Grilled Chicken and Avocado + Tasty Allergy Free Food Options

Tasty Allergy Free Food Options

It has been nearly three full days since eliminating the 7 high inflammatory foods and I’m feeling pretty good. I’m down 2.4 lbs which I find fantastic for two days, and I don’t even feel like I’m dieting! Last night was a bit of a challenge for me because I was short on time and scrounging for something that I could eat, and kept getting disappointed while reading food labels just to find out the many things I can’t have. I have tried not to dwell on the can’ts and focus on what I can have. I’m trying to get creative with seasonings and flavors and it’s paying off.

Many people have expressed experiencing some of the same feelings that I mentioned in my post regarding the high inflammatory foods – the inability to lose weight and having an achy/bloated tummy. Some of you may have fantastic doctors who are helping you get to the bottom of things, but for those of us who don’t, I say let’s help each other as much as we can. What works for one person may not work for another so sometimes it’s just trial and error.

Cutting out so many foods like I am can be stressful because you just don’t know what to eat, and you don’t want to waste money on “health foods” that might taste terrible. I thought I would continue to update everyone with my progress regarding weight and how I’m feeling, in addition to foods that I am enjoying while cutting out the old foods I used to enjoy.

Here is what I have discovered so far, regarding foods that DO NOT contain gluten, corn, soy, sugar, eggs, dairy and peanuts:
Breakfast

Udi’s Gluten Free Bagels with almond butter and a drizzle of honey is a definite plus for breakfast! (Thanks to Well with Chelle for the tip!)

Another tasty breakfast option is the Erewhon Rice Cereal with Almond Milk. I thought I would hate almond milk but nope – I may even like it better than regular milk when it comes to cereal. This cereal is very similar in taste to Rice Krispies.

Lunch

Last night’s dinner leftovers work like a charm for lunches! I am starting to cook more meat at dinnertime so I can just reheat it for lunches. Because there are a lot of sauces that have corn or soy in them, I found that eating leftover roast beef with mustard is actually quite yummy.

READ LABELS because I discovered that packaged lunchmeats (some brands anyway) and hot dogs have modified corn starch in them. No Corn for me, so that’s not an option.

Snacks

I have found some great snacks to satisfy my sweet tooth and my salty tooth. Three of my favorites so far:

Udi’s Gluten Free Sweet & Crunchy Vanilla Granola – I could eat this all day! Gotta watch the fat intake because it does have almonds. This helps my sweet tooth and for when I get the munchies

Food Should Taste Good Sweet Potato Chips – several different flavors in these chips now!

All natural fruit strips – these are like eating candy!

If your gut can handle it, the Beanitos Chips are delicious! These are corn free and gluten free and pretty tasty. I made a homemade salsa with avocado, tomato, red onion and a little lime juice and salt & pepper, and it was a yummy snack! HOWEVER, my stomach was rumbling a lot that night. I was having quite a bit of tummy pain and I could only attribute it to those chips, as they were the only new thing I had introduced into my diet. I think I will have to take a break from these and try again later.

Dinner

Baked potato – I was really digging to see what I could put on it because of NO butter or sour cream, but I found something that turned out really well! Drizzle with a tad of olive oil and season with salt, pepper and a bit of cumin. YUM!

Grilled chicken seasoned with salt, garlic powder, onion powder, oregano, black pepper and red pepper flakes. Serve on top of a bed of rice (preferably brown rice, but either will work). For a side, I chopped some seasonal veggies into bite size pieces and sauteed in olive oil with a bit of the same seasonings I used on the chicken. To tame the spices and add some creamy goodness with the chicken, top with avocado slices. This was so tasty and didn’t feel like diet food AT ALL!

I will keep you all posted as I try more new things! Feel free to comment with allergy-free foods that you enjoy!