TO EAT OR NOT TO EAT!

Now that I've banished the butter and buried the bread and allow pasta in the door only infrequently, I've developed a completely different sense of eating. I think sticking to all four food groups is a good idea but the whole point of this exercise is to Eat Less Food (the ELF diet! Hat tip to my friend Leonard for that wonderful coinage!).

If you're going to eat nothing but vegetables, roasting is a way to go because you can roast enough to last you for about a week and make each meal with a little variety. The picture above is a very good demonstration on how one can become quite creative while making the food interesting and delicious too. 

You will see that there is a bed of watercress and on top of that I've arranged some roast chicken, bocconcini, roasted cherry tomatoes, raw fennel salad with olive oil (NEVER with vinegar), roasted golden beets and in the center some caponata bordered with Carciofi alla Romana.

You might be wondering why it's been such a long time since I last wrote so, without going into too much detail, my kidneys and gout and a few other complications (like kidney stones and a few visits to the ER) have impeded my activities quite a bit. 

I want to just interject here that since I started my diet in January, I have successfully lost 27 pounds! 

It has been my great disappointment to discover that all websites dealing with gout only speak about what you can't eat. Gout is caused by high levels of uric acid. The general fallacy is that gout stems from a highly rich diet which, while somewhat true, doesn't nearly address the bigger picture at hand. Gout is caused by foods which contain high levels of purine which in turn cause levels of uric acid to rise dramatically and cause an enormous amount of pain to those who suffer from it. Foods like peas, cauliflower, spinach, asparagus, mushrooms; offal, red meat, game, rich shellfish, such as lobster, mussels and scallops, should be avoided at all costs. I'm still investigating and the jury is still out on squid and octopus; oysters, thank God, are okay! 

The kidney diet isn't much better. Gout and uric acid play a big part in the cause of kidney stones and the simple answer to it all is to drink an enormous amount of water every day. It helps to flush away anything that may help to form kidney stones. These are just basic descriptions from a lay person to my general readers. The exact science can be found on almost any medical website, including gout.com, the Mayo Clinic's website and cookbooks, and an excellent website for kidney disease called litholink.com (they have a list of acceptable foods, some of which come in conflict with the gout diet verboten list, so you must choose your weapons and battles carefully). 

But I don't want to talk about diets here as much as I want to talk about what one can actually eat within restrictions; especially for those of us who suffer from either or both of these ailments. Here is my take on it as I've experienced it during this very interesting period of trial.

Almost any roasted or raw vegetable will do, except those mentioned above, including:

Artichokes (preferably raw)
Arugula
Avocados
Beets
Broccoli (roasted and dipped in yogurt with lime juice and a dash of Sriracha is quite exceptional as a snack)
Cabbage (any)

Carrots

Celery

Celery Root 
Cucumbers
Eggplant
Fennel

Garlic
Ginger
Kale (!!!)
Leeks
Lettuce, Lettuce and more Lettuce (raw or grilled)

Onions

Potatoes (boiled)
Scallions
Shallots
Sweet Potatoes
Reconstituted seaweed in broth or cooked with rice noodles or rice (again NO soy sauce or mirin or any Asian condiment)
Tomatoes

Turnips
Watercress (raw)

Zucchini

Fresh herbs, including and especially Parsley

 . . . the list is quite endless as you can see and I've only touched the surface . . . aren't we fortunate?! I haven't seen any mention either for or against bell peppers but I've eaten them and have had no adverse side effects so, unless otherwise contradicted, I'd say eat away. 

Meat: beef is definitely taboo (but I've cheated once or twice with lamb and have had no adverse effects), but small amounts of very lean pork once a week, or white meat chicken and/or turkey are perfectly acceptable. I'd steer clear of any processed food, especially deli food or anything containing high levels of sodium. And because of the intensely high sodium content, Asian food is positively and absolutely verboten! Sashimi is okay but no soy sauce, no roe, no fatty fish, no shellfish, thank you very much!

Fish: cod and salmon are out. Raw tuna is okay or if you make your own packed in oil as I do, use only a very little amount of  salt. Sole, turbot, flounder, are okay. Mackerel is not. As you can see from previous entries herein, I have made Brandade with salt cod but I soak the fish for 5 or 6 days with refreshed water at least twice a day which effectively removes pretty much all of the salt. It doesn't take away any of the texture or flavor, trust me. And because it's cooked in milk, there is an added richness that makes this an extraordinarily delicious repast, especially when cooked and processed with potatoes, celery root, and turnips (my own little invention over all potato), plus the added olive oil into the mix. I eat it with celery sticks (always following the no bread rule).

Salt is definitely the enemy with this diet. 2400 mgs a day (that's about 1 1/2 tablespoons) is all that is allowed. You can flavor food just as well with tabasco, cayenne, lemon or lime juice and other natural herbs. Like sex, salt isn't all that it's cracked up to be and like sugar, it will kill you.

In January, I gave up carbs and sugar and I mean completely for 2 weeks straight. The carbs were a cinch, but the sugar; it was almost as bad as stopping smoking! I lost about 10 pounds during those two weeks, though, which certainly was encouraging. I went back to fresh fruit gradually, always sticking to apples and pears to start and then gradually progressing to bananas, grapes, and cherries (raw are extremely good for gout). The list for fresh fruits is also quite extensive (including pineapples, strawberries, blueberries watermelon, papaya, oranges, grapefruits, lemons and more).

You can eat rice but only white or black. Quinoa, and Millet are very, very good, and high in protein and vitamins. The kidney diet calls for white bread and not whole grains or whole wheat which is in direct conflict with the sugar thing in carbohydrates. I'd just forget bread entirely and call it a day. The same with any high carbohydrate cereal. I loathe the stuff, but oatmeal is probably the one and only cereal worth eating.

Dairy products are okay as long as you drink 2% and eat 2% yogurt (100% skim has more sugar than half and half!). Try to avoid animal fats like butter. Eggs are okay as well: poached or an omelet cooked in olive oil are best. You can eat cheese occasionally - I like the part skim mozzarella sticks as a snack and I do like yogurt in the morning with a grapefruit. But you can eat mozzarella, ricotta, cheddar, gouda, roquefort, and the like (all part skim) in small quantities and you can eat nuts and seeds galore. And as far as oils are concerned, olive oil is pretty much the way to go. I've recently tried avocado oil and it is delicious and doesn't burn like olive oil or other oils. It won't smoke or burn up to 500º! I don't deep fry so I don't think I have to worry.

I was at the doctor the other day and found out that I have very, very low levels of something called citrate. Eating lemons or making lemonade and drinking it every day will raise the citrate levels and help to prevent kidney stones, but getting medication for this is probably more efficacious and easier to swallow than a liter of lemonade everyday.  It's also very important to remember that if you are instructed to maintain a water regimen of 3 liters or more a day, you should also be drinking Gatorade or the like to replace the electrolytes lost through drinking so much water.

Please, to those of you reading this, if you have corrections or suggestions, please write in the comment section so the audience at large (and I) can read any other important facts regarding gout, kidney disease, and of course, eating less food. I hate to say it, but, the rule of thumb in this household is this: if it's advertised on television, DON'T EAT IT!

And finally, I wish I could write down all the recipes I've made over the past 3 months but the majority are already included in this blog. Just search if you're looking for something special. Everything in the picture above is on this blog, except the bocconcini which is from an Italian specialty store. They're not time consuming if you know your was around the kitchen. 

More to come soon, I promise! Oh yes, you can eat chocolate but only 65% cocoa or higher. No sugar!!!! And on that note:

Bon appetit!