Friendship Food: Delicious Feelgood Food, Free of Gluten, Yeast, Dairy, Egg and Refined Sugar

by Felicity Philp

Overview

Friendship Food is a beautiful story about friends, family, wellness and the joy of great food made with love and authenticity. A generous, beautifully crafted book filled with love.
- Tania Hubbard, Author
Gluten Free Grain Free - Food We Love

Friendship Food contains over 70 delicious and super easy recipes all your friends and family can enjoy!

These feelgood dishes have enabled Felicity to successfully alleviate symptoms of chronic disease and they have also helped her to fulfill her dreams!

Imagine what this feelgood food can do for you!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781452584324
Publisher:	Balboa Press
Publication date:	01/21/2014
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	80
File size:	42 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

Read an Excerpt

friendship food

Delicious Feelgood Food

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By Felicity Philp, Julie Reardon, Kate Owen, Kylie Brasch

Balboa Press

Copyright © 2014 Felicity Philp
All rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4525-8431-7

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CHAPTER 1

Why Avoid Some Foods?

Allergy or intolerance?

If you have a food allergy then your body treats the offending food as an invading force and it reacts by emitting an immune response. This may be in the form of anaphylaxis, swelling or rashes. Alternatively, if you have a food intolerance this can mean the digestive tract is not functioning properly and symptoms can be felt immediately or over the course of hours, days, even weeks or months. When problem foods are eaten, the body produces more adrenalin to deal with these reactions, putting pressure on the immune system.

Why avoid gluten, eggs, dairy, yeast and refined sugar?

The following information gives a brief overview of each food type in question and the effect it may have on the body after it has been eaten.

Gluten

Gluten is a protein found in wheat, barley and rye. Problems with gluten arise when the body can't break down either the protein or the carbohydrates in the grains. Symptoms can include intestinal discomfort, bloating and wind. A more serious condition is Coeliac disease, an autoimmune disorder of the digestive tract, characterised by an inability to absorb nutrients from food.

Eggs

Problems with the consumption of eggs arise when there are insufficient enzymes in the small intestine to break down the proteins. Symptoms displayed in this case can affect the skin and respiratory system and cause post nasal drip, bloating, tummy cramps and diarrhoea.

Dairy

If you are intolerant to dairy products you may experience coughs, asthma, colds, sinus, skin problems, Irritable Bowel Syndrome, nausea, bloating and low iron levels. The trick with dairy intolerances is finding out which component of the dairy product is the issue. A qualified nutritional specialist can diagnose your symptoms to ascertain whether you may have an intolerance that is due to a problem digesting the protein (casein), the sugar (lactose), the fats (lipids) or alternatively if you are allergic to dairy products.

Yeast

Excess yeast from breads, baked sweets and alcohol can contribute to an overgrowth of fungal yeast in the body, which can lead to the yeast infection known as Candidiasis. Fungal yeast thrives when high glucose foods are eaten and can cause intense sugar cravings. An overgrowth of fungal yeast can also occur when antibiotics or oral contraception are taken regularly, or when undigested food ferments in the intestinal tract. The most significant symptoms of yeast infection include thrush, wind, bloating, mouth ulcers, bad breath, skin problems, plantar wart flare-ups and mood swings.

Refined sugar

Refined sugar, for the purpose of this book, refers to any sugar that has been processed to create a product dramatically different from its original form. It has little or no nutrient content, in some cases contains chemicals from processing and most times has a very high Glycaemic Index (GI). Each glucose-producing food is given a GI, this indicates how quickly food is converted to glucose in the blood – the lower the number the better.

You can still have your cake (or berry tart) and eat it too!

The good news is, that just because you have cut out gluten, yeast, dairy, eggs and refined sugar, it doesn't mean you have to go without beautiful, decadent desserts and sweet treats. Just imagine, gloriously melt-in-your-mouth yummy food actually being good for you!

Our body converts carbohydrates to glucose to give us energy. Our pancreas produces insulin to manage this glucose. Eating too many sugary foods overworks the pancreas as a lot of insulin is required to keep blood sugar levels stable. Diabetes can be the result of eating too many high GI foods which can create high blood sugar levels.

Intolerances to sugar can cause tummy cramps, bloating, wind, nausea, vomiting, thrush, chest and viral infections, attention problems and depression. If symptoms persist after eliminating sucrose (refined sugar) from the diet, this could indicate problems processing other sugars such as fructose found in fruit and vegetables. Some other names for refined sugar listed on processed food packets include: cane sugar, beet sugar, maltose (malt sugar), maltodextrin, high fructose corn syrup and agave nectar.

When I started reintroducing foods back into my diet, my body became super sensitive. I found that I reacted quickly to the foods causing me problems, making it clear which foods to either cut out or reduce. Most of my symptoms were alleviated and some went away completely when I stopped eating gluten, yeast, dairy, eggs and refined sugar for three whole months - Halleluiah! This was such a relief and I was so encouraged by my body's response, it inspired me to continue healing myself this way.

There are many methods documented that explain how to reintroduce particular foods back into your diet after you've been on an elimination diet. I tried to keep things simple and doable as I had three small children at the time. I reintroduced one type of eliminated food for a couple of days and observed the symptoms. When I felt satisfied with the result, I took myself back off that food, waited a few days then tried the next food and so on. From these results I built a picture of which foods affected me immediately and which gave me grief for hours and sometimes days after. I discovered there were some foods I could handle in small amounts, provided I didn't overdo them. These foods have become my treat foods even though they aren't always sweet.

Global Health

Taking a quick glance at global health, or lack of it, one can see that there are some scary trends emerging in relation to the overall health of our world's population and the prevalence of a handful of diseases that are rapidly growing into epidemics. The biggies are Cancer, Cardiovascular disease, Diabetes and Obesity. I could provide a long list of statistics on each disease, however I'll just give an overview from the World Health Organisation's website, which I think is all we need to get the picture.

Currently about 7.6 million people globally, die from Cancer each year, with this number predicted to increase to 13.1 million by 2030.

Diabetes-related deaths are due to increase by more than 50% worldwide in the next 10 years.

Cardiovascular disease, which includes all diseases involving the heart and blood vessels, was the cause of 30% of all global deaths in 2008. In 2030 it is predicted that 23 million people will die from Cardiovascular disease.

Obesity is on the increase with 2.8 million people dying on the planet each year as a result of being overweight or obese. It also appears to be the most preventable cause of death.

Millions and millions of people all around the world are dying or being affected by these diseases. Sadly they seem to be on the increase even though there are millions and millions of dollars raised to research their causes, find cures and provide specialist care for patients. Why is it that developed countries like Australia don't have a more preventative approach to disease? I'd like to see more energy, time and money spent encouraging kids to drink fresh water, eat fresh wholefood and play more outdoor sports so disease and obesity rates may be lowered.

Great work is being carried out by a growing number of proactive groups who are encouraging us to grow and eat fresh food. At the same time though, companies selling processed food sponsor major national sporting events as well as our kids local sport. I believe this is giving our children mixed messages about how to be healthy.

I'd love to see school canteens, sporting organisations, the media and government place greater emphasis on the benefits of eating more fresh wholefood and less processed food. I believe our communities will reap the rewards as our children thrive and achieve great things by eating food their growing bodies need. Who knows, even world peace may be achieved if we all eat well!

It's a sad fact that in some parts of the world children are dying from starvation and in other parts they are dying of overeating. I even read a report that in some developing countries, where the traditional diet is being replaced with a more western diet, it is not uncommon to find one family member malnourished and another obese.

The recurring factors influencing the onset of all the illnesses above are unhealthy diet and lifestyle trends. To reverse these trends, it's clear we really do need to exercise, eat more vegetables and fruit, stop smoking, reduce alcohol consumption and eat less processed, high fat, high sugar foods.

In my case, I am now convinced that I had some susceptibility to disease before I was born. Throughout my life I think there have been factors that taunted that susceptibility and eventually eroded any defence mechanisms my body may have had to fight disease. These factors joined forces with the negative effects of the foods I was eating, which I now know I am intolerant to. Finally my body couldn't fight the good fight anymore and Scleroderma manifested itself within me.

Scleroderma is an autoimmune disease which causes one's own immune system to attack itself. This damages connective tissue, affecting the skin, joints and sometimes the organs. This damaged tissue hardens, making the skin feel tight and dry and the joints feel sore and swollen.

I knew nothing about autoimmune diseases until I was diagnosed in 2001. I now hear about them all the time. Some of the more common diseases are Lupus, Grave's disease, Hashimoto's disease, Rheumatoid Arthritis, Type 1 Diabetes (requiring insulin injections), Multiple Sclerosis and Sjogren's syndrome. There seem to be more of them popping up each year as well as illnesses now being labelled as autoimmune diseases.

I have not been able to find any documented medical cure for Scleroderma. I do find it interesting though that throughout the years, as I have sought to find key medical information to help me feel better, there have been very few neon flashing references to the fact that diet can have a dramatic impact on the severity of its symptoms.

I now regularly meet people who suffer from autoimmune-related illnesses. Many are yet to experiment with diet to find which foods make them feel great and which exacerbate their symptoms. They are encouraged by the prospect that relief can come from tweaks to their daily menu.

Family & Community

I started cooking when I was on a chair in front of the stove at the age of about nine, concocting meals for the family. I didn't have a clue about ingredients and I used all the herbs and spices in the rack. I remember Uncle Charlie lovingly saying to me once, 'Hey, you don't put cinnamon in spaghetti bolognese'. This didn't seem to worry anyone in my immediate family, especially Mum who eats to live, whereas I live to eat. The point is, Mum allowed me to cook. She allowed the cinnamon in the dish and she turned a blind eye to the mess and the waste when I used to experiment. For this I am very grateful. Although Mum had little passion for cooking, she gave me the opportunity to develop my passion from a very young age.

Guided by insights that my health situation has given me, it is my passion for nutritious food I now hope to foster in my own children. At every stage of this journey I tell our kids why we are doing something and I try to back this up with some evidence. One example is that my second son becomes very congested with mucus and coughs at night if he drinks a glass of cow's milk. So when the coughing starts he knows what I am going to say. He now drinks water or rice milk quite happily and his coughing symptoms have disappeared.

Thankfully our kids are active and I try to explain whenever I can that if they want to achieve well at school and on the sporting field their bodies need healthy high-performance food.

I have always loved everything involved with food, buying ingredients, cooking, eating out, new food innovations, all of it – love it! Chopping, cooking and creating food makes me extremely happy. I'm always inspired when I have time to potter in the kitchen. I also love travelling and when I travel somewhere I can't wait to get to where I'm going, to see what sort of food they eat there.

For the most part our children seem happy with our family's take on food and thankfully most of our friends have a similar take on theirs. However sometimes our kids feel a little self-conscious about the lunch they take to school. I often encourage them to simply enjoy what's in their lunchboxes and I am inspired by how they're learning to handle comments about their food in a positive way.

From time to time we take our kids to a fast-food restaurant and sometimes they have a pie and a soft drink from the sports canteen (let's hope this isn't always possible at sporting venues). Occasionally they also buy lollies with their pocket money. I cringe when they do this but guided by the many stories and information they have heard from me over the years, they are becoming aware of how they feel after eating some of these foods and they're able to verbalise their symptoms. More often now our kids are making healthier choices when we provide them with these opportunities.

I also find it helps our children take ownership of their health by helping to menu plan, buy groceries, cook meals and prepare their own lunchboxes. I have always let them cut up food, cook whenever possible and grab a shopping basket to buy their own ingredients after finding a recipe they like. What I have loved about our babies sitting at the kitchen bench whilst I prepare meals, is that they get to taste and experiment with food. They would eat half the raw veggies before they went in the saucepan and our older kids still reach for them as they walk past the kitchen. Try leaving raw, cut-up veggies on the kitchen bench half an hour before you put them in the pot and see how many are left when you go to cook them! You may be surprised.

Meal times are most enjoyable at our house when the whole family sits together. I find it's an ideal time to monitor our children's appetites and teach table manners. It's also a great place to encourage open communication by sharing a joke, a funny story from the day or some important news. Some of my loveliest childhood memories involve a family meal and a festive occasion.

Vegetable and herb gardens are another great way to nurture the family's love of fresh wholefood by getting the kids to help plant, tend and pick their own produce. It is also a lovely way to teach children how much energy and effort goes into growing food. Our kids are always happy to pick something from the garden to go in our dinner and they seem a little excited to know they have contributed to the family meal in some way.

Habits we encourage during our family meal:

• Thank the farmer, the gardener and the cook.

• Avoid drinking cold drinks with hot meals.

• Chew food well to assist with digestion.

• Turn the TV off and focus on each other.

My Healing Journey

Reflection and research has enabled me to draw some preliminary conclusions as to why I may have Scleroderma. I now think the cause involved a combination of the chemical load I had collected and carried throughout my life, personality traits that made me stress, the types of foods I had eaten prior to diagnosis and of course, alcohol.

Firstly, let me put you in the picture as to why I think chemicals have played a part in my illness. Throughout the last 13 years I have consulted on and off with alternative health practitioners and most have said that I have chemicals in my system handed to me by my farming ancestors.

I was born because of my parent's heartfelt desire to have another baby. Having experienced many miscarriages, in order to stay pregnant with me, my mother was regularly injected with drugs so her body would not reject me in utero. Luckily the drugs worked and I was born but it may be that this, together with my inherited chemicals, compromised my immune system from birth.

I grew up on the banks of the Boomi River, in between Boomi and Mungindi, on a sheep and wheat property. Later as a young teen my family moved to the mountains near Allora, Queensland where my father grew mostly summer crops and fattened cattle on the beautiful slopes near the Goomburra Valley. I am a descendant of seven generations of farming stock. Agriculture is in my blood and quite literally in my genes. With the help of my mother and father, I have researched the types of chemicals we have used over the years in our agricultural practices and found worrying information.

(Continues...)

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Excerpted from friendship food by Felicity Philp, Julie Reardon, Kate Owen, Kylie Brasch. Copyright © 2014 Felicity Philp. Excerpted by permission of Balboa Press.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

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Table of Contents

Contents

Welcome, 3,
Why Avoid Some Foods?, 6,
Global Health, 8,
Family & Community, 10,
My Healing Journey, 12,
Plan & Prep, 15,
Ingredients, 16,
Breakfast, 20,
Soups, 24,
Salads & Light Meals, 26,
Main Meals, 30,
Nibbles, Dips & Crackers, 36,
Breads & Loaves, 40,
Cakes, Bars & Biscuits, 44,
Desserts & Sweet Treats, 50,
Drinks, 56,
Condiments, 58,
Healthy Home, 61,
Food For Thought, 62,
Thank You, 63,
Index, 64,
References, 66,