new foods, new flavors

Generally speaking, I'm not much of a meat eater. I don't recall that I ever have been crazy about it, but I enjoy it every now and again. (Just ask my mom about eating plain spaghetti and jello when I was little.) Because I have been thrown into the world of proteins on my elimination diet, I have had to make a few big adjustments, fast, and they haven't been easy. This has sent me on the recipe hunt of a lifetime.

Let me rewind by explaining more about the diet. In order to have my body revert to its normal, healthy, food-processing self, I have had to cut out a lot of foods. Anything that will encourage the growth of yeast or bad bacteria in my digestive track is out, until I can figure out what foods especially trigger problems. To try to make it simple, once I can isolate/identify problem foods and the balance of healthy bacteria is greater than the bad, these will be avoided for a period of time and then slowly reintroduced to see if they will still bother me. There are some foods that I will probably never eat again, like white flour, white rice, or refined sugar, but only time will tell.

What CAN I have at this stage? Generally, these are supposed to all be organic or unprocessed, which are products easy for me to find here in Kuwait because of how they grow/butcher foods.
- meats (beef, lamb, chicken, fish)
- vegetables (cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, brussel sprouts, lettuce, cucumber, onions, zucchini, summer squash, radishes, eggplant, spinach)
- eggs
- some cheeses (mostly white)
- nuts (almonds, macadamia, pecans)
- plain yoghurt w/ live cultures
- garlic, ginger, apple cider vinegar, lemon
- water, decaf. tea (my favorite treat has been Apollinaris sparkling mineral water)

What CAN'T I have? (At least for now)
- basically, anything with carbohydrates
- anything with flour, yeast, sugar, or artificial sweetener except for stevia
- any grains (oats, barley, rye, millet, etc.)
- corn and other high carb vegetables (carrots, potatoes, beans, etc.)
- Caffeine or caffeinated beverages (coffee, tea, regular or diet soft drinks)
- tomatoes/sauce
- mushrooms (they're a fungus!)
- milk
- fruits or fresh fruit juice (I've made an exception to have lemon so I am not eating plain salads. Some people say you can eat low-sugar fruits, like strawberries and grapefruit, but I'm not taking any chances.)
- anything pickled, containing regular vinegar, or having dried spices (i.e. garlic powder)

That said, I am eating a lot more meat and vegetables these days! One of the best resources I have found so far is a site called Elana's Pantry. She aims to create gluten-free recipes, using mostly almond flour in place of regular flour. I haven't yet attempted many of these because: a) almond flour is expensive, b) it's nearly impossible to get here, and c)I haven't had time; however, she has a lot of good ideas that I can work from. I don't 100% endorse her site because of some of the comments she makes, but you don't have to read them to look at the recipes!

Photo: Can you name that water by looking at the label? It's not Apollinaris.