Cooking "Bland" - Is there any hope for taste?

[PaniniGuy]

Since I co-own an Italian-style coffeehouse/panini shop, it's hard to think of a worse sentence than having your doc tell you to cut out just about everything you work with and love is taboo because you have an overdeveloped reflux problem that's making it difficult to live normally.

The prescription:

- no tomatoes

- very little citrus

- no caffeine

- no spirits

- no carbonation

- nothing fried (not that big a problem... except potato chips)

- nothing heavily seasoned

- nothing hard to digest (i.e. steaks, most meats unless shredded)

- anything that causes gas

This cuts out any red sauces, most meats and sausages, a wide swath of Asian cuisine (except Japanese and Cantonese), much of Africa, all Mexican, all Cajun, most Creole...

Which is pretty much most of what I eat.

Since I own my own business, there's not a lot of time for menu planning, nor hours to be spent on cooking.

Have to think some of you have had a similar problem. If so, what recipes got you through your condition until you could begin eating like a civilized human again?

Right now I'm brushing up my risotto repetoire, but that'll get boring pretty quick. Especially w/o a glass of wine to accompany it.

Thanks for your help.

(Please, for practical purposes, nothing more than 30 mins prep time).

[kevfoodvan]

I feel your pain as I live with Chron's Disease and have to eat low fibre. My suggestion is fish and rice and keep a food recipe/diary so you can see what you can tolerate.

Since I co-own an Italian-style coffeehouse/panini shop, it's hard to think of a worse sentence than having your doc tell you to cut out just about everything you work with and love is taboo because you have an overdeveloped reflux problem that's making it difficult to live normally.

The prescription:

- no tomatoes

- very little citrus

- no caffeine

- no spirits

- no carbonation

- nothing fried (not that big a problem... except potato chips)

- nothing heavily seasoned

- nothing hard to digest (i.e. steaks, most meats unless shredded)

- anything that causes gas

This cuts out any red sauces, most meats and sausages, a wide swath of Asian cuisine (except Japanese and Cantonese), much of Africa, all Mexican, all Cajun, most Creole...

Which is pretty much most of what I eat. 

Since I own my own business, there's not a lot of time for menu planning, nor hours to be spent on cooking.

Have to think some of you have had a similar problem.  If so, what recipes got you through your condition until you could begin eating like a civilized human again?

Right now I'm brushing up my risotto repetoire, but that'll get boring pretty quick.  Especially w/o a glass of wine to accompany it.

Thanks for your help.

(Please, for practical purposes, nothing more than 30 mins prep time).

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[goldie]

When my reflux acts up I eat a lot of soup- chicken and rice, beef and mushroom, bean. Those work well for me. Roasted meats work well, but might not fit your time constraints. Light meat (turkey, chicken, ham) in sandwiches are ok, just watch the condiments. Another thing I do when I have had reflux for a day or two is to start eating yogurt everyday. I eat plain Greek yogurt for breakfast for a few days and feel much better. Three of my big trigger foods are chocolate, nuts, and cheese- so you might want to avoid those, too for a few days. Cutting down on saturated fat helps me, too.

Good luck. I know it is the pits but you won't believe how rotten you have been felling until you feel better.

[Marlene]

My brother had reflux but had a prescription that kept it well under control so he could eat a lot of that stuff. My mother is now on a soft foods, bland diet due to reflux and a hiatus hernia so I'm having to learn to cook this way for her. Things that work for her include,

egg salad

salmon or other fish

minced meats (not pureed!) of turkey, chicken and the occassional beef. Braises could work well for you here.

Shepherd pie of all things seems to be ok

yogurts, smoothies, puddings,

most fruits are out, but peaches and bananas seem to be ok. Can tolerate strawberries in a smoothie.

Decafinated coffee

And she still has one drink before dinner. As long as she keeps it to one, she's ok.

Rice and mashed potatoes ( you can do some interesting things with mashed potatoes. I've got a mashed potato muffin recipe that she adores)

most gravies seem to be ok in moderation.

Just about any soup seems to be fine and there are lots of great soups out there to make.

Breads don't seem to work or anything that will "clump" in the stomach.

Heavy cream sauces

Get a crockpot if you don't have one. You can do lots of "braises" that can cook while you're working and will still meet your restrictions.

[Motochef]

Get a new doctor or at least a second opinion. Pittsburgh is full of great doctors.

Good Luck.

[Pan]

Since I co-own an Italian-style coffeehouse/panini shop, it's hard to think of a worse sentence than having your doc tell you to cut out just about everything you work with and love is taboo because you have an overdeveloped reflux problem that's making it difficult to live normally.

The prescription:

- no tomatoes

- very little citrus

- no caffeine

- no spirits

- no carbonation

- nothing fried (not that big a problem... except potato chips)

- nothing heavily seasoned

- nothing hard to digest (i.e. steaks, most meats unless shredded)

- anything that causes gas

[...]

←

My gastroenterologist told me simply to LIMIT intake of those things, not eliminate them from my diet. And the Protonix I take has enabled me to avoid any really terrible episodes. But I have to say that while there are some days when spicy Korean, Sichuan-style, or Malaysian food is fine for me, on other days, I have problems when I eat too much fat, drink too much alcohol, have too much hot pepper, etc. I'm still learning.

Good luck! And you may find that you will be able to reintroduce some of these things in moderation after a while.

[mizducky]

I have had reflux (GERD) for several years now. It can get better, eventually, if you give your GI tract time to heal, and take appropriate meds.

At first I was on Protonix; then when my insurance changed and no longer covered Protonix, I switched to prescription Pepcid with no difficulties. When the GERD was first diagnosed, I cut way the hell back on all the suspected irritants per your list. As my GI tract settled down, I decided to deal with the food aspect by eating mild most of the time so that I could enjoy occasional potential-irritant foods as treats. So far, this approach seems to work pretty well.

These days I find I tolerate tomato products with hardly any problems at all, and fatty foods in moderation (not a big issue these days, as I'm on a low-fat food regimen for other reasons). I have to be very careful with spicy foods--one night of firey Szechuan can sometimes cause a few warning flares in the tummy, even through my regular meds. But I only really run into trouble if I have irritating foods a few too many days in a row.

My favorite go-to foods whenever I'm feeling poorly, including and especially when my stomach is upset, are congee and other grain porridges. Made with chicken broth and spiked with fermented bean curd and other seasonings, congee has nice flavor and comfort-food quality, and really soothes my stomach. I also tend to make Japanese-style simmered stew/soups (nabe) full of sea vegetables, garlic, and ginger--very nourishing, and ginger root is known for its stomach-soothing properties.

I have to say, while I still adore spicy foods, the necessity of eating milder a lot of the time has given me a new appreciation of more subtly-flavored foods. I get a lot of gentle-on-stomach flavor mileage out of onions and garlic, simmered or roasted to mildness; broths and stocks; fresh herbs; and Asian condiments such as soy sauces and sesame oil.

[annecros]

I was diagnosed with severe reflux 5 years ago. I lost my voice for 4 months due to the irritation to my larnyx!

You have gotten some very sound recomendations, and I concur that after you are on medications for a while and things have time to heal, you will be able to introduce these items back into your diet on a limted basis. And soups are great! It is a wonderful way to sneak in innoffensive flavor when you are sick and want to work some taste in.

The only thing I would add, is that the time of day you eat is almost as important as what you eat. A normal breakfast, at whatever time your schedule demands you wake up, then your largest or heaviest meal at the middle of the day when you will be upright for the rest of the day and active, then a very light and innoffensive to the GI snack before going to bed when you will be lying prone and those nasty acids start creeping, will change things dramitically in my experience. Where reflux is concerned, gravity is your friend. This can help with your meds as well, take them at night if your symptoms are worse in the morning than they are later in the day.

My biggest offenders are those items that tend to also dialate blood vessels. My GI and Rheumatologist concur, and have explained that they tend to relax those worn out muscles you have. Coffee, peppers, chocolate, and for some reason highly smoked meat do me in sometimes.

Best of luck, and truly this condition can be managed very well these days.

Best of luck

[PaniniGuy]

Thanks all - some good suggestions. Keep 'em coming!

Luckily a new Viet place has opened up nearby so I'm doing a chicken pho 2x weekly (skipping the peppers and hot sauce). Seem to tolerate it well. That's a start.

To those suggesting meds, how I wish the meds still helped - been on all the P's at one time or another over past 15 years, plus the purple pill. I even do 2x the standard prescription. While those meds all kill the heartburn at various levels, they are no longer stopping the larygnal reflux, which gets into the sinuses and creates a whole new set of problems that you don't get with GER.

If you ever get that, you have my sympathies.

[docsconz]

What kind of doctor are you seeing? If not a gastroenterologist, you should see one. If a gastroenterologist do get a second opinion. Are you on meds? The current treatments do a really good job against reflux for most people. Have you had any procedures to assist in the diagnosis if the reflux has been refractory?

[docsconz]

Thanks all - some good suggestions.  Keep 'em coming!

Luckily a new Viet place has opened up nearby so I'm doing a chicken pho 2x weekly (skipping the peppers and hot sauce).  Seem to tolerate it well.  That's a start. 

To those suggesting meds, how I wish the meds still helped - been on all the P's at one time or another over past 15 years, plus the purple pill.  I even do 2x the standard prescription.  While those meds all kill the heartburn at various levels, they are no longer stopping the larygnal reflux, which gets into the sinuses and creates a whole new set of problems that you don't get with GER. 

If you ever get that, you have my sympathies.

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Sounds like your problem is much more complicated than simple GERD and you are well beyond the initial forays of treatment. Good luck and best wishes with your treatment.

[annecros]

Thanks all - some good suggestions.  Keep 'em coming!

Luckily a new Viet place has opened up nearby so I'm doing a chicken pho 2x weekly (skipping the peppers and hot sauce).  Seem to tolerate it well.  That's a start. 

To those suggesting meds, how I wish the meds still helped - been on all the P's at one time or another over past 15 years, plus the purple pill.  I even do 2x the standard prescription.  While those meds all kill the heartburn at various levels, they are no longer stopping the larygnal reflux, which gets into the sinuses and creates a whole new set of problems that you don't get with GER. 

If you ever get that, you have my sympathies.

←

Wow. Sounds like you are a candidate for surgery. Has anyone discussed this with you? I've known some other patients that have had it with very good results, but it is contraindicated in my case because of other medical conditions. Doctor's won't cut me unless it is a life threatening situation, so I have to manage the best I can, and I have found I can get by if I am SO CAREFUL and listen to my body. Keep in mind surgery anywhere in the gut sucks pretty bad, but this is a less invasive surgery than others, unless they nick something in the process. And you would have limitations after the surgery that you have to learn to live with that are entirely different from the problems you are having now. They just loop part of the gut around the esophogus in order to reinforce it, and is a cure for hiatal hernia as well (I've got a large one of those too, but was a result of other issues I have going on). Make sure your gastro and ENT are communicating with one another. And if you haven't seen a gastroenteroligist and ENT yet, you need to consult with both.

Once again good luck.