What the heck can I eat now?

[TheApprentice]

So few years ago, I was diagnosed with a gluten sensitivity. I now eat gluten free with great results. I also suffer from Migraine Associated Vertigo (MAV), diagnosed yesterday. Well, now I have another list of foods to avoid. It got me pretty down and it feels like all I can eat is rice, potatoes, meat and apples. Plus, I was trying to go low carb.

 

Things I was eating that were gluten free, but now have to avoid:

 

all nuts and seeds

citrus fruit

bananas, figs, raisins

yogurt

balsamic vinegar

canned salmon and tuna

chocolate, caffeine

canned soups

beans

aged cheeses

artificial sweeteners

 

I need help. I feeling really defeated. Going out to eat seems pointless. :confused1: :sad:

[ktgrok]

Salads?

[Faithr]

Can you figure out your tolerance level?  I mean does having a dollop of baked beans with your hot dog render you too dizzy to cope?  I get MSG triggered migraines.  I have always avoided artificial sweeteners as they are instant triggers.  I try to watch my chocolate intake and any intake of things known for MSG (like canned soups).  I have some invisible threshold, but it I just make sure I am conservative about certain things I can usually hold off really severe migraines. 

 

Trying think up ideas for you.  Breakfast:  oatmeal with berries, maple sugar and cream.  Eggs with gluten free toast.

 

Lunch:  cottage cheese with veggies or fruit.  Homemade soups and gluten free bread/crackers

 

Dinner:  fresh salmon, baked potato and salad.  Roast chicken, rice, sauteed veggies.

[Monica_in_Switzerland]

Ugh, that sucks. Maybe start by making a list of what you CAN eat, and then some meal ideas might jump out at you?

[wendyroo]

We deal with a lot of food allergies including wheat.

I always think about what foods I have to work with from each food group.

 

SO, it sounds like you can have:

 

Grains and Starches:

Rice

Gluten free Oats

Corn - tortillas, cereals, pasta

Potatoes and Sweet Potatoes

Quinoa

 

Protein:

Meat

Poultry

Dairy - except yogurt and aged cheese

Eggs

 

Fruits:

Apples

Pears

Grapes

Melon

Stone fruits - peaches, etc.

Berries

 

Veggies:

Pretty much all of them

 

I would really try to focus on what you CAN eat and not dwell on the restrictions.

 

Wendy

 

[TheApprentice]

Thanks for the suggestions. My diet is just getting very bland, especially when I'm the only one that has to eat this way and all those "trigger" foods are in.my.kitchen. :thumbdown:

[regentrude]

It looks like you can eat all vegetables except beans?

Can you eat other dairy besides yoghurt and aged cheese?

[Cecropia]

Chiming in with Wendy, it also sounds like you can use any herbs and spices you want for flavoring.  This makes such an enormous difference in the variety of foods you can eat.  We have a family member who reacts to both the mint family (which includes basil, oregano, thyme, rosemary, marjoram, sage, mint) and nightshades (cayenne, curry, chili pepper, paprika).  Avoiding foods is one thing, but the lack of spices takes the variety-problem to a whole new level (both cooking and buying prepackaged).

Edited September 16, 2016 by Cecropia

[nd293]

Given that there are, as wendyroo says, quite a list of things you can eat, could you clear the other items from your kitchen for a while.? There's still plenty for your family to eat, and it would probably help you during the adjustment phase. Aside from that, I'd start looking for recipes from different cultures - would that make things more interesting for you? Tonight we had nasi goreng, that's Indonesian fried rice, last night we had dosa with potato masala (Indian), earlier in the week we had rendang and sticky rice (Malaysian and Thai) . Those would all fit your original list, but certainly sound more exciting than rice and potato and meat, even though that's pretty much what we're talking about. Although that assumes you're ok with spices?

[J-rap]

I wanted to say that my dh was on that same diet for his chronic migraines, and boy did it help!  For him, it was sooo worth it!  And the diet felt easer and easier as we went along with it.  Another dd went on it too for her migraines, and it helped her as well.  My dh learned, after he finally had his migraines under control, that he could have some of those foods sometimes and it was still okay.  It was more about knowing the threshold of what you can handle.

 

On the other hand, another dd went on that diet and it didn't help her migraines, so she eventually went off the diet.  I so wish the diet had helped her!  I hope it helps you too.  It will be worth it, then!

[Eagle]

I just want to give you a big hug :grouphug: and say that I understand. Ds has severe food allergies and it was so overwhelming at first to figure out what to eat. I particularly remember one trip to the grocery store where I just stood in the aisle and cried because there was almost nothing we could eat.

 

The first step that helped me was to remove everything from the kitchen that wasn't ok for him to eat. It is very depressing to open your own cupboards and see more things that you can't eat than those you can. I would just close the cupboard and be hungry. After a while that really takes a toll on you, not just mentally but physically too. If you cannot remove everything due to other people in the house using those items, then move those items to a single location - one shelf of problem items, everything else things that you can eat.

 

It also helped me to make a list of foods we could eat just so I could see the possibilities. Start with Wendyroo's list above, but list *every* item (carrots, broccoli...), not just categories like "vegetable". You need to see the quantity of items that you can still eat.

 

I also started printing out or photocopying recipes that we could eat and putting them in a binder. In this way we ended up with a cookbook (from varying sources) that contained all recipes we could eat.

 

It gets easier with time once you adjust to the diet and discover (or create) some new favourite recipes.

[ktgrok]

I think you can search All Recipes by ingredient. Not just putting in what you want, but you can also search by putting what you don't want. So you could plug in the ingredients you can't have, and then see what recipes it finds for you. 

[Alessandra]

Given that there are, as wendyroo says, quite a list of things you can eat, could you clear the other items from your kitchen for a while.? There's still plenty for your family to eat, and it would probably help you during the adjustment phase. Aside from that, I'd start looking for recipes from different cultures - would that make things more interesting for you? Tonight we had nasi goreng, that's Indonesian fried rice, last night we had dosa with potato masala (Indian), earlier in the week we had rendang and sticky rice (Malaysian and Thai) . Those would all fit your original list, but certainly sound more exciting than rice and potato and meat, even though that's pretty much what we're talking about. Although that assumes you're ok with spices?

OMG, I want your recipes /links!

[TheApprentice]

Thanks all for the understanding, hugs and suggestions. I'm looking forward to feeling better, because my migraines are pretty bad and the vertigo episodes are just plain scary.

 

I just need to refocus my energy, again, on my diet. I had it all figured out and it was smooth sailing with eating gluten free, and now I've got to figure it all out again, on a budget. That's the most difficult part. Plain and simple: my family is picky and will not eat what I have to eat.

 

And yeah, I was in tears last night, but now I just need to go shopping.

[Guest]

Sounds like how I eat? Veggies, meat, some nuts and dairy, a little chocolate and sparse fruit serving here and here of a low sugar fruit. I can tolerate caffeine so coffee, tea, and Diet Coke are on the table too. Ketogenic eating plans have dozens of solid recipes that don't include fruit or gluten, it's actually pretty easy to avoid. The lack of aged cheeses is a little tricky but there are plenty of softer and fresher cheeses to choose from too.

 

I totally get the pity party, but dietary restriction are workable even if we don't love them :)

Edited September 16, 2016 by Arctic Mama

[Guest]

Since cheese is on the list, you may consider trying lower carb AIP recipes and just adding in the foods you can have that they restrict like cheese and nuts. That's another starting point to get some new flavors and foods you like :)

Edited September 16, 2016 by Arctic Mama