I never wanted to care about what we eat. At all. I just wanted to feed my family with what my severely limited cooking skills allow. Plus, doesn't it seem that all nutritional advice is directly contradicted by another piece of nutritional advice?
-Eat only whole grain wheat
-Stop eating any wheat
-Become a vegan
-Vegans stink because they eat too many carbs and not enough protein
-Butter will ruin your cholesterol, use margarine
-Cholesterol from food doesn't really hurt you at all, so eat butter - it's natural
Who wants to think about any of that???
This year, however, Char got his cholesterol tested, and it was 382. Y tested positive as having allergies to wheat and eggs. Plus, we already knew E had type 1 diabetes. My desire to not think about what food we eat was completely thwarted.
What do you do about this?? It seems that foods that are low in cholesterol and foods that are low in carbs (for diabetes) are mutually exclusive. Oh! I could feed everyone egg whites, and we could eat lots of omelettes! Except, Y is allergic to eggs.
It seems there's nothing my whole family can eat, and the whole thing is an unsolvable puzzle. I hated researching foods, as every piece of advice wouldn't work because of one of the members of my family and their issues.
To be fair, I still hate thinking about food. However, my friend, Myra, is brilliant. Here's what I heard Myra say one day:
I think that if we want to be more healthy, we just have to do more of what God created us to do.
1) Eat the food God made. If it's made in a factory, don't eat it.
(This makes sense in general, to avoid all the chemicals, but it makes sense for my family, as
we have a child with food allergies, and there's allergens in everything!)
2) God created us to work. Not to be couch potatoes. Get some exercise.
3) Gluttony is a sin.
(Isn't this verse a bit funny? Proverbs 23:2, "Put a knife to your throat if you're given to
gluttony.")
Somehow, Myra's rules, based on how God created us, simplified things a lot in my mind. I'd add a fourth rule, though, for ultimate health, which would include emotional and spiritual health. The fourth rule is still based on what God created us to do, like Myra's other rules.
4) Love a lot. Love God; love other people. Forgive a lot.
So, last night we had pizza. There's an amazing pizza recipe that's low-carb for diabetes, with a cream cheese mixture for the crust. Then, I only need to make another pizza that's gluten- and egg-free. After that, I just need to fervently hope that the people who say the cholesterol that you eat doesn't really effect you much, make a really big salad, and we're all set for dinner.
Maybe that's not much of a solution. I still make three separate dinners most of the time, but each week, I find a few more recipes that fit into the four health rules, and I feel better about our overall eating.
Now, anyone have any miraculous low-carb, low-cholesterol, gluten- and egg-free recipes they care to share?
