.: evil jungle prince :.

There's some gorgeous sounding recipes here:

.: evil jungle prince :.

Mostly Far East and Middle Eastern inspired. And better still, at first glance, several look to be anti-Candida diet-friendly.

(I'm catching up on food blogs - can you tell? ;))

♥ Cooking Cute ♥

Truly amazing.

♥ Cooking Cute ♥

I wish I had the time and the vision to do this sort of thing. I'm sure the whole bento box concept would work really well for the anti-Candida diet, particularly as I always find lunches - particularly 'pack-ups' (as they do say in my part of the world ;)) - so difficult as I tend to like to graze all day long. Something worth investigating...

Smoked Salmon

I know that smoked products are frequently prohibited for people following the anti-Candida diet, but occasionally I indulge. I figure it's better than eating a slice of chocolate cake! So, the other day, I bought some wafer-thin smoked salmon slices from Marks & Spencers. Yesterday, I had several slices with soft goats cheese on oatcakes for lunch, and this evening I finished off the rest of the pack in a pasta dish, the (slightly vague - sorry) recipe for which follows. (and jolly tasty it was too!).

Smoked salmon and broccoli pasta
(makes enough for one generous portion)

half a pack of wafer-thin smoked salmon slices
a handful of purple-sprouting broccoli
wholewheat pasta tagliatelle or spaghetti
wholewheat flour
goats milk
olive-oil spread
bay leaf
paprika
salt and pepper

Trim and cut the broccoli stems in half. Boil or steam until just tender. Meanwhile cook the pasta and make a white sauce (flour, olive-oil spread and milk) in a saucepan. Add a bay leaf and a sprinkle of paprika and cook gently until the flour has cooked, whisking all the time to create a smooth sauce. Season to taste. Meanwhile, slice the salmon into strips. When al dente, drain the pasta and return to a low heat. Add the drained broccoli, sauce (remember to remove the bay leaf) and salmon strips. Stir to combine and serve with a rocket, spinach and watercress salad, dressed with a spot of Olive oil.

Biscuits!

I'm trying some 'no added sugar' biscuits that I bought at my local health shop the other day. Sunflower & Sesame biscuits manufactured by Prewett's. They have an...err...interesting flavour, but it's a taste I'm becoming accustomed too. They are sweetened with date paste, but are still not very sweet. I almost wonder how they might taste topped with a slice of hard goats cheese? Might try that out sometime...

EPA and brain power

BBC NEWS Health Supplement 'boosts' brain power

I note that my nutritional therapist has included EPA in my most recent stash of (ridiculously expensive) supplements. I'm a PhD student - I need all the help I can get! Anything which could improve my concentration is great. Though I wonder exactly how much benefit it will have for someone in their (early!) thirties.

Soup, luverly soup!

Just tried another of Marks & Spencer's candida diet friendly soups: Spicy Red Lentil and Tomato. Not bad - bit lumpy for my taste. My favourite remains their Butternut Squash with Roasted Red Pepper Harissa, which is smooth and thick, but not too gloopy. Oh, and they've still got their buy-one-get-another-half-price offer on.

Ginger, Lemon and Ginseng tea

One of the things I've really missed since I went on the anti-Candida diet is Twinings' Lemon and Ginger tea. Not least because it's a great 'cure' for sore throats and ticklish coughs. Unfortunately, it - and every other similar tea (apart from the version I make myself) I've since come across - has added citric acid. That was until I came across Marks & Spencer's Organic Ginger, Lemon & Ginseng tea yesterday. I'm just brewing a cup now. It smells gorgeous. Hopefully the taste will match it.

Chicken

I chickened out. I didn't dump my nutritional therapist when I talked to her today on the phone. I was in the office, and a bit distracted and I let her talk and talk and then suddenly the conversation had finished and she'd gone, all without me addressing any of my concerns. Oh well - there's always next month.

The pros and cons of nutritional support cont...

Further to yesterday's post I came across this very timely response from Bix at The Fanatic Cook about the same report. I'm feeling infinitely less concerned now, but think I still need to be careful about the level of dose of each vitamin I'm taking. So, I've resolved to suggest to my nutritional therapist on Monday that I cut down my supplement intake to the barest minimum, say a probiotic, lower dose anti-fungal and broad spectrum, A-to-Z kind of vitamin and mineral supplement.

The pros and cons of nutritional support, i.e. supplements

I'm thinking about ditching my nutritional therapist. Not only is she advising me to take very high doses of several of the things highlighted as potentially damaging by the article in this post, but she keeps changing my supplements which means I've ended up with a backlog of stuff I can no longer take, which cost me a fortune to purchase in the first place. I have a suspicion that she has started to regard me as a bit of a cash-cow. My symptoms have stabilised, so she's just chucking anything at me now to keep me as a client. I want to see whether I can maintain my current state using just the anti-Candida diet. And until I come off the anti-fungals, I won't know where I'm at in my recovery. But, on the other hand, she - and my previous therapist - were really the first people after more than a decade of problems, who took my symptoms seriously without question. And it's reassuring to have that support. I'm really in two minds what to do at the moment...

Chocolate

I'm so glad I'm allowed to eat diabetic plain chocolate on this diet. Cos every now and then (approximately once a month!) chocolate is a complete necessity. Better still, the newsagents near my office quite unexpectantly sells a good range of maltitol-sweetened Belgian chocolate. The manufacturer is Cachet and they make an orange flavoured and plain dark chocolate, which is fairly bitter; almost like cooking chocolate. And I love it!

!!!

BBC NEWS Health Vitamins 'could shorten lifespan'

Milk and genetics

BBC NEWS Health Early man 'couldn't stomach milk'

Another interesting article which suggests that the suspected link between between evolution and being able to tolerate lactose has been confirmed. Thank goodness I'm okay with goats milk - I wouldn't be able to live without cheese altogether!

Vegetable Tagine

***UPDATE: I had one of the portions of this I froze tonight, and it was really quite good. So, I think I was just not feeling particularly 100% the other day when I first made it, and thus, didn't enjoy it as much as I might. I think I will make it again. :)

I made that Vegetable and Apricot Tagine yesterday. Not bad, but it was one of those things that when you've made it, you really don't fancy eating it. If I make it again I'll cut the apricots up into small pieces to better distribute their sweetness through the mix - not sure I liked them in a savoury dish.

In the end the quantities described in the recipe made up about three large portions - two of which I've frozen, cos I'm not sure I fancy it tonight. I omitted the carrot (my pan was already full to capacity!) and managed to find Candida diet friendly passata at Sainsburys (in their Organic range).

A link between IBS and anxiety?

Interesting...never had IBS, as far as I'm aware, but certainly used to experience regular bouts of severe indigestion that would have me doubled up in pain, unable to move and throwing up! Since I've been on the anti-Candida diet these incidents occur less and less, but last time it happened I was certainly in the middle of a bout of extreme anxiety.

BBC NEWS Health 'Perfectionism' bowel pain link