10 Foods That Help Fight Depression

I came across this story on Facebook today, 10 Foods That Help Fight Depression.  Most of the time I skip over this type of feed on Facebook, but today I decided to read this one.  I am really glad I did because it is a gentle reminder of why I am feeling so much better than I did just 2 short years ago! 

I have told quite a few friends and family members what I am doing to fight the pain I had in my feet, hips, knees, shoulders and back that kept me from walking more than a few minutes without having to sit down or kept me home entirely.  But I don't think they are listening to me.  Change is hard for all of us but sometimes you just have to take the bull by the horns...or in my case, start with little changes and build upon them until you can "feel" the difference.  Take a look at my grocery list, even if you can't afford organic groceries, at least eat non processed foods. 

I have also stopped having inflammatory bowel issues that I have had since I was 16 years old.  I love being able to know I can get up in the morning and not have to allow for 3 hours of diarrhea and stomach pain before I can leave my house or be afraid to leave my house on bad days!

My food journey to better health started 2 years ago. It all began with my new doctor asking me to read the book by Dr. Joel Fuhrman, Eat to Live.  I have since modified that diet to include foods that help my particular health needs (in my opinion, Specific Carbohydrate Diet) and exclude foods that I feel are inflammatory to my gut and body (ie. processed foods, gluten, nightshade vegetables, most raw vegetables and processed sugar).  I know I am doing something right because I am off all medications except a B/P pill, my labs are normal and two months ago I started walking and can now walk 2 miles without pain (my new walking/running shoes might be helping also)!

After reading the article, 10 Foods That Help Fight Depression, I decided to make a one day menu based on those foods and a few more of my favorites to show how easy it is to eat healthy.  Try this menu several days a week.  It is just this simple to eat foods that are good for you! (time saver tip: wash 3-4 cups of spinach using white vinegar with water rinses, just the amount you will need for the day, spin or pat dry then store in a mason jar (it only keeps one day like this).

BREAKFAST: 
EGGS, ONION, GARLIC, SPINACH SAUTE

• 1 onion sliced and sautéed with 1 clove of minced garlic in olive oil
• 1 cup organic spinach or kale washed, chopped really fine like herbs,  added to onion and garlic mixture cooking it just until it wilts
• 1-2 organic eggs scrambled and mixed into onions, garlic and spinach/kale (or if you can't eat eggs, add cooked beans to the mixture, it is delicious for breakfast or lunch)
• if you tolerate tomatoes and mushrooms, chop some up and add to the cooked ingredients

MID MORNING SNACK:

• 1 ounce walnuts (or sunflower seed butter spread on apple)
• 1 apple

LUNCH:
CHICKEN SPINACH SALAD

• 1 cup organic washed spinach
• 1 cup chopped strawberries (blackberries or blueberries or a combination of them fresh or frozen)
• 3 TBSP sunflower seeds (or walnuts)
• a few sliced mushrooms
• dressing of your choice or use my strawberry dressing recipe
• 2-3 ounces chicken breast from my freezer meal starter recipes (or cooked shrimp or any kind of leftover meat)

MID AFTERNOON SNACK:

• an entire avocado sliced, sprinkle with lime juice and salt of your choice)
• chopped tomato (if you can tolerate them)

DINNER:
HOMEMADE BLACK BEAN SOUP/VEGETABLES AND CHICKEN

• 1 to 2 cups black beans cooked with sauted onions, shredded carrots and celery, chopped spinach and garlic
• a side of mushrooms sautéed or cooked however you like them or leave them raw if you like
• a vegetable side of your choice
• 2-3 ounces chicken breast from my freezer meal starter recipes (or any other meat from my freezer meal starter recipes)

AFTER DINNER SNACK:

•  Chia seed and blueberry smoothie made with your recipe of choice (I use homemade yogurt and frozen blueberries (or a combination of berries) with a little local honey if needed to sweeten)

Clean Eating, Non Processed Foods, Weight Loss



This is one of my favorite meals.  I love planning colorful, fresh, non processed meals.  I generally eat six to nine vegetable servings per day.  I know that sounds like a lot, but it isn't hard once you get started, there are five vegetables on the plate, plus I had a strawberry spinach salad.  The photo is not very clear, but the squash is stuffed with caramelized onions, a cup of minced spinach, black olives and ground beef.  That flavor combination always reminds me of pizza but since I cant eat pizza crust, sauce or mozzarella cheese, this is the next best thing.

Strawberry dressing for spinach, strawberry and lettuce salad (not shown)
Stuffed Squash  (without nomato sauce like in recipe)
Green Beans
Baked Carrots

ALMOND FLOUR ZUCCHINI MUFFINS

ALMOND FLOUR ZUCCHINI MUFFINS     makes 12 muffins
2 cups Blanched Almond Flour (Honeyville is by far the best that I have used)
1 TSP Baking Soda
1/2 TSP Sea Salt
1 TSP Organic Ground Cinnamon
2 TBSP Organic Coconut Oil, melted
3 Organic Eggs
1 TSP White Vinegar
1 TSP Vanilla Extract
1/3 Cup Organic Applesauce
3 TBSP Organic Honey or local honey
1 1/2 Cups Organic peeled, shredded Zucchini (about 1 medium)

 Preheat Oven to 350 degrees

• Lay peeled, shredded zucchini on paper towels and mash moisture from zucchini, zucchini needs to be as dry as possible.
• Mix Almond Flour, Baking Soda, Salt and Cinnamon in a small bowl, set aside. 
• Crack eggs into another bowl.  Whisk eggs by hand with a fork.  Add Vanilla Extract, White Vinegar, Honey and Applesauce.
• Add dry ingredients into wet ingredients and stir.
• Add zucchini and stir in.
• Add coconut oil and continue to mix by hand until all the dry ingredients are mixed well.
• Prepare muffin tins with brushed on coconut oil.  Divide mixture into 12 muffins.  About 1/3 full.
• Bake 25 minutes.  Loosen edges and remove from pan while still hot.  Place on wire rack to cool.

I freeze these muffins in freezer safe mason jars.  I am not sure how long they will stay good in the freezer, they don't last long enough in this house to know.  LOL

Stuffed Summer Squash from Freezer Meat Meal Starter, SCD, AIP, grain free, egg free

Stuffed Summer Squash Recipe from a Freezer Meat Meal Starter  of Browned Ground Beef

Dinners are easier and healthier now that I have a freezer full of cooked Freezer Meat Meal Starters.  Even if you forget to take something out of the freezer to thaw, it doesn't take long at all for the meat to thaw enough to use in a recipe, especially the browned ground beef.

Sometimes our meals are a little repetitious not to mention the flavor is boring.  I am trying to come up with simple recipes that are SCD legal and don't contain any of the other foods that I haven't added back yet especially nightshades. It is too hard to follow a recipe and make substitutions so I just make it up as I go and use what is available from my local store.  Hence, the reason for stuffed organic summer squash...all the organic zucchini were gone.

STUFFED ORGANIC SUMMER SQUASH          2 SERVINGS

6-8 ounces browned cooked ground beef or use one container of Freezer Meat Meal Starter, Browned Ground Beef, thawed
3/4 cup No Tomato Red Sauce thawed  (I make this once a month and freeze in 3/4 cup servings)
2 medium organic yellow squash
1 large sweet onion or 2 small, sliced
2-3 garlic cloves, minced
2 TSP olive oil, divided
2 cups organic baby spinach, chop really small like you would herbs (I dislike the texture of big pieces of spinach)
1/4 cup black olives, sliced

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees
• Peel squash, slice in half, remove seeds.  Brush with olive oil.  Place in glass baking and cover.  Bake 25 minutes.
• Slice onions, sautee in olive oil about 7 minutes, add garlic cook 2 minutes.  Add browned ground beef and spinach.  Cook about 3 minutes longer just to mix ingredients together.  Add olives to the mixture after you remove the pan from the heat and stir in.
• Scoop meat mixture into the squash. 
• While stuffed squash are roasting, warm No Tomato Red Sauce in a small saucepan.  Once you remove stuffed squash from the oven, spoon warmed sauce over them. 

Shredded Chicken Salad Specific Carbohydrate Diet Clean Eating

Having chicken in the freezer that is already cooked and shredded is such a time and money saver.  I love freezer meat meal starters.  The hardest part is remembering to put them in the refrigerator the night before to thaw. Tonight's chicken salad dinner was done in 30 minutes. All I had to do was wash the apples, celery, grapes and lettuce, do a little chopping,  mix in some dripped yogurt cream cheese and it was ready to eat!

FREEZER MEAT MEAL STARTER CHICKEN SALAD SPECIFIC CARBOHYDRATE DIET
makes 2 servings

6-8 ounces cooked, shredded chicken, or use one container shredded chicken meat meal starter, thawed in refrigerator
1 organic Granny Smith Apple, washed, peeled and chopped
1 cup organic seedless grapes, washed, cut in half
1 large organic celery rib (piece), washed, chopped very tiny
4 ounces dripped yogurt cream cheese
4 organic Romaine leaves
sea salt to taste
(optional) 1 cup organic spinach, chop very fine like one would chop herbs for a recipe

Wash, peel and chop Apple.  Wash grapes, cut in half.  Wash celery, chop tiny. Wash lettuce. Add container of shredded chicken meat meal starter.  Mix in cream cheese.  Add salt to taste.  Chill for 30 minutes before serving. Serve on lettuce.

Chicken Vegetable Meatballs

I have enjoyed my beef meatballs so much that I decided to try making ground chicken breast meatballs.  You can use any kind of ground chicken that you like, but I am very picky and ground two boneless, skinless chicken breasts, about a pound, using a food grinder on my Kitchenaid mixer.  I also like sneaking vegetables into my meatballs.  These would be great for picky eaters who don't like greens, you can't taste the spinach if you mince it small enough.

CHICKEN VEGETABLE MEATBALLS                 makes about 14 small meatballs

2 boneless, skinless, chicken breasts (about 1 lb) ground
1 large Vidalia onion, finely chopped
1 large organic carrot , finely shredded
1 stalk organic celery, finely minced
1-2 TSP olive oil, or coconut oil for sautéing vegetables
1/2 TSP sea salt
1 TBSP olive oil (to add to mixture)
**(optional) 2 cloves garlic, minced (cook last 2 minutes with veges)
**(optional) 1 cup organic spinach, finely minced (don't add if you plan to freeze)
**(optional) 3 TBSP homemade basil and spinach pesto mixed into meatballs (don't add if you plan to freeze)
*(optional) 1/2 - 3/4 cup No Tomato Red Sauce for dipping or to serve over meatballs.  When I make the beef meatballs, I mix the sauce right into the meat mixture before baking.  So far I haven't tried that with the chicken but will let you know how that works out.

Preheat over to 375 degrees.
Saute onion, carrots and celery in olive oil about 7 minutes. Let cool.
Mix into the ground chicken along with olive oil and salt and **optional ingredients if using.
Roll into small meatballs, about 1 rounded TBSP.  Place them in a glass baking dish.  Cook for 20-30 minutes.  Mine didn't brown.

Carrots, Organic Baked Carrot Fries

We eat a lot of organic carrots!!  The first time I saw a five pound bag of organic carrots, I wondered who eats that many carrots.  Well guess what, my husband and I eat five pounds a week! Once I realized that cooked carrots don't bother my tummy, they are on the menu every day.  I use carrots as the base for many recipes.  Carrots can be used for baked carrot fries, baked carrots and onions, stir fried carrots, carrots in soup and in No Tomato Sauce, similar to spaghetti sauce without the inflammatory nightshade vegetables, ie. tomatoes.  Plus, they are one of the less expensive organic vegetables usually priced about five dollars for five pounds.  So between my happy tummy, versatility and cheap price, we eat five pounds a week!

One of my favorite carrot recipes is baked carrot fries.  I have seen several varieties of this recipe but I like the recipe my daughter shared with me that a friend shared with her.  This is easy and not really much of a recipe but tastes soooo good.

BAKED CARROT FRIES 

I usually plan one to two carrots per person depending on how big they are.  Use carrots that are similar in size so they cook evenly.  Simply wash and clean up the outside of the carrots with a peeler to remove any outer dirt.  Slice the carrots in half to decrease the length and then cut each half into four long pieces (shaped like French fries).  Toss in about 1 TBSP olive oil or more depending on how many carrots you use.  Make sure to coat them well.  Place in a baking dish and put in a 400 degree oven.  Bake 20-30 minutes.  If your carrot pieces are big, you may need to add additional baking times.  Sprinkle with salt and enjoy!

Butternut Squash Recipes

Who knew that butternut squash increases serotonin in the brain?  According to the Dr Oz show that I watched this afternoon, eat one 1/2 cup serving per day to boost serotonin to the brain.  Move over antidepressants, butternut squash is moving in!

I have been eating butternut squash more frequently now that I know how to cook it several ways.  I used to get the hubs to split it in half and bake it in the oven for an hour which is delicious. Then I saw on Facebook how to peel butternut squash, slice and bake it.  Butternut squash can also be peeled and boiled until tender then mash it, add some cinnamon and honey and it is delicious.  I also saw several recipe that used grated butternut squash for hash browns!

Since I am cooking for two, a butternut squash is definitely more than we can eat in a day.  Generally, I peel and slice the end that doesn't have the seeds in it and bake that part the first day.  The bulb end that has the seeds can either be grated to make hash browns or boiled to make mashed squash the second day.  And most of the time we have leftovers of both to eat for breakfast or lunch.

Baked Butternut Squash Medallions

Peel the squash using a potato peeler. Depending on your peeler, this might take a couple of swipes around to get all the peel off.  Cut off the bulbous end of the squash that has the seeds and use that for the next recipe, butternut hash browns. Slice the straight part into medallions about 1/4-1/2 inch thick.  Try to be consistent with the thickness so they cook evenly.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Brush olive oil or coconut oil on both sides of the discs. Prepare several baking sheets with parchment paper or use glass baking dishes.  Place the butternut squash discs on the prepared baking sheets/dishes.  Bake 20 minutes, then turn and bake additional 20-30 minutes depending on the thickness of your slices.  Sprinkle with cinnamon.

Butternut Squash Hash Browns

1-2 cups grated squash (I used the bulb end of squash)
1/4 cup grated onion
1-2 TBSP Olive Oil

Remove the seeds from the bulb end of the squash that has been peeled.  Grate the squash.  Press the moisture from the squash between layers of paper towels, so it doesn't end up soggy.  Heat a medium skillet over med-high heat with 1 TBSP of olive oil.  Place the grated squash and grated onions into the heated pan, cook about 3-4 minutes on one side, flip and continue to cook until squash is tender and starts to brown.  You may need to reduce the heat once you flip the squash.  Salt to taste.

Green Beans, Quick and Delicious

GREEN BEANS  

1/2 - 1 lb fresh organic green beans
1 TBSP organic coconut oil (or olive oil)
2 garlic cloves minced
sea salt to taste

• Wash green beans.  Snip the ends.
• Prepare your steamer, get water boiling.
• Prepare large saute pan with the coconut oil and garlic in it.  While green beans are steaming get oil hot over medium heat and ready for green beans to be sauted once they are steamed.
• Place green beans in steamer and cook 2 minutes.  Immediately place steamed green beans into saute pan, quickly toss in the olive oil and cook 2 minutes.
• Sprinkle with sea salt and eat.

The green beans will be bright green and crunchy!

Spinach, Baby Organic, finely chopped

As I have mentioned before, I really don't like the taste or texture of most vegetables.  In the past fifteen months, I have learned to like a few more vegetables and continue to try new vegetable recipes. But I am afraid I have a long way to go.

A few years ago I started eating raw baby spinach salads after trying it at my niece's.  She had made this beautiful spinach salad with strawberries, blueberries, feta cheese and Girard's raspberry dressing.  I was hooked after the first bite and forever grateful to my niece for introducing me to raw spinach!  But when I started the anti inflammatory diet I realized the salad wasn't the same without the feta and dressing.  I needed to find a new way to eat spinach!

After trying quite a few spinach recipes, I realized it was the texture that grossed me out, not the taste.  I accidentally discovered how I can easily eat 2 cups of spinach a day.  I stack the leaves, cut the stem off, and then chop the heck out of it like it was fresh basil or cilantro.  Duh!!  Why didn't I know this when my kids were little so they would eat spinach.  I can add it to just about any recipe and not ever taste or feel the texture of it but still obtain its healthy benefits.  I add finely chopped spinach to stir fry vegetables, caramelized onions, soup, chicken broth and just about anything else I cook.

By the way, I am working on a raspberry dressing recipe that is AIP approved.  It might not taste as good as Girard's, but my taste buds really want a spinach salad.

Organic Black Bean Quinoa Carrot Burgers (Recipe Makeover)

Organic black bean / quinoa / carrot burgers have become a favorite in my house!  I am so happy I have been able to add black beans back into my diet. They quickly became that "go to" meal when we can't think of what to make for dinner. These healthy bean burgers have kept us from eating out more than once!  Serve on a bed of lettuce, baby spinach and avocado/homemade guacamole and we have a filling, healthy meal.

These burgers also freeze well!

Organic Black Bean Quinoa Carrot Burgers                    makes 4 burgers / 2 servings

1/2 cup cooked organic quinoa (not SCD legal but my tummy tolerates just fine)
15 ounce can organic black beans, rinsed and drain, mash with hand masher leaving some whole or use 1 1/2 cups homemade cooked organic black beans
3/4 cup finely shredded organic carrots
1/4 cup organic Almond Flour
1 clove organic garlic, minced
1 tsp organic cumin (if allowed on your diet)
(optional 1/4 tsp sea salt)
1-2 TBSP olive oil for cooking burgers

Cook quinoa according to package directions to equal 1/2 cup cooked.  Let cool, then add shredded carrots, minced garlic, mashed beans, almond flour, cumin and salt.  Mixture will be lumpy but should stick together.  Form into 4 patties.  I like mine flattened a little so there is more crunchy surface, if you like a softer burger leave it a little thicker.  Cook 8 minutes on each side in olive oil over medium heat.  If they start to get too brown/crunchy, turn the heat down slightly.

I freeze these burgers on a cookie sheet individually, then place parchment paper between them before placing in freezer container.  This makes it easier to just remove one burger at a time.