Feeding a hungry partner

[Gillthepainter Profile Website]

My sister wants to eat lighter, coupled with drinking less, fair enough. She gets acid reflux.
Pasta, she's using noodles and it's working.
I've given up potatoes pretty much. Milk pretty much. Carbonated drinks pretty much, inc sparkling water. Bread, I'll take a cracker or two if it's required as a substitute sometimes.

The only thing that kills me with acid is prosecco - won't touch it.

The problem her end is an always hungry OH.
I have the opposite problem, my husband always wants less than I do.

How can she keep a heavy eater happy, with side dishes presumably, whilst eating lighter herself?

No potatoes is her plan. Any help I can give her with recipes or advice.

My first recipe to her is lettuce wraps.
Filled with oriental pork. Hoisin sauce on the side.

[WhitefieldFoodie Profile]

When I was doing my version of the 5:2, I found the following a life saver.

- Roasted Cauliflower. Goes really meaty and is lovely marinated in spices.
- Sweet Potato. Nice and "starchy" and give body to otherwise flaccid dinners.
- Crunchy green veg with soy and wasabi to dip into. Tender stem was the best as it sucked up the soy and wasabi.

A tactic me and the OH have taken to it a one pot dish and the centre of the table and we serve ourselves. This is good if you are disciplined if you are trying to cut back.

I would also throw in healthy snacks. As above the green veg and soy dip is awesome. Also a roasted caulflower "hummous" with carrot sticks.

[Gillthepainter Profile Website]

How much soy : wasabi, Wildie.

1:1 ?

I shall do that one myself.

Cauliflower is a great suggestion. Ta very much.

[Sakkarin Profile]

I remember a stalwart of the old Beeb board getting extremely upset when in answer to a similar question I suggested she got him this book:



For the record, I've got a copy myself.

[Gillthepainter Profile Website]

Is that cheese n pineapple on a stick I see on the cover.

Mwah-ha ha ha.

(Now I'm intrigued as to who the stalwart would be that would so easily be upset).

[WhitefieldFoodie Profile]

Gill - Depends on how hot you like it

It tends to be no where near that in terms of volumes. I would say about 5 tablespoons of soy to 1 tsp of wasabi, without ever measuring of course.

Another suggestion is my 115 Calorie soups:

Prawn and Veg Miso - Peas, kale, slices of carrot, spring onion and half a bag of frozen jumbo prawns. One tablespoon of miso paste and a mug of hot water. Feels really substantial but in reality it is hardly anything as prawns are magic.

[Gillthepainter Profile Website]

Thanks Wildie. Much appreciated.

[jeral Profile]

Q: Is the wish to eat lighter food because of the reflux discomfort? I'm wondering if a food diary might help to pin it down. I get it with potato and the infamous refined white flour pizza bases. Tomatoes are said to be a prime cause for some as are white onions (cooked shallots and red onions seemingly less so). Then again, I gather some medications cause reflux irrespective so combating that might be a different kettle of fish.

Pulses are useful - to prove one's alive, lol - and the other sort which are very good nutritionally, fibre-wise and filling, generally used in casseroles or cooked then blended into soup. Either might be thought boring but not so if any of spices, herbs, meat or fish/shellfish, green veg are added.

As I don't eat meat, it has always been accepted that my food wouldn't be the same. If the ballgame is that food has to look the same, there are ways, but it'd be easier just to change the rules, e.g. "I've made this for you, this for me". The "This for you" works well for hungry eaters because it tends to mean there'll be second helpings

[Gillthepainter Profile Website]

Yes and yes, Jeral.

And yes again. She needs to eat less.
Needs to eat things that control her acid.
But the main difficulty and my question is bulking her OH's appetite out. While she can eat less.

I sort of think it's not about cutting things out with acid.
It's changing your eating ways.

Well it worked for me.
I had a period of 6 months with bad acid. Which disappeared when I changed my diet drastically. Not intentionally, it was a happy consequence.

As you say, I can now identify what fires it off, and take a gavescon tablet.
Prosecco/ cava - but not champagne Ha!, too many coffees, spring onions, chocolates. Baked beans, I can live without them, who cares.

[Alexandria Profile]

A Paella Marinara or Paella with vegetables is light enough if you go with "tapa" size ceramic clay bowls and he can chow down heartedly ..

Another Spanish specialty is a Tortilla Española ( Potato Omelette) and it all depends on the size of the portion ..

A pasta dish is another alternative .. All depends on the size of the serving ..


Another suggestion are legumes ( bean dishes ) .. Lentils or Black Lentils vegetarian style with potato and carrot diced finely ..

Fresh squeezed lemon balances akaline and acid .. So, perhaps squeezing some lemon in wáter before eating and during could be a help here ..

[Suelle Profile Website]

A hungry OH just needs larger portions of whatever is being cooked - I don't see the need to cook especially for him.

Cook two portions of accompanying carbs, but share out on a 1:3 ratio.

Give him a bigger share of the main dish.

Baked potatoes are easily done for 1.

Be like the cooks of the 50s and always have bread on the table.

Cheese and cracker course for the big eater.

[Gillthepainter Profile Website]

Good morning Alexandria and Suelle.
On the same page with legumes and lentils. There are super dishes out there. And so easy to cook - when you get them right.

Re portions, and plain and simple the amount you eat.
She's wanting to change what she eats too. But those adjustments don't satisfy her OH seemingly. Especially if she stops eating potatoes. He appears to go hungry without them.

But the fact of the matter is, as you say, she wants to eat less. And he wants to eat more.

Cheese and crackers, excellent suggestion. I said puddings for him, but c&c is easier.

We eat more and more salads.
She can put a salad plate out for him. Which is filling too.

[Petronius Profile]

I was going to post the same ideas as Suelle as we adjust our portion size according to how each of us is feeling.

Monday we had baked potatoes, one small, one large. Or your sister could just do enough potatoes for him, that happens here too, as I generally have less potatoes and bread.

I have a salad most days for lunch without bread. OH has a roll with leaves plus ham or cheese etc. Sometimes she will have crackers instead so I'm not sure they will fill him up.

[Joanbunting Profile]

It is the same here Dennis. We eat roughly 2/3 1/3. I have a very small appetite, I don't eat bread with meals, despite living in France!

I wouldn't do two different meals though. Has your sister tried eating a natural yogurt after a meal? M started to suffer from occasional heartburn/indigestion and it really seemed to work for him.

[Petronius Profile]

Macaroni cheese on the side would make a good filler - reminded me as OH ordered it today in a café.

[Gillthepainter Profile Website]

Spot on with that yoghurt! I'm pleased it works for the OH, Joan.
As I wasn't sure it was a true acid reducer.
I buy Onken - don't know if you can get it over there. Told my sister to get some in, and change her breakfast to dry porridge and yoghurt, which I shall have in an hour or so myself.

Baked potato.
It's been so long since I've had one of those. I used to freeze them individually. They'd still defrost and microwave nicely by lunchtime.

[Renée Profile]

Thanks, Wildie. I would enjoy that and have a couple of jars of miso, also a pack of white miso. I don't know where you get yours from, but I get mine from the Japan Centre in London. The prices seem a lot less!

I used to get really bad reflux and couldn't go anywhere without taking Calcium Carbonate tablets with me. For some reason, I stopped eating bread with butter or spread on it and the reflux cleared up. Many years later, I can eat bread occasionally and I don't get any reflux problems at all now. Whether or not the problem was connected to the bread, I'm not sure.

[Gillthepainter Profile Website]

I had a bit of cheddar cheese yesterday, and forgot it sours sometimes in my stomach.
Acid for the first time in a long run.

I'm pleased yours has cleared up Renee.

[Sakkarin Profile]

As usual mention of comfort food has got me comfort fooding, macaroni cheese tonight.

Had to laugh at the last line of the "Geometry of Pasta" recipe:

"Wait 10 minutes before serving or someone will get hurt..."

[Gillthepainter Profile Website]

molten lava?