If you follow Leaf and Loaf or if you know me personally, you know that I believe that FOOD IS MEDICINE. I also believe that not all foods are good for all people. Now I’m not talking about chips in a bag that rhyme with smoritos, I’m talking about simple individual ingredients. Real Food. Historically I have eaten a LOT of produce, and I mean a LOT of raw produce. Daily. It always made me happy and kept me healthy… until it didn’t.
I am about to share my personal medical and food history with you- to be the example of how I have helped my clients for years, and how I just became my own client in October of 2025.
In November of 2024 I found myself in the ER with a pretty significant colon infection. Nobody knew what caused it and after seeing about 12 gut docs over the course of two weeks, everyone said, “It’s just a one-time thing… just go back to what you were eating.” And so I gradually got back to my full-on plant-based diet of lots of fresh veggies. Great. But what I’ve realized over the past year is that I’ve gone through waves of my gut not being ok. Nothing crazy, but about six weeks ago, in the course of a few days, everything I ate, and I mean EVERYTHING… applesauce, steamed rice, mashed potatoes… they all made me incredibly gassy within minutes and the gassiness never stopped. My abdomen was blowing up. Now friends, I’m all about a good fart joke. Seriously. All the time. I am a 55 year old woman stuck in the head of an eight year old boy with the fart and poop jokes. But this was different, and it wasn’t funny.
So my instinct- by the way, this is where the term ‘gut instinct’ comes from– was that the course of incredibly strong IV antibiotics I was on in the hospital probably killed my gut microbiome. Another idea is that my gut was already messed up, I mean obviously- it wasn’t happy, I had an infection! My diet has always been pretty great FOR ME- probiotic foods, fiber, very little meat and lots of fish and some eggs…. but something was wacked.
I told my husband that I was afraid that something I was eating on a regular basis was possibly hurting me and not helping me like I thought. Through a friend I found a great doctor who looks at the whole body, and SHE LISTENED to ME. FOR AN HOUR. We moved forward with a three day poop study. The eight year old in me thinks this is hysterical, but honestly it was really gross. The medical illustrator in wants to call it a FECAL STUDY, but that’s not funny. POOP IS FUNNY.
We did full bloodwork for a food allergy test. The results of both came back and I was so sad but then so happy. WHAT? How could I feel both emotions at the same time? I HAD ANSWERS!!!
The poop study showed I was really, really lacking good bacteria- no shocker there, but the food allergy test…. yeah. Here’s where it gets tricky. Below is the list of the foods that my body reacts to in the form of inflammation in my gut. Keep in mind before you read this, if I never ate meat again, I would be thrilled. Just for reference, the ones that are in bold are ingredients I enjoyed at least weekly, if not daily.
YUP. So that’s the list. A day’s worth of meals used to look like this:
- Matcha green tea with coconut milk
- Scrambled eggs with spinach
- Smoothie with pea protein, hemp seed, cinnamon, banana, berries
- Juice shot of ginger, turmeric and lemon
- Big salad with lettuce, lots of veggies and some nuts and seeds
- Grilled fish, broccoli, kale, rice
Most of my protein was plant protein- soy milk, hemp seed, pea protien, nutritional yeast, peanut butter, edamame.
Now let’s look at today. First of all, let me say that already in the few weeks that I have eliminated these ingredients, I have felt AMAZING. My diet will be eliminating my allergens and incorporating a low FODMAP diet for about two months. I created a list of the foods I CAN eat and I’m working from there. This is exactly how I create menus for my clients. I truly believe that we should look at what we CAN and SHOULD eat, and ignore the ingredients that may not be serving us well. I was already gluten free and dairy free, but things like black pepper, garlic and and my nutritional yeast are a challenge. All of my veggies need to be cooked for a while. While this may be a bit inconvenient (because now I cannot just grab a nut bar or anything with black pepper in it) I could not be more equipped to manage this situation for myself. And I am excited to feel even better once my gut heals!!! I HAVE BECOME MY OWN CLIENT.
SO HERE WE GO.
My breakfasts this week will rotate between Pumpkin Seed Smoothie Jars and Homemade Chicken Sausage with Spinach and Arugula
Pumpkin Seed Smoothie Jars
pumpkin seed protien powder
hazelnut milk
chia seed
cardamom
maple syrup
banana
salt
I made three servings of this base and then made one of them with unsweetened cocoa powder for a sweet treat after dinner, one is blueberry and one is raspberry.
Homemade Chicken Sausage
ground chicken breast
avocado oil
smoked paprika
fennel seed
onion powder
maple syrup
salt
baby spinach
baby arugula
Lunches will be Barbequed Pork with Sauteed Veggies and a Mediterranean Quinoa Bowl with Lemon Tahini Dressing. I’ve been smelling BBQ for days now and so I made my own. I grilled a lean pork tenderloin and made the BBQ sauce… because BLACK PEPPER IS IN EVERYTHING. I couldn’t tell you the last time I had pork in my house, but here we are because I NEED A BREAK FROM CHICKEN.
Barbequed Pork Tenderloin
fire roasted tomatoes
onions
smoked paprika
dijon mustard
maple syrup
salt
zucchini
yellow squash
onions
avocado oil
Mediterranean Quinoa Bowl
golden quinoa
zucchini
yellow squash
purple cabbage (just a little for color)
red bell peppers
avocado oil
fresh parsley
olives
sprouted pumpkin seeds
Lemon Tahini Dressing
OH MY GOSH I can eat this every day!!!
tahini
lemon juice
maple syrup
salt
It is really important for me to meal prep my breakfast and lunch for the week because I am gone all day and especially now, there’s no just grabbing something. It’s much less stressful, less expensive and certainly more delicious and fueling to eat these meals!
Dinners are pretty easy… my other half and I will eat the same basic meals- grilled fish, rice, veggies…. so no prep needed there. It is important to me that we eat the same dinner both for ease of prep and also to feel like we are sharing a meal.
So when I say that Leaf and Loaf offers CUSTOM MEAL PREP SERVICES, I mean CUSTOM. It’s not just “Hey we like tacos, can you make us tacos?” It’s seriously custom… eliminating what you don’t need and keeping all the things you do need. For YOU and your health.
Why don’t you let my brain parse out all of this information for you. This way all you have to do is grab, reheat, enjoy your meals and watch your health, wellbeing and zest for life soar!
More to come with my health journey. If I can help anyone navigate their own food and health journey, please don’t hesitate to reach out. I’m always happy to schedule a call and share my knowledge and experience about food.
Be well, my friends!