Anyone struggling to eat out or from grocery stores? any clean eaters?

[so lucky]

Almost any Mickey-D's food gives me horrible stomach pains.
I had my gall bladder taken out and have no problems whatsoever (knock wood) It was laproscopic; in and out same day, and just three bandaids.
Heather, just choose some whole, real foods you know the family can eat, and go with them for a while. If the family feels better eating simple real foods, maybe they will be more willing to go with the GAPS diet, or Weston A Price diet. A meal doesn't have to be complicated stuff. Just scrambled eggs, or a burger and a vegetable, or, as another poster said, a good vegetable soup. Be careful of adding flavorings till you know what's in them. MSG, soy, and corn gluten/corn solids may each cause you problems if you are sensitive.

 

[heatherlynnky]

We do more of a whole foods diet. I cook with real ingredients and avoid anything premade and most processed stuff ( sorry I cannot give up bacon even if its the worst thing for me ever). But like bone marrow and all that stuff. or eating nothing but soups the first week. They are nuts. Not a chance the kids or husband would go for that. My husband would be raiding a krogers within hours. Right now I am just trying to find ways to improve the lifestyle we are working on AND make it travel and busy life friendly.

 

[Wannabefree]

heatherlynn if I started making just soups, I'd be divorced and the kid would probably go nuts and kill me in my sleep There would certainly be a mass mutiny!! I won't give up bacon and certain other things either, because they don't make me ill. Why give them up?! It's all about balance really. we do eat the occassional "typical junk food" but it's usually either homemade or very closely inspected Good diet is a difficult thing here in America these days. With so many crap options, it takes a while to weed through to get the good stuff.

 

[so lucky]

You know, I have a friend who is allergic to a lot of things, causing stomach issues even tho she has really restricted her diet. She eats a couple bites of home made fermented kraut with every meal. It's the only way she can get by. I have started doing that too. You get used to eating it cold pretty fast, and it becomes a welcome addition. Sure eases a "delicate stomach."

 

[heatherlynnky]

I have not tried any kraut. I struggle with cabbage at times. We don't always get along and I am not sure if the fermentation will help that.

I tried to eat out again and paid for it. thankfully the activated charcoal does help. The effects were minimal this time. I took the charcoal with my meal. The kids really wanted chinese food and when I make it its not the same. Was good but it hurt a bit lol. They will just need to learn to live with what I can make at home. My tummy cannot handle this.

So thinking of what i can make and ways I can still improve the diet some. When we are on the go is the big problem. I am going to attempt to make my own hot pockets. I don't buy those now but the kids would like me too. I figure I can stuff all the yummy things I want into that and make it healthier and safer. I already do my own eggrolls. Quickest way to get 2 servings of veggies down a 4 year olds throat. For me I could make lettuce wraps to take with but the prep for that has to be done right before we go. Makes it a bit more difficult.

Any ideas on "to go" foods that are healthy

 

[Wannabefree]

I do the homemade hot pockets. That's what DD will be taking to YEC this weekend. All the kids love them! Anyway, the hot pockets are very versatile. You can do breakfast or lunch type pockets. I do ham and cheese, bacon egg and cheese, and sausage egg and cheese, for breakfast type and have done pizza, philly cheese steak, cheeseburger, and taco, chicken and cheese/chicken quesadilla, etc. etc. type for lunch or dinner. You can put about any combo into a pizza crust pocket and folks will eat it over and over and beg for more. i thought about doing a mac and cheese one, but haven't tried it yet. DD loves mac and cheese though. It's a wonderful way to use up small ammounts of leftover dinners eaten at home too. If we have just a serving or two of taco meat, chicken quesadilla meat, roast beef, etc. left, it gets "pocketed" and frozen for a future meal on the go. I always try to pack a fruit cup or piece of fruit as a side item with these meals. If we have some kind of baked good, I wrap those and send as well. Brownies are always a big hit. If you can keep some sort of fresh baked goods around most of the time, they are always a quick snack to pack. Maybe not the healthiest, but if it's homemade it's better for you and the kids than a Mickey D's cheeseburger any day of the week anyway. I have reduced myself to making homemade potato chips before too to send with DD She can't have any of the flavored chips, so we make our own spice to sprinkle on the chips to give her something other than plain chips. I haven't made them in a while, but homemade seasoned crackers are great too, and DD literally begs me to make those if it so much as gets mentioned around here. You can add garlic and chives or cheese to the batter to make flavored crackers that are a really good healthy snack for the kiddos.

 

[Emerald]

I do the homemade hot pockets. That's what DD will be taking to YEC this weekend. All the kids love them! Anyway, the hot pockets are very versatile. You can do breakfast or lunch type pockets. I do ham and cheese, bacon egg and cheese, and sausage egg and cheese, for breakfast type and have done pizza, philly cheese steak, cheeseburger, and taco, chicken and cheese/chicken quesadilla, etc. etc. type for lunch or dinner. You can put about any combo into a pizza crust pocket and folks will eat it over and over and beg for more. i thought about doing a mac and cheese one, but haven't tried it yet. DD loves mac and cheese though. It's a wonderful way to use up small ammounts of leftover dinners eaten at home too. If we have just a serving or two of taco meat, chicken quesadilla meat, roast beef, etc. left, it gets "pocketed" and frozen for a future meal on the go. I always try to pack a fruit cup or piece of fruit as a side item with these meals. If we have some kind of baked good, I wrap those and send as well. Brownies are always a big hit. If you can keep some sort of fresh baked goods around most of the time, they are always a quick snack to pack. Maybe not the healthiest, but if it's homemade it's better for you and the kids than a Mickey D's cheeseburger any day of the week anyway. I have reduced myself to making homemade potato chips before too to send with DD She can't have any of the flavored chips, so we make our own spice to sprinkle on the chips to give her something other than plain chips. I haven't made them in a while, but homemade seasoned crackers are great too, and DD literally begs me to make those if it so much as gets mentioned around here. You can add garlic and chives or cheese to the batter to make flavored crackers that are a really good healthy snack for the kiddos.

Hum.. I love to bake and crackers are the one thing that I have not been able to master.. ever. Would you be willing to start a cracker thread for us? Pretty pretty please with sesame seeds on top?

 

[Wannabefree]

Lemme find my recipe...FarmerJamie has it too I think somewhere. I know he's made them before...I'll try to find it

 

[heatherlynnky]

So lol I'm back on this topic. If anything tummy problems are worse and not just for me. The entire family is struggling a bit and i don't grasp why. We can eat nothing fast food at all now. Even the kids get gassy and ucky feeling on fast food so its not just that I am getting old. Is this a sign that cleaning up our diet is going well or has cleaning up our diet totally screwed up our systems.

I think I might try to ferment my own kraut and see if that helps. I don't know what to do. Once upon a time we had iron tummies. Entire family got a nasty bug, followed by a tummy bug, followed by another bug and tons of antibiotics later everyone has sensitive tummies. In response to that I did probiotics and majorly cleaned up our diet and I keep making improvements. Its not getting better at all though. If it was just one of us that would be one thing but its all of us. Some have it easier than others but it still effects them. What is the deal and how do I fix it?

 

[Britesea]

It's definitely a mystery. I wonder if your issue with the grocery store meat is that 'meat glue' that seems to be ubiquitous now? That's the only real difference I can think of between grocery store meat and a butcher. If your butcher was using only grass-fed beef you would definitely see a difference in your pocketbook so I don't think that's the answer.

We've been slowly getting healthier in our eating habits also, but in our case it's been more a monetary thing. We simply don't have the money to eat out, or to buy ready-made foods at the grocery store. I cook everything from scratch- even my seasoning mixes are assembled at home. I save hundreds of $'s this way, and I can't get over how much better my homemade foods taste. Our "convenience foods" are things like soup, chili, and stews that I make and then home-can. We aren't to the point of being able to grow all our own meat, but I try to get good quality meat - it's one of the few things where I won't compromise financially. Another thing I've noticed is that my A1C (I'm diabetic) has remained excellent even though I eat more carbs than the doctor said I should. I think the difference is I'm not getting all the "hidden" carbs in store bought and fast food.