So... The quandry. Angela is supposed to follow a low carb diet. But I
can not because I don't digest most protein, fats or fiber very well.

And she doesn't like low carb foods. Because of her allergies she can not
have wheat, peas, lentils, peanuts or almonds. She can have dairy only
twice a week and eggs once a week. Because of her thyroid problem she can't
have soy except in limited amounts. Like soy sauce once in a while, soy
lecithin (mainly in vitamins and supplements) and soybean oil (mainly in
restaurants).

For the most part she doesn't like meat. She will eat chicken if it is
mixed into rice or potatoes or if it is plain. No sauces of any kind. She
will eat Ian's chicken nuggets on occasion but with something like 42g of
carb, they are not low carb. Ditto for the Ian's fish sticks or the
Starfish breaded gluten free fish. Actually I think the fish has even more
carbs but not a lot. Maybe 44. She will eat tuna casserole but that
contains rice pasta so that's not low carb. Once in a great while I can get
her to eat tuna salad.

She doesn't really like any other kind of meat or fish. She does like some
lamb kebabs from Central Market but at $4.00 per kebab they are not
something I can afford to get often. But then she gets a psychological
thing going about the cute little baby lambs and sometimes when I do buy
them she can't bring herself to eat them.

She will eat turkey in a wrap (not lot carb) or with mashed potatoes. Once
in awhile she will grab a few slices of turkey or bologna and just eat that.
Once in a while she will eat pepperoni, salami or bacon.

The only way I can get her to eat beef is to mix it with something else.
And then she only gets a few bites by default because they are sticking to
her other food. Like rice, pasta or potatoes. All high carb things of
course.

She found a ham she liked the looks of the other day but it was HUGE! I
don't eat ham and her dad isn't home. I tried to talk her into a ham steak
or a package of lunch meat type ham but then she said she didn't even like
ham (I know she doesn't like it) but that the big ham just looked good. She
will eat ham if mixed into eggs but that's about it.

She will eat my meatloaf. I do plan to make a lot of those for the freezer
when the weather cools off. I hate to use the oven for long periods of time
now. I do put oats in there but not a lot and a bit of flax instead of
eggs. Also a lot of veggies that she wouldn't normally eat. I puree them.
She does know they are in there but doesn't seem to mind.

So protein is a problem. She does eat hummus and sometimes dried beans.
But no nuts or seeds of any kind. If I could find an alternate nut butter
that was safe, she would try it. But all of the ones we find say they may
contain traces of what she is allergic to. There is a sunseed butter that
is safe but she doesn't like it.

Vegetables are another matter. She will eat raw carrots, raw celery,
cucumbers and sometimes raw peppers and radishes. She will eat salad but
only if it is Romaine or Iceberg Lettuce with or without cabbage (she can't
eat much cabbage because of her thyroid) and maybe carrots. She will eat
canned green beans and wax beans.

When I make meals I almost always include onion, celery and sometimes bell
pepper. If I chop them finely enough she seems not to notice them. But
those meals were pretty high in carbs.

What to do? What to do?

Because our finances are strained at the moment I have to make do with what
we have and/or can get for cheap. I just had to spend over $700 on the
kitchen plumbing and now our toilet is broken. I already know that I need a
new one. I spent $250 on it last year at about this time to get a new
flapper. Yes, really! People pointed out to me that I could get a new
toilet for that. And certainly not by that plumber. I'm sure he would have
charged me at least double that. But I had a contractor put one in my
husband's bathroom in the Spring and I think it was around $250. I am just
waiting for him to call me back because with Angela just starting on
Metformin and my propensity for the big D I would prefer that we had two
toilets! Anyway...

I am going to have to serve up the foods that I have with us perhaps just
eating less of them and adding more raw veggies to the meal. Or more canned
green beans. I do have things that I bought that are lower in carbs like a
mix of potatoes and green beans. They come frozen. I don't know if I can
get her to eat the beans in the mix. She is good to try things but if she
doesn't like something she won't eat it. And up until now the only beans
she will eat are the canned. I do make roasted potatoes with a ton of added
onion chunks but she just eats around the onions. Gah!

So how do you get someone on a low carb diet who doesn't like low carb?

She has already made a few changes. When we go out for Mexican food she has
part of an appetizer such as nachos or bean dip and chips with a salad
topped with a piece of chicken.

At Bob's Burger and Brew she has an amended taco salad. They could not
guarantee that their chicken taco meat was safe for her in terms of
containing wheat. So they will make it for her with plain grilled chicken.
It is not sold in greasy wheat shell but with tri-colored chips around the
edge. She eats just one or two of the chips. I get the same salad but with
ground beef. And we get a small side order of Jo Jos which never gets fully
eaten even though not just the two of us eat from it but the whole table.
They also offer a raw veggie plate which we get with Italian dressing.

I did buy low carb ice cream. She liked the ice cream just okay but they
were bars with chocolate and she didn't like the chocolate at all. Plus
they contain sugar alcohols which I really didn't like her to have.

Her favorite foods are ice cream, cheese, eggs (these things must be limited
because of her allergies), rice, rice or corn pasta, corn, popcorn, potatoes
and some candies. She isn't really a big candy eater overall but she does
like Jr. Mints, hard candies, Smarties, Starburst, Nerds, so...basically the
ones that are all sugar. She has recently tried sugar free pudding and she
does like some flavors but since it contains dairy she can't have it often.
I could make it from a mix with rice milk but that would up the carb count
considerably.

I just don't know what I'm going to feed her. Especially school lunches!
Last year she ate very little for breakfast or lunch. Mostly just apples or
carrots for either one. Sometimes some kind of bar but she is limited due
to her allergies to just a few kinds of bars. I think they run about 15 to
24g per bar depending on what kind they are. Either Odwalla or granola
bars.

She doesn't want to take a thermos to school and I don't blame her! She has
to haul so much stuff in her backpack, I can't help but wonder if it wasn't
to blame for her back injury.

I will look at Costco next time we are there and see if we can get some
lightweight containers to pack salad in that are disposable. She did have
some salad containers but they were large and although not overly heavy she
didn't like hauling them back and forth. Failing that I will just go to a
store with a salad bar and buy some of their containers. So she could take
a salad sometimes and some meat and raw veg other times but I think that
would be tiring day after day.

The only good thing here is that her dance schedule for this year will be
such that she can eat her dinner before she leaves. So that is one meal I
won't have to worry about. Assuming I can come up with things to fix.

Gah! What to do! What to do?