Monday, November 05, 2007

What to eat??

My diet has been pretty restricted (at least in my opinion, when compared to what it had been previously) since about a month and a half after Gavin was born. I figured out by trial and error that any dairy product or any food with even a tiny amount of dairy in it (including any amount of whey) makes Gavin's stomach very gassy. I'm pretty sure chocolate (even in fairly small quantities) and cabbage do the same thing. Other foods I've quit eating but am not completely sure yet if they actually cause him to have an upset stomach are peanuts, broccoli, cauliflower and very acidic foods, like tomato sauce and citrus fruits. In addition, I have been trying to avoid large quantities of soy for my own benefit. In my opinion, that constitutes a significantly restricted diet, especially because I used to eat milk, yogurt and often some type of cheese every day. But the most annoying part, I think, is that I have to read every ingredient on every label to make sure there's no non-fat milk powder, whey protein, butter, etc. , and you'd be surprised at how many things that eliminates, especially the easy ones that are low-fat and have protein! My Trader Joe's chewable vitamins, for instance, have non-fat milk powder in them. Wisecrackers are made with buttermilk. Most margarine contains whey (and I think margarine is nasty anyway). It's really hard to make a quick quesadilla without cheese. Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches are out. I can't grab a yogurt for a quick snack. Nix on almost all baked goods other than plain bread (and sometimes not even that). Can't do pasta with tomato sauce or cream-based sauce. I also have a preference for low-fat items that are minimally processed but don't take a lot of preparation time, and I need to be eating more protein. So, any suggestions??

3 comments:

AmyRobynne said...

An online friend created this food list to give to fellow parents of preschoolers and I've found it handy when trying to come up with snack ideas: http://www.woolywonder.com/JDS/HealthySnackIdeas.pdf

I fear dairy and wheat allergies--I would be so whiny if I had to cut either from my diet.

Katie said...

Chicken salad? Lately I've been baking boneless skinless chicken breasts (400 deg for 40 min), topped w/ seasoning, then keeping them in the fridge. They're so handy...Rachel eats them plain & cold. I've been putting them on top of romaine lettuce for a quick snack. You could also add some other kind of bean to a salad for extra protein.

Cheryl FM said...

Speaking as an adult who had a life-threatening milk allergy as a kid...we wound up eating lots of homemade Asian food. (Homemade avoids the MSG issue, if that's one you're at all concerned about.)

Also, my parents bought a bread maker to deal with milk powder or whey being the last ingredient in nearly 100% of baked goods you buy from the store. There's a bit of start-up annoyance with a bread maker, but once you've got the ingredients and have a few fav recipes, it's incredibly easy. I was able (as a 8 or 9 year old) to toss everything in and get the machine started without much trouble or supervision - you, as an adult, will likely have an even easier time of it. :)

Avoiding milk AND soy is a tough one - everything my parents had as a work-around to a recipe that would normally require milk involved a soy substitute. You've got my well wishes and prayers...restrictive diets stink!

Maybe checking out your local hippie-dippie health food store / upscale grocery store? Maybe there's something akin to soy out there (in terms of being able to be fashioned into nearly anything as well as containing a decent amount of protein) that just isn't on your or my radar.