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Since I have gone onto only meat and potatoes I seem to be spending an inordinate amount of time (and money) in the store and in the kitchen. I NEVER cooked this much before I started with the diet thing. And I NEVER spent so much time in the store. I very seldom went to Whole Foods and used to look at the sales at the grocery stores and shopped accordingly. And I never spent so much money on groceries!
I am a very good cook, and am driven to make the flavor the best I can, which means I am cooking, and washing up, and cleaning the kitchen WAY too much. Instead of having a couple of eggs, a salad, some nice bread and cheese, now I am cooking stocks and stews, and on and on.....
And I still don't seem to have anything I want to eat.
I love your post!!! I loved to cook and especially love sauces, French cooking, good Italian recipes, etc etc. However, as I have gotten older my cooking also got simplified and I always tried new recipes but not quite as complicated as formerly. My days of routinely baking goodies had been over until this miserable disease arrived. Now I bake my own bread, hamburger buns, brownies, soups, etc etc. I'm going to get an ice cream maker because the good coconut ice cream has guar gum and that doesn't agree with me at all. It seems I'm always at Publix or Whole Foods or the health food store. I'm always baking something or making something to put into the freezer so I can go one day without cooking in the future. My husband is very ill and I'm trying to get him to eat and making all kinds of food for him and then throwing it all out when he can't eat. I am SO SICK of cooking right now just the thought of it is depressing. While I was at the hospital with DH for 11 days, there was no GF food in the cafeteria. If I forgot to bring food, I had to take my chances after explaining gluten to the cafeteria employees. Most of the time I'm okay with the restricted diet but right now, I'm really fed up with it and all of the dirty dishes and constant shopping. And, yes, there is still nothing I want to eat in the house.
Sheila
To get something you never had, you have to do something you never did.
A person who never made a mistake never tried something new. Einstein
Ladies,
I totally sympathize. I posted the following message on Facebook last week and my friends couldn't understand how I could be so negative about food.
My old love affair with food is officially over. I'm done. I hate buying it, I hate cooking it everyday, I hate cleaning it up, I hate how its produced and marketed, I hate how much it costs, I hate watching it rot, and I hate having to throw it away. I HATE FOOD.
I am a very good cook, and I once enjoyed it, when I had the time to shop, prepare, cook, clean and ENJOY. Now I have no time and no enjoyment. I have a full pantry and nothing for me to eat. Ugh.
One thing that helps me get some flavor into my chicken is fresh herbs. I tuck fresh thyme or savory or rosemary under the skin, and the flavor merges with the meat. It's wonderful. No, it's not the same as garlic and onions and wonderful savory sauces, but it's SO much more interesting than just salt. Oh, and I've been finding that if I brine my chicken I am a much happier camper. It's so much less dry!
But I know exactly what you mean about expense. I take comfort in reminding myself that for thousands of years people spent 1/3 of their income on food. It's the crazy food industry with all of its cheap, subsidized, (quasi) food they put in boxes and sell to us that makes us think we're spending outrageous amounts of money when we don't support those corporations. It IS tough on the wallet, though - I hear you!
Good luck finding some flavor and managing the budget . . .
I love your post Lesley. It's MC that made me learning how to cook a necessity. I used to eat out all of the time and cooking just wasn't that necessary. If I couldnt put it on the grill, well it wasn't cooked.
Thanks to a lot of help from folks on this site and even just recently getting my first real non-stick pan (thanks Gabes) from Scan Pan, I've been able to actually make some pretty good meals. I never had any idea how important good cookware is.
I'm sure it's nothing close to what you guys can make, but since it's edible it's a major accomplishment on my part.
Of course the most important part is that it settles and digest easily and well.
I seem to have hit a nerve. I have only been at it for a very short while, and I am already sick of foraging for something to eat. Potatoes, potatoes and more potatoes.
*Now I bake my own bread, hamburger buns, brownies, soups, etc etc.* (don't know why quote didn't work for me)
I can't even do that because I am sensitive to anything you can make bread from - corn flour, rice flour, gluten, cashews, almonds, eggs, soy. I baked something the other day. One bite and the D was back before I was done cleaning up.
I ate beef today. GRRRR! I have to give that up too. My results told me I am sensitive (intermediate) but I just decided in my head that it's OK. I probably skipped over it. Maybe I will be able to eat it again somewhere down the line.
Beth: I have always used fresh herbs. They grow on my balcony, and I go out to pick them when I am cooking. They do add flavor. Another way to get flavor is to saute garlic and onions in some olive oil, (the smell is divine) and strain the oil. The result is wonderful tasting seasoning oil without the veggies you can't tolerate.
Zizzle: Oh, boy! Do I get you! Do I ever! All your hates are mine!
Joe: congratulations on finding something positive. I am VERY glad you are now learning to cook, albeit with a very small number of ingredients.
I am going back in the kitchen now to make some non food food!
My son is a good cook and an ardent foodie. We go for breakfast every week. Now he eats and I watch while drinking tea. No breakfast menu has anything on it I can eat. Even the potatoes have flour added to them.
Lesley the fresh spices all sound great! One thing I did notice is that even taking meds it has taken a good 12 months to be able to start adding spices back to my meals. For the first year I had to keep it to the basics, simple and few ingredients with only salt and a very little pepper to begin with.
In the first 8 months anything I added to the short list of ingredients caused an almost instant reaction. Things have finally settled down enough to add a few spices and enjoy thier flavors. I don't recall your story, but if your still fairly early in the healing process limiting the ingredients might be necessary for a while yet.
This can certainly be frustrating at times and patience is the most important ingredient when it comes to cooking with MC
Boy do I relate to this thread - thanks for starting it Lesley. I've been exactly where you are, but, thankfully, things are vastly improved. When I was reacting, it seemed like I was reacting to EVERYTHING. It took a long time to figure out my sensitivities, even with the help of Enterolab and MRT.
Like Joe, I hardly ever cooked before "having to" because of MC, so I was pretty clueless in the kitchen. Not only did I have to figure out and live with my myriad of food sensitivities, but I also had to learn how to cook - yikes!!! However, here I am 16 months later, feeling fabulous and having minor and major victories in the kitchen to boot.
Tonight I prepared a very basic meal - chicken, rice and green beans. However, it was filled with flavor. I slathered fresh garlic, celtic salt and pepper with EVOO on the chicken before baking it. (I have been able to reintroduce garlic into my diet - and boy do I love it!!!) Because I have low blood pressure, I eat plenty of salt, and mostly celtic salt, which is so tasty. The drippings from the baked chicken were delicious, and I had enough to flavor and moisten the chicken, rice and green beans.
I'm sure this meal is plain and uncomplicated for you expert cooks out there, but for me it is a major accomplishment. I used to be squeamish about just looking at or touching an uncooked chicken, but now I view it as the potential for a wonderful meal, whether it is the chicken soup I've come to love, baked chicken, or grilled chicken breast.
Sorry if I have spoiled the brooding mood around here, but I just wanted to remind you that there is light at the end of that dark tunnel. When you finally get to the point where you can eat a varied, tasty diet with confidence (and you WILL) life rocks!!! The fact that so much pain and suffering have taken place to get there, makes it all that much sweeter.
Love,
Kari
P.S. Please forgive me for sounding so chipper :).
"My mouth waters whenever I pass a bakery shop and sniff the aroma of fresh bread, but I am also grateful simply to be alive and sniffing." Dr. Bernstein
Joe, spices can really be a problem. Many people without MC have difficulties with some. Eating herbs can be problematic, and if you are sensitive to a herb (me and cilantro) it can cause difficulties if you actually EAT it, but seasoning oil with a herb is different. You can bring out the flavor of a herb without releasing all of it's oils, and can make a lovely, aromatic oil seasoning for your next dish.
Keri - there is NOTHING basic about a well seasoned, beautifully roasted chicken with rice and green beans. It's the epitome of good cooking. Flavored with EVOO and garlic? Classic! Beautiful! (Try adding a little lemon juice and maybe some oregano?) What a wonderful meal it makes! One of my very favorites, and often made. And the drippings are indeed delicious. Other than the green beans that was what I was eating when I got my results - which stopped me in my tracks. No more chicken, no more rice! No more of that beautiful, rich chicken stock I had carefully and lovingly made to flavor dishes with. My friends made out like bandits.
I am glad you are feeling so much better, and may that go from strength to strength. I hope you can add more and more to your diet as you gut heals.
Sorry I am so down, but I am SO sick of potatoes! I'll take your word for it that it will get better, in spite of my awful tests.
P.S. Celtic salt is lovely. I also particularly like pink salt. Has a lovely, mild flavor.
WOW WOW WOW!!!!I can so relate to this! Since no one as said yet I will! IT SUCKS! I do all of my cooking and baking on Sundays and It helps but I am so tired of doing it! My husband made me realize that if I don't do it I will be sick! So he has started to help me in the kitchen and it has helped. I also just found out that one of my best friends mothers is GF. So we have made plans to get together this Sunday and cook together. I will let you know how that works!
Lesley can you have coconut flour because there are some great recipes out there. To tell you the truth I would rather have my bread and rolls with coconut flour because of the texture is more like the real thing. Some of the recipes don't have eggs or any kind of dairy. So let me ask you what you can have and see if I can give you a couple of recipes to try. Since I already know you can have potatoes I do have a recipe for homemade Gnocchi its made with potatoes and coconut flour and olive oil. They are good but I don't know what you would put on top of them. Can you eat pesto without the nuts in it. Let me know and I will try to help you figure out some great things to eat. Like my husband keeps drilling into my head this is not going away and there is no cure for it so you have to make the best of it because this is for the rest of your life. I hate when he says but he is right! UGH I would never admit that to him. LOL
Thank you Robin. So far I can have potatoes and coconut. That's it. And I am not 100% sure of coconut.
I don't know what else I am sensitive to, but I am ready to try anything. Can't have eggs. There is an egg substitute, but I am not sure if it's OK. Only one way to know, right?
I bought all kinds of flours and tried baking the other day. Disaster. I don't know what of the ingredients caused the D attack. And I used to be a very good baker.
When I cooked for a family I would cook and bake MOUNTAINS every week, and used my freezer extensively. I could only do it at the weekend because I worked 6 days a week.
I know you have been considering MRT, and it might be a great idea for you if you can afford it. Along with the reactive foods, it will also give you a list of low/non reactive foods, which is a nice guideline from where to start. I was at such a loss at the time, and was eating no variety at all, so MRT helped me get a handle on how to start expanding my diet.
Your comments on my chicken dinner were very encouraging - thanks :). I'm so sorry you had to give up chicken and rice. On the other hand, I happen to LOVE potatoes, and can never get enough. I usually boil some in the morning and use them for fries, mashed, or potato salad (made with vegenaise). I also enjoy baked potatoes with bacon bits, and am guilty of eating quite a few potato chips.
I always used to say that I would learn how to cook when I retired, but seeing how much time and energy it takes, I honestly don't think I would have had the staying power to stick with it if I didn't have to. They say necessity is the mother of invention, and that definitely holds true for me in learning to cook. It has been extremely difficult to adapt, but I feel I'm finally gaining some traction :).
I hear ya! Never a baker (Pie dough? No way. Can't do it!), but a pasta-holic, was I! Angel hair, penne and lasagna were my best friends. I spent hours happily brewing up the perfect sauces. Waaaahhh...
My problem, like many here and I haven't been at this nearly as long as most of you, is that 'munchie attack' or "I just need a bite of something". I don't want to boil a potato or do a pork chop just to have something to take with the meds or stave off the 'mean hungries' for a half hour or so.
What do you guys and gals take with you if you are going to be out of the house for several hours? (I live in Florida so leaving things in the car is out of the question for most of the year.)
What are your 'grab a bite' foods?
Hugs, Wren
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Lymphocytic Colitis (dx January 2010 via biopsy)
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"We don't see things as they are; we see them as we are." -- Anais Nin
Wren,
My go-to snacks are:
Bananas, occasional peeled apples or baby carrots
Hard boiled eggs
Plain potato and corn chips
Plain cashews
Dried fruit
Avocados
Udi's bread with nut butters
GF waffles with Earth's Best SF spread and maple syrup
GF rice crackers and rice chips
Lots and lots of GF/DF/SF fruit and nut bars, including the following widely available brands: BoraBora, Pure, Kind, Glenny's, Lara, Nature's Valley, and others.
Sorbet
Canned Tuna or salmon
Safeway Primo Taglio or Boar's Head brand lunch meats (turkey or ham)
GF/DF salami
well-cooked uncured bacon (my absolute fav). The fat doesn't bother me at all.
That's my biggest problem, that and breakfast. I still don't have any right now. I am afraid of trying anything. Last time I did it was disastrous. But I tired too many on the same day, so it wasn't fair. I think I know what did it, but I am not altogether sure.
I need to find those foods. I want to do the MRT, but I have to wait a bit till I see where my finances are after the other tests, and a few other biggish purchases.
