The ins and outs of Potato Free, Sugar Free

Have I mentioned at this point I have major cravings for sugar? In a minute, you'll understand why.

Before I post any other recipe or cooking adventures, here's the lowdown on what a potato free, sugar free diet entails, according to my ND. Let's start with potato.

See, potato is cheap, and so a lot of food makers put it in things to add to taste. So it's not just white potatoes, sweet potatoes or yams that I am supposed to eliminate from my diet, but all other things that have potato added to them. Here's a list of "words" I am supposed to avoid in labels, that indicate that some form of potato source was used in a product:

• Potato flour/starch (this includes baking powder, and it's also very very common in cereals)
• "Enriched" ie: enriched flour. Also known as "thiamin, riboflavin and niacin" <- or one of any of those three
• Vitamin A Palmitate (this is in milk and butter! The thinner the milk is, the more Vitamin A Palmitate they put in to add to taste! That being said, I am allowed to have homogenized milk. Yogurt, though is off limits, since it's all based on skim milk....very sad)
• Dextrose (this is in canned foods, bacon, lunchmeats etc)
• Salt and most sea salts (yes, salt. The iodine in salt is based from potato, can you believe that? And believe me, salts in almost everything)
• Yeast (most yeasts have some potato source. This makes most beer and breads off limits)
• Modified food starch (haven't seen this one much)
• MSG - also known as "natural flavoring" (who would have thought natural flavoring would be anything but natural?"
• Pantothenic Acid (I really don't know what this is but haven't seen it yet on a label)
• Hydrolyzed vegetable protein (haven't seen this one yet, either)
• Propylene glycol
• Vegetable Broth
  
• Tapioca

Now here's the worst: What words must I avoid on labels for a sugar free diet?

• Sugar, Glucose, Sucrose
• Molasses
• Brown sugar
• Turbinado (I have to research this one out of curiosity because I saw it at the Bulk Barn)
• Sugar cane, cane juice
• Sugar beet
• Fructose corn syrup
• Splenda/sucralose (not that I ever used these anyway)
• ....and finally, erythrobate (I have no idea what this is)

As you can see, that eliminates a LOT of stuff, particularly the sugar part. Sugar is in practically everything in the centre section/aisles of the grocery store. And sweets made with traditional brown or granulated sugar are out. So is chocolate, except unsweetened. I was jonesing chocolate the other day and took a big bite into the unsweetened stuff and thought my life was over it was so terrible. Then I gave some to my husband and I won't repeat what he said. Thankfully, cocoa is okay. And, thankfully, my ND gave me a list of substitutes for processed sugar. Hence, honey has become my best friend. As we speak, my husband is going to the grocery store to pick me up some maple syrup, which can also be used as a sub, because the sugars are natural.

No salt is particularly hard, as well. It's in tons of stuff. Even most seas salts have potato source in them, so a non additive sea salt is necessary. Still tastes good. I wonder why more people don't use it.

So let's put it this way - this is going to require some ingenuity and effort on my part to learn to make more things at home instead of buying ready-made. I am thankful I am on maternity leave now, or it would be extremely difficult to find the time to learn a bunch of new recipes and search for new ingredients or brands I had not used before. I warn you, I won't claim I'm a particularly good cook. I've just gotten into cooking more in the last year, and I'm grateful for that, since I learned some basics. It would be terribly hard if I didn't like cooking or have any skill in the kitchen to start changing my diet in this way.

Anyway, there's a peek into the limitations I have at present. I'll explore more into what that entails, and possible substitutes for this stuff, as the cooking continues.