Hi guys,
I’ve posted a lot here recently, and I’ve found the community, small though it is, to be really great. I have another question for you all: I’m starting the elimination diet from the Heal Your Headache book. I can deal with most of it, though caffeine will be incredibly hard for me as I’m ALWAYS mentally and physically tired (and always have been, way before starting to drink coffee). I was hoping some people would have advice though for three other categories:
- Energy bars/protein bars/granola bars. I like these, especially ones high in protein, and I’m wondering if anyone has recommendations for preferably high-protein energy bars that we can eat when on this diet.
- High-protein breakfast options OTHER than eggs, since I can only have eggs about 4x per week before I get sick of them.
- Drinks, maybe something like vegetable juice? I drink a ton of water, and I’m not really into sugar-y drinks so I have no interest in diet sodas or sweet-tasting energy drinks (if they are even OK to drink, haven’t checked them out), but I would like something to drink once in a while when I don’t want water or herbal tea. Any favorites?
Thanks!
P.S. For those who don’t know about the diet, here’s a low-down:
Caffeine: No coffee, tea, or any other drink with caffeine. No decaf products. Only herbal tea or diet soda (without aspartame).
Chocolate: Only white chocolate allowed.
Processed Meats & Fishes: No aged, canned, cured, fermented, marinated, smoked, or tenderized meats or fishes. No nitrates or nitrites. No livers.
Dairy: Only cream cheese, cottage cheese, ricotta cheese, and high-quality American cheese allowed.
Nuts: No nuts or nut butters. Seeds are OK.
Alcohol: Avoid all alcohol, but lighter color = better. Especially avoid red wine, champagne, and dark or heavy drinks.
Vinegar: Only clear, distilled vinegar allowed. Avoid condiments made with vinegar when possible (ketchup, mustard, mayonnaise).
Fruits & Juices: No citrus (oranges, grapefruits, lemons, limes, tangerines, clementines, pineapples), bananas, raspberries, plums, papayas, passion fruit, figs, dates, or raisins or other dried fruits preserved with sulfites. No avocados.
Onions: No onions or sauerkraut. Scallions, shallots, green onions, leeks, and garlic are OK.
Tomatoes: No tomatoes or tomato-based sauces.
Legumes: No broad Italian beans, lima beans, fava beans, navy beans, or lentils. No pea pods (but peas outside the pods are OK).
Baked Goods: Allowed only when more than one day old.
MSG: No MSG. This includes hydrolyzed protein (vegetable/soy/plant/rice protein), yeast extract or autolyzed yeast, natural flavors/flavorings, broth or buillon or stock, soy protein concentrate/isolate, textured protein, whey protein, protein-fortified items, malt extract, malted barley, maltodextrin, carrageenan, kombu (seaweed extract), sodium or calcium caseinate, glutamic acid, gelatin, fermented or cultured items, ultra-pasteurized items, enzyme-modified items.
Soy: No soy products, especially cultured (such as miso), fermented (tempeh), or otherwise highly processed (soy protein isolate/concentrate). No soy sauce with MSG. ALLOWED: unflavored tofu, soy milk, soy oil, soy flour.
Aspartame: No saccharin (Sweet’n Low). Sucralose (Splenda) may be OK.