There’s a zucchini theme emerging here.
And not just because it’s summer~.
Why We Eat So Much Yellow Zucchini
Matthew started Aglaée Jacob’s gut healing protocol (as described in her book Digestive Health with REAL Food) three months ago.
For the first two months, the only carbohydrates he ate were carrots & spinach.
Aglaée recommends starting with four vegetables, but as one of them isn’t Autoimmune Protocol legal, and he had trouble with another, that left two: carrots & spinach.
As I’ve outlined in previous posts, Aglaée’s protocol helped reduce his mysterious nausea symptoms when nothing else would.
(And to be clear, Aglaée doesn’t recommend staying on an extremely restrictive elimination phase for more than 8 weeks. Matthew’s just kept at because he feels worse off it).
Then, with the help of Matthew’s Functional Medicine Doctor, we developed a new hypothesis about his debilitating nausea: perhaps it’s related to biofilm-protected yeast colonies in his gut.
It made sense because biofilm-protected yeast colonies would be:
- Highly resistant to nutritional treatment;
- Continuing the inflammatory cycle by puncturing the intestinal wall with their roots (called hypha); and
- Thriving on the sugars in foods (which on a diet of spinach, carrots, meat and bone broth meant: carrots).
Luckily, right at that time, yellow zucchini (& yellow patty pans) started showing up at our local farmer’s market.
Zucchini is another one of the four carbohydrates recommended by Aglaée on the elimination phase of her gut-healing protocol. But Matthew has trouble digesting green zucchini, so it wasn’t initially on the list.
But then the yellow ones showed up~.
He switched from carrots to yellow zucchini.
And that’s why there’s a (yellow) zucchini theme going on around here~!
The good news is, the treatment protocol associated with the new hypothesis is finally arriving from the United States this week.
It’s a three month protocol, so we should know if the new hypothesis holds up by Hallowe’en.
In the meantime, we’re all about the Zucchini.
Zucchini & Turmeric
To keep things yellow, this recipe pairs Zucchini with Turmeric, the one spice we all should be eating every day.
I outlined a few reasons for keeping Turmeric consumption high in my last recipe: Ginger Ale for Adults.
This is our everyday zucchini recipe. So simple. So delicious. Every day. And I’m not even a little bit tired of it~.
Zucchini & Caramelized Turmeric (AIP)
- 3 small or 1 medium Zucchini
- 2 fingers fresh Turmeric Rhizome
- 3 tablespoons Coconut Oil or Lard
- 1 teaspoon Himalayan Salt (or similar)
Peel & dice the Turmeric.
Slice the Zucchini into nice thick (3/4 inch) rounds.
Melt the Fat in a frying pan on medium heat, and lay in the Zucchini slices. Depending on the size you may need to fry them in batches.
Sprinkle with salt and scatter the diced Turmeric on top.
Fry gently, turning the slices with a fork. The Turmeric will get underfoot & start browning as you turn the Zucchini slices. Once the browning process begins, push the diced Turmeric peices to the cooler edge of the pan where they can continue to caramelize as the zucchini finishes cooking.
When the Zucchini slices are soft and lightly browned on both sides and the Turmeric is sticky, the dish is complete.
To serve, scatter the caramelized Turmeric over the browned Zucchini slices.
To make it a meal:
- Deglaze the pan with bone broth and wilt a mess of greens. Add short ribs (or a pot roast, cooked exactly the same way).
- Or render your own lard for a one pan supper, excellent for multi-tasking in the kitchen while the various elements cook: start the process by frying sliced pork belly, then keep hot in the oven, while you fry up the Zucchini & wilt the greens.
