Hey All,

So.. ive been on here for awhile and had been switching around to different diets and i was keen on sticking with an Ideal Protein Type Diet and my idea was to go right back on it after Christmas and New Years, however, two weeks prior to Christmas, i came down with some severe stomach issues which landed me in the hospital three times and a diagnosis of "gastritis" or so they say..however, the doctor still isnt 100% sure that its actually the correct diagnosis and so they are testing out all these stomach medications and stuff on me trying to figure out what its not and what it is..Meanwhile...thus far, i have had to make severe changes to my diet....which is leaving me in a bit of a bind because i have no idea what diet i can accurately follow now due to the fact that its so restricted..So here is the list of foods i cant eat:


Pop of any kind
Dairy of any kind
Any food containing gluten or wheat
Acidic foods including fruits with peels..the exception is blueberries and low acid fruit juices such as apple juice(with no added sugar)
Veggies that cause gas: aka: broccoli asparagus ect..
Sugar beverages or foods containing lots of sugar
Foods containing lots of oil and are high in fat
Proteins that are not easily digested such as red meat and chicken along with nuts.
No chocolate
Spices
Herbs
Garlic

So what can i have?

Coconut milk, carrot juice, spinach juice
Water
Sugar free jello
Chicken broth or broth based soups that contain no noodles or meats
Potatoes with nothing on them
Rice
Almonds(in a non dairy based beverage)
Berries
Coconut yougurt
Sugar free pudding(but not chocolate flavoured)


So far, this is the list of possible foods i can eat without causing issues...
So any suggestions for a diet program?

Oh..and Glucerna and Ensure that are dairy free are also available to drink

and also...high carb diets actually seem to make me gain weight...or not lose weight.

Sorry to hear about your troubles. At the risk of sounding like an *** I would suggest you stick to the foods you know you can eat/drink and most importantly follow what your doctor advises - if your insurance allows it perhaps see a different doctor or two for a second or third opinion.

I'm really sorry to hear about the gastritis. Definitely wish you a speedy recovery!

It sounds like you are looking for a structured program which will tell you what foods you should and eat what you shouldn't, such as IP, South Beach, etc. But you already have that structured program: it's all the foods you listed above that your doctor gave you. I don't think there is a structured program out there that would work within that list of foods, and it may not make much sense to try to try to apply it to that list.

You can still lose weight on those by calorie counting within those foods. By eating proper portions of the foods your doctor has permitted you to eat you should continue to lose weight.

Best of luck with both your health and your weight loss!

That is carb-heavy. I think your hardest part will be not feeling full for awhile and having increasing hunger pangs. But, its not for the rest of your life - just until you get your gastritis figured out.

I'd probably do an interesting smoothing thing for awhile - as all the ingredients you listed: coconut milk, berries, spinach, and carrot juice are super yummy blended together (freeze berries first).

You could also do a nice, low-cal potato soup for lunch.

Can you have tofu? It is an easily digestible protein. If so, I'd do a thai coco curry with tofu over rice (not spicy) for dinner.

Also, if you can have rice, then you actually have many possibilities if you have a whole foods or trader joes in the area. There are tons of rice noodles and other rice products to choose from. If so, you could make a great brothy soup with rice noodles.

If you can eat potatoes, you can probably eat sweet potatoes - baked sweet potatoes are low in calories and have a lot of the nutrition you are missing out on. I'd ask the doctor about including sweet potatoes and tofu if I were you, to see if it is acceptable.

How long do you need to eat this way? Is your doctor going to slowly add the "if-fy" foods back in to see what the culprit is?

I agree with indiblue, calorie counting is your only option here.

Ooh, sorry to hear about your stomach troubles...

It sure is a short list to choose from, but even here you can build a delicious meal plan until your doctor allows you to try some different foods. To lose weight you should measure your portions well and calculate your daily calorie and nutrient (carbs/protein/fat) needs. Here are some ideas:

Rice pudding for breakfast - boil sticky rice with almond or coconut milk, eat with coconut yoghurt and blueberries. Blueberries are a natural stomach medicine and the carb load you get from rice will be used by your body during the day.

For lunch potato mash with some herbs such as rosemary or thyme or basile or mint (if your doctor allows them) and carrot juice mixed in. If you can eat carrot juice then you can probably eat carrots too. Boil potatoes and carrots together and mash them. If you want a craemy mash, mix in some almond and coconut oil.

For dinner eat broth.

Other than that, I can already see some nice smoothie combinations in your list (for example blueberries + almond milk) Play around and see what works for you.

Ask your doctor to refer you to a dietician. Make sure you are honest with your dietician about your difficulties with food so far, and in particular please discuss with them the fact that you have repeatedly put yourself on starvation diets as that is a serious matter.