Food, Friends and Frustration

I have friends who care about me.  No idea why they do, but they do.   When they found out I was MSG (and other excitotoxins) sensitive they tried to be helpful by sending me healthy recipe sites.  I appreciate their thoughtfulness.  I really do.   A few really good recipes were found.

Some of the sites had recipes I could use by tweaking an ingredient or two.  Other sites... not so much.   One site in particular, written by a dietitian no less, was one of the worst.   One recipe in particular had enough excitotoxins in it to land me in the hospital.  I think what bugged me is that it was listed as a "healthy" website.   By the time I was done reading the ingredients list of the ingredients I was feeling sick.

I don't blame my friends for the "bad" sites.  I am grateful they care enough to take the time to look.  I am thankful they thought about me when looking at recipes.  Maybe one day I'll take the time to redo the "bad" recipes into something people like me can actually eat.

Another online friend writes a "foodie" blog.  She has several recipes that I'd love to make. She has a cake recipe I'd love to try, but I can't.  It uses soda, and I can't have commercial soda.  Eventually, I will attempt to make soda from scratch and give it a shot.  Today is not that day.

One friend suggested I start writing down recipes on this blog, but I'm really not a "foodie". In fact, I hate to cook.   If I could hire a personal cook, I would.  My two main cookbooks are Nourishing Traditions and an older version of a Betty Crocker cookbook.   I have one MSG Free cookbook, but it isn't very good.  The food is very bland.

I don't think people really grasp how far the arm of excitotoxins can be. Literally everything I can eat needs to be made from scratch and organic.  I have yet to find a ketchup I can have.  The closest I can find is Annie's Organic Ketchup, but it has an "iffy" ingredient.   This isn't too much of a problem, since I don't normally use condiments.  I use it to make barbecue sauce, but I really should be making ketchup from scratch.

We used to let the kids pick one meal to eat out for their birthdays.  I can't do that anymore. Well, I can but I wouldn't get to eat.  They are very understanding, and they don't want to go out if I can't go.  I know my health will be better in the end, but it is still frustrating.  My grocery budget has tripled which really hurts financially.  I find myself slipping on food just because I'm stressed or rushed, and then I am sidelined while I recover from it.

It's very frustrating to want food and not be able to have it.   My diabetic friend understands so I tend to whine to him about it.   It's also frustrating to try and redo how I eat and live while trying to deal with everything else.

Judging by my cold sores, I'm not doing very well in handling it all.