Antiinflammatory diet

28 Day Anti-inflammatory Menu

Often when attempting to make diet changes it can feel incredibly overwhelming! So I have created a simple 28 day menu for you to try out! A lot of the dishes have influence from where I live (spain) so it will also be nice for you to perhaps try a little something new!

General tips:

1. Eliminate all processed foods, with additives, colorings, and/or preservatives from your diet. Buy fresh products as much as is available and cook gently.
2. Eliminate sweets and sugars. This includes whole cane sugar, molasses, and syrups. Most can use reasonable amounts of stevia or monk fruit without a problem and very small amounts of local organic honey. 
3. Eliminate refined vegetable oils such as sunflower oil and hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated oils. Olive oil is best unheated, and preferably use coconut oil or ghee for higher heat cooking.
4. Eliminate refined and whole grains and legumes. This can be hard for many and may not be necessary depending on how you react to grains. To be on the safe side you can try eliminating and will get a better idea of how you tolerate them upon reintroducing. 
5. Limit/Avoid nightshades: tomatoes, eggplant, potatoes, and peppers. There are potatoes in some recipes, but it’s better if they are red-skinned.
6. Consume meat from animals, preferably organic and free-range animals. You can have cold cuts, preferably high-quality Serrano ham, and exclude cold cuts with preservatives such as nitrates E251 and E250. If you have histamine intolerance issues cold cuts are often not the best as they can be higher in histamines. 
7. Consume fish and seafood, especially blue ones for their high content of omega-3 fatty acids, wild-caught preferably.
8. Vegetables are consumed abundantly, notice if any gives you a lot of gas and either limit these, try alternative cooking methods or consider a digestive enzyme. Nightshades (peppers, potatoes, eggplant, and tomatoes) are limited a lot. Instead of potatoes, you can have sweet potatoes, yams, or cassava.
9. Only have one fruit a day.
10. Dairy is not allowed. 
11. Nuts are only allowed in pesto sauce.
12. Don’t drink water during meals or right after eating. Drink it before and in between meals.
13. Don’t have fruit right after meals.
14. Avoid very cold or very hot foods.
15. Don’t eat salads or too many raw vegetables.
16. Take your time eating, make sure to chew well and try to be relaxed while dining. 
17. Rest upright for about 15 minutes after finishing eating; the stomach needs rest to work. Very gentle walks can be helpful but nothing too strenuous. Best to not lay down right after eating as this can increase reflux in some. 
18. Exclude or moderately eat foods that cause gas. Cooking foods that cause gas with garlic, ginger, and bay leaves can help. 

Tips to Improve Digestion:

1. Try gentle abdominal exercise after meals. Standing and rotating the waist or lying down to bring the knees to the chest. 
2. Take digestive infusions. Always outside of meals and only if you need them. Before or 2 hours after eating: Licorice, mint, cinnamon, cumin, gentian root. There are a lot of herbs that can help either before or after meals, what is best depends on the person and their constitution.

The Menu

• There’s a menu for each day of the week from Monday to Saturday in the diet. Repeat the same weekly menu for 4 weeks to do a 28-day reset.
• The meals are designed to be anti-inflammatory and nutrient dense to provide both the micronutrients and macronutrients that the body needs.
• It’s important to reach at least 100g of protein. If you’re vegan, you’ll have to change the protein sources that I recommend for others that you tolerate. If you eat legumes, inactivate the nutrients by cooking them very slowly for at least 4 hours and soaking them for 3 days, changing the water 3 times a day until you can see that they are germinating. f
• Breakfasts are important; there’s plenty of food because it’s important to tell the body, we’re not at war, and we have an abundance of everything. If you like coffee, have it with food, never on an empty stomach.

Monday

BREAKFAST:

• Gluten Naan bread (see recipe below) with avocado and 2 hard-boiled or scrambled eggs + spinach + 2 chicken sausages

LUNCH:

• Cooked green beans with bits of Iberian ham sautéed with powdered ginger
• Half baked sweet potato with ghee
• Grilled or baked salmon

DINNER:

• Baked chicken with rosemary and lemon
• Half an avocado
• Swiss chard sautéed with pine nuts

Tuesday

BREAKFAST:

• Two slices of sweet potato toast (cooked in the air fryer or oven, slice the sweet potato to your liking) with bolognese, mince with vegan cheese
• 1 piece of fruit

LUNCH:

• Vegetable curry with shrimp
• Baked pumpkin

DINNER:

• Carrot and zucchini cream
• Organic steak

Wednesday

BREAKFAST:

• Smoothie: 2 tablespoons of coconut yogurt + 1 tablespoon of tahini or almond butter + 1/2 avocado + berries + protein powder with flavor or without flavor (whatever you prefer)

LUNCH:

• Half baked sweet potato
• Broccoli boiled with pesto sauce
• Chicken burger

DINNER:

• Grilled asparagus
• Grilled or baked hake (cod) with chopped hard-boiled egg and parsley seasoned with a mixture of olive oil and apple cider vinegar (2/3 olive oil with 1/3 vinegar)

Thursday

BREAKFAST:

• Naan bread with avocado and 2 hard-boiled or scrambled eggs + spinach + 2 chicken sausages

LUNCH:

• Baked beetroot + baked pumpkin
• Three organic chicken sausages cooked with ghee

DINNER:

●      Carrot and zucchini cream

●      Cuttlefish or squid grilled

Friday

BREAKFAST: 

• Smoothie: 2 tablespoons of coconut yogurt + 1 tablespoon of tahini or almond butter + 1/2 avocado + berries + protein powder with flavor or without flavor (whatever you prefer)

LUNCH:

• Zucchini and carrot spaghetti (you can do it with a machine or with a regular grater) with pesto sauce + 1 red-skinned baked potato with ghee and spices
• Grilled turkey or chicken

DINNER:

• Carrot, turnip, and zucchini cream
• Grilled sole

Saturday

BREAKFAST:

• Two banana waffles with coconut yogurt and homemade jam or the savory version with egg, Serrano ham, or egg and tahini cream
• Two or three scrambled eggs with 1/2 avocado

LUNCH: 

• Sautéed Chinese cabbage + 1/2 baked sweet potato with ghee and rosemary
• Grilled sardines

DINNER:

• Endive boats with salmon tartare and guacamole

Sunday

BREAKFAST:

• Naan bread with homemade jam, accompany it with a little coconut yogurt and crushed hemp seeds to give it an extra protein boost

LUNCH:

• Baked carrot with ghee + grilled zucchini with olive tapenade
• Salt-baked gilthead bream (a type of fish) 

DINNER:

• Yuca (cassava) arepas (kind of like a tamale) with minced meat with green onion (only the green part) + finely chopped green beans, previously boiled + grated carrot

SNACKS (in case you need one someday)

• A piece of fruit or 2 if they are small (whatever you want, but only one fruit a day!)
• Pear and apple compote with ginger and lemon
• Smoothie: Flavorless or flavored protein powder (you can use Belevels) + a handful of berries (you can buy them already frozen and organic) + 2 tablespoons of coconut yogurt + water
• 1/2 Apple with tahini
• Carrot sticks or celery or cucumber with guacamole or tzatziki sauce with coconut yogurt
• Olives
• A cup of bone broth

Recipes:

COCONUT YOGURT TZAZIKI SAUCE

• 200 g of coconut yogurt
• 1 cucumber
• Juice of 1/2 lemon and zest
• 1 tablespoon of fresh mint
• 1/4 clove of garlic
• 1 teaspoon of dried dill
• Extra virgin olive oil
• A pinch of salt & pepper

1. Grate the cucumber and place it on gauze that you will use to remove its water. Add a pinch of salt and let it sit for about 10 minutes (this will facilitate the water removal).
2. Then, remove as much water as you can from the cucumber and mix it with the coconut yogurt.
3. Add the rest of the ingredients, mix, and let it rest in the fridge.
4. Serve with crudités (carrot, cucumber, radishes) or toasted pita bread.

GLUTEN-FREE NAAN BREAD

• 1/2 cup blanched almond flour or 1/4 cup coconut flour
• 1/2 cup tapioca flour or arrowroot flour
• 1 cup coconut cream (the one that comes in a can)
• Salt
• Ghee once done

1. Mix it all, put a measure in a preheated pan, and when it’s cooked on one side, about 2-3 minutes, flip it over and cook the other side. If it burns, lower the heat.
2. You can make it sweet, then don’t add salt, if you want it salty, you can add salt, spices, to give it flavor.

HOMEMADE RED BERRY JAM

• Buy homemade frozen blueberries and heat them slightly with some water (better over the fire, but you can also do it in the microwave).
• If you want to make it sweeter, you can add some monk fruit. I buy this one (https://es.iherb.com/pr/julian-bakery-pure-monk-fruit-3-5-oz-100-g/73664)

And enjoy it!

APPLE AND PEAR COMPOTE WITH LEMON AND GINGER:

• Two apples
• Two pears
• One cinnamon stick
• A piece of ginger
• Lemon zest
• If you want to sweeten it more, you can add a little monk fruit

1. Peel the apples and pears and cut them into small pieces, put them in a saucepan and cover them with water. 
2. Add the cinnamon, ginger, and lemon zest and cook over low heat until they are soft.
3. If there’s too much water, cook uncovered until the water evaporates.
4. Chop a little without the lemon

PESTO SAUCE

• 2 packs of fresh basil
• 1 clove of garlic
• 1/2 cup of olive oil
• Salt to taste
• 1/2 cup of water (better to add little by little to get the texture you want)

1. Blend everything together in a blender until smooth, I freeze it in mini ice cube trays

PROTEIN BANANA WAFFLES

• 1 medium banana
• 2 eggs
• 2 tablespoons of tapioca starch
• 3 tablespoons of arrowroot flour
• 1 dose of flavorless protein powder

1. Mix everything and put it in the waffle maker, grease it well before with olive oil or ghee so it doesn’t stick.
2. You’ll get 4 medium waffles if you put 1 dose of protein in each one has 8g. You can add more protein by reducing to 1 tablespoon of tapioca starch and 2 tablespoons of arrowroot, then each waffle would have 15g of protein.

VEGAN CHEESE:

• 2 cups of potatoes, 360 g, peeled and chopped
• 1 cup of carrots, 135 g, peeled and chopped
• 1/2 cup of water, 125 ml
• 1/2 cup of nutritional or beer yeast, 35g, see notes
• 1/3 cup of extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tablespoon of lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon of salt
• 1/2 teaspoon of garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon of onion powder

1. Put the potato and carrot in a pot with boiling water and cook for about 20 minutes or until tender. You can also steam them if you want.
2. Drain them and put them in a blender along with the rest of the ingredients and blend until smooth and lump-free.
3. Serve immediately with nachos, crudités, or use it as a substitute for cheese for pizzas, burgers, etc. You can keep leftovers in the fridge for about 4-5 days or freeze them.

PRAWN CURRY:

• Green beans
• Carrot
• 1 can of coconut cream
• Curry spice
• Peeled prawns

1. Chop the vegetables finely, put the coconut cream in a pan, add a little salt and curry spices to your liking, and add the chopped vegetables.
2. Reduce the heat so that the mixture doesn’t boil and cover it; after 5 minutes, increase the heat and uncover it, cook for another 10 minutes to let it thicken.
3. Pan-fry the prawns and add them to the curry.

And there you go! Enjoy!

YUCA AREPAS

• Yuca (Cassava): 1 large root
• Coconut oil: 1 tablespoon
• Salt: a pinch
• Pepper: a pinch
• Filling:
• Green onion (green part only)
• Grated carrot
• Minced beef or chicken
• Pepper
• Lime
• Salt
• Cilantro (optional)

1. Cut the yuca into thick slices. Place the slices on the board and peel with transversal cuts. Put the peeled yuca pieces in a pot with water and salt. Bring to a boil and cook for 30-35 minutes until soft. Drain and let cool.
2. Once the yuca is completely cool, remove the central part of the fibers. Grate the yuca and mix it with the oil, salt, and pepper. Knead with your hands until you get a homogeneous dough.
3. Make medium-sized balls and flatten with the palm of your hand. Round the edges with circular movements. Put a pan over medium heat and put the arepa, cover the pan, and let it cook for a few minutes on each side until golden brown.
4. Open the arepas on one side and fill
5. Cook arepas
6. Prepare filling
7. Fill arepas

 

Enjoy!