FOOD
The right kind of food is the most important part of healing (not supplements!). It wasn't until I changed my diet to include generous amounts of calories, fat, protein, and sugar that I was able to turn around the devastating decline in my health. The recipes featured here are all made with ingredients which I consider not only safe but therapeutic in the restoration of a healthful metabolism. Check back often as this archive will continue to grow and expand, and share your favorites with friends and family!
Salad has become such a polarizing food these days it can’t be discussed without also discussing various health and dietary ideologies along with it. Often used as a substitute for other foods when people on are restrictive diets, salad is (or can be) a very useful and delicious way to get the healthy nutrition we require as human beings.
The thing that makes other fried chicken unhealthy is not the fat or the frying, but the type oil and the common wheat used. Frying foods in coconut oil turns them into a health food, and using spelt flour instead of common wheat will prevent any stomachaches or inflammation.
Bread is a great source of most B vitamins, but one it does not have, which is probably also the most important, is B12. The reason bread does not have B12 is that B12 can only be made by bacteria, so the yeast used to make bread means that bread does not contain any unless it is fortified with it.
Root vegetables are some of the most healthy foods we can eat as human beings, though they are not always themselves packed with nutrition or thought to be nutritious. The benefit of eating root vegetables such as sweet potatoes, yams, or yuca (also called cassava) is that they have unique carbohydrates
Probably the very definition of comfort food, I think a good pot pie is my favorite meal ever. It does take a lot of work, but with some smart planning it can be successful without requiring much more effort than you might already be putting into your meals.
Chocolate cookies are not a common go-to for dessert, but these are some of the MOST delicious cookies and one of my absolute favorites. Many chocolate cookie recipes do actually use too much chocolate (yes, there is such a thing as too much, I think).
I can’t believe I went for ten years of my life without ever having doughnuts (due to my gluten allergy), and that doughnuts made with safe flours like einkorn actually taste better than normal doughnuts. Doughnuts are also way easier to make than you might think.
One of the biggest problems with people’s diets is the tendency to eat less fresh food. Fanatics will often take this to the extreme and practice diets like total raw and macro diets, which is an overcorrection that can actually cause its own problems. But, there are natural compounds in some fresh foods which are especially healthful…
You honestly don’t know what you’re missing (unless you do!)—there is nothing like fresh, homemade pasta. Unlike the dried stuff, homemade pasta is very soft and flavorful, and contrary to what you may think, is actually one of the easiest things to make. It takes less time and effort than making cookies. So if you can make cookies, you will love making homemade pasta.
Growing up, creamed spinach was synonymous with the holidays and our once-a-year prime rib that it accompanied. But while creamed spinach appears fancy there’s no reason not to have this all the time! In fact, preparations of foods high in vitamin K with lots of fat increases the bioavailability of the vitamin K by a factor of 4!
Everybody knows carrots are a great source of beta carotene, but what people don’t know is actually how much carotene we actually need to be healthy nor how many different types of carotene are actually in food besides just the common beta carotene.
Sorghum is one of the most ancient human foods. Endemic to Africa, it was likely one of the very first foraged and cultivated cereal crops. Sorghum is not at all popular in Western societies, to their detriment, as sorghum has many healthful properties which can be used to restrain metabolic illness and promote health and wellness.
Nitrates and nitrites are nitrogenous compounds which occur in most foods. Our body uses them to produce nitric oxide but, as I discuss frequently in my book, excess nitric oxide can contribute to a whole host of metabolic problems from erectile dysfunction to hair loss and even cancer.
I LOOOVE enchiladas. So. Much. If they are on the menu I am ordering them. Especially because making enchiladas at home can be a time consuming project. But when you’re eating at a restaurant foods made with corn are probably non-organic which will usually contain toxic glyphosate and other pesticides, and the corn may not even be properly processed to make it digestible—
Butternut squash is never the hero of any meal. Which is a shame because it is an extremely healthy food which can be shaped well if paired with the right ingredients. The problem is that butternut can be easily overpowered by other ingredients. Even an onion can turn a wonderful squash into something which you just don’t want to have more than a few bites.
There are few pleasures in life as wonderful as Chocolate Chip Cookies. Because of my gluten allergy I did not have them for an entire decade unless they were made with awful gluten-free flour, which usually makes things like cookies taste like cardboard.
Oh pizza. Without you my life would be empty. And it was. For nearly a decade I almost never had pizza on account of my allergy to gluten. As I explain in my book the allergy to gluten is very specific to certain types of grains, and if you’ve spent any time on this site you know how grateful I am for heirloom grains like spelt, einkorn, and kamut, which bring wonderful bready goodness into my life. Pizza is NOT hard to make at home…
Who doesn’t love pudding? Well—American pudding has been a staple ever since the second World War, when industrial food production kicked into high gear. Puddings are traditionally foods which are steamed or boiled, and could be sweet or savory, and what Americans refer to as pudding is actually a custard, or supposed to be a custard
Frittata has one of the highest impressiveness to effort ratios of any dish. It takes no time to put together, but looks like it took hours and can easily feed several people. It has all the characteristics of a soufflé, omelette, and scramble in one easy-to-make dish.
Most people think of chicken as being a healthy dish. And they would be wrong. Mostly. Chicken is fine, but because chickens are usually fed diets which include soy and corn and do not have digestive systems which convert bad fats into healthier types, the way that
Sandwiches may seem like a silly thing to have recipes for, but they can be an economical way to get lots of great nutrition and satiety, and if you take proper steps to use healthy ingredients you can use food like sandwiches to not only satisfy your hunger but promote rather than inhibit health, which a surprising amount of components do.
Reading bread recipes online can make you freak out and slam the laptop shut. They're usually just written poorly or overwrought in their technique. Bread really isn't that difficult.
Yes this is actually made with fusilli—I didn’t have actual macaroni on hand, and to us uncouth Americans macaroni and cheese is more about a short pasta with a cheese sauce than it is about actual macaroni noodles. The reason this is made with fusilli is only because one of my favorite einkorn brands, Jovial Foods…
Sometimes you just have to start the weekend with a decadent, indulgent breakfast, and German pancakes are absolutely that. Some recipes have weird cooking instructions though, but making a German pancake couldn’t be any simpler, delicious, and healthy when made with these ingredients. If you’ve never made this before it’s quite a spectacular sight when you first take it out of the oven
Somehow these are even better than normal hash browns, which I didn’t think was possible. Yuca (pronounced yo͞oka, also called cassava and not to be confused with yucca) is one of the most powerful foods you can use to shift the gut microbiome. It is so effective in supporting healthy gut microbes that its effect can last for an extended period of time after consumption
This is one of my favorite salads. It is sweet, refreshing, and surprisingly filling. I have wanted to put another salad recipe here for quite a while specifically to talk about salad dressings. Store bought dressing is nearly always made with the kind of cheap, crappy oils that will shorten your lifespan and contribute to poor health.
Kvass is a delightful traditional Slavic fermented drink. Originally it was made with bread, but fruit varieties are now most popular because they are especially appealing for children. In my book, Fuck Portion Control I talk about how most probiotic products are not helpful and sometimes even harmful because they are usually made of strains which are chosen for their hardiness through the distribution and packaging process and not because they are especially healthful
Coffee. God. Thank God. Coffee is amazing. Coffee is life. Without coffee I probably wouldn’t have survived my brush with cancer and thyroid disease, and certainly not my depression (which I almost didn’t). Many times during my journey I often questioned whether coffee was hurting or helping. There is no shortage of people who believe it to be harmful.
Microgreens are hands down some of the most healthy foods you can eat. They are so healthy, in fact, they are one of the few foods you can actually feel making you better after you eat them. The reason that microgreens are so healthy is because they have such compact nutrition both from the seed from which it germinated and the early burst of other nutrients created in the early stages of growth…
Gratin is the most comforting French comfort food and is not hard nor time consuming to make. Though a gratin is technically any dish with a crunchy top, it has typically come to reflect one which is filled with cream and a carbohydrate and topped with cheese. While a gratin can be made of anything—
Mushrooms are a great source of nutrition, and cream of mushroom is really easy to make, easy to digest, and supportive of a healthy metabolism. But most cream of mushroom makes me angry—over flavoring with herbs or spices will mask the mushroom, and most recipes turn this dish into nothing more than a bisque or purée with no heft which leaves you underwhelmed yet somehow overfull
Most people find getting vegetables to be rather boring simply because they see vegetables as a necessary evil instead of something to be cherished. Zucchini is a great vegetable which can be equally bland as satisfying, but pesto also has hidden vegetables due to lots of vitamin K rich basil disguised by oily, garlic-y, olive-y goodness.
Most people think of desserts as something to get fat to. But as I point out in my book, Fuck Portion Control that is absolutely not how fat works. We get fat when there are significant stressors to our metabolic health—it is a protective mechanism against death, and in most people this a result of gut microbial dysbiosis.
Common wheat is murder on our gastrointestinal systems. Gluten from strains of red, white, and winter wheat are impossible for our bodies to digest, and even seemingly healthy people will suffer the effects of eating it. Heirloom grains such as spelt, einkorn, and kamut are not only easier to digest—they taste better.
Chicken is one of the meats which should absolutely be consumed organic. Animal fats absorb agricultural toxins like pesticides and dioxins, but chicken fat is also already not the best fat to consume for our own metabolic health, and too much chicken can contribute to metabolic decline or prevent you from healing things like thyroid disease, hair loss, or even cancer if eaten in excess or prepared incorrectly.
This stew is a classic comfort dish of cream and vegetables sweetened by carrots and spiced just enough to offset and enliven the cream. This version has very little protein to make it compatible with some of the protein-fasting strategies for gut health which are discussed at length in my book Fuck Portion Control.
Bread pudding is not always sweet! In fact, I much prefer the savory type. Bread with fats and tasty meats and seasonings all in one dish—there’s nothing more indulgent. As I mention in my book, Fuck Portion Control, common wheat is one of the major causes of metabolic illnesses we suffer, things like obesity, insomnia, depression, and even cancer can all be rooted in a poor diet which contains.
Treats like french fries, doughnuts, and soda aren’t bad for us simply because they are french fries, doughnuts, or soda. They are bad for us because of the types of ingredients which go into them. They are not even bad for us because of the calories they contain because, as I discuss in my book, calories are.
Fruit is probably the most important food that we can eat as human beings. Chock-full of important things like boron, potassium, and vitamin C, it's really hard to beat fruit's benefit to human health, and in fact I came to understand vitamin C's role in curing thyroid disease and thus fruit's indispensable role in sustaining a properly working metabolism, but sometimes it's hard to want to eat fruit.
This recipe is a great way to get a bunch of calories, glucose, and vegetables when limiting protein for various reasons discussed in my book, Fuck Portion Control. To be clear, I do not advocate reduced protein intake, only that there are certain health conditions which require strategic protein fasts.
The best thing you’ve never had. I began having sweet potatoes shortly after learning that root vegetables are quite effective in helping our stomach bacteria produce butyric acid. All the short chain fatty acids that our gut microbiota produce are important, but butyric acid is one of the more difficult to come by in sufficient amounts if you are at all ill (metabolically speaking).
I have gotten many inquiries on ideas for meals, and because I am fairly erratic in what I eat I think the best way to respond is to just show what I cook at home (highlighted in my Instagram feed above). Today I made scallop chowder.
Seafoods are sources of nutrients like strontium, iodine, and bromine which can’t as easily be found as abundantly in terrestrial foods. This is because many elements are highly water soluble and collect in runoff, ending up in the ocean and lakes. Specifically, mollusks like clams, oysters, and mussels can be very high in B12, zinc, strontium, selenium, and bromine.