Welcome to my ‘International’ Kitchen. I am Indu and I currently live in Connecticut, USA with my loving husband and two wonderful kids. I work as a health economist/researcher but I have always been very passionate about cooking.
I started this blog to document traditional Kerala recipes that are mainly recipes I learnt from my amma. Sadly my amma is no more physically with us and this blog was a way to keep her and her recipes alive always. My husband and I also love to experiment with a lot of other cuisines too, you can see all kinds of foods in our kitchen. You will find all kinds of delicious recipes here! My blog has really continued to evolve since I first started blogging in 2014. Of late I really strive to use natural and healthful ingredients as far as possible. Of course having young kids at home means to allow for some occasional indulgences 🙂
I was diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) in the summer of 2015 with the disease affecting my hands, shoulders and knees. I am currently taking immunosuppressant medications to control my symptoms but I am also actively following dietary and lifestyle changes to help control the disease. Being a pharmacist I am well aware of the side effects of these medications and so I really would like to control my disease by eliminating all inflammatory foods, eating anti-inflammatory foods and through lifestyle changes like yoga and exercise. Although this disease has made everything harder for me, I continue to cook, bake and blog with the help of my supportive husband and children. I hope to motivate all other RA patients who have similar interests in cooking and baking as me to ‘remain positive and keep at it’.
Because of my disease which is auto-immune in nature, I have been reading up on the impact of diets on controlling the disease. Since Dairy and Gluten are considered to be inflammatory by most nutritional experts, those are the two things I eliminated first from my diet. I have been also following a Paleo diet, specifically the Autoimmune Protocol (AIP) that has been developed by some experts who used this diet to reverse or control their autoimmune diseases. A Paleo diet is a ‘nutrient dense’, grain free diet that focuses on fresh vegetables, fruits and good quality meats like wild caught fish and grass fed beef and chicken. Additionally, an AIP diet tries to eliminate further some of the other potential inflammatory foods from our diets which include nuts, spices and eggs for a period of time after which we can try to re-introduce these one at a time to see if it is inflammatory to our body. So to summarize, the Paleo Autoimmune diet eliminates the following from your diet:
- all processed foods, including refined sugar and flour, dairy, gluten, nightshades (tomato, peppers, eggplant and potato), nuts AND all grains
Below are some useful websites and resources for Paleo and AIP that will give you detailed information including the science behind it as well as recipes and tips if you would like to follow this diet:
What is the Autoimmune Protocol?
Interestingly for me the Paleo diet was one where I finally began to feel at home! Paleo promotes use of coconut and coconut oil as well as root vegetables like cassava (tapioca), yams and taro root etc and those being so intrinsic to Kerala and Kerala cuisine, I feel quite at home with it! There are so many Kerala recipes that I can adapt to embrace my new Paleo lifestyle!
Thank you for stopping by my blog and I will be happy to keep you updated regarding how the Paleo approach is helping me. You will find all kinds of recipes on my site – traditional kerala recipes, Maharashtrian recipes, International foods and also due to my new lifestyle you will find Vegan (because I am dairy free and egg free) and Paleo recipes. I also strive to always cook and bake healthy.
Last Update to Page – Jan 2017
