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Have you lost your cooking equilibrium because of significant change that you have had to make to the diet you cook and eat? Do you flounder around wondering what to cook and what not to cook? I have been there and still kind of am there because of some dietary changes we have made in the last years in our family.
Photo courtesy of bradleyolln on Flickr
We used to eat a real food/whole foods diet in our family while my children were small. We ate plenty of homemade bread, fruit, pastured and grass fed meats, homegrown vegetables and fruits as much of the year as we could buy them, and some treats like homemade cookies and cakes and ice cream once in a while. That all changed in 2012 when my 2 daughters became gluten free. My husband followed them a year later.
My struggles, especially over bread, were significant with the gluten free diet. I didn’t like any of the GF breads I made because they were dry and grainy when made with rice flour and didn’t tend to be even edible if they were around 1-2 days after the baking. I felt like everything I had ever learned about baking I now had to throw out the window. The I discovered sourdough bread and I felt like a lightbulb went on. Although my oldest daughter still did not eat any sourdough, it became an option for the rest of the family and it made sense to me. (Here is my story of why I love sourdough so much.)
I gradually learned about strange flours like almond flour and coconut flour and figured out a bread for my oldest daughter who eventually went through the GAPS diet. Life settled into a new normal with a larger food budget and new ways of thinking and baking and cooking. We used much less grain and more vegetables and alternate flours. I found substitutes for pancakes, sandwich bread, banana bread, cookies, and strawberry shortcake that we could all live with.
Fast forward to 3 years later and we find out my husband is in pre-diabetes. As we watch his mother die from complications of diabetes, the motivation to prevent him from going down the path of this awful disease is very high. So with some research I found the low carbohydrate/high fat diet. It has been a steep learning curve for me, although I am adjusting and this time I started at a better place, because of all I have already learned in the last 3 years. My knowledge is building on a stronger and broader base than the last time around. It all helps. But there are still many, many days when I just don’t know what to cook and I wish for the times when cooking and planning for good health was just…..well…..easier.
I know I am not the only person who wrestles with this and I wanted to share a few principles that I am implementing to cope and grow as I adjust to a “new normal.”
Principles of Adjustment
1. Be patient with yourself. It takes time to learn a new way of living and new habits. Sometimes we expect ourselves to jump instantly into a new way of life and just “get it”. But most of us will not “get it” quickly and we need to give ourselves to learn and grow and adapt.
2. Expect to spend more money. Each dietary change has ended up increasing our food budget because we are eating more expensive meat and protein and much of the cheaper grains. I would rather spend the money on preventing health care problems than on treating them, but still there is only so much money. Our family is not rich either so this is a challenge too. See my article on 6 Tips to Managing Costs on a Special Diet for some of my ideas to keep the food budget from spiraling out of control.
3. Research, research, research. There is so much information available on the internet now. It can get absolutely overwhelming. But I have found some go to people where I always start, people like Dr. Axe and Dr. Mercola and people in my health blogging group. I was able to find a Facebook group called Reversing Diabetes which has been invaluable in learning the LCHF diet. When my daughter was on the GAPS diet we were in 2 groups, GAPS Diet for Families and GAPS Kids.
4. Try and come up with a few go to meals to fall back on. This goes back to the research step. If you can find 3-4 easy meals you can put those in every week’s menu for awhile. For me on the LCHF diet these include 1 day each week of chicken in the crockpot, 1 day of stir fry with either sausage or chicken and lots of veggies, and 1 day of hamburgers and roasted veggies. And my husband’s standard breakfast every day is bacon and eggs. Since he loves bacon this is not something he has grown tired of yet; I hope he doesn’t.
5. Get a few easy snacks for really busy times. For the LCHF diet this is things like pepperoni, cheese slices, and “fat bombs”, things like cocoa powder mixed with coconut oil and coconut butter and maybe a bit of stevia. It pays to take 1 day each week to stock up on some of these “convenience foods” in order to have a bit of margin with those whose diets have changed.
Those are my suggestions? How about you? Have you been there? What has helped you to get through and restore your cooking equilibrium?
I love your tips, so true and helpful. So sorry to hear about your mother-in-law and your husband too. Sounds like you are taking some wonderful strides in the right direction for what will be helpful.
Thanks Emily. We are trying and I am seeing some good changes in my husband. He is doing so well and has lost about 20 lbs in the past 6 weeks and his sugars are coming down into the 90’s and low 100’s so we are encouraged. He sure loves his cream and bacon and pepperoni!!!
As the mother of a child with type 1 diabetes (and 8 other seriously ill children), I floundered when I first embarked on these diet changes. I became extremely overwhelmed. Once I gave myself permission to take my time with all of it, I found I was able to enjoy the process. After 4 years of GAPS cooking I relaxed a little and allowed my kids to make much of their own food. (Five of them are now on their own.) The low carb, high fat approach definitely helped us the most and I will forever be grateful for the wealth of information available on the internet. We saw dramatic reduction in insulin needs when we went on GAPS in August 2010.
Very encouraging comments Andrea. There is hope for all of us who flounder at times.
I’m sorry to hear about your mother-in-law and your husband. I hope he is doing better. Great tips! Patience is key!
I use the “fall back recipes” often to save money. Normally these recipe feed my fiance and I for up to 3 days at a time and really helps us save! Same goes for easy snacks to keep us from eyeing everything at the grocery store!
Thanks for the great tips 🙂
Thanks for your comments.
As a mother of 3 children, all with different dietary needs (one needs to be gluten free, one needs to be dairy free, one needs to be soy free), this was the post I needed!!! There are days I totally feel helpless in the kitchen, especially since all that I used to know has been tossed out!!
I understand. Hang in there. It will get easier someday.
I appreciate you sharing your process. So many of us can relate. Your conclusions and wisdom ring true for me as well. Thanks for sharing this super helpful advice!!
I can co-relate and totally agree to what you mentioned in your post! Thank you for the great tips. We have changed our diet a lot over last few years too and have a blog to share my story with you too! Would love to learn more from you.
Glad to have you visit and join me in my journey to better health.
As soon as I saw your title, I had to read your article. I’ve cooked and baked with whole grains and fresh foods all my life, but I always had a few cans of soup, tomato sauce and beans in my pantry for quick lunches and suppers. Then we learned about BPA in our cans, and I went to cooking everything from scratch. We actually saved money with that change, since even in cans we bought everything organic, but the time commitment upped quite a bit.
Last year, my sweetheart was diagnosed with diabetes and made a decision to go on a completely plant-based diet, following the Forks Over Knives plan. It’s healthy and good for us, and I can’t complain about how we’re doing, even though I still eat meat occasionally and dairy products every day.
But cooking isn’t fun anymore. Before the change, I loved to cook and bake, coming up with new twists on old favorites and experimenting with new recipes. Now, I have to rethink every recipe. No fat? I love fat! And I don’t like tofu or seitan. Nor do I like foods that pretend to be something else.
You can’t make a grilled cheese sandwich with cashew cheese, and scrambled tofu and veggie links don’t even come close to satisfying a yen for a sausage and egg breakfast.
On the other hand, as I experiment with a wider variety of grains and different ways to serve up collards, kale and turnips, I’m enjoying the changes I feel in my body, and the sense of satiation, physical and mental, after eating a successful meal.
Your tips are spot on, especially number 1. I would add, “Be kind to yourself and don’t beat yourself up when you flounder.”
You are right; often cooking is not fun after these changes.
I would encourage you to rethink the fat thing. Healthy fats are so good for your body. I have an article I am working on for that very topic.
I have lost my cooking mojo more than I would like to say! It really is a challenge some weeks…or months. Great tips!
Cooking mojo is another great way to say the same thing. I hadn’t thought about that expression.