Food Allergies and diet

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Replies

  • littlegreenparrot1
    littlegreenparrot1 Posts: 702 Member
    Cous cous, bulghar wheat, quinoa are all grains that only require boiling water.

    Chop some veg, whatever you like, or can tolerate. Roasted veg is good and will keep for days in the fridge if necessary.
    Add some toasted seeds, falafel, roasted chickpeas. All good for protein.

    I don't know if you mentioned the ages of your children, but if old enough there is no reason they shouldn't chop some veg or chuck water in a pan. I know dressings have been mentioned as a problem, often I'll just use some olive oil and lemon juice.

    This takes me about 30 mins end to end, and of course can make a lot.

    Is there anywhere near you that does Indian or middle eastern food? You might find they meet your needs.
  • Libby283
    Libby283 Posts: 288 Member
    Panini911 wrote: »
    Libby283 wrote: »
    jgnatca wrote: »
    I raised two children on my own. My priorities were my health, my children, and everything else. Clean but not tidy. Organized but with scheduled “down time”. Your described lifestyle is very stressful and if you have liver, kidney, and allergy problems, your body has said “enough”. Ignore its signals at your peril.

    Changing how you live and eat is not all deprivation. Frankly I don’t know how you get enough protein if all you tolerate as far as I can tell, is bacon, chicken, and hamburger. And you are sick of chicken. Eating a more balanced diet has got to help you start feeling better.
    jgnatca wrote: »
    I raised two children on my own. My priorities were my health, my children, and everything else. Clean but not tidy. Organized but with scheduled “down time”. Your described lifestyle is very stressful and if you have liver, kidney, and allergy problems, your body has said “enough”. Ignore its signals at your peril.

    Changing how you live and eat is not all deprivation. Frankly I don’t know how you get enough protein if all you tolerate as far as I can tell, is bacon, chicken, and hamburger. And you are sick of chicken. Eating a more balanced diet has got to help you start feeling better.

    Well when you are allergic to everything it is hard to eat a balanced diet. I am so over salads. I stopped eating dressing years ago because of reactions, which wasn’t terrible with added flavor like egg, chicken salad, tuna salad...chick fil a salads.

    I am not a huge fan of salads either. but tried this recently and it's terrific:
    mixed lettuce (not a fan of iceburg)
    veggies i enjoy (for me lots of cherry tomatoes and cucumber, peppers are nice addition)
    HERBS! whatever is handy
    balsamic vinegar (you can add olive oil if you want, i like it with just balsamic vinegar)
    Add any protein you can eat/want to eat you can even go red meat in prepared food isle/deli

    seeds can be used for taste and crunch. or maybe try coconut "chips".

    And that’s the problem with salads. I dislike cucumbers, tomatoes and uncooked peppers and mushrooms. I use to like cheese and a hard boiled egg, or chicken or tuna salad or breaded chicken.

    Allergic to coconut, and potatoes so chips are out. I found a bag of corn chips I am going to try with salsa.
  • Libby283
    Libby283 Posts: 288 Member
    Well and now my fiancé has given up cooking anything because it’s so hard to find things I can eat.

    I never thought I would be stuck with eating grits for dinner. But when the choices are that or salad...

    I ordered a cheesesteak for lunch, because I just could not do the lettuce, shredded carrots, mushrooms and spoon of black beans... of course I got a reaction. By theory it should have been fine.
  • Libby283
    Libby283 Posts: 288 Member
    JeBeBu wrote: »
    I have sympathy/empathy for your situation. I am unable to process any mammal products: meats, milks, cheeses, etc. I also do not tolerate fried foods (regardless of oil used). I had mentioned in an earlier post the idea of a vegan food delivery service to allow for a more diverse and balanced option. I, personally, like Daily Harvest, but there are various delivery services available. Often these meals serve as inspiration for me trying similar recipes at home! I know how overwhelming it can feel to begin the process, but not starting -and risking your long-term health- can not be an option! Especially as a parent!

    They don’t allow you to list allergens.
  • Libby283
    Libby283 Posts: 288 Member
    lemurcat2 wrote: »
    Reminds me that some guy built a weight loss plan around Chipotle: https://www.menshealth.com/nutrition/a19735225/chipotle-diet-weight-loss/

    I'm not recommending, seems a ridiculous idea to me, but I actually find their bowls pretty easy to build a pretty low cal and satiating meal out of. However, you'd get sick to death of it pretty darn quickly, I'd imagine (even if no tainted romaine).

    Learning to cook without it feeling like a big production seems to be clearly the answer.

    I actually only eat the veggie bowls from chipotle. Little rice, black beans, fajita veggies, cheese, little sour cream, corn salsa, regular salsa...
  • Libby283
    Libby283 Posts: 288 Member
    Cous cous, bulghar wheat, quinoa are all grains that only require boiling water.

    Chop some veg, whatever you like, or can tolerate. Roasted veg is good and will keep for days in the fridge if necessary.
    Add some toasted seeds, falafel, roasted chickpeas. All good for protein.

    I don't know if you mentioned the ages of your children, but if old enough there is no reason they shouldn't chop some veg or chuck water in a pan. I know dressings have been mentioned as a problem, often I'll just use some olive oil and lemon juice.

    This takes me about 30 mins end to end, and of course can make a lot.

    Is there anywhere near you that does Indian or middle eastern food? You might find they meet your needs.
    We have a Thai place but coconut is the issue
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 28,052 Member
    Libby283 wrote: »
    Cous cous, bulghar wheat, quinoa are all grains that only require boiling water.

    Chop some veg, whatever you like, or can tolerate. Roasted veg is good and will keep for days in the fridge if necessary.
    Add some toasted seeds, falafel, roasted chickpeas. All good for protein.

    I don't know if you mentioned the ages of your children, but if old enough there is no reason they shouldn't chop some veg or chuck water in a pan. I know dressings have been mentioned as a problem, often I'll just use some olive oil and lemon juice.

    This takes me about 30 mins end to end, and of course can make a lot.

    Is there anywhere near you that does Indian or middle eastern food? You might find they meet your needs.
    We have a Thai place but coconut is the issue

    Sure, all of the Thai curries I make have coconut but most of the other dishes in my cookbook do not, and this may be true at your restaurant as well. Did you inquire already?
  • OooohToast
    OooohToast Posts: 257 Member
    kshama2001 wrote: »
    Libby283 wrote: »
    Well and now my fiancé has given up cooking anything because it’s so hard to find things I can eat.

    I never thought I would be stuck with eating grits for dinner. But when the choices are that or salad...

    I ordered a cheesesteak for lunch, because I just could not do the lettuce, shredded carrots, mushrooms and spoon of black beans... of course I got a reaction. By theory it should have been fine.

    As long as you see your choices as being limited to grits or salad, you are doomed to suffer.

    This....
  • Panini911
    Panini911 Posts: 2,325 Member
    edited June 2019
    I understand being grumpy and ill-tempered about having to change your life because of health problems. It’s okay to be angry and grieve for your favorite foods. But then get over it and start doing the things you need to do in order to stay healthy.

    Sounds like OP is in a grieving/anger phase. that`s fine. but I know when I am in that phase, NOTHING is good enough and i am in zero way open to ANY ideas. nor do i honestly want actual advice/tips i just want to gets things off my chest.

    So sounds like this post was just looking for sympathy.

    OP once you have had a chance to grieve and moved on to acceptance, please come back and members can try offering some tips and things to try again. Lots of quick things you can meal prep at home super fast.

    in the meantime, i'm sorry you are being slammed with so many food allergies and are so busy you cannot make any foods yourself.
  • aokoye
    aokoye Posts: 3,495 Member
    Libby283 wrote: »
    Well and now my fiancé has given up cooking anything because it’s so hard to find things I can eat.

    I never thought I would be stuck with eating grits for dinner. But when the choices are that or salad...

    I ordered a cheesesteak for lunch, because I just could not do the lettuce, shredded carrots, mushrooms and spoon of black beans... of course I got a reaction. By theory it should have been fine.

    Well then it sounds like you're out of luck until you get a modicum of creativity. Every single thing I've cooked this week fits within your limitations and most of what I've cooked would not be difficult for someone learning how to cook. It's too bad that you have no desire to cook though and it sounds like hour fiancé is on equal footing.
  • collectingblues
    collectingblues Posts: 2,541 Member
    edited June 2019
    aokoye wrote: »
    kshama2001 wrote: »
    Libby283 wrote: »
    jgnatca wrote: »
    I raised two children on my own. My priorities were my health, my children, and everything else. Clean but not tidy. Organized but with scheduled “down time”. Your described lifestyle is very stressful and if you have liver, kidney, and allergy problems, your body has said “enough”. Ignore its signals at your peril.

    Changing how you live and eat is not all deprivation. Frankly I don’t know how you get enough protein if all you tolerate as far as I can tell, is bacon, chicken, and hamburger. And you are sick of chicken. Eating a more balanced diet has got to help you start feeling better.
    jgnatca wrote: »
    I raised two children on my own. My priorities were my health, my children, and everything else. Clean but not tidy. Organized but with scheduled “down time”. Your described lifestyle is very stressful and if you have liver, kidney, and allergy problems, your body has said “enough”. Ignore its signals at your peril.

    Changing how you live and eat is not all deprivation. Frankly I don’t know how you get enough protein if all you tolerate as far as I can tell, is bacon, chicken, and hamburger. And you are sick of chicken. Eating a more balanced diet has got to help you start feeling better.

    Well when you are allergic to everything it is hard to eat a balanced diet. I am so over salads. I stopped eating dressing years ago because of reactions, which wasn’t terrible with added flavor like egg, chicken salad, tuna salad...chick fil a salads.

    Again, you will have so many more options for foods if you are willing to cook for yourself. You'd easily be able to make dressings that don't give you reactions and there are thousands of ways to prepare chicken so you don't get bored with it.

    Is this your complete list of "can'ts"?

    "egg, white potatoes, coconut, palm oil, turkey, lamb, pork, strawberries, fish or nuts"

    After strawberry season, I may challenge myself to go without them for a week to prove how easy it is when one is doing the cooking.

    Honestly I can go without all of those for a week - it's not especially difficult. Save for the nuts, I have gone without all of those for the past week (not purposefully), and that's despite it being strawberry season. I know, how dare I not eat strawberries all the time when they're in season, I should really get on that ;)

    Mind you, I don't eat pork, I almost exclusively eat eggs in baked goods which I haven't had much of lately, I rarely cook with lamb (I'd rather spend my dollars on other things - though I do quite like it), and not eating out constantly or buying a lot of packaged foods means avoiding palm oil is very. easy.

    Yup. I think I *have* gone without most of those for weeks.

    Strawberries: Well, I only eat the ones I grow. And it's a small patch. So I only get them for about two weeks out of the 52 in the year.

    Nuts: Super calorie dense. Not worth my time. I eat them, but only sometimes. I might have some walnuts at home right now? Maybe?

    Turkey: I hate deli meat, and only roast it at home once or twice a year. If even that.

    Coconut: Ew. Nope. Don't like it.

    Palm oil: I use vegetable, olive, and sesame the bulk of the time. Eating out might be a little harder if I had to ensure that places weren't using palm, but I only eat out twice a week or so, so...

    Eggs and white potatoes would be hard, but that's largely because I'm a lower-carb celiac, so eggs and potatoes are my staples. But if I couldn't do white potatoes, sweet would certainly be fine.

    Pork and lamb are sometimes proteins -- not for any nutritional reason, but more for the fact that I don't think of pork as a main protein, and lamb is expensive. But bacon = life. But I could do turkey bacon I suppose if I had to.
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 28,052 Member
    SCoil123 wrote: »
    Last night I had carne asada with black beans and Spanish rice - super easy and allergy friendly. Plus it was delicious. You are making this so much harder than it needs to be by only focusing on what you can’t have instead of looking at what you safely can.

    If you don’t like steak find different ways to prepare it that you might. If you’re bored with chicken get creative with that too. Cooking doesn’t have to be hard, complicated, or time consuming to create results you enjoy.

    Premade carne asada sauce is available in some stores, but here's my favorite from scratch marinade recipe: https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/186691/lisas-favorite-carne-asada-marinade/

    I half the sauce, use 2 # of chuck stew beef, add a can of beans, cook it in the crock pot on Low for 6 or so hours, and serve over rice.

    I have marinated ahead of time like the recipe says, and also not marinated, and it doesn't seem to make a difference, probably due to cooking it the crock pot. If I were grilling, then I would use a different cut of beef and indeed marinate.

    I work from home now so start it at lunch, but if I didn't, I would either:
    1. Marinate it the night before and the day of have my OH grill it while I cook the rice and open a can of beans
    2. Cook a huge batch on the weekend in the crock pot and freeze some of it