Need Help Finding Specific Cookbooks (Or Recipes)

[Oria]

My doctor recently put me on a Anti-Inflammatory diet and I'm really stuck. I need to eat meals of 40% carbohydrates, 30% protien and 30% healthy fats. I'm reallyyy stuck on the low carb vegetables. I am not a veggie eater, I eat about five different kinds and that's it. Now on my list it says that I can eat any and all vegetables (except tomatoes and potatoes. sweet ones are ok though) and that it's best to try and eat mostly lower carb (3, 6%) vegetables.

For example: 3% - asparagus, bean sprouts, beet green, broccoli, red and green cabbage, celery, Swiss chard, lettuce (red, green romaine), parsley, etc.

6% - string beans, beets, Bok Choy, brussel sprouts (these I will definitely never eat again LOL), chives, collards, eggplant, kale, kohlrabi, leeks, etc.

 

I currently have to eat 4 servings of veggies per day (1 cup raw, 1/2 cup cooked)

 

How do I find out just how much carbs does a vegetable have? Google? Is there a list somewhere? I need to figure out what other vegetables I do like that fit in with my diet.

 

I also need to continue being gluten-free. Cut out: peanuts, and dairy (the horror!), potatoes (there goes half of my meal possiblites right there. at least I don't mind sweet potatoes..), sweet foods I think?, all corn products, etc. /sigh/

 

I'm currently tackling it one 'food zone' at a time, right now it's vegetables because I don't really like them.

 

So I need recipes or cookbooks that are not only gluten-free but dairy, peanut, and corn free. Preferably vegetarian ones because I need to eat a lot of them.

 

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

 

[Adalaide]

I have to keep track of carbs for everything I cook because of my husband. There are two methods for this. The first is google. I just search "nutrition facts X" and I'll get whatever I need. The other is a book that was recommended to my niece when she was diagnosed with diabetes called CalorieKing Calorie, Fat and Carbohydrate Counter. It's really helpful for when you aren't home, or if you don't have a computer or smartphone handy in the kitchen. There's pretty much nothing that isn't listed in that book and it's small enough to be easily portable. It's also really cheap.

 

Just a personal recommendation on cooking, my favorite way to eat veggies about 90% of the time is roasted. You can usually just google roasted X and get a recipe for it. Seasonings are usually nothing more exotic than oil, vinegar or some other acid and salt and/or an herb. I know winter is around the corner, but if you get bored with things you can also grill romaine lettuce. (My husband thinks it's weird.) It looks like a beautiful list of veggies for some stir fry too.

[LauraTX]

I don'y have too many specific recommendations for you, but one thing I did that may be helpful for you, is when I was first diagnosed, I went to the library and requested every book on gluten free, about 30, and checked them out to at least flip through and get the recipes I want, and then if it is a good book I bought it.   I live in a smaller town but a lot of libraries are part of a larger share network in the state or area so you can request they send down a book from another city.  So, if you are browsing the net and see a cookbook that may even be semi-helpful, you can get to read it without going broke, because most of the books I looked at only had 1 or 2 recipes I found useful.  

 

There are cookbooks on vegetables, and my husband is just like you, he is just not a veggie person.  Some things he wont eat at all, some he will if they are prepared the right way, and a few he will eat whenever.  Try to look into different ways of preparing the veggies you can tolerate but don't really like, and check out some cookbooks that are aimed at cooking for kids, they lack a lot of the weird stuff and just focus on keeping it nutritious and delicious.  A lot of Gluten free cookbooks will focus just on sweets and stuff that are direct substitutions for wheat-filled stuff so they can be rather unhelpful when it comes to everyday meal preparation, so just get regular cookbooks and if you need help converting a recipe you can always ask on here!  But overall, just a focus on pure foods nothing processed makes it more likely to be naturally gluten-free.

 

One of my favorite things to make as a side for a meal is cut up sweet potatoes, tossed with some oil and salt+pepper on them, bake them in the oven until cooked and a little crisp around the edges.  The smaller cubes you cut them into, the faster they cook.

[Oria]

That helps a lot, thank you both!

[ItchyAbby]

I am not sure if these will be exactly what your are looking for but here goes:

Primal Body, Primal Mind
by Nora T. Gedgaudas, CNS, CNT

 

The Perfect Health Diet

by Paul Jaminet, Shou-Ching Jaminet

 

Eating Well for Optimum Nutrition

By Dr Andrew Weil

[june27]

I have no info on where to find how much carbs in each one, but figured I'd contribute to the list of different ways to cook things.  I am a big fan of the stir-fry idea (you could even eat it over spaghetti squash, maybe throw some garlic or ginger in the stir-fry to get it a little zip) and roasted veggies.  

 

other ideas:

1.  many of the greens are good sauteed with garlic and olive oil - definitely the chard, spinach, beet greens, and brussel sprouts - if you can tolerate them again

2.  some of the more bitter greens (kale, colard, etc) i have heard that sauteing in lemon flavored olive oil takes away some of the bitterness.

3.  roasted eggplant (and white bean) hummus - you would get some eggplant while you are eating other raw veggies.  if you google 'roasted eggplant humus' you will find some recipes

4.  how about home-made soups.  you can throw all kinds of good stuff in there (celery, leeks, greens, etc).  i don't usually use a recipe for these - mine are always meat based, and have whatever veggies i have around.  

5.  how about slaw, or salads?  i know there are a few recipes i've seen for broccoli salad, though i don't remember what is in them (i know, this is not very helpful).  i have made cole slaw with cabbage and kholrabi.  not something i'd eat every day probably, but i find being able to mix things up a bit really helps to overcome the boredom of food.  

 

good luck!!

[Oria]

Thank you!

[Marilyn R]

If you go to the library, see if they have any Paleo cookbooks.  My niece bought me "Well Fed", which I enjoy, but then again, I love cabbage and brussel sprouts, can eat cold plain steamed broccoli  and be one happy camper.   Like Laura,  I learned better cooking methods from library cookbooks, but got frustrated with most of the gluten-free cookbooks.   Mediterranean Diet cookbooks are good too. 

 

My boyfriend doesn't know a green bean from a stalk of asparagus, and hates all veggies except potatoes.  He loves my grilled asparagus though.  Just drizzle with olive oil, S&P, toss on a grill pan, turn after 3 minutes and remove in another 2-3 minutes. 

 

Do you have a Georgie Foreman grill?  Grilled or roasted veggies are much more palatable for people that don't really care for them.  Allrecipes is a good site for doing searches. 

 

Sorry about having to eliminate dairy.  ((( ))))    Do you get to reintroduce it down the road? 

[Oria]

Thank you! I saw some Paleo cookbooks at my library, I'll have to check out some.

 

I'm not sure, I will definitely ask my Dr. later on after I've been on the diet for a while. It's just so good. lol

[june27]

Don't give up hope on the dairy yet.  I went dairy free for over a year.  I was able to bring back goat cheese and hard cheese, but am still avoiding the rest of the dairy items.  Maybe someday I'll be able to eat more dairy items, but for now, I am excited with what I have (any is better than nothing).

 

Good luck!

[loco-ladi]

I have become a big fan of "Roasted" veggies and just started getting into the stir fry thing since I found Kikkoman's gluten-free terriaki sauce... best thing about making your own chinese food at home is  you can use whatever veggies you like!  also try a new veggie cooked/eaten a different way... never have liked leeks but have to admit they do taste good in a stir-fry, lol

[june27]

I think I am ready to start roasting more veggies 

 

I have always liked roasted potatoes, but haven't ventured out to other veggies.  however, this past weekend i made roasted cabbage - and it was fantastic!  the fact that i put bacon on it contributed to its goodness, but i think it would be pretty good without bacon too.