Coincidence? I think not

No problem Tony. I spend a bit of time writing menus and shopping to make sure I have fresh food on hand otherwise I really struggle (I work full time). it does take some planning and I've all but given up going out to eat.

This is just a roughie....

Breakfast: rolled oats and almond milk or a piece of zucchini slice (like quiche without the crust) made with soy milk, perhaps a couple of eggs and some mushrooms and some tomato (I have this for dinner occassionaly if I haven't planned anything)

Lunch: If I don't have left overs from dinner the night before I'll have tuna and a garden salad with home preserved olives, or soup (home made) and some fruit. I also keep left overs in the freezer ("freezer surprise" - put your hand in and grab something for lunch, you never know what you're going to have!).

Dinner: A fresh salad of some sort - particular favourites are Chicken larb (thai) or tabouli made with quinoa and a piece of grilled salmon. I do eat roasted/steamed veg but I much prefer raw veggies as a rule. I love curry and rice. I've also been making spaghetti bolognaise with gluten free pasta.

Because I no longer eat sugar I don't have dessert as such. If I haven't had a couple of pieces of fruit already I might have some after dinner.

Snacks: Nuts and/or fruit.

Gives me a lot of ideas, thanks a lot and best of luck to you

 

Wow, that's fantastic! You give me hope and impetus to continue. It's not always easy and I often wonder if it's worth it. 

Trust me, there was no fasting! I LOVE food!! lol

Your observations on your diet are very helpful.  I'm told honey is okay and NOT a sugar!  What do you think?  Are all breads such as rye or whole wheat still to be considered as wheat/gluten products?  I see you mention almond milk which I have so I assume you don't consider this as 'dairy'.  Is that right?  What about yogurt or regular milk, do they fall under dairy for you?

Sugar and honey both have sucrose and fructose but they bond the enzymes in a different way. This is important because the body treats those enzymes differently.  In that regard honey is 'better' than sugar but neither are 'good' for you.  There's a heap of info online if you're interested.

Rye is wheat. So is spelt, and barley. I stay away from all wheat products. 

Some things like buckwheat and oats can be contaminated with wheat

so I really watch those.  For example soba noodles are supposedly made

with buckwheat but most packaged varieties include wheat. 

Alomd milk is is made with almonds, and is not dairy! Milk, yoghurt, cheese are all dairy.  

If  really want o of gluten or dairy free you will just about cut out ALL processed food, as they are used in everything! 

Think meat, veggies, fruit, rice, corn, oats, nuts, soy. Quinoa is also popular as a grain substitute these days. 

I've found some substitutes like coconut yogurt and milk are useful. 

 

Where do you get your calcium from, i have to be on tablets for vitc and vitd like of us do.

Do you ever need a sandwich, if so what do you eat.

I am really interested in diet, but do get bored with eating the same foods.

 

Rye is NOT wheat - it is a gluten-containing but completely different grain where the gluten is much weaker which is why pure rye tends to be a very heavy bread as it doesn't rise well. So manufacturers often add a small percentage of wheat, up to 20%, to make it lighter for fussy people who don't want to chew! Living in Germanic countries makes pure rye breads very accessible which is great for me 

So if it is wheat that is your problem rye is fine, if gluten is your problem, it isn't. Despite its name which confuses a lot of people, buckwheat is NOT a grain (just clarifying, flipdover didn't say it was) but a distant relative of the rhubarbs and naturally gluten-free. It makes lovely pancakes, pasta (a bit tricky to handle but it works) and a cake which is a traditional speciality here where I live.

Honey is sugar, just has a nicer taste people feel. It stimulates the production of insulin in exactly the same way as the white sugar in packets and all processed foods. 

Oops. Yup, right as usual 

PS: just call me Flip 

 Sorry - it wasn't meant to sound like a criticism Flip! I know all this stuff because I've been doing the "No wheat - so what CAN I eat" for about 9 years now. Wheat is in EVERYTHING!!!!!!

I love rye bread, definitely my favourite when it is a good Bauernbrot (farmer's bread) with not too much cumin and a good bitter taste. It's fantastic with butter and Dundee marmalade on it. So if the problem turns out to be WHEAT as such, it still means you can have other breads.

When I lived in the UK I always went with OH when he had a meeting in Cambridge - there is a bread stall on the market there that sells pure rye bread and I was there early in the morning to reserve 3 loaves before it disappeared to take home and freeze for the next few months...

Have you heard of Aramanth this is good as well, 

I rarely eat carbohydrate Margaret - not even rice or pasta. What carbs I need I get from vegatables and occasionally fruit. I've heard of amaranth but have never tried it. I have tried quinoa and - frankly - I think it is a waste of space! Wasn't impressed at all. If I were making tabbouleh for example I would make it with spelt grains, in fact I can buy it made with spelt at my supermarket, loose on the deli counter! I have adapted my diet to fit easily with a very fussy husband who refuses to eat anything new because he "doesn't like it". He's as bad as a toddler about food. Most nights I cook 2 meals, about half the time we eat the same meat or I can put a piece of frozen fish in batter (yes, can get Findus here!) and a piece of salmon or other fish into the oven together. Not that he will eat fish more than once every couple of weeks. Otherwise, 2 lots of protein, chips for him, salad for me. 

He hasn`t  exactly embraced the italian (supposed to be healthiest) food then!!..I have a 12 year old grandson like your husband....we were hoping he would grow out of it!!.

To be fair - he had cancer 21 years ago. Until then he had eaten most things I cooked for him and the girls - much to his mother's disgust: "David doesn't like curry..." "Really? He always eats it and asked for lamb curry tonight..." I cooked a lot of Italian recipes and we ate rice things quite a lot. 

The chemo affected his sense of taste and the subsequent radiotherapy caused irritation of his gullet so some things are difficult to swallow without gagging - rice is an absolute no-no. He went back to wanting food from his teenage years that I had never really cooked for us as a family - steak pie, UK sausages, bacon had all disappeared from the menu when we lived in Germany. The girls and I wouldn't eat it, eventually I couldn't eat it and the pain of multiple meals appeared. He is also lazy about chewing - like his mother - so he'd rather have a burger than a bit of rump steak. I have found a butcher here that does a decent burger but he's decided he prefers the ones with far less herbs because he prefers the texture - yuk.   And bacon here is smoked - won't eat smoked...

However - we live in the north, the food is Germanic here. They do have wonderful local things - all tend to be pasta and made with durum wheat. The hotel in the village does WONDERFUL Schlutzkrapfen (like stuffed raviolis) using spelt flour but generally they are not for me. I do buy my olive oil in 5 litre cans from the olive grove owner. I manage 10 litres a year just on my own  on my very Italian salads and veggies with fish...

Calcium can be found in all sorts of things other than dairy including nuts - and don't forget soy. 

Nobody ever NEEDS a sandwich! There are lots of things to eat other than a sandwich - Salad? Pasta? Noodles? A meat pie (remember I'm an Aussie!) soup? 

I did NOT take offense Eileen! Absolutely not.  Just don't tell any one I know that I got something wrong, I'll never live it down lol

I'll post it on Facebook and get my Aussie contacts to share it!  No escape Flip!

With you most of the way - why sandwiches? Other than the convenience I suppose but you still need a container. I'll cope with needing a spoon or fork to eat a salad out of a tub.

But soy? Though I had some fried tofu in South Korea that was almost acceptable...

I agree then, he has the perfect reasons to eat what he wants!  I just get so envious when I know you live near Lake Garda? as we discussed once before......stayed in Malcesni.....had more energy then!...13 years ago...

Not THAT near, 2 hours to the top end on a good day using the motorway. But you need energy in Malcesine - not a lot of flat there, we go to the lazy end, long flat walks along the edge of the lake! We were there last week but didn't walk other than into the village in the morning as it was 30C before lunch! Far too hot to walk in the sun and a decided lack of shade on the hill back to the site...

I've started making my sandwiches using lettuce leaves as a wrap. Gives you something to hold it all in and I usually put lettuce in my sandwiches anyway. If the restaurants are all doing it, so can I!

Now that might make it worth buying iceberg lettuce (otherwise known here as Braziliana for some reason) which IMHO is only of interest because you can wash it out if it wasn't eaten and serve it again  Tough stuff!

Though thinking laterally, Brazilian salad sounds rather fine - chicken, apples and raisins with lime juice...

Sounds familiar . . . !

i like little gem lettuce cooked with peas, garlic and courgettes.mmmmmm

Lettuce and peas is a good mixture. I like Little Gems done on the grill - but you can't get them here :-(

Maybe the sandwich thing is because they are pommies?  

Could well be - do they whinge when they find the bread is different in Oz? 

One night I was watching one of those selling houses shows and there was a pommie couple selling up and going back to England because we don't sell their 7 year olds favourite soft drink (fizzy?).

I was gobsmacked on so many levels.

No need to ask who wore the trousers in that household is there! I should have tried that when we (very unwillingly) returned to the UK when our girls were 7+ and 10+. Their favourite drink was Spezi - approximately a mix of Fanta and coke but it comes ready-made in Germany and every bar knows how to mix the stuff just right. So they swapped to Irn-Bru in Scotland (google it - bright orange and "brewed from girders"). Either way utterly disgusting...

Irn-Bru (pronounced "iron brew") is a Scottish carbonated soft drink, often described as "Scotland's other national drink" (after Scotch whisky).

LOLOLOL