cooking with nothing

Lentil stew with fresh greens

I’m transitioning into food combining at the moment, which requires a complete mental shift. Luckily I’m well and truly used to major mental shifts after undertaking years of elimination diets to try and rid myself of digestive issues. Everything we (or at least, I) ever became accustomed to while growing up is out the window. Eggs on toast? Wrong combo. Roast chicken and spuds? Nope. It’s all about separating out your carbohydrates/starches and proteins, which is what I’m trying to get used to.

While the eggs on toast and chicken and spuds combos are the least of my worries as I’m shifting more and more into an easier-to-digest, vegan-based diet (with a few occasional eggs and MSC-certified fish fillets thrown in for good measure), it’s the daily when-to-eat-what scenario that takes some getting used to. Don’t reach for the roast spuds before you munch down a salad, for example (but the other way around is perfectly okay!).

As a simple rule, things should be eaten light to heavy. This makes complete sense to me, but I debated this topic recently in relation to IBS sufferers here and here. I’m in the process of giving food order and combining a go and my issues certainly haven’t gotten any worse. If anything, they’re improving – even though I’m supposed to prepare myself for a few upsets while my tummy gets used to this new system.

More information about the order in which to eat your foods for optimal digestion and nutrition can be found in Kimberly Snyder’s The Beauty Detox Solution.

Kimberly stresses the importance of raw foods, which I’ve definitely upped the quantity of in my diet recently. There are times, however, when a warming, easy-to-digest meal is most definitely called for. Following Kimberly’s advice, I had something raw beforehand. She recommends a green salad or chewing on some celery sticks. Since this recipe already has celery in it, why not chomp on a few while you’re cooking?

Here’s dairy- and gluten-free, vegan autumn-inspired dish. Leftovers can be blended to make a soup.

Serves two  

• 1/2 cup x lentils
• 1 x bay leaf
• 1 tsp x turmeric
• 1/2 x onion, chopped
• 1 x sweet potato, diced into 2-cm cubes
• 1 x cup of diced (2-cm cubes) butternut squash
• 1 x carrot, diced same as above
• 1/2 x celery stalk 
• 1 TBSP x tamari
• 2 cups x water (or stock, if you prefer) 
• Fresh greens, to garnish

Put the water, lentils and bay leaf in a pot and bring to the boil. Cook for about 15 minutes until the lentils start to soften (but they should still be firm). Add the sweet potato, butternut squash and turmeric and cook for a further 10 minutes. Lastly, add the carrot and celery then cook until tender (another 10 or so minutes). Stir in the tamari to finish and garnish with some fresh greens.

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