Sick of not being able to eat - help, please?

[DragonSnapCrimson]

Straight to the point - some foods make me very very bloated (my stomach looks 6 months pregnant) and I've identified the main culprits as bread and the like, and dairy.

I'm sat here having to not have any lunch as I can't even think what I'm able to eat other than veg and fruit (eating just that for lunch every sodding day is really tiresome).

Does ANYONE have any easy lunch ideas for me that don't involve bread/wraps etc or dairy? In the evening I just suffer through the bloat and discomfort but I'm sick of being uncomfortable all afternoon at work. I live in a place that doesn't have things like vegan cheese etc, so that's out.

I'm just really fucking hungry and it's making me sad (yes I've been to a doctor multiple times and basically there's nothing to be done).

NearlySpring, I don't usually "just put up with it" but over the past few weeks it's really got me down so I've been throwing my toys out of the pram and stamping my feet. I want to get back on track and eventually have a full list of foods I can eat without issue, but sometimes I just can't be arsed and wish I could eat normally.

I'm not vegan, I essentially just don't eat meat but am ok with fish on occasion. I just can't get the majority of vegan replacements as they don't sell them anywhere here.

Some of these recipes sound absolutely lovely and I really should be making more effort, so I'll write down my favourites and cook them at the weekend for my weekly lunches. Thank you all for your help, you've made me feel better.

I'm vegan and don't eat a lot of bread as it ´makes me bloat.

I eat a lot of hummus, stir fry's with vegetables and rice, curries made with chickpeas, potatoes and veg, vegetable chilli. Could you make extra portions of what you have for dinner and have it for lunch?

What about oat cakes or ryvita with soup instead of bread?

I really recommend looking for books by Dr Megan Rossi (@theguthealthdoctor on instagram).
She has a plans to help people with gut issues and would 100% recommend looking into it

Tofu
Quinoa
Beans

Same with soups - I also don't find them very filling unless they're very thick or I can eat them with some bread, which I can't

How about thickening them with potatoes or stuff like rice or lentils?

How are you with things like spelt bread?

We don't eat a lot of bread (it bloats me) or dairy, (not veggie though)

Breakfast most days is scrambled egg, spinach and spring onion

so lunch is something like a chunky veg soup, Tuna Mayo salad, Chicken and Bacon Salad, Jacket potato with tuna or beans

Evening meal tends to be meatballs and roasted veg, thai curry, chicken fried rice, Burgers and homemade wedges (I just have mine with no bun) Mince and Mash and Veg, Fish wedges and peas, stir fry with rice noodles, noodle soup too, chilli and jacket potaotes

I'd look at polenta, cornbread (you can made your own). You can also make and freeze fairly savoury American muffins - they work better than bread to make gluten free because the egg in them holds them together.

I'd also try and do a bit more of a proper exclusion diet - do you find all dairy is a problem, or is it e.g. milk and soft cheese and hard cheese is okay.

You could also make a big batch of mash, and have that reheated with some veg at lunch?

Porridge is more of a breakfast product but might be an easy choice while you have a look at other ideas.

In some supermarkets near me, gluten free pasta isn't too expensive so making ahead some pasta salads might work?

Could also do a potato salad made ahead as well.

I also really like butternut squash salad where the squash is roasted with cumin, that you have with toasted pine nuts and balsamic vinegar (and parmesan if you conclude you can tolerate hard cheese).

I don’t eat bread/rice/pasta/potatoes, meat or dairy (or any veggie alternatives). But I don’t struggle to eat.

Omelettes are very versatile. Also roasted cauliflower (oven or pan) with a variety of spices. Soups (current fave is butternut squash, red pepper, red onion, garlic and chilli roasted then blended with veggie stock). Stir fries/big trays of roasted veg. Curries with coconut milk and cauliflower rice.

I can make a muffin/bread alternative (3 tbsp almond flour, 1 tbsp oil, 1 egg and 1/2 tsp baking powder, mix and put into a microwavable tub and microwave for 80 seconds) that can be used to make toast or dunk in soup.

I like the soup as a purée more than a liquid!

Do you have access to cooking/reheating facilities at lunchtime? If you need a cold packed lunch, potato salad is filling and can be supplemented with protein e.g. poached salmon or hardboiled eggs.

Omelette, Spanish omelette/frittata, falafel and Homous and salad, scrambled egg and smoked salmon, spinach and chickpea curry,

Potatoes are quite versatile.

• oven roast root veg including potatoes, seeet potatoes, onions, carrots, parsnips etc

• Janssens temptation - fish and potato based oven dish

• potato croquettes or patties with different things mixed in eg sardines, onions, veg

You need some protein in with the fruit and veg.
Eggs, beans, lentils, nuts (and nut butters).
Other carb sources: rice, potatoes, rice noodles, corn.

You are roughly a gluten free vegan (with some extra bits you can add in). Have a Google of some recipes and see if anything takes your fancy.

Op- try googling pescatarian or vegetarian paleo recipes.
There are loads online- it's what helped me when I was limiting my diet (due to digestive and autoimmune issues)

Assume you eat beans/lentils etc? And you'd need those for protein and fibre.

Roasted vegetables with hummus is popular here. Sometimes add toasted pine nuts.

If you do eat some fish, what about jacket potatoes with tuna? Or jacket potatoes with beans and a salad on the side.

Risottos? Made without cheese, obviously, but a butternut risotto could be good. Pea risotto too although I do like to mash the peas with cream/butter before adding them so maybe not!

Stuffed mushrooms.

Stir fries. Have you tried rice noodles rather than regular noodles? I believe they're gluten free. Or have stir fries with rice.

On that note, egg fried rice is nice and works as a vegetarian option.

Most rice noodles are gluten free. You can mix them up with all sorts as a salad, stir fry or to bulk up a soup.
You could make up a batch of potato wedges and have a few of those with a protein plus salad for a quick lunch. Or the same, but with potato salad instead of the wedges.

Wild rice ? Actually a type of barley. Can you eat Pearl barley, great in soup? Or rye crackers eg ryvita?
Different types of rice are very different too eg vialone nano boiled dressed with butter and sage, red rice with olive oil and garlic.
Buckwheat noodles are gf I think

Oatcakes are fab - very easy to make. You can add cheese to the recipe too.

pennysrecipes.com/7324/recipe-traditional-oatcakes

Just cos it with pancake day yesterday .... pancakes made with chickpea flour/gram flour are surprisingly good - poppadoms are made out of them after all.

Maybe google some Hemsley and Hemsley recipes, they are usually gluten free from what I've seen, and they do treat stuff like cakes.

Also, I reckon you should get into some vegan food (even though you're not vegan), they really make an effort to do interesting stuff with beans, lentils, and nuts - all of which can be filling and delicious - plus they're not afraid of carbs, so lots of rice, sweet potato, potato, quinoa and oats.

To feel less deprived maybe make yourself some treat stuff, like rice pudding (easy in a slow cooker), nice cream (way nicer than you will ever suspect), or homemade nutella.

Protein will keep you fuller than carbs so as a vegetarian you need to think in terms of beans, pulses, soy, eggs.
Try the gluten free pasta and I would definitely get acquainted with rice! Rice doesn't really taste of anything so it's hard to not like.

I ended up doing a very strict exclusion diet (Monash University low FODMAP).

The upshot of which is that I can't eat onions and garlic, but can tolerate - very occasionally - very low levels of sourdough bread and hard cheese (like a teaspoon of grated parmesan).

I eat a lot of rice, rice noodles, potatoes and gluten-free pasta.

Good luck, I know it's miserable

p.s. in terms of the actual symptoms, I take various meds which help - mebeverine, simeticone and omeprazole. AMA. I also have digestive enzymes like lactase on standby.

Have you had a blood test for coeliac? Lactose intolerance is often found alongside coeliac disease. You'd need to be eating gluten for six weeks prior to the blood test otherwise it won't be accurate.

If you can't tolerate bread and dairy AND you're veggie then you're really going to struggle. Your diet will be severely restricted - no meat or fish, no dairy and no bread... really tricky.

How about eating some meat and seeing how you feel?

I'm coeliac and lactose intolerant, why aren't you investigating the cause of the bloated tummy? It could be something really serious

I don't like omelettes, but again, I may just have to get over that.

If you add cubes of potato like a PP mentioned, it changes the consistency of the omelette completely. I far prefer the texture to that of an ordinary one.