The Weekly Menu

Category: Microbiome & Science

This category contains posts that talk about science as related to food as well as the gut microbiome and it’s importance in our health as well as food choices.

Dinner / Gluten-Free Recipes / Microbiome & Science

“Healthified” Taco Night | Gluten-Free, Dairy-Free

Gluten-free Taco Night! Okay, so I decided that although tacos are a pretty simple thing to make – I wanted to share with my friends some of the gluten-free taco products I’ve come to love over the years.   And how we’ve “cleaned up” this Tex-Mex favorite. So here is basically what we need to make a taco gluten-free and a little bit healthier.  Plus add your choice of meat.   Trader Joe’s Gluten-Free Taco Shells So not all taco shells are created equal.  We love these taco shells from Trader José’s (did you catch that on the box).   They are gluten-free, vegan and made with organic corn so you don’t have to worry about GMOs or glyphosate.  They taste great but the best...

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Microbiome & Science / The Gluten-Free Weekly Menus

A Weekly Menu High in Dietary Fiber #glutenfree #feedthegutbugs

A Weekly Menu High in Dietary Fiber I wanted to put together a weekly menu high in dietary fiber that is also gluten-free while adapting some of our comfort food favorites.  Just made a little healthier.   I also wanted sum up some of the research and information I’ve been studying while reading The Good Gut by the Drs. Sonnenburg.  They are a husband and wife team at Stanford that have researched gut microbiota for years.  They share so much information and research about our gut microbiota in this book.   It is crazy how important gut microbiota are and how intricately they are linked to our immune system and brain. We need to feed them lots of dietary fiber (much more than consumed in a...

Gluten-Free Recipes / Microbiome & Science / Salads

“Healthified” Fried Chicken Salad | Gluten-Free, Goat’s Milk

Fried Chicken Salad with Ranch Dressing I think it might be one of my very favorite things. Fried chicken salad with ranch dressing was one of my go-to orders at Whataburger. I don’t know if they even serve them anymore. But we often make them at home now – just a much healthier gluten-free version. We use goat’s milk yogurt and a ranch spice blend to make the dressing instead of bottled ranch because it is better for gut health. Food Choices For Gut Health Since I’ve been reading about gut health and how important it is to feed our gut microbiota both prebiotics and probiotics, we’ve adapted so many classic favorites into much healthier versions. Prebiotics feed our gut bacteria while probiotics help our...

Dinner / Gluten-Free Recipes / Microbiome & Science

Healthified Stuffed Peppers | Gluten-Free, Dairy-Free

Healthifying A Classic Comfort Food – Stuffed Peppers Today’s recipe is a healthier version of a classic comfort food staple – stuffed peppers.   Along with details of the things we change to clean it up.   Where the food comes from and what may be lurking along plays a role.   But first, let’s talk about the gut microbiome and lentils.  Because we are adding lentils to everything now! As you know, I’m obsessed with the gut microbiome and how it is linked to the immune system.  I’m reading The Good Gut by the Drs. Sonnenburg and it is eye-opening to say the least.   They are a husband and wife team at Stanford that have researched gut microbiota for years.   It is...

Gluten-Free Recipes / Microbiome & Science / Salads

Leftover Pork Tenderloin Salad | Gluten-Free, Dairy-Free

I love to mix up textures in salads but also get as much color as I can for the variety of nutrients, vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and dietary fiber.  Eat the rainbow indeed! Leftover Pork Tenderloin Salad One of my favorite dinners is Apple Cider Brined Pork Tenderloin.  It is so lean and clean and flavorful.   I make an apple cider from organic apple juice then create a brine to marinate two large pork tenderloins overnight.   We’ll have one for dinner with roasted organic apples and carrots and some kind of greens.  Then I save the other one to use in a leftover pork tenderloin salad the next day. The pork has such a delicious wonderful apple flavor that I love to add fruit...

Microbiome & Science / The Gluten-Free Weekly Menus

MTHFR & The Weekly Menu #menuplanning

MTHFR! Hi all!  Well as it turns out I have a few gene variants that would account for why I am so sensitive to chemicals, why I have been driven to eat so clean, and why changing so many things over the years has helped my health improve (filtered water, no chemical cleaners, concrete floors, using glass instead of plastic, and all the food stuff…).   As it turns out I am heterozygous for both MTHFR C677T and A1298C.  I also have several genotypes predisposing me to Celiac disease.  And several other variants affecting my metabolism.  And I’m positive for Factor V Leiden. The only thing I can’t identify with my SNP information are the HLA markers associated with mold/lyme biotoxin CIRS per Dr. Shoemaker.  I’ll need...

Microbiome & Science / The Gluten-Free Weekly Menus

The Weekly Menu #freefrom #menuplanning

Time for the weekly menu again! Let’s Talk About Glyphosate This week I want to talk a little more about glyphosate (the active ingredient in Monsanto’s weed killer Round-Up) and GMOs.  There is a gene that produces the enzyme 5-enolpyruvylshikimate-3-phosphate synthetase (EPSPS) in plants, fungi and bacteria but not in mammals.  This enzyme plays a critical role in the Shikimate pathway, which synthesizes the amino acids phenylalanine, tyrosine and tryptophan.   Glyphosate targets and inhibits EPSPS leading to the eventual death of those organisms because these amino acids are no longer made available for biological function. Is it Safe? It has long been argued that glyphosate is safe for humans because it does not affect our biological pathways because we do not have the Shikimate...

Microbiome & Science / The Gluten-Free Weekly Menus

The Weekly Menu Sept. 4-10 #freefrom #menuplanning

Menu Planning Based on My Genetic Variants This week I plan to refine my diet and start menu planning for better health goals based on my genetic variants and metabolic function. I ran a program from Found My Fitness to look for certain SNPs in my raw 23andMe data.  The results were pretty interesting.  I have another marker for an increased risk of Celiac disease (so 5 variants so far) as well as a few other notable SNPs. The genetic report explains specific gene variants and the type of metabolic function and potential related diseases based on scientific studies.  It is pretty cool.  I plan to refine my diet for even better health goals. Metabolic Results One interesting find was that I have a variant that...

Microbiome & Science / The Gluten-Free Weekly Menus

The Weekly Menu Aug 28-Sept 3 #glutenfree #menuplanning

Time for the weekly menu! Well friends, we now have our genetic test results from 23andMe.  And I do have two gene variants that are linked to Celiac disease.  I’m not at all surprised that I also have the MTHFR (methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase) C677T genetic variation on one of my chromosomes (heterozygous). My initial understanding of this MTHFR variant is that it prevents the body from flushing toxins well.  Perhaps this is why I am so sensitive to chemicals, pesticides, environmental exposures, and processed food.  Why I have to eat so clean to feel okay. Our diet is constantly evolving and we are never done learning, but it will be interesting to see what types of foods might be beneficial or harmful.  Although, I can already see...

Microbiome & Science / The Gluten-Free Weekly Menus

The Summer Weekly Menu July 10-16

Hi everyone!   Hope you had a great holiday last week.  We got to eat well the first half of the week and I was super excited about how the pulled pork turned out.   We ended up using Franklin’s BBQ sauce instead of making our own and it was so awesome!  Pulled pork is incredibly easy to make in the oven with a nice marbled pork butt. So the second half of the week – I had to go to the dentist.  And have a tooth pulled so I’ve been on soft foods.   I’m not sure what cracked my tooth but I think it might have started last year.  There was bone in some Jennie-O sausage (yes, it was super gross) that cracked...