Suggestion?

[Pp23]

Dieting reduces my symptoms tremendously. However, I feel as though my choices are rather limited. I mostly eat oatmeal (made with water rather than milk) for breakfast. Spaghetti with a little bit of chicken or turkey for lunch. For supper I usually just have soup etc. Does anyone have suggestions on what to eat/cook? Looking for a bit of variety. I'm a bit scared to try new things invade it might aggravate my symptoms but I know dieting is a trial and error process, just wanted to know what worked for others.

P.s is milk of limits or can some be used? (E.g semi-skimmed or skimmed, could I use it to make oatmeal as it takes a lot better)

Thanks.

[Tenacity]

Hi pp23,

I think you're right that a lot of this is trial and error, as everybody is different. Like you I also eat a lot of spaghetti (preferably with more fried/boiled/roast vegetables than pasta) and also some olives or chilli for flavour. Agree it's SO boring otherwise. I try to incorporate lettuce, cucumber or some form of side salad with most things.

My personal approach was to download the USDA database choline content of common foods spreadsheet, strike anything off the list that I knew was high in soy lecithin or torula yeast, and make my own recipes from the lowest choline foods on there. Being able to cook helps. How are you with making things from scratch? I also make a lot of smoothies in summer and soups (with minimal stock cubes and no onion/garlic) in winter.

Don't know if this helps, but I've been meaning to share a few products on here that have totally revolutionised my life. Hopefully they will be of use to somebody.
*Two chicks egg white (v low choline source of protein. Way better than poultry, which I would never eat). http://www.twochicks.co.uk/stores/.
*Whole pieces of fresh coconut, available from Tesco, Waitrose etc etc. Often nearly 400kcal in just one pot. Excellent source of calories and fibre. (I am basically maintaining a healthy BMI of 19 because of these, whereas previously it was dropping a bit.)
*Any rice vermicelli made with 100% rice (check there's no rapeseed oil in the ingredients). It's usually easier to find these at small independent supermarkets that cater to Eastern European, Indian etc customers. You can put them in vegetable stir fries with lime, chilli etc for flavouring. This one may depend on your personal reaction to rice.
*Tinned pears for days when I'm really rushed off my feet and just need some extra calories without having to cook. Fresh is better, but I'm busy & live in the **** end of nowhere, so sometimes they're my only choice.
*I also find that keeping hydrated with isotonic drinks works for me personally (though I'm unaware of any medical research that supports the use of isotonic drinks in TMAU). PowerAde zero and coconut water could be considered an 'interesting' drink by some!

Good luck!

Tx

[Tenacity]

PS: what's your personal experience with rice? I find I can only have it in small doses, but I can have it. I'd be happy to share some recipes with you if you think it might be a possible way to go...

[Pp23]

Thanks for all the info!

PS: what's your personal experience with rice? I find I can only have it in small doses, but I can have it. I'd be happy to share some recipes with you if you think it might be a possible way to go...

Yeah, sure. I eat rice from time to time. Little bit bland but never tried to cook anything that would taste nice.

[Pp23]

Does anyone know if crisps (Doritos etc) increases symptoms?

[Tenacity]

Google mango sticky rice recipes! I don't even have a particularly sweet tooth, but think it makes a great pudding & it's not at all bland. Use low fat coconut milk (lower in choline) and mess around with your own flavours. I find cinnamon, vanilla essence, etc can all add something really different. You can do all kinds of other things with the coconut milk & fruit, too. For example, I've made a strawberry risotto using normal savoury risotto rice and low fat coconut milk, sugar, strawberries and mint leaves.

For savouries you could make a Thai or Jamaican style sauce by chopping low choline veg, stir frying with chilli/ginger/coriander/all of them (or just chilli and lemongrass for Thai if you can tolerate lemongrass) to taste and adding the coconut milk again. That way you have a sauce to go over boiled or steamed rice. Or you could chuck the rice into a stir fry with liquid seasoning and add some egg white for Chinese-style fried rice?

Personally I wouldn't touch Doritos with a barge pole. Maybe a small handful of plain hula hoops or Tyrrell's veg crisps, particularly in the weeks following antibiotics. Everybody's different, though. Personally the only kind of crisps I have any success with are those dried carrot ones you can get in big supermarkets like Tesco (the ones that are 100% carrots with no added oils etc). I wouldn't recommend those as 'interesting', though.

For snacks I mostly go with fruit/crudites etc, or those Bear fruit yoyos/other kids' dried fruit snacks/dried fruit. Again, dried stuff is not the best, but sometimes you need the calories!