[perSue]

i love food... or should i say loved.
cooking was a pleasure. nothing made my weekends more enjoyable than meal planning, prepping & cooking for the next week.

now, i'm gluten intolerant & off all dairy (until further notice).
now, i dont look forward to meals. in fact, i skip many now.
eating out is dreadfully frustrating - unless i want to eat salad for the rest of my days.

i'm depressed b/c i lack motivation to cook, b/c there's not much left to eat.
no bread, pasta, battered/fried.
i can't have dairy anything.
and i don't eat red meat (never been able to digest it since i was a child).

what's left?
bland

i'm away from the house up to 12 hrs most days.. i take food w/me.
have no access to a microwave, but do have access to hot water (tea, oatmeal, etc).

short of rice & beans every day or (yet another) salad. i've got nothing.

i havent eaten pork since i was a very small child, i'm tempted to try that again. (altho i know re-introducing foods in the past has made me quite ill for a few weeks til i get used to it.)

any ideas, suggestions, help... i'd love.

i'm at the breaking point of giving up food entirely. (at least i have the past couple weeks.)

 

[Dancing Lotus]

I hear ya. Lord knows I have made enough changes in my diet this year to completely understand how your feeling about food right now.
And that's why you have to believe me when I say "It's all in the attitude".
You love to cook and bake, GREAT! This is your opportunity to try all sorts of new things. Perfect new recipes , explore new ingredients.

You sound like the perfect candidate to try RAW cooking. There are tons of gluten free treats you can make if you cook raw.
One of my favorites is brownie bites.

1 1/2 cups of walnuts
8 large moist pitted dates
1/3 cup cocoa powder

Pulse the dates in a processor until they turn into a paste. Remove from processor and set aside. Pulse the walnuts until they are finely ground , add date paste and cocoa and pulse until thoroughly combined. Roll into bite sided balls.

Banana crepes are another delicious raw recipe.
It's just smashed banana, lemon juice and ground flax. But you need a dehydrator.

Learn how to use flour alternatives for all your baking. Rice flour is gluten free and I love the doughy texture it gives things.

Being gluten and dairy free is not a limitation, it opens you doors up to try new things. I now include Asian and Indian food in my diet on a regular basis.
Today will be a Mayan bake. It's a bed of Polenta with plantains and sweet potatoes. Topped with Black beans in a ancho sauce.

Once you step outside of the American diet you will find so many delicious bold flavors that you will never have to eat bland food again. Visit ethnic food stores, and find all the heath food stores you can. Mine vary greatly in the products they carry.

The one thing I will agree on is eating out. It's not so easy when your limited to what the restaurant serves. Don't be afraid to tell your waiter what your needs are and ask the chef to prepare something for you. One suggestion I have is to order fajitas, chicken if you can eat it or just ask for No meat but extra veggies and rice. You can skip the tortilla and just eat your seasoned fajita veggies over the rice.

For a lunch box meal I enjoy Taco wraps.
It's just walnuts pulsed into crumbles with a few teaspoons of taco seasoning. You'd be surprised how much this really does taste like taco meat and requires no heat or refrigeration. Roll it up in large Romain lettuce leafs and add any sort of diced up veggie you would put on a taco. I love avocado and salsa on mine.
At any rate , enjoy the challenge of discovering new foods.

 

[dancemommy]

My parents have recently gone dairy and gluten free. It is tough. But they have found some great substitutions. There is pasta made of corn that is pretty good- tastes like any other kind especially with sauce. The gluten free crackers aren't bad either. They eat a lot of soups and salads and are figuring out ways to substitute. Corn tortillas make good alternatives for wheat ones. Popcorn is a great snack- you can't have dairy, but you can use non-dairy butter or make carmel corn. It is hard to make big dietary changes, but try some new things and maybe you'll find that you don't miss it as much once you find some more things you like. Trader Joes is a great store if you have one in your area- and not expensive either!

 

[perSue]

Thanks AnnK - I'll look into the raw food cooking - something i've not really explored before.

i spent all day yesterday looking at "new" recipes - most of which i dont have the extra money to spend on things (7$ loaf bread which is 3/4 the size of a regular loaf... all the new flours, i can't afford them!).

i really have no appetite anymore. which makes it hard on my family. every time they ask me about a place to go eat - it all comes down to "cant eat 98% what they got there, dont have the money to spend on a "special for me" dish & they'll screw it up anyway."

i just dont wanna deal with food anymore. everything i've ever enjoyed has been taken away.
can't even have the starvation "bread/water" diet! LOL

anyway thanks... i'll def. look into the raw food thing.

 

[perSue]

thanks dancemommy...

i do have TJ's in town - but it is sadly expensive.
i can't afford all the "fake" foods right now. so anything that's bread/pasta-like - I can't afford.

A packet to make one pizza crust, that's no bigger than 12" is 8$ - that's the cheapest.
The fake pastas & alternative flours are twice the price at half the volume.

I've been living off of corn chex & plain popcorn the past few weeks. it's not healthy, but i force that down... i just dont have an appetite, let alone a desire to look at the kitchen.

i dont have a lotta time anymore to cook/prep a bunch. and can't afford the stuff I need... so it's trying to find something other than beans/rice, salad & popcorn to live off of...

i simply have no interest in food anymore.

 

[Dancing Lotus]

Thanks AnnK - I'll look into the raw food cooking - something i've not really explored before.

i spent all day yesterday looking at "new" recipes - most of which i dont have the extra money to spend on things (7$ loaf bread which is 3/4 the size of a regular loaf... all the new flours, i can't afford them!).

i really have no appetite anymore. which makes it hard on my family. every time they ask me about a place to go eat - it all comes down to "cant eat 98% what they got there, dont have the money to spend on a "special for me" dish & they'll screw it up anyway."

i just dont wanna deal with food anymore. everything i've ever enjoyed has been taken away.
can't even have the starvation "bread/water" diet! LOL

anyway thanks... i'll def. look into the raw food thing.

I understand the money thing, that continues to be my one limitation. Sometimes I wish I could afford a person chef and then I would never have to think about any of this, just eat it.

 

[dancemommy]

Are you sure you looked at Trader Joes? We live in a VERY inexpensive area of the country and I've found that it is as cheap as Kroger- although I'm sure the gluten free substitutions could be more. My mom mail orders food from somewhere too- maybe Amazon? Try substituting corn tortillas for bread- they are cheap. Do you like soups? How about chili? You can make a big pot of soup and eat off of it all week. My mom made a casserole last night- it was basically enchiladas- corn tortillas cut in strips, ground beef, taco seasoning, diced tomatoes, olives, jalapenos, and "fake" cheese on top. it was really good. I'm sorry you are struggling. Change is so hard. Hopefully you are feeling better health wise and feeling the benefit of your dietary change.

 

[Contrary Housewife]

I understand the dairy thing as I am lactose intolerant myself. It seems like everything in a restaurant comes with cheese on it.

Rice flour should not be expensive at all. It is a staple of asian grocery stores, so try and find it there instead of in a specialty store.

Rice flour is used in making tempura, so you can have your crispy fried snacks! Here is a simple recipe: Tempura batter | Kitchen Lore

You can use egg beaters in place of real egg. There are also recipes that use soda water (about .50 for a 2 liter). Any recipe you find that calls for beer in the batter can have soda water substituted.

This might be helpful:
RecipeSource: Basic Rice Recipes for Those with Allergies

And remember, we all go through periods where we don't want to cook and have times when nothing seems appetizing. Don't beat yourself up over it, and don't neglect your health.

 

[imagine]

I have a few friends that are celiac and can't have Gluten at all. And I had a milk allerigic child.

We all went through a time when we couldn't figure out what to cook or eat.

Then you learn more and things change.

Some tips for my Celiac freinds.

Google and or ask restaurant what they have that is gluten free. My friend quickly found a list of restaurants they could eat something at. Many had gluten free menus.

read labels they often say if they are gluten free. my friend says that the meat at the Deli at walmart is not Gluten free but the GV packages meat over in the lunch meat section is. The package will tell you.

Also find a gluten free cookbook. Especially since you said you loved to cook.

This crockpot site says that she has gluten free recipes. Her daughter can't have it I think so she makes notes in her recipes.

A Year of Slow Cooking


for the milk I didn't find much of a substitute of cheese when we had to go diary free but soy milk or other milk substitutes works well in other recipes.

Once my friends and I got though the learning curve we started to have fun cooking and planning again.

Good Luck!

 

[MsMarieH]

1) Go to the library and check out cookbooks on gluten free cooking. There's bunches of them out there now.

2) Google it as well. Lots of blogs out there. This is also a good one: Gluten Free Girl and the Chef ? Food-Stories-Recipes-Love

3) If you have a decent blender you might be able to grind your own flours (i.e. from old fashioned oats as one example).

4) This is an opportunity for you to explore new food options. It all comes down to your attitude. I'm sure you can adapt to these circumstances.

 

[Hamada]

I hear you. And I LOVE cheese and bread. Unfortunately they really do make me bloat up. Right now I am on a campaign to stop eating cheese and anything made with flour. It is not easy.

My grocery store has a small gluten free area. I can purchase rice noodles there. They are not exactly like regular noodles but some are pretty close. Also you can find rice noodles and bean threads (thin slippery noodles) in the ethnic aisle. This seems to help me substitute regular noodles and I can still eat many of the same foods. Rice cakes are also a great substitue. Instead of using wonton wrappers how about the spring roll wrappers. Pad Thai is a great meal to make.

Some countries use lettuce leaves instead of tortillas for "tacos". Personally I am not a big regular rice person. I can eat the rice cakes but I am still trying to get used to just plain rice. But it is tasty heated up on the stove and cooking an egg in it.

Many asian foods use rice or bean noodles. Try to think of cooking as an adventure. Maybe you can go to the local library and take out some cook books on gluten free foods.

 

[Lindsey]

I can't relate, but I hope you find some things soon! Check out some of the Yahoo groups. My Mom is a vegan (no meat, dairy, even honey) and on top of that she only eats whole wheats and many of her foods raw. She uses the yahoo groups to find new recipes a lot. Good luck!