Recipes and food musings

[jeshyr]

I have discovered over time two things: That if I stick rigidly to my low-histamine/anti-migraine diet my migraines are greatly reduced, and that if I am in a spot with low migraines I can get away with greatly relaxing the restrictions.

This leads to an up-and-down cycle where I have really bad migraines, stick super well to the restrictions, then after a few weeks (it takes a while to kick in) the migraines reduce and once it feels really stable I relax the restrictions, and then after a while I get a patch of really bad migraines and have to restrict again. The diet is not the only thing that affects my migraines, so they'd be up-and-down even without but this exacerbates it.

It's very frustrating because (a) migraines are not fun, and (b) the restrictions are things I find frustrating and onerous, so I don't want to be stuck with them when it's not absolutely necessary.

Things not to eat for optimum Ricky migraine control -

Super important to avoid: Bacon/ham/any preserved meat, cheese, tomato, chocolate, any cooked meat/fish kept in fridge (i.e.: leftovers).
Uncertain status, best to avoid: Onion, avocado, mushrooms, alcohol, anything fermented, citrus, nuts.

I'm in a patch right now where the migraines are sucky and I am being super restrictive and OMG THIS SUCKS. I know if I have to do it that I can, but I hates it. Food is one of the few things where I can bring change and variety into my life since I can't go places or (mostly) see new people or do many new things ...

So anyway here are some recipes I found in recent searching that seem like they fit (or could be altered to fit):

Crispy sweet potato roast
Cabbage and Italian Sausage Casserole
Garlicky baked fries (tried these today - yummmmmmm)


(I really should look into low FODMAP trial at some point too but at the moment I'm chafing so much at these restrictions the idea of adding to them is making me flail.)

r

Comments

[lilysea]

(I really should look into low FODMAP trial at some point too but at the moment I'm chafing so much at these restrictions the idea of adding to them is making me flail.)

Oh, how I relate to this comment!

Things I avoid:
dairy (strictly!)
wheat (strictly!)
oats (strictly!)
MSG (strictly!)

sugar (mostly)
citrus (mostly)
potato (mostly)

tomatoes (when I can)
chilli (when I can)
paprika (when I can)
cinnamon (when I can)

[jeshyr]

So hard!!

[acelightning]

Can you eat tofu? Chicken breast? Nuts? Watercress? And what herbs, spices, and seasonings do you like that don't have adverse effects? (I have to assume that "anything fermented" includes soy sauce, which is going to make figuring out recipes a bit challenging, but I enjoy a challenge!)

[jeshyr]

Oh, nuts should have been on the avoid list. I am not a fan of tofu but the rest are OK.

Yeah, soy sauce is fermented so that's out, but pretty much anything else in the herb/spice area is OK.

I'm supposed to avoid citrus too but the amount of lemon juice typically used in cooking seems to be OK so I ignore that restriction. Ditto white vinegar (though I avoid the fancy ones which are more fermented).

Also remember I have physical restrictions: Anything needs to be prepared/cooked/eaten/cleaned up within about 1 1/2 hours at an absolute maximum, and needs to be able to be cooked by someone who doesn't know much or anything about western cooking. I have taught most of them to make white sauce because that's used in a zillion things, but anything else fancy is probably out.

[acelightning]

My default cooking style is stir-fry, but that's just the technique - the ingredients are infinitely variable. So, begin with chicken (or any other meat), or firm to extra-firm tofu, cut into bite-size pieces. What I do is buy a whole bunch of boneless, skinless chicken breasts whenever they're on sale, cut them all up, package them in single-serving portions in Ziplock bags, and freeze them. I can either take a bag out of the freezer and put it in the fridge to defrost in the morning for that night's meal, or submerge the (still sealed) bag in cold tap water for 20 minutes or so, while I cook the rice and prepare the other ingredients. Tofu, of course, is very easy to cut up - and my regular supermarket sells packaged tofu that's already cubed!

There aren't very many vegetables I can eat, and even fewer that I don't utterly loathe. Watercress leads the list, but plucking the leaves off the stems is rather time-consuming, so I'll assume that's off the menu. But you can use just about any vegetable(s) you want. Broccoli florets are classic, and you may be able to buy them already separated into florets in a bag. Snow peas are good, capsicums cut into bite-size pieces, potatoes cut into bite-size pieces, pretty much any vegetable cut into bite-size pieces! One protein and two different veg is the basic rule of thumb, but just one veg is okay too if it's one you like.

There are two ways to season the mixture. One is to add whatever herbs and spices you like to the oil you're stir-frying stuff in, plus a flavorful liquid (broth, with a splash of lime or lemon juice if it's compatible), and then thicken it with a little cornflour mixed with cold water, gradually stirred into the simmering liquid. The other way is to just stir-fry the dish with the seasonings, make your basic white sauce, and mix the white sauce into the mixture. Serve the whole thing over plain rice, or noodles or other pasta, or even just with bread on the side.

If you'd like more details about any of this, just ask. I prepare two or three meals like this every week, but they're never the same, so it doesn't get boring :-)