‘Chef Ellen’ Is ‘Gut Driven,’ And You Can Be Too

‘Chef Ellen’ Is ‘Gut Driven’

And You Can Be Too

Hoping to help inspire a connection of awareness, balance and education to improve gut health, health coach Ellen Postolowski is launching her three-week reset program with her book Gut Driven: Jump-Start Digestive Health to Nourish Body, Mind and Spirit.

Releasing Feb. 21, this plant-based nutrition book outlines Postolowski’s back-to-basics Reset 90/10 plan and includes over 100 recipes ranging from snacks, lunch, dinners, dressings and sauces. The reset itself is a three-week elimination program, which aims to remove inflammatory foods and antigens to best see what works for the individual, and the idea of the 90/10 reset rests on not having to be perfect and removing the guilt that can come with less ideal food choices. Developing the 90/10 Reset also stemmed from her own personal experience, in addition to her work with clients.

“I became my first client because all of these things started – I didn’t feel well, my stomach was always bothering me and I didn’t know what was going on,” she said. “I started feeling like a hypochondriac, and I was really interested in gut health and was going to different doctors. I was then diagnosed with early onset osteoporosis, which threw me for a loop, but I just wanted to understand what was going on and why it happened, and it all went back to really taking

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“I called it 90/10 because I don’t think things should be done perfectly. If you can do this plan 90 percent of the time, then you have a 10 percent window and that’s your safety net,” Postolowski said. “If you mess up and have something you shouldn’t, it’s okay, you have that window. So don’t give up, just get back up and finish the program. The reset was my way to build a foundation of picking better choices. Once you have that foundation in place, you can go back to it, and as you go on and go through the maintenance, it gets more sustainable, and the foundation will always be there to go back to. Bouncing back then becomes easier and easier. We all want a brownie every once and a while or pizza – we all have that thing that makes us happy and that’s the thing. Whatever joy certain foods bring may vary but that should be the joy of life, you shouldn’t have to omit that completely because it’s categorized as bad, the fun part of life is enjoying it.”

The program itself stems from Postolowski’s own experience and interest in gut health. After 25 years of working as a personal chef, where she had had a reputation as a healthy chef, she felt she needed a reset of her own. She was ready to evolve, so she returned to school for integrative nutrition and immediately became interested in gut and hormonal health and became certified in those fields and is a certified health coach.

care of yourself and digesting your food properly and not eating on the run. There were all these things I needed to change too, and a lot of it was about selfcare and being in tune with your body and not just what works for someone else.”

So, Gut Driven: Jump-Start Digestive Health to Nourish Body, Mind and Spirit was born from her story, and it explores Postolowski’s own journey and how that became the reset program she then spent years making right with clients. She had taken copious notes as she worked with clients on what worked for the reset program and decided it was time to turn it into a book.

The book not only includes recipes and the reset plan, but it is a comprehensive look for readers into how the digestive system and integrity of your gut supports and affects health and immune systems, as well as cognitive functions, and how balance and selfcare can improve the mind/body connection.

Her recipes are entirely plant-based, but her goal isn’t to have everyone become a vegan or vegetarian; her goal is to just create more mindfulness around labels and ingredients and quality of ingredients being used. As a chef, her inspiration comes from all over – one of her favorite approaches to cooking is to see what’s in her fridge and see what she can come up with so nothing can go to waste – and her love of cooking stems back to her childhood where she would cook with her mother.

In developing the content and recipes for this, she says it was like the “evolution of Ellen,” as she recreated some recipes from her first cookbook that she had previously published, and for Gut Driven: JumpStart Digestive Health to Nourish Body, Mind and Spirit, she was determined to create a positive guide for people to be able to follow easily.

“I really want to encourage a ripple effect of healing and understanding the importance of a healthy digestive system – it’s just so much more involved,” Postolowski said. “A big part of my book is so many people, women especially, have food fears, and we’re conditioned to think it’s bad for us, so just trying to get back to basics of eating food and not being afraid to and not adding guilt or shame to it because you may have overindulged or had a piece of cake. Again, I call it reset 90/10 because I don’t think you should do anything perfectly because when you do, then you end up failing and then comes the guilt and shame. The whole diet mentality I try to steer away from with my clients and try to teach a more honest and respectful of taking care of your body and finding what works for you and trying to sustain it and feeling good about all your choices. I had such success working with people with this.”

To her readers, Postolowski explains that a large part of this journey is to start when you’re ready to make a change. This is a program that looks outside diet and emphasizes the need for self-care and personal balance and encourages readers to make choices that help them lead their best and healthiest lives. Her goal too was to have this book be a resource that people could connect with and understand.

“My biggest goal was to make it accessible and take something complicated like the human body and break it down. It’s very interesting and I’m really happy with how it came out,” Postolowski said. “I really want people to be more aware of what makes them feel their best. I think that we’re a very stressedweighted society. I think people live in a constant state of stress and I think that if people could just be more aware of how food impacts your mood and cognitive function and immune system, I just think it’s so interesting. I think it’s a great jumpstart for anyone interested in learning about what makes them feel best. A big part of it is bio-individuality. We’re so different—the way we’re raised and what we eat, all those things. There are so many different parts of it, but the way the book is laid out, I think, is an interesting read for anyone looking.”

Gut Driven: Jump-Start Digestive Health to Nourish Body, Mind and Spirit will be available at all major book retailers on Feb. 21, and more information about Ellen Postolowski can be found at chefellen.com.

In this dish, rice noodles take the place of your typical wonton wrapper. If you can find forbidden rice noodles, try them out and add a colorful pop to a delicious meal. Either way, there are many different types of rice and vegetable-based noodles for those with celiac or gluten sensitivities.

This healthy meal-in-one is a delicious way to reap of the benefits of plant-based superfoods. There are vitamins, minerals, and nutrients galore, plus changing up the vegetable line-up could be a creative way to re-invent this bowl again and again.

Makes 2 servings

4 ounces purple or brown rice noodles or buckwheat noodles ½ cup frozen edamame or lima beans 2 Tablespoons olive, coconut, or avocado oil ½ yellow onion, sliced ½ head small green or napa cabbage, shredded 1 large carrot, julienned or thinly sliced 1 cup mushrooms, diced 1 cup broccoli florets, broccolini, or broccoli rabe ¼ cup coconut aminos 2 Tablespoons sweet chili sauce (see note) Scallions, chopped Sesame seeds Spicy Chickpea Tahini Sauce (see below)

Cook the noodles according to the package directions. Rinse with cool water and set aside. Blanch the edamame in boiling salted water for 3 minutes, then rinse and set aside.

Spicy Chickpea Tahini Sauce

This spicy chickpea tahini sauce recipe will make more than you’ll need for the bowls. But it is delicious on everything from roasted vegetables to condiments, a dip and beyond.

Makes about 1 cup

1 cup cooked chickpeas (if canned, drain and rinse well) ¼ to ½ cup water 2 Tablespoons tahini 2 Tablespoons rice vinegar 1 Tablespoon sweet chili sauce, sriracha, or other hot sauce

Add all the ingredients to a high-speed blender or blender cup and blend until well-combined. Start with ¼ cup water and add in more as needed to achieve a thick, creamy consistency. Keep the sauce in a mason jar in the fridge and use within a week.

Put the oil, onion, cabbage, and carrot in a large skillet. Sauté over medium heat for several minutes, stirring constantly. Add the mushrooms and broccoli and cook for several more minutes, stirring so they cook evenly. If the mushrooms release a lot of water, sauté until most of the water has evaporated. Add the coconut aminos and chili sauce and incorporate evenly into the vegetables.

If needed, warm up the noodles and edamame in the skillet over low heat. Layer each bowl with the vegetable mixture, noodles and edamame. Top with the Spicy Chickpea Tahini Sauce and garnish with the scallions and sesame seeds. Serve immediately. Note: If you don’t have a sweet chili sauce, whip up your own with 2 parts hot sauce to 1 part honey.

Hearty Vegetable Soup

2 Tablespoons olive oil, coconut, or olive oil 2 large leeks, trimmed, cleaned, and roughly chopped (tender parts only, discard the tougher outer green part) 4 celery stalks, sliced 4 large carrots, peeled and sliced 4 parsnips, peeled and sliced 1 celery root, peeled and chopped 1 butternut squash peeled and chopped 4 potatoes of choice peeled and chopped One 15-ounce can diced tomatoes or 2 tomatoes, chopped 4 to 5 cups vegetable broth 2 Tablespoons dried herb blend (vegetable blends, herb and garlic, chimichurri blend, or make your own) Bouquet garnish of fresh rosemary, thyme, parsley, oregano, or whatever you have 1 Tablespoon pesto (optional, see Note)

When all is said and done, there is nothing like a hearty soup. The vegetables are tender, and the broth is thick and flavorful. The best part is that this is a soup that you can build on it down the road (after Reset) with lentils and white beans. Add-ins like quinoa or whole grain buckwheat are highly encouraged. Play around and substitute other vegetables. There is no right or wrong with soup! When it’s made at home, you are left with a meal far superior to what comes out of a can.

In a large stock pot or Dutch oven, sauté the oil and leeks over medium-high heat, stirring often, for 5 minutes. Add in the celery, carrots, and parsnips and continue to cook for another 5 minutes. Add the celery root, butternut squash and potatoes and continue to cook for another 10 minutes while stirring occasionally. Add in the tomatoes, 4 cups of broth, dried herbs and bouquet garni. At this point, everything should be stirred together, and the broth should be slightly 48 covering the vegetables. If you feel as though you need more, add the remaining 1 cup broth. Cover and simmer for 45 minutes.

Remove from heat and let sit for at least 30 minutes. Remove the bouquet garni and stir in the pesto (if using). Season with salt and pepper to taste and serve hot.

Notes: Freezing soup is convenient and time saving, but please make sure to cool the soup down properly first before it goes into the freezer – use an ice-bath to quicken the process. Store the cooled soup in freezer bag and lay flat if space is an issue or consider Souper for convenient freezer-friendly containers. The safest and best way to thaw a soup is to place in a warm water bath until fully thawed. To reheat, place thawed soup in a pot and reheat on the stovetop over low heat for best results.

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