These are the Foods you must eat on the Budwig Diet:

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Cold-pressed Linseed (flax) Oil  |  Ground Linseed  |  Fresh Fruit & Veg  |  Sauerkraut Juice    |  Coconut Oil  |  Quark

The most important elements

You must have:

  • Budwig muesli with banana and raspberry
    Budwig muesli with banana and raspberry

    At breakfast and again at lunch you will have the Budwig quark-linseed oil cream  “muesli” (Flax Oil/Cottage Cheese, FO/CC) made up fresh from 100 g quark and 45 ml cold-pressed linseed (flax seed) oil ,  25 g/2 tablespoons ground linseed with fresh fruit, nuts and berries.

  • Linseed oil is also mixed with coconut oil to make oleolux which is used for seasoning whole grains and cooked veg
  • Lots of fresh vegetables   including at least some raw which will be eaten in salad at lunchtime and some fruit which is eaten in the muesli.
  • Fresh vegetable and fruit 
  • Juices

Cold-pressed linseed (flax) oil

pouring cold-pressed linseed oilUses in the Budwig Diet. This is to used to make the Budwig quark-linseed oil cream (Flax Oil/Cottage Cheese, FO/CC) salad dressings and oleolux.

Nutrition. This is exactly the same as flax oil/flax seed oil. It is the cold pressed oil from the plant Linum Usitatissimum. It is a very rich source of omega-3. Good cold-pressed linseed oil should be mild, buttery creamy and very pleasant. However as it is rich in the very unsaturated, electron-rich omega-3 fatty acid which oxidises easily so it is important to consume it fresh. Linseed/ flax seed oil has in recent times  had a reputation for being bitter – even some of the organic ones – but these should be avoided. The linseed oil that is used for DIY and on cricket bats is industrially produced with more heat and often solvents and should never eaten! Linseed oil (flax oil) should taste of linseeds and always mild.

Linseed information

You can read more about the benefits of linseed on the Be Healthy website.

Traditional Use.  Linseed oil  has been a traditional food in Germany and Eastern Europe for centuries. Good linseed (flax seed oil) tastes lovely when combined with the quark (or other cottage cheese or yoghurt) for both sweet and savoury foods and in combination with the coconut oil to make oleolux it is another treat.

How much you will need.  You will need to use approximately 45-50 g twice per day.  So approximately 6 x 500 ml bottles will be needed every month.

Purchasing, Buy cold-pressed linseed oil fresh. It should always be in dark glass bottles as potentially it is thought it can leach plasticisers from plastic bottles and it is very light sensitive.  Cold-pressed linseed (flax seed) oil is available online or by phone.

Storing: Fresh linseed oil has a short shelf-life and should be consumed within about 4 months of pressing or two and a half months of opening.  Store opened bottles of linseed oil in the fridge and spare bottles of linseed oil in the freezer – don’t worry it won’t crack the glass, only water expands when it freezes!

Freshly ground linseed (flax)

whole gold and bronze (brown) linseeds (flax)
whole gold and bronze (brown) linseeds (flax)

Uses in the Budwig Diet. Ground linseed is the basis for the muesli on the Budwig diet, desserts and snacks. You will consume it twice per day for breakfast and lunch and maybe also midmorning or afternoon.

Nutrition. The seeds also come from the plant Linum Usitatissimum. They too contain omega-3. Ground linseed is also a rich source of fibre, both soluble an insoluble which helps promote the good bacteria in the gut which is the foundation for a healthy digestion. Ground linseed is a rich source of protein and has a low glycemic index which means it helps keep blood sugar levels stable and energy levels up. Linseeds are also natures richest source of lignans, a highly antioxidant phyto-oestrogen which has cancer-fighting properties. The mildly oestrogenic function of linseed is not thought to be n issue for hormone related cancers and in fact Dr Johanna Budwig believed this was beneficial.

Traditional Use. Ground linseed has been consumed by people as food and medicine for in excess of 15000 years. It was eaten by Roman soldiers as good nutrition for marching and fighting battles. Hippocrates used it medicinally for the digestion. Linseed has been a folk remedy for the digestion ever since.

How much you will need. You will need to use approximately 20-25 g twice per day.   Approximately 1.5 kg will be needed every month.

Purchasing, You can buy either the lighter coloured yellow or gold and bronze/brown linseeds both are equally nutritious. The gold seed has a milder flavour and bronze stronger nuttier flavour. You should buy human food-grade linseed, it must be one of the traditional omega-3-rich varieties, it must be stored without chemicals and guaranteed to be non-GM.

Sauerkraut juice

Sauerkraut is pickled cabbage. juice is pressed from it
Sauerkraut is pickled cabbage. juice is pressed from it

A glass of sauerkraut juice is drunk every morning.  This is not the brine from sauerkraut but juice pressed from the actual sauerkraut shreds.  For the Budwig diet this should be fresh raw sauerkraut as the raw enzymes are much of the benefit.    You can make your own homemade sauerkraut and press that but a good, lightly pasteurised, bottled organic alternative is acceptable as a useful standby.  Try to drink 4-7 ounces each morning.

Fruit and lots of fresh vegetables

Fresh fruit and veg
Fresh veg are essential

Seasonal fruit and berries is used for the muesli and juicing. Vegetables are used cooked, in salads an in  juices.  you should have the best fresh vegies you can find but good quality frozen is ok to fall back on.  Have a wide variety of different types of veg from different families of veg. Cold-pressed.

Biona raw cold-pressed coconut oilCoconut Oil

Uses in the Budwig Diet.  Raw cold-pressed organic coconut oil to necessary make oleolux.

 Nutrition. Coconut oil is predominantly medium-chain saturated fatty acids.  These have antimicrobial properties and benefits for the health of the digestive tract and immune system. Cold-pressed coconut oil  tastes fresh, sweet and mildly of coconut.

Traditional Use.  Coconuts have been a food for people from the time people first discovered them tens of thousands of years ago.  The  cold-pressed coconut oil for the Budwig diet needs to be the very best cold-pressed coconut oil, not the mass-produced oil of ethnic street-foods.

How much you will need.  Two parts of coconut oil are blended with one part of linseed oil and used over veg, in soups, on potatoes and buckwheat or as a spread for bread.  There is no recommended amount for oleolux, it really depends on how much you find you want to use in your food.

Purchasing.  The coconut oil in ethnic shops is highly -processed and refined and supermarkets is not suitable for the Budwig diet.  You must have raw virgin, cold-pressed coconut oil, it will probably be organically produced and will need to be bought from a specialist.

Quark Cottage Cheese

Quark cottage cheese bought in Waitrose
Quark cottage cheese bought in Waitrose

Quark, or low/fat-free cottage cheese is essential as a carrier for the omega-3 in the linseed oil.  Ideally this would be organic but this is hard to find in the shops though easy to make at home from organic milk.  Depending on your weight you will need approximately 200 – 250 g of quark per day.

 

 

"Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food" – Hippocrates