Dietary restrictions suck. And this is my angry post. You don't have to read it.
-Low sodium.
-No nitrates/nitrites.
-Very low amounts of cheeses.
-No MSG.
-Very low amounts of nuts.
-only 1 serving of citrus a day.
-only 1 serving of caffeine a day (that includes chocolate) [I'm not following this part. I'm getting as much chocolate as I can to cope with all of this]
= WHAT THE CRAP DO YOU EAT?
We're finding that it's been so incredibly hard to do this diet restriction. I almost started crying when Chris asked what was for lunch today because I had no idea what to tell him he could eat. Pasta and rice are great, but you have to eat something with it (at least I can't picture him eating just plain pasta or rice), but the sauces you'd think to put on it are always problematic!
Salads can work... if your salad has no dressing (or just a teeny tiny bit), but when Chris has a salad he dumps the dressing on to make the vegetables more manageable.
Tacos or Fajitas can be a great option... if you make your own seasoning for it (which I do), but then the problem is that he wants like 4 of them, and that is almost 1000 mg of sodium just in the tortillas.
Maybe I just need to start making my own tortillas and bread, because holy cow, bread has so much sodium! Especially when you're making a sandwich and that requires 2 slices of bread, which can be like 300 mg of sodium.
I realized that our chicken broth that we normally use has about 800 mg per serving, but found some organic chicken broth with only 70mg per the same serving size. That makes a huge difference, but it also costs a significant more. I told Chris we may have to increase our grocery budget if we're going to keep eating like this. And I may need to buy more kitchen equipment if I'm going to be making our own bread.
Tomorrow in the mail we are getting a new cookbook that is all light and healthy meals. I like the idea of it because it has all of the nutrition info right in it, and tells you what to do to cut back on sodium.
The other hard thing is the foods that are in our pantry/freezer don't really go along with this diet. Chris will ask for a snack and I keep having to say no to everything he is asking for (mostly because of the sodium content) and instead am handing him applesauce (only 10mg per serving!) or grapes. He sees the crackers he used to always have and he wants them. Heck no, they're like 1/3 of his sodium allowance. Or the hot dogs that are chilling in our fridge. Nope, they've got nitrates. And sodium. Sorry, bud.
Some day I'm going to figure this out. In the meantime... maybe we'll just have Southwest Stuffed Peppers over and over again. If you leave out the tbsp of salt it calls for, and rinse your black beans really well, they aren't too bad.
8 comments:
So sorry about this Marci. I don't blame you for getting frustrated. Dietary changes have to be one of the most aggravating life changes one could make. Eating is a huge part of life so to have to change how that basic function works all together is not easy. I have some questions and thoughts though -- I'll email you. Prayers are still being said that this will pan out and become easier as time goes on.
I'm so sorry Marci. I had to go on a very low sugar diet back in Januray because I developed a reoccurring yeast problem and always felt like I had a yeast infection (totally sucked). Well yeast feeds on sugar so I had to cut out all white flour, white rice, all sugar, fruits, and most dairy. It was so hard at first but now I'm in a good groove and I made a list of food I CAN eat and cook with. We eat the same things month after month but I'm healthy again and that's the most important thing. You're a good wife to be supporting your husband in this way. Nathan went on the diet with me too and it was a great help. Hang in there. It's going to get better.
Having dietary restrictions would be really hard for me. You are so good to be supportive of him. Have you tried making your own marinara-type sauces? Then you have total control of the salt and really they taste delicious with very little salt. Or just some olive oil or unsalted butter with a little sprinkle of parmesan and fresh basil is wonderful and simple. You could throw chicken in it too. For taco/fajita night just tell him to eat one or two and then have lots of rice and beans. If you buy dried beans then you are again in control of your salt intake. Does he like fruit? That's my favorite snack food and it's so healthy and also satisfies the need for sweets.
That is extremely hard. I'm sorry. But it just shows how much you love your husband to be the one to have to tell him no. My in laws all seem to have certain allergies that make meals very tricky. I don't have any great solutions for you, but I know you can do it.You are smart and resourceful. Just keep praying and you'll find some answers.
Ugh! That's so hard. Here's my salad dressing recipe. The only thing I think has sodium is the Dijon mustard. It's 120mg for one tsp. and it calls for 1 tablespoon. That would mean 360mg for the entire bottle and he would only eat a fraction of that (a little goes a long way). You could probably reduce the amount too.
1 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup red wine vinegar
1 Tablespoon Dijon mustard
2 cloves minced garlic
1 tsp. dried oregano
1/2 tsp. dry mustard
1 tsp. sugar
Pepper to taste
There's no MSG either and it's delicious!
Homemade tortillas are easy and you don't need a bunch of salt. This sounds really hard! I will look through my recipes and see if I have any that might help.
Sandy
Could you use a slat substitute in my bread recipe? It is a very forgiving recipe - can use oil instead of butter, or the unsalted butter.
How long is this for? (You are probably asking that every minute!) And is he feeling better with these changes??
I love you Marci!!! I found several awesome healthy cookbooks, I don't know what the sodium contents are but I'm sure you could find some good recipes. I want to eat healthy so I made sure to get healthy cookbooks and I can't wait to try them out. Eating well on a budget (Has you make your own chicken and beef broth and can/freze it) Eating well serves two, and The saprk people cookbook .. I think that's what it's called. Love you!
Post a Comment