The Dangers of Mixing Certain Foods with Pharmaceutical Drugs plus Health-Busting Cauliflower Rice Recipe

Hello everyone,

I work at a school, and we all know what schools are like; they can be a breeding ground for germs. If one kid comes to school ill, they tend not to be too careful with sneezing and washing their hands, due to their limited awareness of germ-spreading. 

February is one of the coldest months of the year, and let’s face it, sometimes we get ill and have to take the dreaded trip to the doctor. But, the last thing you want to do is ruin the prescriptions by eating the wrong foods!

(Here is a sneak preview from one of my lessons where we were studying places to visit and directions, so I drew a map of the town where I live, Caldas da Rainha, and elicited some ideas from the students:-)

We all want to get better fast so it’s important we eat the right types of food in order to avoid any negative reactions with the prescriptions. I found these helpful facts from Blink Health that outlines some crazy food and drug interactions that really surprised me.  

Alcohol and antihistamines: Did you know that drinking alcohol with your allergy medications might make you doze off? Antihistamines are amplified by alcohol which causes drowsiness. Don’t mix the two!

Antibiotics and milk: Iron-rich dairy and calcium fortified juices will stop your medication's ability to fight an infection.

Antidepressants and Cheese: If you are on an MAO inhibitor, you might want to refrain from mixing the two. Combining these drugs with tyramine-rich foods like aged cheese can cause a risky rise in blood pressure.

Anticoagulants and Broccoli: You should really take caution when eating foods high in vitamin K. Broccoli and other leafy greens can essentially shut off the drug’s blood thinning.

Bronchodilators and coffee: If you suffer from asthma, you might want to stop drinking your daily cup of jo. Caffeine can increase the side effects of bronchodilators. This includes excitability, nervousness and rapid heart beat.

Blood Pressure medications and bananas: ACE inhibitors raise potassium levels and having too much of this mineral in your body can actually cause heart palpitations and even cardiac arrest! Stick to eating apples!

Cholesterol lowering drugs and grapefruit juice: Grapefruit juice actually hates a lot of prescriptions including cholesterol lowering drugs. Your arteries will not enjoy a morning glass of grapefruit juice which stops stains from working properly.

You can’t forget about your healthy diet when you aren’t feeling your best! So with today's blogpost, I am also including a super healthy recipe to boost your mineral and vitamin intake at this delicate time of year...cauliflower rice! Check out the video here:-

Ingredients

One head of cauliflower, some cress, 3 cloves of garlic, half a yellow pepper chopped up, a handful of blueberries, one tablespoon of coconut oil, salt, pepper, ground coriander, rosemary.

Method to the madness

• Either grate the cauliflower head or finely chop all of the cauliflower florets.
• Add the tbsp of coconut oil to a non-stick pan.  On a medium, warm up the oil.  Add the finely chopped or grated cauliflower, and three chopped cloves of garlic. Stir.
• Add a sprinkle of rosemary and half a chopped yellow bell pepper. Stir and keep it on medium heat for another 3 minutes.
• Take your saucepan off the hob. 
• Now, we're going to steam the cauliflower, so pop a lid over the mixture and leave it for 5-6 minutes.  
• After this, add 1.5 teaspoons of ground coriander and stir.  Add some fresh blueberries and freshly chopped cress and mix it around. You are now ready to eat and enjoy!

I would love to hear what you think about the advice on the page and the recipe - you can DM me on my youtube channel, my Instagram page, my facebook page, my pinterest page and my twitter account.   

Stay healthy,

Lou X

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