Try This: Inflammatory Tracker of Foods

Graphics Credit: Greatist

I have been doing some research on histamine free diets, the gut and pscyhology (GAPS) diet, and the PALEO diet as I develop my style of eating. 

I am not a diet sort of person (those should should should never really worked for me). What does work for me is swapping out things for better choices and embedding them into my lifestyle. It really does.

In doing my research I have stumbled across a nutrition calculator that includes an inflammation marker (as well as histadine!! At last something that puts some science behind those lists). 

Whilst it is of course a ranking tool I am struck by the usefulness of aspects of the GAPS and PALEO diets to moving forward and I have decided to shift my eating as follows:

1. Continue to restrict histamine/histadine rich foods

2. Eliminate all grains, legumes, and sugar - this is not strict paleo because I have decided to keep limited amounts of fruits, sweet potatoes, full fat milk, and butter).

3. Introduce anti-inflammatory whole foods into my meals. 

Find the Inflammation Tracker here. They also have an apple app.

Find the Nutrition Calculator (including histadine) here. 

Sweet Potato, Celeriac, Pear Soup

This soup was a bit of an accident born out of what was in my refrigerator but absolutely delicious.

It has reinforced my new love for celeriac which despite being possibly the most ugly vegetable has the most subtle celery and parsley overtone which making it one of the most versatile.

The celery, pear, and ginger ads a softness to the flavour of the sweet potatoes which surprisingly compliment and enhance one another. 

Ingredients:

1 Small Sweet Potato, Peeled and Roughly Chopped

1/2 Small Celeriac, Peeled and Roughly Chopped

1 Pear, Cored and Roughly Chopped

2 Teaspoons Fresh Ginger, Peeled and Finely Chopped

0.5 Litre Chicken Stock

0.5 Litre Water, Bottled

I made this in the soup maker on setting 1. Verdict. Delicious! Using 1:1 chicken stock and water meant the stock did not overpower the subtle flavours.

Beetroot, Fennel & Ginger Soup

Photo Credit: Dollipopprincess

This soup packs a powerful punch both vegetable wise and flavour wise. The flavours roll on so that you get the earthiness of the beetroot, followed by the licorice of fennel, and the ginger lingers. You could say it is a licorice all sort.

The soup is actually a WeightWatcher's recipe. Whilst I am not into strict diet regime's (having been there and not done that) I am struck at how many sensible good soup recipes are accredited to weight watchers. I have modified it slightly but here it is:

Ingredients
Serves 4

750ml Chicken Stock
1/2 Small Cabbage (I used Red Cabbage)
500g Beetroot (peeled and roughly chopped)
1 Small Fennel Bulb (trimmed and roughly chopped)
1 Large Clove Garlic (Russian)
2 Teaspoons Fresh Ginger (peeled and roughly chopped)
1/2 Teaspoon Lemon Juice
Salt and Pepper to Taste

I put all ingredients into the soup maker and used setting 2. If you wish to make it using more traditional methods then you can follow the weight watchers recipe above. Verdict: Delicious.

Zucchini, Pear, Thyme Soup

Photo Credit: Canberra Times

Pears are amongst the friendliest foods or at least  one of the fruits with the least amount of natural chemicals and are in season at the moment.

I have never been a huge fan mostly because they are so tricky to get ripe - either they are rock hard or overly ripe - with only a short span in between.

Yet with a lot of favours unable to be eaten I was intrigued by this Mark Bittman Recipe. It sounded intriguing and I want to experiment with pears as a source of flavour.

Zucchini are one of those vegetables that is packed with nutrition and yet takes on the flavour of what accompanies it. I made the mistake of using chicken stock in this soup which meant that the flavour overpowered the subtlty of the pears. I will make this again with vegetable stock or water (and have reflected as such below)

Zucchini, Pear, Thyme Soup
Adapted from Mark Bittman's Recipe Above
Serves 4

1 Tablespoon Butter
1 Medium Carrot, peeled and roughly chopped
1 Medium Onion, peeled and roughly chopped
1 Small Potato, Peeled and roughly chopped
1/4 Teaspoon Fresh Thyme
2 Medium Zucchini, trimmed and roughly chopped
1 Medium ripe but firm Pear, cored and diced
3 Cups Vegetable Stock (preferably home made)


Put in soup-maker and set to program 1. Well the recipe is that simple with a soup maker! Did I tell you it really does make a mean soup. For those wishing to make this a traditional way follow Mark Bittman's recipe and enjoy!

Fennel, Celery & White Bean Soup

This soup is inspired by Maggie Beer who is somewhat of an icon here in Australia. What I love about Maggie's cooking is that she is often bringing back into fashion ingredients that have fallen out of fashion. Her TV series 'The Cook and The Chef' has just come to an end. So this is an homage to Maggie.

She has a soup range which all sounds delicious but which I have not tried because she uses her own verjuice (which she has pioneered here) and I am not sure if it has histamines in it. It says it is unfermented but it is from grapes so I am nervous.

I have also altered the recipe to include more vegetables and this is where I ended up:

Ingredients (Preferably Organic):


1 Litre Chicken Stock
2 Small Fennels (bulbs only)
3 Stalks Celery (trimmed)
1 Clove Russian Garlic (2 - 3 if using traditional garlic) peeled
1 Tin Cannellini Beans (Drained)
1 Tablespoon Butter
1 Tablespoon Lemon Juice
1 Teaspoon Fresh Thyme

Serves 4

I made this in my soup-mixer so I put all ingredients in and used setting 1. This was extremely delicious and had a very light licorice flavour from the fennels which seemed to be beautifully balanced by the acidity of the lemon and freshness of the celery. Delicious.

Parsnip & Parsley Soup

Photo Credit: Wedding Chicks

When I am looking for recipes I often just search the images and then look through if my eyes are drawn to it. That is how I found this next soup which is from Simpy Recipes.
Ireland is called the green country - and this soup is definately green. The author says that the soup is inspired by Ireland's green meadows and rolling hills which is Ireland.

Reading this recipe brings back very found memories for me of doing a staying at Ballymaloe and doing a pastry course with Darina Allen and then doing 'the Ring of Kerry.' Good times.

Ingredients (All Preferably Organic):

500g Parsnips (Peeled and Roughly Chopped)
1 Leek (White Parts Only Roughly Chopped)1 Strip of lemon zest Plus 1 Tbs Lemon Juice
1 Tbs Butter
2 Garlic Cloves
1 Litre Chicken stock
1 bunches Parsley
Salt & Pepper to TasteServes 4 People

The recipe for the soup maker is quite straightforward. Put everything into the soup maker (other than the parsley) and set to setting 1. The soup is ready for serving 25 minutes later. Add the parsley and process a further 20 seconds. Parsnips are often seen as old fashioned these days but the sweetness of the parsnips contrasts perfectly with the tartness of the lemon juice and parsley to make this a truly delicious soup. 

Sunshine Soup

This soup is inspired by Nigella Lawson's Happiness Soup which I have adapted to make it anti-inflammatory.

Nigella is known for her love of food, vocabulary, and life and that is what you have in Happiness Soup. For those without a soup maker you can do no better than to start with her recipe.

I am calling my version Sunshine Soup because just a few minutes of sunshine in winter makes the world seem like a better place.


Ingredients (All Preferably Organic):
Serves 2

280g Summer Squash (Roughly Chopped)
1 Small White Onion (Roughly Chopped)
1/4 Lemon (Zest Peel & Juice)
1 Large Russian Garlic Clove
1 Tsp Butter (Unsalted - Good Quality)
3 cm Tumeric (Peeled & Roughly Chopped)
120g Sweet Potato (Peeled & Roughly Chopped)
2 Cups Chicken stock
Salt & Pepper to Taste

For Serving:
1 Tsp Pesto Per Bowl or Fresh Basil (mine is straight from the garden).


The recipe for the soup maker is quite straightforward. Put everything (other than the pesto or basil leaves) into the soup maker and set to setting 1. The soup is ready for serving 25 minutes later.

The butter (or oil) and sweet potato (or oats) gives the soup a cohesive velvety texture. The lemon, garlic, and pesto or basil helps what is otherwise a fairly colourful but bland vegetable with big punchy flavours.

All of the ingredients are histamine free with the exception of the lemon juice which is controversial. Some lists include them. Some don't.  Personally I find I can tolerate lemon juice in small quantities.

All left-overs should be frozen immediately to prevent a histamine building.

The 30 Day Soup Challenge

Winter has come and it is dark so early now and my mind body and soul wants soup.

My childhood memories of cold days are football and soup. Lately, I have been inspired by a lot of the research on the role of stock in restoring the gut which is also known as the second brain.

Last week I saw a post on Sarah Wilson's blog about the Tefal Soup & Co soup maker. Sarah writes on autoimmune issues (not histamine intolerance) and is a constant source of inspiration.

Despite my initial hesitation to buy 'yet another electrical appliance' I purchased one today. 

The verdict: I love it. The huge plus is you get chef worthy results without the effort or mess. I came home, plugged it in, threw in ingredients, and left it. 25 minutes later I had a silky soup ready to pour and serve. 

So I am setting myself a challenge. 30 days. 30 soups. Starting today.