How to not eat SAD (Standard American Diet)

Posted by barefoothorseman @barefoothorseman, Apr 27, 2018

When I moved to the US my health went haywire. Autoimmune type symptoms began to appear in various parts of my body.

The reason was simple. I could not find the food that I was used to eating. So much American food is bad for me and most others I suspect.

The food in Australia is so different. Things like bread only last a few days, not weeks because it is not loaded with preservatives and chemicals. Most food is fresh, and not loaded with chemicals in Australia.

Last night I attended a meeting of cyclists, as I looked at all the food and drink that they served up, there was clearly nothing that I could eat because it was all processed and full of bad stuff.

We all know that our health is primarily reliant on what we eat or do.

So I'm looking for more ideas from people who are probably trying to eat better because they too probably have developed autoimmune type issues from food.

What do you look for when you have to eat out. I've not been very successful with salads, and there is a mountain of evidence that salad greens are a common source of E.Coli food poisoning.

Interested in more discussions like this? Go to the Autoimmune Diseases Support Group.

Hello @barefoothorseman -- This is a great discussion and question. It can be a challenge to eat healthy and sometimes when you think you are eating healthy you can be wrong. Eating out is always a challenge for me. I try to stay away from anything fried or processed. When I do eat out, a lot of times I will try and order grilled chicken breast or other meat and steamed vegetables if they have them. Then I try to avoid all of the condiments. I do order a lot of salads and don't worry about the e-coli unless there is a specific known outbreak in the region. I always get the dressing on the side so I control how much is used.

I have small fiber peripheral neuropathy and polymyalgia rheumatica which started me thinking that I need to do something. About the time I found Mayo Connect I was researching diet changes and ran across the Wahls Protocol book written by Dr. Terry Wahls. I read a blurb about her and how she pretty much eliminated many or most of her symptoms of MS through her own research on diet. I ordered her book which is what got me started on changing my lifestyle and trying to eliminate all if not most processed foods. She has an amazing story if you would like to read more about her:
-- https://terrywahls.com/about/about-terry-wahls/

She started me on my green smoothies for breakfast routine which I try to do 4 or 5 days a week. I also try to buy organic if I have a choice and we have a local farmers market that has great produce when in season. When I can't get that I opt for frozen fruit and veggies without anything added to them. I wished I liked fish so that I could add it to my diet. I get pretty nauseated if I try to eat it even though I know it's healthy, especially the fresh caught ones.

Good luck on your search. I hope you get lots of suggestions so I can use them too! Thanks for posting this discussion. ☺

John

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John I accidently found my diet while in the hospital. Because they never did find out what caused my fainting they put me on a cartiac menu. No salt. Buy pepper ok. I CD not believe how I did not miss salt. I ate fruit for breakfast. I CD have pancakes, but they were horrible. When I got home I had had back surgery when I CD not walk and now I am walking further and further everyday. Not only am I getting well, but I have already lost 7 lbs and feeling pretty darn good for 76. I even feel younger. I really have no interest in living past 80 or 85. Food is the problem. Believe me.

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I totally agree with you. I just wrote on here that 3 weeks in hospital on Cartiac diet, healed me. I HV lost weight and walking long walks. i had back surgery for a crushed vertibrae

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Thanks @oregongirl, it kind of gives credence to the old saying we are what we eat - or something like that.

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@ Dear barefoothorsman, .....throw a clean chicken, (or just the parts you like) into a large pot, put in carrots, onions, celery, cabbage,elephant garlic (a few pieces, peeled) yellow potatoes, cook for about 60, or 75 minutes and you have a delicious meal. Naturally you can use organic vegetables and garden raised chicken if you wishj. Stuffed cabbage with extra cabbage around your stuffed meatballs with ricecin the meat and some sourkraut on the top of the pot, but not the liqyud in the sourkraut cooked in a tomato sauce. These "old world" european dishes are great like thick green pea soup. Just a few good and healthy meals. Just for you and whomever reads this. Good luck With care, peach414144

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@johnbishop

Hello @barefoothorseman -- This is a great discussion and question. It can be a challenge to eat healthy and sometimes when you think you are eating healthy you can be wrong. Eating out is always a challenge for me. I try to stay away from anything fried or processed. When I do eat out, a lot of times I will try and order grilled chicken breast or other meat and steamed vegetables if they have them. Then I try to avoid all of the condiments. I do order a lot of salads and don't worry about the e-coli unless there is a specific known outbreak in the region. I always get the dressing on the side so I control how much is used.

I have small fiber peripheral neuropathy and polymyalgia rheumatica which started me thinking that I need to do something. About the time I found Mayo Connect I was researching diet changes and ran across the Wahls Protocol book written by Dr. Terry Wahls. I read a blurb about her and how she pretty much eliminated many or most of her symptoms of MS through her own research on diet. I ordered her book which is what got me started on changing my lifestyle and trying to eliminate all if not most processed foods. She has an amazing story if you would like to read more about her:
-- https://terrywahls.com/about/about-terry-wahls/

She started me on my green smoothies for breakfast routine which I try to do 4 or 5 days a week. I also try to buy organic if I have a choice and we have a local farmers market that has great produce when in season. When I can't get that I opt for frozen fruit and veggies without anything added to them. I wished I liked fish so that I could add it to my diet. I get pretty nauseated if I try to eat it even though I know it's healthy, especially the fresh caught ones.

Good luck on your search. I hope you get lots of suggestions so I can use them too! Thanks for posting this discussion. ☺

John

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Thanks John, I'll take your advice and add that book to my reading list.

Have you tried canned wild caught fish like salmon or sardines. I'm eating a red salmon salad right now for dinner.

I'm convinced almost all deseases today including cancer are man made from man made foods drugs and chemicals

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@peach414144

@ Dear barefoothorsman, .....throw a clean chicken, (or just the parts you like) into a large pot, put in carrots, onions, celery, cabbage,elephant garlic (a few pieces, peeled) yellow potatoes, cook for about 60, or 75 minutes and you have a delicious meal. Naturally you can use organic vegetables and garden raised chicken if you wishj. Stuffed cabbage with extra cabbage around your stuffed meatballs with ricecin the meat and some sourkraut on the top of the pot, but not the liqyud in the sourkraut cooked in a tomato sauce. These "old world" european dishes are great like thick green pea soup. Just a few good and healthy meals. Just for you and whomever reads this. Good luck With care, peach414144

Jump to this post

Thank you peach I'm really getting into my pressure cooker. Been hard finding clean chicken though in Nebraska. Thinking in going to try natural grocers or whole foods next. Even the no antibiotics chicken is probably fed GMO corn and thus made of gmo corn and roundup and maybe arsenic.

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@peach414144

@ Dear barefoothorsman, .....throw a clean chicken, (or just the parts you like) into a large pot, put in carrots, onions, celery, cabbage,elephant garlic (a few pieces, peeled) yellow potatoes, cook for about 60, or 75 minutes and you have a delicious meal. Naturally you can use organic vegetables and garden raised chicken if you wishj. Stuffed cabbage with extra cabbage around your stuffed meatballs with ricecin the meat and some sourkraut on the top of the pot, but not the liqyud in the sourkraut cooked in a tomato sauce. These "old world" european dishes are great like thick green pea soup. Just a few good and healthy meals. Just for you and whomever reads this. Good luck With care, peach414144

Jump to this post

@ Dear barefoothorsman you rea;;y know your stuff. We are really ruining this planet. And he poor elephants and over fishing, etc. "Soylent Green" is a predictor. It is an old movie that shows the way to an end. Very interesting. Peach

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@johnbishop

Hello @barefoothorseman -- This is a great discussion and question. It can be a challenge to eat healthy and sometimes when you think you are eating healthy you can be wrong. Eating out is always a challenge for me. I try to stay away from anything fried or processed. When I do eat out, a lot of times I will try and order grilled chicken breast or other meat and steamed vegetables if they have them. Then I try to avoid all of the condiments. I do order a lot of salads and don't worry about the e-coli unless there is a specific known outbreak in the region. I always get the dressing on the side so I control how much is used.

I have small fiber peripheral neuropathy and polymyalgia rheumatica which started me thinking that I need to do something. About the time I found Mayo Connect I was researching diet changes and ran across the Wahls Protocol book written by Dr. Terry Wahls. I read a blurb about her and how she pretty much eliminated many or most of her symptoms of MS through her own research on diet. I ordered her book which is what got me started on changing my lifestyle and trying to eliminate all if not most processed foods. She has an amazing story if you would like to read more about her:
-- https://terrywahls.com/about/about-terry-wahls/

She started me on my green smoothies for breakfast routine which I try to do 4 or 5 days a week. I also try to buy organic if I have a choice and we have a local farmers market that has great produce when in season. When I can't get that I opt for frozen fruit and veggies without anything added to them. I wished I liked fish so that I could add it to my diet. I get pretty nauseated if I try to eat it even though I know it's healthy, especially the fresh caught ones.

Good luck on your search. I hope you get lots of suggestions so I can use them too! Thanks for posting this discussion. ☺

John

Jump to this post

As much as I know that fish and especially wild caught salmon are really good for your diet I just can't do it. It comes up faster than it goes down. I've tried many ways to eat it but can never keep it down. As a kid my mother used to make us tuna sandwiches which I could tolerate but really didn't like them. She would mix celery, dill pickles and mayo into the tuna and I think the pickles helped somehow but I've tried it as an adult and it makes me gag. I get my omega 3 and 6 from lemon flavored Norwegian Fish Oil (4 tsp a day) and organic cold pressed hemp oil (1.5 oz a day). I know it's not as good as getting it from the source but at least I can take it this way.

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@peach414144

@ Dear barefoothorsman, .....throw a clean chicken, (or just the parts you like) into a large pot, put in carrots, onions, celery, cabbage,elephant garlic (a few pieces, peeled) yellow potatoes, cook for about 60, or 75 minutes and you have a delicious meal. Naturally you can use organic vegetables and garden raised chicken if you wishj. Stuffed cabbage with extra cabbage around your stuffed meatballs with ricecin the meat and some sourkraut on the top of the pot, but not the liqyud in the sourkraut cooked in a tomato sauce. These "old world" european dishes are great like thick green pea soup. Just a few good and healthy meals. Just for you and whomever reads this. Good luck With care, peach414144

Jump to this post

I had never heard of elephant garlic before, so I looked it up in case others were like me. "Elephant garlic is a perennial plant belonging to the onion genus. It is not a true garlic, but actually a variant of the garden leek. en.wikipedia.org."

@johnbishop - how much are a "few pieces" in terms of tablespoons, etc.?

Teresa

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