As the seasons change and the days grow colder I tend to spend more time in the kitchen than the warmer months. The warmth of the oven provides a kind of comfort that somehow previously seemed stifling in the August heat. It’s officially soup season! 

I adore soup season, it is the most comforting nourishing time of year, and while I am a summer girl through and through, I cannot deny that there are few things more satisfying that a good pot roast, or creamy soup. It’s the perfect blend of food for the soul, and fuel for the body. 

So with a season of heavy cooking upon us, soups stews, thanksgiving dinner and more, I’ve decided to break down my kitchen essentials, ingredients and tools that I can’t live without that help define my dishes in their signature way. It’s less extensive than you might think, I’m a simple person at heart. While there are some things that make my kitchen feel like home, such as my pasta maker and my ravioli stamp, they’re things I can live without. However, there are things that I try to incorporate into the kitchens of my loved ones wherever I go so I can recreate the magic. 

Some of these things have to do with my cooking techniques but even more, most of these items are designed so I can recreate the food I usually make with the same health benefits I implement at home. 

Kitchen gadgets

A decent chef’s knife: 

A good chef is nothing without a good knife, right? I don’t think there’s actually a saying like that but I feel someone somewhere has said it before. I don’t bring my knife with me everywhere I go (although I do bring it to Airbnbs when traveling). If someone has a decent chef knife, I can work some magic at a rather efficient pace. A good chef’s knife makes chopping much easier.

A wooden cutting board: 

This is also one that I bring with me when I travel to an airbnb. This may seem a bit much but I’m not a fan of microplastics, and all four of the kitchens I cook in regularly have a stock of wooden cutting boards that I reach for before I ever grab plastic. Generally speaking, a wood cutting board is better for your knife than plastic, and the wood cutting boards have antimicrobial properties. Cutting on a plastic cutting board produces microplastics that are scraped up while cutting food. I prefer my food without the side of microplastics! A good wooden cutting board can be easily sanded and refinished, and will last for years to come.

Cast iron pan: 

If I was a cartoon character and I had an accessory that I carried around with me everyday, it would be a cast iron pan. Very rarely do I cook in anything but a cast iron pan because I can rarely think of a time when it is prudent. Boiling water for pasta perhaps, and on some occasions I will use a stainless steel pan for sauteing but other than that it’s cast iron.

I will not be caught dead cooking on a non-stick teflon pan. If you’ve been living under a rock and don’t know the health consequences of cooking on a teflon pan, the information is readily available on the internet. The chemicals in forever teflon pans cause cancer, and disrupt your hormones amongst other health problems and can flake off and make their way into your food. 

A well seasoned cast iron pan is a thing of beauty, and I use it to my advantage. I’ve gifted some, and made sure that there is a cast iron pan in each house that I cook in regularly. Cast iron pans are so versatile. A cast iron pan can be passed down and well loved for decades to come. 

Instant pot:

An instant pot is not necessary for success, but it is always nice to have when I’m cooking rice or beans or a stew. Instant pots cook much faster, and are more consistent for rice, and can cook a stew in a third of the time. I will bring my instant pot with me on vacation for ease of cooking certain things. It also has a stainless steel pot so it’s one less teflon pan I have to worry about. 

Metal spatula: 

I always prefer metal to plastic or silicone, it’s sturdier and typically lasts longer. With a cast iron or stainless steel pan you never have to worry about a metal spatula damaging your pan. 

Spices and seasonings

The herbs and spices in your food make or break the dish. Really, to make a good dish you don’t need much. You can make an amazing dish with a high quality sea salt, pepper, and garlic if you have high quality food. While a large variety of spices is something everyone should come to aquire, we’ll stick the basics for now.

Black pepper:

High quality, organic pepper corns in a pepper grinder. Need I say more?

Red pepper:

Red pepper is a simple easy seasoning to keep on hand. It can elevate the flavor of any dish beyond your basic black pepper, and add a mild kick. The flavor of red pepper is fairly neutral making it a good option to add spice to a variety of different cuisines. 

Himalayan pink sea salt:

I do my best to only cook with Redmons real pink himalayan sea salt. Other pink himalayan sea salt works. Redmons is generally the highest quality 

Garlic:

Fresh NOT POWDERED garlic is essential for elevating most dishes beyond your basic salt and pepper, and it’s so good for you. Rather sliced, minced, or grated, it can add flavor to the most basic of dishes like eggs and rice. 

Handy kitchen staples

Avocado oil:

I use avocado oil for almost everything. If I had to pick only one oil to use it would be avocado oil. It’s better than olive oil for cooking things at a high heat, and has a neutral enough flavor that it can be used in sauces and salad dressings in a pinch. For this reason it’s the oil that I bring with me when I travel and I use it for everything from frying eggs, to sauteing vegetables, to making roasts. 

Eggs:

I eat eggs every day. Eggs can elevate a simple dish with ease. A well seasoned brown rice with sauteed vegetables is made much better (and more filling) with a fried egg on top. A couple of scrambled eggs and some good vegetables can make a great breakfast or lunch as well. Not to mention they’re frequently used for baking. I say any good cook should do their best to find good local sourced eggs. You’ll never be sorry. 

Tapioca flour:

I use tapioca flour for dredging before frying, thickening sauces, baking, and even dry shampoo when I’ve been without (irrelevant to cooking but it comes in handy on vacation!) For health purposes I generally try to keep my meals gluten free, and having tapioca flour on hand can be the difference between keeping a meal gluten free and resorting to using regular flour to thicken a sauce. I made southern-approved fried green tomatoes, and fried okra with a cornmeal and tapioca flour mixture, and fried chicken that was eaten by even the pickiest of eaters, all gluten free.

Acids: 

Acids have saved my life in many recipes. Oftentimes you may think a dish needs salt, when really what you need is an acid. I’ve learned this through much trial and error, but generally speaking, when you taste your food, the salt will be at the forefront of your taste, and the acid flavor will be in the after taste. If you need acid in the dish, you may feel the dish is lacking depth in the after taste. This is easily fixed by adding Lemon juice, lime juice, balsamic vinegar white vinegar, or apple cider vinegar. You can also use vinegars to deglaze your pan. While any one of these acids will work in a pinch, typically the type of acid that you use will depend on the type of dish but most commonly I use lemon juice or balsamic vinegar. 

This is only a short list of the things I keep on hand regularly to impress dinner guests, or even just make a comfort meal for myself, but these are some of my best kept tips to success when it comes to how I cook my food. Of course there are many more spices, herbs, and staples I keep on hand, the actual ingredients I use commonly could be a whole separate list. However, if you don’t have these basics on hand, they are good ones to start with. 

Sourdough bread has become all the rage in recent years amongst the homesteading community, and beyond and while I myself just jumped on the trend about 5 years ago, the practice of making bread with a sourdough starter has been around for thousands of years. 

If you’re not familiar, sourdough bread is bread that is proofed with a fermented starter culture that consists of bread and water. The natural bacterias and yeasts in the starter allow the bread to rise without the use of commercial yeast. 

Many people procure sourdough starters from a friend, or even order them online. Some people have starters that have been passed down for generations and are many years old. Sourdough starters are living thing, so they do require some care to survive but it’s not as hard as it may seem. 

If you don’t want to order a sourdough starter online, or you don’t know someone who has a starter to share, you can make your own, although this can be a little tricky. 

If you are interested in making your own sourdough starter, start by mixing together equal parts of flour and water by weight, 100 grams is good to start with, then mix until a paste forms. Cover your starter loosely with a towel or a lid (not screwed on) and leave it out at room temperature. If it’s cold out, you may want to leave your starter in the oven (without turning it on) to help encourage faster rising.

The next day feed your sourdough starter again, equal parts water and flour by weight, this time 50 grams instead of a 100. Leave it covered for another day.

On day three you’ll feed your starter the same amount, 50 grams of water, and 50 grams of flour but this time you’ll discard half of your starter prior to feeding, so you don’t end up with too much starter.

Repeat this process of discarding and feeding everyday for a week at least, or until your starter begins to form bubbles and doubles in size in between feedings. In certain climates this can take more than two weeks.

I did not have much luck trying to make my own sourdough starter recently but it was the dead of winter in Michigan and I think it may have been too cold for my starter to survive, and grow. So, on the quest to find an active sourdough starter I set out on Facebook market place to find someone local in the area who had an active sourdough starter they were willing to share. 

I found one, and we’ve been going strong ever since. I’ve had several sourdough starters in the past, some stronger than others but I’ve always unfortunately killed them for some reason or another. 

This is probably the longest I’ve kept one alive, and she is thriving! I’ve even been fortunate enough to share some of my starter with some of my friends and family- the inspiration for this article. 

So you’ve acquired a sourdough starter, how do you keep your sourdough alive? 

Your sourdough needs to be fed regularly to stay alive and active. Your frequency of feedings depends on how often you bake, and where you keep your starter. If you bake every day or every other day, you will probably want to keep your start out at room temperature. If you only bake once a week or even less, you can keep your sourdough starter in the fridge. This will allow you to go more time between feedings. You can keep your starter in the fridge for several weeks without feeding and it will still survive. Your starter will be its most active bubbly self at room temperature, so when you are planning to bake, plan ahead by pulling your starter out of the fridge and feeding it 12 hours before you bake (times may vary depending on the season and how hot is. You may only need 6 hours in the summer, and maybe more in the winter) 

Typically when you feed your sourdough you’ll want to discard any excess starer prior to feeding. You can compost this extra starter or you can save it in a separate jar and use it to make sourdough “discard” recipes. Sourdough discard is inactive sourdough starer so it doesn’t provide the same kind of rise as a regular sourdough starter, because it’s inactive it also doesn’t break down the gluten the same way your regular starter will, but you can still make some great stuff with it. However, if you don’t want to waste, or you worry about not being able to use up a whole jar of discard you can eliminate this step with a little strategic planning in your feeding. 

You can save just enough sourdough starter in-between baking to be able to refeed your starter so that it grows enough to bake just what you need. I tend to save between 1/4-1/2 cup of sourdough starter after baking each week, and then it goes back in the fridge. When I pull it out to feed it the next week I feed it equal parts water and flour and the quantity of starter that this produces for me is just enough to bake what I need while still saving enough leftover to be fed the next week. This way I use just what I need and I don’t have an excess sourdough starter that has to be thrown out each week, and my jar isn’t overflowing with starter either. 

It may take time to figure out the perfect baking formula for you, but it’s worth the experimentation. 

When it’s time to feed your sourdough starter, you’ll need unbleached, unenriched flour, and tepid or slightly warm filtered water (I like to use warm water in the winter) 

I like to use a kitchen scale, and a kitchen scale is the most tried and true method by most bakers, but it you don’t have a kitchen scale you can use measuring cups. I have done both. 

Weigh or measure out your sourdough starter, if you are discarding some do that first and then weigh out and add it to a jar, bowl, cup, whatever container you like to store your starter in, (I use mason jars) 

Then weigh out equal parts water, and equal parts flour. Mix until combined. You should have a thick paste like texture, like thick pancake batter. If you are measuring rather than weighing, you can use equal parts but you may find your sourdough starter is runny. If this is this case just add more flour. Leave your jar loosely covered (don’t seal it) for 12 hours, or into roughly doubled in size, with large bubbles. Then your starter is ready to bake with! 

How do I know when my sourdough starter is ready to be fed? 

Your sourdough starter should be at its peak after feeding before you bake with it. Large air bubbles, doubled in size. It will be thick in texture with lots of air bubbles, and when you tilt your jar from one side to another it may appear stringy. This is a very active starter.

A starter that is past its peak after feeding will be deflated, and look thin like pancake batter. This doesn’t mean your starter is necessarily hungry, it just means it’s not at its peak for baking. 

When your sourdough starter is hungry you will develop a darkish layer of liquid on the top of your starter. This is called hooch, and it’s produced by the wild yeast in the starter. If this has happened don’t worry! Your sourdough starter is going to be fine. In the fridge your starter can last quite awhile after this point before a feeding, however if your starter is at room temperature, it needs to be fed soon to prevent mold from growing on top. Once mold grows on top it is nearly impossible to get it to stop, and your starter needs to be tossed out. 

If you have a layer of hooch on your starter you can either pour it off, or mix it into your starter before feeding. It can make your sourdough starter even more sour and add a more complex flavor to your bread. 

What kind of flour should I feed my starter? 

There are a ton of different flour brands out there and different options for feeding your starter. The most basic things I look for in a flour are unenriched and unbleached. Enriched and bleached flour is so devoid of natural bacteria and microbes that there really isn’t much of anything for your starter to feed off of. 

Organic flour is better if you can afford it, but not necessary. My favorite brands for regular flour (both organic and non organic) are King Arthur and Bob’s Mills.

Now, if you really want to get into the nitty gritty you may know that our white flour that we bake with is not what flour used to be. The modern wheat crop has been so modified throughout the last several decades that it no longer resembles ancient wheat. So if you’re truly looking for the healthiest bread one can eat, with the best beneficial bacteria and the easiest digestibility, you may want to consider ancient grain flours. 

Spelt and einkorn flour are two of the most popular flours for this purpose. Ancient grain flour is more expensive than regular flour and it does not bake quite the same way. The gluten content in these ancient flours is lower than your modern flour. This produces a less stretchy and elastic dough, as well as a less airy crumb and texture in the bread itself. It’s quite hearty and can be an acquired taste to some, but it actually has a very nutty flavor and a nice depth to it.

This is not for everyone, it’s not the most affordable option, and if you’re new to baking these flours take some time to get use to. They’re not your grandmas flours (they’re your great, great grandmas flours) but if health is of the highest priority, ancient grain flours are the way to go. 

What kind of tools do I need to get started with my bread baking? 

It’s very easy to get caught up in not thinking that you have the right equipment to do the job when in reality, you don’t need all the equipment instagram sourdough influences have. In fact, I’ve even brought my sourdough starter on vacation with me and baked bread in an airbnb without any of my regular equipment. So what do you really need to bake a loaf of bread? 

Measuring cups, mixing bowls, an oven safe pan and potentially an oven safe casserole dish (if your oven safe pan is not a dutch oven) 

The easiest thing to bake your sourdough bread in is a dutch oven. Dutch ovens are deep and trap the steam in the with lid on them which creates air bubbles, and a soft chewy inside during the initial baking process. However, if you don’t have a dutch oven, you can achieve this in other ways. My favorite way to do this at home is to bake my bread in a regular cast iron pan (or oven safe pan) and add a stainless steel mixing bowl on top to act as a lid, and trap in steam. This works great for me and is even easier than a dutch oven in some ways because it’s easier to drop my bread in my shallow cast iron pan, than in the dutch oven. If you’re going to use this method, make sure you’re using stainless steel bowls, or something that is oven safe. 

The other way to bake bread is to add a tray of water on the oven shelf below your bread. This will also create steam for the bread. After 30 minutes of baking, remove the tray of water, just as you would your dutch oven lid, so the crust has a chance to become crispy. 

Dehydrating your sourdough starer

If you’ve been gifted a sourdough starter from someone, or acquired it through some other way and you’re worried about killing it, this is how to preserve a little bit of your stater in case of an emergency. 

Take your active starter and spread a thin layer over parchment paper or silicone baking mats, or a dehydrator tray. If you’re Using your oven, set it to the lowest temp you can and leave your starter in there until it’s completely dry. Alternatively, if you have a dehydrator, you can use that. I set mine to around 145 degrees. 

Make SURE your starter is completely dry before storing. You can break it up into little pieces or even blend into a powder in a blender or food processor. Your starter will keep indefinitely and should something happen to your active starter, you can rehydrate this and have another active starter. It takes between 3-5 days of regular feedings before your starter is back to normal. 

Making your sourdough bread

So your starter is active and bubbly, it’s doubled in size and you’re finally ready to bake your fist loaf of bread. 

Honestly, in my opinion, this is the easy part. There are hundreds of different recipes on the internet for how to make a loaf of sourdough. Bakers more skilled than myself have experimented to find the perfect amount of salt, flour and water for their particular kitchen setting. You could pick any one of them and probably have success if you follow the instructions, and have an active starter. 

This is the recipe I’ve been following over the last few months: Homemade Sourdough bread

If I’m using all ancient grain flour, sometimes I adjust it depending on how the dough is behaving but the reason there are so many different recipes is because everyone’s sourdough starter, and kitchen climate are going to be different. A very old sourdough starter in a very warm climate may not need nearly as much time to rise and develop as a newer starter in a colder climate. For this reason you may even have to adjust your recipes based on season. 

I’ve been baking sourdough bread for five years and really only got consistent (and consistently good) within the last year. It’s not necessarily hard, but it does take time to learn what methods work best for you. 

Making homemade bread that is free of all the preservatives, fillers, and nonsense in conventional grocery store bread, and not having to pay and arm and a leg for it, like you would at the farmers market, is a great way to begin taking steps towards a healthier lifestyle for your family. 

The holiday season is quickly approaching. For many, that means food oriented family time. After chaning my diet, I realized just how food oriented people’s lives are. Often times, this can make visiting family for the holidays somewhat difficult. It can be challenging to eat as well as I want to when I’m surronded by people who don’t understand my lifestyle, and who value different things in food than I do.

That being said, you can still have a traditional Thanksgiving dinner that’s sure to impress your family, without using refined foods.

This year for dinner, I’ll be making the following:

• Turkey 
• Dressing 
• Sweet potato casserole
• Mashed potatoes  
• Green beans 
• Brussel sprouts 
• Cranberry sauce 
• Sourdough bread 
• Brown butter plum pie
• Cranberry crumble pie 
• Apple Sage Gouda pie 

Full disclosure, we don’t eat like this all the time. The recipes included in this article are much better than your traditional Thanksgiving foods, but are not recommended if you haven’t healed your gut! Having a healthy gut full of good bacteria allows you to eat more foods without as many problems. Don’t forget to eat your salads, folks! 

Turkey

Turkey is one of the dirtiest animals we eat. Read this article to learn more about how to shop for meat in a way that benefits both your health and the environment! I highly encourage you to buy a pasture-raised organic turkey from a small local farm if you have the means. 

For the turkey, you’ll need the following ingredients:

• A whole thawed Turkey, between 12-15 pounds
• Salt 
• Pepper 
• Paprika 
• Turmeric 
• Coriander 
• 2 tablespoons of chopped rosemary 
• 2 tablespoons of chopped sage 
• 2 tablespoons of chopped thyme 
• 3 tablespoons of chopped parsley 
• 2 tablespoons of chopped oregano 
• ¼ cup butter 
• 1 quart of chicken stock 
• 4 stalks of celery 
• 4 large carrots 
• 1 large onion
• 4-5 garlic cloves  

Feel free to adjust the quantity of ingredients depending on the size of your turkey. 

Make sure your turkey is completely thawed. Remove the innards and set aside for gravy (if you plan on making gravy). At this point, you can do a salt brine the day before, but it’s optional. 

Chop up carrots celery and potatoes, and put them in your roasting pan before you put the turkey in the pan. I recommend cooking the turkey breast down, to keep the turkey moist. 

Melt your butter in a pan, add your herbs, seasoning, garlic, and onion, 1/2 chicken stock, and sautee. 

Take the liquid from the mixture and inject it into the turkey, and pour the rest over the top. Stuff the herbs and garlic inside the turkey. Pour more chicken broth over the top, about 2 cups. 

Rub the turkey with salt, pepper, and corn starch (corn starch is optional). Put the turkey in the oven at 325 degrees. 

Before the last hour of baking, pull the turkey out and flip it over, At this point, you can rub the turkey down again with a little bit of salt, pepper, and corn starch. Take the juice from the bottom of the roasting pan and inject turkey. Pull the liquid out from the bottom with a turkey baster and set aside for gravy. Your turkey is ready when it reaches an internal temperature of 165. Allow it to rest before carving.

Dressing 

• 2 loaves sourdough bread 
• 3 links Italian sausage 
• 2 onions 
• 5-7 cloves of garlic 
• 4 large carrots 
• 4 stalks of celery 
• 3 teaspoons chopped oregano 
• 3 teaspoons chopped thyme 
• 3 teaspoons chopped sage 
• 1 cup chicken stock
• salt 
• pepper 
• paprika
• turmeric 

Prior to making the dressing, you’ll want to bake two loaves of sourdough bread or buy two loaves of sourdough bread. (For health reasons, we highly recommend making your own.) Start by cutting your sourdough bread into cubes. Lay them flat on a tray and toast them. 

While your bread is toasting, you’ll want to add Italian sausage to a pan on the stove. Chop up your onions, garlic, carrots, and celery. Add your vegetables to your pan when your sausage is about ⅔ cooked. I recommend doing this in a deep cast iron pan. Once you add your vegetables, season with salt, pepper, turmeric, and paprika to taste and add fresh herbs. Add chicken stock and let it cook down with the lid off. Once the liquid has cooked out, add your toasted bread and mix to combine. Add a little more chicken stock depending on the consistency you’re looking for in your dressing. At this point in time, you can bake the dressing in the oven, or make it a day ahead of time, put it in the fridge, and then bake it shortly before the turkey is ready. You can transfer your dressing to a casserole dish or bake your dressing in a cast-iron dish. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.

Sweet Potato Casserole

• 5-6 large sweet potatoes 
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 teaspoons of salt 
• 1 tablespoon cinnamon 
• 1 teaspoon nutmeg 
• 1 teaspoon allspice 
• ½ teaspoon ground ginger 
• ½ teaspoon ground cloves
• 2 tablespoons cream cheese (optional)
• ½ cup of chopped pecans, walnuts, or a mixture of both

Bake sweet potatoes in the oven at 350 degrees until tender. 

Pull your sweet potatoes out of the oven and allow them to cool slightly before peeling them and mashing them in a bowl. After you mash your sweet potatoes, add butter, vanilla extract, and spices. I recommend salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, ground cloves, and ground ginger. You can also add a generous spoonful of cream cheese. If you’re trying to be as healthy as possible, I would skip this step, but it’s a great trick for impressing normal people with your cooking. Mix to combine and then spread your sweet potatoes into a casserole dish. You can top with (or mix in) crushed pecans and/or walnuts. At this point, you can either bake the sweet potato casserole in the oven or put it in the fridge if you want to make it ahead of time and bake it the next day. 

Bake at 350 for 20 minutes. 

Mashed potatoes  

• 8-12 white potatoes (of your choice) 
• 5-6 cloves of garlic 
• ¼ cup butter 
• salt 
• pepper 
• paprika 
• 2 tablespoons cream cheese (optional)

Fill a pot with 8-12 white potatoes, depending on how many people you’re cooking for. Cover with water and boil until the potatoes are tender and bursting out of the skin.

I don’t like to peel my potatoes. It takes 10 times longer to make the mashed potatoes, and I’ve never minded potato skins in my potatoes, but if you prefer them peeled, then feel free to do that.

After your potatoes are cooked, add salt, pepper, paprika, fresh garlic, and butter. This is another case where a generous spoonful of cream cheese will impress your guests, but again, it’s optional. Mix together and mash your potatoes to the consistency you want them to be. Generally, I don’t mind lumps in my potatoes, and I mash by hand. If you cook your potatoes long enough, mashing them by hand shouldn’t be too hard. 

Green Beans 

• 1 pound green beans 
• 3-4 mushrooms, sliced
• 1 tablespoon avocado oil
• 4-5 cloves of garlic
• ¼ cup sliced almonds 
• 2 pieces of bacon, chopped 
• salt 
• pepper
• paprika 

Cook your bacon in a pan. After the bacon is cooked, chop it up and add it back into the pan with avocado oil. Snap the ends of the green beans off and add them to your pan. Add fresh garlic, mushrooms, sliced almonds, and bacon. Season with salt, pepper, and paprika. Sautee until tender.

Brussels Sprouts 

• I pound Brussels sprouts 
• 5 cloves garlic 
• 2 pieces bacon, chopped 
• 1-2 tablespoons of avocado oil 
• ¼ cup feta cheese 
• salt 
• pepper

For extra crispy brussels sprouts, I recommend thinly slicing your brussels sprouts, but you can also halve or quarter them. Cut your brussels sprouts up, add salt and pepper, avocado oil, and bacon. Toss to mix well, and bake until extra crispy (20-30 minutes ar 400 works for me). Shortly before the brussels sprouts are done, pull them out of the oven and add feta cheese crumbles. You can also cook them in a cast-iron pan on the stove or cook them on the stove and finish in the oven. Just baking them is a more hands-free option if you have multiple things to cook at once. 

Cranberry Sauce 

• 12 ounces fresh cranberries 
• Juice from half a lime
• One Satsuma (A tangerine or clementine will do, but satsumas are best) 
• 1 teaspoon of cinnamon 
• Granulated monk fruit to taste
• Salt 

Cranberry sauce is best if you make it the day before. Take fresh cranberries, a satsuma, some fresh lime juice, a little bit of cinnamon, and monk fruit to taste. Blend all the ingredients in a food processor and refrigerate until dinner time. 

Sourdough Bread 

This is my favorite sourdough bread recipe. Read this article to learn more about why sourdough is so much better for you than regular bread. Take your loaf of bread and slice it until to the point where you can fan the bread out, but not so far that you have cut it all the way through. Melt butter in a pan on the stove. Add fresh chopped herbs and fresh garlic. Pour over the bread and put it in the oven to toast. 

Desserts

Obviously, Thanksgiving dinner wouldn’t be complete without pies for dessert, and with my recipes, I promise no one will know they’re sugar-free. I have a couple of secrets to the perfect pie, the first one being the pie crust. I’ve tried gluten-free alternatives and they work okay, but I haven’t been able to achieve that perfect sought-after flakey buttery pie crust using gluten-free flour. The solution? Sourdough pie crust. Instead of using ice-cold water, I use ice cold-active sourdough starter with high-quality organic flour (Bob’s mill all-purpose organic flour if you’re buying from the grocery store). Sourdough breaks down gluten differently than regular yeast bread. Many people with gluten intolerances are able to eat homemade sourdough with little to no problems. Again, this is not a good idea if you haven’t healed the gut. 

The second trick is tapioca starch. I’m pretty sure that most people aren’t new to tapioca starch, but I only came across it relatively recently. Tapioca starch works just like corn starch but it has a slightly sweeter flavor. I add tapioca starch to all my pies.

The third trick is granulated monk fruit. This is what we use instead of granulated sugar, and we use way less than the recipe calls for. If you use high-quality, sweet fruit, you really won’t need much (unless you’re working with something sour like cranberries. Then you might need a larger amount). You can find granulated monk fruit at a health food store if your grocery store doesn’t have it. You may also be able to find it in bulk at Costco.

Full disclaimer, these pies are from the Sister Pie Cookbook. Sister pie is a local bakery not too far from my house that is known for its pies and baked goods. These recipes are tweaked to fit our diet. 

Pie Crust 

Add 2.5 cups of your flour and a pinch of salt (I recommend Bob’s Red Mill organic all-purpose flour) to a bowl, and then add 1 cup of ice-cold butter. Begin to break up the butter and combine the flour and butter with your fingers into smaller pieces, until you have a mixture resembling Kraft parmesan cheese. (This is a tip from my Sister Pie Cookbook. After lots of experimentation, I can confirm that this is the way to achieve the best pie crust.)

Add half a cup of active sourdough starter and mix until combined. Use your hands to bring the mixture together into a dough. Divide the dough into 2 discs. You’ll want to refrigerate this dough for at least two hours or up to two days. If you’re not planning on making pie within 2 days, you can freeze the pie dough. This makes enough pie dough for 1 double-crust pie or 2 single-crust pies. 

These pie recipes call for brown sugar. To make a brown sugar substitute, I mix a teaspoon of molasses into granulated monk fruit. You can skip this step if you don’t want to use molasses, as it is technically a refined sugar. 

Brown Butter Plum Pie

• 1 cup butter
• 1 cup gluten-free flour of your choice (I like chickpea. I don’t recommend coconut flour.) 
• up to ½ cup granulated “brown sugar” monk fruit 
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon 
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 3 pounds of plums (Stanley, Santa Rosa, Early Golden, or plutos plums)
• juice from ½ a lemon
• ¼ tapioca starch
• ⅓ cup of granulated monk fruit (more or less depending on how sweet you want your pie) 
• ¼ teaspoon salt 
• about 2 tablespoons of cream cheese 

I know it isn’t plum season, but we live in a world where you can probably find plums at the grocery store that will do just fine. That being said, the thing that makes this pie so spectacular is the brown butter. I’d never actually used browned butter before making this pie, and have since decided that I never want to use any other sort of butter. 

Before you make the pie, roll out the pie dough into a circle with a diameter of 12-13 inches and fit it into the pie pan. Chill your pie crust in the freezer until you’re ready to bake the pie. 

Start the pie by making 1 cup of brown butter. You can do this a couple of days ahead of time. To make the crumble streusel topping combine 1 cup of gluten-free flour (I generally use chickpea), salt, and up to ½ cup of “brown sugar” monk fruit, and cinnamon. I generally adjust this and use slightly more flour and less sweetener, but it’s a personal preference. Cut the brown butter into cubes and add it to the flour mixture. Break up the butter with your fingers and combine with the flour mixture until you achieve the consistency of wet sand. 

Make the pie filling. Slice the plums and throw them into a bowl. Add lemon juice, granulated monk fruit, tapioca starch, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. Toss to combine. 

Assemble the pie. Spread cream cheese over the pie crust, pour in your pie filling, and top with your crumble. Leave a hole in the top for ventilation. Bake in the oven at 350 degrees, for about an hour, until the topping is golden brown and the filling is bubbling over. Allow it to cool before serving. 

Cranberry Crumble Pie 

• one pie crust
• 1 cup butter
• 1 cup gluten-free flour of your choice (I like chickpea, I don’t recommend coconut flour) 
• up to ½ cup granulated “brown sugar” monk fruit 
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon 
• compote 
• 12 ounces fresh cranberries
• ¼ cup “brown sugar” monk fruit (more or less for personal preferences) 
• 1 teaspoon orange zest 
• juice from half an orange (freshly squeezed) 
• 8 ounces fresh cranberries 
• ½ Bosc or D’Anjou pear, grated 
• ¼ cup tapioca starch 
• up to ¾ cup of granulated monk fruit
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon nutmeg
• ½ teaspoon allspice 
• 1 ½ teaspoon of salt 
• 2 tablespoons of cream cheese at room temperature 

Make the cranberry compote first. Combine cranberries, orange zest and juice, and brown sugar in a pan. While I like my cranberry pie on the tart side, not everyone does, so I always taste test along the way to make sure it’s sweet enough. Cook over medium-low heat until the cranberries begin to burst and then set it aside to cool. 

To make the crumble streusel topping, combine 1 cup of gluten-free flour (I generally use chickpea), salt, and up to ½ cup of granulated monk fruit*. Cut the butter into cubes, and add it to the flour mixture. Break up the butter with your fingers and combine it with the flour mixture until you achieve the consistency of wet sand. 

Make the filling. Combine cranberries, pears, cooled compote, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, monk fruit, and tapioca starch in a bowl. 

Assemble the pie. Spread cream cheese over the bottom of the pie crust, pour in your pie filling, and top with your crumble. Leave a hole in the top for ventilation. Set it in the freezer to rest for 15 minutes then bake it in the oven at 350 degrees for about an hour – until the topping is golden brown and the filling is bubbling over. Allow it to cool before serving. 

Apple Sage Gouda pie 

• 2 discs of pie dough
• 2 pounds of golden apples
• juice from ½ a lemon
• ¼ cup “brown sugar” monk fruit (more or less depending on how sweet you like it) 
• 2 tablespoons of fresh sage 
• ¼ cup tapioca starch 
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon nutmeg 
• ¼ teaspoon ground cloves (optional) 
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons of butter cubed and chilled 

For the apple Gouda pie, I make regular pie crust and add about ⅓ cup of Gouda cheese to the pie dough before I add the sourdough starter.

Cut up the apples and toss with lemon juice in a large bowl. In another bowl, combine monk fruit, sage, tapioca starch, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. Set aside a spoonful to sprinkle over the bottom of the pie crust. Add the rest of the mixture to the apples, and toss to combine. 

Assemble the pie. Sprinkle your monk fruit mixture over the bottom of the pie crust, add your apples, and dot the apple mixture with butter cubes. I like to top this pie with a lattice strip top or the same crumble used in the brown butter plum pie. This article goes into how to do different lattice strips on a pie. Personally, I prefer the thick lattice. It requires the least amount of weaving.

Top with your lattice strips or crumble. Let your pie rest in the freezer for 15 minutes, before baking.

Bake at 450 for about 15 minutes until the pie crust is golden brown (if you topped the pie with dough instead of crumble) and then reduce the temperature to 325. Bake for about an hour, until the juices are bubbling in the center. Allow it to cool before serving. 

Conclusion 

This dinner isn’t gluten-free, or keto. It doesn’t follow any of the specific diet trends that are currently popular. Instead, it focuses on making dinner with the freshest, healthiest ingredients while being as unprocessed as possible. 

This will likely be the healthiest Thanksgiving dinner your guests have ever eaten, but I still wouldn’t recommend this dinner for anyone who hasn’t healed their gut. In preparation for Thanksgiving dinner, I always make sure I’m eating a salad a day and drinking lots of cranberry lemonade.

Sourdough baking is a method of baking that has been around for centuries. We’ve been baking bread, in some form, for thousands of years (at least). The first record we have of the sourdough baking method dates back to around 1500 B.C. in Egypt.

With the use of modern store-bought yeast, sourdough is not as common as it used to be, but it has made quite the comeback in recent years. People have discovered the benefits of sourdough as they discover the problems with regular bread.

I use sourdough starter in much of my baking; I’ve used it to make pie crusts, bread doughs, hamburger buns, and pizza doughs. 

What is Sourdough?

The key ingredient in sourdough bread, what it gives it its texture and sour taste, is the sourdough starter. Sourdough starter is a mixture of flour and water (usually 50/50) that has been fed enough to develop its own collection of yeast, bacteria, and lactic acid. Sourdough starter has its own microbiome made up of bacteria and wild yeast collected from its environment. No two sourdough starters are exactly the same. Each one develops its own unique microbiome that gives it a unique smell and taste. 

Sourdough is also unique from other yeasts in the way it develops the gluten in bread. The wild yeast and bacteria in the sourdough starter begin to digest the gluten in the bread during the fermentation process. The longer the dough ferments and the more it rises, the more gluten is broken down. Many people who have previously had problems with gluten have found that, after fixing the gut, they can occasionally enjoy sourdough bread.

Storebought sourdough bread is not the same as homemade sourdough. When you buy sourdough from the store, you have no idea how long the bread fermented or if it’s even real sourdough. If you do want to buy your bread, I recommend looking at a small local bakery or a farmers market where you can ask questions about the baking process.

I’ve linked my favorite sourdough recipes below and given a brief description of our favorite way to use them.

Artisan Sourdough Bread 

This is the classic sourdough loaf of bread.

I get all of my sourdough recipes from Baking Sense, but generally, I don’t follow an exact recipe. I prefer to experiment. I follow this recipe’s measurements, but usually, I mix up the type of flour I’m using. I like the majority of the flour I use to be all-purpose flour, and then I add a little bit of rye flour, bread flour, or einkorn flour (or a mix of all three). Adding a variety of different flours can add nuttiness to your bread that would be lacking if you just used all-purpose flour.

The most important thing, in my experience, is making sure that your sourdough starter is very active, (the recipe I linked goes over this) before baking. Otherwise, you’ll end up with a loaf that doesn’t properly rise. 

We like to make sandwiches with sourdough bread. Generally, we’ll use whatever we’ve got on hand, but whatever we do, we always throw on lots of different vegetables. I’m a fan of caramelized onions with bacon, greens, tomatoes, mustard, and a fried egg. Homemade pesto is also great on sandwiches or plain on toast. This bread is so good, it doesn’t need much else, though.

Hamburger Buns 

I have not eaten storebought hamburger buns since I made my own for the first time. I can’t imagine going back (not to mention regular storebought buns are terrible for you.) I use this recipe from Baking Sense for my hamburger buns. I just skip the sugar and use goat’s milk instead of cow’s milk.

We don’t eat burgers often, but when we do, we eat organic grass-fed ground beef from a local farm and our sourdough buns. Personally, I like to add caramelized mushrooms and onions on top, with tomatoes, greens, cheese, homemade mustard, and an egg. Eggs are a staple. I’ll put eggs on pretty much anything. 

Sourdough Pizza Dough

I use this pizza dough recipe. I don’t even remember what regular pizza tastes like, but I’m almost positive that it’s terrible compared to our pizza. When we do pizza night, we like to do one pizza with pesto sauce and one with tomato sauce. We’ll top the pizzas with cheese, tomatoes, Italian sausage, fresh basil, purple onions, artichoke hearts, sundried tomatoes, and olives. To each their own when it comes to pizza, but we recommend more vegetables, more variety, and less meat and cheese. 

Sourdough Pie Crust 

Sourdough pie crust is, in my experience, the best pie crust ever. The crust is flakey and buttery, but because it uses sourdough starter instead of water, you end up with a much more flavorful pie crust. I’ve also found that throughout my experimentation with different flours, including gluten-free flours, all-purpose flour still makes the best pie crust. 

Add 2.5 cups of your flour and a pinch of salt (I recommend Bob’s Red Mill organic all-purpose flour) to a bowl, and then add 1 cup of ice-cold butter. Begin to break up the butter and combine the flour and butter with your fingers into smaller pieces, until you have a mixture resembling kraft parmesan cheese (This is a tip from my Sister Pie cookbook. After lots of experimentation, I can confirm that this is the way to achieve the best pie crust.) Then add half a cup of active sourdough starter and mix until combined. Use your hands to bring the mixture together into a dough. You’ll want to refrigerate this dough for at least two hours or up to two days. If you’re not planning on making pie anytime soon, you can freeze the pie dough.

Conclusion

I generally only eat sourdough once or twice a month. It’s a nice treat, but I wouldn’t recommend it every day. If you’re still sick, you should avoid gluten completely until the gut is healed, and then eat it only in moderation.

Learning how to make sourdough bread can be a great way to incorporate more “normal” foods into your diet, while still knowing exactly what’s going into your body. 

I’ve really enjoyed the process of learning how to make sourdough bread and I love sharing it with other people! It’s not only a treat for me, but for others as well. When I cook sourdough for people who don’t eat as healthy as I do, they’re always impressed!

Vitamin C is needed for the immune system, but that is not it’s only claim to fame. Vitamin C is needed for many physiological functions. It is an anti-oxidant. It is a co-factor for eight enzymes, thereby aiding in developing and maintaining scar tissue, blood vessels, cartilage, hormonal stability, biosynthesis of neurotransmitters, and transport of fatty acids into mitochondria.

It’s no surprise that in the middle of a pandemic vitamin C is hard to find. It’s almost always better to get your vitamin C from whole foods, but there’s also a way to make your own whole-food vitamin C supplement that’s probably better than anything you’d find in the store.

Related: How to Make the Healthiest Smoothies – 4 Recipes

Fruits With At Least 50% Daily Recommended Vitamin C

• Papaya (one medium) – 224%
• Strawberries (one cup) – 113%
• Pineapple (one cup) – 105%
• Oranges (one medium) – 93%
• Kiwi ( 1- 1/2 in) – 85%
• Cantaloupe (1 cup) – 78%
• Grapefruit (1/2) – 59%

What may surprise you is the number of vegetables that meet the criteria.

Vegetables With At Least 50% Daily Recommended Vitamin C

• Bell Peppers (1 cup) – 157%
• Broccoli (1 cup) – 135%
• Brussels sprouts (1 cup) – 129%
• Cauliflower (1 cup) – 73%
• Kale (1 cup) – 71%
• Cabbage (1 cup) – 69%
• Bok Choy (1 cup) – 59%
• Parsley (1 cup) – 54%
• Turnip greens (1 cup) – 53%
• Sweet potato (1 cup) – 52%

If you eat well you should be getting plenty of vitamin C. But if you would still like to supplement your diet with extra vitamin C, we recommend not wasting your citrus peels. They’re full of vitamin C! Simply dehydrate them and then grind them up into a powder.

Recommended: How to Eliminate IBS, IBD, Leaky Gut 

Other herbs and supplements you may want to consider for vitamin C include thyme, basil, rose hips and chlorella.

I don’t take a multivitamin but I do use something called Total Nutrition Formula. It’s expensive to buy by the bag but if you can afford the bulk ingredients from Mountain Rose Herbs you can make your own and save lots of money.

Total Nutrition Formula Recipe

With this recipe, a “part” means a measurement by volume and not weight. What volume you use is up to you. All ingredients should be organic or wildcrafted.

Available for purchase on Green Lifestyle Market

• 1 part Alfalfa Grass Powder
• 1 part Barley Grass Powder
• 1 part Wheat Grass Powder
• 1 part Norwegian Purple Dulse Seaweed Powder
• 1 part Beet Root Powder
• 1 part Spinach Leaf Powder
• 1 part Rosehips Powder
• 1 part Orange Peel Powder
• 1 part Lemon Peel Powder
• 1 part Astragalus Powder
• 1.5 parts Spirulina Green Algae
• 1.5 parts Chlorella Broken Cell Algae
• 5 parts Yeast Flakes
• 5 parts Yeast Powder

Related: Homemade Calcium and Magnesium

Remember, it’s not how many nutrients you can get into your system, it’s how many quality ingredients your body can absorb and use.

Combine all ingredients. Mix thoroughly. You may need a dust mask when mixing, as the powders can get into the air and irritate the nose and throat. We mix ours on a patio when there is no wind where we can easily rinse off the mess.

Yeast (both the flakes and the powder) must be non-active saccharomyces cerevisiae nutritional yeast fortified with B12. Which is safe for patients with Candida albicans. Doc wrote, “I added astragalus as it is the #1 herb for balancing metabolism and blood sugar levels. Without changing my diet one iota, I dropped 10 pounds when I added this little goody to the formula. I also upped the spirulina and chlorella 50% each to increase the protein, and mineral intake.”

Most of the ingredients can be purchased at Mountain Rose Herbs. We plan to offer all of these ingredients at Green Lifestyle Market soon as well so that you can make your own without having to go to multiple stores to get ingredients. Use 1-2 teaspoons as a daily addition to any drink.

Not many people are aware that essential oils can be used medicinally both externally (via diffusers, massages, and baths) as well as internally (via food and drink). When we think of cooking with herbs and spices we usually reach for the fresh or dry versions of those ingredients to add flavor and depth to our culinary dishes. Now imagine enjoying those herbs and spices in a concentrated medicinal form that not only provides an intense spectrum of flavor but is packed with different compounds (some of which cross the blood-brain barrier because of their small molecular size) and medicinal properties in which their usage in your cooking will take your food to new healing heights.

A History of Medicinal Use

Ingesting essential oils is not something new and actually dates back to 3000-2500 B.C. and is believed to have been first used in food preparation and preservation by the ancient Egyptians, although there are references that it was used in China and India around the same time, if not earlier.

Related: Understanding Essential Oils: A Complete Guide For Beginners

In terms of healing properties, Dr. Eric Zielinski states that essential oils “combat pathogens (harmful microorganisms), are a source of antioxidants (needed to prevent and cure disease), and have been shown to contain advanced healing properties in addition to cancer cell cytotoxicity amongst other things.” Also, Dr. Jockers points out that, “since essential oils boost and uplift the mood, they can actively alleviate binge eating and unhealthy cravings.”

It is interesting to note, that currently doctors in Europe particularly England, France, and Germany offer their patients a choice between either pharmaceutical drugs or natural essential oils when prescribing remedies for a health condition. That is why essential oils are readily available throughout apothecaries across Europe.

Related: How I replaced Medications with Essential Oils

Already Edible

In the U.S. our food industry uses essential oils in many products ranging from sweets, drinks, and chocolate just to name a few, so as to add intense flavor and strong aroma into the ingredient mixes. Because of their internal usage the FDA has compiled a “GRAS List” for essential oils (generally recommended as safe), whereby the following oils are listed and are considered safe for ingestion: Lemon, Orange, Nutmeg, Black Pepper, Peppermint, Ginger, Mandarin, Sage, Tangerine, Lemongrass, Grapefruit, Fennel, Spearmint, Cinnamon Bark, Oregano, Lime, Dill, Rosemary, Clove, Basil, Geranium, Rose, Rosewood, Cumin, Cardamom, Lemon Myrtle, Tarragon, and Mountain Savory.

Approach With Caution

However, please be mindful that not all essential oils are meant to be consumed internally and you must always double check the oil name, bottle description and label recommendation before using any. Also, not all oils are created equally. Many companies use fillers, pesticides, and methods that do not make the oils safe for consumption. Make sure any oils you intend on using internally are 100% pure, organic, and unadulterated. If you are uncertain about specific brands and oil recommendations, consult with a holistic health practitioner just to be safe.

Related: Fight Cavities and Gingivitis Naturally With Homemade DIY Oral Health

Around this time of year, many people wish to keep their immune systems high; their respiratory, gastrointestinal, cardiovascular systems optimally functioning; and germs, viruses, and bacteria at bay. Below is my favorite original recipe, immune boosting peppermint essential oil tea I like to drink once a week during this time of year. It is great both for your mind and body. It is relaxing, uplifting, immune boosting, weight losing, and stress relieving all in one.

Peppermint Lemon Tea from the Alma Holistic Health Kitchen

Ingredients:

• 1-1.5 cups of distilled water, boiled
• 2-3 teaspoons of raw unfiltered wildflower honey
• 2 drops of food grade, 100% pure Peppermint essential oil
• ¼ frozen lemon grated
• ½ fresh squeezed lemon juice

Bring distilled water to a boil. In a ceramic mug, place honey, essential oil, grated frozen lemon, and lemon juice. Add the hot water to the ingredients in mug and stir. Cover with a small plate for 3-5 minutes. Before sipping, inhale the aroma and reap its benefits first via your nose. Then slowly start to drink the tea and cover your body with a warm blanket and relax on a couch or bed. Feel the warmth and light tingle envelope your throat, sinuses, chest, lungs, and body. Take a nap after if you are able to.

Recommended:

• How To Correctly Use Essential Oils To Prevent the Flu and Other Illnesses
• Detox Cheap and Easy Without Fasting – Recipes Included
• Start Eating Like That and Start Eating Like This – Your Guide to Homeostasis Through Diet
• How to Make the Healthiest Smoothies – 4 Recipes
• Holistic Guide to Healing the Endocrine System and Balancing Our Hormones

Sources

• Ingesting Essential Oils: Are They Safe for Internal Use or Not? – Dr. Eric Living the Abundant Life
• History of Essential Oils – Essential Oils Academy
• The Benefits of Cooking With Essential Oils – Dr. Jockers
• About Essential Oils – Essential Oil Cookbook

Does the simple act of reading that word make you squirm? How often do you find yourself squatting on the porcelain throne, tears streaming down your face, as you strain and push, hoping you aren’t giving birth to hemorrhoids or anal fissures? Do you poop several times a day, or do you go days between the urge?

• Healthy Poop

• What is Constipation?

• How to Eliminate Constipation with Diet and Water

• Supplements For Constipation

Are you’re looking for that one thing, that one trick, that one pill that’s going to have you defecating easily without having to change your diet? We highly recommend permanent, well-researched diet changes with lots of raw produce to permanently alleviate constipation, but for those who don’t feel like this is an option, or for those on medications that slow bowel movements, the one you’re looking for is Shillington’s Intestinal Cleanse Formula.

What is Constipation?

Constipation can be defined as having hard, dry, difficult-to-pass stools or by the frequency (or rather infrequency) of passing stools. It can also be indicated by the appearance of the stool and whether the stool is completely evacuated from the rectum after a bowel movement.

You may have heard that it’s within the “healthy range” to have three bowel movements a week or even one a week. We beg to differ. While there will naturally be some variation in frequency, a healthy gut processes food fairly quickly and consistently. A healthy body is efficient when it comes to ridding itself of waste.

Preferably, you want to have a minimum of 1-3 soft, but well-formed, easy to pass bowel movements a day. We contend that the ideal is one bowel movement for every meal. After one eats a meal, the urge for a bowel movement typically comes shortly after food begins to leave the stomach to enter the small intestine. If that sounds like too many, imagine having one bowel movement a week after eating 3 meals a day for 7 days. You’ve been packing that food into your intestines before eliminating any of it. How gross is that? What about 3 day’s worth? That’s still a lot of food waste packed and crammed into your body. Also, when defecation is easy it’s generally very fast. Frequent poopers probably spend less time on the toilet overall than those who need a book to do their business.

Healthy Poop

Healthy poop is well-formed but soft. The Bristol Scale offers a visual of normal stool, constipation, and diarrhea. It’s not always accurate; there are other variables thank can affect density and size, but it’s good to know:

Conventional Relief from Constipation

These methods are just a way to treat the symptoms, not the cause.

Glycerin Suppositories

Glycerin suppositories are tapered pieces of hardened glycerin that are inserted into the rectum. Once inside, body heat melts the glycerin, which provides lubricant to aid in passing the bowel movement.

This seemingly innocuous treatment, which has long been prescribed for babies, may not be as benign as once thought. There are drug interactions, allergic reactions, and other side effects with glycerin, and suppositories are known to weaken the bowel muscles if done repeatedly.

Mineral Oil Enemas

Like with suppositories, there are drug interactions, allergic reactions, and other potential side effects with glycerin.

Other Enemas

Enemas are also known to weaken the bowel muscles if done repeatedly. Body Ecology recommends a variety of enemas to cleanse the colon such as enemas with apple cider vinegar, burdock tea, lemon juice, etc, but we do not recommend regular enemas for health maintenance. Instead, we recommend enemas for acute care only, and we recommend cultivating a healthy ecosystem that does not need to be washed away for health reasons.

Herbal Teas Known to Help with Constipation

• Spearmint Tea
• Senna Tea
• Dandelion Tea
• Licorice Root
• Black Tea
• Peppermint
• Burdock Root Tea
• Green Tea
• Clove Tea
• Tulsi Tea

Exercise

Exercise is crucial to physical health, and it may also help alleviate your constipation. If you are a couch potato, get up and move. Walk, swim, rebound, squat, get moving. If you can squat, squats can help alleviate constipation and other issues as well. If you can’t squat try laying on the floor, getting up off the floor, lying back down, and repeating while alternating how the legs are used. And of course, there’s yoga! meet Adrian. Then follow her on YouTube and do her 30-day challenge. It’s life-changing. A few weeks later and you will love her and you’ll love yourself for doing it.

Eliminate Chronic Constipation For Good

The two most common causes of constipation are the two things most easily remedied – dehydration and a poor diet. If you want to rid yourself of constipation, you must drink enough water, and you must eat a diet filled with real food, optimally, a diet consisting of 80% fresh, raw, organic produce. Yes, real food, not processed garbage out of a box, a can, a jar, or a plastic tray you pop in the microwave. Ok, maybe it’s not an “easy remedy.”

The Constipation Elimination Diet

The recommended daily intake of water varies with gender, age, and other factors including how much raw produce a person eats. Check out this article at Healthline for more on water intake. An additional way to increase your fluid intake is drinking by cranberry lemonade throughout the day. Cranberry lemonade will also help you detox your liver and kidneys, boost your immune response, and improve all major bodily functions.

Raw produce provides the fiber and bulk to create healthy stools, and it provides the fiber needed for a healthy gut. Beneficial gut bacteria thrive when 80% of your diet is made up of raw, organic, produce. And a healthy gut is essential for overall health, proper digestion, and proper elimination.

If you think the 80% number sounds too difficult, eat one super salad each day filled with a variety of vegetables. Your body will thank you. Not only will you be filling your body with nutrient dense foods, you will be naturally detoxing on an ongoing basis through the food you eat. And in between meals, eat a piece of fresh, raw, organic fruit. For more on diet:

• Detox Cheap and Easy Without Fasting – Recipes Included
• Start Eating Like That and Start Eating Like This – Your Guide to Homeostasis Through Diet
• How to Make the Healthiest Smoothies – 4 Recipes

For extra help add several prunes and/or figs to your daily diet.

Posture on the Throne

We weren’t built to poop on a chair. We were built to poop from a squat. You can either squat in the woods or improvise. The knowledge that a squatting position is best for elimination is not news (I learned about it more than 40 years ago). But the idea is gaining in popularity to the point that posture aids, called squatting potties or toilet stools, are now readily available for purchase. Basically, these are footstools designed to raise your feet when you sit on the toilet and slide back out of the way when not in use.

For an immediate fix, try any low footstool you have on hand or make one with books or magazines. The point is to mimic the squatting position, which aligns the large intestine and rectum for ease of elimination.

Invest in a bathroom stool whether constipation is an issue or not. Correct posture will certainly help to avoid straining and aid in proper elimination.

Supplements That Eliminate Constipation

• Magnesium– 250 milligrams 2–4x daily is recommended, I like this magnesium supplement with calcium and vitamin D
• Probiotics – Check out Abzorb
• Systemic enzymes – Again, check out Abzorb
• Aloe vera juice – Get a different brand if you can, those are ok but not great
• Cape aloe leaf – Shillington’s Intestinal Cleanse has cape aloe leaf and more
• More supplements for constipation

Dr. Shillington offers the Intestinal Detox and the Intestinal Cleanse formulas for detoxifying the bowels. If you need to move your poop, there’s nothing more effective than Shillington’s Intestinal Cleanse formula. It also kills parasites, heals the intestinal tract, and is a healthy means to promote bowel movements for those who have trouble defecating. Shillington’s Intestinal detox draws out old fecal matter from the walls of the intestine, while it removes poisons, toxins, heavy metals such as mercury and lead, and more (heavy metals are another common cause of constipation). Due to the charcoal and clays in the Intestinal Detox, it actually slows things down a bit, and the two also work very well together to heal the gut.

Abzorb is another big recommendation. It’s a systemic enzyme, so the capsule does not release until it is inside the gut. It’s also a probiotic, and an effective one at that. Taken with food Abzorb makes for a very effective digestive aid. Taken without food, Abzorb will begin to clear away old fecal matter, and it offers a host of other benefits (read more about enzymes here).

Related Reading:

• Fungal Infections – How to Eliminate Yeast, Candida, and Mold Infections For Good
• Natural Remedies for Constipation – With Recipes
• Gluten, Candida, Leaky Gut Syndrome, and Autoimmune DiseasesHypothyroidism – Natural Remedies, Causes, and How To Heal the Thyroid