Whilst I'm sure the nurse does know her stuff, trying to persuade CHS to eat no salt, no sugar, no fat, oily fish and small occasional portions of lean meat with lots of veg is going to be like pushing water up hill.
He dislikes oily fish and most veg and hates unsalted food, I'm going to be extremely unpopular!
Yesterday I cooked a very tasteless chicken fricassee, tonight it will be spaghetti Bolognese.
This morning it's porridge made with water, no salt or sugar, wallpaper paste anyone?
22 comments:
You could use soya milk for the porridge. I admit to having a little sugar on it though. As for the diet, relax and find a midway point, no need to dot all the i's and cross all the t's.
You could try Lo Salt, 66% less sodium but same taste, available in most supermarkets. Complete salt alternatives are available online but most are currently out of stock.
Some good sugar alternitives in Holland and Barrett that taste quite good. We like coconut sugar but it is like brown sugar so no good for tea, but still others to try.
Oil alternatives also available- In baking yoghurt, applesauce. Frying oils are available as well.
Vegetable soup blended hides a multitude of sins. Also finely grated veg in curry, spag bol, chilli etc.
Hope some of this helps. He probably thinks its no good surviving if the rest of his life is miserable.
I too would suggest LoSalt - it is an excellent alternative. Also, Truvia, a zero calorie sugar substitute is very good (f a tad expensive at £5 per jar) - it is also fine in baking or cooked with strewed fruit. Frylight spray cooking oil is only 1 calorie per spray and is really good for frying anything - though you do have to watch whatever is frying closely as it can 'catch' on the bottom of the pan. Hope some of this helps. Sending very best wishes for CHS's continued recovery.
Does CHS like herbs and spices? If so add them to supplement the lack of salt and sugar xx
What about that vegan nutritional yeast. which in fact isn't yeast, they used it on Bake Off this year to give food a cheesy taste...
Life changes suck! No, seriously, take it one step at a time. Maybe don't change everything at one time. Gradually move into the healthier alternatives. I had to do the same thing due to being overweight, and high cholesterol. I did it gradually to it didn't seem so bad.
Hi! I read your blog every day. Thank you for all your posts. Have you considered powdered kelp (seaweed) as a salt sub? Also, would your husband eat sardine paste? We eat it alot when on holiday in Portugal. Very easy to make and sardines are cheap ans a superfood!
Greetings fromm Holland/M
The diet for a stroke patient is a basic healthy diet. It is not a diet meant to cure a specific metabolic problem and therefore, it is not the absolutely restrictive diet that they probably described. Healthy fruits and veggies with lean protein in reasonable portions and with as little added sugar and salt as possible. Basically processed foods should be banned and most things cooked at home from "real" ingredients. Theresa Young has it right. If he wont eat it or hates it, the whole thing is doomed. Throw away the salt shaker and use salt carefully. I did a quick google search on "stroke diet" and got a lot of good info. Ana USA
Lo salt I recommend too.
Yes, is there any way to ease into it? Better to eat a little better, rather than give up entirely in frustration. Maybe think in terms of lean meats only, steaming or roasting veggies rather than frying them. Measure salt and reduce it rather than ban it outright, and experiment with the no-sodium salts. I find they work in soups and stews best. Get rid of any processed foods and cook from scratch. Use acids like lemon juice and different vinegars and try adding a little heat such as cayenne pepper. I also found that I was more willing to eat a smaller portion of exactly what I wanted, seasoned exactly how I wanted, rather than a lot of something I just didn't like. And I understand, it is hard at first.
Is he allowed garlic?
I mostly use garlic powder instead of salt.
W
I have been reading for a while but felt awkward about suddenly commenting. I think the comments here have been good and you need to stay positive and change what you can but don't worry too much about what you can't change. Anything that is healthier is good without feeling too restricted and feeling you have to be totally rigid. We have found that as we are getting older and need to watch our weight a bit more that gradually reducing portion size works best for us. We still have the things we enjoy but in much smaller amounts and it's surprising how you adjust to that and soon cannot face larger portions. I know that doesn't help with salt etc but just wanted to say something supportive at this stage. Hang in there and I am sure that you will find the way forward.
We put frozen berries and cinnamon and oat milk in our porridge you could add whatever milk or spice you like best it's worth a try. Best of luck from Jessica.
Take a look for salt and sugar substitutes... when I was diagnosed with AFIB and had a bout with congestive heart failure I started using these. They're not great but better than nothing... check with the nurse??
Hi there - I read your blog occasionally and am sorry to hear about your husbands sudden illness it must be hard to suddenly have to adapt to a different diet to prevent a recurrence.
It takes a while for the palette to adjust to less salt but over time it will and if you cut down gradually the difference will not be as noticeable. Try using herbs you can buy a shaker pot of fine mixed herbs I think from wholefood shops / Holland and Barrett that works like salt. Current research with young children has shown that you have to keep trying a food at least 8 times by which time it is usually accepted by them and then they actually like it, so with the oily fish it might be worth persevering a bit longer and see if it magically works!
My father in law had to do a similar thing and alter his diet at age 51. He also took up rambling and the transformation in him healthwise was brilliant and it gave him an extra 20 years of good health and vitality.
Good luck.
Hester Lo salt is an excellent substitute, but it's not recommended for use with some heart and stroke medications. I can't take it with mine. Check your oh's medication before you switch to it. Not meaning to be negative but thought I'd better mention that it's sometimes not advised.
Best wishes
Capella
If you leave the porridge soaking overnight in the water it does taste a lot creamier when you cook it thee next morning. Is he allowed sweeteners? If he is, dropping one in the porridge as it cooks gives it just enough of a sweet edge to make it more bearable to someone with a sweet tooth.
It is going to be hard but he just has to follow the rules.
Sending hugs and good vibes. My only suggestions, from a complete amateur to someone who really knows what they are doing, are lots of garlic, curry powder and chilli. I have been told that adding cinnamon to stuff like the wallpaper paste (yeurk!) is supposed to make things taste sweeter, but it has never worked for me.
Good luck. LM x
cinnamon and diced apples make that wall paper paste much easier to swallow... wishing CHS good luck with these changes...I found salsa can make most veggies edible...
Sukrin Gold is a really good alternative to brown sugar, and is lovely in porridge. It's also great for baking.
Have a look at recipes for baking with chickpeas, I know it sounds weird, but honestly, they taste great!
Does CHS like sweet chilli sauce? Non veg eaters are likely to eat most veg if it's got a drop of SCS over it!
Nurses are wonderful people. I love the NHS to bits and worked in it for fourteen years and on the periphery for another eight. Unfortunately, community nurses, even those attached to specialist teams (I'm presuming your nurse came from the Stroke Team rather than the GP?) have very little real knowledge concerning nutrition and the inter-dependence between food and bodily systems. They work from a script which believes that one size fits all rather than being able to look at each individual person with different likes and body metabolism. When you've had an extremely scary health event which has lasting implications the last thing you need is to be told that everything you enjoy eating is now forbidden. You either feel even more scared or refuse to have anything to do with the process. I've been reading your blog for several years but rarely comment. If my memory serves me correctly, you always cook from scratch and I suspect you don't overdo either sugar or salt. People who buy food others have made will be ingesting much higher levels of sugar and salt than those who cook their own. I'm presuming your hubby doesn't have kidney issues or diabetes which absolutely necessitate restrictions of salt and sugar. I've never used Losalt, but my understanding is that it contains increased levels of potassium to compensate for the reduced sodium, which can cause its own problems. Using a pure salt crystal rather than a table salt which contains fillers, tastes saltier using much less salt. Adding nettle seed to salt crystal in proportion of 2parts nettle seed to one part salt crystals can also provide a useful way of improving nutrition (nettle seed aids stress reduction and supports kidneys). Soups, stews, spag bol and macaroni cheese can hide a panoply of vegetables. I use it with kids and elders all the time. I also add a homemade green powder made from weeds and herbs to all stock and stews to increase vitamins and flavour. This year I've started adding dried mushroom powder (St George's which grow on family land) for a touch of flavour and nutrition and to guard against thrush. I make all my sauces (white, parsley and cheese) by adding a paste of 1tblsp of flour with milk or water to 1 pt of milk. It's just as tasty for macaroni cheese and no fat (apart from the cheese!). I do hope your hubby improves as much as possible and that you have support in caring for him. Very best wishes to you both.
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