Food is Medicine – Benefits of Ghee
By Kimberly Burns, OTR/L, CLT
“Let medicine be thy food and let food be thy medicine”
A term Hippocrates used to relay his belief that eating nutritious food is the basis for good health. For those of us with food allergies or intolerance, even the diets labeled as healthy or anti-inflammatory can still cause problems. A food allergy triggers the immune system to react to the proteins in a food and causes a histamine reaction. It is usually more severe and immediate reaction with a small amount of the food whereas food intolerance may require a higher quantity of the food to cause problems. The symptoms are typically less severe and not life threatening. Because the two share similar symptoms, it can be difficult to distinguish between them. Some common symptoms are nausea, stomach aches, diarrhea, or runny nose. Food intolerance can also resemble age related digestive changes such as gluten and lactose intolerance due to under production of enzymes, bloating due to decreased elasticity, and constipation due to slowing of contractions in the large intestine. Whether it is allergy, intolerance or aging, decreasing the amount of food that triggers these symptoms is helpful to maintain good health.
Butter is a popular ingredient in many recipes. It can be an allergen to some or just an intolerance due to casein (a milk protein) or lactose. A typical substitute for butter is oil. When replacing butter with oil, you may lose the richness butter gives the recipe as well as the ability to hold products together. When butter cools down, it solidifies making it great for cakes or other baked goods. Olive oil on the other hand, is a liquid in its heated state, as well as when it is cooled. Coconut oil is a popular replacement these days and comes closer to the properties of butter in that it also may solidify in a cooled state yet it has a very strong flavor which may change the taste of the recipe.
Ghee is a type of butter with milk solids (casein, whey, lactose) and water removed. It has a strong aromatic flavor and is able to replace butter on a 1:1 ratio yet typically you are able to use less Ghee compared to butter. Depending on the recipe, it may also need to be adjusted due to additional moisture ghee provides. When utilizing Ghee to reduce your dairy intake, it is important to note that if you have an allergy you should be cautious with the product you choose as some Ghee may continue to have a small amount of proteins that you may react to. This is especially true if you are making your own at home.
Some benefits of Ghee:
Its high smoke point allows you to cook or fry with it without breaking down into free radicals.
It can improve digestion by increasing gastric acid.
It does not spoil easily so it does not need refrigeration.
It is rich in the oil soluble vitamins A, D and E.
If it is sourced from grass fed cows, it contains Conjugated Linoleic Acid – an antioxidant with anti-viral properties.
Are you ready to experience the health benefits of ghee? If so, then try this great ghee recipe!
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Chocolate Dream Brownies
½ cup coconut flour
½ cup cocoa powder
½ cup honey
4 Tbsp Ghee
1-2 tsp vanilla extract (to taste)
4 eggs at room temperature
1/2 oz. Semi Sweet Bakers chocolate broken into small pieces
Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Mix flour and cocoa in a large bowl. In a separate bowl mix honey, Ghee, eggs, vanilla. Combine with dry ingredients and beat. Add chocolate. Grease a 9” square baking pan. Spread batter into prepared pan. Bake for approximately 25 minutes.
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Frosting
¼ cup coconut cream chilled (can be used alone)
¼ cup powdered sugar
Mix ingredients well. Top brownies. Enjoy
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[5]Kimberly Burns, OTR/L, CLT, is an Occupational Therapist with over 14 years’ experience working with clients ranging from infants to the elderly. She has always had passion for wellness and what she could do at home for herself to manage pain and delay disease processes. Her recent certification in Lymphedema Therapy has provided her further incentive to focus her business around preventing disease and halting its progression. Kimberly Burns, OTR/L, CLT – (215) 499.0444 – Kim.Burns@SensoryIntuition.com [6] – www.SensoryIntuition.com [7].
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