Pages

Monday, July 28, 2014

Changing diets ... again


These last two weeks have been very up and down.

I've loved the winter weather, 
both the cold, cold days, and the milder sunny days, too.
I'd be quite happy if this was our weather all year round.


And then there's food.
My life is revolving around food.
First Laura had to give up dairy and sugar (on top of gluten)
three weeks ago. We've managed that, kind of.
(The butterfly cake above is GF, DF and sugarfree,
filled with cashew cream.)

And then I was told to give up sugar and limit starches.
Considering that my diet is already very limited
(no gluten, dairy, high salicylates, or high amines)
it makes for quite a challenge.

Under a nutrition's advice, my diet at the moment
revolves around nuts, coconut, chia seeds, sunflower seeds,
chicken, fish, lamb, eggs, (limited) vegetables and (very limited) fruit.
Coconut, nuts other than cashews, chia and sunflower seeds are foods 
that I normally avoid so I'm hoping that over time I can cope with them.
So far, there have been some reactions, but nothing too unbearable.


This morning I was called to do a day's casual teaching
(for only the second time all year)
and I had to come up with some morning tea and lunch for myself
that fitted all the requirements but also had to be nut-free for school
and ready in 5 minutes.
Yikes! Luckily I had a few bits and pieces in the fridge to throw together,
and fortunately I was too busy at school to feel hungry ;-)
   
Anyway, I'm learning some (more) lessons about food.

 Not just how to cook without some (lots of) foods,
or what is good for you, although there's been a lot of that,
but about my attitudes  and approaches towards food.
This seems to be an ongoing process in my life in the last 5 years.


1. Food is for nourishment. I'm grateful for the energy food gives me,
even if it sometimes is not to my taste.
(although I'm not sure I'll ever like papaya, sorry Ms Nutritionist).

2. A body can get used to anything. I've gotten used to drinking hot water instead of tea,
and giving up chocolate and all sorts of other good-tasting foods, I can change my diet again.


3. Cooking with new foods and new methods takes time. 
Give myself lots of time, and start with a clean bench. 
(Unfortunately my bench looks nothing like this at the moment,
being covered with coconut products, seeds, nuts etc. that don't fit in the pantry)

4. Don't beat myself up about cooking failures, the cost of health foods,
or rejection of foods by certain family members. It's all a learning curve.

Girls' afternoon tea one day, one cupcake tray each. No one ate the dates. One girl wasn't sure about the cacao spread.

5. I'm so grateful I have a Thermomix, it's a real time-saver
and saves my muscles too, heating and stirring weird and wonderful ingredients.


6. Food tastes better outside, with good company.







(and no, he doesn't always smile like this!)

3 comments:

Amy at love made my home said...

I hope that you can work it out. xx

Alysa said...

Aw Fiona! What a food journey you're on. Thanks for your uplifting perspective on making all these changes.

Can you have cocoa powder? Just wondering if you could work chocolate back in that way (if you wanted to...)? Sometimes I make cocoa, oatmeal, almond milk, coconut, molasses (or honey), banana smoothies. I bet you could substitute avocado for the banana if need be.

Thinking of you!

Fiona said...

Hi Alysa, no, no cocoa, just carob. Tried some cacao the other day and reacted to it. Can't do banana, molasses or oatmeal, either, and avocados are something I'd like to work back in. Honey I can do in tiny tiny amounts. Hopefully I can have some of these foods again one day!