Find out whether or not (from your doctor) you can take Beano to prevent getting gas from eating beans. If you can take it, then you can add more beans to your diet. Some beans cause more gas than others and some bean preparations can reduce the tendency towards gas. Check out this website to get all sorts of info on how to eat and prepare beans whilst avoiding gassiness.
One thing that you might be overlooking is Mushrooms. They’re very high in fiber and can fill in for meat in lots of recipes. And they’re super-yummy. If you have an Asian grocery store in your town, you can usually find a lot more varieties of mushrooms and get them for a cheaper price than at Vons or Whole Foods. Go for shiitakes and oyster mushrooms as well as regular old button mushrooms and crimini mushrooms and Portobellos and morels and for some of the more “exotic” shrooms try bunashmeji or maitake or Enoki or King Trumpet Oyster Mushrooms
Then take a walk through your local produce section of your grocery store, stores that specialize in produce are best (but that doesn’t mean they’re more expensive, like Whole Foods probably is). Then take a look at all of the veggies that you’ve probably never even tasted or thought about. Find the produce clerk and ask them how to prepare whatever you see, or seek out another shopper who’s lingering in the produce section. People are usually very happy to tell you how to prepare stuff. Then go for radishes and turnips and rutabagas and multi-colored potatoes, and carrots and fresh peas in the pod, and snow peas and and broccoli and cauliflower and rapini and kale and Swiss chard and beets and sweet potatoes and butternut squash, and acorn squash and crookneck squash (which is my avatar by the way, honk honk) and and those smallish yellow flat squash that look like spaceships called summer squash, and zucchini and celery and don’t forget your herbs like basil and cilantro and parsley and chives, and don’t forget about your spicy foods like bell peppers, both green and red and all of the chilies from Anaheim to Jalapeno, and while you’re at it, try some of those nifty heirloom tomatoes and maybe even some lemony/tomatoey flavored tomatillos for some fantastic salsa.
Of course you’ll want some nuts and seeds, such as peanuts (which are technically a legume) and walnuts and pecans and pistachios, and hazelnuts and cashews, and pine nuts and pumpkin seeds (or pepitas as they’re sometimes called) and flax seeds and sunflower seeds and sesame chia seeds. A lot of the nuts can be purchased or homemade into nut butters too. And you can get tahini (sesame seed paste) to flavor all sorts of things, especially hummus.
Oh and I almost forgot 2 of my favorite things avocado and artichokes.
Eat lots of fresh fruits and some amounts of dried fruits, but don’t rely on eating tons of dried fruits, because they have a much higher concentration of sugar in them and can lead to spikes in your blood sugar levels. But eating just a couple of prunes every day will be both delicious and give you a lot of fiber.
And don’t forget your berries: strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, cherries, blackberries and cranberries.
Because you’lll probably want to create some recipes with all of this stuff, rather than just eating a plate full of raw fruit and vegetables, my next section is a short list of some products that you can hopefully eat, to make salads or simply to add to cooked food to make it taste better.
The first thing is Vegenaise which is a vegan mayonaise substitute. They make several different kinds and you can read on their site, which one is the best option. They make one that is soy free and one that is gluten free, so you can decide which one is the best match. And it tastes terrific! This is what it looks like. The original does have soy, so read the info on their site to make your best choice.
The next thing is Smart Balance Buttery Spread. They make about 4 or 5 different blends and I’m pretty sure they contain no dairy, but you can/should contact the company to make sure that their is no caesin or whey (which I don’t think there is) but this stuff tastes terrific and has plant sterols in it, that aid in lowering cholesterol. This is what it looks like. They also make a blend with flax, and olive oil and added Omega 3 fatty acids.
And get yourself a nice selection of vinegars (find out if that’s OK from your doctor) like rice, red wine, white, Balsamic, cider and malt vinegars. You can mix them with olive oil for salad dressing, or put a splash on your roasted vegetables. Or use them to spice up vegetable broth based soups.
And load up your spice cabinet with all sorts of non-salt and non-sugar added spices. Go for the regular stuff (most of which is extremely full of cancer fighting compounds. Cinnamon is apparently very good for people with diabetes) Just make sure that if you are taking any prescription meds, that you tell the pharmacist what spices you use. If you prone to kidney stones, let your pharmacist know if you eat any particular spices, some can produce oxalic acid in the kidneys if you are prone to kidney stones, but in most cases your every day spices will not only be tasty, they’re good for you. So think about cayenne pepper and smoked paprika and chile powder and cumin and turmeric and dried ginger and garlic and oregeno and rosemary and get yourself some good peppercorns (not that nasty old pre-ground dried up black pepper).
And then for your milk substitutes, try some of this new So Delicious Brand Coconut Milk or one of these Non Dairy and Non Soy Milks I personally loved the hazelnut, but thought the hemp milk tasted icky, but my best friend liked it.
Check with your doctor to see whether you can eat honey or Agave Nectar Sweetener My diabetic uncle uses the agave sweetner and it tastes like honey.
Then start practicing with different techniques to prepare your food. Don’t just use the same old methods. Try steaming and poaching and braising and roasting and stirfrying for veggies and fruit. Instead of just eating a piece of celery, grate it super fine and then grate some apples into it with a few sliced strawberries and give it a squeeze of lemon juice or Balsamic vinegar. Make a hash of sweet potatoes and turkey sausage, then top it off with a fried egg. Embrace the soup (darned near everything can be made into soup, if you need a recipe just ask me). Don’t think of chili as just containing beef and red beans (you’d be surprised at all of the good things that can be put into chili). And realize that just about any fruit or vegetable can be made into a slaw, not everything has to be eaten cooked, even if that’s what you’re used to. On the other hand, you can roast just about any ordinary vegetable and some fruits and turn it into a gourmet feast for your tastebuds.
Now for a killer recipe, try this Tom Kha Soup (Note: just omit the tiny bit of sugar that this recipe calls for. And use canned coconut milk, not the coconut milk “substitute” from above which tastes like regular milk, not coconut.
Hope this helps : )
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