So, on a perfect day, my diet now excludes:
Refined sugar
Dairy products (except yogurt, which I can and do eat)
Gluten
Caffeine
And if we take FavoriteBoy's definition of a "perfect day," his diet would consist of:
Sugar
Dairy
Flour
Meat
No problem, right?
Actually, it's not that bad so far, as long as I'm at home for every meal of the day. Eating out, or being invited to someone's home - that gets a bit more tricky, because I want to stick to my eating rules, but I also think that being polite and gracious is vastly more important than whether or not I have a headache, so it's my policy to eat what I'm served. But as long as I'm home, as I usually am, I can just eat lots of veggies and legumes, and I'm a happy camper. Wouldn't you be happy if you got to eat these golden, oven-roasted brussels sprouts for lunch?
Yesterday I made a big pot of vegetable soup, and it turned out absolutely divine. I put in tomatoes, red potatoes, carrots, celery, zucchini, yellow squash, onion, and green beans. I was especially proud of myself because each vegetable was cooked to perfection, and none of them were too mushy or too crunchy. With some in the refrigerator and even more in the freezer, I have an easy go-to meal that is delicious and nutritious. I also made a batch of chili. I made up the recipe as I went along, and I was pretty pleased with how that turned out as well.
There are lots of things that I can eat without ingesting sugar or gluten! I love to eat roasted broccoli and cauliflower, roasted curry chickpeas, and Southwestern egg rolls. (I've modified the Southwestern dish, and I just serve the chicken mixture spread on top of a warmed corn tortilla instead of wrapped in a wheat one.)
Isn't it nice to know that the world is full of good foods that are also good for you?
Now if only I could get FavoriteBoy to believe it...!
Wow, and I thought trying to eat somewhere other than home while avoiding all dairy was hard... (not that I'm doing that now, but I will be starting in early June) You'll have to post something in a month and say how it is going for you - if it seems to be making any sort of difference. Good luck! (And yes, your brussel sprouts do look yummy!)
ReplyDeleteOh, and I tried the curry roasted chickpeas and they are quite tasty. At the first couple nibbles I wasn't too impressed, but they do rather grow on you, don't they!
As I was making Pad Thai last night, I noticed that the sauce is gluten free, and I think the rice noodles are as well (I use Thai Kitchen products). Pad Thai sauce contains "pure cane sugar," and I'm not sure if that counts as refined, but thought it would otherwise work for you.
ReplyDeleteYou should check out Thai food in general. I make it the lazy way, buying curry paste (mix with light coconut milk), peanut sauce, and pad thai sauce on the international aisle, but I've seen recipes for making sauce by scratch and they never look hard. Add lots of vegetables and tofu or chicken, pair with brown rice, rice noodles, or cous cous, and I think it meets your specifications.
An abundance of mistakes...
ReplyDeleteI should clarify that mixing curry paste, pad thai sauce, and peanut sauce would NOT be good; they make three separate dishes. Curry and peanut sauce can pair with any of the aforementioned grains, but pad thai goes best with rice noodles.
Also, I cook "from scratch," not "by scratch." How embarrassing.