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Cooking for the family without onion and garlic? Tips please

Posted , 6 users are following.

Hazelspoon
Hazelspoon

I have had a realisation. I've been really disciplined about not eating for 4 hours before bed, no what, less veg, no fruit and got things really under control then last night I made what I though was a "safe" dinner, chicken and rice, but with lots of onion and garlic. 

I was up at 2 am and then at 5 with gas and diarrhoea.

i checked up on FODMAP diets and somehow I had missed the fact that onions and garlic are the worst.

 I love to cook and cook for my family from scratch every day. Onions and garlic are f my favourite ingredients.

 Can anybody help me with good substitutes or recipes for family favourites?. I can't afford to cook 2 dinners, my last flare up was cause by us getting skint and not being able to avoid wheat food as wheat free is so expensive.

ive found plenty of recipes but they're all a bit random.

if I take things like spag Bol, chilli and stews off the menu I will have   a rebellion on my hands! Does it work if you cook them separately and add them at the end? Is Asafoetida ok? Chives? Spring onions? Help!

 

0 likes, 16 replies

16 Replies

  • looloo43
    looloo43 Hazelspoon

    Posted

    Hi Hazel, glad to hear you got a bit of control back with less veg & fruit; its a shame all the healthy stuff is what causes trouble in you & me both! unfortunately the not so healthy stuff seems to keep me out of trouble most of the time. this last week though i have managed a desert spoon of coleslaw with 2 dinners without trouble. i think it is a little bit of trial & error, but my dietician says if you try veg try it in small 80g portions at a time (about a small handful) & see what you can & cant tolerate. onions for me are very bad-they will increase acid reflux probability & definately give loose stools or diarrea. i love them so occasionally if i go out for dinner i love italian pasta with chilli, garlic, onions, tomatoes - if i take 2 loperamide capsules an hour before eating i am fine, but i only do this occasionally as not a great habit to get into long term with a long term bowel disorder, but it gives you a bit of freedom. i havent tried it myself but when you do a spag bol or chilli, you could try leaving out onion, adding a splosh of red wine & maybe try garlic salt instead of pure garlic for flavor & see how your troops (& yourself of course!) react! you can find the garlic flavoring with the spices & herbs in supermarkets. i tried wheat free past & brown pasta - yuk! & it made me uber bloated. again my dietician said people with bowel disorders like colitis, crohns, ibs often cant break down fibre which causes diarrea & pain. i switched to white pasta, white rice, white bread which made a big difference to not being so bloated & not causing diarrea after eating. cant remember if i already told you this but she also said try veg from the root veg family: carrots, swede, parnsip, squash, aubergines, & fruit she said canteloupe melon, kiwi & small bananas all in small 80g(handful) quantities at a time. also the fodmap diet is not black & white-everyone's different. i can tolerate a small portion of cooked mushrooms without trouble, but fodmap says not. my favorite pizza (sat night takeaway!) is tuna, pineapple, green chilli & jalapeno's; i am fine with this, but fodmap says no (except tuna)! hope this helps hun'xx
    • Hazelspoon
      Hazelspoon looloo43

      Posted

      I think I will try cutting out onions and garlic and then try small amounts of white carbs. I tried white bread before but I got away with eating a little bit, thought oh great I can eat this now and the next thing you know im all flared up again.

      Onions and garlic have been going under the radar though. I may have been blaming wheat for their effects. I hope I get this figured out soon I am losing weight and I dont really want to! I like my figure how it is! Im sure its down to eating much less carbs and all protein.

  • aveline
    aveline Hazelspoon

    Posted

    Hi! Keeping a food diary may help you sort through the triggers in your body (and like looloo said, quantity could play a role, too). 

    Have you been tested for Coeliac Disease?  Gluten is often a hidden trigger, and it's really hard to know just by eliminating/journaling. Please have your doctor rule this out, and then you'll know for sure about wheat/barley/rye. But, meanwhile, you will have to eat gluten, probably in wheat form... Or, maybe you've already had the test done?

    It's great that you love to cook! Sounds like it's healthy stuff, too! It's awful that what we're supposed to eat can turn against us...I'm so sorry you were suffering from a favorite meal! sad

    Good luck!

     

    • Hazelspoon
      Hazelspoon aveline

      Posted

      I had a celiac screen and it was negative. Im currently being investigated for proctocolitis which may be part of it and either joint hypermobilty syndrome or EDS which I believe can cause gut problems.

      I think the majority of my problem is IBS. I have had 3 c sections, 2 of which were traumatic emergency ones, and had adhesions on my bowel afterwards plus huge doses of antibiotics. Im allergic to penicillin so they gave me ones that arent used much as they are too effective and kill your gut bacteria. As far as I can think thats when the problem really started getting bad. I always did go to the toilet early but since I had the kids its more like in the early hours than on the dot of 7.

  • Shelly54
    Shelly54 Hazelspoon

    Posted

    You can get a garlic and onion infused olive oil at your local grocery store or online it is expensive about 12 bucks at Winndixie but it was the same price online I havent tried it yet but it was on a blog I read online I in a flare up have been since I have had this mess for 3 months still trying to figure out what I can eat hope this helps you
    • Hazelspoon
      Hazelspoon Shelly54

      Posted

      Im in the uk but I read about this shortly after I posted this thread. Im having a go at making my own it seems as long as you discard the onion solids its good to go. I think it needs to stand for a couple of days then im going to try it. Neat solution if it works.
  • Shelly54
    Shelly54 Hazelspoon

    Posted

    Good luck I might try this out when I get where I can eat more Iam like you I have lost 15 pounds that I did not need to lose and still losing weight I know I need to eat more but its hard to eat when you know it causes so much pain
  • Shelly54
    Shelly54 Hazelspoon

    Posted

    I am new to this low food map stuff needing to gain alot of weight back how long do you have to wait between meals to eat
    • Hazelspoon
      Hazelspoon Shelly54

      Posted

      I dont think there is a set time. I think its little and often. For me I have had a bad habit of being so busy all day I just go on coffee and small snacks and then eat all my calories in the evening which overloads my bowel. I have to make myself eat in the daytime so im not super hungry at night and im only having 1 or 2 coffees max.
  • Shelly54
    Shelly54 Hazelspoon

    Posted

    I have to make myself eat I have no appetite at all I miss coffee really bad but I have GERD so thats a bad NO NO thanks alot for your help
  • leeniepie
    leeniepie Hazelspoon

    Posted

    If you leave them out you will soon get used to it and not notice. I haven't used either for 4 years since I started the fodmap diet and I don't miss them at all.

    I have heard garlic oil is ok but can't be bothered to risk it

  • beverly52803
    beverly52803 Hazelspoon

    Posted

    Like you I love onions but they no longer love me. Do you find that it makes a difference if they are raw or cooked? I can tolerate sweet onions cooked more than yellow or red ones raw or cooked. Not a lot, but just enough for some flavor. Garlic powder (not salt) definitley adds flavor as well as onion powder. Try all sparingly and see what happens. For reasons I'm not clear on I can tolerate all foods better later in the day. For instance I can eat salsa and cheese at dinner time, but they would create havoc in a morning omelette. I aslo use a dairy aid as well as digestive enzymes if I am going to eat out. Have you tried those?
    • Hazelspoon
      Hazelspoon beverly52803

      Posted

      I have seen a huge improvement since cutting right down on onions and using my home made onion oil. It does seem that I can tolerate a small amount of very well cooked onion with little ill effects. I have even found that I can eat a bit of wheat now as long as I dont eat it 2 days running.

      I seem to be much more intolerant to food I eat in the evening so ive changed eating patterns to daytime. Only issue is a have a very sensitive stomach in the morning and have to take thyroid meds on an empty stomach. Ive been throwing up every morning ( no not pregnant! ) as there's nothing lining my stomach.

      Im feeling now like I have identified my main triggers :onions, large amounts of dairy and wheat. Feeling now that I probably dont have colitis at all as the main symptom I had that suggested it was night defacation which I now can pin down to onion rich dinners and trigger foods eaten late at night.

      I haven't tried digestive enzymes or dairy aids. I do take probiotics but not all the time only to calm down a flareup as im told they aren't effective if you take them constantly. I will look them up as its still a bit of a trade off where I know if I eat certain things I will probably have to get up a bit early to poop and maybe go 2 to 3 times in the morning. I think some of this is psychological as now if I pass wind at night im suddenly wide awake thinkging "uh oh here comes the diarrhoea" and cant go back to sleep until ive been to the toilet even though it wasn't urgent. Im hoping when my gut gets used to not freaking out I will be able to relax and know I dont have to sprint to the loo now.

    • beverly52803
      beverly52803 Hazelspoon

      Posted

      hazel, I'm very surprised you haven't tried the enzymes! Do you have lactaid or a store brand version? very common here in the US. I have them with me at all times. The digestive enzyme I get through a mail order company. Helps with beans and such though there is also Beano which is sold in drugstores (more expensive). I do think these problems cause much stress which then causes more problems. Once you have it under control and understand what is setting you off it's much less stressful.

      Watch out for cruciferous vegetables as they cause much gas.  Have tried gluten free, but that doesn't seem to be my problem. Besides I found it impossible to stick to that.

      Don't know your age, but all of this got more intense with menopause for me. I started using the psyllium fiber at that point at my doctor's recommendation and that really helped.

  • looloo43
    looloo43 Hazelspoon

    Posted

    Hi Hazel, so glad to hear you are getting improvement! I tend to have the same eating pattern as you - hardly eat through the day as have no appetite, just make myself drink low fat milk as it is a liquid food, but it is hard to force yourself to eat if you have no appetite. but by dinnertime evening (7.30-8pm) I am very hungry & do have a normal appetite. I'm glad you are losing the "urgency" gradually. It takes a bit of time getting used to it & trusting you don't need to poop urgently every time you feel a rumble in that area! but it is a relief & does help you begin to relax more doesn't it. I have about another 3wks left of my 3mth trial of symprove probiotic, but I am still on the fence if they make enough difference to me to warrant the high cost of it. I feel it has made things a bit more stable on the whole & i can tolerate small amount of mushrooms or a spoon of coleslaw now, & it helps the daytime bloating, but i still get terrible bloating after evening meal. this maybe down to what you said in a previous post though - not eating much in the day, & then a substantial meal at night might be overloading my digestive system -stomach & bowel. i just find it hard to eat during day except for milk if i dont have an appetite or even a bit nauseus...i would still go for your scope when it comes up if not to eliminate colitis. colitis could still be present & cause damage to your bowel if not treated, so best to get it checked if suspected. take care x
    • Hazelspoon
      Hazelspoon looloo43

      Posted

      Im still going to go to the sigmoidoscopy just in case.

      Ive never heard of either of the digestive enzymes or lactase. Not common in the uk although apparently you can buy them. Over here you can get a lot of "free from" food products and if youre intolerant you just dont eat it. They look way too expensive for me though. I get probiotics on the nhs but that's not common.

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