Recipe Ideas for a VERY Restricted Diet
Cutemesoon
Posts: 2,646 Member
Help! I have various health issues that require me to stay away from certain things. There’s not much I can or want to eat. The only animal flesh I can have is wild caught salmon and organic chicken breast. I can’t have lots of green leafy vegetables. No flour, no white sugar, no canola or olive oil, onions, mushrooms or tomatoes.
The tomato is the hardest. So many yummy recipes have tomato as a base. Can anyone recommend recipes or a website that would help? Thanks.
Signed,
One depressed eater
*EDIT* I also can't have soy or dairy. I can however have almond yogurt, milk & cheese.
The tomato is the hardest. So many yummy recipes have tomato as a base. Can anyone recommend recipes or a website that would help? Thanks.
Signed,
One depressed eater
*EDIT* I also can't have soy or dairy. I can however have almond yogurt, milk & cheese.
1
Replies
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Perhaps you should consult your medical professional for diet and nutrition suggestions, esp if you have so many medically necessary restrictions on what you "can" eat...4
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Can you ask your doctor for a referral to an RD? They can often help plan for diets that will balance your restrictions with meeting your nutritional needs.10
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Can you eat soy? If so, then you have tofu as a possible protein. There are also various meatless products marketed as "faux meat" that are soy blended with other plant proteins.
If the problem with flour is not gluten, then you might be able to eat seitan (protein made from wheat gluten).
Depending on specifically what the concern with flour is, there are various flours that aren't made with wheat, so you might be able to handle some of those.
If you can eat other types of fungi that are not mushrooms, you might be able to eat Quorn and/or tempeh.
If dairy is okay, then Greek yogurt is a popular protein source. There are also protein bars and powders made with lots of different dairy and/or plant proteins.
If the vegetable problem is the "leafy" part, then you might still have broccoli, cauliflower, asparagus, peas, root vegetables (other than onions), etc.
Can you have sweeteners other than white sugar? Agave, maple syrup, honey, stevia, Splenda, raw sugar?
Can you have oils other than canola or olive? There are a lot of different oils available in most grocery stores. Can you have butter? Shortening?
Regarding things that have a tomato base, it would depend on the recipe, but you might be able to substitute a good vegetable broth--check ingredients, some have tomato and some do not. You can also make and freeze vegetable broth if you can't find one that fits your needs. If you are looking for a "umami" flavor that often comes from tomatoes or mushrooms, try soy sauce or nutritional yeast.
Of course, you should check with your doctor about all of these things.6 -
Oh Im so sorry to hear that you are having a hard time with the foods you can eat. I know how difficult it is when all you can think about is what you CANT eat vs. what you CAN. I would suggest looking into a alkaline diet, it stays away from alot of the items you listed but also has some really great foods that maybe you never would have thought of. I am currently (sort of) following this diet. I hope this helps.11
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I am a little confused about why you can only have one lean meat protein and one fatty fish. I understand ruling out shellfish but limiting to two very specific and common items seems odd.11
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I am a little confused about why you can only have one lean meat protein and one fatty fish. I understand ruling out shellfish but limiting to two very specific and common items seems odd.
It has to do with digestion. Other proteins would be difficult for my system to break down.2 -
Cutemesoon wrote: »
Okay, but the protein in organic chicken isn't different than the protein in non-organic chicken (same with the differences between wild caught salmon and farmed salmon -- there may be differences between the two, but not on the protein level).
Was this diagnosis given to you by a medical professional? I'm not understanding why turkey, for instance, would be off the table for someone who can digest chicken.20 -
Have your dr refer you to a dietician if you can. Your needs are complicated.2
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That sounds strange. Why?Cutemesoon wrote: »The only animal flesh I can have is wild caught salmon and organic chicken breast.
Can you have a little green leafy vegetables? Or other vegetables?I can’t have lots of green leafy vegetables.
Can you have whole grains? Or is it wheat you can't eat? What about rice, barley, rye, oats?No flour
Brown sugar, honey?no white sugar
Other oils and fats?no canola or olive oil
Garlic, peppers?onions, mushrooms or tomatoes
I think you just have to find recipes without the foods you can't eat. And when there are so many foods you can't eat, and they seem random, and each restriction makes eating exponientially more difficult, I would make sure it's actual reasoning behind each restriction.The tomato is the hardest. So many yummy recipes have tomato as a base. Can anyone recommend recipes or a website that would help?5 -
Cutemesoon wrote: »
As I recall protein among various animals is not really that different. I do remember reading something about beef and chicken protein and how when tested they were very close. Maybe there is another component other than just the protein you have a hard time with.
I am not saying you are wrong but it seems odd that in an entire world full or air, land, and sea protein sources you are limited to two which happen to also be usually easy to get. I would question it.
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janejellyroll wrote: »Cutemesoon wrote: »
Okay, but the protein in organic chicken isn't different than the protein in non-organic chicken (same with the differences between wild caught salmon and farmed salmon -- there may be differences between the two, but not on the protein level).
Was this diagnosis given to you by a medical professional? I'm not understanding why turkey, for instance, would be off the table for someone who can digest chicken.
That's what I was thinking. The proteins would be the same between organic and inorganic, and it's pretty much been well documented that there's no *nutritional* benefit to organic.
I get organic and wild caught being a preference, and I don't buy conventionally produced, but I'm also not the one with a laundry list of food allergies. I would think the emphasis would be on expanding the list, not limiting it.
OP, did you get these restrictions from a proper medical doctor -- aka, not a functional med or naturopath -- or dietitian?7 -
I feel like if I start listing foods you will probably come back with you also can't eat or do not like other ingredients so I don't really want to list recipes.
There are recipe websites like supercook or allrecipes where you can enter ingredients to search for and ingreduents to avoid. You might find that helpful.
I find food ideas through pinterest often. Search for a particular ingredient like salmon or grilled chicken and there are many ideas that may work for you.
Or you could list all the foods you can eat and like to eat and maybe we can come up with something7 -
Another vote for using the Ingredients feature on allrecipes.com.1
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You need a consultation with a dietician. I'd recommend taking a quality multivitamin (with their approval), and perhaps a nutritional drink like boost or breeze.1
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My son had a weird list of restrictions to try and avoid known migraine triggers. It included tomatoes, MSG, and old cheese which pretty well eliminated any prepared foods.
I became practiced at reading labels.
I learned to make my own sauces.
Here are alternatives you can eat:
green leafy vegetables> all the orange, root and starchy vegetables
flour > cornstarch for thickening
white sugar > skip the sugars or use Stevia
no canola or olive oil > corn, safflower oil
onions [is it the whole family? If not...] > garlic, chives, shallot
mushrooms > just skip it or replace with corn
tomatoes > squash/pumpkin purée
You also still have all the fruits, whole grains and beans/legumes. Unless this was somehow missed by whomever came up with this tortuous list.
It seems to me you could make a great coconut curry with your allowed ingredients. Stir fries are also in the running. Substitute where necessary.
For instance this recipe only has one disallowed ingredient. Simply sub the olive oil for an allowed oil.
https://healthyaperture.com/blog/post/stir-fry-made-without-soy-sauce4 -
@jgnatca Thanks a million for the great ideas! The recipe looks amazing! Can't wait to try it this wknd.0
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I feel for you. At one point I had one child allergic to 43 foods and my husband allergic to 93 foods. Cooking becomes torturous and no fun. My son couldn’t eat beef bc he was so allergic to dairy and dairy comes from beef (even though he wasn’t technically allergic to beef). It was truly awful. So I know right where you’re at.
White chili works well with no tomatoes. You use chicken broth in place of tomatoes. You can really use pretty much any meat you can tolerate. I used ground buffalo bc we couldn’t do ground beef or even turkey. You might see about finding ground chicken breast (or grinding your own) which would help with things like casseroles, chili, etc.
I get the organic thing too. There were hormones, antibiotics, sprays on crops, etc that made my son very sick. So I get that too. Even what they feed animals can affect someone when their body is hyper reacting to everything.11 -
Oh! Yes. Look up coconut flour recipes. Those were a lifesaver! They use a lot of eggs/fluids, but there are some really good coconut flour recipes!
Grape seed oil works well as a general replacement for oil. Can you do ghee (clarified butter)?0 -
Google through "whole 30" and "paleo" recipes. A lot of those could be adapted to your food restrictions. Good luck!0
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simply boil potatoes and eat it - And stir fry the vegetables you can eat with chicken stock and olive oil. Simple and yummy! For sugar - strawberry & frozen berry whey protein shake.1
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ronjsteele1 wrote: »
Grape seed oil works well as a general replacement for oil. Can you do ghee (clarified butter)?
Yes. I really like ghee.1 -
I think you can have this if you skip the cilantro (which is what I would do anyways).
https://www.ambitiouskitchen.com/thai-peanut-coconut-cauliflower-chickpea-curry/0 -
Why do you refer to it as "animal flesh"? Yes, it technically is that, however generally when it is described as that, it is being done so by someone with moral or ethical hatred of consuming it.
"Organic" chicken... a joke. To qualify as organic the bird need only be fed "organic" feed containing no animal by-products, antibiotics, engineered grains or chemical fertilizers; and cant be given drugs or antibiotics and hormones, as well as being required to have simply "outdoor access" (exactly how much access and to what- not defined).
You see, very loosey-goosey guidelines. And speaking biologically, those birds are no different in terms of protein, fat, nutrition than any other chicken raised for consumption.
Also note, is is ILLEGAL in the USA for chickens to be given hormones or steroids.8 -
allrecipes.com
You can input the ingredients you want or that you have on hand and it will generate recipes.2 -
Thanks for reccomending this website. It's awesome! I'm finding lots of great recipes!
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what have you been eating in the past? not to sound harsh, but to get to the point where you need to lose weight you were obviously finding plenty of foods that you could eat - eat less than that and you will lose - simple as that.7
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Cutemesoon wrote: »
Thanks for reccomending this website. It's awesome! I'm finding lots of great recipes!
Purely the accident of google. Nice to hear you more hopeful.
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If you can't have soy, then look into coconut aminos. That is what I use for Asian cooking in place of soy sauce (and also in place of other items like worcestershire sauce).
Also, if you can have red bell peppers they make a great substitute for tomatoes in many dishes. Especially roasted.
I know what it is like to be heavily restricted when it comes to what you can eat. I am lucky that I have since been able to add foods back in as my medical condition has improved/gone into remission but I still have a LOT of restrictions. Especially those first few months after being diagnosed. I remember times being in the grocery stores and crying because finding stuff to eat could be so hard. I mostly cook at home, but sometimes needed items that could be short cuts because of energy issues from other medical conditions.
The way I found recipes was simply to educate myself on substitutions, go to Pinterest or Google, and see what I could find that I could adjust. Heck, I even have a decent no tomato chili recipe I use.
Stay strong. You can do this. You may want to talk to your doctor about speaking to a professional who can help guide you.2 -
I think you can have this if you skip the cilantro (which is what I would do anyways).
https://www.ambitiouskitchen.com/thai-peanut-coconut-cauliflower-chickpea-curry/
I printed this and gave it to my husband. Hint hint, dear! 0 -
I have celiacs. I also cannot have dairy. In any form. Cassien, whey, lactose. I also cannot have oats. So, I understand about a restricted diet. I have ankylosing spondylitis and my Dr also likes me to eat low starch to help with inflammation. What medical condition do you have and what does your Dr say? Mine sent me to a nutritionist. I've been eating this way for 6 years. Be happy to help .0
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