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Basically, there’s no where else to turn for me except dietary restrictions of food groups. Keto does work for both of us and we will probably, begrudgingly, go back to it this winter.
I’ve been there! It can be stressful and tiring, often leading to a giving up period.
I went 100% plant-based/whole foods only for 5 years back when I was married, it’s a huge part of the reason that when I got divorced I ate whatever I wanted as long as I didn’t have to personally make it. 5 years of reading EVERY label was a lot of fucking work and frustration, it’s insane how many products contain animals even if you wouldn’t think it has anything to do with them.
It took me a good 12-18 months to figure out a regular menu that met the requirements and I actually enjoyed. My first 3 months was all the garbage processed vegan alternatives, which is just as bad, if not worse, than the shit they replace. I figured if I were going to do it, I might as well go all the way and cut out processed foods entirely.
There’s a few key ingredients you can utilize that are the basis of other dishes, like lentils and chickpeas, that can absorb flavor really well and are super easy to prep in one day and eat across the week. Like with lentils you can cook a ton off on a Sunday, then make lettuce wraps on Monday with them, then lentil tacos on Tuesday and maybe lentil bolognese on Wednesday. Most bouillon cubes are plant-based, surprisingly, so I’d boil the lentils in beef bouillon and it’d be was a pretty good ground beef substitute.
All in all, I couldn’t enjoy a lot until I let go of some preconceptions and opened up my mind to allow some different things in. When you start getting into the world of substituting one thing for another, there’s a lot of imaginative interpretations of different foods that might not align with how you think about them. Like the cauliflower steak was something I scoffed at because I had the experience of eating steak in my head, but when I tried it, while not having the texture of a steak when chewing it, it had some pretty badass flavors and filled me up the same way one would.
I’ve gotten back into a good amount of it; I don’t really eat processed foods, cheese and sour cream are mostly it. I pretty much live off fresh veggies and grilled chicken in about 20 different ways of cooking it.
Edit- as for fish, I can eat piles of sushi, but the second it’s cooked I want nothing to do with it.
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