If you made it this far after reading the novel of a title for this beauty, then I applaud you!

It was hard to think of a name that incorporates everything this cake is and can do so I decided to just lay it all out there. 

This 'Cheese' Cake is filled with Probiotics & Collagen ( for Vegan sub with Agar Agar) to aid in gut restoration (Leaky Gut where the small intestine becomes permeable), Vegan, filled with Good fats to keep you satiated, Paleo AND Refined Sugar free! The thing that gets me most excited about this is the fact that it tastes delicious. 

So many times I have tried to make foods to nourish and heal the body, and i'm not going to lie... i've had my fair share of making things that turn out foul. I spent weeks on getting this recipe right and my god. IT. IS. RIGHT! Absolutely delicious.

You could always add different fruit juice or pulp... perhaps even make a passion fruit one, but I stuck with Lemon, Lime and Orange because I LOVE sour things! If you do decide to try another fruit please let me know how it went and what you made! I was thinking that next I will attempt to replace the fruit with pumpkin and try a pumpkin spice pie - but ill keep you posted on the progress of that one!

If you're new to the world of Food as Medicine, you might be thinking 'What is leaky gut?' and ' Why do we need to consume foods to help restore it?' The answer is both simple and complicated all at once. 

Permeable Intestine - otherwise known as Leaky Gut, occurs in the upper digestive tract of the small intestine. Any and ALL auto immune disease starts with Leaky Gut. So that on its own is an indicator of the mayhem it can cause. 

Leaky gut is caused by indigestible foods that sit in the small intestine and have no fiber to push them through the bowel and out the colon and is the bodies response to deal with those foreign particles.. The most common cause of this is Gluten and Dairy. When we consume an indigestible food that is not accompanied by the right amount of Fiber, it sits in our small intestine. The bodies response to the matter thats blocking our bowel is to release a hormone called Zonulin. The lining of our small intestine is made up of cells called 'Enterocells'. Quite fitting given when you break it down it becomes 'Enter Cells'. Enterocells are held together by little ... lets call them fingers. When Zonulin is released, the fingers that were holding on tight to each other start to separate... This allows food trapped in the Small intestine to enter the blood stream. 

Why are Gluten and Dairy the main cause of this issue? Well! there is a large debate with gluten isn't there. The amount of times I hear from elder people than myself is 'We used to eat it and we are fine' - The truth is - its the older generation that are the ones currently suffering a lot of auto immune diseases. But if we go way back and think about our ancestors when disease wasn't rife, the reason Gluten didn't cause issues was because it still was eaten as a 'Whole' Food. This means the bran, germ AND gluten were intact. As time went by, consumers wanted white bread so manufacturers took away the germ and bran (the healthy parts of the wheat) and we were left with pure protein called Glutenin and Gliadin. Once this is wet, it becomes like Glue. Literally. If there is no fiber attached to this protein, it sticks like glue to your small intestine until it can be released into the blood stream. Once it is in the blood stream, it then sticks itself to your cells and can take up to six months to completely be removed from your system once you have ceased consumption.

Unfortunately due to mass production these days, you can't even just eat Wholegrain breads to fix the issue of gluten sticking to your insides and wreaking havoc. In the mass production of bread, the bran, germ and protein are still separated, and the base for wholemeal bread is actually just white flour.... the bran is re added after and not in a large enough quantity that's needed for adequate fiber to help the protein pass through to the colon. 

Unfortunately when it comes to dairy, the story is much the same. The protein in dairy sticks to the small intestine lining and Zonulin is released to make a place for the indigestible matter to go. When it comes to dairy - we aren't cows.. therefore in a perfect world we shouldn't and wouldn't consume it. Not only is it indigestible, what you may be interested to learn is that the only time humans have the enzymes to break down Dairy is in infancy. This is because the body knows that infants survive on milk. Don't be mistaken though, this enzyme is to break down human milk. Once the main food course in an infant becomes actual food, the enzyme is lost. This is the case for all humans. And for those that think they are fine digesting Dairy because they have no digestion upset when consuming it - your body actually shows you the effects of dairy in other ways than bowel upset. This includes Eczema, Hay Fever, Asthma, Osteoporosis, Auto Immune disease, psoriasis, respiratory issues, Mental Health concerns and so much more!

So that is the basics of Leaky Gut and how its caused. Now lets touch on WHY we need to help restore it.

We now know that Leaky Gut allows food particles to end up in our blood stream but what happens once these foreign parties are in our blood? Our immune system begins to notice them as foreign and attack. Some of the proteins we consume, are actually structurally similar to our own organs, and that is where Auto Immune disease occurs. The immune system can't differentiate between organ protein and protein from these products, so it attacks the foreign particles as well as our own organs and tissues. Leaky gut is a main contributing factor in ALL auto immune diseases and conditions. In fact, the only thing that differentiates which auto immune disease you have is the part of the body that is being attacked. For instance, if your Thyroid is being attacked its called Hashimoto's or Graves Disease, if it's your joints, its called Fibromyalgia and so on. The base of Auto Immunity is the same, and the disease gets it's name from the body part under attack. This is why when someone has one AI Disease, they generally develop another.

So because Leaky Gut is present in all auto immune disease, it begs the question, if I get rid of leaky gut, do I rid my disease as well? According to Dr Izabella Wentz and a host of other doctors, the answer is YES and this is why we need to work on eating to restore gut health. 

That is how it Auto immunity occurs in a nutshell. On top of Auto Immune Disease, add to the list of issues that leaky gut causes - skin conditions, respiratory issues and mass inflammation which takes us to a whole other area of issues including Mental Health Concerns. 

To try and heal our leaky gut, it is important to be eating foods that help mend and soothe the upper digestive tract and heal the gaps in our intestines. We can do this by eating collagens, bone broth, potato skins and eating a variety of pro and pre biotics. If you want to look further into healing Leaky Gut, Click HERE and have a look at the information from Dr Josh Axe. 

ANYWAY - we have chatted enough but if you have any questions or comments, please reply below! Or if you would like it to be confidential just flick an email to naturallynourishedcollective@gmail.com . You can also contact us through our contact page. 

So here is my new baby - Citrus 'Cheese' Cake

    Recipe

Serves - 8 -

Time - 1hr Soaking Time, 30 Mins Prep, 2 Hrs Chilling

 

What you Need:

Crust:

3/4 cup Toasted Shredded Coconut

220 grams (1 1/2 cup) Roasted Nuts

2.5 Tablespoons Raw Organic Honey (for Vegan sub honey with Maple Syrup)

1 Vanilla Pod, Scraped

Pinch of Salt

 

For the Filling:

220g Soaked Cashews (there is no substitute for cashews - Soak for 1 hour prior in boiling Water, or for Raw soak over night)

1 1/4 Cup Unrefined Coconut Oil - Melted or Very Soft.

270 Ml can AYAM Coconut Cream (left in the fridge over night, drain the water and only use the Cream that remains)

3/4 Cup Fresh Lemon Juice

1/4 Cup Raw Organic Honey

Zest of 3 Lemons, 1 Orange and 1 Lime.

Pinch of Salt

2 Tablespoons Collagen Protein ( I use Great Lakes , for Vegan version sub with Agar Agar )

1 Tablespoon Pro Biotic Powder ( you can cut open capsules if you don't have powder)

 

What to do:

Line a cake tin that has a removable bottom with parchment paper. It doesn't really matter what size. If its a small pan, then it just means the 'batter' will be higher. It will still set and hold. 

First of all, prepare the crust as this needs to chill in the fridge or freezer for around half an hour to an hour before putting the filling on top. 

Toast your coconut first. You don't HAVE to do this but it adds a really beautiful flavor. 

In a high speed blender ( I used the food processor part of the Nutri Ninja ) add all the ingredients. Pulse until it becomes a bit bigger than bread crumbs. Don't wiz it too much or it will turn into nut butter. You want to make sure you still have some decent size chunks in there. Check to see the consistency of the crust. It should only just hold together when pinched and still be quite crumbly. If it doesn't stick together add a teaspoon of coconut oil (melted)

Pour all of the crumbs into your pan and start to press down with you hand. Once it is firmly compacted in the tin, run over it with the back of a spoon to smooth it out.

Place into the Freezer (half hour) or the Fridge (one hour) while you prepare the filling for the cake. 

Melt your coconut oil and wipe out the food processor. It doesn't need to be clean of the nut oils etc, it just need no clumps of excess nuts from your base. 

Place all ingredients for the filling into the processor and make sure you drain your cashews. A little water can remain but don't leave much if you can avoid it.  ( I used the cup and fine blender part of my Nutri Ninja for the cashews and lemon juice to make sure there were absolutely no lumps and then transferred to the food processor part of the Nutri Ninja and added everything else)

Blend until smooth and creamy and the coconut oil has thoroughly mixed into the batter. 

Pull your base out of the fridge or freezer, and pour your mixture into the pan. Add some excess rind on the top for decoration and place back into the fridge for around 2 hours or until firm. 

Voila!

Enjoy this one guys! It seriously is delicious!

Let me know what you think below and don't forget to share!