Dietary restrictions

[zakisrage]

When you were growing up, were you not allowed to eat certain foods for whatever reason (i.e. religious reasons, health reasons, parents obsessed with organic food/healthy food, parents were vegan, etc.)?

I was not allowed to eat anything with pork or gelatin when I was little because my family is Muslim. My parents did eventually lighten up on the gelatin and now they let me eat stuff with gelatin. But I've still never ever had a pork chop, nor do I plan on having one anytime soon.

I actually knew several other kids who had such things. My friend Toby, who observes kosher with his parents, can't eat anything with milk and meat together. The two girls who live next door to him aren't allowed to eat genetically modified food such as golden rice because their parents are anti-GMO. (Their mum was pretty pissed off when Toby's dad brought over a dish with golden rice at a block party last month.) I've known several kids whose parents won't let them eat fast food. I even knew a girl whose parents wouldn't let hear eat Chinese food because of the MSG.

I used to think it was pretty bad until I met a boy at my school whose parents wouldn't let him eat anything that wasn't healthy. He actually had to skip the field trip we had to a candy factory because the factory was going to let us have samples and his parents objected to it. He couldn't even have birthday cake - when he went to my friend Frank's 15th birthday party, he told Frank he couldn't have a slice of cake. (His mum sent him with organic kale chips so he'd get some food. He told me he did have cake at a party when he was eight years old, and his mum and dad punished him because of it.) The kid was quite thin - I felt bad for him. (I told him his parents reminded me of Gwyneth Paltrow, who literally won't let her kids eat anything.)

Share your experiences here!

 

[dragon_nataku]

The first time I had mac and cheese was when I got sent off to boarding school for the last two years of high school. Mum didn't allow that stuff in the house to the point where I only vaguely knew what it was before then. She also didn't really let me eat candy/sweets/chocolate, but it wasn't as restrictive as the mac and cheese thing. Chips and stuff like that were also rarely seen in our house.

Other than that, my uncle is Jewish and thus is not supposed to eat pork, but my aunt will make him pork and just tell him it's some other food. ^<__<^;; which is kinda terrible IMHO but what do I know.

Now as an adult I have medically-imposed dietary restrictions. I have some genetic thing that makes it so my liver can't really process carbs so if I eat a lot of carbs my cholesterol (without meds) is literally 400. So I'm not supposed to have more than like 30g of carbs a day. Did you know milk has carbs? Cause I totally didn't. But if I exercise regularly I can actually eat carbs like a normal person (problem is finding the time but that's neither here nor there).

 

[Chibster]

I hate when I see parents raising their kids to be twigs. The kids should be allowed to choose what they want to eat. -_- Anyway, I didn't really have any restrictions, but my parents never and still don't buy pork (they're Christian) and I've been a vegetarian for a while for ethical reasons.

 

[Freesia]

I sorta restrict my eating more now than when I was a little kid actually! When I was little I would eat everything. Of course my parents (particularly my father) would tell me to stop eating so much junk, but nothing specific and I still bought snacks in school, bought candy at the store, and my friends would share their food with me, etc. Basically I was a typical kid I guess? You know how kids love junk food. =P

Nowadays I've been eating much less red meat and processed junk after reading some articles. You'll almost never catch me with a hamburger, and I've quit bacon, ham, sausage, and other smoked red meats completely. I'm also considering further reducing my meat intake to include white meats as well for ethical reasons, and I've been consuming a lot more fruits, veggies, and foods rich in fiber~

 

[dragon_nataku]

@Freesia: A big problem vegans/vegetarians/occassional-vegetarians have is not making up for the lack of meat protein with other protein. Make sure you're making up the deficit with eggs or nuts or mushrooms or other protein-rich non-meats. Not sure how much protein tofu has but I do know vegetarians love it and Asian cooking has a lot of delicious tofu recipes if you're interested in that sort of thing. I cook tofu dishes rather often and I'm not a vegetarian in any sense of the word.

Personally I love steak, but I hate hamburgers (or most ground meat really). I mean, some dishes I cook ask for ground meat but I figure when I have my own place I'll just either buy a meat grinder or do what I did one time which was use the food processor, that way I know the quality and type of meat I'm getting. Ground beef is notorious for causing food-bourne illnesses in restaurants because a lot of places don't butcher the meat properly and parts of the animal that you shouldn't eat often ends up in the hamburger meat, causing illness and sometimes death. I definitely will NOT eat anything other than well-done ground beef, even though I love rare steaks.

I don't know if this counts as a dietary restriction but I won't kill anything even if I'm going to eat it, for religious reasons. Don't give me live lobster or crabs or live anything else and except me to kill and eat it. If someone else kills it that's fine (although preferably not in front of me ^<__<^;; ) I just can't kill things

 

[Freesia]

@dragon_nataku I have no idea if I take enough protein, but I do eat nuts, usually at least a few times a week. I love peanuts, almonds, cashews, pecans, walnuts, and pretty much all types of nuts. And yeah, tofu is pretty good! It can replace chicken in a lot of recipes pretty well~

It's great that you prefer to grind the meat yourself. I actually bought a meat grinder a while ago but I never used it, and I don't think I will since I almost never buy red meat. (What a waste right?) And since you have a food processor and seem to care about your health I recommend this this delicious recipe! My dad made these for me and my family and they were delish!

 

[dragon_nataku]

@Freesia: Huh. Usually the veggie burgers I see are those fakey tofu-processed-as-meat-substitute things (like I said I like tofu but I don't like things like tofurkey or other disguised non-meat things). Although often I will add tofu and/or shiitake to regular burger meat if I have to eat a burger (I live with my parents and as mum likes to say "this isn't a hotel so you eat what we eat" ^^;; ). I really ought to eat more things like zuccini and squash so I'll definitely give that recipe a go sometime, thanks!

I'm sure there are some health/nutrition sites out there that will tell you like how many grams of protein one needs to eat in a day. Unfortunately I am not a nutritionist so I don't know but I do know your body needs protein or terrible things begin to happen. :\ Nuts are good but I think the replacement is something like half a cup a day (I tried to be a vegetarian for like a week over a decade ago so I don't really remember the details)

 

[Freesia]

@Freesia: Huh. Usually the veggie burgers I see are those fakey tofu-processed-as-meat-substitute things (like I said I like tofu but I don't like things like tofurkey or other disguised non-meat things). Although often I will add tofu and/or shiitake to regular burger meat if I have to eat a burger (I live with my parents and as mum likes to say "this isn't a hotel so you eat what we eat" ^^;; ). I really ought to eat more things like zuccini and squash so I'll definitely give that recipe a go sometime, thanks!

I'm sure there are some health/nutrition sites out there that will tell you like how many grams of protein one needs to eat in a day. Unfortunately I am not a nutritionist so I don't know but I do know your body needs protein or terrible things begin to happen. :\ Nuts are good but I think the replacement is something like half a cup a day (I tried to be a vegetarian for like a week over a decade ago so I don't really remember the details)

Yeahhhh. Some of those tofu burgers are pretty good, but a real veggie burger made with zuchinis, carrots, squash, and other ingredients at home is even better, and surely more nutritious too~

Oooh. When I used to eat burgers this chef I worked with told me the secret ingredient to his burgers was mushrooms in a port wine sauce. It had a specific name but I forgot what it was called, but it gave the burgers a more savory-ish flavor. A friend of mine also showed me a recipe of a cook putting coffee in his burgers and then grilling them.

Yesssss. Try them. <3 I like to top them with sauteed onions and ketchup. ^^

 

[ocelotlrama jaguar]

Milk. I love the stuff but it literally makes me sick. I substitute it with lactose-free or soy milk, especially the almond stuff! I am in heaven with the invention of almond milk.

 

[Freesia]

Milk. I love the stuff but it literally makes me sick. I substitute it with lactose-free or soy milk, especially the almond stuff! I am in heaven with the invention of almond milk.

Isn't almond milk wonderful?! I love it too!! Also, rice milk, cashew milk, soy milk, quinoa milk, hemp milk, all of those are so good.

 

[zakisrage]

I hate when I see parents raising their kids to be twigs. The kids should be allowed to choose what they want to eat. -_- Anyway, I didn't really have any restrictions, but my parents never and still don't buy pork (they're Christian) and I've been a vegetarian for a while for ethical reasons.

What church denomination do your parents belong to? The only church I know that prohibits it is the Seventh-day Adventist Church. I actually know a few Seventh-day Adventists.

Most of my Christian friends eat pork. (Most of them are Catholic.)

 

[Chibster]

What church denomination do your parents belong to? The only church I know that prohibits it is the Seventh-day Adventist Church. I actually know a few Seventh-day Adventists.

Most of my Christian friends eat pork. (Most of them are Catholic.)

Yeah, some of my friends are Catholic too and they eat pork as well. My parents (and relatives) are St. Thomas Christians. It's a Christian community in India and I think their beliefs are similar to Eastern Orthodox.

@dragon_nataku Everyone turns to soy as the next best protein source and while it is great as a non-overly processed source, there are way too many processed foods made from it. Personally, I mainly eat daal/lentils, yogurt, cheese, nuts, beans and even vegetables like corn, broccoli, kale or asparagus as my protein sources.

 

[Poke Trey]

I can't eat pork, anything with penicillin because I'm allergic and can die easily and lastly things that just makes my mouth gag with puke.

 

[Maniacal Engineer]

I keep kosher. *shrug* been doing it all my life, so I don't "miss" nonkosher food.
People always feel sorry for me because I can't eat cheeseburgers or pepperoni pizza. I really don't care because I've never had either.

 

[Silverwynde]

I have to limit my soy intake, as it has estrogen-like substances in it. Me and estrogen don't get along right now--it ups my risk of cancer--so I've had to cut out a good number of meat substitutes. No more soy bacon for me, it seems. =/

 

[Zkat]

I sorta restrict my eating more now than when I was a little kid actually! When I was little I would eat everything. Of course my parents (particularly my father) would tell me to stop eating so much junk, but nothing specific and I still bought snacks in school, bought candy at the store, and my friends would share their food with me, etc. Basically I was a typical kid I guess? You know how kids love junk food. =P

That's kind of how I am too. I used to love eating sweets when I was a kid, but now I don't like it as much. Now I get sick of candy after eating a piece or two, and I don't put as much sugar in my coffee (sometimes I put honey in it instead). I also used to drink soda all the time and now I limit myself more. This is probably a good thing because I have a family history of diabetes which means I'm at risk of getting it.

 

[Poke Trey]

Another thing I can't eat is anything raw because somehow my stomach won't be able to digest stuff like that easier and oh man it sucked. I tried to eat raw chicken this afternoon and my throat was not feeling well at to the where I stuck myself in the bathroom for nearly an hour and get a doctor quick it was that bad. luckily I stopped doing it and I'll go back to eating snacks now thank you!

 

[dragon_nataku]

Another thing I can't eat is anything raw because somehow my stomach won't be able to digest stuff like that easier and oh man it sucked. I tried to eat raw chicken this afternoon and my throat was not feeling well at to the where I stuck myself in the bathroom for nearly an hour and get a doctor quick it was that bad. luckily I stopped doing it and I'll go back to eating snacks now thank you!

... well, raw chicken is infested with salmonella; you're never supposed to eat chicken raw. ^@__@^;; Same for unpasteurised eggs. Raw pork, on the other hand, has a slew of entirely different problems.

 

[Life]

The only thing I can remember that I wasn't allowed to eat was Lunchables. xD Those things were such a fad growing up and I guess being a kid I always wanted to join in, but my parents didn't want me eating it since it wasn't all that good for you.

Don't really think I ever missed out on much, though. d: I was a pretty adventurous eater growing up and always liked trying new things, so my parents encouraged me to eat whatever, as long as it wasn't too bad.

 

[1023475849038261304976210]

I'm gluten free(no wheat, barley, rye) because of when I lived with my aunt and cousins. She put me on it due to my learning disabilities. Although I can't say it improved the issues I have I'd rather be doing everything possible to make college easier.

The most annoying thing about it is people judging me about in real life. I'm not offended when people don't have anything to give me to eat because of it. I do check food labels so I come off as picky, I suppose.

Even if being gluten free is unbenefical in of itself, I have eaten less unhealthy food and am forced to eat healthier food on a daily basis. So indirectly it may be healthier. I occasionally eat gluten free desserts though I eat bread all the time.

As for my parents, they're Christians and we eat pork. They've never banned any food from my siblings/me. They did limit our intake of candy/soda though now as I'm an adult living there I drink zero calorie soda just because it's there. I still crave candy and soda.