What can I eat???

[Nogodsnomasters]

I've been a fussy eater from childhood but have expanded my palate (somewhat) as an adult. I also now have chronic reflux and so my already small variety of foods is even smaller in an attempt to control my symptoms. I'm literally bored of my diet, it's like the same maybe 8 meals on repeat! I can feel my colleagues eyeing me as I bring the same variant of packed lunch to work every day.

Things I can't eat - chocolate, tomatoes, oranges, lemons, kiwi fruit, onions, spring onions, anything even remotely spicy.

Things I don't like - pasta, eggs, duck, lentils, beans.

I've looked online at recipes but they always include something I don't like or can't have. I'm so bored of meat, potatoes and veg or stew/soups, pizza (homemade) and pies.

Any suggestions?

Do you like Fish ?

What are your eight meals, and what are their ingredients?

Look into different cuisines. Japanese dishes would work well for you, healthy and you can leave out any spices/onions. Turkish mezze can be adapted, Mediterranean salads, meats and sides etc.

What treatment are you getting for your reflux?

What are you taking for the reflux? Is it resolving?
When I had an oesophageal tear I ate tiny portions at hourly intervals, no acid foods and as little fibre as possible . Along with omeprazole it healed in a few weeks, as did my Mother's hiatus hernia with similar symptoms.

So, on the presumption that you are having tiny portions to minimise reflux:
Flattened Chicken breast topped with garlic butter, herbs, some chopped veg and grated cheese.
Roasted vegetables ( peppers, onion, aubergine, carrot and courgettes) with some feta or cottage cheese.
Prawns with mayonnaise and a baked potato
Crab and cucumber
Cheese on toast
Sausage rolls and scotch eggs
Baby new potatoes
Roasted cauliflower.

You said no spice but cumin and turmeric are both good for your stomach, so maybe try a tsp of each of these fried off and added to veg or soup to add an earthy flavour: if you like the flavour you can mix the spices with yogurt to make a mild tikka marinade for chicken or veg.

Hope this helps. There is nothing so draining as pain after every meal. I hope it gets better soon.

No sorry, don't eat any sea food at all

Omeprazole 10mg per day, can take 20mg on a flare up and change diet, on a 2yr long waiting list to see the gastro clinic at the hospital.

I'd try some salads at this time of year, but hearty starchy ones not just leaves. How about:

Couscous, flaked almonds, pomegranate seeds (you can get them frozen), and whatever protein you do like - chicken?

Brown rice, cucumber, chickpeas if you like them or diced tofu, shredded lettuce, tahini / yoghurt dressing

Giant couscous and roast veg - courgette, peppers, carrot - with an olive oil and lemon juice dressing

Baked sweet potato

Quiche made with silken tofu instead of egg like this recipe, but leaving out the black salt / paprika / cayenne which is unnecessary anyway. If leeks are too onion-y you could use spinach and mushrooms, or mushroom and sweetcorn. I'd also cheat and use ready rolled pastry!

So usually irish stew, soup (mostly vegetables or potato/leek that kind of stuff), then variations of meat potato and veg such as sausages, or cottage pie, gammon, chicken which is usually bland as all hell. Then things like steak or mince pies, chicken/ham pie and then finally homemade pizza as I usually can't have most of the toppings/ingredients on pre-made ones.

Risotto
couscous and roasted veg with a protein source, chicken sausages are quite good it.
how can you not like pasta? It doesn’t taste of anything!
stir fry and noodles or rice

It's more the texture of it I don't like, the slippery rubbery sensation is gross lol. Not a fan of couscous either 🙈

All this food talk is making me hungry 😫

I always think if you're bored with food then you're not hungry. Eat less and whatever you eat will seem very nice.

Could you try adding in noodles? Do a noodle stir fry maybe?

Soda bread with cheese.

Potatoes fried with cabbage and bacon.

I just eat a standard amount I think, on work days I'm usually starving for each meal because I'm running around a lot in my job, on the weekends I do eat less as I'm burning less calories.

Breakfast is a bowl of cereal

Morning snack is a piece of fruit usually a banana or a pear since I can't eat anything citrus.

Lunch is usually a sandwich, a yogurt and a packet of crisps. I can't always take something that needs heated up to work as sometimes with my job I'm not at the office over lunch time and need to eat in my car etc

Dinner is as described above

Evening snack is usually something like nuts, crisps or biscuits

All I know is that when I'm hungry enough, plain boiled potatoes taste wonderful.

This is one of those weird threads where OP says
"So incapable of eating any variety!"
And then they list a huge variety of what is eaten

Maybe try getting some recipe books out of the library so you can flick through, see what you fancy and maybe we can help you adapt it. Onion you can swap out for leeks or miss out entirely. Most recipes don't contain beans and those that do, maybe you could substitute chopped veg you like, or tofu, paneer or halloumi or boiled egg.

You say you don't like spicy but also you don't like bland so what does the middle ground look like for you? Is it the heat you don't like in "spicy" or do you also dislike eg cumin, coriander, cardamom, herbs?

I have a big thing about sushi rice at the moment, really "clean" tasting. A lot of meats can just be baked eg chicken thighs, burgers. Pork can be cooked down with apples and served as a hot sandwich, or fry off some meat and stir in a couple of spoons of creme fraiche or Philly as a sauce and serve with rice or in a wrap with salad. Also traybakes if whatever veg you like, with or without chicken, saucisson, sausages or or salami if that isn't spicy.

If recipes have things that you don't like in, you can sometimes substitute or leave the ingredient out altogether, depending on what it is. So bearing that in mind might help you try new things?

You really think what I've wrote is a huge variety? Compared to my husband who can have fish, pasties, lasagna, spaghetti Bolognese etc I find mine very restrictive.

It's not that I don't like spicy, I can't have it due to my chronic reflux. I do like curry, mild/medium hotness but I can no longer have it, even things like pepperoni, peppers etc I can't have any more as it's not worth the pain, nausea, discomfort I'm in.

Thank you, that's a good idea. Maybe just googling what is a good substitute for X if I find a recipe that calls for something I can't have or don't like.

I suppose I think it's a decent variety. Not that restricted at all.

young DS & MIL entirely by choice both eat a smaller variety than OP.

I've known people who couldn't have any lactose or gluten plus problems with a few specific fruit/veg. I think on balance, they were more restricted than OP.

Don't be an ass.

And I can't have lactose, have an increasing list of migraine triggers and struggle with some acidic foods and I think that op's diet is pretty restricted, flavour wise. And she's not doing it through choice, like your relatives. She's doing it because certain foods make her feel ill or cause pain.

Yes that's a good plan. There's lots of advice like that for less common ingredients that may not be available in certain countries.

Or similar substitutions to avoid using a small amount of similar ingredients eg I buy full fat Greek Yogurt and it's sometimes a perfectly adequate substitution for cream, creme fraiche and sour cream in savoury dishes.

Obviously of you're looking at a chicken and courgette curry and don't like courgettes , it's fine to swap for peppers or mushrooms if the dish otherwise appeals. Or use a bit less spice if you're worried it will be too spicy.