Category: Seasonal Eating

Journal, Nutrition + Health, Running, Seasonal Eating, Sports Nutrition, Summertime

Field Notes, July 20th, 2024

by RebeccaLeave a Comment on Field Notes, July 20th, 2024

I feel like a really fragile human, I told my husband this morning. It’s the day after I took baby boy to his two-month pediatrician visit. I’ve quickly learned that I become anxious before all baby’s doctor appointments, and I generally enjoy them about as much as him. Which is not at all. We both came home feeling fragile. He whimper-napped and whimper-ate all day, and I cried with him off and on.
There are SO MANY challenges to being a parent in most of the phases, but the combo of months of inadequate sleep due to a newborn and a baby in pain, is absolutely right up there. This weekend, I have hopes to rest as much as I can, shower even more love on baby, and take care of my mental health by going slowly, being gentle with myself, and getting some time in moving my body.

With that, I’m still moving slowly into flexing my creative muscles. I’m back to work very soon, and it feels imperative that I soak up the last of my less rigidly scheduled routine until then.

Reading

The chai-spiced pear oatmeal I enjoy when pears are in season

Enjoying

  • The Hippie Bowl from Sara Forte’s Sprouted Kitchen Bowl + Spoon cookbook. Bonus that William told me it’s one of his favorite meals I make!
  • My own version of the Courgette Flatbreads with Lots of Herbs from Gill Meller’s Root Stem Leaf Flower. This is one of my all-time favorite cookbooks for seasonal meal inspiration, and an absolute work of art as well. I used my sourdough pizza crust, which is still the best gluten-free pizza base I’ve tried.
  • Our boysenberries are nearly done for the year, but the black currants are still practically dripping off the bushes. So many to harvest!
  • Aviva Romm’s new Mama Pathway group/program. It is sooo helpful to have a community of like-minded individuals and experts to gather with and gain answers from. It’s a new parent re-assurance goldmine.
  • Slowly easing into longer runs after baby. I’ve been trying to be very conservative in coming back to running postpartum due to the extreme taxation that childbirth has on the pelvic floor and core muscles (I now fully understand why childbirth really is like having a major injury!), the inability to recover from day to day due to lack of sleep and always being on, and the nutritional taxation on the body from breastfeeding. Ooof. Together, it’s quite the combination!

Nutrition and Food/Cooking Questions

  • Why do you say you can have digestion dysfunction even without GI symptoms?
    There’s a saying in Ayurvedic Medicine that when the diet is right, there’s no need for medicine. And when the diet is wrong, medicine will do no good. That may seem a bit extreme in today’s modern world, but truly, the majority of medicines are actually band-aids on bodily imbalances, and they are not “curing” diseases or treating the root cause. In the majority of cases, an imbalanced digestive system is at the root of other health imbalances.
    Let’s use a common challenge with many: overweight, obesity and blood sugar challenges. Much of what we are now seeing at the gut level is dysbiosis (meaning microbial imbalances and overgrowth) driving food cravings and inflammation, slowing down metabolism, and impairing liver function, as well as glucose and insulin. When we can get to the root cause by rebalancing the gut, we can chip away at a lot of the subsequent symptoms. This isn’t to say that by rebalancing the gut that someone who has been overweight their entire life will suddenly become thin (we all have different body constitutions we’re born with), but it can mean we’re as balanced, symptom-free and at the appropriate weight and health in our body as we can be.
  • Do you meal plan?
    I do! It started out as William buying me a five-year diary over a decade ago. I’d use it to write what I made for dinner each day. After filling up the journal, and each year realizing I was making similar foods on the same weeks of each year, I noted that seeing what I made at the same time in other years was super helpful in deciding what to plan for meals. The super-seasonality of how we eat means I often don’t make the same thing more than a couple times throughout the year.
    Now, I keep a multi-year table in my OneNote application, which I can access on my computer and phone – and I make a list of five to seven main meals for each week. And I still take inspiration from looking at past years when I’m out of ideas. I also update it throughout the week, making note of what produce and ingredients need to be used first to prioritize what to make each day, and/or move meals around if I need something that comes together faster or the weather dictates something different from day to day each week.
  • What do you think of fasted exercise? Like running first thing before breakfast?
    Like all nutrition questions, I’ll say it depends. For women of child-bearing years (essentially from puberty to menopause), it’s a huge stress to do fasted exercise, particularly if it has any intensity beyond a really short, easy run. The reason is because women’s hormones are quite sensitive to even subtle changes in the environment (and a hard workout on “empty” after an overnight fast is beyond subtle). Fasted exercise in this life phase can throw women’s hormonal and endocrine health completely out of balance if done long term. But for men and post-menopausal women, my answer might be different. But it depends on the person, situation, and context.


Until next time ~ Rebecca

p.s. if you have nutrition or cooking questions, you’d like to submit, enter them in the comments, or submit via the contact form.
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Autumn, Ayurveda, Local Food / Sustainability, Nutrition + Health, Seasonal Eating, Winter

Creamy Rutabaga (Swede) Mash with Mushrooms, Sage + Hazelnuts

by RebeccaLeave a Comment on Creamy Rutabaga (Swede) Mash with Mushrooms, Sage + Hazelnuts

For the past couple months, I’ve been cooking and taking a lot of inspiration from Gill Meller’s Root, Stem, Leaf, Flower cookbook. I say “cooking” but I rarely cook the recipes as written. Instead, I’ve learned my own energetics and the energetics of the season, and I adjust ingredients and amounts accordingly. Or the recipe technique doesn’t seem quite what I’m looking for and I adjust it somehow.

This is the type of cooking and eating that is the goal for all the individuals I work with in the nutrition clinic, but admittedly, it can take a long time to get there when one’s intuition is overwhelmed by inflammation, chronic pain, nutrition and food confusion, etc.

But back to the cookbook – Root, Stem, Leaf, Flower has been my favorite inspiration to cook from for the past few years. It’s hyper seasonal with produce common of the climate I live in, exceptionally British (meaning the seasonings and ingredients are very much of the region), and uses simple high quality ingredients in often novel and creative ways. The ingredient lists tend to be short and don’t require much beyond the produce and pantry staples at hand.

This creamy rutabaga mash with mushrooms is one such example of inspiration I took from Gill Meller last year. I first shared and published this recipe locally with a farming and food organization that I served on the board of for the last few years, the Willamette Farm & Food Coalition (WFFC).

Each year, WFFC publishes what is called the Locally Grown Guide, a printed and online directory of all the local food resources: farms, farm stands, CSA’s, grocery stores that stock local, and the like. This recipe first appeared in the 2023 edition of the Locally Grown Guide, but since we’re gearing up for a 2024 release (with new inspiration within the pages), I want to share the recipe here.

Plus this combo of creamy mashed rutabagas (also called Swede), mushrooms, sage and hazelnuts is incredibly tasty. It’s a true comfort dish using local–to Western Oregon as well as the UK–fall and winter ingredients. And it’s a good one for mid to late winter, when our ideas for novel and healthful (and seasonal) eating tend to wear out.

As you’ll see, this recipe is either a side-dish or a meatless “main component,” and it will need a protein on the side to balance out the meal. Even though many vegetarians tend to recommend mushrooms as an alternative to a protein source (and they do contain some protein), I don’t recommend just eating this on it’s own–most individuals will benefit from 20 to 35 grams of protein for main meals during the day–so pair it with a side of sauteed or baked tempeh, stewed and sage-ey garbanzos, or your choice of animal-based protein on the side. Another option is to pair it with a simple and delicious pot of lentils.

P.S. Lentils have been my often go-to the last few months. If you follow me on Instagram or read my newsletter, you’ll know why I’ve had them on repeat. :)

Creamy Rutabaga Mash with Mushrooms, Sage + Hazelnuts
inspired and adapted from Root Stem Leaf Flower by Gill Meller

Prep:  10-15 minutes  | Cook: 40 minutes  | Serves: 4

1 large ~ 1 ½ lb. (600 gr) rutabaga, peeled and chopped
1 Tbs. ghee or butter
8-12 fresh sage leaves
½ tsp. mineral salt, divided
⅛ tsp. ground black pepper
1 Tbs. olive oil or ghee
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 pound (450 gr) mushrooms, thickly sliced
A small handful of toasted hazelnuts, roughly chopped

  1. Place the chopped rutabaga in a medium pot and cover with water. Bring to a boil, then turn down to a simmer and cook for 25-35 minutes, until the pieces are completely soft when pierced.
  2. Drain the rutabaga with a colander, then transfer to a food processor or a blender. Add the butter or ghee, ¼ tsp. salt, about four small sage leaves, and black pepper. Puree until smooth, adding a splash of water if it is too dry. Set aside and keep warm. 
  3. Mince the remaining sage leaves. 
  4. Then heat the remaining olive oil or ghee in a large saute pan and bring to medium-high heat. Add the sliced mushrooms. remaining ¼ tsp. salt, minced sage leaves, and garlic. Cook the mushrooms for about 6-8 minutes, until they are tender, dark, and the moisture has cooked off. Then stir in the chopped hazelnuts and give it all a good stir. 
  5. To serve, spoon the rutabaga puree onto plates and top with the mushroom and hazelnut mixture. 

Notes:
– Rutabagas, which are also called swede in some countries, are truly underrated but you can swap them out for nearly any other root vegetable for a variation.
– Rutabaga belongs to the same family as broccoli and has compounds called glucosinolates, which can help with liver detoxification and can help
prevent conditions like heart disease and cancer. Hint: it looks like a large turnip but the interior flesh is more yellow.

GI Problems, Nutrition + Health, Seasonal Eating, Sports Nutrition

Gut Health 101: Adding More in the age of Cutting Out 

by RebeccaLeave a Comment on Gut Health 101: Adding More in the age of Cutting Out 

How to improve your gut health naturally and sustainably 

woman feeling good, with balanced gut health, standing in kitchen

Hi there. Just a quick message today that’s been on my mind lately. As many of you know, within the nutrition clinic, I specialize in digestion and gut health. In reality, even though someone might show up with health goals that don’t seem to do with gut health, nearly everyone with a health condition or imbalance has a gut health imbalance. 

That’s because, if your hormones or endocrine system are out of wack, there’s a gastrointestinal component that’s involved too. 

Or if you can’t lose weight (or can’t gain weight), there’s usually a gut and inflammation component to that weight resistance. 

Or if your issue is blood sugar dysregulation or some sort of cardiovascular health issue, the gut is involved, and at the microbial level, is often a big component of healing and returning to balance. 

What about common health concerns in athletes?

What about common concerns in athletes, such as low iron or iron deficiency anemia, fatigue without an iron deficiency, or poor workout recovery? First, it’s often as likely that you have an issue absorbing iron as that you’re not eating or supplementing enough, particularly because as your iron needs goes up, the digestive system, when functioning well, will preferentially absorb more iron of every bit you consume. That is true for many other minerals too. 

Inflammation – The Common Culprit

At the heart of nearly every physical ailment is inflammation. Inflammation can be systemic or localized to one body system or part, but it often begins in the gut. 

Gut Healing – Adding More Types of Foods

Over the years, I’ve given out lots of simple to-dos that one can implement to help digestive healing or rebalancing health in general (check out my last post because it’s a really good one!). 

Today, I’ll share something we don’t often hear enough about from Dr. Google or all those companies marketing their products or special diets. And to be fully honest, no single tactic you implement to heal the gut is going to solve the whole issue. This is why it’s a good idea to work with a functional nutritionist (CNS), because then you’ll get unique guidance based on your presentation of symptoms and health imbalance.

But for today, let’s just touch on the importance of eating diversely. 

Many of my clients come to me eating extremely  routine meals from day to day with little variation. That can be because they don’t feel well and don’t know what to eat. Or because they’ve gotten into a routine, or they feel overwhelmed when grocery shopping.  Or they don’t meal plan or prep.

Rather than taking away more foods and restricting your diet more when you don’t feel well or don’t know what to do, when I’m in a clinic with an individual client, I’m often encouraging him or her to be adding more foods. 

Yes, we will screen for reactivity to top foods of concern and then eliminate them when needed, for as long as needed (which doesn’t necessarily mean forever!) But beyond that, a big to-do for clients is to start adding more diversity. Instead of eating just one or two grains, like rice or wheat, I’ll have them start adding a whole host of the many other grains. Instead of eating the same small handful of vegetables from day to day, they’ll begin experimenting and adding in more colors, textures, and flavors of in-season vegetables. Instead of just eating the same almonds or pecans or cashews in their breakfast or snack, I’ll ask them to rotate every day or every time they shop. 

Why is all this important? 

A big component of both gut health and overall health is having high diversity in beneficial gut microbiome species (1,2). And you only get high diversity if you’re eating lots of different (mostly plant) foods. That’s because the food for the bacteria is what you are eating, and each species or strain will have a preferred food, meaning if you feed them what they eat, they’ll thrive, but if you don’t, their population will disappear. 

Now, if you think about the “Standard American Diet,” individuals are often eating different foods like pizza, tacos, pasta, burgers, meat and potatoes…but they’re eating mostly ultra processed foods that are the same small rotation of foods at the ingredient level: corn, soy, wheat, sugar, beef, pork, chicken, cow’s dairy, a small handful of processed oils. 

With a diet with minimal diversity, there’s not much to work with at the gut microbial level, particularly because the balance of microbes that’s going to help the gut thrive, are mostly species that feed on plants.

Eating the Rainbow

When working with clients, a tactic I often recommend is to eat the rainbow – shopping for and preparing foods that are in season, and different from week to week and season to season.


In the nutrition clinic, I work with clients in individual nutrition consultations, and as a Licensed Dietician / Nutritionist (LDN/LD) and Board-Certified Nutrition Specialist (CNS), use medical nutrition therapy, integrative health measures, and a root cause approach to heal imbalanced health conditions. 

If you’d like to learn more about how you can improve your symptoms of imbalance, I’d love to speak with you in a quick phone consultation! 

References:
1. Gomaa E. Z. (2020). Human gut microbiota/microbiome in health and diseases: a review. Antonie van Leeuwenhoek, 113(12), 2019–2040. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10482-020-01474-7 2. Hills, R. D., Jr, Pontefract, B. A., Mishcon, H. R., Black, C. A., Sutton, S. C., & Theberge, C. R. (2019). Gut Microbiome: Profound Implications for Diet and Disease. Nutrients, 11(7), 1613. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu11071613