• What Does Food Have To Do With Gut Health?

    We've just finished up a heart health series on In My Plant-Based Kitchen and I've had a few requests for a gut health series, so I've started that this week on the channel.

    Anyone who knows me knows that this is one of my FAVOURITE topics! The microbiome is absolutely fascinating, and what we eat has a huge impact on the health of our microbiome. In turn the health of our microbiome determines SO MUCH about our overall state of health!

    In this series we're going to get into the details, and of course I'll share gut health recipes, tips and inspiration along the way.

    In Episode 32 of In My Plant-Based Kitchen (Part 1 of Nutrition For A Healthy Gut series) we are setting the stage. We cover:

    • what is the microbiome, and why is it important
    • why does it matter who is living in our gut?
    • how do we encourage healthy microorganisms to thrive in our gut?
    • what does it MEAN to have a healthy gut?
    • and we made this Sweet Chili Hummus (below) HINT -- this is a great way to add some legume diversity into your diet, which your gut will thank you for!

    Ready to get cooking? Here's the recipe:

    Sweet Chili Hummus
    (makes about 1.5 cups)
    Ingredients:

    • ½ cup sweet potato (cooked)
    • ½ cup dried red lentils, rinsed
    • ½ cup water
    • 2 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
    • 1 clove garlic
    • 1 tsp maple syrup
    • 1-2 tsp ancho chili powder/another chili powder of your choice (or if you have chiles in sauce these are great too -- I used 1 tbsp)
    • ¼ tsp sea salt (or salt alternative), to taste

    Directions:

    1. Combine the red lentils and water in a small saucepan and bring to a boil. Once they have boiled turn heat to low and cook just until lentils are soft, about 10 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside.
    2. If necessary cook a sweet potato*
    3. Place garlic clove in food processor and mince.
    4. Place the rest of the ingredients in the food processor and process until everything is smooth and creamy.
    5. Adjust salt/alternative and chili powder to taste.

    *Sweet potatoes make great snacks, and are a wonderful addition to many plant-based dinners, so I love to batch bake a bunch of them all at once, and pre-cooked is ideal for this recipe.



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