Two ingredients. A blender. And something that tastes so much like ice cream it feels like cheating. Frozen banana creates the creamy base, raspberries add tartness and color, and a generous spoonful of raw cacao turns the whole thing into something that belongs in a dessert bowl, not a health guide. Except every bite is delivering anthocyanins, polyphenols, tryptophan, and prebiotic fiber. Cheating has never been this good for the gut.

Prep time: 5 minutes | Cook time: None | Serves: 2

Storage: Best eaten immediately. Can be frozen in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks, but will need 10 minutes at room temperature to soften before scooping.

Ingredients:

• 2 medium bananas (about 240g / 8.5oz), peeled, sliced, and frozen overnight
• 1/2 cup / 60g frozen raspberries
• 2 tablespoons / 14g raw cacao powder
• 1 tablespoon / 15ml oat milk (only if needed to get the blender moving)

Optional toppings:

• Fresh raspberries
• Cacao nibs
• Pumpkin seeds
• A drizzle of tahini
• Toasted coconut flakes

Method:

• Add the frozen banana slices, frozen raspberries, and raw cacao powder to a food processor or high-speed blender.
• Blend in short bursts, scraping down the sides between each. It will look crumbly at first. Keep going.
• After 1 to 2 minutes of blending, the mixture will suddenly transform into a thick, creamy, ice-cream-like consistency. If the blender is struggling, add oat milk one tablespoon at a time, but use as little as possible to keep the texture thick.
• Scoop into bowls immediately.
• Top with fresh raspberries, cacao nibs, pumpkin seeds, a drizzle of tahini, or toasted coconut.

Notes:

• The frozen banana is everything. If the banana isn't frozen solid, the texture won't work. Slice and freeze the night before.
• A food processor works better than most blenders for this. The wider bowl gives the frozen fruit room to move and blend evenly.
• Riper bananas produce a sweeter result. If the bananas were very ripe before freezing, no additional sweetener is needed.

Everything your bones need, wrapped in a taco.

The sweet potato brings boron — the trace mineral that tells your body to hold onto its calcium, magnesium, and vitamin D rather than excreting them. The black beans deliver prebiotic fiber and resistant starch for butyrate production, glycine and proline for the collagen framework that calcium mineralises into, and phosphorus to drive that mineralisation process. Three separate bone-building mechanisms in one ingredient.

The cabbage slaw is deceptively important. Raw cabbage is one of the better food sources of L-glutamine for gut lining repair and quercetin for osteoclast inhibition — and it needs to stay raw to deliver both. The lime provides vitamin C for collagen synthesis and unlocks iron absorption from the beans. The fermented cashew cream adds live bacterial cultures and the healthy fats needed to absorb the fat-soluble vitamins in everything else on the plate.

Taco night. Secretly a bone-building protocol.

Prep time: 20 minutes | Cook time: 25 minutes | Serves: 4 (2–3 tacos each)

Ingredients

Roasted Sweet Potato & Black Beans

• 2 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1.5cm / ½ inch cubes
• 1 can / 400g black beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 tablespoon / 15ml extra virgin olive oil
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
• ½ teaspoon ground coriander
• ½ teaspoon chilli powder (optional)
• Salt and pepper to taste

Lime Slaw

• 2 cups / 180g red cabbage, finely shredded
• 1 cup / 90g white cabbage, finely shredded
• 1 carrot, grated
• Juice of 2 limes
• 1 tablespoon / 15ml extra virgin olive oil
• Pinch of salt
• Fresh coriander, roughly chopped

Fermented Cashew Cream

• 1 cup / 140g raw cashews, soaked for 4 hours or overnight
• ½ cup / 120ml filtered water
• 1 tablespoon / 15ml lemon juice
• 1 capsule probiotic (opened and powder added) or 1 tablespoon / 15ml plant-based kefir
• Pinch of salt

To Serve

• 8–12 small corn tortillas
• Sliced avocado
• Pickled red onion (optional)
• Fresh coriander
• Lime wedges
• Hot sauce (optional)

Method

1. Make the fermented cashew cream (ideally the day before): Drain the soaked cashews and blend with the filtered water, lemon juice, and salt until completely smooth. Transfer to a clean glass jar, stir in the probiotic powder or kefir, cover loosely with a cloth, and leave at room temperature for 12–24 hours. The cream will thicken slightly and develop a tangy flavour. Once fermented, refrigerate until ready to use.
2. Preheat the oven to 200°C / 400°F.
3. Toss the sweet potato cubes with the olive oil, cumin, smoked paprika, coriander, chilli powder if using, salt, and pepper. Spread in a single layer on a lined baking tray and roast for 20–25 minutes until golden and tender.
4. In the last 5 minutes of roasting, scatter the drained black beans over the tray with the sweet potato. Return to the oven to warm through.
5. To make the lime slaw, toss the shredded red and white cabbage and grated carrot with the lime juice, olive oil, salt, and fresh coriander. Set aside — the lime juice will gently soften the cabbage while you finish everything else.
6. Warm the tortillas in a dry pan for 30 seconds each side, or wrap in foil and warm in the oven for 5 minutes.
7. To assemble, fill each tortilla with the roasted sweet potato and black beans, a generous pile of lime slaw, sliced avocado, a drizzle of fermented cashew cream, red onion, fresh coriander, and a squeeze of lime. Add hot sauce if you like it spicy.

Notes

• The fermented cashew cream needs to be started the day before. If you're short on time, blend the cashews with lemon juice and a tablespoon of plant-based kefir and use immediately — you'll get the tanginess and some live cultures, just less fermentation.
• Corn tortillas are naturally gluten-free and hold up better to the filling than flour tortillas. Warm them properly — cold corn tortillas crack and fall apart.

A layer-in-a-jar lunch that just needs hot water at your desk. Miso and tamari sit at the bottom, noodles and vegetables layer on top, and five minutes of sitting time does the rest.

Layering the miso at the very bottom isn't just practical, it means the paste dissolves gently in hot (not boiling) water rather than sitting directly in a pot at a rolling boil, which helps protect the live cultures. Shiitake contributes beta-glucans that help balance an overactive immune response, while edamame adds antioxidant isoflavones and protein.

Prep Time: 20 minutes (plus 5 minutes "activation" with hot water at mealtime) | Cook Time: none | Total Time: 20 minutes | Serves: makes 2 jars

Ingredients (per jar):

• 1 tablespoon white or yellow miso paste
• 1 teaspoon tamari
• 1 cm (½ inch) piece fresh ginger, grated
• 1 small clove garlic, minced
• 1 small carrot, julienned
• 4–5 shiitake mushrooms, thinly sliced (fresh, lightly sautéed and cooled, or dried and rehydrated)
• 90g (½ cup) cooked buckwheat soba noodles, cooled (check the label for 100% buckwheat if avoiding gluten)
• 75g (½ cup) frozen edamame, shelled
• 1 baby bok choy, leaves separated and roughly chopped
• 1 spring onion, thinly sliced
• 1 teaspoon sesame seeds

Method:

1. Place the cooled soba noodles in the bottom of a wide-mouth jar.
2. Layer the edamame on top, followed by the chopped bok choy.
3. Add the julienned carrot in a distinct layer.
4. Layer the sliced shiitake mushrooms on top of the carrot.
5. Whisk the miso, tamari, ginger, and garlic together into a dressing, and drizzle it generously over the mushroom layer so it pools down through the jar.
6. Finish with fresh cilantro and a sprinkle of sesame seeds on top. Seal and refrigerate.
7. At mealtime: pour in boiling water to fill the jar, seal, and let sit 4–5 minutes. Stir well from the bottom before eating.

Notes:

• This recipe is the batch itself. Make 3–4 jars at the start of the week and they'll keep, sealed and refrigerated, for up to 4 days before you add hot water. Don't add the boiling water until you're ready to eat.
• Edamame is one of the gentler legumes; most people tolerate it well without needing the gradual build-up recommended for beans like black beans or kidney beans.

This one does the prep work for you the night before, so it's ready the moment you wake up. Kiwi is an emerging source of prebiotic fiber, with early research linking it to increases in beneficial gut bacteria, and it's also one of the highest natural sources of vitamin C. The combination of oats, chia, and flax gives you a solid dose of fiber right at the start of the day, plus a meaningful amount of omega-3s from the chia and flax.

Prep time: 5 minutes, plus overnight soaking | Serves: 1

Ingredients

• ½ cup / 45g certified gluten-free rolled oats
• 1 tablespoon / 12g chia seeds
• 1 tablespoon / 14g ground flaxseed
• ¾ cup / 180ml unsweetened plant milk
• ¼ cup / 60ml unsweetened plant-based yogurt (soy or oat-based, with live cultures)
• 1 teaspoon date syrup (optional, for extra sweetness)
• ½ teaspoon cinnamon

Toppings

• 1 kiwi, peeled and sliced
• Small handful of walnuts, roughly chopped (about 20g)
• Extra chia seeds, for texture

Method

1. In a jar or bowl, combine the oats, chia seeds, ground flaxseed, plant milk, yogurt, date syrup if using, and cinnamon. Stir well.
2. Cover and refrigerate overnight, or for at least 4 hours.
3. In the morning, give it a good stir. Add a splash more plant milk if it's thicker than you'd like.
4. Top with sliced kiwi, chopped walnuts, and a sprinkle of extra chia seeds.
5. Eat cold, straight from the fridge, or let it sit at room temperature for 10 minutes first if you prefer it less chilled.

Notes

• Kiwi skin is edible and holds extra fiber if you don't mind the fuzzy texture. A quick rinse and a rub with a clean towel removes most of the fuzz.
• If you're new to overnight oats, start with the yogurt included. It softens the texture and adds a gentle dose of live cultures on top of everything else you're building this week.
• This recipe scales easily. Make two or three jars at once on a Sunday night to have throughout the week.

Tamiko Katsumoto, MD, DipABLM, is a Clinical Associate Professor in the Division of Immunology and Rheumatology at Stanford University, board-certified in lifestyle medicine. She earned her MD from UCSF, where she also completed her internal medicine residency, rheumatology fellowship, and a postdoc in immunology. Dr. Katsumoto is passionate about the impact of diet and lifestyle on inflammation, autoimmunity, and cancer, and is a strong advocate for whole food plant-centered diets as a strategy to improve both individual and planetary health. She directs the Rheumatology Oncology Clinic at Stanford, co-directs the Stanford Immune Related Toxicity Working Group, and serves on the steering committee for Stanford's Center for Human and Planetary Health.

Dr. Hawrelak is the Lead Educator at The Microbiome Restoration Center, with over 25 years of clinical experience specializing in optimization of the gastrointestinal microbiota and the treatment of conditions such as irritable bowel syndrome, ulcerative colitis, Crohn's disease, and SIBO. He holds a PhD focused on the GIT microbiota and the clinical applications of pre- and probiotics, has authored 20 textbook chapters, and has taught health professionals at the undergraduate and postgraduate level for over 20 years. His lectures, publications, and microbiome-first treatment approach have changed the way thousands of practitioners worldwide manage gastrointestinal conditions.