Sometimes it can be very hard to find recipes out there when you suffer from having multiple restrictions on your diet at once. Having just one restriction can be hard enough but in my house we have someone who currently has three: Candida, Anti-Inflammatory, and Dairy free. This really cuts down on our options when grocery shopping but we are making the best of the situation with great tasting recipes to suit all of our needs!
One of the recipe favorites is my Chickpea & Tuna Salad recipe. It is quick, easy, and satisfying. What else could you ask for in a healthy meal?
Chickpea & Tuna Salad
Serves 1-2
What you need:
– 1 Can of Tuna (Starkist brand in water works great)
– 1 Can of Chickpeas (Also known as Garbanzo Beans)
– 1/4 Cup Red Onion
– 1 Garlic Clove
– Handful of Baby Spinach Leaves
– 1/4 Teaspoon Cayenne Pepper
– Salt & Pepper to taste preference
How to make:
Mince garlic and dice red onion. In a medium bowl, add the drained can of tuna and olive oil and mix thoroughly. Add in the chickpeas, garlic, and onion next and mix well. Add cayenne, salt & pepper and mix once more. Spread the spinach evenly around the plate. Empty contents of the mixing bowl into the center of the spinach and enjoy!
My side notes about elimination diets
Always be careful when shopping. That is my number one thought in my head whenever I am about to purchase a food item. You must be very careful when reading the ingredient lists because companies can be sneaky with their wording. Educate yourself on what it means to be dairy free, gluten free, sugar free, non-gmo, organic, etc. There are some cases where an item will say “dairy free” or “vegan” and they actually list casein as an ingredient (casein is a protein in milk that many people are allergic to – sometimes severely). One of my biggest mistakes was when I first started out on the candida diet and switched to stevia from my regular sugar. I thought stevia is stevia no matter what brand and that I would be in the safe zone to use it for recipes. After a while I decided to do some extra research and spoke with a naturopath that mentioned how certain brands would sneak in an ingredient known to cause issues with sufferers of candida. As soon as I took the stevia bag out of my pantry my heart dropped. All of these weeks that I thought were pure progress were a lie. So please, be careful. Make sure the ingredients are whole and pure.
