Restricted diet and getting bored

GeoMiniThing · August 2021

I have an eating disorder called ARFID, or Avoidant Restricted Food intake Disorder which leaves me only able to eat a very narrow range of foods. I am receiving support with this but am wondering if anyone has any ideas or recipes that only use the foods I do eat, as my diet consists of the same few meals and it does get a bit boring. Saying
"why don't you add a bit of X?" or "swap X or Y" isn't helpful though as if there are any other ingredients at all, I will not be able to eat the dish.

I am able to eat / drink:
Konjac noodles
Cooked carrots
Cooked courgette
Cooked white onion
Heinz tomato soup
Hovis seeded sensations bread
Flora margarine
Walkers ready salted crisps
Marigold bouillon powder
Olive oil
Ribena
Small amounts of honey
Raw bell peppers
Tinned tomatoes
Brown rice
KitKats

The foods I am working to introduce, but am only able to eat tiny amounts of are:
Sweet potato
Red lentils
Pasta

lorib642 · August 2021

I am not a cook so I don’t know recipes. Aside from the lentils, I don’t see much protein. Have you tried protein powders or drinks? What kind of meals do you make? If you don’t already you could cook carrots and onion on stovetop and add to rice.

goal06082021 · August 2021

Supercook is a website/app where you enter the ingredients you have on hand (or, in your case, your "safe foods" list) and it will search the internet for recipes that use those ingredients. The list will start with recipes that you have all the ingredients for, and gradually expand your search to recipes that have most or some of those ingredients. Sometimes you can just omit something if the recipe calls for something you can't eat, other times you may be able to sub in something you can eat; if you're not sure, you can probably Google "substitutes for x" and see if there are any safe foods that will sub for whatever the unsafe thing is.

littlegreenparrot1 · August 2021

You could make a sort of ratatouille with the tomatoes, onion, courgette, carrot. I often chuck a handful of red lentils into it.
Eat it with a bit of pasta or on toast.

Roast the onion and courgette and stir it through rice. Could easily add chopped pepper to that if you didn't mind it warming up a bit.

Carrot and lentil soup, you could try adding a bit of sweet potato to that.

There's a bread salad called Panzanella and you could do a version of that. You use slightly stale bread and chop it into chunks. A bit of olive oil for the dressing, then add chopped pepper, and some roast veg- onion/courgette/sweet potato maybe.

I hope the support helps, it must be difficult.

naomi9271 · August 2021

Have you tried using squashing a packet of Walkers to use as breadcrumbs and making fried breaded zucchini?

Zucchini (corguette), onion and carrots sautéed and then added with a tin of tomatoes to some cooked red lentils (made with the boullion) and left a bit saucy (like dal or daal) would be my first answer. You could have that with the brown rice. Sautée the onions and carrots first, and after they’re a bit soft, add the courgette.

You don’t mention any spices, but Indian ones would be my choice with the above. The boullion will help a lot if you can’t have any spices.

I’m afraid both of my ideas are pretty ordinary and likely not anything new or novel. Congrats on your recent adds!

claireychn074 · August 2021

Does it matter how you cook or prepare your veg (ie will different textures affect you?) My first thought was a tasty stir fry, chopping the safe veg and sautéing them in the olive oil with a sprinkle of bouillon. Meanwhile you can cook the rice, then add that to coat it all in the flavours. Finally, serve it with your raw red pepper for some crunch. You could also cook all those veg until they’re soft, add bouillon and a tin of tomatoes and then liquidise. Cut your bread into little pieces and fry in a little olive oil - then you can add them to your soup as croutons. Carrots and onion are also great roasted, and you can turn a slice of bread into breadcrumbs by grating it, brush the vegetables with oil and coat generously in the breadcrumbs. Pop under the grill for a nice crunchy topping. When you can handle a bit more sweet potato, try cutting it really thin (like a crisp) and you can cook it in the oven with just a drizzle of oil on it. You then have sweet potato crisps which are yummy.

One final idea, if you grate the raw onion, courgette and carrot, grate a slice of bread and mix it all together in a bowl with your bouillon, you can then form the mixture into little burgers and cook in the oven. They will be a bit soggy as courgette has a lot of water but the bread should just hold them together (usually you use egg to bind burgers but that’s not on your safe list).

No idea if that’s any help but good luck! 😀

KelpieLass · August 2021

claireychn074 wrote: »

Carrots and onion are also great roasted

True. Coat your carrots in a little bit of honey before roasting them. OMG Delicious.

Also, restricted diet or not, Heinz tomato soup with a ready salted crisp sandwich is the official lunch of the Gods.

I hope the experiments with the new foods go well. The lentils in particular will make a huge difference in terms of protein content. And give you some more options.

TwistedSassette · August 2021

Have you made stuffed bell peppers? Normally you'd roast the pepper with the filling but you could cook the filling and serve it in a raw pepper too.
I would saute onion, carrot, courgette, any other veg that you can handle, then add canned tomato and pre-cooked brown rice and cook it down, then pop into the pepper.

littlegreenparrot1 · August 2021

Reading others suggestions sparked another thought.

Savoury crumble - chop the veg you like cooked and put into oven proof dish, breadcrumbs and flora or oil form the topping. Bake until the veg is done and its nice and crisp on top.

eliezalot · August 2021

Are you able to do different herbs and spices? If so, that can dramatically change the flavor of the foods. Curry, italian seasoning, za'atar, could offer some variety.

How about different ways of cooking your veggies, especially roasted or grilled? Brush with olive oil, a sprinkle of salt, and ready to cook. Carrots might also be nice in a light honey glaze.

A minestrone based on what you can eat - veggie stock (from the boullion), onions, carrots, courgette, and tinned tomatoes. You could add a little pasta and/or into it as well.

Mujadara - essentially rice and lentils with caramelized onions. I've usually seen it with green lentils, but you could absolutely substitute red as well. It is really simple, but the caramelized onions add so much flavor. You can always start with mostly rice and onion, with just a spoonful of lentils, and build up from there.

Hope the new foods keep working for you!

Speakeasy76 · August 2021

I personally am not too creative with coming up with new combinations--I was on an elimination diet and the first week was rough! I think you've gotten a lot of great suggestions already. I'm glad that you are working with a professional on expanding your diet. I'm actually a pediatric SLP so sometimes work with kiddos with a variety of feeding disorders, with ARFID being one of them. I'm curious--what type of professional are you working with to expand your foods, and what has the approach been?

Viktoria2022 · August 2021

Are you/could you be comfortable with spices at all? Spicy tomato sauce (Moroccan style) is my go to recipe. I would roast all the veggies, and then add smoked paprika powder, chili powder, garlic, cumin powder, tumeric, tomato paste, canned tomatoes. Good luck!

ahoy_m8 · August 2021

There are some amazing suggestions here. Well done!

Restricted diet and getting bored

Replies

Categories