Fig & Ginger Granola 

Oats are full of prebiotic goodness and here I’ve teamed them up with other prebiotic foods - ginger, fig, pumpkin seeds, almonds (raw with skin on), psyllium husk powder.

Prebiotics are an important, naturally occurring, food for your gut microbiota.

Often during the lead up to your period, and in perimenopause and menopause, the gut can become disturbed and out of balance. Symptoms such as bloating and changes in bowel movements, either looser/more frequent or more constipated, can occur.

Prebiotic food can help to address this, by feeding your beneficial gut microbiome. If you'd like to learn more about this, then take a look at my workshops, found here; Or read this blog of mine about the Gut Microbiome here. 

It’s a really simple granola to make. Easily done in about 15 minutes, plus cooling time.

Have a look at my Youtube video using this granola here. 

1 cup (85g) whole rolled oats
1 tablespoon (15g) extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon maple syrup or honey or rice syrup (20g)
1 tablespoon (7g) coarsely grated fresh ginger or 1 teaspoon dried ginger
60g raw almonds
40g pumpkin seeds
4 dried figs, stalk removed and chopped 
Per serving - 1 teaspoon psyllium husk powder

Oven set at 170˚C fan forced, 190˚C regular

Using your hands (its a bit sticky), or a fork, thoroughly massage all the ingredients together except for the nuts/seeds, fig and psyllium husk.
Tip this mixture onto a lined baking tray, spread out thinly and pop in the oven.
After about 10 minutes take it out of the oven, scatter over the nuts/seeds and stir around taking the outside bits in and the inside bits out!
Pop back in the oven for another 5 minutes. Then bring out of the oven to cool and sprinkle over the chopped figs. The granola goes crunchier as it cools.
Once cold, store in an airtight container for a couple of weeks.

When I eat a portion, I pop it into my bowl, add the 1 teaspoon psyllium husk powder, and mix with a high protein, natural, unsweetened yoghurt or unsweetened kefir. 

I often double or triple the recipe amount (and use tow baking trays at least to get thin layer) - this might mean you have to allow 5 more minutes for the initial cooking time before adding the nuts/seeds, plus stir the mixture around half way through the initial cooking time. This prevents outside pieces from over cooking before the inside pieces are baked enough.