Our "Way of Eating"

We don't follow any special diets in general, and there are few allergies or outright restrictions. Jeremy is allergic to raw tomatoes. That's really the only one I can think of. Sometimes if we occasionally have raw tomatoes in a meal, he just won't eat them.

Winter and I have no dietary restrictions. Jeremy, on the other hand, has many. But they are not too difficult to manage. He has to limit his intake of potassium, sodium, protein, and carbohydrates, however the limits aren't super low. The biggest impact of this is that we have to limit high sodium processed foods, and things like beans, lentils, pasta, rice, potatoes, meat, greens, carrots, canned tomatoes, bananas, bread, sugar, etc. must be eaten in moderation. Especially potatoes. Meals have to be pretty balanced, so filling up on tons of cheap carbs isn't a good plan. Neither is eating everything out of a box, bag, or can. We look for low sodium versions of canned veggies, bouillon, and condiments and use them whenever feasible.

Although we try to cook from scratch as much as possible, I am not totally opposed to processed convenience foods. My feelings are that it's beneficial to have a few things around that are easy to grab and just microwave or toss into a pan. Once in a while you are going to have a day or evening where things come up, plans get changed. Maybe you get sick, maybe your kid is on their own for dinner and there are no more leftovers, or maybe you forgot to pick up a crucial ingredient for whatever you had planned to eat. In these instances having a microwave dinner or something else easy on hand means you're less likely to just grab fast food by default. These kinds of foods may be less healthy than homemade, but they are still usually more healthy than McDonald's, not to mention far less expensive.

We also enjoy desserts, bake cookies, buy ice cream, or bring home a 2 liter of diet soda occasionally as well.  Sometimes we go out for frozen yogurt. Sometimes we eat fast food. We fit it into our budget, and we don't do it every day. In short, I'm not interested in deprivation as a lifestyle.

If there is something you notice we never eat, it is more than likely because either a) I don't want to spend the money on it, b) someone who lives here doesn't like it, or c) all of the above.  I am not a big beef eater, and I loathe pork products, so I almost never use red meat when I cook. We might make cheeseburgers like once a year. Winter doesn't like fish or shrimp, but we do eat it when she's not here. Jeremy hates fruit and/or nuts in salad, so we don't do that. I find there are plenty enough foods out there that no one in my household should be forced to eat things they despise.