Re: A few questions from a newbie
05/20/08 12:56 PM
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Sand
Reged: 12/13/04
Posts: 4490
Loc: West Orange, NJ (IBS-D)
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Welcome to the Boards. I had the exact same "Aha" moment when I found this Website.
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So, I was wondering, what are the things on a nutritional label that I absolutely need to avoid?
Learning to read labels in a hurry was one of the hardest things for me. When I first started out I spent ages in the grocery store. Yup, avoid dairy, meat, high fat (I got really good at dividing calories into calories from fat to see if it was more than 25%), egg yolks.
HFCS is something I avoided like the plague when I first started out but am now more relaxed about. Some people never have any trouble with it, some people are never able to eat it. My advice would be to avoid it until you stabilize at least somewhat. Very hard to do, I know - it's everywhere. Regular corn syrup is fine.
The other thing that I cannot tolerate is MSG. It goes by a lot of different names/forms some of which bother me, some of which don't.
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What other things? How can I buy stuff in the store that I can eat (I was looking for chicken broth, but couldn't find any without milk solids. I did find some vegan broth starter, but not any chicken) without losing my mind first?
Sadly for those of us who either don't want to or can't spend lots of time cooking, unprocessed food is easiest. Most commercial white breads contain dairy or HFCS or both. Most frozen dinners contain dairy or HFCS or MSG or lots of fat or all of the above. So I buy bakery white bread - in NJ that's pretty easy, most grocery stores carry some type of Italian bakery bread. Try to find a few quick recipes for chicken breasts - Chutney Mustard Chicken with plain white rice, for example. Or Heather's Simple Herbed Chicken Breasts. Here's an old thread where people are making suggestions: web page
As for chicken broth, I usually use either Pacific Foods Chicken Broth which I buy at Whole Foods or Kitchen Basics Natural Chicken Cooking Stock which is more widely available. I think - I'm not sure about this - that Swanson may make a chicken broth in one of those waxed boxes that does not contain MSG; it might be their organic. Most mainstream chicken broths (like Campbells) have MSG.
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Otherwise, any good suggestions of things that are easily portable? Products that are individually packaged or things I can make ahead of time and wrap up/freeze?
Here are a couple of posts by someone who doesn't cook:
No cook 1
No cook 2
Those should give you some ideas for easier meals. There are also a couple of sticky posts at the top of this Board that might help: Brand Name Recommendations and Snacks, Quick Food, and Good Grub. Just remember to read the labels even on foods recommended by someone else on the Boards - manufacturers change their ingredients all the time.
Most of Heather's fruit and vegetable breads freeze and I imagine most of the fruit and vegetable breads on the Recipe Board would also. Most important, Anti-Depressant Brownies freeze. 
There are also soups and stews and spaghetti sauces and chilis that will freeze nicely - cruise through the Recipe Index or visit the Recipe Board for pointers to which ones.
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So there you go. I'm extremely excited about this, but just need a little under-whelming. =)
I felt like I was drowning for about the first 3 weeks. Then I got a few recipes under my belt and life got easier. Heather's approach has made a huge difference for me and I hope it does the same for you. If you have any other questions, please ask.
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[Research tells us fourteen out of any ten individuals likes chocolate. - Sandra Boynton]
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