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Scott W Scott W is offline
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Default Attitudes toward dietary adversity

On Jan 13, 11:22*am, "cybercat" > wrote:
> "Scott W" > wrote
>
>
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> > I have gone through a rather large upheaval in the foods I eat. *Three
> > months ago I had a kidney removed due to cancer and the blood work
> > shows that the remaining kidney is struggling to keep up.

>
> Wow, you poor thing, a friend of mine just went through this--lost a
> kidney due to cancer--and it is a huge thing to live through.
>
>
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>
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> > The result is that I am now on a very low protein diet, this is not
> > being fussy, this is keeping my one remaining kidney for as long as I
> > can.

>
> > It is lucky that I like to cook and I am having fun making dishes that
> > are low in protein, but have a good mix of amino acids. *This is a bit
> > hard on me since I use to really like to cook dishes like crab stuffed
> > Mahi Mahi, if I ever cook that again I will not be eating it. *But I
> > don't spend much time worrying about what I can't eat but spend my
> > time working on what I can eat.

>
> > What does bother me are people who try to be helpful but don't have a
> > clue about what they are talking about. *It seems that almost everyone
> > that finds out that I am on a limited protein diet suggest fish, I
> > guess some people don't believe fish is a meat. *Then there are the
> > people who suggest tofu, great sure it is not meat but it is full of
> > protein, which is after all what I am trying to avoid.

>
> This is so true. So many people know nothing at all about nutrition.
> I've always been interested in it, as I have been in chemistry, which
> is really what nutrition is.
>
> I would be interested in knowing more about the recipes you cook,
> that are low in protein but have the complete amino acids.


I use a lot of rice, which does not have much protein and what it does
have is weak on lysine. I can add some meat and get a good balance,
but I can use so little meat that in most dishes you can hardly taste
it. So I use mushrooms, which are have a fair bit of protein, but
much less then meat, and they have a fairly good balance of amino
acids, the ones that are missing rice is fairly good with. I love to
do curry dishes, with a bit of chili oil to give it some heat.

People with even more advanced kidney problems have to be careful of
mushrooms because of fairly high levels of potassium, potatoes have
the same problem.

The good part, if there is any, in all of this is that I now cook just
about all my meals from fresh ingredient. In a typical week I will go
through 6 large onions, several pounds of mushrooms, about half a
dozen sweet bell peppers and more coconut milk then I should really be
using.

My meat bill/ day on the other hand is on the order of $0.25/day.

My wife has come out somewhat on the short end of the whole deal since
I do most of the cooking.

Scott