Elimination diets can be extremely helpful for a number of health issues. The main aim of these restriction diets is to give the digestive system a break from potential inflammatory foods that are disrupting the balance of bacteria in the gut or damaging the intestinal lining.
Gluten and dairy are two of the most common inflammatory foods for most people because of modern day processing and the fact that they are more difficult to digest. Grains, even gluten-free grains can also be problematic for some people. All of these foods can also feed harmful yeasts and bacteria in the digestive tract that can cause symptoms ranging from gas and bloating, to skin rashes and arthritis.
Luckily, we are in a day and age where finding substitutes for many of these ingredients is fairly easy. There are a variety of grain free flours such as coconut flour, almond flour and cassava flour. Dairy can be easily substituted with a wide variety of non-dairy milks such as coconut milk, almond milk and hemp milk and pea milk.
The other inflammatory food to watch out for is sugar. This is a food that everyone should limit no matter what their health status. Some good substitutes for refined white sugar and artificial sweeteners (which are toxic too) are small amounts of raw honey, pure maple syrup or zero-calorie monk-fruit sugar, which gets its sweetness from the antioxidants it contains.
These coconut flour pancakes are grain free and dairy free. You can easily substitute the little bit of honey with monk fruit sugar or omit it altogether. The sweetness from the banana should be enough. You can also use unsweetened applesauce or pureed pumpkin in place of the banana.
COCONUT FLOUR PANCAKES
Ingredients- 1/4 cup coconut flour
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 2 tablespoons your favorite natural nut butter of choice (I like peanut or almond butter)
- 2 eggs, slightly beaten
- ½ tablespoon honey or maple syrup
- 1/2 medium banana, mashed
- ¼ cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk
- For the syrup:
- 2/3 cup wild organic blueberries
- 2 tablespoons pure maple syrup
- In large bowl whisk together coconut flour and baking soda; set aside.
- In a separate medium bowl, mix together the nut butter, eggs, honey, banana and almond milk together until smooth and well combined. Add wet ingredients to flour mixture and mix together. Note: If you find that the batter is WAY too thick (almost paste like), you can add in a teaspoon or two of milk until it is smooth, but still THICK. It will be like a thick brownie batter.
- Lightly coat a large nonstick skillet or griddle with butter or coconut oil and place over medium low heat (coconut flour is sensitive to burning so medium-low heat is best). Drop about 3 tablespoons of the batter onto the skillet; you may need to use a spoon to spread out the batter just a tiny bit. It’s important not to place more than 3 tablespoons of batter at a time; the pancakes can be hard to flip if they are too large, so smaller pancakes are best. Plus mini pancakes are adorable, duh. It’s very important to cook until bubbles appear on top and the edges are well cooked. Flip cakes and cook until golden brown on underside, 2 minutes. If you find that the pancakes are browning too quickly then you need to lower your skillet heat a bit. Wipe skillet clean and repeat with more melted butter or cooking spray and remaining batter. Makes 2 servings, 3 pancakes each.
- To make the syrup, place maple syrup and blueberries in saucepan over medium heat. Wait until mixture begins to simmer and boil, and stir every few minutes. Once mixture begins to breakdown and blueberries cook down about 5 minutes, remove from heat and serve warm over pancakes immediately.
