Calming Crohns

It’s Halloween, it has been a long day at work, you need to shop for supper, your tum hurts and you want to soothe it. The easy fix is to try the sticky plaster of a painkiller. Sure, that’ll make you feel temporarily at ease – but ask yourself: Isn’t it only masking the issue?

So, what do you buy?

Let me tell you what helps me……I give processed foods the cold shoulder – mainly because the additives and thickeners tend to disagree with me so it’s a no brainer:

worsen tummy ache with a ready meal or;

Make something quick, simple, nutritious and healing.

With plenty of experience of both of the above, tonight I’m plumping for the latter.

Chicken stock with safe veg

Ingredients:
Heston’s chicken stock with kombu (Waitrose)
1 large carrot
2 sticks of celery
Parsley to garnish (optional)

As a treat, I’m going to have toasted sourdough with butter. Butter might not work for you – you might also be coeliac so you might want your own gluten free variety. If you want to be really kind to tum (and if you can’t do dairy), coconut butter is an alternative spread.

Forget al dente with Crohn’s

Boil the stock (and add water if you need to increase the quantity) until the carrots and celery are tender. For all of you raw food, al dente fans – I’m afraid unless you are in total remission or, very lucky, you are better off boiling the life out of your veg. That way you get some of the nutrients of the veg (and a few of your five a day ticks) and less of the pain often caused by ‘raw’. Raw may be very a la mode but you need to eat right for Crohn’s.

And do remember, what’s healthy for
others isn’t necessarily going to be right or pain free for you.

In another post, I will provide the home made version of Heston’s ready made stock / chicken bone broth and will endeavour to demystify the magic of chicken stock  / bone broth and explain why it’s such a healing meal.

If you fancy self healing food over the quick fix of processed food, give it a whirl.

I’ll leave you with your memories of childhood…..I bet your bottom that grandma or great grandma used to swear by chicken stock when you were sick.

So get boiling them bones in your cauldrons!