Gingerbread makeover
This time last year, when I didn’t know as much about what triggers my IBS, I posted a Christmas recipe for gingerbread with blue cheese and roasted pear. For me, the flavours of gingerbread – cinnamon, cloves and, of course, ginger – really evoke the festive season.
Now that I’ve ruled out dairy and avoid refined sugars, I decided to adapt this delicious treat to suit. Instead of serving it with blue cheese, I’d opt for roasted pears and walnuts.
It’s adapted from a recipe by Heather Van Vorous, author of Eating for IBS. I wrote an earlier post on Heather’s advice here, which is all about the role that soluble fibre plays in managing IBS. She also recommends eliminating red meat, foods high in fat and caffiene, amongst other things. At the time I read her advice, I was reading so much conflicting information that I didn’t know what to believe. But after a few months of trying out different food orders and combinations and unable to shake the last of my symptoms, I decided to give the soluble fibre theory a go. It’s only been one week and I’ve already noticed a huge different. So maybe it is the final missing puzzle piece?!
I’ve mentioned before that the one thing I don’t like about the recommendations in Eating for IBS is the amount of refined carbohydrates like white bread and the mentality towards refined sugars, which are theoretically ‘safe’ (meaning they are unlikely to trigger an attack). The good news is that brown rice and quinoa are also on the safe list, so you don’t need to succumb to the bread brigade to manage your symptoms. In saying that, I have used white flour in the recipe below as I haven’t tested yet whether suitable substituions, such as spelt, trigger my IBS.
I was also a little worried about the reduction in greens and raw foods I seemed to be eating over the week. The good news is, juicing strips vegetables of most of their insoluble fibre, so fresh vegetable juices are also safe for a lot of IBS sufferers, including me thankfully! Adding a bit of ginger makes them even more soothing for the stomach. This means I can supplement a soluble fibre-rich diet with vegetable juices to get more nutrients without the pain and suffering. So, from now on you might see a lot of soluble fibre-based meals but, hopefully, you won’t even notice the difference!
Makes one standard loaf
- 1 1/2 cups x flour (you could use spelt instead of wheat if you prefer)
- 1 1/4 tsp x baking soda
- 1 tsp x ground cinnamon
- 2 tsp x ground ginger
- 1/2 tsp x ground cloves
- 1/2 tsp x ground nutmeg
- 1/8 tsp x ground sea salt
- 1/2 cup x honey
- 10 x fresh dates
- 1/2 cup x freshly squeezed orange juice, strained of any pulp
- 4 x egg whites
- 3 TBSP x coconut oil or olive oil
- 1 1/2 TBSP x freshly grated ginger
- 2 tsp x vanilla
Preheat oven to 175C. Spray a loaf tin with olive oil or rub with coconut oil and set aside. Sift the first 7 dry ingredients into a large bowl and whisk until throughly combined. Add the second batch of 7 ingredients (honey through vanilla) to a food processor and blend until smooth. Add the wet mix to the dry and stir a few times with a wooden spoon, being careful not to overmix.
Pour the batter into the greased tin and bake for 30-40 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack and serve.
