Appointment with the Dietician

[TendrTummy]

Ok.. so I had my dietician appointment and have a bunch of paperwork and a book to read this weekend, but haven't gotten to much of it YET.. I DID want to post a few things..

Unfortunately a lot of info she gave me was from the net. As if I couldn't get that.. and it seemed I knew more than she did about celiac and about gluten sensitivity as well as the body's immunological reaction; HOWEVER, she did acknowledge the tests I had at Dr. Fine's as LEGIT, which is very important to me after that "black magic" comment by my GI (particularly when he's the one who advised me to order the tests - makes me wanna send the bill he keeps sending to me BACK to him with MY bill for services - AHOLE!!! - oh wait, :insult: )

ANYWAY.. here are a few links -

for info on Fibromyalgia (it has come to my attention that I NEED to get some calcium and the lack of calcium could be greatly contributing to my recent joint and limb pains.. ), she gave me this: http://www.afterthediet.com/fibro.html

Another link for common food allergens and common questions relating to them, as well as replacements (such as for egg) in baking, conversion of recipes to things you can eat - this info is GREAT and will be of a GREAT help to me in baking and cooking once I get TIME to read it:
http://foodallergy.org/allergens.html

She also gave me a list of vitamins that are "safe", i.e. don't contain additives with allergens, and I can give this to anyone interested - email me or Private Message me.. I'm planning on scanning it into the system and having it available via PDF format, so I can certainly email copies out. BTW most are brands you can buy in your grocery store, so this might make life more convenient..

Another thing she gave me is a chapter of a book on Celiac Disease. Normally this wouldn't be of much help (to US), but this particular chapter contains lists of safe and unsafe and questionable foods for each allergy, as well as substitutions for dietary needs such as fiber or starch intake (apparently you need to balance these intakes out to feel healthy :)) and I'd be happy to scan and email this out as well.

One thing of interest in this chapter is that vinegar is listed on the FOODS ALLOWED section. I asked her about this, stressing that we've always had the notion that cider and white vinegar are safe but no others.. but she said no, they're all safe. Now, I'm not sure about the AGE of this book or its chapter, but the book's title is "Nutrition Management" and the chapter is No 11, Celiac Disease. Please let me know if you want a copy. Can we discuss Vinegar?? Anyone have any articles putting it in the NON-safe category? I guess this is important to me because there are sauces that contain vinegar that I'd REALLY like to enjoy LOL.

Another thing she gave me (the final thing) is an entire copied book entitled "Celiac Disease Nutrition Guide". It doesn't have much for "new" info, but it does have a few recipes at the back, which I will happily post (when I have time) in the kitchen area.. :) This I wouldn't be so obliged to copy because it was done on legal sized paper and I'm not able to scan something of that size into our computers - so copying this into electronic format would require REcopying every single page onto a smaller regular paper-sized version and that sounds like WAY too much work for me LOL.

So!!! Anyone wanna talk vinegar?? Anyone want the PDF files of these documents?

Christine

[kate_ce1995]

Christine,

It sounds like you got some great information. How about YOU read it all, and give us a nice Summary? J/K. But do share intersting tid bits. Personally I just plain don't have time to read enough anymore and would probably do better on the diet if I could concentrate on all the info out htere a bit better.

But lets talk balance for aminute. (I know, you wanted to talk vinegar but I don't know anything more than I've read which is that regular vinegar made from grain used to be a no-no, but now they say that because its distilled the protien part that makes us sick is not in the vinegar...its left behind in some sludge or something).

Anyway, back to balance. I eat/don't eat a balanced diet. I've been struggling a bit with this as it seems to come up here fairly frequently. My mom was raised in an era where not only did you have your meat and potato at a meal, but also two veggies of different colors! Now I like veggies and all, but the starch part of meals is getting tough with the gluten sensitivity and I'm not fond of mashed potato. Fries are okay. Rice seems like too much bother. Part of the problem is that Geoff cooks most dinners, but only meat. Unless he throws some frozen fries in the oven, thats it. If he wants starch he has bread.

So my general question is this. If you eat several unbalanced meals a day, but over the course of a day eat some from all food groups, is that a balanced diet? My typical weekday eating patterns are as follows:

Breakfast: Stoneyfield Farms yogurt smoothie, some fruit (fresh or dried depending on the season...this winter I was on a run of grapes, now its strawberries, for a while fresh fruit looked like crap so I was eating dried pinapple and banana chips).

Lunch: Club Salad from Subway (lettuce, veggies (usually cucumbers, tomatoes and green peppers), and turkey, ham and roast beef, and cheese), and usually some chips or a candy bar (I know).

Dinner: Meat (steak or chicken). Lately I've been adding some fresh veggies like cucumber and cherry tomato when we have the girls...its easy finger food...carrots too.

Snack: Usually have a little something in the evening...lately its been ice cream.

What are your thoughts?
Katy

[TendrTummy]

Nah, doesn't matter WHEN you consume it during the day, just as long as you consume your servings.. I can't remember the servings per day but you could probably look up food pyramid on google.com.. as long as you ingest those servings *per day*, not at any particular meal, you're balanced..

I'm missing a lot of servings of veggies. I need to start including more veggies in my lunches, tho I seem to have a lot of SALADs. she also said I need to get more fruits, which is true. I usually only have one serving of fruit a day and just BARELy - that's in the morning. See the journal section for a sample of my diet. It's not very good lately, but I'm still trying to figure it all out.

Christine

[TendrTummy]

Here, Katy, found the NEW food pyramid guidelines and it even specifies by age :)

Grains
Grains are measured out in ounce equivalents. What the heck are they? Ounce equivalents are just another way of showing a serving size.

Here are ounce equivalents for common grain foods. An ounce equivalent equals:

1 piece of bread
1/2 cup of cooked cereal, like oatmeal
1/2 cup or rice or pasta
1 cup of cold cereal

4- to 8-year-olds need 4 to 5 ounce equivalents each day.
9- to 13-year-old girls need 5 ounce equivalents each day.
9- to 13-year-old boys need 6 ounce equivalents each day.

And one last thing about grains: Try to eat a lot of whole grains, such as 100% wheat bread, brown rice, and oatmeal.

Vegetables
Of course, you need your vegetables, especially those dark green and orange ones. But how much is enough? Vegetable servings are measured in cups.

4- to 8-year-olds need 1 1/2 cups of veggies each day.
9- to 13-year-old girls need 2 cups of veggies each day.
9- to 13-year-old boys need 2 1/2 cups of veggies each day.

Fruits
Sweet, juicy fruit is definitely part of a healthy diet. Here's how much you need:

4- to 8-year-olds need 1 cup to 1 1/2 cups of fruit each day.
9- to 13-year-old girls need 1 1/2 cups of fruit each day.
9- to 13-year-old boys need 1 1/2 cups of fruit each day.

Milk and Other Calcium-Rich Foods
Calcium builds strong bones to last a lifetime, so you need these foods in your diet.

4- to 8-year-olds need 1 cup to 2 cups of milk (or another calcium-rich food) each day.
9- to 13-year-old girls need 3 cups of milk (or another calcium-rich food) each day.
9- to 13-year-old boys need 3 cups of milk (or another calcium-rich food) each day.

If you want something other than milk, you can substitute yogurt, cheese, or calcium-fortified orange juice - just to name a few.

Meats, Beans, Fish, and Nuts
These foods contain iron and lots of other important nutrients. Like grains, these foods are measured in ounce equivalents.

An ounce equivalent of this group would be:

1 ounce of meat, poultry, or fish
1/4 cup cooked dry beans
1 egg
1 tablespoon of peanut butter
a small handful of nuts or seeds

4- to 8-year-olds need 3 to 4 ounce equivalents each day.
9- to 13-year-old girls need 5 ounce equivalents each day.
9- to 13-year-old boys need 5 ounce equivalents each day.