I Don't Know What I Like To Eat, Anymore.

[pricklypear1971]

Ok, this is a bit odd....but I'm finding I'm not eating because what used to taste good doesn't now, and I'm tired of making things that I don't like.

It's like I have a new palate...and someone forgot to give me the instruction manual.

And I'm sick and tired of eating just to take vitamins. And I think some of them (like iron) make me nauseated...and I lose my appetite even more.

[Mizzo]

Ok, this is a bit odd....but I'm finding I'm not eating because what used to taste good doesn't now, and I'm tired of making things that I don't like.

It's like I have a new palate...and someone forgot to give me the instruction manual.

And I'm sick and tired of eating just to take vitamins. And I think some of them (like iron) make me nauseated...and I lose my appetite even more.

Did you recently go gluten free? I found my DD's palate changed when she went gluten-free . Also, Iron can absolutley make you nauseous it did to me. In addition regular multi vitamins make me sick I had to switch brands multiple times to find one I could take.

[pricklypear1971]

It's been over 3 months now. I just added the iron (I'm very anemic)...and mega D for a while.

I did a month of low iodine, and it worked to get rid of the DH, but now food is just unappealing.

I just want to eat soup. And I'd be thrilled if someone else made it.

I'm whining, I know....

[Mizzo]

My DD's tastes changed alot over the first 6months gluten-free, mostly she liked less foods and 18 months later she still doesn't like those fruits etc.. I thinks it normal.

You can eat the same things so long as it's a fairly balanced day/week nutritionally. IT's a good time to try new things, fruits, veggies dressings, marinades etc.. promise yourself to try at least 2-3 new things a week and see what happens.

Also, I'm sure you know there are food alternatives to help with the extra iron.

good luck

[pricklypear1971]

Also, I'm sure you know there are food alternatives to help with the extra iron.

good luck

Yes, but I'd have to EAT them .

[GlutenFreeManna]

What type of food did you used to eat? Perhaps we can suggest things that are complete opposites and you will like them now. This can be a good time to try new foods and new types of cusines you never thought you would like before. Retry things that were never your favorites. You may like foods that you thought tasted disgusting in the past. I never liked avocado's before I was gluten-free, now I LOVE them. I love homemade guac for dipping corn chips or spreading on a gluten-free sandwich. On the flip side I used to love ALL tomato products--ketchup, tomato soup, spaghetti sauce, you name it, if it was made from tomatoes I was eating it. Now I can take it or leave it (though I do still make a number of dishes with tomato products they are not my favorite meals anymore) and I can't stand to eat raw tomatoes at all (they don't bother me it's just a texture/taste thing).

[pricklypear1971]

I used to eat everything, anything...4-star to street food.

gluten-free bread leaves me cold. Greasy or heavy things are out - just can't do it. Salt is a turn off (however tonight soy sauce was SO GOOD). sweet is iffy -can't be too sweet or I get sick, especially if fat is involved.

gluten-free pizza is rather unspectacular. Pasta is ok in small portions.

Meat is ok in small portions.

If I eat another egg white I'm going to hurl.

Rice crackers are yummy but empty carbs.

I like fruit - can eat a lot of fruit. Veggies are ok but I'm tired of eating plain veggies.

I'm whining, I know...the big thing is that I just feel nauseated for a chunk of the day. And I HATE HATE eating on a regimented schedule just to take more vitamins that maker feel sick again.

I swear I feel best when I'm hungry. And that's just weird. I know it's all the supplements.

I'm a bad patient.

[GlutenFreeManna]

I used to eat everything, anything...4-star to street food.

gluten-free bread leaves me cold. Greasy or heavy things are out - just can't do it. Salt is a turn off (however tonight soy sauce was SO GOOD). sweet is iffy -can't be too sweet or I get sick, especially if fat is involved.

gluten-free pizza is rather unspectacular. Pasta is ok in small portions.

Meat is ok in small portions.

If I eat another egg white I'm going to hurl.

Rice crackers are yummy but empty carbs.

I like fruit - can eat a lot of fruit. Veggies are ok but I'm tired of eating plain veggies.

I'm whining, I know...the big thing is that I just feel nauseated for a chunk of the day. And I HATE HATE eating on a regimented schedule just to take more vitamins that maker feel sick again.

I swear I feel best when I'm hungry. And that's just weird. I know it's all the supplements.

I'm a bad patient.

Okay so it sounds like you don't do a lot of cooking? Sounds like you are bouncing between bland/boring stuff and gluten-free substitutes (many are not very good or also bland). I wouldn't want to eat like that either! Let's start with the "Plain veggies". Why must they be plain? Are you on an elimination diet or limited by other food restrictions that make if difficult to season them? Here's a website I like for getting ideas about how to cook veggies: Open Original Shared Link (It is NOT a gluten-free site but many of her recipes are natuarally gluten-free. They are also mostly simple recipes that taste great).

Also you may want to consider if the vitamins are making you too sick to switch brands. I have tried a lot of gluten-free/SF/DF vitamins and had difficulty finding ones that don't make me sick. This morning I took a new one with breakfast and I was extremely nauseus 20 minutes later. I will try it a few more times (one per week over the next few weeks) at different meals/different times of day to make sure it is really the vitamin. I won't keep taking it though if it makes me feel sick everytime.

[pricklypear1971]

Thanks for trying to help and push me to try different things.

Actually, I cook all the time. And I'm pretty decent at it (or so I've been told). I don't eat a lot of gluten-free processed foods - they are fatty, salty or sweet.

The low-iodine thing really cut down on dairy and other things - I do use herbs, etc. to cook.

I can't explain it -I really just don't want to eat.

All the vitamins were fine until the iron, and I MUST take iron. The brand I'm using is supposed to be non-constipating, vegetable based (staying away from liver and fish because of iodine)...so quite frankly my choices are limited.

I really just think all the dietary changes plus the iron (ick) has thrown me into a funk. I had to get rid of so many things I liked (iodine containing, not necessarily gluten)...it's just hard to cook new interesting things that are gluten-free, low iodine..and now I can add stuff back but I am just UNINTERESTED.

That sums it up - I am uninterested in food.

I'm sure it will pass...but for now I am just uninterested (rather like an obstinate child). I can't even get excited about chocolate (and I never, ever thought I'd say that).

Btw, I just put a pot of read beans out to soak. If red beans and rice don't jolt me out of this I am hopeless.

[NicoleR]

try fruit salads (nuts on the fruit salad :-)), mixed veggies...

Here are some recipes quick and easy for veggies with kick:

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Green beans, can of chopped tomatos and spices (salt/pepper but maybe garlic pepper or salt, I just see what's in the cupboard and sprinkle different stuff on everytime). put it all in a saucepan and cook it.

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green beans, crushed nuts (put them through the food processor) and some oil and or butter, stick it in the oven for like 20 minutes to 45 minutes.

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cabbage and carrots

Boil them together with salt for an hour or even bring it to boil, run errands for 2 or 3 hours and come back it's done. Goes good with chicken and probably ham, but I keep kosher now so no ham for me.

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sweet and sour celery (tastes like candy)

chop up celery, boil it, drain it, add sugar and lemon and or lime juice and stick in the oven for a little bit. Tastes good cold, too.

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Alfredo sauce which is a pain to make but maybe make for two meals. You can put this over peas, chicken or gluten-free pasta. I put it over pasta and peas maybe other veggies.

cream cheese melt it

then add milk and or heavy cream

garlic pepper or garlic salt, parm cheese

stir it until it's smooth and then pour over the peas or pasta.

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Not a veggie:

"nut chicken" my very own recipe

put some nuts through the processor and then put them on the chicken as you would bread crumbs and bake (like 400 for an hour or 385 for an hour and 30) maybe put some water in the bottom.

I used to eat everything, anything...4-star to street food.

gluten-free bread leaves me cold. Greasy or heavy things are out - just can't do it. Salt is a turn off (however tonight soy sauce was SO GOOD). sweet is iffy -can't be too sweet or I get sick, especially if fat is involved.

gluten-free pizza is rather unspectacular. Pasta is ok in small portions.

Meat is ok in small portions.

If I eat another egg white I'm going to hurl.

Rice crackers are yummy but empty carbs.

I like fruit - can eat a lot of fruit. Veggies are ok but I'm tired of eating plain veggies.

I'm whining, I know...the big thing is that I just feel nauseated for a chunk of the day. And I HATE HATE eating on a regimented schedule just to take more vitamins that maker feel sick again.

I swear I feel best when I'm hungry. And that's just weird. I know it's all the supplements.

I'm a bad patient.

[freeatlast]

I quit taking all vitamins and feel neither better nor worse. Figured out my small intestine wasn't assimilating them anyway.

Yes, iron tablets can leave a terrible after taste. At one time, I took a liquid herb two or three times/day that was loaded with iron called Broad Beans. When I had my yearly physical, my doctor remarked how high my iron level was, so I know it worked. Don't take herbs anymore. Probably should.

Hope you find your solution soon.

[fantasticalice]

Cook in iron pans, ALL the time. If the iron pills makes you sick TRY SOMETHING else! Just because some doctor told you something does NOT make it so. Just because a blood test said something does not make it so. I know, I'm a radical. I worked in the medical profession till I could stand it no longer. If I were you I'd be eating lentil soup, black bean soup all day, everyday, cooked in an iron pan. You cook it and then take it out. You don't need rust on top of the iron. Remember, Iron is a heavy metal, some people CANNOT tolerate it. Can you get yourselt to a Chinese herblist? YOUR BODY IS TRYING TO TELL YOU SOMETHING! Sometimes Western medicine is not the answer.

[sariesue]

Have you talked to your your dr about the iron and how it's making you feel? There might be a prescription iron supplement that fits your requirements and is easier to digest if you are currently using otc supplements. Or see if your dr will allow you to cut back on the supplement and instead fortify your diet with high iron foods instead. Or work on accepting that you might need to take an iron supplement that contains iodine until your iron levels improve.

[domesticactivist]

You say all you want to eat is soup... so eat it! The diet (GAPS) that has been so healing for our family is based completely in soups made from bone and meat broth. You add veggies, meats, and probiotic foods to it.

You might also like naturally probiotic foods. Have you tried homemade sauerkraut? It's super easy to make (instructions on my blog) and the "juice" from it can be added to soups. You can pickle just about any vegetable by fermenting it for variety. The book Wild Fermentation is excellent for instruction. These fermented veggies do have salt, but *not* iodised salt.

It sounds like you have appetite fatigue - I get the same way and need variety of texture and flavor. Keeping the flavor combinations fresh helps. You can combat that by withholding certain safe ingredients for a bit and then reintroducing them. For instance, I'll eat a lot of carrots for a while, then skip the carrots and eat a lot of something else... then when I eat carrots again they taste better to me. Or, I'll use parsley a bunch, then forget about the parsley and use rosemary for a while, then basil, etc.

Also, if I can get a good sharp flavor (just introduced Gorgonzola, yay!) it helps with that. I've discovered reduction sauces from meat drippings are more flavorful than soy sauce and go great with avocados. You can alternate the texture of your soups from purees to stews to brothy soups, you can use different flavor combinations (can you do nightshades? we cut them out for a long time, and introducing them made for some excitement).

I second the recommendation to cook (everything but soup) in iron pans. I used to be anemic and that went away when we switched to cast iron years ago.

How critical is it that you take all the supplements? When I was pregnant my midwife told me to take some and they always made me feel ill and not want to eat so I just stopped. Of course discuss with your doctor before stopping anything that's been prescribed, but it seems to me that if you can get nutrients from food you will be far better off. With a damaged gut that is harder, but is your damaged gut really getting all those nutrients out of the pill form, anyway?

[Marilyn R]

If you have an iron defficiency and hate your supplements, you might want to check out some Indian recipes with cumin. Yum!

[NicoleR]

Also, I bought a multivitamin that has iron in it. It's only 100% of daily recommendation. Whereas iron pills are about 300% which is why when I took iron I only took it about once a week, but I was told that I was borderline anemic. I also have been trying to eat red meat once a month or more since I was diagnosed with anemia. With the gluten free thing, burgers are out so I'm just eating steak every other week. It's nice to have an excuse to NEED to eat steak. :-)

[fantasticalice]

You rock, domestic!

On top of all this Sorghum is full of iron! You don't HAVE to bake bread....

Oh so many ways to get iron w/o the pills!

[fantasticalice]

Did you not find it ironic that you posted this and the news is, vits might not be as good as we thought. When I saw that gal open her pantry and the bottles of pills, well.....it made me think of me. I started myself on a vit. regiment and haven't been able to poop right for weeks. Stopped taking all those pills and bingo! I feel much better, more like my old self. If you really want to know how to take vits, read Adelle Davis, she "knew".

[Marilyn R]

Speaking of which, even though I had uncontrollable D before all this happened, the multi-vitamin with iron made me have C.

I really like cumin for an iron source. You can make it in flat breads or tea or grind it up in a bread mix. It's good and good for you, and has been used for centuries.

[Di2011]

Hi Pear,

You have been a comfort for me the last month or so since I joined this forum. You always seemed to have something useful, good or encouraging to say. Don't forget that we all need to have a 'rant' 'whinge' or something like it so don't be too hard on yourself.

I went through a spell the past fortnight of not wanting to eat. Lost about 5-6 kg in two weeks and TOTALLY lost any appetite. Any vaguely gluggy or stodgy was the worst thing I had ever seen on a plate.

I have always avoided bread, cake etc so potato naturally fell into that stodgy category.

I am a convert to the little purple potato (still not sure what it is that I have a bag of!!)

A "waxy" potato is very recent find for me and best for me because it doesn't have that starchy/stodgy thing.

Open Original Shared Link

Apparently there might be sweet potato that is similar but that is on next weeks to-do-list!

I have in the past week discovered that the waxy potato (small chunk & microwave until well cooked) thrown into a pot with a massive bunch of (precooked with oliveoil/butter(no salt)/pepper in the pan/pot) spinach (any sort), mushroom, onion, garlic etc is just the yummiest. I seem to get the 'full' feeling without any stodgy feelings plus I hope a bit of the nutrients. I never ate much red meat but I add a small amount of steak to the serving plate and my son & I seem to be all the better for it.

I'm going to vary the vege but the slapped together recipe is a treat after the last couple of weeks of the 'food is evil' feelings/reactions I've had. And with my (undiagnosed) DH seemingly endless I am starting to get the decent meal without the need of soysauce, etc that have been causing me endless and *intense* itch.

[fantasticalice]

You can make flour from those potatoes! I grow them in barrels, all sorts of fingerlings. Really fun and oh so easy.

I want to make sure that everyone knows that I am sharing information and NOT giving anyone advice, medical, diet or otherwise. I only know what works for me and by doing my reading I found the elimation "diet" plan. Not really a diet, more for people who are sick and tired of being sick and tired! Lo and behold, it IS what we are eating!! No, we are not nuts and FOOD, yes FOOD can make you NUTS! I found a book that I hope will, at long last, help my daughter who seems to have many food intolerances. I've seen some of your lists below all of your names and it's amazing how many are out there! and a real pleasure to meet all of you.

Alice in Gluten-Free Wonderland

[Marilyn R]

You can make flour from those potatoes! I grow them in barrels, all sorts of fingerlings. Really fun and oh so easy.

I want to make sure that everyone knows that I am sharing information and NOT giving anyone advice, medical, diet or otherwise. I only know what works for me and by doing my reading I found the elimation "diet" plan. Not really a diet, more for people who are sick and tired of being sick and tired! Lo and behold, it IS what we are eating!! No, we are not nuts and FOOD, yes FOOD can make you NUTS! I found a book that I hope will, at long last, help my daughter who seems to have many food intolerances. I've seen some of your lists below all of your names and it's amazing how many are out there! and a real pleasure to meet all of you.

Alice in Gluten-Free Wonderland

Dear Alice,

I'd love to learn how you grow your own fingerlings and make your own flour from potatos. Will you share? I buy alternate flours, but always worry that they're cc'd. I saw sweet potato flour in the oriental store, but how do I know that it isn't made on shared lines? This is an interesting article that made me wonder about cc from products produced in Taiwan:

Open Original Shared Link

[fantasticalice]

Dear Alice,

I'd love to learn how you grow your own fingerlings and make your own flour from potatos. Will you share? I buy alternate flours, but always worry that they're cc'd. I saw sweet potato flour in the oriental store, but how do I know that it isn't made on shared lines? This is an interesting article that made me wonder about cc from products produced in Taiwan:

Open Original Shared Link

[Darwin]

You just need to experiment and see what is out there. Because the gluten free diet has become "trendy" (I don't know why people think it will automatically make them lose weight), it has been really great for all of us who have to eat this way. Some gluten-free foods taste like cardboard and some are really great. I saw that you like to eat pizza. Have you tried Bob's Red Mill Pizza Crust Mix? My fiance, who can eat gluten, likes it better than regular pizza dough. Their chocolate cake mix is great, too. I also saw that you like bread a lot. I haven't gotten too much into making bread yet, but it is a project for this year. The Gluten Free Girl and the Chef cookbook has a spectacular bread recipe in it that most of my friends have loved. It has become a staple in our house. Udi's bread is really good, too. Though I don't buy it much because I feel wrong spending that much money on such a tiny loaf of bread, but it is a good splurge here and there. Their bagels are great! You just have to do your research, there is a lot of stuff out there.....even Walmart is moving into the gluten free market and the foods are much cheaper. Ours is now carrying gluten-free soy sauce....and it doesn't cost a small fortune to buy! You will get used to it in time. Whatever you do, please eat something! Even if you just eat naturally gluten free foods like meats, fruits, veggies, rice, etc. You will figure things out, just hang in there.