South Beach

[Juliebove]

So... I am just now reading the book and I think the first two weeks will be the worst! She will not really be able to fully go on it till we do our grocery shopping on Fri. because right now the cupboard is pretty bare.

But the problem? She is refusing to eat breakfast or eat at school. She has to do both. You can not skip meals on this diet I haven't pushed the issue very much in the past. But now I have to.

She is one of those people who is very concerned about what other people thing of/about her. And way back when she started the gluten-free diet, someone made fun of the leftovers I sent in to school. After that she would only take sandwiches which didn't work very well. Because she has other food intolerances she could at that time only have the Ener-G bread. And of course because her sandwich looked crumbly and smelled a bit odd, someone made a nasty comment about that!

We switched to Teff wraps. That worked for a while. But now she is in Jr. High and she doesn't want to bring an ice pack in her lunch. But she really needs to do that in order to keep the food fresh. She has to leave her lunch in her locker and it gets pretty hot in that hallway!

I had suggested taking in a salad for her lunch but she is refusing. I know that a salad will work on the first 2 weeks of this diet. She is out of school on Friday for the start of Spring break. So the first week at home should go okay. The next week back at school will be the worst for her. She will no longer be able to take just a squeezable applesauce, a bag of pretzels or a bag of baby carrots. We do have beef jerky. I'm not really sure that would be allowed on phase 1. We may just have to take some liberties.

She also will have to eat breakfast not only because the diet says she has to but because she has to take some pills then to hopefully counteract the stomach issues caused by the diabetes med. she needs to be on. At this point she only has pre-diabetes but the hope is that if she can lose the weight, she will reverse that. She also has a thyroid problem and that complicates things.

She can not have lamb, mutton (not that we ever ate that), coconut, most nuts and pumpkin seeds due to her intolerances. There are a few other things in there including some herbs. We just learned that her intolerances have changed, just a few weeks ago so it's all new to us.

Does anyone have any suggestions of what would look like a normal meal to a teen? Something that would fit those parameters? At that age I pretty much lived off of trail mix which I made myself. But she has an extreme dislike of the nuts and seeds she can safely eat so she would never do that. There is one kind of Larabar that she can have. She doesn't love it but she has been bringing those to school. Those won't work on phase 1 though.

I still have to finish the book but it looks like for two weeks she has to eat meat, poultry, fish, non starchy veggies and good fats. Eggs are allowed and I think maybe she can have cheese.

[Mateto]

What about omelettes? Whisk two eggs together, maybe put in some milk or lactose-free milk, or water even (fizzy water works too, it becomes light and fluffly), and you could (if it's allowed on the diet) even add a teaspoon of rice/tapioca/and gluten-free flour to thicken it. Then fry it on a pan, and when it's finished, cut it into strips or fold it in half, and sprinkle cheese on top of it. Warm it in the oven for a few minutes, the cheese will melt, and you have a DELICIOUS breakfast.

[1974girl]

I think the best thing you can do is to teach her on how to handle bullies. Yes, they might be her friends but if they are making fun of her food, then she could probably say something to stop that. She can't let them get the best of her. Tell her to say "Good thing you aren't eating it then." And then enjoy her food. They will stop. Good friends won't do that. Once I had a girl at my lunch table eat Cheetos with Ketchup. We all said "GROSS!" Then she said "Try it!" By the end of the year, we had a big plate of ketchup that we all shared as we dipped our cheetos in it. (Still like that 20 years later) Maybe she can make some yummy food to have them try it before they knock it. She needs to have more self esteem than to let people knock her out of her food. That is a lot harder than giving just recipes! Good luck!

[Juliebove]

What about omelettes? Whisk two eggs together, maybe put in some milk or lactose-free milk, or water even (fizzy water works too, it becomes light and fluffly), and you could (if it's allowed on the diet) even add a teaspoon of rice/tapioca/and gluten-free flour to thicken it. Then fry it on a pan, and when it's finished, cut it into strips or fold it in half, and sprinkle cheese on top of it. Warm it in the oven for a few minutes, the cheese will melt, and you have a DELICIOUS breakfast.

Milk and flour are not allowed on phase 1. And she isn't overly fond of omelettes. She does order them once in a while in a restaurant just because they are an option.

Frankly there isn't enough time in the morning to cook anyting. I have a hard enough time getting her up. And I have never been one to cook breakfast. I am severely intolerant to eggs so don't personally want to handle them. There is a recipe in the book that they call quiche. It contains egg product, spinach and some other veggies. According to what I have read in the book, eggs alone would not do for a meal. Has to be protein and vegetables. She turned her nose up at the quiches but I said I would make them next week. They are baked in muffin tins and then can be warmed up in the microwave. I also intend to buy a big bag of cooked hard boiled eggs when we go to Winco on Friday. She made Easter eggs and we did buy them plenty early I thought... But... She is having trouble peeling them.

She never has liked eggs very much. Or meat. So this is going to be tough. This morning she just had a piece of cheese and a couple of rice crackers which I know are not allowed but... We simply didn't have the right food. Seems carrots are not allowed for the first two weeks and those were the only veggies we had. Well there was celery but it went bad. And there are onions but she wouldn't be too keen on eating those alone.

I have since bought a few more things at the store and we'll get more on Friday when we go to Winco.

[Juliebove]

I think the best thing you can do is to teach her on how to handle bullies. Yes, they might be her friends but if they are making fun of her food, then she could probably say something to stop that. She can't let them get the best of her. Tell her to say "Good thing you aren't eating it then." And then enjoy her food. They will stop. Good friends won't do that. Once I had a girl at my lunch table eat Cheetos with Ketchup. We all said "GROSS!" Then she said "Try it!" By the end of the year, we had a big plate of ketchup that we all shared as we dipped our cheetos in it. (Still like that 20 years later) Maybe she can make some yummy food to have them try it before they knock it. She needs to have more self esteem than to let people knock her out of her food. That is a lot harder than giving just recipes! Good luck!

I wish she would speak up for herself but she just won't. I think this year she finally is hanging out with some kids that are nice to her but I'm not really sure. She is so busy with dance I haven't gotten to meet any of her new friends.

In the past she hung out with kids that were very abusive to her. To the point of stealing her things. And saying horrible things to her. Three of them have moved away and another still goes to her school but they don't hang out any more. To me it was the last straw when the girl told her she needed to buy better clothes! It is hard enough to be plus sized and have short legs. But she also is very picky about what she will wear. Pretty much just sweat pants and crew necked T-shirts. She is not into fashion. Not yet anyway, which is good because not much else would fit her. She does like the dance sweats though and they are expensive. What floored me is that the girl who said it comes from a low income family. Her clothes come from Walmart! So hardly the person to be giving fashion advice.