Hi again Deborah,
Didn't realise meat was such an ordeal for you - that really isn't a good thing at all, as I said already, whatever diet we follow, food is fundamantally meant to be enjoyed....
Sorry to ask again, but it's just in case I forget - do you eat fish at all, as it might be an avenue to explore if you don't eat much already? In my head that would include sea food such as prawns, and at that point I should quit!!! I don't think I ever got over the experience of working in seafood factories during school summer holidays - just the sheer monotony of it was enough to lose the will!!!
My diet at the moment is pretty unadventurous and quite repetitious - I am aware of it, but it's working for me - both physically and in enjoying it - and as long as that's happening......(am quite suprised really as I don't usually do variants of the same thing for so long - but as I say, it's doing it for me
)
So.....breakfast is fruit. Tried yoghurt again when I went back to work, and ended up hungry mid-shift and with swollen ankles again - arghhhh!!! So went back to fruit-only (which I didn't think would be enough, but is, for me anyway)
Lunch is a salad, often with cheese but certainly not always. One of my fave salads is tomatoes and basil (YUM!) but obviously there isn't much protein going on there, so if I don't make it up in another meal, I usually add cheese - something mild that doesn't 'get in the way'. I love experimenting with salad dressings and base them on a good quality olive oil, often an infused one (basil of course!) and I really should make my own up sometime!
My evening meal of late has been a soup/stew/casserole - maybe casserole would be stretching it, but it's basically a load of veggies that end up without too much liquid, just because that's the way I like it right now! Next week might be different!!! Recently it has been non-starchy veggie-based, but *usually* I wouldn't have it quite so often, and wouldn't worry myself too much about starchy-veggie contect. I always, always have predominantly chilli in it, plus ginger, plus garlic. I think that even if it was quite high in starchy-veg stuff, it wouldn't hang around tooooo long, and would probably be ok even for a normally straight-NSD'er.
Sometimes I put tofu in it purely for protein - sometimes pretty mashed up, sometimes in chunks. It literally is whatever I feel like at the time (sometimes it's even cheese! - it can make a great topping or general additive!!) and as I've felt recently that I've basically been detoxing myself I've felt very happy with it, and at no time have felt bored - believe it or not!!!
Occasional asides have been stirfries (actually, felt quite addicted a while ago!!) and they have provided opportunities to experiment with tofu preparation.
Please don't feel you would need to emulate my current diet - eek!!! There really is more scope that what I've found had suited me most recently!!!
Things to consider: (IMHO!)
- if, like many ppl here, you can tolerate rice, it will take the diet flexibility to whole new levels -- many of us can eat pure rice, but also the side-stuff: rice pasta (pesto sauce is lovely, but somehow needs this!) rice noodles to add to stir fries, rice cakes for breakfast on the hoof maybe...
- Getting allergy/intolerance testing done: meat is often a culprit and maybe there's a foodstuff you're consuming regularly that is interfering with your hard work??!! Janet - buckwheat - responded better to the diet after eliminating allergens. She doesn't post so much these days (Janet, where are you??!!!) but I'm sure would be more that willing to share her experiences - PM her if she hasn't been around lately. Janet was one of the ppl who inspired me to try this whole thing and kept me motivated - hope she can do the same for you!
- Try out vegan stuff - I was in a health food shop today, albeit a small one with no chilled products - and was amazed that I'd *forgotten* that my most favorite pesto is actually vegan! It doesn't have any cheese in it, just nut-based, but it is truly gorgeous!!! Bigger stores might be happy for you to try stuff out.
- Maybe try vegan cheese also - I'm sorry I didn't get to check this out more for you, but from when I was in my semi-vegan mode, I did get vegan cheeses and they were invariably strongly-flavoured. I get the impression from what I remember of them, that even if they did contain starch, that there would be much less quantity required to match the flavour intensity of a *normal* cheese, so that maybe on a LSD it would work out relatively ok? From what vegan products I did see today, they were starchless, so here's hoping....maybe you'll get the cheese equivalent you'd like without the lactose issues?
- never think that vegan produce is second-best or making-do: some of that kit is seriously good. My ex was a complete AS when it came to food - very finickety and hard to please - but he loved vegan garlic mayo, and other vegan stuff - which has to be a good endorsment of it!
I would challenge anyone to define the true contents of one range of cheeses which are quite soft also - one has garlic in it, another has horseradish - they really do pack a punch and taste quite authentic.
- make good use of your local health food store, even if it's not that local! They generally do have excellent customer service, and don't underestimate their product range - they will generally quite happily order stuff in for you. They are usually well 'into' their products and have a great knowledge base, so use it!!!
- for any energy/hunger issues, as well as the usual GORP that is recommended, use dried fruit. Watch for the additives (which can abound, believe me!) but there's a lot of stuff out there that relies only on the dehydration and packaging method for preservation - and taste all the better for it!!!
- tofu is great - can use it for virtually anything!!!
-Quorn (plain!!! otherwise you get annoying starch added to it - arghhh!) can be an interesting alternative. I prefer it to tofu in the likes of curries, it just has more 'bite' to it for that kind of thing. Again, the minced version of it might make a statement if prepared as a pasta-type sauce, even in the abscence of a rice-based pasta.
(WAY before getting sick, I would quite regularly order a dish without the usual pasta/rice, etc. Sometimes I'd get the puzzled look, sometimes not, but it's what the customer, i.e. US! wants that is important! - always!)
(Well, us enlightened LSD/NSD'ers of course
)
Ummm, time to end the never-ending post methinks!!!
If you need any other info, maybe safest to PM me - but then NOOOOO!!!! (I just sooooo love the thought of bilko reading this and maybe starting to hanker after a jar of vegan garlic mayo?!!!
) (
you KNOW you want to......!!!)
Take care Deborah,
Jan
The first and best victory is to conquer self
— Plato
