Yeast and mold free suggestions and assistance page

[notlupus]

I couldn't find much info anywhere about trying to eat yeast and mold free so I'm hoping someone on this forum has some advice. I've tried to cut out as much as I can but I'm afraid I'm missing something. I had allergy testing years ago and was off the charts positive for mold (had a welt on my arm for two weeks from the skin test) and have always had trouble breathing around yeast (rising bread makes it really hard to breathe, wine makes me wheeze). The allergist never told me I needed to eliminate it from my diet, but it's helped so far. Trying to figure it out as I go since it doesn't seem to be a common allergy. I'm celiac so 100% gluten free with no cheating ever, but it's been hard to stay paleo and avoid all the yeast/mold foods while renovating the house. Any recipe or quick meal suggestions are welcome.

Foods to avoid:
Anything fermented (bread, beer, wine, kombucha, kefir, soy sauce)
Mushrooms
Anything with yeast extract as an ingredient
Florastor (probiotic with yeast)
Dried fruits
Large amounts of sugar/carbs (natural or not)
Dairy
Beans/soy
Less than fresh produce

[namelesswonder]

Avoid nuts, as they can harbor some mold on the surface. Coffee is also out.

The freshest meals possible will help immensely. I've been told not to eat sausages, no matter how fresh, when trying to avoid yeast/mold. Try not to re-heat foods, just prepare fresh or eat cold.

I feel like fermented foods may help you, but maybe avoid initially.

[zoebird]

plenty of foods can meet those requirements.

you could, for example, have eggs and butter for breakfast and fresh juice (that's what we have. today was celery, silver beet, coriander, lemon, apple, and ginger), and then for lunch we usually have some kind of sliced veggies plus pate or venison sliders (we usually just have a mustard-honey dip. . . home made), and then for dinner it's meat and a fresh salad.

DH does eat fermented foods (we make our own), but it's easy enough to avoid these different things.

[notlupus]

Fermented foods are definitely not an option at this point. Sausages are often made with yeast (or gluten) as a flavoring so I haven't had any for years (except for a couple packages of Al Fresco brand chicken sausage).

Some nuts seem to be better than others. I haven't had problems with almonds.

Re-heating food is fine as long as you only heat up what you will eat (you want to avoid heat cycling the food many times, giving the yeast and mold chances to grow). Putting away immediately after cooking is far more important, as well as being very careful what canned foods you use. Muir Glen tomatoes seem to work for me, and they recently changed the label to advertise 8 hours from field to can so that would explain why. I try to not eat too much canned stuff, but sometimes I'm too busy to cook.

I guess I should have mentioned that I'm a biomedical engineer so I understand the mechanics of what I need to do. I'm looking for others that have the same allergy and how they deal with it.

[notlupus]

plenty of foods can meet those requirements.

you could, for example, have eggs and butter for breakfast and fresh juice (that's what we have. today was celery, silver beet, coriander, lemon, apple, and ginger), and then for lunch we usually have some kind of sliced veggies plus pate or venison sliders (we usually just have a mustard-honey dip. . . home made), and then for dinner it's meat and a fresh salad.

DH does eat fermented foods (we make our own), but it's easy enough to avoid these different things.

That's about what I do.

Veggie onion quiche for breakfast with tea or coconut milk sine juice has too much sugar. Sometimes cheese since I'm still weaning myself off of it (that's the only dairy product left)
Salad with meat and some veggies (if I have them) for lunch, sometimes with sweet potato fries.
Dinner is the most difficult meal since the SO refuses to go paleo/primal. Sometimes I'll have taco meat with a little white rice and more lettuce, sometimes meaty spaghetti sauce on shirataki noodles, sometimes a can of gluten free progresso soup (most of them do have some yeast extract in them, sadly), or an open faced almond butter and honey sandwich on ener-G gluten and yeast free white rice bread, burger on a salad, steak, etc.

The other problem is when I get entirely too busy and forget to bring food with me and end up eating something from a gas station or fast food. Since I can't have gluten I'm limited to sometimes trail mix (some brands I can't have because they have gluten), sometimes a beef stick, maybe a greek yogurt if I'm lucky, or a pack of M&Ms if I'm not. I've tried things like Luna protein bars but the soy protein makes me miserable.

[zoebird]

I think you are really struggling with menu planning and preparation at two levels: time and then also flavor/taste/deliciousness and misconceptions around that.

In the first element, like you, we are very busy. Some things require a good deal of prep time and some forethought to get what you need. As such, it's valuable to plan this into your week. We use Sunday to make the "heavier lifting" things that carry us through the week -- such as making our coconut cream, our pate, and our bone broth. We do that on Sunday, and then we have what we need already prepared for later in the week.

In addition, we tried to make certain that meals were quick and easy to prepare. This is why we do so much raw veg. It is very easy to slap a steak onto the iron skillet and during the 5-10 minutes that it takes to cook, to chop up a salad or steam some fresh broccoli in bone broth. Dinner is done in under 20 minutes that way. Likewise, breakfast is simple: fry eggs in butter, and make juice i the juicer. It takes about 10 minutes to make, and clean-up is easy, too. It's all about ease for us -- we are too busy for complicated things.

In the second element, for whatever reason, some people think that paleo/primal means that it's somehow "different food." This is not the case. Who wouldn't love to have a beautifully prepared steak with a lovely side of fresh veggies (sauteed into a warm salad or served raw and well dressed) with a beautiful baked sweet potato slathered in butter?

I grant you that if you are trying to loose weight and keep your carbs below 100g, then you wouldn't have the sweet potato -- but he isn't trying to loose weight and he can. So, put it on the menu for him. And if he wants pasta, make it a side dish for him too, or what have you. You don't *have to* have a weird dinner. And your dinners, btw, look really weird.

So, a simple meal plan is to:

1. pick which veggies are in season, fresh, and easy for you to prepare;
2. pick which meat you want for lunch/dinner (we use left overs and pate -- so there's no multi-heating cycles);
3. pick which starches your partner will like, add them to dinners, and allow him his non-paleo things as an addition to what you both are eating (ie, pasta, etc).

And that should do it for you.

[notlupus]

Haha, you assume the SO will eat vegetables. He will complain about the smell and the closest thing he will eat is french fries. Won't eat sweet potatoes, not even stuff very close to normal like gluten free noodles (he'd always make a separate pot of regular ones). So as far as food prep I'm pretty much single, and often I'll compromise my diet to not have to hear his complaining (like making gluten free lasagna for the freezer so I don't have to cook as much next week). Don't say a dietitian will help him, since he's already lived with one for 18 years and knows how horrible his diet is. He just doesn't care that it makes life miserable for me to deal with his finickiness along with my very legit food allergies.

I should probably make a separate thread for this, but the bottom line is that I'm on my own for food prep (or worse) but if I move out then I don't have as much money to spend on food so it's a no-win situation right now. In a couple years once we finish the renovations I can hopefully find a gluten free or paleo/primal roommate to move into the extra bedroom upstairs, but that's too far down the road to worry about right now.

[zoebird]

Yes, I assume that most people are normal human beings who eat food. I realize that there are a lot of fickle people out there, but in all honesty, I don't see why his finicky way of eating should impact you at all.

How about you put out there -- in your own mind and in your relationship -- that you and your husband dont' have to eat the same foods at dinner? And then, from beyond that, you put out there that you will prepare your foods and he can go and prepare his foods, and that's that?

I don't think it's a big tragedy or all that difficult. DH and I have had very different diets at time (he was WAPF with a paleo bent; I was vegan). I made my own meals -- all of them -- and DH made his own meals -- all of them.

If you are making 10-30 minute meals with fresh food and simple meats/eggs -- then it doesn't require a lot of prep and planning, and your needs get met.

[notlupus]

And I came here to get suggestions on those 10-30 minute meals that won't break the bank. I haven't been able to find a forum or recipe site with anyone that has the same allergies and can make specific suggestions. It's frustrating, and it doesn't help that I work 8-10 hour days 6 days a week, try to renovate a house, and still don't have as much energy as a normal non-paleo person (but with all the PITA food prep of primal eating). I'm trying to make the best of the crap hand life has dealt me, but I refuse to spend as much time in the kitchen as a 50s housewife because I've already given up on having friends to deal with medical issues and I won't do it again.

[zoebird]

I understand that you are frustrated, but there's no reason to be bitchy at me.

I am also busy. I own my own business, and also work 6 days a week. I also have a son -- he has his schedule too. And, my husband works in our business as well. We do not spend a lot of time in the kitchen. Our process is *very* simple. You could eat anything in our house, I'm sure. There are no recipes, it's that simple.

So, here is our process. First, these are our tools:

Knives
wooden spatula
juicer
iron skillet
stainless steel pot
crock pot

Next, we use spice rubs for all meats. It just makes it easier. These are our gluten free spice rubs:

cajun
mexican
persian
moroccan

This is the meat we buy every week:

Fish (1.5 kilos for our family of 3 -- three meals, no left overs)
Chicken Livers
Steak (2 kilos)
Mince (2 kilos venison or beef)
Chickens (2 roasters)

Then these are our veggies:

lettuce (2 large heads)
carrots (6, med)
bell peppers (5)
tomatoes (6 sm/med)
broccoli (2 heads)
cauliflower (2 heads)
1 bag frozen mixed veg (1 kilo)
kumara (sweet potato -- 4)

for juicing --

celery
silver beet
ginger
coriander

Fruit -- (seasonal)

frozen berries (4 kilos)
apples (juicing -- 7 sm/med)
apples (eating -- 7 sm/med)
oranges (eating -- 2 kilos)
seasonal fruit of choice (kiwifruit right now -- 6)
lemons (juicing -- 7)
bananas (1 bunch, fair trade -- DS).
2 thai coconut (young) for cream (or boxed coconut cream).

Other:

Butter
Eggs
Olive oil
Coconut oil
Salt
Pepper
raw yogurt (DS)
raw nuts (macademias, almonds, pistachios, walnuts)

Anything on that list that you can't eat?

Here's how we prepare it.

Breakfast -- 10 minutes prep; 10 minutes clean up. (This is DH's/DS's breakfast)

Pour frozen berries into a bowl. Pour over yogurt or coconut cream.
Turn on stove and put iron skillet on. Add a knob of butter. Once melted, crack eggs and put them into the pan.
While eggs are cooking, make juice (takes about 2 minutes).
Flip eggs.
Rinse juicer and towel dry and put back together.
Put Eggs on plate.

After eating, wipe down iron skillet, wash bowl, spoon, fork, plate, and glass.

Lunch (5 minutes):

Pull left over container or pate container out of fridge and put in lunchbox. Cut some veggies and put into a container. Put container into lunch box. Put jar of bone broth into lunch box. Put several pieces of fruit and jar of mixed nuts into lunch box. Close lunch box.

At lunch time, open lunch box. Pull out left overs and reheat and/or pate and remove protective layer of fat (for storage -- or you can eat it if you want). Pull out veggies. Reheat bone broth in jar (drink from jar!). Eat. If you want, finish with fruit.

Wash all empty containers and return to lunch box, where you also have some left over fruit and a jar of nuts.

Snack:

Open lunch box. Grab fruit and nuts. Eat. Close nut jar and through peels away. Put nut jar back in lunch box. Close lunch box.

Dinner (10-30 minutes):

Choose meat of the day. Turn on stove top and iron skillet. If making sweet potato, turn on oven, wash sweet potato, put on cookie sheet or similar, and put in oven.

Wash meat and put it on cutting board to cut to desired sizes. Season with spices and salt/pepper. Cook in skillet.

While meat is cooking in skillet, grab some veggies. Chop them and put into a bowl. Add olive oil, salt, and pepper. When meat is finished, transfer to plate. Put some veggies from salad on plate. Take sweet potato (this takes the whole half hour) out of oven and put on plate. Eat.

Wipe down skillet. Wash salad bowl, plate, knife, cutting board, spatula (flipped the meat), fork. Finish with fruit if you would like to eat it.

Also, put left overs into containers and properly store until transferred to lunchbox the next morning.

Anything there too difficult for you?

In my own life, I am working Monday-Saturday. I am also playing with my son on certain days -- this is required. I also have designated family time (very important). That is my "renovation" you might say. I am also doing a decoration/renovation of our kitchen right now -- so I do spend a small amount of time on that as well. It will take forever, but I can only give over a few hours at a time to it.

This is why we do chickens on Sunday, as well as coconut cream and bone broth. I am home on sundays, and I spend part of the afternoon doing the housekeeping, gardening (it's a very small courtyard, but weeds grow fast here), the kitchen redecoration. This gives plenty of time for the chickens. This is how it works.

In the am, we go on a family hike, then DS and I stay in the park (or if it's raining, head home), while DH heads to the cafe to write. He spends 1.5 hrs writing, so DS and I have that time together. We all head home, then have lunch.

After lunch, we put the chickens (two) into the crock pot. I add butter, salt, and pepper. When we have bay leaf (we collect them from a local tree and dry them ourselves), we put that in as well. We then turn the crock pot onto 'low' and go about our afternoon. This whole process takes less than 3 minutes.

This usually involves cleaning the house which takes about an hour (because we live in 480 sq ft), and I'll continue on with the gardening or anything else. DH and I also might do some work on the business, too. And, we often play with DS during this time as well, and I did get that one wall in the kitchen painted so I feel very accomplished.

The chicken is usually done in time for dinner -- takes 4 hrs so it's done around 5. We eat the chicken, make another salad (or steam up some broccoli/cauli or similar), and whatever left over chicken is put into containers to be eaten the next day.

Once all the chicken is pulled off the bone, we add water and salt to the crock pot. We then put it on low and keep it like that overnight -- this makes our bone broth, which is ready the next morning. So, we have to pour that off into jars. Simple enough -- we tend to do it before breakfast anyway.

The hardest thing is the pate, and that's not hard. I basically take the livers and quickly sautee in butter (takes about 4-5 minutes), then I sautee some onions and garlic in the remaining butter. I then blend all of this together until smooth. After putting it into small jars (servings for each of us across the 3 days that we usually have it), and then put some melted butter over the tops to seal it and keep it from discoloring. Once it's cooled enough (just about room temp), I pop them in the fridge where they are good for 5 days. Thus, it's good until Friday. And, it requires no reheating. I'd say it takes about 15 minutes, and maybe another 5 minutes to clean the blender, spoon, and skillet.

That's basically it. There's nothing in this list -- in terms of prep, cooking, or clean-up -- that's particularly difficult or requires a lot of time over a stove.

At most, we spend probably about 30 minutes at breakfast and 30 minutes at dinner most days, and then Sunday there are a few kitchen things to do, but it takes about an hour at most (if i'm also making coconut cream) --- which of course is in addition to the 30 minutes at breakfast and dinner.

So, that's an hour a day -- usually including clean up -- Mon-Sat and 2 hrs on Sunday.

Thus, it's not that much time, and all of our needs are met.