First, I'd talk to my doctor and see if he has sample menus for whatever your issues are.

If not, then you're on your own, I think. First thing to do is make a list of things you cannot have, and another of things you can have. Then, you go from there. You may find that you repeat menu items a lot until you get comfortable enough to branch out, but that's not a bad thing. I've eaten one egg over easy and a slice of toast for breakfast nearly every day for 3 or 4 years now, not because I have to but because it's easy and I like it.

And, of course, we'll help if we can.

Annie

Barb, I'm no expert, but I do know from limited diets. If you have to follow a specific way of eating, I'm guessing that there's a Facebook group that might address it. These people volunteer their time and energy to keep groups going with ideas, recipes and frequently asked questions answered. If I can help you, feel free to message me and we can look for a group.

I don't know where you live, but we have a big grocery chain here - Publix - and I saw on the news just the other day that they are going to try in some of the stores a new program to have a nutritionist on hand for anyone needing guidance. That's pretty cool news for those who want it. On the other hand, they said yesterday that they are going to stop offering free samples at the deli, but a customer can still ask for one, though. In comes the good, out goes the good. (They must have just promoted a food Nazi to upper management recently!)

I have talked to my doctor. Her nurse said that she doesn't know of a good nutritionist in our area. Our hospital's dietician's only advice was don't go to fast food restaurants-- you pretty much have to do your own cooking. My friend said she has gone to their classes three times on diabetes and doesn't know any more than she did before. I hear that we have just now changed administrators at the hospital so will have to wait and see. They are not interested in changing anything now. The whole health system is messed up now and they are not interested in the little stuff. They keep loading my doctor up with new patients and the way I understand they have designated ten minutes per patient.---so I definitely am on my own. We live in a small rural area of only about 17000 people. I am researching on my own,

Compumom, I haven't done facebook. That is out of my league although I have been looking for a support group. My doctor thought it was a good idea but does not have the time to look into it more. Will see her next week. She is aware of my problems, but she is only my primary care doctor. I have others. Barb

There are cookbooks for diabetics - here's a link to an Amazon search for 'diabetic cookbooks' : keywords=diabetic+cookbooks

Some used ones for $4 or $5. Or try your local library. Honestly Barb, if it's diabetes that you need to manage, that's not very hard. There's tons of information available. My library search showed 7 books while I was still typing the word diabetic.

It is not diabetes My son has that from radiation after surgery and has successfully been very careful in his handling. I have a hiatal hernia, blood pressure which has become successfully controlled, thyroid condition, anemia , bladder irritations; others which I don't want to get into. I don't like to tell the whole world, but you know how many problems that I have to watch, I'm no spring chicken either, It even scares me to write it down, but I placed my life in the hands of the Lord a long time ago. Barb

Okay, thanks for the clarification. From the previous post it seemed diabetes was the problem. I'm sorry for your health issues, good luck with arranging a diet that will help. But I still stress checking the library. There's some websites too that I like: Eating Well and Andrew Weil's site drweil dot com are just a couple. Good luck!!

Honestly, I think Annie's advice is the best. Write a list of what you can't or won't eat and a list of what you can and will eat. Then plan some simple meals that meet those restrictions. And if there are a lot of repeats, so be it. For variety, change the spice and herbs. So, for example, if it works for you, have a baked chicken breast for dinner every night with a helping of your favorite vegetable on the side. Not exciting but also not requiring a lot of effort in the cooking or the planning.

It sounds as though there's not much help for you through your medical personnel. I don't find that hard to understand. We went through the same thing when my husband was diagnosed with congestive heart failure. We attended classes about low sodium living but came away only with admonitions to avoid fast food and canned soup and use a lot of lemon juice. Not really much help at all. So I sympathize with your predicament.

Thinking the "yes" list will be much more helpful than the "no" list for meal planning?

Do you have numbers for sodium, sugar, fat levels per serving, etc. that you need to adhere to? That could help w/ foods you're unsure would fit on either of those lists. I use the USDA's Supertracker Food-A-Pedia often to look @ nutritional contents for common foods.

https://www.supertracker.usda.gov/foodapedia.aspx

They even have a feature that helps you create a personalized nutrition plan...

https://www.supertracker.usda.gov/default.aspx

Expanding a bit on Carol's advice above, there are many diet tracker apps available these days which will help you at least track and monitor what you're eating. There are default nutritional targets, but they can pretty easily be customized to reflect your dietary limitations. The food databases are pretty big, so that you can check how a particular item fits into your "macros."

I agree with Annie's advice. I have a friend of my family who is working with bad heart valves . He went to Boston to have one taken care of. After a long period of recovery he eats much the same thing everyday and a hamburger is a treat--plus he carries a lot of his accepted foods with him just to have the pleasure of being around other people. and, Mary McP. I keep Amazon in business and my local library will even order some addiitonal books for their shelves based upon my requests. Thank you so much for the websites. Dr.Weil has been one of my favorites for years. Your forum has become my support groups. To my dismay, after a public forum plea in our local newspaper, no restaurant was willing to step up to ther plate one day a week with a healthy meal dinner, citing people wouldn't be happy with the taste.. That's what I am facing here. Barb

From what little information you are giving on what you can eat, I would think whole foods might be a start. In other words, no recipes needed.

If you want more help planning menus, post the foods you can eat.

Your dietary needs sound a lot like a "Candida Diet" that I have had good luck with following. Here is a link to one of my favorite Web sites for that https://www.thecandidadiet.com/recipes/

The only thing I do differently I is I don't avoid as many fruits, and I eat whole grains sometimes too.

Barb, the list of "yes" and the list of "no" foods helped my daughter a lot, she's celiac AND lactose intolerant AND has a hiatal hernia AND has a seizure disorder and she's only 34! Plus she has two kids and a husband that have to eat too, so she's not just cooking for herself. There's gluten or dairy hiding in everything, it seems. What the list did, though, was show her how many things she COULD eat, at a time when it seemed like she couldn't eat anything. It was very encouraging to her when I told her she could eat any fruits, any vegetables, any meats, beans, eggs, peanut butter, honey. That's when I got the look of relief that there really were a lot of things she could eat. She sure can't eat in restaurants as a general rule, though and processed foods are pretty much out.

Anyway, the "yes" list is helpful for meal planning plus it's a psychological boost when you realize how many things you actually can eat.

And drink lots of water....

Annie

In Texas, the Texas Agri-life Extension agents (County Agents) have programs on special diets. Maybe you have the equivalent where you live.