vegetables

by

Beetroot

Beetroot for flavor, nutrition, color.

Edible beetroot is the taproot portion of the beet plant (Beta vulgaris subsp. vulgaris Conditiva Group). This vegetable is one of several of the cultivated varieties of Beta vulgaris grown for their edible taproots and their edible leaves (called beet greens).[Wikipedia, “Beetroot”] Beetroot is listed as safe for people who suffer from Histamine Intolerance.
Beetroot’s color can range from white, through red-and-white striped, to golden-yellow or red. The most common color available in stores is a dark, almost purplish red.
In North America, beetroot is also called:

  • beet
  • table beet
  • garden beet
  • red beet
  • golden beet

Nutritional Information

Raw beetroot is 88% water, 10% carbohydrates, 2% protein, and less than 1% fat. In a 100-gram amount (3.5 ounces) providing 43 calories, raw beetroot is a rich source of folate (one of the B-Group vitamins) and a moderate source of manganese. Beetroots are helpful for weight loss because they provide fiber and water to fill you up, but few calories.
Some people can’t stand the flavor of beets, but others love their sweet earthiness. If you’d like to eat beets but you’re put off by the taste, grate them raw and mix them with other ingredients  in smoothies, cookie dough, burgers, hummus, salads or red velvet cake. The other ingredients can soften or disguise the flavor.
Beet greens are rich in calcium, iron and vitamins A and C, so don’t throw them away – use them as you would use spinach or silverbeet (Swiss chard).

Food Coloring Uses

Betanin, obtained from beetroot’s vibrantly-colored roots, is used industrially as red food colorant. It improves the color and flavor of tomato paste, sauces, desserts, jams and jellies, ice cream, candy, and breakfast cereals, among other applications. [Wikipedia, “Beetroot”] Some of the names of beetroot hybrids pay homage to their gorgeous red coloring – such as “Bull’s Blood” and “Ruby Queen”. Famously, red velvet cake is made with beetroot. During the middle of the 19th century, wine was often colored with beetroot juice. In the 21st century it can be used as a coloring for pasta.

Medicinal Uses

Traditionally, Beta vulgaris has also been used as a medicinal plant. “De honesta voluptate et valetudine” (On honest indulgence and good health) was the first cookbook ever printed. It first appeared between 1470 and 1475.  The author recommended taking beetroot with garlic to nullify the effects of “garlic-breath”. For many centuries, from the Middle Ages onwards, beetroot was used as a treatment for a range of diseases, especially illnesses of the digestion and the blood.

Beetroot and Apple Juice

Here’s a quick and easy recipe for a refreshing drink: Put beetroot, apple, carrot, celery and a tiny knob of ginger through a juicer and drink it chilled.

 

 

by

Cauliflower – the versatile vegetable

CauliflowerCauliflower – it’s better than you think

We decided to write about cauliflower in this post because:

  • it’s permitted on the Strictly Low Histamine Diet
  • it’s one of the vegetables that’s so easy to hate if it’s prepared wrongly
  • it’s good for you
  • lately, people have been coming up with inventive ways to make it actually delicious.
  • it’s very low in Calories, which is useful for people who want to lose weight

Wikipedia tells us that cauliflower (Brassica oleracea) originated in the Northeast Mediterranean. “Cauliflower is an annual plant that reproduces by seed. Typically, only the head is eaten – the edible white flesh sometimes called “curd” (similar appearance to cheese curd).”Purple cauliflower

There are four major groups of cauliflower:

  • Italian, which includes white, Romanesco, various brown, green, purple, and yellow cultivars. This type is the ancestral form from which the others were derived.
  • Northern European annuals, which include Erfurt and Snowball.
  • Northwest European biennial, which include Angers and Roscoff.
  • Asian, a tropical type used in China and India. It includes Early Benaras and Early Patna.

Fractal cauliflowerDid you know that there are hundreds of historic and current commercial varieties of cauliflower used around the world? Or that cauliflower comes in colors other than creamy white? The other colors of cauliflower include:

  • Orange, whose beautiful color is provided by beta-carotene, a provitamin A compound. Cultivars include ‘Cheddar’ and ‘Orange Bouquet’.
  • Green, which is also known as “broccoflower”. This comes in the normal cloud-shaped head (curd) or in a fractal spiral curd called “Romanesco Broccoli”. Varieties of the cloud-shaped green cauliflower include ‘Alverda’, ‘Green Goddess’ and ‘Vorda’. Romanesco varieties include ‘Minaret’ and ‘Veronica’.
  • Purple, whose stunning color is given to it by anthocyanins, plant pigments that are found in other plants, including red cabbage, red plums and red grapes. Varieties include ‘Graffiti’ and ‘Purple Cape’.

How to keep the Nutrients in Cauliflower

Cauliflower heads can be roasted, boiled, fried, steamed, pickled, or eaten raw. According to Wikipedia, “Boiling reduces the levels of cauliflower compounds, with losses of 20–30% after five minutes, 40–50% after ten minutes, and 75% after thirty minutes.” However, other preparation methods, such as steaming, microwaving, and stir frying, have no significant effect on the compounds.”

Romanesco CauliflowerWonderful Ways with Cauliflower

Maybe your Mom always used to serve up cauliflower looking like a white, watery, blob on the plate, but these days there are a lot of great ways to use this versatile food, such as

  • cauliflower “rice”
  • cauliflower”steaks”
  • vegan “cauliflower cheese”
  • creamy, savory cauliflower whip
  • cauliflower salad
  • cauliflower soup
  • roasted cauliflower
  • cauliflower dip
  • mashed cauliflower
  • white sauce made out of cauliflower
  • and even cauliflower chocolate pudding!

There are loads of ideas on the internet – just type “cauliflower recipes” into your search engine. Make sure you check the other ingredients and if there’s anything histamine-unfriendly in there, either leave it out or substitute a similar, histamine-friendly ingredient.

by

Zucchinis (courgettes) – A vegetable that’s really a fruit.

zucchini courgetteEnjoy zucchinis in a variety of dishes

Zucchinis, otherwise knows as courgettes, are considered to be a safe food for people with histamine intolerance. They can be incorporated into a huge variety of dishes, including:

  • slices and cobblers
  • pizza crust
  • soups
  • breads
  • salads
  • sweet cakes and muffins
  • cookies and biscuits

Zucchinis are a type of summer squash. The zucchinis we see in the shops have been harvested while young. In Britain, Ireland and Australia, a fully grown zucchini is called a marrow.

Their botanical name is Cucurbita pepo, and they can be dark green, pale green, golden-orange, or striped. Everyone thinks of zucchinis as vegetables, but botanically speaking they are fruits – “…a type of botanical berry called a “pepo”, being the swollen ovary of the zucchini flower.” [Wikipedia]Golden_zucchinis

A Brief History of Zucchinis

Like so many delicious food plants, zucchinis originated in South America. In the early 16th century the explorer Christopher Columbus brought seeds of zucchini’s cucurbit ancestors to the Mediterranean and Africa. However it was not until the second half of the 19th century that the zucchinis we know today were bred, in northern Italy. That’s why we tend to think of zucchinis as a “Mediterranean vegetable” – when they are really a South American fruit!

To make a rectangular zucchini-based pizza:

Ingredients

1 large zucchini
1 Tbsp. finely chopped fresh parsley
1 pastured egg, beaten
3 Tbsp. water
2 cups spelt flour
1 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
½ tsp. sea salt
¼ tsp. freshly ground black pepper
Your favorite low histamine pizza toppings.

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350 °F (180 °C)
Chop zucchini into small chunks.
Place raw zucchini into a food processor and process 3 – 4 minutes until it becomes smooth and gloopy.
Add, flour, beaten egg, olive oil and parsley to the zucchini in food processor and mix until it forms a smooth dough. Add a little water if needed to achieve dough consistency.
Scoop out the dough onto a baking sheet (baking tray) lined with parchment (baking paper). Pat it out into a pizza shape.
Allow dough to sit on the kitchen counter (benchtop) for 20 minutes before baking.
Slide baking sheet into the preheated oven and bake for 20 minutes.
Remove from oven and top with your favorite low histamine pizza toppings.
Return pizza to the oven, making sure to swivel the baking sheet 180 degrees (to allow for even cooking).
Bake for another 15 minutes or until the edges turn golden brown.
Take it out of the oven and slice into rectangular pieces.

by

Apples and Onions

Apples & Onions

… with natural antihistamines?

Quercetin, a compound found in many plants, is a flavonoid and an antioxidant with many valuable properties. It’s readily available in natural foods, especially apples and onions.

  • Quercetin is an antioxidant, and may promote good health by decreasing or even helping to prevent some of the damage free radicals do to our bodies.
  • It may help guard against heart disease and cancer.
  • It is thought to have anti-inflammatory properties.
  • In addition, quercetin may have an antihistamine effect by aiding in the stabilization of histamine-releasing cells in our bodies.

In laboratory tests, quercetin stops immune cells from releasing histamine. If this mechanism also works in living humans, then quercetin would be a valuable aid in reducing symptoms of allergies such as –

  • itchy skin
  • runny nose
  • watery eyes
  • hives
  • sneezing
  • wheezing, shortness of breath

Quercetin can be bought in the form of a dietary supplement (capsules, pills etc.).  In the form of supplements it is generally considered safe, however the University of Maryland cautions people against taking more than the recommended dose. It is possible to harm your health by overdosing on quercetin supplements, but it’s unlikely you could eat enough apples or onions to cause any problems!

You can eat apples and onions raw or cooked – you’ll still get the benefits of quercetin. Cooking can change the levels of quercetin in foods, but not enough to worry about. For example, in a study on onions,  “Baking and sautéing produced a 7–25% gain in quercetin concentration, while boiling produced an 18% decrease in quercetin concentration.”

So grab an apple now, or slice up an onion for a salad, and enjoy crunching on a nutritious fruit or vegetable that may help reduce your histamine intolerance symptoms!

References:

[Journal of Food Composition and Analysis, Volume 18, Issue 6, September 2005, Pages 571–581 Quercetin in onion (Allium cepa L.) after heat-treatment simulating home preparation. Kevin Lombard, Ellen Peffley, Emanuel Geoffriau, Leslie Thompson, Andy Herring. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jfca.2004.03.027]

 

 

 

 

 

by

How to make vegetables taste better

Vegetable quicheVegetables: they can be delicious!

We all know we need to eat more vegetables. They are good for us, and if we are trying to lose weight, they can help. But a lot of us don’t like them. How can we change this?

Tip #1: Choose baby vegetables. The flavor of baby ones is less intense and often they are sweeter.

Tip #2: Drizzle a little ‘extra virgin’ olive oil on your veggies.

Tip #3: Blanch your vegetables to prevent over-strong flavors from developing.  Steam them for 30 to 60 seconds, then take them off the heat and plunge them into cold water.

Tip #4 Buy fresh from farmers’ markets – or grow your own

Tip #5  Disguise them in breads, quiches, even cakes.

Tip #6: Think about veggies doing you good. It becomes easier for people to tolerate foods that are good for them but whose flavour they don’t like, if they understand why the foods are good for them. For best results, this should be combined with repeated, regular exposure to those foods.  [Source: Leslie J. Stein, PhD, Science Communications, Monell Chemical Senses Center, Philadelphia.]

Tip #7: Stir-frying vegetables preserves their fresh flavors and crispy textures.

Check out our book “Is Food Making You Sick?” for low-histamine vegetable recipes.

by

Vitamin K2

Leafy vegetablesWhat’s the buzz about Vitamin K2?

One reader recently wrote in to say,

“Thank you for all of your work and sharing it with us on your website. I think I have a histamine allergy. How can I be sure this is the cause of my health problems and not something else? Also, how can I be sure to get enough Vitamin K-2 when I can’t eat cultured foods? Thank you!”

Our replies might help others with the same questions, so here they are:

Self diagnosis

One way of finding out whether you are histamine intolerant is to take antihistamines (follow the manufacturer’s directions) and see if they decrease your symptoms. If symptoms are severe you may need to take them for a few days or even weeks before you nitice an improvement. You might also have to take an H1 and an H2 receptor antagonist simultaneously.

Read more about antihistamines on our blog, here.

Getting enough Vitamin K2

Egg yolks are rich in Vitamin K2. Make sure you eat eggs that are very fresh and preferably pastured or free-range.

Good Health to All!

Vegetable Noodles
by

Vegetable Noodles

zucchini spiralizerWhy Vegetable Noodles?

Vegetable noodles (or lasagna) are a delicious replacement for noodles (or lasagna) made with grains. The noodles can be bought ready-made as shirataki noodles, or found ready-made by nature, inside spaghetti squashes.

You can also make them using a spiralizer, which is often called a Spiral Vegetable Slicer. If you do not have one of these machines, you can use a Julienne peeler or a standard vegetable peeler. Veggie noodles are actually fun to make! You can see them being made on this Youtube video and also on this one (we have no affiliation with any of the brands or blogs mentioned).

You’ll end up with nutritious ‘ribbons’ of vegetables (vegetti), which you simply steam to cook, pile on a plate and smother with a scrumptious low-histamine sauce. Sauce recipes can be found in the book “Is Food Making You Sick?”

For vegetable lasagna, substitute thin layers of parsnip or zucchini for sheets of grain lasagna.

The Strictly Low Histamine Diet allows most grains, notably excluding wheat. Wheat germ is high in histamine. (Wheat bran, however, is permissible.) Vegetable pasta can, however, make an interesting alternative.

Low histamine vegetables suited to spiralizing include:

  • Kholrabi (koloodles)
  • Zucchini (zoodles)
  • Carrot (coodles)
  • Parsnip (poodles)
  • Sweet Potato (swoodles)
  • Turnip (toodles)
  • Broccoli Stem (boodles – peel stem first)
  • Asparagus (aspoodles)

Note: kelp noodles, radish noodles or pumpkin noodles should not be included in a low histamine diet.

There are several reasons why you might prefer to eat pasta that’s grain-free.

  • People who follow the “Paleo” diet choose to avoid all grains, especially wheat.
  • People who are sensitive to gluten must avoid grains that contain gluten, if they are to remain healthy.
  • Eating non-grain pasta means consuming fewer calories – if you are trying to lose weight, this could help.
  • Vegetable noodles are delicious and nutritious.

It’s strange but true – veggies taste better when they’re in a different shape! So give spiralizing a try, and you could find you’re enjoying vegetables a whole lot more.

 

 

 

by

Grow Fresh Food in Small Spaces

windowsill herbsYou Can Grow Your Own Fresh Food Almost Anywhere!

Histamine develops and accumulates to high levels in aging food. Eating old, long-stored food can provoke symptoms in people with histamine intolerance.
The best way to make sure your food is fresh is to grow it yourself. If you can simply reach out and pick a few lettuce or rocket leaves, or pull up some carrots or pluck some herbs, you can not only stay healthy, you can cut down on ‘food miles’ and your grocery bills.  You can ‘eat fresh’ every day. If you don’t happen to live on a farm, you can still enjoy your own fresh vegetable patch.

In the USA, gardeners like Paul Wheaton are spreading the word about growing your own organic foods sustainably and living in small spaces. HGTV has free online articles with helpful suggestions, such as Intensive Gardening Makes Small Spaces Work Double Time and Edible Gardening in Small Spaces.
The Univeristy of Maine in its article on Gardening in Small Spaces says, “At a time when Americans are overweight and under-exercised more than ever before, consider that a 150-pound person working in the garden will burn approximately 350 calories per hour. That’s roughly equivalent to doing low-impact aerobics, playing softball, pulling a cart while playing golf, walking at a very brisk pace, or playing vigorously with children. Of course, consuming home-grown vegetables is good for your health as well. Fresh vegetables are loaded with vitamins, antioxidants, and fiber, all of which play a role in cancer prevention and general good health. And when you grow your own vegetables, you know exactly how they were grown and where they originated—issues of food safety and security that are becoming more and more important to our society.”

Alan Titchmarsh, arguably the most famous gardener in the UK, says, ““I think it is a very underrated mission, encouraging people to grow things and to look after that little patch of ground outside their house. Hopefully [his TV gardening series] shows just how important gardens are. It sounds like a grandiose claim, but they can, and do, change lives. They are a safety valve, an oasis, a sanctuary, somewhere to feel at one with nature, all of those things. I always call them an escape to reality because that is the real world, really. And if you can make a garden that suits you and your sensibilities, you realise its value. It will aid the environment immeasurably and give them enormous solace, stimulation and pleasure.” His book “How to Garden: Vegetables and Herbs” is useful for UK gardeners.

Your own Backyard

Clive Blazey, the Australian founder of the Digger’s Club, says, “If you plan your garden carefully, you can grow a remarkable amount of produce in only a few square meters of space. To feed a family of four for a whole year, you only need 40 square meters of ground.” One of Mr Blazey’s “mini plots” could easily fit into the area occupied by a small suburban backyard. Or, to feed one person for a year all you require is ten square meters of ground.
Mr Blazey’s method is based on successional plantings, and you can read about it in his book The Australian Vegetable Garden. The method can be adapted to any country or climate.

Your Courtyard, Deck or Patio

Containers such as flower pots, tubs and hanging baskets can be used to grow your own fresh produce in small spaces.

Your Roof

Roof gardening is growing in popularity. Up there, there’s plenty of sunshine for growing plants. As an added bonus, growing vegetables on a roof can be a great way to insulate a home or office space. Do your research first – you need to be able to safely access the roof and make sure it’s properly waterproofed.

Your Windowsill

No home is too small to grow herbs and salad greens for the kitchen. Potted plants can thrive even on a sunny windowsill. Freshness means low histamine, and growing your own living herbs for muffins, garnishes, main courses and salads etc. is the best way to ensure freshness. Products like the ‘Jiffy Windowsill Greenhouse” can help.

Get Plants for Free!Propagating fruit plants

You don’t have to always buy plants, seedlings and seeds. Once you have a plant, you can propagate more. Find out how to make your own new plants from old, using simple techniques such as seed-saving or taking cuttings. Propagating Fruit Plants will tell you how.