Hello! I’m Maria Cantillon Murphy. Thanks for stopping by! This site is full of yummy recipes which are all entirely gluten and grain free and free of refined sugar. They are all compatible with the Specific Carbohydrate Diet (SCD) which I follow devoutly and many are Paleo-friendly. You don’t have to be on an SCD/Paleo diet to find this blog useful. Instead, consider it a blog dedicated to healthy eating: eating wholesome foods that nourish the body. If you are passionate about real food then we have a lot in common. My recipes are sorted by categories e.g. Breakfast, Main meal, Snacks but are easily interchangeable. If you want to eat healthy ice cream for breakfast you are perfectly entitled to! This food blog is in its early days so please check back regularly for new recipes.
So who am I? I am a wife to Eamonn and mother to Ciara and we live in the countryside in county Cork, Ireland. We live in a beautiful place surrounded by rolling green hills and we never take that for granted.
So where did my passion for food come from? Me and food have a long history! I was diagnosed with Crohns disease eight years ago when I was 21. Being diagnosed with a chronic illness at such a young age was a huge shock and I have had many ups and downs since. This triggered the beginning of my interest in food although for many years I continued to eat a “normal” diet and got many flare ups of the condition. It wasn’t until two years ago when my disease became out of control meaning I needed almost constant high doses of steroids to keep the inflammation in my body at bay, that I began to look for alternatives to conventional medicine. My search eventually led me to the Specific Carbohydrate Diet which I began two years ago.
Since then my passion for food has grown even more. Although the diet seems impossible and extremely daunting at first, I now eat tastier and more varied foods than ever before. My Crohns is by no means cured but my symptoms are less severe and some symptoms have completely disappeared. I no longer carry indigestion remedies with me everywhere I go which is just one of many positive effects of SCD. I still get flares but they are mild compared to before. I am no longer plagued with the horrific stomach cramps that characterized my disease in fact I have had no pain at all for the past six months! I have more energy and I can’t describe exactly how but I just feel better. I am hopeful that in the near future I may be able to wean off my medication. In the meantime, I’m having a great time experimenting in the kitchen!