I know I'm not answering the question

[cjsmith]

People ask "What CAN you eat?" and I say "Well, no _________, no ___________ of any kind, no ________ including __________ ..."

That's not what they asked. It's the best and shortest answer I have at the moment, but it's in an unhelpful and inconvenient form. The harried admin trying to order lunch for thirty-five will understand only that I cannot have anything the restaurant offers. The guy doing the Costco snack-food run can read labels for an hour and still not find something I can eat. It's not even, when you get right down to it, a useful answer for myself. I know mainly what to avoid. It's a lot faster and easier to know what to go find.

[LJ-CUT TEXT="After five-plus weeks looking around, I can at least start this list now."]
If something's on here, presume that what's there is just that thing plain: ie chicken, NOT honey-roasted chicken or Kentucky fried chicken, JUST chicken.

I can eat these ingredients:
All vegetables except potatoes, turnips, beets, carrots, and parsnips.
Almost any meat or poultry. (Careful of the sugar-cured stuff, maple sausage, and the like.)
Eggs.
Any herb or spice I can currently think of.
Mustard (the condiment as well as the spice).
Oils such as olive oil, sesame oil, peanut oil.
Butter and margarine.
Soy products such as tofu.
Some fruits people don't tend to think of as fruits, such as tomato. (Need more examples here)
Any cheese. There are fussy details here, but frankly, this will do.
Unsweetened plain yogurt.
Any nuts.
Peanuts (technically a legume, but they're okay).
Unsweetened peanut butter or almond butter.

I dislike, but can eat:
Broccoli.
Mushrooms.
Artificial sweeteners.

I can eat in moderation:
Beans and legumes.
??Coconut??
??Milk??
Very dark chocolate with almost no sugar in it (careful of those "89% dark" but "16g sugar / serving" bars! Grab the "5g sugar in the whole bar" kind instead).
Lemon juice or lime juice used as flavoring or in cooking.

The basic things to avoid:
Sugars, fruits, starches, grains.

Nonobvious corollaries - also avoid:
Most commercially-made salad dressings, ketchup, bbq sauce, chili sauce, salsas, canned soups, marinades, dips, spaghetti sauces, Chicken Tonight sauces, and the like.
Most spicy foods made in Chinese restaurants in America.
Most fast-food burgers - full of sugar even if you ditch the bun.
Corn in any form including corn starch.
Alcohol including those stupid Atkins-bar "sugar alcohols".
Caffeine (may be unrelated to the yeast control diet, but it's listed in my treatment handout).
Fish or seafood of any kind (completely unrelated; these simply make me throw up).

Basically, if it isn't a fruit and isn't bread, and it's on the periphery of the grocery store instead of down one of the aisles, there's a good chance I can have it. If it is commercially prepared, there's a good chance I can't have it.[/LJ-CUT]

More helpful yet would be lists of made things somebody could buy rather than lists of raw ingredients. I'll get there.

Comments

[brooksmoses]

Some fruits people don't tend to think of as fruits, such as tomato. (Need more examples here)

What comes to mind on that for me is: Cucumbers, squash (of various sorts), and peppers. And possibly snow peas, where what you're eating is mostly the pod. Are any of those workable for you?

[racerxmachina.livejournal.com]

What I'm hearing is: no processed foods. Which is a yay idea for anyone!

[exvapi.livejournal.com]

And after these five weeks, has the treatment caused any noticeable improvement in the symptoms?

[cassidyrose.livejournal.com]

I am sure you have explained it, but I probably missed it--what are te food restrictions for? I am just curious.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

None of them are named in my handout, so I suspect I can eat all of them. Some of them are a bit starchy, but they're not massively high-glycemic like carrots or potatoes. I can get more detail from my doc on Monday.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Unless you want to eat with normal human beings ever again. :-)

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

No. My doctor may be able to detect improvement, though; I see her on Monday. She may also have reasons why improvement would be very slow. Someone who's had Lyme as long as I have should expect a treatment range measured in years.

[lesliepear.livejournal.com]

I thought of humus (chickpeas) - can you eat that?

I assume the diet is to control the yeasty side effects of the antibiotics, not to treat the lyme disease? I was into yeast control in the past - there were 2 books I had/used - The Yeast Connection and The Yeast Connection Cookbook by a Dr. Cook (or was it Crook) - they might be helpful.

Has it helped?

[quasigeostrophy.livejournal.com]

You hang out with normal human beings? Wow.

;-)

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure I was ever clear about that on LJ, actually. The dietary restrictions are mainly to prevent systemic fungal/yeast overgrowth in my body. I have been diagnosed with Lyme disease, and am on antibiotics measured in grams per day; because this kills off the good guys as well as the bad guys, I need probiotics to keep my gut working, antifungal medication, and this anti-yeast diet. (And sleep meds because the antibiotics also cause insomnia. And lots of vitamins, including one by injection. Yay fun!)

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Chickpeas = beans/legumes, so yes in moderation. I need to find something I enjoy scooping it up with. I adore hummus.

Hasn't helped much yet, that I can see, but I'll find out more (including whether my expectations are reasonable) when I see my doc on Monday.

[hopeforyou.livejournal.com]

Someone who's had Lyme as long as I have should expect a treatment range measured in years.

And that, my friend, is truly what sucks.

From what I can tell, too, is that recovery and the route there varies from person to person, depending on their immune system and if they have any other coinfections (did you check for those?) or virii to deal with on an ongoing basis (eg HPV, CMV, HSV, etc.).

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

I gotta earn a living. ;-)

[wordweaverlynn.livejournal.com]

This is a very smart idea. I should probably list the things I can eat, too.

I hope your restrictions help you heal!

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

And that, my friend, is truly what sucks.

Plus the whole "years-long treatment is NOT a cure, just a stopgap" thing. That sucks too.

We checked for B.henselae, probably the most common coinfection, but that's it. (Negative.) Best I can tell, my immune system has got to be the studliest thing I've ever heard of. After years of this, untreated, I'm not particularly sick. O'course, that may mean that my improvement will be correspondingly minor and gradual, too. 'SOK. My favorite look-on-the-bright-side phrase is "Hey, I'm not DEAD."

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Thank you! Hey, I'll take celery off your hands. I can eat it fine, and it's one of the few things I can put almond butter on!

[tenacious-snail.livejournal.com]

I have often tell people some of the things I can eat

It sounds like you can have salads dressed in lemon juice and oil, perhaps with mustard or herbs, garlic, etc. Perhaps plain canned tuna, or grilled chicken?

[hopeforyou.livejournal.com]

Would it help to make specific lists of what you can have from restaurants?

This might get you started:

Western:
Grilled chicken or turkey
Pot roast - roast beef with big roasted chunks of vegetables
Grilled chicken salads, dressing on the side
Steak
Salads with/without meat, dressing on the side or a light vinaigrette
Chicken Molé salads
Tofu salads with veggies and a peanut dressing

Other:
Indian food without rice or naan: chicken tikka, chana masala, palak paneer, most pakoras (made with chickpea flour, NOT grains), chicken tikka masala, most curries and vindaloos... these sauces have yoghurt and tomato bases and should be okay for you.

Greek: Greek salads with feta cheese, chicken schwarma, chicken kebab with veggies, falafel (chickpea only, no wheat in mix), falafel salads, gyros on salad, hummus, olives, and tahini.

Thai: curries without the rice, soups without noodles (you can probably make a request to have Tom Ka Kai/Tom Kha Gai without noodles in it, too). Chicken or beef satay with peanut sauce.

Italian: Probably best to give up on this one.

Chinese: Pretty much the same.

Hope this kinda/sorta helps.

[hopeforyou.livejournal.com]

My favorite look-on-the-bright-side phrase is "Hey, I'm not DEAD."

Kinda where I've gotten to, too, especially since I have had some excruciating pain days w/ this ick, and since my best friend coded twice and they had to resuscitate her in hospital...

Life is a good thing. It's better than the alternative.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Yes, I can dress salads in lemon juice and oil, or oil and vinegar, or even oil and balsamic vinegar if it isn't the sweetened kind of balsamic. No tuna for me for other reasons, but yes, grilled chicken. I am going to get soooo much better at cooking meats, I can tell. :-)

How are you feeling these days? You've been rather knocked about by life lately. Will an Indian-food lunch run be a doable thing soon?

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Life is a good thing. It's better than the alternative.

Yep. When it stops being better than the alternative, I reserve the right to stop playing. So far, I'm still in.

And I'm amazed I didn't take more damage from 17y of Lyme. I still can't wrap my head around that one. Why am I so lucky as to still have a functioning heart and nervous system? Why am I so unlucky as to have Lyme at all? Life is unfathomable.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Good lists! Thank you! For pot roast I'd have to skip the carrots and potatoes, which are often the only veggies in there, but that's okay -- they're easy to pick out. I'd better skip most Thai due to the heavy sweetening of a lot of the sauces and due to the fish paste. But Indian, aaaah, that I've really got to explore. I have a either-teach-me-to-cook-or-let's-eat-yummy-food-out "date" on Sunday, and I'll expand that list a bunch then.

[cassidyrose.livejournal.com]

What I'm hearing is: no processed foods.

Well, fruit and whole grains are hardly what I would consider "processed foods" let alone carrots, potatoes and tomatoes and these are all things she either cannot eat or needs to avoid.

[erisian-fields.livejournal.com]

Hummus is awesome on raw veggies like pepper strips, snap peas/snow peas, celery, broccoli, cauliflower, etc.

[just-cyd.livejournal.com]

i tell people "meat and green leafies". that seems to give most people a good clue, although they just look at me and blink while they try to process that. 'cept dad, who will still ask about 649587 other things, and i just keep repeating "is it meat? is it a green leafy? no? then i CAN NOT HAVE IT." in terms of meal-planning, that seems to cover most of the bases.

cheated WAY too much this week, and my body is responding accordingly. a good reminder of why i'm doing what i'm doing - crap makes me feel like crap!