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Gut Health Super Salad

You have probably heard the term ‘Eat the Rainbow’ 🌈 . This means eating fruits and vegetables from each colour, and rotating your food sources of each colour.

A healthy microbiome is a diverse microbiome. Research shows that people who consume 30+ plant foods a week have higher bacterial diversity and a healthier microbiome overall1https://www.indi.ie/11-news/1458-the-30-different-plant-based-foods-per-week-challenge.html. Ideal gut donors eat a whopping 50 different real foods a week2https://taymount.com/product/50-food-challenge-book, so here at CG, that’s always our goal! This colourful super salad is sure to add some diversity to your day, and counts as at least 15 different plant foods towards your weekly count.

This gut healthy salad is low GI, provides good fats and probiotics, is high in fibre, high in food diversity, and high protein. The World Health Organisation (WHO) recommends adults have 30g fibre each day. Fibre feeds our gut bacteria, so it’s important we consume enough. Our gut bacteria ferment fibre and turn it into important short-chain fatty acids, like butyrate, which reduce inflammation. This salad alone provides 11g of fibre! One bowl of this delicious salad for lunch or dinner will not only tickle you taste buds, but will account for over 30% of your daily fibre requirement, and 30% of your plant foods for the week (if you’re aiming for 50 πŸ˜‰ ).

Want a simple way to recreate this salad and add more to your plant food count? Try swapping each vegetable for an alternative of the same colour – swap sweetcorn for yellow pepper, swap red onion for tomatoes, swap carrot for butternut squash, add some avocado in with your greens. Have fun tasting the rainbow!

Ingredients

  • 20g Brown rice
  • 10g Quinoa
  • 100g Chicken/Tempeh/Salmon/Turkey
  • Mixed leaves (we used Spinach, Cress & Wild Rocket Leaves)
  • 1/2 small carrot, grated
  • 2 tbsp Sweetcorn
  • Red onion
  • 2 tbsp Mixed beans (we used Black Eyed Beans, Chickpeas, Pea Beans, Pinto Beans, Red Kidney Beans, Adzuki Beans)
  • 1/2 tbsp Mixed seeds (we used Pumpkin Seeds, Sunflower Seeds, Golden Linseed, Hemp Seed)
  • 1/2 tbsp Milled flaxseed
  • 25g Sauerkraut
  • Olive oil
  • Dressing:
    • 1 tbsp Soy sauce or tamari
    • 1 tsp Apple cider vinegar
    • 1/2 tsp Honey
    • 1/2 tsp Smoked Paprika
    • 1 Clove garlic, crushed/finely chopped
    • 1/2 tsp Sesame seeds

Steps

  1. Cook the brown rice and quinoa together in a pot of boiling water (20-25mins or as per instructions on pack).
  2. Prepare the dressing by combining the soy sauce/tamari, apple cider vinegar, honey, smoked paprika, garlic, and sesame seeds.
  3. Heat a small amount of oil in a pan and cook meat/tempeh. Add the mixed beans to heat for 3-4 minutes. Add the dressing to the pan, ensuring the meat/tempeh is well coated. Remove from heat.
  4. In a large bowl add the washed mixed leaves, grated carrot, sweetcorn, and red onion. Mix in the cooked brown rice and quinoa.
  5. Combine salad bowl with cooked meat/tempeh.
  6. Mix 1-2 tbsp of water to the pan, scrape out any remaining dressing, and drizzle over salad.
  7. Serve with sauerkraut on the side and enjoy!

Nutrition Information*

Calories496
Total Fat19.4g
Total Carbohydrates
Dietary Fibre
39.6g
11g
Protein37.1g
*Based on recipe above (using chicken breast) which provides 1 serving.

References

Questions? Talk to a Nutritional Therapist on live chat!

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