Medical diet restrictions and don't know what to cook? Ask me anything!

It's surprising how challenging it can be with some of the foods you have to avoid, yeah? I never realized at first what a challenge it would be when you HAVE to avoid things or you're in pain, or in serious trouble! And to have that AND have to try and find ways to still try and make food that tastes good, or that's filling? Phew, so hard!

I have a few friends with IC (seems to be more common in folks with my own disorder, for some reason); haven't been on the diet myself, but I've avoided a lot of the same foods, and had some bonding moments over the creativity required, LOL.

What do you think is the most creative recipe you've come up with? What's the most difficult ingredient to avoid, for you?

Funny, though, because I think most of us have been doing it for a while so we know what we can cook now, eh?
:-)

hacker0721 wrote: »

I just got dx w celiacs and non alcoholic fatty liver with mild liver fibrosis so was given 3 diet choices. Decided to try a version of paleo since i already have to cut gluten out but having a family that LOVES pasta its been difficult not to cheat.... Live having acess to a support network of people who understand

Oh man, yeah, that's hard when you have the temptation all around you! Are you doing all right on recipes? I was about blown away at how awesome Pinterest is for recipes. I had never used it to search for them - don't know what I was thinking - but I love it now. :-)

balfo wrote: »

I was dx Hashimoto's thyroiditis in September of last year. This is an autoimmune disorder that makes my body react to things, it never has before. I take vit.b 6 & 12 vit d, and magnesium am just now getting the energy back to track my diet and get up and moving again. It gets difficult to just find new ways to cook the same things. Beef, chicken , and fish.
Gluten-free options are high calorie, not exactly the fad "diet" some people think it is.
Need new ways to enjoy vegetables as snacks!

Oh hugs, hon! My MIL has Hashimoto's and my daughter has so many health problems they test her for it every couple of years, just in case. I'm glad you are able to get things back together some now!

I found a lovely website that helped me a lot when I was trying to find more ways to eat veggies. It's just a vegetarian site from someone who loves veggies, but she has one page set up with the recipes categorized by the main vegetable used. Very helpful! http://aveggieventuresrecipebox.blogspot.com/2005/03/alphabet-of-vegetables_6295.html

cherylnail wrote: »

Eating out is nearly impossible so If we travel I have to do investigating and bring stuff I can eat. Luckily I live where fresh veggies are accessible so that is a mega huge help. Learning to read every single label and make my breads, crackers, tortillas ect at home has been challenging. But because of these changes and walking everyday I feel better. Praying my next echocardiogram shows favorable results.

Wishing you luck on good test results!

What do you do for travel when you need to bring your own food? Any tips or tricks?

We have to do the same. I have a little plug in steamer I sometimes bring, that I can cook meats or veggies with in a hotel room. And found a plug in, well, I guess it's just a single stove-top burner (like this one: http://www.walmart.com/ip/Brenton-Safety-TS-320-Electric-1000-Watt-Single-Burner/42539804 This isn't the one I bought- mine is no longer made - just one as an example). that's been helpful. And we tend to bring bentos to bring the food out for individual meals.

But sometimes, trying to pack the food is just so tricky. I'd love to hear how you deal with it!


And just hugs on the label reading. It shocked me how much extra time that adds to every grocery trip, especially early on when you don't know any by heart! I'm so glad it seems to be paying off for you.

softblondechick wrote: »

No dairy, no beans, no corn, no tomatoes or tomato sauces. No spicy foods, no citrus...we looked at the list and wondered what she can eat...

Oh hon, I'm so sorry to hear. Always hardest when it's our kids! (And she was test for celiac disease already, yes? I just ask because it's usually supposed to be tested for when there are the same symptoms for GERD and colitis, but sometimes doctors still kind of fail on that. :-/

So, let's see what we can do.

First - most of the time when the diet's due to a condition like this, where there can be a lot of personal triggers for this, it's recommended that you keep a food journal, noting symptoms, so you can see how she does on various foods. I only mention this because sometimes, unfortunately, doctors don't. It has literally been the best thing we ever did when my kids were having food issues (my daughter has a different condition, but it, too, has a lot of foods she can't have, and like colitis, it's very individual which those foods are).

Second - with what she has, any foods that she can tolerate that can LOWER inflammation may be very useful. Turmeric and ginger are two that come to mind. Many fresh herbs are of use, too (I started an herb garden for this purpose, so we can just use handfuls of herbs without paying tons of money for it). You can look up anti-inflammatory diets, although some get kind of wacky. This gal - http://lowhistaminechef.com - has an anti-inflammatory cookbook. But on her site she has some blogs on anti-inflammatory foods and she'll have the research to back it up, so you can look and see if it seems reasonable and well-researched.

Third - probiotics and prebiotics - has the doctor looked at this with her? There are some more intense probiotics that doctors can get, although some people prefer to make their own fermented foods in this situation. Those work pretty well, too, and the kids can sometimes have fun making their own pickles, kimchi, and the like.

Fourth - food ideas. I'm just gonna throw these out, sorry for the mess!

Do nuts seem to trigger her? If they don't, cashew cream (which you can make yourself with raw cashews and water) is a GREAT dairy substitute for anything that needs to be heated and thickened with milk. It actually thickens when heated and has minimal flavor. We've made fake cheese from this, cream of mushroom soup (a nice one that she could likely have, actually), frozen deserts, all sorts of stuff.

Another good food for making things 'creamy' like dairy used to is avocados. You can use this for a lot of quirky things. Desserts and blended up with other ingredients to make creamy salad dressings, for example. Not so useful for thickening.

For sour tastes instead of citrus - sorrel is sometimes nice to use in salads for sour flavors. Unripe fruits can be useful for this, or green apples. Homemade apple cider vinegar is one you can possibly make more mild tasting and use for a sour taste. Or sometime milder purchases vinegars. Amchur powder can be found in Indian grocery stores or online - it's dried mango powder but is quite sour. Needs to be cooked, so better in soups and that sort of thing, rather than, say, a salad. Not sure how she'd do with that, as I know dried fruits are sometimes not so good with this, but if she can, might be nice.

Seeds and grains - how is she on these? Lots of pasta dishes might work with this - an easy pesto can be made with any kind of herb mixed with a nut and some olive oil (if she can do nuts). Or just herbs and veggies and olive oil, blended up and used as a sauce. If pasta doesn't work, look up recipes for 'zoodles' - it's zucchini noodles that should work.

Lots of flat breads if she can have some grains, or even French Bread might work - usually dairy free recipes for that. Chia is a good thickener for other dishes and a good calcium source, too, so it can be helpful. Teff can be used to make a really nice flat bread tortilla, very flexible, called 'Injera.' You have to look up 'traditional' ethiopian injera recipes if you are avoiding wheat, though. The modern ones add wheat. Quinoa can be used like rice and is a full protein as well.

Tomato sub - there is a sauce called 'nomato' that many people use as a sub. It's a product, but there's lots of homemade recipes for nomato as well. We've also used mashed avocado, or roasted and blended up red bell pepper to sub for this. For that kind of umami taste, there's something we've tried before (and I screwed it up, sigh) called mushroom ketchup. She won't be able to have all the ingredients, but it could be made without these and would still be a pretty rich taste. Even just well cooked, chopped mushrooms will help with that, flavor-wise.

Asian foods might be very useful, if she can have rice. An easy one is stir frying most veggies with a little soy sauce, possibly with a little garlic (if she can have that? I know sometimes the higher sulfur foods like onions and garlic aren't so good) and serve on top. Do the same with meat, possible add a little bit of sweetener, like honey or sugar, to the sauce for a more teriyaki taste, dilute it with broth if it's not enough liquid. Or a stir fried rice.

If she can't have soy, there is something called coconut aminos that is a good sub for it. Tastes similar, but a teeny bit of sweet after taste, I understand. I have also heard that lovage can be roasted and gives a slightly soy-sauce taste, too, but have never tried it.

Can she have eggs? Lots of egg dishes out there. And can make batter for veggies and fry them up or bake with them. Meatloafs with eggs, too - use rice or grated yellow squash instead of bread, if she can't do wheat. Just adjust for water content if using veggies.

Roasted meats and veggies are good, easy to make with just some herbs, a little olive oil. Lots of soups are much tastier with these, using mushrooms rather than beans for some extra texture that's a little different. Baked sweet potatoes can be nice, too, if she can do maple.

Roasted veggie chips - lots of recipes for carrot chips, beet chips, etc...

Not sure if potatoes are okay for her? Some I know aren't - but lots of potato dishes, too, to look at. :-) Can even make homemade gnocchi.

corn starch sub - potato starch (you can even make this at home super easy) and arrowroot powder will work for this. Tapioca, too. Potato starch is the closest, texture-wise. Arrowroot has a sightly different texture, better for Asian sauces.


And that's all that comes to mind off hand, I'm afraid. Anyone else with ideas to throw out for recipes?