Anyone got some meal suggestions?
I’m going through my pantry and pulling out all the shit that is bad for it and taking it to the food bank. This scare, regardless what the doc says on Monday, is enough for me to get up off my ass and get shit in order. The dairy is going to be the killer.
Good thing I bought that fucking ice cream machine in December.
schrodingers_cat
Tell us the restrictions then we can give you suggestions.
ETA: Things that are easy to digest, off the top of my head
1. Homemade yogurt
2. Fresh fruit
3 Moong dal
Juice Box
Low fat. The usual cause in a non-drinker is a gallstone.
Walker
I just saw the post about the ER visit. I had this in September. It was a gallstone. You can tell a gallstone because the pain passes almost instantly when it is over. I was white as a sheet in the ER (everyone was panicking) and then I was fine.
I had my gall bladder removed. You have to cut back on the fat, because you cannot digest it as fast, but you do not need to eliminate it.
p.a.
Losing weight (forgive me for mentioning it) is pancreas-friendly.
Villago Delenda Est
John, let your doctor take a look at you first. Seriously. Before you go into the dietary panic mode.
Moderation. I’ve got type II diabetes, you just need to avoid some stuff and cut back with that. No more Oreo and Milk binges, for example.
p.a.
whfoods.org
Does not seem to have sub rosa agenda.
bystander
Stomach soothing ginger turmeric tea.
This recipe has nothing to do with your pancreas so far as I know. But I second the “wait until you see the doctor” diagnosis. While you’re waiting, you could get busy making this tea.
Walker
@Juice Box:
If it is a gallstone (mine was) he should have an ultrasound to verify. All my doctors told me that if a gallstone actually hits the pancreas, it is time to stop talking about diet/low fat and to have the bladder removed.
I did and could not be happier. Biggest non-event ever. The only problem is that a lot of fatty food will give you indigestion because you can no longer digest it quickly.
Another Scott
@Villago Delenda Est: This. Moderation is key.
I don’t have any serious heath issues (so far, knock wood), but my weight has creeped up over the last 20 years – especially over the last 3. I tried all kinds of diet modifications and nothing made much difference to my weight or cholesterol. I’ve finally learned that there’s no magic diet for me – I just have to consistently eat much less than I did when I walked at least 5 miles of hills a day (including up about 10 flights of stairs). And I had to relearn what real hunger is – a craving at particular times of day isn’t hunger… After a few days, eating less becomes the new normal.
Krugman stopped eating 2 days a week, also too.
Good luck, JC!
Cheers,
Scott.
Roger Moore
My suggestion is to wait until you hear from the doctor before emptying the pantry of stuff you think might be a problem.
JPL
No matter what the doctor says, ditch the processed food.
OzarkHillbilly
Wrong move, John. Now is the time for an orgy of eating all the things you love and will soon have to give up forever and ever and ever until death do you part from this vale of woe.
Starfish
Now I can tell you how jealous I was feeling about that ice cream machine. I have a person in my house with a dairy allergy so the only dairy we keep around is some cheese because cheese is really difficult to give up.
Baud
@OzarkHillbilly:
Baudified.
Roger Moore
Also, too, when your doctor finally diagnoses you, he will probably have a bunch of suggestions about what to do to deal with your problem. They’re probably going to be a better guide than stuff from a bunch of random people on the internet.
OzarkHillbilly
@Baud: It’s always the right time for an orgy.
Roger Moore
@Starfish:
There are some really good non-dairy options you can make with an ice cream maker. Sorbet is always good, and coconut milk based ice cream is really good- if you like coconut.
bobbo
Eat less.
Karmus
Let’s see, ice cream machine acquired in December, now this in a span of (checks watch, oh, don’t have watch), well, anyway, I see no connection.
Starfish
@Roger Moore: We end up using coconut milk and coconut oil in a lot of ways to cope with our lack of dairy.
cosima
About 7 years ago I lost a lot of weight, pretty painlessly, using Prevention’s Flat Belly Diet Cookbook. I didn’t do any of the baloney with starting off drinking their crazy water (too much work, plain water is fine) or fasting or any such nonsense, I just chose a bunch of recipes that I liked and started cooking healthier. Their pork taco recipe is so delicious. Lots of hummus & veg. Sadly, I became a backslider and now am getting back to being serious about eating right to get rid of the middle-age pounds that have crept back on, and dramatically affected pretty much every bit of my health.
Find a good, healthy, cookbook and work at cultivating good cooking habits — whether or not your pancreas is going haywire.
dmsilev
@Another Scott: I was in a similar boat, and what helped was to make a conscious decision to return to that 5 or 6 miles a day of walking, and stick with it (that’s the hard part). The combination of moderating my diet (mostly being better at portion control rather than absolutely cutting out things) and the additional low-impact exercise worked quite well.
Poptartacus
Breakie miso soup
Lunch mashed coliflower and spinach bbq sauce
Dindin tuna/salmon salad
Snack sunflower seeds olives stuffed with garlic
Live long and prosper
gene108
Find out what it is before deciding on a diet.
Probably can’t hurt to go with what is generally considered healthy: fruits, veggies, lean meats, lentils, beans, high fiber foods, etc.
Can you ice cream machine make sorbets? If it can, then you can use it on your new pancreas friendly diet.
Karmus
@dmsilev: That, roughly speaking, is the sort of approach that enabled me to gradually shed about 110 lbs over the course of a long time. For me, more lifestyle, daily habit, persistence and consistency (and lots of retrograde motion), not something trendy with a name.
Karmus
@Poptartacus:
Love it
Emma
Before the Tamoxifen got me, I lost 40 pounds using Michael Pollan’s dictum: Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants. Even through Tamoxifen I have managed to keep most of it off. I am a 3 quarter vegetarian. I eat mostly fish and eggs but will have a couple of chicken, beef, or pork meals a week if I feel like it, mostly in stir-fry form. I am now trying to cut back on dairy but Jesus it’s hard.
However, to the point of matter; John, you are putting the cart before the horse. Wait until the diagnosis.
Elmo
@dmsilev: where do you find the time to walk 6 miles tho? Isn’t that at least an hour and a half?
Mike in NC
Last time I cleaned out the pantry (a few months back) there were several items that read, “Best Before July 2014” (and so forth).
gene108
@Emma:
Yeah, tell me about it. And I am not able to drink black coffee. I need milk in it.
Rob Roser
Have you tried transfusions of baby blood?
Steve in the ATL
@Roger Moore:
That is preposterous. Someone ban this poster!
Amaranthine RBG
Kale. The answer to dietary questions is always kale.
Cermet
While mostly irrelevant to your condition but not to your health – most people here (i.e. amerikans) eat far too much sugar and refined carbohydrates. Even many foods have sugar that are hidden (milk and most all processed foods.) Diet soda is not the answer for standard soda’s.
mai naem mobile
Gotta agree with what other people are saying in this thread. Wait for the diagnosis. Some diagnoses require stuff you don’t expect. Renal diets make you give up brown bread and eat white bread. Some abdominal stuff,you have yo give up seeds. You really don’t know. Unless you’re lactose intolerant yogurt is good for you because of the probiotics. That’s all I got.
I'll be Frank
My BH finds twisty yoga to be helpful to be helpful with the cranky gall bladder. Awareness of a cranky GB was brought on by a big platter of deep fried gulf coast seafood (with onion rings!) Avocados are also a big no-no. Salmon is still ok and bacon seems to have survived as well as ice cream, so it isn’t just a matter of avoiding all fats, but rather the “wrong” fats. It will be an exercise in identifying your triggers, so get yourself a journal.
Cermet
@gene108: Tried almond or coconut or cashew milks? A tiny dash (and I mean a tiny bit) of cinnamon can work (and cinnamon helps prevent insulin intolerance by cells.)
Karmus
@Cermet: This reminds me, I tried pea milk for the first time a few days ago (“Ripple” brand, but no booze!). It was better than I expected.
Lizzy L
Here’s what works for me:
1) First, find out what’s wrong. I have heart disease (I had a heart attack 12 years ago) and a genetic pre-disposition to diabetes. (My mother was an insulin-taking diabetic.)
2) Ditch the processed food, especially the snacks. Avoid fast food. Eat good food that you cook yourself.
3) Eat less to lose/maintain a healthy weight. As we get older we need fewer calories. I use a food tracker app to keep track of my caloric intake.
4) No extra sugar. This is a good thing to do even if diabetes is not your issue. I get most of my sugar from whole fruit.
5) Find an exercise you like, and do it. Walking is simple and beneficial. I walk 1.5 to 2.5 miles at a 3 miles per hour pace 3 days a week, and go to the gym 2-3 days a week to do a strength and stretching workout.
6) Minimize stress. I stopped watching TV 2-3 years ago.
I wish you the best!
tobie
Throughout most of last year I was swimming 4 times a week and doing “intermittent” fasting and I lost weight and got in shape really fast. Intermittent fasting entails limiting your eating period to 8 hours a day. So if you finish dinner by 8 pm, you fast till 12 pm the next day. With exercise in the morning, your body burns up everything in the system, which is supposed to be good for your all-around health. I fell off the wagon after multiple surgeries in October and November but am looking forward to starting up again. The method is painless and it works.
gene108
@Amaranthine RBG:
Not if you have kidney stones.
Jeffg166
According to the interwebs:
The best food choices for those suffering from chronic pancreatitis are fruits, vegetables, whole grains, legumes, and nonfat/low fat dairy, and lean cuts of meat. Healthy fats such as avocado, olive oil, fatty fish, nuts, and seeds, may be consumed with careful portion control.
gene108
@Cermet:
I got with almond milk at home. Outside of home is the hard part.
Doug R
I second the more exercise and slightly healthier food. Keep those carbs and sodium down to healthier levels. I don’t have any prostate problems yet, so I avoid the “low fat” options because they usually shovel in more sugar and salt.
I used to work for one of those national delivery companies, my routes always had lots of residences. 80-100 stops a day meant 10m from the street to the front door and 10m back, times 80 so 1600m or at least a mile of walking a day. Since I retired, I’ve put on about 15 pounds :(
schrodingers_cat
Why this anti-dairy jihad? Is this a new fad?
Also too, all those nut milks are calorific including coconut milk.
James E. Powell
@Elmo:
Probably closer to two, unless it’s fast walking. I go with the bike, 10-15 miles with some moderate hills.
Karmus
@tobie:
That’s cool, it led me to this article. Thanks!
gene108
@mai naem mobile:
That is only when you have snd stage renal disease (ESRD, Stage 5 kidney disease) and you are having trouble clearing excess phosphorus from foods through your urine, if you are still making urine.
A renal diet for healthier kidneys can include whole grains, if controlling blood sugar levels or weight loss is a bigger concern.
Litlebritdifrnt
@Cermet: That is what I love about being back in England, the lack of sugar in food. No matter where you went in the US to eat everything was loaded with sugar, even pasta sauce. Tomatoes are sweet enough on their own without adding sugar to the damn thing. We have a very strict savoury or sweet way of eating, most Brits would pass out if you even suggested flavouring bacon with maple syrup or worse still pouring syrup onto bacon and eggs. I would never eat any sweet stuff in the US because my body was getting all the sugar it needed in my regular diet. Now I am back in the UK I actually crave some of the sweet stuff occasionally to top my sugar levels up.
Karmus
@Lizzy L:
While all of your suggestions sound good, I heartily endorse this one.
dmsilev
@Elmo: I walk to and from work. It’s about a mile each way straight-shot, but I take a bit more time, do an extended dog-leg route, and get it to about 2 miles each way. I walk quickly, so that’s about 15-20 minutes extra each way (35-40 minutes total in the morning and then again at the end of the day). Then, 15 or 20 minutes of walking at lunch, and I’m at those 5 miles.
On the weekends, an hour or so walk with no particular destination, and then short trips running errands and the like.
sukabi
@Roger Moore: there’s always almond milk if coconut doesn’t float your boat.
gene108
@schrodingers_cat:
But nut milks are low in phosphorus, unlike dairy. Why others don’t like dairy, I do not know.
Karmus
@schrodingers_cat:
Dairy is the debbil, evil henchcreature of gluten.
Rex
@schrodingers_cat: Not really, 35 to 45 calories per cup if you go unsweetened. Rice milk is high calories though.
AnnaN
Take a deep, slow, breath. Then another one. Now hop on Netflix and watch Archer and eat in moderation until you go to your doctor on Monday. If your heart is fine, you will not in the next two days. Relax. Deep slow breath. Archer – all the seasons.
Karmus
Actually, John, don’t listen to these people. Follow your natural inclination, and research and read everything available that is even tangentially related to your symptoms until you are so wound up that your gall bladder or other offending organ ejects itself from your body. If you’re home when it happens, bonus pup treat!
schrodingers_cat
@Litlebritdifrnt: I never got the appeal of bacon and maple syrup together. Even the Chinese food here is laden with sugar. And don’t get me started about food fads.
Eat fat, don’t eat fat. Gluten free this and gluten free that. Cauliflower pizza crust. Latest is coconut oil in everything. Its crazy.
tobie
@Karmus: A friend of mine who spends a lot of time researching health issues and is very knowledgeable about all things body-related told me about intermittent fasting. I spoke to my doctor about it and she was enthusiastic about it, too. Apparently burning up all the waste in your body is supposed to be a good preventative measure for cancer. The one hitch is that if you have cancer, intermittent fasting is not necessarily safe.
NotMax
see: Douglas Adams – Don’t panic.
Oscar Levant mode doesn’t suit anyone except him.
schrodingers_cat
@tobie: What do you mean by intermittent fasting. How do you do it?
Baud
@Karmus:
Hmmm. I should have more dairy. I need better glutes.
RSA
@Emma:
This is almost exactly my diet, except for the eggs. That and exercise have pretty much worked to keep my weight where I want it over the past several years.
schrodingers_cat
@Baud: Start with rabri
tobie
@schrodingers_cat: Karmus linked to this article, which gives the broad outlines of intermittent fasting. Essentially you monitor when you eat rather than what you eat. In the beginning phase you try to limit the window in which you eat to 8 hours a day. So, if you finish dinner by 8 pm, you don’t eat anything until 12 pm the next day. You’re allowed water, black tea, black coffee in the off periods. I found that if I did my laps in the pool in the morning and waited till 12 to eat, the method was really effective. I fit into clothing I hadn’t worn in 20 years after a mere 5 months.
trollhattan
@OzarkHillbilly: @Baud:
You guys need to open a clinic for celebrities somewhere in the high desert/on the coast. You’ll make a bundle!
To Cole: get a definitive diagnosis before going apeshit, but it’s never a bad time to evaluate one’s diet to find ways to add fresh items currently underrepresented. Has to be in concert with what’s available at the Piggly Wiggly, but what can you do short of moving to civilization?
I’ll show myself out now.
trollhattan
@Baud:
I demand all the gluten, damnit!
Suzanne
@Litlebritdifrnt:
……this American wants to hurl reading this. Is this a thing people do?! Maple syrup is for pancakes, French toast, maaaaaaaybe oatmeal if you’re feeling crazy.
Villago Delenda Est
@Roger Moore: ESPECIALLY Baud.
NotMax
@Suzanne
Also too, yams and Brussels sprouts. As part of the cooking/prep process, not slathered on top.
trollhattan
@Suzanne:
Did someone say “BaconFest”?
Villago Delenda Est
@schrodingers_cat: When I was first diagnosed with diabetes, I was told to “avoid white foods”…to include white rice (brown OK), milk, potatoes, pasta (yeah, right, that will work), but interestingly enough, avoid dark fowl meats, go for the light (turkey in particular). However, with years of experience in blood sugar monitoring, I’ve found that moderation in white stuff is key. If there’s an alternative to the white stuff, go with it, but be moderate when you your’e faced with white stuff. I no longer drink a glass of milk a day, for example, which I had been doing since toddlerhood. I still use milk (1%) with dry cereal, but not every day, perhaps once or twice a week, tops. I’ll still have 2-4 Oreos with a glass of milk, once or twice a week. Ice cream perhaps as often or less.
I’m using coconut milk for coffee now, instead of half and half.
debbie
@Villago Delenda Est:
Is skim milk equally bad in regard to diabetes?
Shell
Has anyone tried those Earth Balance sticks, a butter substitute especially for baking? The stuff itself smells and tastes like rancid oil. Im a little afraid of ruining a batch of cookies using it.
Ruckus
@Emma:
I guess I’m lucky, I’ve been off dairy for almost 40 yrs as I’m very lactose intolerant. I’m back on my lowish carb diet with fish as the predominate main course, with chicken and some pork and yes some red meat, with weeds and other assorted veg. Try to walk a bunch every week, also trying to understand how to get my self to do
moresome stretchy band exercising.I did find a way to eat less, shop at whole paycheck.
@gene108:
Kale is a real good way to lose weight. Start the kale diet and very soon you will hate all food. There is a strong possibility of rebound eating though.
I have some real good kale recipes but they all have the last line which is to dump it all in the trash. I believe that’s the only thing that makes them good.
Waiting for a diagnosis is a great idea, but so is proper eating habits. And while it is better to develop those habits when young, it’s never too late to start. Look through these comments and you will find a few common things.
Low(ish) fat is not bad as long as there is an understanding about not all fat is bad, you have to eat the right kind.
Low(ish) carbs is not bad as long as it is reasonable. Go to the store, find the snack aisle and avoid it like the plague.
If you like food that eats other foods, avoid red meat as much as possible. You don’t have to stop altogether but limited intake is better.
Stopping milk intake has never been easier, there is soy, almond, coconut milks. Cheese is another issue for some, like a lot of other issues, moderation is your friend.
Exercise is not training for the olympics. If it hurts all the time and is taking hours out of your day, it’s not the exercise, it’s your need to do everything in excess.
Nothing I’ve said here is new, strange, weird, or terribly hard. We are an animal that is used to habits. You want change you have to change those habits. If what you have been eating is not good, if what you have been doing is laying about, change those habits. This is not a true addiction, it is habits. Addictions are hard to change, they are physical, habits are mental, they are practice, practice, practice, and many are bad practice. Change your practices and the habits will change.
Villago Delenda Est
@debbie: If it’s white, it’s bad. Which means you don’t splurge. You moderate like mad, avoid most of the time. The fat content isn’t central to the badness, as I understand it.
Lulymay
@Cermet:
I have discovered that many of those “clean” folks who look down their nose at me having one or two glasses of wine with my evening meal are the same “clean” folks that cart 2 or 3 BOXES of Coke out of their vehicle every week. Worst thing to consume known to man!
Don’t know why, but ever since I can remember, couldn’t stand to drink milk, put things like yoghurt or cottage cheese or sour cream in my mouth. Have researched but does not fit the case for lactose intolerance.
As eldest of 7 kids and not much family moolah, ate very little meat and mostly vegs (esp. potatoes – we’re Irish) and have just always eaten that way. However married an ardent carnivore addicted to both lots of fat and salt. Was never overweight until I approached age 50, kids left home and as both of us worked, treated ourselves to more than normal dinners out. Disaster!!! Ended up gaining around 50 lbs and could find no way to rid myself — seems it really liked me.
Enter an arthritic hip and urgent need for hip replacement. Was totally motivated to lose weight in order to achieve better than average recovery.
Was in so much pain, it affected my appetite. Dr. prescribed many different pain killers which didn’t worked. Finally resorted to Oxy which didn’t kill the pain but sure made me sleep. Ended up having a light breakfast at about 11 am and then a small plate of low fat fare for dinner. Over a period of 18 months, lost 50 lbs. Been nearly 3 years and have managed to keep weight off by eating the same regimen. Sometimes vary up to 5 pounds but it doesn’t stay.
Best thing that ever happened to me was to have that darn hip problem.
MomSense
You can make wonderful sorbet with an ice cream machine.
Honus
@dmsilev:This. Better still, go to a gym. Start out going every day. You don have to do much, maybe 15-20 minutes on the elliptical nor stationary bike. Get you pulse up to 123-140. After a few weeks you can’t cut back to every other day. Two doctors told me that regular exercise is more effective than anything I could eat or not eat or any medication they could prescribe to help control cholesterol, sugar and gout. They were correct. I have terrible personal and family history with all of those conditions and since I joined a gym five years ago all those conditions have abated.
chris
@p.a.: Thanks for that website, whfoods.org, it has some interesting stuff and tasty recipes.
At the end of last August I bought a good digital scale with the intention of doing something about my weight. I didn’t weigh any more than I did when I was 18 and had a 28 inch waist but the weight had… shifted and I couldn’t see my… feet. I was working class fit, able to lift a 100 pound bag of sand off the ground on to my shoulder and walk with it but unable to run a block without panting hard. (Thanks, cigarettes.)
The first thing I did was stop consuming the 10 teaspoons of sugar I had put in my coffee and tea all my life. I lost 6 pounds in 10 days!
Since then I’ve gone on to lose another 20 pounds and am now in sight of my goal. And my feet! All done with a cheap kitchen scale and a calorie counting app called myfitnesspal.com* and some pointers from reddit. Given my exercise regime I’m allowed about 2000 calories a day and as long as I keep to 1800 or less I lose about a pound a week and still get to eat a small piece of chocolate every day. So much winning!
*There are lots of calorie counters out there I just like that one. It’s not a happy phone app but it works well on the computer.
Suzanne
@NotMax: White people fuck everything up. GOD THAT’S GROSS.
Chacal Charles Calthrop
Just go for a healthy diet (fruits, vegetables, olive oil, nuts) and learn how to cook. Consider cooking for yourself practice for cooking for your guests, and focus on cooking vegetables and whole grains (which I’m guessing will be what the doctor orders). The guy who founded SeriousEats.com decided to try being vegan for a month, and he liked the experience so much that he was still doing it five years later: seriouseats.com/2016/03/the-vegan-experience-year-five.html. If you need to cut out dairy, and you want to cut out meat, it’s a great place to learn how to cook.
debbie
@Villago Delenda Est:
Thanks. I need to look into this.
Aleta
Smoothie out of frozen blueberries, yogurt and enough liquid to mix.
For ex: 100% tart cherry or pomegrante juice.
(Normally o.j. or any juice is great, though higher in sugar. Least sugar: plain water w/ lemon juice or soy milk.)
You can throw in a cut apple for high texture.
At the end you can add banana or some almond butter, whatever.
or
Put frozen blueberries in a cereal bowl, pour any milk-like substance over them. Mix hard together by hand, chopping until the milk freezes (turns blue) from contact w/ the blueberries.
Can flavor with lemon or cherry juice, vanilla extract (or almond or mint)
Can’t hurt to drink some water every hour. Add mint or ginger.
Poached eggs are good (especially if you wanted to reduce oil for a couple of days). Can also poach them gently in hot soup or broth.
Steamed fresh spinach with rice + wild rice, some sesame dressing
Grate fresh ginger onto soup or other things. Boxed squash soup or red pepper-tomato soup are good.
Bake squash halves in a pan of water. Baked yams. Steamed carrots, or frozen tamales if you have alternative grocery store.
Drink hot water w/ low salt, org. veg bouillion cubes (European is good type) from health food store.
Make carrot juice. Lentil soup. Popcorn from scratch.
Honus
@Baud: what are you talking about? There is absolutely no gluten in dairy.
Ruckus
@schrodingers_cat:
Those are fads. People follow fads, it’s because people don’t have a clue and don’t want to do any work to find one. Most of the recommendations here are not to stop every different type of food, mostly they are foods in moderation is better and a balance is necessary. Those snack foods and sweet foods are there because they are easy and cheap. That means profits. Take HFCS (please) in everything. It was and is very cheap, it adds a huge amounts of calories to say a loaf of bread by making it sweeter, and adds nothing else. People eat more bread, they buy more bread, people interested only in profit just scored, people interested in health just lost.
From the sound of it you cook from scratch, a lot of your own food. For some/many people that is difficult, both from knowledge and time standpoints.
You asked about dairy, people not drinking milk. I can not because I can not digest lactose. It took a long time for me to find what was causing my issues, but finding it was great. And now there are ways to eat cereal some mornings, which wasn’t possible for me decades ago. Nut milks.
Another Scott
@Litlebritdifrnt: It was a real shock when we went to Japan ~ ’98 or so. They have lots of beautiful pastry shops in Tokyo, but if you go in and get something and bite into expecting some immediate sugar and fat high, you’ll be really, really disappointed. It’s good, but it’s different, and isn’t terribly sweat and creamy.
And probably much, much better for you.
Cheers,
Scott.
randy khan
@Amaranthine RBG:
Absolutely. Buy a lot of kale . . . and then throw it on the compost heap when you don’t eat it.
narya
My favorite two cookbooks for restructuring your diet are the Moosewood Low-Fat Cookbook (which is freaking awesome) and Sally Schneider’s “A New Way to Cook.” Both emphasize flavor and whole/real food. Personally, I love my dairy–butter and cheese, in particular–but I moderate with them. And I eat a lot of bread, but I bake it myself, I use my own sourdough starter, and I use whole grains (whole wheat flour, oat bran, ground flax seeds, etc.). Peter Reinhart’s Whole Grain Baking book is good for this.
Another Scott
@trollhattan: Here ya go.
Yum!
I’ve been adding 4T (per 2.5 pound loaf) in my whole wheat bread recipes in my bread machine. Works well.
Cheers,
Scott.
(“Who hopes it doesn’t go bad before he can use all of it…”)
Ruckus
@Honus:
I’ve been told that I might have parkinson’s and one of the things that helps the most in dealing with this is, wait for it, exercise. That seems to be the one thing that keeps most of the effects to the minimums. That and the meds can make it livable for a much longer time. I’m starting to see a pattern here, exercise and eating reasonably, both what and how much, seems to be a common theme among an awful lot of health issues.
Lyrebird
@schrodingers_cat: Healthline is saying that MCTs are safer than dairy fat for pancreatitis… I Am Not A Doc, and most docs I have dealt with Do Not Have A Clue about dietary approaches to chronic health issues…
The Ornish/Essylstyn (sp???) research for people with heart disease and (see follow up research by ) diabetes looks quite solid, though.
John –
Per the above, coconut oil when you need to grease a pan or saute something would be good. Refined adds less coconut flavor, depends on your tastes.
Recipes from the Engine 2 Diet book (by firefighter son of the Essylstyn doc above) have been pretty tasty and less fussy than the recipes I’ve seen in the various Ornish books.
@Emma:
Kinda similar here, maybe more like 7/8ths, but I can’t tolerate dairy (wah! but I’m over it!) and had to give that up ages ago to breathe better.
Grateful that when I do much of what those folks I’ve listed recommend but add in frequent fish, dairy, eggs, some oil/fat, I still have the results I want without counting and measuring stuff all the time. Doctors sometimes think I’m taking meds to get my cholesterol numbers so good!
Another Scott
@Ruckus: Your kale recipe reminds me of DoghouseDiaries – How to fold fitted sheets.
:-)
Cheers,
Scott.
Ruckus
@randy khan:
Spending all that money on kale also keeps you from spending too much on all the other stuff, limiting calories. See kale is good for you! You just need to understand how to prepare to eat it and then skip all that digestion stuff inbetween purchasing and disposal.
Another Scott
@Honus: I don’t know what it is, but it takes me 20 minutes on a machine to get over the hump of “man, I hate this and have to stop now”. If I can get past 20 minutes, then it seems to flip the switch so that it’s no longer a chore. Even 10 more minutes isn’t bad after the first 20.
YMMV.
Of course, I don’t do 30 minutes as often as I should (our machines are in our basement and all I see down there are all the chores I need to do…).
(sigh)
Cheers,
Scott.
Ruckus
@Another Scott:
How do you like #92 then?
Another Scott
@Ruckus: :-)
Oh, and another thing related to the post – JC often mentions what he’s going to cook, etc. Buying fast food and processed food doesn’t seem to be the problem. It might be that what he needs to concentrate on is portion sizes.
But first, he needs to see what his doc says.
FWIW.
Cheers,
Scott.
Ruckus
@Another Scott:
Yes I understand. But I also think he’s asking for what to do next. He bought an ice cream machine, and has been using it. I can’t even buy ice cream. I still walk by the Hagen Dazs section all the time, just to see if I have the willpower to resist.
I think there is more to this than portion control. At what age do most people start to have issues with health? How old is John? What sort of a food history does he have? Substance issues and how do those affect eating habits? You fix one, that doesn’t automatically fix the other. How many of us here are discussing how our habits have changed, how much our weight had creeped or jumped up, how we used to eat one way but changed to something else? I’m a great example, I used to eat great, exercise regular and a fair amount, my weight stayed down when I did. I then started to drink more and that ended up controlling how I ate and how much exercise I didn’t do. I could blame many reasons for that, but at the end of the day, it was me. I did or didn’t do what I should if I wanted to be healthy and live reasonably. Habits are a bitch if you let them live your life for you. So I started to eat better, exercise more and bam, my weight went down and stabilized, my health was better. As we age that becomes harder to practice, sometimes life gets in the way, and then living well becomes a bit like work. But that’s life, for most of us it isn’t a straight line for 60-80 yrs, it isn’t all good and some of us have to convince ourselves that living well is the best revenge, that a life well lived is how we make it, not what life makes of us.
arrieve
@Mike in NC: 2014? I’m in the middle of a kitchen renovation and I had one can of soup that expired in 2001.
RSA
@Another Scott:
I’m like that on the treadmill. Once I finish the first mile, at my relatively slow running pace, I can go for a couple more without hating it. I’ve heard about a runner’s high, but I’ve never run longer than about half an hour or so, and I don’t think I’ve ever hit it.
The Simp in the Suit
5-2 intermittent fasting worked for me. Went from 200 to 155 in under a year, making absolutely no other changes (though I long ago stopped eating or drinking “blatant” sweets). For me, there was a certain “zen” feeling.
It does not work for everyone, so if you try it and don’t like it, move on to another approach. It sounds trite, but it’s true: find what works for you.
Ruckus
@RSA:
A runners high is like any other. It feels good. I’ll let that sink in.
It feels good to run. Endorphins are like that.
If you let it overwhelm you it’s like drinking, it feels good when doing, not so much the next day. And it can hurt you rather than give you the results you actually want. But you will know if you hit that high point, running is no longer work or a chore, it feels good. Slow down and enjoy the moment, and never forget that giving in to that feeling too much isn’t as good as it feels.
HeleninEire
I am ridiculously late to this party but can I suggest to the front pagers and of course to Mr Cole, that we have a regular diet/dietary post here? As a yo yoer who has somewhat gotten it under control – emphasis in the “somewhat” – I find these posts both fascinating and informative.
Matt
@gene108: black coffee is undrinkable when it is made from burned or stale coffee beans. I use creamer only when I have to cope with such coffee, (Qualification: 20 years of home roasting.)
HeleninEire
@Matt: Just say it. STARBUCKS SUCKS.
RSA
@Ruckus: Thanks for the advice. That’s a good perspective.
MomSense
I’m a pescetarian who also eats eggs occasionally. I have high cholesterol even though I eat well and exercise. It used to be much worse but it still isn’t good enough so I’ve had to give up cheese (sob!!!). I save it for special occasions.
I get really bored with the gym so I do tai chi and Pilates.
Arclite
@Juice Box:
Not just low fat, but extremely low fat. Like less than 5 grams a day of oil.
Sheldon Vogt
@Villago Delenda Est: I was just diagnosed with Type II last week. Any good cookbook or diet recommendations?
Thx
Villago Delenda Est
@Sheldon Vogt: Just what I said before. Pasta, IN MODERATION, is good because it’s slow to metabolize and therefore easier on your system. The usual “avoid anything white” is in effect. Lean meats, green veggies, cut back on alcohol, etc. I find I can OCCASIONALLY do sugary things in small servings, like say some bites of cheescake or a danish, but again, moderation is key.
Your doctor should provide you with a list of dos and don’ts which will reflect most of this. Important to keep monitoring your blood sugar…I take a sample three times a day (before breakfast, before dinner, at bedtime) and share my numbers with both my general doc and my pharma doc (My care provider is the VA, and I check in with my pharma doc every three months and we monkey with meds then).
Type II is not difficult to live with, as Type I often is, but you have to keep your awareness up. It’s all about your body going nuts producing insulin, so you have to reduce the need for your body to produce. Losing weight helps a lot.
chopper
@Roger Moore:
I’ll bet a mustard sorbet would be really oh wait, sorry I forgot.
Ruckus
@Villago Delenda Est:
I’m not type II or type I but my numbers have drifted too close to type II for my comfort, so I’m doing the same things as you, watch the diet, lose weight. For me sweets have to be on the outs or I can go crazy. I can occasionally have a cookie but people at work bring all kinds of sweets for break. I have to just say no. It’s easier after a while. Not easy mind you but easier. There are times that I look around the house for something, anything sweet. But my no sweets shopping habits have gotten me through.
Meg
The best food choices for those suffering from chronic pancreatitis are fruits, vegetables, whole grains, legumes, and nonfat/low fat dairy, and lean cuts of meat. Healthy fats such as avocado, olive oil, fatty fish, nuts, and seeds, may be consumed with careful portion control.
SWMBO
For chronic pancreatitis I cannot recommend jello enough. My mom has had pancreatitis 3 times and every time, the only thing she can eat without it hurting is jello. Gave it to the dog when he had pancreatitis and he loved it. Jello has sugar in regular form but no fats. When I made it for the dog, I used fat free chicken broth and he loved it.
RedDirtGirl
@HeleninEire: Here, here Helen! I concur. And I will track you down in a new thread and tell you that myself!
Grover Gardner
You can make some pretty delicious sorbets with that ice cream maker. Just sayin’…
This past fall my daughter had to pick a project for health class so she chose a week of vegan dinners. We’re pretty devoted meat eaters, so we anticipated the worst. We all got together and chose recipes from this:
amazon.com/Virgin-Vegan-Meatless-Pleasing-Palate-ebook/dp/B00B150H3S/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=151…
and I have to tell you, everything she made was absolutely delicious and satisfying. We have since cut our meat consumption by a half to two-thirds. It’s a great little cookbook to introduce you to vegan cooking.
Horse_dave
My sister had pancreatitis while in her 20s. She was forced to avoid fats, spices, and anything with onions. This includes onion powder which is found in many processed foods. Due to her age it took a while before she was correctly diagnosed. After her gall bladder was removed she recovered and has been healthy for 25+ years
Just Some Fuckhead
@schrodingers_cat:
Whenever you eat, don’t.
But make sure you double up on the metamucil when you fast. Your ass will thank you.