healthy eating with a family with diverse needs

Ceva

I am at my wit end as to how to feed my family, my adult daughter has ASD with huge texture issues with food so is very limited in her choices she also has anaemia (two drs suggested chocolate!) She like the rest of us need to lose weight( a local NHS dietician wasn't qualified to advise us!). I have fibromyalgia and Rheumatoid arthritis,. My husband has a cancer, congenital heart problems and now type2 diabetes which seems to go out of control when he takes his medication for it. Any advice would be great as I'm sick of pasta, baked potatoes and three seoerat meals at each sitting. Thank you. 

tugs26

Hey there Ceva,

Below is my ADVICE therefore please look into this yourself as I AM NOT and qualified nutritionist however I very much come from the Fitness World.

You should definitely look at a Ketogenic lifestlye - in short... this is basically where you completely deprive your body of carbohydrates so that your body has used up all of its glucose and then forces the liver to produce Ketone bodies - Which the BRAIN loves to fuel on.

There a number of studies backing this up and I am not sure what texture issues your daughter has but a diet of hight Fats and meat with veg and veg that is should be easy enough to cook something up. 

People with Autoimmune diseased find this diet extremely beneficial and believe the ame applies to Cancer patients. Cancers is effectively a tumor. These cells live of glucose and sugar. When you deprive the body of this therefore the effect CAN be positive. HOWEVER - As your husband is diabteic you should plan his meals accordingly and time it right so that his insulin stays balanced.

If it is for yourself of your daughter - intermittent fasting has a HUGE number of benefits and is a great way to get the body in a state of ketosis faster. GH is released and when the body has nothing to run but its own fats it doesnt take a rocket scientist to know that Body Fat shreds off you quite fast. Losing weight is not the same and losing fat so only do this once or twice every couple of weeks and when you feel more comfortable with it you can add more days.

Keto diets usually concist of High FAT, Med Pro and no carbs pretty much.

So:

Salmons, Chicken Thighs, Sea Bass, Cheeses, Red Meat (Once a week) Burgers ( Homemade) Spinach, Asparagus, Yoghurt are all on the list

Figure out your calories and then measure your foods if your desire is to lose fat. Partner this up with excercise and your on the path to Success

As I said I AM NOT qualified but have been in the fitness space for a while so please look into this yourself

Have a look at this: https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/evolutionary-psychiatry/201104/autism-and-ketogenic-diets

A great start would be to watch a guy called Thomas DeLauer - 

https://www.youtube.com/user/TheTdelauer

Please as I mentioned its my opinion and take a  look into this yourself - it may not be best suited for you but then it again it may help you out. Hope it helps.

Regards
Tuguy

 

KirstenNutritionAdvisor

Hi I'm so sorry for the delay in getting back to you, what would be really helpful is if you could give me a guide as to what you are currently eating for breakfast, lunch and dinner also snack and any foods you don't like or can't eat otherwise I could write a long list of recommendations that aren't suitable. 

But just to start with 

QUICK LIST OF MEAL IDEAS

Breakfasts 

•Scrambled, poached or boiled eggs (1 or 2) with wholemeal or rye toast 

•A smoothie of plain yoghurt, a few tablespoon of oats and fresh or frozen berries

•porridge or Cereal  low sugar – less than 10g sugar/100g, such muesli/the good carb company have a delicious granola with semi skimmed milk/yogurt a fruit such as blue berries or chopped apple 

•Live bio natural yoghurt – as much as wanted - with chopped fresh fruits and sunflower and pumpkin seeds.

•Oat porridge with plain yoghurt/milk, chopped apple and some hazelnuts or any nuts, plus up to a tablespoon of ground flax seeds.

•Low sugar muesli with added fresh fruit and any nut/seed of your choice as well to increase the protein content. Less than 10g of sugar per 100g

•Even a palmful of nuts and an apple will do if you have no time

 

Lunches

-Baked large potato with cottage cheese (or another for of protein such as beans ), and a large mixed salad or cooked vegetables.

-Soups made from vegetables, lentils or beans, with a slice of rye bread or wholemeal/wholegrain bread  (its important that the soup has some form of protein such as lentls, beans etc)

-Egg salad topped with pine nuts.

-Boiled egg and new potato salad with whatever salad veggies you enjoy, rocket, watercress, spinach, grated carrot, cucumber, tomatoes, spring onion, beetroot etc

-greek salad, or goats’ cheese salad with 1 wholemeal bread roll

-Roasted butternut salad with feta cheese on leafy greens watercress, spinach and rocket.

-2 or 3 egg omelette with vegetables, mushrooms and tomatoes.

-couscous, vegetables with feta cheese  

 

 

 

 

Dinners

 

-Stir-fried mixed vegetables including asparagus, mini corn, carrots with, yes, you guessed it, your choice of protein! With ½ - 1 cup of cooked white basmati rice or quinoa.

-Thai green curry with vegetables, and a portion of rice.

-Roasted Mediterranean vegetables including sweet potato with goats’ cheese, mozzarella or feta cheese.

-Large bowl of mixed vegetable soup with kidney beans or black-eyed beans and a wholemeal or granary bread roll. (or brown pitta bread/s).

-Greek salad (with feta) with wholemeal flat-bread.

-Grilled halloumi with pita bread and vegetables

-quiona burgers with a large salad

-falafels with hummus and salad 

 

Grab and go snack ideas

cream cheese with mixed raw vegetables such as carrots, celery, chicory, beans.

Apple or pear with small piece of cheddar or other hard cheese.

Handful of nuts or mixed seeds with a piece of fruit.

Taramasalata or hummus on oat cakes or Ryvita.

Almond, butter on oat biscuits nairs are a good range.

Cream cheese or hard cheese on corn cakes.

Wholemeal seeded high protein pitta bread (like the food doctor on) dipped with hummus