Six Small Meals a Day, 250 cals each

I'm trying to understand this so I can really implement it successfully, post gall bladder removal, per doctors' instructions.

Six small meals a day on a 1,500-calorie-per-day plan is 250 calories per meal.

I'm limited to 30% fat per day. I don't mind going lower, but that's the standard ADA form.

I'm supposed to avoid high fat foods, fried foods, foods with strong odors (because they may make me nauseous), and foods that cause gas. The dietitian said no raw veggies for the next couple or three weeks.

So he gives me a Gallbladder Nutrition Therapy print out with a plan for three meals plus one snack, and all the meals include wheat bread with margarine. The dinner is 3 oz. of lean roast beef.

It reminds me of those commercials for weight loss programs that show all the mac and cheese and chocolate cake you can eat.

So, friends, help me come up with a real six small meals plan that works. Anyone actually eating this frequently? What's your day look like?

Anyone know how to cream tofu in a blender to use in soups and sauces in lieu of cheese or milk?

Got any favorite quinoa recipes?

Thanks!
Roxy

I have no idea what 250 calories look like. But I do eat at least 6 times a day, so I can give you a hint of what that looks like:
breakfast, 7 o'clock: orange juice, coffee, any supplements, two slices of dark multigrain bread usually with cheese
morning snack, 9.30: green tea, couple of rye/oat crackers
lunch, 11: large salad, heavy on beans, peas, eggs, no cheese, vinaigrette dressing, followed by tea and a piece of dark chocolate
afternoon, about 3 pm: coffee and a slice of two of bread with maybe peanut butter
think-about-dinner snack: couple of handfuls of unsalted nuts, maybe a banana
dinner about 6.30 pm: often wok-fried vegetables and chicken over rice
evening: peppermint tea, sometimes a cookie if we have any

This sounds like I eat all the time, but this is actually everything I eat, I don't graze in addition on anything. Sorry I can't help on the calories.

We don't use milk in recipes because of my dh's allergy, but there are plenty of clear soups and sauces that taste great. If I'm desperate I'll add soy cream, but it's not the same. I make stews with a sauce made from meat stock, olive oil, red wine, soy sauce, pureed tomato, balsamic vinegar, a bit of this, a dash of that...
Bread with every meal would make me wired.

My husband makes great soups that are low fat and low calorie. For example:

Boil maybe a quart of water. Throw in some quinoa. Or mung daal or other quick cooking bean. Just a couple of ounces. If you want the carbs, put in some rice or pasta. Again, just a small amount. If you use brown rice you would cook that ahead of time as the daal and quinoa cooks fast, maybe 15 minutes. My spouse uses a bit of salt. I use a bit of chicken bouillon. Throw in some raisins.

Boil this up.

Add cubes of winter squash. Be generous! Cook for a bit. Add in quicker cooking veggies, like asparagus or greens. Or tomatoes. Or whatever vegetables you have on hand. I favor chard or asparagus.

Put in some roasted pumpkin seeds, if you can handle them. Don't roast in fat. My husband just tosses a few into a hot iron pan and stirs them until they get a bit brown and some make kind of a popping noise.

Put in your favorite curry mix to taste. My husband does take a small amount of ghee and heats the spices up in the ghee before adding to the soup. The amount is very small so it doesn't really make the soup fatty. The smell of precooking the spices in ghee may bother you so I'd skip that part. If I make the soup I am lazy and I just dump in his premade curry mix of one type or another. Sometimes we add a little hot sauce.

From start to finish it takes only 15 to 20 minutes.

Silken tofu has the smoothest texture after blending.

I prefer extra firm tofu for quiches and burgers, for its lower water content.

Any kind will work in a bisque that you take a stick blender to. If you wanted to make cream of potato soup with tofu, it's best to blend the tofu separately, since too much blending makes potatoes gummy.

That's all I've got. I'm glad you're recovered enough to be thinking about this stuff, anyway ... good luck.

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Anyone know how to cream tofu in a blender to use in soups and sauces in lieu of cheese or milk?

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Here's a savory tofu sauce recipe that makes cooked vegetables divine. It's good with meat too. Some of the ingredients, like almond oil, are pricey at first, but once you have them they keep and you can use them for a lot of this stuff.

1/2 cup almond oil, soy oil or sunflower oil ****if this is too much oil, start small and add as needed.
1 cup water
1/4 cup Bragg Liquid Aminos **this stuff is pretty salty. I think it provides a lot of the taste, but if sodium is an issue, go light on it and add more if you need it.**
1/8 cup brewer's yeast flakes
1/4 tsp kelp powder
1/4 tsp Spike seasoning **ditto on the salt, but this is pretty small.
1/4 tsp basil
1/8 tsp granulated garlic ***I put *$&@#loads of garlic in everything. A few cloves makes this good. A lot of cloves makes it better. Might be a good partial substitute for some of the salty stuff.
1 1/2 tsp. lemon juice
1 1/2 tsp Tamari sauce / tamari soy sauce
1 pkg firm tofu (16 oz), rinsed well

Blend the above ingredients until smooth and creamy. Makes about 2 cups.

Another good meal is hot and sour soup. Rather than pork use lean chicken. Some of the recipes seem overly fancy. The key ingredients are chicken stock, vinegar, a pinch of sugar, a little soy sauce, a bit of hot sauce, like a red chile paste, chicken, firm tofu, dried mushroom, and egg. Thicken with corn starch or tapioca. Tapioca is nice and clear. I like to add bean spouts at the very end. You do not need to add the fat that a lot of the recipes ask for.

The nice thing about this soup is that it keeps well so you can eat a bowl and then a few hours later, eat another bowl.

Another good low fat food is steamed fish, like halibut. Top the fish with fresh ginger and a bit of soy sauce. Maybe some onions, garlic and mushrooms if you can handle them. Steam for maybe 15 minutes.

I'm confused. Why did he give you a printout for 3 meals plus one snack if you are supposed to eat 6 times per day rather than 4?

Also, I think it might help to forget the word "meal" with its connotations of multiple things on one plate. For 250 calories, you're probably looking at 1-2 things per eating occasion.

Can you have oatmeal? I think a packet of instant oatmeal is < 200 calories; not sure about the non-instant kind. Maybe add some dried fruit for texture and taste.

I know the greek yogurt I've been buying lately is 130-150 calories per serving.

Certain cereals with skim milk or soy milk might be an option.

Maybe cheese and whole-grain crackers if the cheese is low-fat enough.

For a hot "meal," maybe a lean protein, like a small portion of fish, chicken or turkey, with a vegetable on the side.

I googled "gall bladder diet" and a bunch of links came up, so you might get more ideas that way. One link from mayoclinic.com was only general guidelines but it seemed more useful that the info you've got.

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/gal...l-diet/MY01815

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Originally Posted by goldfinch

Another good low fat food is steamed fish, like halibut. Top the fish with fresh ginger and a bit of soy sauce. Maybe some onions, garlic and mushrooms if you can handle them. Steam for maybe 15 minutes.

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I would skip the onions, garlic and mushrooms...

Ooops, you can ignore my question about your diet in your other thread. I see you've addressed it here!

Also, consider that perhaps one meal could be 400 calories and another just 150, like a soy yogurt or similar.

Instead of cooking with oil, I use a bit of white wine. You could sub lemon juice. I toss in my cooked quinoa and then spinach or tomato or squash or whatever is lying around.

I hope you start feeling better very soon!

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Originally Posted by szsz

Also, consider that perhaps one meal could be 400 calories and another just 150, like a soy yogurt or similar.

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The same idea came to mind. Also, the idea of dividing portions (ie, plan for 3 meals, but split them into two servings each). I suspect the idea is not to to eat much in any meal.

Can you have olive oil? The thought of margarine on perfectly good bread does not sound good to me...

You ladies are brilliant.

Lph, that's exactly the kind of thing I was looking for. How you mix it up, keep it easy, all day, every day.

nybiker, I was wondering the same thing, especially when it includes instructions to eat margarine, for crying out loud. Who eats margarine anymore? And "avoid high fat foods" but beef is the dinner entree.

I've been so confused by all the conflicting - directly conflicting - instructions from this doctor and that doctor and that dietitian...I've literally wept from the confusion because they're putting it all on me to create my own eating plan.

Goldfinch, your quinoa recipe sounds good. Tangent, your almond oil sauce sounds good, too, but I don't think I can eat that kind of fat for a couple of months.

Szsz and pll, I was thinking the same thing - mixing up the caloric allocations a bit. That's a good idea.

Oakleaf, thanks for answering my question about tofu. Do you blend it first and get it creamy and then heat it up? I'm not going to be cooking white potatoes. I was thinking of cream of broccoli, or butternut squash, or tomato, or making a creamy spinach and onion soup with tofu. I have no idea how to cook tofu, though. I've never done it successfully.

I have two packages in my refrigerator right now, but I've been in here so long I don't know if they're still good.

I'd love to hear some more tofu recipes. I'm thinking I'd like to get away from eating so much meat.

I love the idea of cooking something that keeps so I can eat it several days in a row, just heat up a little bowl when needed.

I feel like I have the opportunity to reset my whole diet, but I may be overreaching. I really want to try some new stuff, though, and you ladies have some of the richest, most varied, healthiest diets of anyone I know.

And you'd never suggest I eat margarine. Geez.

:)

Roxy

Oh my god, Murienn, you just saved my life with that Clean Eating Magazine link. Thank you!

Roxy-

I've never had tofu go bad sealed in the package. And I've eaten it way out of date.

This sounds good as a start for a tofu "cream" soup. If I'm using it like that, I just heat it - I don't really "cook" it....

PS - Glad you're starting to be on the mend:)

Well, my experience with tofu is the opposite ... it's never all that fresh in the packages from the grocery store, and it sours pretty quickly. Personally I wouldn't eat it if it's past the expiration date, or even if it's inside the expiration date but the water is yellow and bubbly or sour. Silken tofu in the shelf-stable packaging probably keeps a long time, though.

It depends on what you want to do with it. If I want a squash or carrot bisque with tofu, I just break up the cake into chunks after the vegetables are tender, throw it in and blend the whole thing with a stick blender (don't forget to pull out the bay leaves or bouquet garni before blending - btdt and it wasn't pretty :p). For burgers, I drain it, then squeeze out as much water as I can by hand, then just crumble it and mix it with the other ingredients. Pretty much the same thing for quiche. For sauces or dressings, you'd want to blend it smooth first and then mix in your other ingredients and warm it.

Don't go overboard with soy though. It can aggravate PMS and other estrogen-dominance issues. Some is good IMO, but there's such a thing as too much.

Oak -

Very interesting - maybe I've been lucky? In any case - I always use the smell test first:)

I eat margarine on my waffles every morning. It's supposedly made with yogurt, and I think the calories per serving are a bit lower than some other brands. My parents use margarine made with olive oil, but that brand isn't available here.

Trader Joes makes a really good seasoned and baked tofu.

For a couple of quinoa recipes, check out the blog "101cookbooks" by Heidi Swanson. "Heather's quinoa" is easy and tasty, and could last a few days in the fridge if divided up into smaller portions. I've never bothered with roasting the tomatoes, but I'm sure that would be tasty. The "Double Broccoli quinoa" is great, too - but it might not be great for you depending on how broccoli affects you gassy-wise : ) You could skip the cream in the recipe or use silken tofu to make the pesto creamier.

She also has a recipe in her book "super natural everyday" for quinoa patties, if you can find it at a library. I found them a little bland (sounds like that would be good for you), but pretty tasty and easy to keep a bunch in the fridge for snacking. Seems like you could easily add in flavors that you like to make it suit your preferences.

Consider trying tempeh instead of tofu if you are looking for a non-meat protein. I find it easier to cook with because it stays firm and has a chewier texture, you can use it anywhere you'd use meat. I use it in burritos, chili, stir fry, everything when I want a protein blast. Again, you have to consider how this (and tofu, actually) would affect you, gassy-wise.

Best wishes and a speedy recovery to you.

Hey Roxy,
I actually prefer tempeh over tofu and what I do is cut it into cubes or strips and then marinate it (again with the white wine, but you could use soy sauce, or whatever flavors you like.) If cubed you can grill it on skewers and it is nice and "meaty." In strips I add it to a pasta dish or just some sort of sauce. Tempeh is also a soy product but it is fermented and less processed.

Garbanzo beans (canned, no salt, organic) are also a great easy meal, just heat up with some sort of tomato sauce.

As for tofu, there is a great brand made here locally in SD (named something like San Diego Tofu). I like to crumble it up and toss it in a pan with scallions, tomato -- whatever -- for a tofu scramble. The trick to tofu in this manner is to press the water out of it; wrap it in a couple of clean dishtowels and lean on it. Then it will crumble or slice nicely.

Whole foods has a sort of tofu scramble that they sell in the deli -- try a bit there to see if you like it.

Man, for a carnivore, I sure know a lot about meat substitutes.

Roxy, the farmer's markets in the LA area have this Korean vegetarian food booth. It's as close to a chain as you'll get at a farmer's market - McTofu? They are at most markets I see, so I wonder if they have them over by you. Might be a SoCal thing?

Anyways, they have a few varieties of both tofu and tempeh, among other things. Dang good stuff. Probably nice if you need to mix it up.

Ok, off to microwave some veggie corndogs. Would it be wrong to dip them in leftover TG gravy?

I eat multiple little meals a day. My way of doing it is to nibble a little here and there. Some granola and yogurt here, a fruit there, some veggies, some pieces of chicken or fish somewhere in the day. At some point, I manage to cover all the major food groups in the entire day, usually eating one or two food groups at a time. If there's a meal, I usually eat about a third or half of it and save the rest for another day.

My mom does this thing where she crumbles firm tofu, mixes it with chopped water chestnuts, shitake mushrooms, carrots, spring onions, soy and some kind of binding agent, shapes them into little patties and deep fries them. You could probably do something similar, but pan fried in very little oil or baked, those things are real tasty. You can blitz silken tofu into a cream real easy, just drain all the water out and dump it in the blender. I like to add cocoa and honey in the blender for a chocolate pudding.

Those sound similar to the spinach and tofu burgers I make. I use frozen chopped spinach just to save some of the hassle of prepping - cook it according to the package directions, then cool, drain, and squeeze the water out by hand or in a cheesecloth - mix it with the crumbled tofu and seasonings (I like marjoram, dry mustard, minced garlic, salt and pepper) - for a binding agent I like Ener-G egg substitute - shape into patties and pan fry about five minutes a side, smashing them flat with the spatula once or twice. I do eat real eggs and you can use an egg in this recipe, but to me, the egg flavor overwhelms the spinach and tofu, so I prefer the powder.

Roxy, glad to hear you're back home and getting better!

Check out the American Heart Assoc. They are really into low fat. You might find something helpful there. We bought one of their cookbooks several years ago when our cholesterol levels went through the roof. They have some good recipes.

For spreads, we use Smart Balance products: spread, mayo. We use light or fat free everything: dressings, spreads, yogurt, cottage cheese, sour cream, milk. Also, Egg beaters and I Can't Believe Its Not Butter spray (made from buttermilk). And really, a little goes a long way. Spread lightly.

This stuff won't taste the same at first and yes the texture is a bit different, but you are so committed that you are going to do just fine. Soon you will be like us and you will soon prefer the taste/texture of the healthier foods you are now eating. I now don't care for the taste of ground beef.

Keep us informed on your progress and hope your feeling better every day.

Yes, Egg Beaters, I thought about that the other night while I was out taking a walk. I used to make Egg Beaters omelettes for dinner all the time. IIRC, 1 small container is the equivalent of 3 large eggs and it has surprisingly few calories, like 120 I think.

Some suggestions:

Easy to prepare and very low in fat: any kind of vegetable cream soup. Since you have to avoid anything that causes gas, maybe choose things like Pumpkin soup, Zucchini soup, Tomato-soup.
Recipe for any kind of vegetable soup: roast an onion (use 1/2 teaspoon of oil), add the vegetable of choice in small pieces, add enough water to cover it up, add salt and pepper. When the vegetables are soft boiled, put it in the blender to get a creamy soup.

I regularly eat an egg and a little bread for lunch, I guess that could be ok for you too?

Easy dinner: Roast lean turkey/chicken or fish in very little fat in a pan, add vegetables (Zucchini, carrots, spinach, bell pepper...) and let them get soft. Cook a little Quinoa or Bulgur and add it to the vegetables.

I guess it's easier to for example eat 3 meals that are higher in calories and 2-3 meals that are very low in calories.
So a typical day would be :
Small Oatmeal for breakfast
Snack: 1 Fruit or dried fruit (I like dried plums) and 1 or 2 nuts
Small lunch (Egg/ Makerels in tomatosauce/ vegetable soup/ cottage cheese and bell pepper/leftover from dinner)
Snack: 1 Fruit or dried fruit and 1 or 2 nuts
Dinner (recipe from above)
Snack: plain yoghurt (or soy yoghurt - I'm not sure if you have to avoid milk in general?) with some berries from the freezer or a little honey

1500 calories isn't much for 6 meals a day, so you have to be careful to eat very small portions for the main meals. Maybe you could get away with only 5 meals, which makes it a bit easier?
It will be much easier if you stock some good choices for snacks.

I hope you get well soon :)

Thank you, Susan, Alexis, Nybiker, smittykitty, tangentgirl, oakleaf, and everyone else who had chimed in. I really appreciate your input.

I've been eating much smaller portions - my stomach can literally only handle about a quarter of what I used to eat, so the six small meals has been an easier transition than I'd thought.

Sauteed veggies with eggs has worked well, as did the whole grain spaghetti with chicken marinara. I haven't tried anything really fatty, and I've been taking it slow on reintroducing regular food. I've been eating a lot of apple sauce. Apple sauce, I've found, works well as the in-between meal snack.

I haven't had anything raw yet except a small bit of banana. I'm looking forward to getting back to salads.

I'm still on no activity other than walking, but I've been doing quite a bit of that. I walked about a mile yesterday. Slowly.

There is still fluid on my pancreas and taking a deep breath hurts, so I'm really taking it easy. I wouldn't have thought it would take this long to heal. I don't think I took this long getting over my C-section.

Roxy