And we’re back baby. My designer has been taking so long to redevelop the site that I finally caved and put it back up for the meantime. It’s been tough not sharing all that I’ve found these last few weeks – but rest assured I have a BUMPER crop of information that’s going to rock your world.

I’m going to space it out a little, so let’s start with my most exciting positive discovery of my Kenya trip (believe me, there have been many!):

Amaranth greens are tasty, packed with anti inflammatory vitamin k AND they posses such strong antihistamine action that they’ve been shown to prevent anaphylactic shock. Now this doesn’t mean that you won’t be allergic to them, so please (as always) proceed with caution.

Before I get into my first amaranth greens experience, I’d just like to add a little note about histamine. I talk over and over again about the importance of diet in managing histamine conditions like histamine intolerance, mast cell activation and mastocytosis, but I haven’t yet shared my treasure trove of information on all the conditions that are affected/caused or aggravated by histamine. It’s coming; I’m just organising it all. A lot of this info is out there in the public domain; I’m not creating new research, just gathering it all. And you would be shocked by what I’ve found. I’m wondering how many thousands of people out there aren’t aware that histamine disorders either mimic or aggravate various conditions. Sign up to my mailing list to make sure you don’t miss this bombshell…

Anyway, that’s coming up soon. But in the meantime…ta dah! I present my amaranth greens experience.

Yesterday the lovely Rehema, our friend’s housekeeper at the stunning beachfront villa we’re staying at here in Kenya, knowing that I have a fixation with all things veggie, presented me with armfuls of greenery. Having furnished me with the local name (managu/mchicha), Google came back with a name that truly excited me: amaranth greens. Having searched for them in vain all over London (probably just out of season), I pretty much bolted back to the kitchen in search of what I could throw together to make a palatable meal. The problem? My man was hungry too – and as sweet and as understanding as he is of my bizarro feeding habits, I needed to feed him something substantial rather than my usual “food is medicine” approach. And so into a large pot went some antihistamine quercetin rich red onions, immune system supporting garlic, anti anaphylactic/mast cell stabilising amaranth greens and anti inflammatory freshly made coconut milk for its fat content.

For my man I debated adding a little actual curry (you’ll notice this curry is oddly curry free!), but we didn’t have any fresh leaves on hand. I cooked up a bowl of wheat polenta for him, and waited for the taste verdict – i.e. did it need enhancing with the powdered curry we did have. But it was deemed to be delicious as is. I waited for a few hours with baited breath, wondering (as always) what this would actually do for me. Either the placebo effect was in full swing, or the amaranth greens did the job, and my slightly swollen tummy and face suddenly deflated. I slept like a baby and woke up as bouncy as a newborn pup. But hey, did I mention the placebo effect? I’m a big believer in it, and I’d totally hyped up the greens these last few months.

Either way, it was a tasty, nutritionally balanced, antihistamine lunch!