Multiple "-free" diets

[VisionaryMom]

I am likely going to have to go gluten-, casein-, and soy-free. It's not by choice, and I'm not happy about it. BUT I have to do it, so how do I go about it? How would you approach this type of massive change. To top it off, I should limit my food to low GI foods, which would mean few fruits and very limited rice & potatoes. That's less important for me than the "-free" parts of the diet. Would you just start with fresh veggies & lean cuts of meat and then add things back in?

[tanyalynn]

Come to the Allergies forum.  It's for anyone with reactions to foods or the environment that make it important to avoid those things (how's that for trying to write a super-general description?  :lol).  It's not just IgE allergies, is what I'm saying.

We're gluten and dairy free, and low soy--DS is intolerant but is fine with trace amounts so I just avoid big things like soy milk or tofu and don't worry about soy lecithin or soy oil (besides not liking them nutritionally).  The change was hard at first, but do-able.

As for ideas of what to eat, I'd work on getting a few breakfasts and dinners and eating leftovers for lunch--at least that's been my approach.  Eggs can be cooked in a lot of ways, there's an egg custard recipe around that I keep meaning to try, cristeen and deditus both have versions that look super-yummy.  We sometimes do leftover veggies, and I _think_ adding more fat to a meal lowers the GI impact of the meal when considered as a whole.  Not sure, but fat intake is something to consider.

Dinners--for a long time, our basic was meat + rice/quinoa/potatoes/sweet potatoes + green veggie.  If you're okay with legumes, then that opens up a lot of possibilities, and starchy foods like sweet potatoes and parsnips and carrots are tasty and filling if they'd work with your needs.  Dishes like chili or ham and navy bean soup, lentil soups, may all be familiar and also naturally gluten/dairy/soy free.  Stir-fries are tasty--they're fine without soy sauce, I was surprised by that--but some folks grate cauliflower and substitute it for rice.  Or use zucchini strips (from a peeler) as noodles.  www.marksdailyapple.com is one place to look for recipes.

For us, fat is really helpful, and cutting out dairy, you may be cutting out a fair chunk of your usual fat intake.  Some people do quite well on a high fat diet, I know I feel better when I eat more fat, so that's something to consider--deliberately adding fat to dishes, I mean, and choosing fatty cuts of meat rather than lean. 

[ASusan]

Last week, I ordered a menu planner from www.heartofcooking.com

It even has shopping lists for each week of recipes.

The recipes are a GAPS-friendly Menu and I selected the Egg and Dairy-free version with Nut-free options; Gluten, grain, sugar, soy, legume, and starch-free.

PM me for more info.