what do you eat?

[mamabee]

hello. i'm not sure if this should be posted here, or under good eating??? anyhow..i was wondering what can you eat if you were to cut out refined sugars, wheat and dairy?? i can eat meat, though i really don't like to.. since ds has been born i am afraid to eat anything that might give him a belly ache (mostly veggies and beans) and no acidy stuff (hurts my tummy too) so what is there to eat? i got a horrible rash on my arm, i think cause my main staple of food was 3/4 almond butter and jelly sandwhices a day...and then of course i crave sugar and brake down and eat a box of cookies i was raised on mcdonalds and easy to prepare box foods, so i feel like a virgin with the whole eating naturally and Cooking the healthy food....so, any suggestions on food? and how to prepare it?? is there an easy way to eat naturally?

[oceanbaby]

For an easy way to start, I suggest the Moosewood cookbook by Mollie Katzen. They are pretty easy flexible recipes. It is all vegetarian, and most can be non dairy. There are a lot of fantastic healthy cookbooks, but this one comes to mind as being pretty easy to start off with.

The first step to not eating sugar is not have it in the house! I struggle with not eating too much sugar myself, and this is the only way I can make sure it happens.

Also, check out some of the frozen/boxed foods available at the health food store. Have those on hand for when you just can't deal with figuring out what to make, and you don't have to resort to total junk food. There are so many good ones now.

Another way I make sure that we eat pretty healthy is I have signed up for weely organic produce delivery. I am forced to cook what arrives, which makes me find recipes and use veggies that I would not have bought otherwise. Plus, all the food from this box tastes sooo much better than storebought.

Also, take some time to browse through the Good Eating forum (especially check some posts by Bebe Luna - yum!). There are a lot of good ideas in there.

[kel]

Also newmama, as far as trying to avoid foods that might upset baby's tummy - try not to go overboard. It's easy to keep adding one more thing to the "not to eat" list and pretty soon you can't eat anything - that isn't good for either of you. I would avoid the things that are known gas producers, and avoid too much sugar, but other than that just try not to eat too much of any one type of food. Don't eat just soy, just dairy, just wheat, etc. If you cut all your other proteins out and are just eating meat, that's probably going to start giving you problems, too. For grains/starch you don't have to eat just wheat, you can also eat brown rice, potatoes, oats, and breads that aren't just wheat (such as spelt). Sweet potatoes are another one, soups are a good filler,too.

Two great cookbooks for quick vegetarian cooking are "Vegetarian Pleasures" and "Quick Vegetarian Pleasures". I bet the the library there has them.

xoxo - Kelly