How do You Cook for Yourself AND healthy individuals in the family?

[duh panda]

Here's the lowdown.

I have crohn's but the 3 men I live with do not. They all work long hours and have strong fitness routines. One's a career marathon runner, and the other 2 are avid when it comes to fitness as a lifestyle and are constantly lifting weights/ cardio training/ etc. They all primarily eat out and diet is a point we'd all like to be stronger on.

Due to poor health I'm currently unemployed. The upside is that I have the time to be able to meal plan. The downside is that I don't want the restrictions on my diet to interfere with their goals and vice versa. Looking for a bit of advise/ insight on how others cook or manage feeding their household especially if you're the one with the restrictions.

Here's my question: if you are the primary cook in your household how do you account for your diet/ health goals while also meeting the needs and diet goals of those healthier members of the family? Any tips/ tricks to help make the cooking process easier you've stumbled across through experience?

About the Diet Options I'm Currently Trying to Work With:

The guys have expressed interest in a Paleo based diet. However, carbs/ sugars seem to be essential for me. Whenever I have tried a Paleo, low carb or sugar restricted diet during healthier times it never fails to throw me headlong into drastic weight loss and minor symptoms. Seeing as I'm just trying to hold my weight since it's the lowest since initially being diagnosed 8 years ago I am not willing to go full Paleo myself. If you have adaptations or recipes, that'd be good too!

While in a flare I don't have too much trouble with diet unless there are tomatoes or oats involved. These two items are the bane of my existence! That and of course watching unsoluble fiber due to sever strictures and disease in the upper and lower GI tract. Raw food tends to irritate more then cooked but we have access to a bbq as well as stove top and oven so for me my personal diet restrictions are the easiest to work around. I'm most concerned about how to accommodate normal, healthy people into the panning!

Looking forward to anyone's ideas/ thoughts or suggestions. :ycool:

 

[Lam123]

Hi!
This can be tricky, I have struggled with this for awhile, since my son and husband do not have crohns. What I tend to do on Sundays is grill two different meats, usually chicken and salmon. Then I make a big salad. So, then for Monday and Tuesday we eat the grilled meat, salad,and some sort of carb, like steamed rice or pasta. I just leave out the salad on my plate and juice my veggies instead. I can't eat raw veggies and cooked ones only small amounts. I have crohns in the small bowel and have structuring aswell. I have also done stir frys, I pick out the items I can't eat. I also make things in my crockpot for my family, stews, this lasts for two meals, and then I just make something more basic for myself. When I make something for my family that I can't have, sometimes I will just have soup and sandwich. I find when I eat smaller meals it's much better for my stomach.
Hope this helps!

 

[hugh]

PALEO (not very low carb, just low to medium carb (sweet potato, potato etc))

 

[vonfunk]

In the past 6 years I've constant lived with people who have some dietary constraint. The easiest way to do it, at least I found, was to the main aspect that conforms to everyone and then something to alter that to meet your specific needs. It's not that hard to make a some sort of paleo friendly stew and then cook a batch of rice for you to put your portion on top of.
I had a room mate who was vegetarian, I'd make a vegetarian dish, and then have sausage that I had precooked and in the fridge that I would reheat and add to mine.
It sounds like your food restrictions aren't super limiting, in addition to food that everyone can eat take the extra 20 minutes and cook up a batch of carbs. Cooked pasta & rice, if left plain, will last at least 5-6 days in a sealed container in the fridge. Make more than you need, and hold on to the rest for a different meal in a few days.

 

[duh panda]

Thank you Vonfunk and Lam123! That's the route I've been leaning toward. Glad to see others have made it work well. Makes me excited to really get going with it all!

 

[vonfunk]

Once you get in the groove it is easy. Just cook extra carbs use them in a couple of days, things like rice and pasta are really easy to transform into multiple dishes so that you avoid repetition and keep yourself from getting bored with it.

 

[Hope345]

This is an issue we are currently dealing with as well. My two daughters have very strict diets right now and I have had to make some major changes. It is tough but I am learning as i go.

this diet has good benefits for all of us.
It starts with a meat: Organic chicken, Organic turkey, Organic beef, fish. Add your brown rice and veggies

Chinese, Indian and some mexican food is also a good option for take out.

It works better if we all eat about the same thing, but sometimes I will make chicken and everyone does something different with their portion

smoked salmon has been a hit with everyone!!

We can share recipes