Eating Food With "nothing In It"

[sicl4015]

Hi all,

In our family, when food is discussed, the first question is, "There is nothing in it (we cant eat) isn't there?"

For us, gluten-free is just the beginning.

We are celiac with multiple food sensitivities (leaky gut anyone?).

We understand, once our guts heal more, some of the items on the list may be tolerable on an occassional basis.

Even after that point, we will be avoiding them.

I am in the beginning stages of organizing my food and am hoping I can find others who are also just beginning, or have some experience.

Here is our list:

Eliminated foods:

Gluten (including wheat, barley, rye, triticale & spelt)

Oats (uncertified ELISA)

Corn

Dairy

Soy

Egg

Nuts Macadamia, pistacio & pecans

Deadly Nightshade Family (potatoes, tomatoes, peppers [sweet & hot], eggplant & paprika)

Obviously, we don't go out to eat ! LOL

I have hunted for a way to organize our foods.

I am an intensely curious person (some say obsessively so), so I want to know everything about what I eat.

I am currently reviewing a program called Diet Pro from Radium Technologies.

It appears to be VERY complete with the FDA food nutrition data, recipes, system for trackiing managing weight, etc.

For example, after you enter in your recipe, you can link the ingredients to the information in the nutritional data base. It then generates the serving nutritonal information. It is possible to download recipes and enter ingredients...

I do have to say, reviewing the FDA ingredients list was a bit of nightmare...so many processed foods, all of which we do not eat...

Is there anyone around would would like to discuss this with me?

I would like to share sources, lists, techniques, recipes.

Sue

[ShayFL]

That looks like my list....LOL

I hate complication. I hate measuring precisely. I hate word problems. I hate recipes pretty much. I follow recipes very "loosely". My husband always jokes that if I cook something really good we had better enjoy it cuz it wont taste the same the next time I make it.

What I have been doing is sticking to simple foods: baked chicken, broiled fish, pot roast, turkey sausage (homemade), etc. With roasted or steamed veggies. Whole grains like buckweat, quinoa, rice in the rice cooker. I then season them to taste good.

But I also focus on soups that contain foods I can have and stir-frys. I am baking. I found a simple uncomplicated cookbook called "Cooking Free". I highly recommend it. Even with my inprecise measuring and such, the baking turns out very good. Only one flop and it was my fault cuz I mistook tbs for tsp for baking soda. Yuck!

Anyway, would love to discuss what I do. But I keep it pretty simple.

[sicl4015]

So great to hear from you!

I love the internet...just a post away from finding a kindred soul.

Yes, I cook simply too.

Yesterday, I experimented with chicken tenders. I layered them in the crockpot, with seasonings between each layer, and set it on low...it took about 5 hours to cook.

The most surprising thing is it turned into a "loaf"!!!

A very tender tasty round loaf!

Back to my query. Because there are so many foods on my list, I am concerned that I am getting all the nutrition I need. (I too am at D 28 striving for 50 ) )

This is a big part of my project. Identifying the nutrition.

Also, I am at the last 20 lbs to reach my healthy weight.

And, I have time...wonderful...precious, time.

Identifying gluten-intolerance has made such a HUGE difference in my life, I want to be sure I am doing everything I can.

S

[pele]

Hi Sue

I have to admit I am not a super-organized person. My sock drawer is a mess and I rarely follow recipes. So I can't give you much avice on organizing recipe and diet info.

I am eating a pretty simple diet (Specific Carb Diet minus the dairy). This diet imeans no grains, no sugar, no soy, no corn, no potatoes, therefore no processed foods.

Once I stopped eating calorie-dense carbs like sugar and gluten substitutes, a funny thing happened. My fingernails and toenails started growing differently. I take this as a sign of increased nutrition, since EVERYTHING I eat now has vitamins and minerals. Nothing in the diet is processed down to nothing. I feel better!

So I guess I think the best way to go about your diet is as Shay said, keep it simple. Don't try to replace unhealthy food with different unhealthy food. That way you will be fine nutritionally.

If you need a way to keep track of foods with different allergens for different household members, I suggest getting a package of little brightly colored stickers that they sell for garage sale pricing. In my house, stickers go on the gluten-free food, that way my hsband has a reminder not to double dip, and not to eat up all of the gluten-free food and leave only the inedible stuff

for me. And I know at a glance which containers are safe.

[ShayFL]

I do take a gluten free multi. But it contains soy. It is the only soy I am getting. It is the vitamin E. I have found a rice based vitamin E, so I will be constructing my own multi soon that will not have any of my sensitivities. :0) I will be a job at the health food store reading all those labels, not to mention all those bottles of pills. But I really want to do it right.

But if you make sure you eat a lot of fruits and veggies, you will get good nutrition. And get some sunshine everyday for the vitamin D.

I love corn. And I miss it far more than gluten. And I had a great discovery last week. I baked a recipe from my "Cooking Free" book called Irish Soda Bread. I used sorghum and amaranth flour (it called for amaranth starch but I used plain ol flour), tapicoa (could use arrowroot too) and almond meal. OMG!!! It tastes exactly like buttery cornbread. Exactly. I could not believe it. I just made some again tonight and the trick is not to eat the whole thing.....LOL

I also discovered "Nomato" from the gluten free mall. It is a sub. for tomato sauce and it is pretty good. I poured it over meatballs and DH and DD gobbled em up. The "Cooking Free" has a great recipe for meatballs/sausage which is easy to make. I just leave out the hot pepper flakes. Great without them.

Really I cannot recommend this book enough. It has really helped me organize and cook.

The other night I made some of the sausage up and made italian wedding soup minus the beans. "Nomato" replaces the tomato. I used rice for starch. Yummy!!

I make homemade almond milk. Raw almonds soaked over night (soaking makes them easy to digest). I use my vitamix and strain. High calcium. Good nutrition. I use chia seeds to add fiber and Omega 3 to my diet.

I use the chia seeds in place of xanthum gum in baking and it works just fine. Adds nutrition. I use flax and water to replace the eggs and it works well.

The "Cooking Free" book has all sorts of subsitutions for egg, dairy, gluten and sugar. All recipes can be modified and she tells you exactly how. It is really neat.

[purple]

I do take a gluten free multi. But it contains soy. It is the only soy I am getting. It is the vitamin E. I have found a rice based vitamin E, so I will be constructing my own multi soon that will not have any of my sensitivities. :0) I will be a job at the health food store reading all those labels, not to mention all those bottles of pills. But I really want to do it right.

But if you make sure you eat a lot of fruits and veggies, you will get good nutrition. And get some sunshine everyday for the vitamin D.

I love corn. And I miss it far more than gluten. And I had a great discovery last week. I baked a recipe from my "Cooking Free" book called Irish Soda Bread. I used sorghum and amaranth flour (it called for amaranth starch but I used plain ol flour), tapicoa (could use arrowroot too) and almond meal. OMG!!! It tastes exactly like buttery cornbread. Exactly. I could not believe it. I just made some again tonight and the trick is not to eat the whole thing.....LOL

I also discovered "Nomato" from the gluten free mall. It is a sub. for tomato sauce and it is pretty good. I poured it over meatballs and DH and DD gobbled em up. The "Cooking Free" has a great recipe for meatballs/sausage which is easy to make. I just leave out the hot pepper flakes. Great without them.

Really I cannot recommend this book enough. It has really helped me organize and cook.

The other night I made some of the sausage up and made italian wedding soup minus the beans. "Nomato" replaces the tomato. I used rice for starch. Yummy!!

I make homemade almond milk. Raw almonds soaked over night (soaking makes them easy to digest). I use my vitamix and strain. High calcium. Good nutrition. I use chia seeds to add fiber and Omega 3 to my diet.

I use the chia seeds in place of xanthum gum in baking and it works just fine. Adds nutrition. I use flax and water to replace the eggs and it works well.

The "Cooking Free" book has all sorts of subsitutions for egg, dairy, gluten and sugar. All recipes can be modified and she tells you exactly how. It is really neat.

Thanks for all your wonderful tips. I am going to buy "Cooking Free" next.

[sicl4015]

Cooking Free is now on my list to investigate.

The cookbook top on my list is Alissa Segersten & Tom Malterre's The Whole Life Nutrition Cookbook. www.wholelifenutrtion.net

So far, it is the only cookbook I have found that has many recipes where I don't need to convert anything!

Also packed with suggestions for how to organize and stock kitchen.

One of my favorite treats is on page 329, Gingerbread cut-out cookies.

The Detox/Elimination Diet on page 381 (second edition) is what turned my health around a 18 months ago.

Nomato...looks like it is available mail order, or in stores on the east coast. I have a message in to them checking to see if any items on my hot list are in ingredients.

Living Without magazine is also good resource I recently found.

S

[sicl4015]

I do take a gluten free multi. But it contains soy. It is the only soy I am getting. It is the vitamin E. I have found a rice based vitamin E, so I will be constructing my own multi soon that will not have any of my sensitivities. :0) I will be a job at the health food store reading all those labels, not to mention all those bottles of pills. But I really want to do it right.

What do you think of the debate about soy oil and lecithin? At the end of one long description which said "the reaction to soy is from the proteins and soy oil ( & soy lecithin) is so refined, there are no proteins"...it qualified that statement by saying "some people are very sensitive and may react even to soy oil".

Thorne Research supplements is the brand I use. The company was started to address a loved one's severe allergy issues. The ingredients are stringently monitored. Available from Physicians and Pharmacies, or online ordering.

One example of an experience I had was increasing betaine (hydrochloric acid -stomach acid) to improve digestion of fats (Under the care of Nutritionist and now Naturopath). The first brand I used included magnesium stearate (a fat). I took more and more and more, and no change, no improvement. With the nutritionist's assistance, we figured out the magnesium stearate might be the problem...coating the betaine (makes it faster to put in capsules). Within 48 hours of changing to Thorne Betaine with Pepsin, my digestion dramatically improved.

Then, I read the site. Because Thorne does not use Magnesium Stearate to speed the capsulation process, the manufacture of the supplement takes longer, therefore is more expensive.

Based on my experience, it doesn't matter that it costs more, it works and the other didn't!

S