Irritable Bowel Syndrome Message Boards

Mexican food has GOT to be the hardest to order from. A little trick is to order chicken fajitas. Now you know they are going to be made with oil, but here is a way I get rid of most of it. What I do is to ask for a million paper napkins. Well, not a million, but LOTS. If they use cloth at the tables I get the "bar" napkins that are always paper. I lay the chicken on the paper napkins and then I squish and squeeze and push as much oil out of the chicken as possible, all done very subtlety without trying to call attention to myself. (Sometimes that's a little hard to do but I just explain the added oil/fat will make me sick) . If you can't tolerate the veggies, forget them. I CAN do the onions, surprisingly. Then eat with only plain uncooked CORN tortillas, not flour. This is assuming you can eat corn. And ask them NOT to butter or oil them before they bring the tortillas. (Many places do.) The flour ones usually have fat right in them where most of all the corn ones don't. The Mexican rice I scrutinize carefully. Sometimes it is rather dry indicating they've taken the cheap route and only cooked with a little tomato juice for color. Other times it looks loaded with fat. Then the taste test. If it tastes like it has fat, it usually DOES have fat. Avocados? As good as they are they have a high fat content! Avacados gave me a gall bladder attack 10 years ago that sent me into surgery, then I didn't touch them for nearly 9 years and when I started back on them within months I got IBS. Don't think there is a connection with IBS but you better believe, as much as I love them I won't touch them.
The "squishing and squeezing" technique may look weird to others in your party but who cares? (I dumped the vanity years ago.) I did that long ago for my husband who had heart problems and had to eat low fat even when out. He wouldn't do the squish/squeeze thing, natch, but I DID. Now I have to do it for ME. I still do it at seafood restaurants. Despite the term "broiled" they will still load up a perfectly good piece of low fat white fish with oil and seasonings to make it taste/look/and cook better. Sometimes, even if you ask them to NOT use oils/fats they do out of habit. I've even been known to ask for extra bread to "squish and squeeze". It soaks up fat and oil like crazy. Ever notice how some breakfast buffets will have bacon sitting on plain white bread? It soaks up the grease.
As to Chinese buffet places, I start with the plain white rice and choose only the all vegetable dishes that look like they've been prepared in a broth/corn starch base. Mushrooms are safe for me as is "fake" crab and shrimp. Nothing fried, period. Fortune cookies are usually safe. I don't drink the tea and often bring my own peppermint tea bags and ask for hot water. I sometimes get strange looks but if they are pleasant about honoring my requests, what I would have paid for a beverage gets added into their tip.
Another little tip is to only eat half of what you order, no matter what it is. We all have a tendency to eat more out. This may or may not help you, but had to share what I do just in case you want to try it sometime. It sure has it made it easier for me to join the party instead of wishing I'd stayed home.
Kandee

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