopped
• 1 tsp each dried thyme, marjoram, rosemary
• sea salt and pepper, to taste.

Preparation

1. Place broth in pot (with fitted lid) and bring to a boil.
2. Add veggies and herbs.
3. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover and simmer for 15 to 30 minutes.
4. Add cooked brown rice.
5. Bring soup to a boil again, then reduce heat and let simmer, covered for another 10 minutes.
6. Season soup with freshly ground pepper and sea salt.
7. Enjoy!

If you have digestive troubles you know it can affect every aspect of life. This post outlines the reintroduction phase of an elimination diet so that you can find what foods, if any, are causing your intestinal issues.

So you’ve embarked upon an elimination diet adventure and have been eating only hypo-allergenic foods (here are some elimination diet recipes) to cleanse your system of possibly offending foods. Some of you may have even tried a safe, enlightening 3 day fast to speed up the process like Live Lighter Reader, Jamie.

Now you’re ready to discover the culprits (a.k.a. food sensitivities or intolerances) behind your digestive woes.

Here are steps & a few tips for food reintroduction:

Note: it is highly recommended that you do an elimination diet with a Naturopathic Doctor. They will work with you (based on your individual circumstances) to determine what foods you’ll avoid and how long you’ll need to avoid them. More importantly, they are there for emotional support, guidance and medical supervision.

The big idea behind the reintroduction phase

Pretend you’re a scientist. No, really, we should have as much fun with this as possible! It’s a simple process of elimination. You reintroduce each possible offending food, one-by-one, noting any symptoms so you can determine which foods your body dislikes.

STEP 1: Plan

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Do you have digestive issues and want to learn if food sensitivities or intolerances are part of the problem? If you’re starting an elimination diet adventure and want some ideas for yummy meals and recipes that comply with even the most strictest of elimination diets, then this post is for you!

For your convenience and thanks to reader, Heather, here is a compilation of elimination diet-friendly recipes published here on Live Lighter so far:

1. Outta this World Elimination Diet-Friendly Meal. 5 recipes: Coconut-Almond Crusted, organic Chicken Fingers, Spicy Homemade Mustard Dipping Sauce (or Honey Garlic Dipping Sauce), steamed Garlic Asparagus and Broccoli and Watermelon-Berry Fruit Smoothie.
2. 3 More Yummy and Good on Your Tummy Recipes. 3 recipes: Miller’s Supreme Millet & Veggie Dish, Black Bean Spread and Kinda Like Chocolate Pudding.
3. Elimination Diet Adventures Continued… and More Hypo-Allergenic Recipes. 3 recipes: Organic Chicken with Oregano & Basil Soup, Bitchin’ Black Bean Quinoa Salad and Even MORE like Chocolate Pudding.
4. Elimination Diet Adventures… On Pause. 3 recipes: Cuban Black Bean Dip, Broccoli, Spinach & Sweet Potato Stir-Fry with Coconut Milk and Spicy Stewed Apples.
5. Game On! Elimination Diet Adventures Continue. 2 recipes: Steph’s Easy Broccoli Quinoa and Steph’s Roasted Garlic Black Bean Dip.
6. Berry Guava Elimination Diet-Friendly Froozie.
7. 3 Allergy-Friendly Recipes. 3 recipes: Steph’s Zesty Black Bean Dip, Steph’s Yummy Lamb Dish and Elimination Friendly Rice Pudding.
8. Smoky Chickpea Stew.
9. Fresh Basil & Black Bean Quinoa Salad.
10. Warming Chickpea Stew.
    
11. Green Detox Blender Meals. 19 recipes in 6 posts. These blender meals add variety to your elimination diet, help you cleanse your system of offending foods faster and more thoroughly and will give you a break from cooking and cleaning.

Please note that some of the above listed recipes have been reproduced or inspired by those found I’ve found in 2 amazing recipe books:

• The Vital You’s Ultimate Holistic Cookbook.
• CCNM’s Brown Rice Cookbook.

These recipe books are FULL of many more recipes for you to enjoy and alter to suit your tastes and/or particular elmination diet. Unfortunately, their cookbooks are for sale in person only. Please contact them and request that they sell their books online!

So there’s 42 recipes for you to try while you’re on your elimination diet. Good luck and as you discover/create other elimination diet recipes, we’d love to have you share your allergy-friendly recipes with us!

The hot summer days are upon us and our bodies are craving light, cooling foods. Let’s celebrate salad season with a recipe!

Created recently, this one was a BIG hit with everyone who tried it. Since quinoa (see pic) is an easy-to-digest grain, it’s especially delightful for those with digestive issues.

Please come back and let us know how you like it once you’ve tried it:

Fresh Basil & Black Bean Quinoa Salad

This recipe was inspired from The Vital You’s “Quinoa and Black Bean Salad” (very different BUT equally yummy) found in the Ultimate Holistic Cookbook:

1 cup quinoa, rinsed
2 cups water, filtered
¼ cup fresh basil, chopped finely
4 green onions, chopped
2 tbsp cold-pressed virgin olive oil
2 tbsp rice wine vinegar
1 can black beans, rinsed
sea salt and pepper, to taste

Quinoa Preparation:

1. Put quinoa in a small pot and pour tap water over grains. Swish grains around with your fingers. Strain water and loose debris down sink. Repeat again, one to two more times.
2. Combine rinsed quinoa with filtered water and a dash of sea salt. Bring to boil, lower heat to minimum, cover pot and simmer for 20 minutes.
3. Let cool.

Salad Preparation:

Mix cooled quinoa with rest of ingredients. Enjoy!

This recipe was inspired by a good friend of mine (Happy Birthday, Denise!) and Jackie Yurko’s Warming Chickpea Stew. This very impressive, robust and lip-smacking stew is absolutely perfect for a cold winter’s day.

Smokey Chickpea Stew

Ingredients:

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The last few days here in Ontario were absolutely beautiful – it was like springtime! Today the temperature drops back down to normal temperatures and winter will be knocking at our doors once again.

To help prepare, I’ve tried this elimination diet friendly, allergen-free, vegetarian and vegan recipe full of protein and great taste. This time I chose the cashew butter rather than the almond spread, and used beef broth this time. Next time I’m going to mix it up a bit and would prefer it to be a little spicier.

It was a hit with the hubby and the crew at work. I’ve shared this recipe with several people already. But why believe me and my folks?

Check it out for yourself:

Warming Chickpea Stew

Ingredients:

4 cups vegetable stock or water
1-2 onions, chopped
4 cloves of garlic, minced
2 med sized yams, diced
2 cups additional vegetables (cauliflower, broccoli, zucchini, carrot…)
2 cups green kale, chopped
1 cup chickpea, cooked
½ cup brown rice, cooked
¼ tsp sea salt
¼ cup cashew or almond butter
2 tbsp lemon juice, freshly squeezed
¼ cup tamari
1/8 tsp chili powder
1 tbsp olive oil

Directions: Read the rest of this entry

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If you’ve been following Live Lighter, we’ve been on an elimination diet adventure. It’s a diet designed to help you find foods that irritate your digestive system because you’re either allergic to or sensitive to them. These foods include gluten, 3 types of nuts, dairy, sugar, nightshade veggies, soy, shellfish and catfish, several fruits, corn, caffeine, alcohol, and certain meats.

That list doesn’t leave much left! Even in my Allergy-Free recipe books, there are recipes that include several items on the “to avoid” list, like tomato or eggplant (both from the nightshade family) or lemon and limes (citrus fruits – not allowed). This makes creating tasty meals quite the challenge, let me tell you!

So I thought I’d share some of my recipes that I’ve found or created since I’ve been on this very restrictive diet. Even if you’re not on an elimination diet, these recipes are very healthy and extremely easy to digest – as long as you don’t wolf them down.

Here are 3 allergy-free recipes to try out:

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With eliminating soy and milk products from my diet, my morning smoothies haven’t been the same. I just love the thickness and smoothness that yogurt and flavoured soy beverage lend these delicious, healthy, easy-to-digest protein breakfast drinks.

However, I found a fabulous substitute! It’s guava nectar (although, I’m sure any fruit nectar will do). It’s extremely flavourful and compliments the other frozen fruit in the smoothie…er, I guess it’s called a froozie without the milk derivatives.

Check it out and let us know what you think!

Berry Guava Elimination Diet-Friendly Froozie

Ingredients

1 ½ cups Europe’s Best 4-Field Berry Mix (straw, rasp, blue & blackberries)
½ cup guava nectar
½ serving Ruth’s hemp protein powder
½ cup filtered or spring water (to desired thickness)

Directions

Add ingredients to blender and blend until smooth.

Nutritional Info

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Earlier this year, my Naturopathic Doctor suggested that I try an elimination diet to help find the source of my digestive problems. To recap, an elimination diet eliminates all foods known to cause allergies or food sensitivities.

Eating hypo-allergenic foods gives your digestive tract a chance to heal itself. It also cleanses your body of offending foods so that it becomes more sensitive to detecting them. After a specific time (TBD by your doc), you slowly reintroduce foods you eliminated and note any reactions.

It’s a strict diet and I had troubles sticking to it in the Spring, so I decided to put it on hold for the Summer. It’s Fall now and since I’m trying to conquer my addictions, I thought I might as well do it all at once. I have a plan to completely cleanse my system, eliminating cravings for addictive substances and any possible foods causing me trouble.

There aren’t a lot of elimination diet-friendly recipes out there, so I’d like to share some recipes that I have in different print sources, some adaptations to them, and even some that I’ve created myself! Here are a couple to try, even if you’re not on an elimination diet. They are super healthy, nutritious and very yummy. Read the rest of this entry

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It’s been awhile since we had an elimination diet adventure post. Several weeks ago, I started the stage that I was most excited about, food reintroduction. It’s the phase of the elimination diet where you slowly and methodically begin eating the foods that may have been causing our bodies to react negatively.

This part, while fun, has also been very challenging. It’s basically a scientific test and I’ve found that it requires a lot of attention, planning and determination. This is how it’s supposed to go down:

1. Continue eating hypo-allergenic foods from the elimination diet.
2. Take one day and eat 2 – 3 servings of a possibly offending food, e.g. eggs.
3. Note any digestive disturbances throughout the day.
4. Wait 1-4 days and choose another food to try, repeating the process until you’ve tried all possibly offending food groups (wheat, gluten, dairy, eggs, soy, sugar and nightshade).

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