Millet porridge

Millet porridge makes an awesome gluten free alternative to oats. Millet is also a high protein grain and a good source of vitamins and minerals such as magnesium, phosphorus, manganese, copper, thiamin, riboflavin, niacin, B6 and folate.

I also find millet porridge to be pretty gut friendly so if you're dealing with SIBO or IBS it's worth giving it a go - especially if you're a porridge lover! Oh and as you know, a plant based diet is wonderful for endometriosis, so it's definitely worthwhile adding millet porridge to your endo diet recipe list.

A word about vegan sources of protein; even though millet is considered a high protein grain, it still needs to be combined with other sources of protein like nuts and seeds or some yoghurt to provide a complete source of protein.

Another thing to note about millet porridge - be cautious about eating it regularly if you have a diet that's deficient in iodine or if you're dealing with thyroid problems. This is because millet has goitrogenic effects, meaning it can cause a goiter or swelling of the thyroid gland due to the interference of thyroid hormone synthesis. Iodine can be found in seaweed (may favourite source is dulse flakes), seafood (such as oysters) and eggs.

This porridge recipe uses millet flakes which is essentially millet that's been ground into flakes, I buy mine from my local market but your health food store will probably have the flakes too. If not, you can just toast the millet in an oven for about 10 minutes and whizz it in your food processor.

Serves 1

You'll need:

• 1/2 cup of millet flakes
• 1.5 cups of milk (I like calcium enriched macadamia milk)
• 2 tbsp pure coconut milk
• 1/2 cup of berries
• 1 tbsp almond butter
• 1 tsp tahini (optional)
• 1 tsp LSA (optional)

Method:

Add millet to a saucepan and the milk, bring to the boil and turn the heat right down, cover and simmer for 12 minutes. Stir a couple of times so it doesn't stick to the bottom and become gluggy. After 12 minutes slowly stir through the coconut milk and spoon into a bowl. Top with the remaining ingredients and serve.