My Prescription for Healing

I've just come back from a trip to help a friend recover from a nervous breakdown. While I was there I cooked dishes that I felt would help her to recover her health and wellness. These are a mixture of foods that I have learned to make from the GAPS diet, Nourishing Traditions as well as from my family and experience.

Here are directions to continue eating for wellness throughout her recovery. I am putting it here as a reference for my friend, as well as for other people who may need ideas to help with their own healing.

Prescription for continued healing:

Eat. Now is not the time to limit calories. The anxiety might feel like a tight knot in your stomach and you may have to force yourself to eat at times, but make sure you get enough to eat and drink. This will help to signal to your brain that you are safe and secure as well as giving you enough fuel to heal.

For now, continue to avoid caffeine and sugar. As tough as this is, right now you only want to consume things that will help you to relax.

Be kind and gentle with yourself. If you slip up and stay up later than you meant to, or cave in to a cup of coffee that is okay. These are guidelines to help you, not hard fast rules.

Start the day off with a healing mantra: I am loved, I am secure, I am safe. Say it in your head or out loud while taking deep breaths and stretches. You are loved, you are secure, you are safe.

Bone broth helps to heal the gut and is full of wonderful minerals and nutrients.  Serve yourself up a small cup of bone broth and continue to sip on small cups frequently throughout the day. I've left you a big jar of bone broth in the fridge. Heat that up on the stove until it's nice and hot, transfer to a bowl and add a spoonful of sauerkraut or plain yogurt for probiotic support. 

Once the jar of broth is gone, you can make a perpetual chicken bone broth. Or you can make some more bone broth from the organic grass-fed beef bones in your freezer. My favorite bone broth recipes are from the Nourished Kitchen.

Follow up your morning cup of bone broth with plenty of good fats and protein. A hard-boiled pasture raised egg is nice, you can slice it up with some avocado and sprinkle celtic sea salt on it. I'm getting hungry just thinking about it.

Dark green leafy vegetables are full of healthy vitamins and minerals. Eating them in the morning with your egg and broth will jumpstart your day. Here is a recipe for quick leafy greens that makes a great snack or side dish for any meal of the day. 

Quick Greens Recipe*
1 generous handful of dark leafy greens (e.g. Kale, Swiss Chard, Spinach)
1 Tsp Grass-fed Butter
1/2 Tsp Lemon Juice (or just squeeze half a lemon)
1/2 Tsp Bragg's Amino Acids
1/4 Tsp Garlic Powder

Sauté some combination of leafy greens in grass-fed butter. Sprinkle some bragg's amino acids, lemon and garlic powder on it for flavor. Don't overcook so that it's a mushy mess - as soon as it turns bright green you can turn the heat off.  

For extra yum:
Add some chopped onions or diced garlic to the butter before you add the greens.
Make it a salad:
Soak raw red onion slices in a mixture of half lemon and half amino acids for 15 minutes, add to lightly sautéed greens and serve with assorted yummy salad ingredients like - cooked chunks of sweet potato, goat cheese crumbles, pine nuts, marinated mushrooms, etc. 

*A note about my recipes - I've put amounts here to make it more recipe-like, but I honestly never measure, I just add the amount that feels right. As you experiment with cooking this stuff you will discover the amounts that feel right to you. 

Liver is the powerhouse of food. Patè is a nice way to sneak in some liver. Spread it on a piece of gluten free toast or a sliced cucumber. 

Easy Chicken Liver Patè
1 lb Organic Chicken Livers
1/4 cup Goat Milk
2 tbsp Grassfed Cow Butter
1/2 Red Onion
1 tsp Diced Garlic or Garlic Powder
1 sprig each Rosemary, Thyme and Marjoram 
1/4 Tsp Celtic Sea Salt
1/4 Tsp Fresh Cracked Pepper
1 Tbsp Chicken Bone Broth
1/4 Cup Goat Yogurt

Directions:
First soak the liver in goat milk for a few hours if you've got it. If you don't have time, even a few minutes will cut the tang of the liver down.
Next drain out the goat milk and sautée the liver and onions in a teaspoonful of butter, adding in garlic, fresh herbs, salt, pepper and a splash of bone broth. Set it aside to cool.
After it had cooled down for a few minutes I threw it all in the blender, added the yogurt and puréed it. 
I transferred this into a glass bowl and stuck it in the fridge. It should be good for 2-3 weeks in there, but hopefully you'll eat it well before that.