Cheater, Cheater IHOP Eater

Since being diagnosed with GERD, I've been extremely careful with what I eat. This has gotten me looks and comments about how I don't eat "normal food." I hear," One cookie won't kill you." and, my personal favorite that I have heard so many times,"If I had to eat like you I would want to die."  It honestly doesn't phase me because I know that I'm feeding my body what it needs. Others have told me that they have GERD and eat whatever they want and just pop a pill or deal with the pain. If that's your plan and it works for you, all the power to you. Every case is different, and the pain is unbearable and not worth it for me.

So, story time. 🎶 Just sit right back and you will hear a tale of a fateful trip🎶....sorry, childhood memories coming back with that one. I just wanted to tell a story of what happened to me today and why I'm so strict with my eating. We rarely go out to eat. My GERD control freak self can't do it because I can't see them preparing my meal. Most "healthy" meals at restaurants are ruined for me with how they are cooked. We once ate at Texas Roadhouse where the waiter confirmed that everything, including steamed veggies and baked potatoes, is cooked in butter. Luckily, he was able to request no butter with my steamed veggies, but the baked potato was a no go.

This morning we decided to eat as a family at IHOP. My son's eyes got twice as big as he saw his cupcake pancake, eggs, sausage, and bacon. My husband had chicken fried steak, pancakes, and eggs (of course I heard about how his stomach hurt after because it doesn't go with the food he normally eats anymore). I sat there and was perfectly content with two poached egg whites, a plain Thomas English Muffin toasted, and a glass of apple juice, all GERD diet approved. I lie, I totally wasn't fine with it. I eyed both of their meals and craved one bite of pancakes with yummy butter pecan syrup. Anyone who knows me well knows that I firmly believe that every day is worth sprinkle infused food (I had funfetti cake for my birthday every year before this.) so my son's cupcake pancake looked like the promise land. But, I have GERD and that's just how it is, so I ate my plain food and soaked in the fun of us all going eat out together.

....until about five minutes after we left the restaurant. I had been done eating for a while, and I was starting not to feel well. All of the signs of my GERD attacks from before were coming back to me. My back hurt from the acid, my chest felt tight, and I had to say excuse me a million times because we are trying to teach my son manners and mommy was burping often. I took Tums as soon as we got home and have some extra strength Zantac calling my name when I am done with this because, hours later, the pain is still there. I've been sucking on ginger candies all day to help as well.

I ate everything that I should have, but my doctor warned me that restaurants don't always cook food like they say they do, and often people are triggered accidentally after they thought they were eating the correct foods. Our best guess is that my English muffin was actually toasted where they cook all the other food, meaning it was cooked where they put oil and butter.

Eating the way I do is a lifelong thing. When people say they would want to die if they had to eat like me, I want to tell them that they would feel like they are dying if they had my GERD and didn't eat like I do. So, whether it is GERD or some other kind of medical condition that makes you eat a certain way (or if you just want to eat the way you want to because whose business is it to judge you for the food that you are putting in your mouth, your mouth...repeat that...your mouth, not theirs), you've got this! You are amazing! Forget anyone who doesn't understand. It's not their job to understand. It's their job to be them, and it is your job to be you.

                               My son's breakfast from this morning because, y'all, the sprinkles!

Meal Ideas, Hurray!

Okay, lame but straight forward title for today's blog post. I started back at school this week so I have been thinking about all of the quick breakfast, lunch, and supper ideas that I use to stay on track.Here are some of our family favorites.

Breakfast:

1. 2-3 servings of liquid egg whites on an English muffin (I love the cinnamon raisin ones) and 1/2 cup of fat free milk. I can't do regular milk because the fat triggers GERD.

2. 2-3 servings of egg whites with two pieces of toast (no butter). I put the eggs on the toast for flavor.

3. 2-3 servings of egg whites (seeing a trend here 😉) cooked and then placed in a high fiber, low fat tortilla (I use Ole' Xtreme Wellness tortillas because they have 11 grams of fiber and 1.5 grams of fat) with 2 tbs of fat free cheddar cheese. I then role up the tortilla into a burrito and cook it on the stove for about 3 minutes on each side to brown it. The whole process takes less than ten minutes, and I can walk away from the stove while the burrito is browning to get other things done.

4. 1 serving of Bran Flakes with 1/2 cup of fat free milk. Watch out for some bran cereals that come with fruit or granola because they can be loaded with sugar. I just use a plain bran flakes cereal and add in about 8 raisins to it if I want to make my own raisin bran cereal.

5. Breakfast burritos part 2- I cook breakfast burritos for my husband that are different than mine but still healthy. For his, the inside has breakfast potatoes (read the back of the bags if you buy frozen instead of cutting the potatoes fresh. Potatoes have 0 grams of fat, some hashbrowns have 8 grams per serving). I cook the potatoes with onions and peppers. Then I cook some breakfast turkey sausage (If you have a Kroger affiliate around you, their Simple Truth breakfast sausage has only 4 grams of fat per serving, and you normally don't need a full serving per burrito). I do a mixture of eggs and egg whites (about 4 servings of liquid egg whites to 2 whole eggs). Then I mix everything in a big bowl and make burritos with the mixture and some fat free cheese. This process takes a little longer to make all of the burritos, but I normally make about ten at a time and can wrap them and freeze them for my husband to grab on the go in the morning. He likes adding a little salsa to them after heating them up.


Lunch/Supper (In Louisiana, it's all considered dinner 🤣)

1. burrito bowls!- These are one of my favorite family meals because everyone can put what they want in them. I cook chicken breast and ground turkey (with taco seasoning for the ground turkey), pinto beans, black beans, rice (you don't need much. We use 1 cup for all of us for a couple of meals), lettuce, fat free cheese, and pico de gallo (for the husband since I can't have tomatoes.  A typical burrito bowl for me include about 3 oz of chicken, 2 tbs of rice, 1/4 cup of pinto beans, 1/4 cup of black beans, lettuce, and 2 tbs of cheese. I normally make plenty, and we make the leftovers into burritos the next day.
Hint! I use canned beans to make it go quickly but hate the sodium. So, I buy no salt added beans so that I can control how much salt we put into them.

2. chicken breast (I always use the tenderloins because they come out more tender.) with a small baked potato. For flavor for the potato, I normally add 1 tbs of fat free sour cream and 2 tbs of fat free cheddar

3. fajitas- This is one for my husband because I can't have onions or peppers. I cook chicken breast tenderloins, onion slices, and pepper slices with fajita seasonings (If you buy a packet, try using half to lower the sodium). Then I heat up white corn tortillas to eat it on. White corn tortillas are much better for you than flour ones when it comes to fat (GERD friendly).
Since I can't have the fajitas, I just cook chicken tenderloins for me and eat them on one of my tortillas with some cheese

4. baked chicken breast with baked mini potatoes and carrots- this one is pretty basic but an old faithful for when I come home, still need to cook, and want to get a workout in. I use spray olive oil instead of coating the veggies in olive oil to take out almost all the fat from oil, and I use seasonings around the house like salt and basil. Then, I can get a workout in while everything is cooking in the oven. When cooking in the oven, I normally buy regular chicken breast instead of the tenderloins.

5. chicken noodle soup with a twist- I use 6 cups of chicken bone broth instead of regular chicken broth. The bone broth has collagen that can help your stomach and is recommended for GERD. I have found some at Costco that is much better with the sodium level also. Hint, Costco has it much cheaper than our local grocery stores. For the chicken, I only use chicken breast. I add carrots and celery (watch the amount of celery you eat if you have GERD because it can be a trigger). I really like to add zucchini noodles instead of regular noodles. It reduces the calories drastically, and I doing find that the zucchini has much flavor. It takes on the flavor of the broth and adds texture.

6. Fish tacos!- This is a family favorite for us. Ben loves orange roughy, and I love mahi mahi so we usually cook both. We normally just bake the fish and then heat some white corn tortillas in a skillet (heat, not fry). You can add some fat free cheese, lettuce, and pico (if you don't have GERD). My husband was so hesitant the first time I made this and was convinced that he would hate it. He absolutely loves it and frequently requests it now.

7. Turkey burgers- no, not the ones from the freezer section! I repeat! Not the ones from the freezer section! We use to eat those all of the time. Then I actually looked on the back and saw the fat and sodium content. We now make our own. I like to use 99% fat free ground turkey (GERD friendly because it is low in fat). I then add in a serving of liquid egg whites, a few tbs of fat free milk, and 1/4 cup panko bread crumbs. 1 lb normally gives us five big patties. We then eat them on a lower fat bun. The best I have found have had between 1.5 grams of fat to 2 grams of fat. This normally wouldn't be a big deal, except that they advise people with GERD to have meals with no more than 3 grams of fat to avoid it triggering the GERD. The great news is that my turkey burgers only have .8 grams of fat so I can have my burger, bun, and some fat free cheese on it and still stay under 3 grams of fat!

Now, onto the good stuff. I am a snacker. I will always be a snacker. I don't survive well being hangry between meals. (and my husband can confirm that hangry me is a completely different person than regular, well fed me)

Snacks

I stay very simple with my snacks. Here are some quick ideas.

1. Fruit- an apple is easy and portable, bananas are great for GERD too, pears are good too
             1 cup of cantaloupe (my current obsession because it is in season)

Other fruits aren't bad for most people, but they can be triggers if you have GERD. The key with fruit is portion control and watch your sugar. If I have a cup of cantaloupe, I'm not going to have a big apple also. Fruit is good for you in moderation, but you can go overboard and have way too much sugar. I buy seasonal fruit to save money. Right now I am obsessed with locally grown cantaloupe, my husband eats an apple a day, and my son begs for blueberries.

2. Nuts- My husband snacks on cashews. Almonds are the best for GERD so I snack on almonds. Portion control. A serving is good for your. An entire container that you absently ate while watching your favorite reality show or a sporting event is not good for you.

3. Make your own mix- Have fun with it but watch the portions. I love to mix 1/2 cup of bran flakes, 8 almonds (about 1/4 serving) and 1/2 serving of yogurt covered raisins and then snack on it. I get a healthy fat, fiber to keep me full, and sweet to satisfy my sugar craving.

4. Trick yourself ice cream cone- Yep, I named that one 🤣. One of the greatest casualties in my fight with GERD was the love of something I like to call...Blue Bell. She use to be a best friend. She comforted me on nights when I was mad, sad, glad...any of the "ad"s. The fat alone knocked her out of my life, and I began searching for something I could have when I craved ice cream. Enter fat free cool whip. When I have a major ice cream craving (or any random Sunday because I make sure that my in laws' freezer and pantry are stocked with it), I put some fat free cool whip in an ice cream cone. Once again, moderation. Don't eat an entire container of the stuff.

5. Random- for cookies, I like to eat a few reduced fat Nilla Wafers. Goldfish also makes cupcake flavored grahams. I only eat about ten of these when I eat them, but it is enough to make me feel like I've had a delicious dessert. Ricer rollers are also very good. They taste kind of like Honey Smack cereal (ah, childhood is calling) and have no fat. I normally stick to only one or two of these because they are empty calories like the Nilla Wafers and Goldfish grahams.

The biggest thing that helped me shift my thinking with eating was that food is designed to fuel my body so I need to make sure that I'm putting in the good stuff. You deserve the good stuff y'all 😉

In my next blog post, I plan on talking about how to eat healthy on a budget. I always hear that it's too expensive to eat healthy because junk food is cheaper. I hear you, but I also know that you can use sales and things in season to still eat healthy without breaking the bank. I also try to use the perspective that it is way cheaper to eat healthy now than to pay all of the doctor bills from obesity related illnesses (when I started, my bmi was morbidly obese, which can lead to so many illnesses. Now, it is considered overweight and on it's way to being healthy)

Personal update: I hit a major milestone this week. I now weigh the smallest that I have ever weighed as an adult and am about ninety pounds down from when I started. Even better was that I worked in my class this week and was much more flexible and energetic when having to get in some odd positions to hang decorations and move things.

These are my current favorite tortillas. I like like them crisped on the stove a little.