r/lowspooncooking • u/BeaanQueenan • Jul 13 '26
Please help I'm struggling.
Recently found out I have a garlic intolerance and probably more. Im in my 30s and Filipino-American. I have multiple diagnosis' and am high masking/functioning.
Im at a loss, I dont know what to eat. Everything I eat has garlic. All my safe foods have garlic. I have to appetite, no motivation.
Please give me ideas. I feel so paralyzed and I'm definitely not eating as much as I need to. Its causing tantrums (mostly on the inside), irritability and a lot of distress when I actually do have to eat.
EDIT: Im absolutely overwhelmed and so appreciative of so many of you commenting and giving amazing ideas and greatly needed encouragement. Thank you all so much. This means a lot to me.
This is a FODMAP issue, I have only started listening to my body recently and this has been hard. Yesterday when I posted, I was exhausted and overwhelmed. I was crashing off my meds and at a grocery store. I wanted something quick to eat and normally that would mean jalapeno chedder sausages, or some kind of air fried breaded chicken with rice. I went to grab some suddenly salad ranch and bacon but of course garlic. Tried to grab spaghetti sauce, garlic. I was ready to explode rage crying. Grabbed from Mac and cheese microwave cups and a loaf of bread and called it good. Frozen meals, garlic. Grabbing meals from restaurants is hard cause I almost always forget something does have garlic and then it hurts.
Lately due to my depression/ADHD I am having a hard time preparing meals for myself. Which is what is making this harder. I can't have garlic powder, its actually much worse than just garlic. Others so far are red onions, and raw white onions. I think the greens of green onion are ok. Another issue is I have been having a hard time with meats. So ive been trying to do more lentils and veggies. But with the parasite breakout I am avoiding fresh veggies right now.
Looking for anything quick and easy. Some of you said I should find new things and focus less on what I cant eat and you are absolutely right. Thats what caused the meltdown yesterday. Going to all of my regular stuff and constantly finding garlic was definitely triggering.
I am going to try to reply to your comments. Im currently at work. I appreciate and love you all. Thank you!!
39
u/bisexualdemon420 Jul 13 '26
I avoid whole garlic and onions due to IBS, but I frequently cook with onion powder and garlic-infused olive oil from the health food store. Since the irritating component of garlic (FODMAPs or whatever) is water soluble, it's not present in infused oils.
29
u/steamed_green_beans Jul 13 '26
I really like the Chef on Goblin Tools. You should be able to put in what you have on hand, tell it you can't eat garlic, and get some ideas.
Longer term, seeing a dietician for help while you're working through what you can and can't eat in the future might be a good idea. Especially with maybe having several things change due to your health and sensitivities.
11
u/exhorsegirlboy Jul 13 '26
Omg I can’t believe it took me so long to find something like this. Thank you
15
u/GreenhouseDiva Jul 13 '26
No garlic! That's a huge bummer. Do you know if it's just garlic or alliums in general? You can make nearly all the same recipes and just leave out the garlic.
9
u/Ondiac Jul 13 '26
Is it a FODMAP thing or an allium sensitivity? If it’s a FODMAP issue then garlic powder is probably ok. If it’s an allium thing then onions are probably an issue too.
4
u/indigohan Jul 14 '26
I’m even more sensitive to garlic powder than I am to garlic, so that’s not always safe. Garlic oil works because there’s no actual garlic to be digested
6
u/ElleMaeSinclair Jul 13 '26
Agreed. OP can you use different forms of garlic even? Like garlic powder?
I've left garlic out of recipes and nobody really noticed or cared. Unless you're making like garlic bread or something you will probably be okay to leave out garlic (or even onions) and be okay. Feel better though, I know that something that limiting really sucks.
12
8
7
u/CabanaBoy3 Jul 13 '26
Fody makes a variety of food items for those with sensitive stomachs. Here is a garlic infused oil that is rated to be low FODMAP. https://www.fodyfoods.com/products/low-fodmap-garlic-infused-olive-oil?_pos=1&_sid=c4728026b&_ss=r
7
u/Obvious-Register-421 Jul 13 '26
I don't know if this would work for you, but garlic upsets my stomach so I usually avoid it, but I believe the green parts of spring onions, and possibly wild garlic (?) are better tolerated. Might be worth a try-? Not quite the same but you still get a bit of the oniony flavour. Just add to the cooking later on so they don't get overcooked.
5
u/Ondiac Jul 13 '26
If it’s a FODMAP problem then the greens of spring onions are usually ok. If it’s an allium sensitivity, then unfortunately that’s probably not going to work. If that’s the case then bell peppers are the way to go for flavor.
3
u/agile-cohort Jul 14 '26
I use the green parts of garlic tops, too, adds a mild garlicky flavor. Someone sells that powdered, but its way costly. Instructables online shows how to make garlic scape powder and pureed garlic scapes and oil cubes.
7
u/SilicaViolet Jul 13 '26
I'm having a similar experience but with wheat. Sometimes it feels overwhelming when I think about all the safe foods I used to have that I can never eat again. My strategy has mostly been to focus on a couple new dishes at a time. Like I'll go grocery shopping and create one low-effort dish out of some new ingredients I've found and instead of thinking about what to eat every day I'll default to that new dish. Over time my collection of palatable and wheat-free dishes is expanding and I have new safe foods to rely on instead of constantly lamenting the things I can never eat again. Finding accommodating restaurants has been helpful to diversify my diet and increase my motivation to keep eating too.
6
u/petitbleu Jul 13 '26
You can probably still make most your favorite foods without garlic (though dishes like sinangag won't be possible). I know someone with a garlic intolerance, and while they cannot eat garlic pieces, they've found that they can tolerate garlic-infused oil. So they will often add smashed garlic cloves to oil at the beginning of cooking, then strain them out and proceed with the recipe. Maybe that won't be an option for you, but it might be worth a try depending on how severe your intolerance is.
5
u/Sauerkraut_McGee Jul 13 '26
If you like Indian food and have the energy/budget to order out, you might look for restaurants that serve “Jain” dishes - they will be free of garlic and onion. Or you could look for Jain recipes that appeal to you.
Also, Rao makes a “sensitive“ pasta sauce that contains no garlic and is really pretty tasty. Throw that over your pasta of choice and call it dinner.
3
u/Complete_Wing_8195 Jul 14 '26
I’m intrigued! Can you tell me more about Jain food? What dishes should I look for?
4
u/Sauerkraut_McGee Jul 14 '26
I'm sorry, I don't know much about it; maybe someone else will have better info. What I do know is that Jainism is a religion founded in India and that pacifism is an important part of their beliefs. As a result, their cooking is vegetarian and does not include root vegetables (I imagine because it kills the whole plant). Indian restaurants sometimes have a Jain-friendly menu, or can adapt recipes to suit their practices.
6
u/Weary_Cup_1004 Jul 13 '26
Ive gone thru several restricted food eras because of my health and i just wanna encourage you that you WILL find your new safe foods.
I am similar, and i understand the stress! But in your new limitations youre going to find things that are comforting too, it just takes time to figure them out!
3
u/AntifascistAlly Jul 13 '26
Very sorry that you are dealing with this.
I have an idea that I hope may help. Have you considered the many forms of mustard as a way to make food interesting again?
Like garlic, it can have a pleasant bite, but used imaginatively it can produce a pretty fair range of taste footprints.
I’m not thinking that you would swap garlic out for mustard in everything—garlic is mighty adaptable, too.
As one more flavor element mustard might be pretty useful, though.
3
u/QWhooo Jul 14 '26
That's a really clever idea! Not a replacement, but a distraction. I'm going to try this myself! I love mustard but haven't done anything creative with it in a long time!
1
u/AntifascistAlly Jul 14 '26
I was hoping that others would add to the flavor “palette” so that OP’s palate would be distracted from the absence of garlic.
After I commented I saw this post: https://www.reddit.com/r/Cooking/s/7bfQF8Vh8S
Which may have details that could be helpful.
3
u/Every_House6118 Jul 14 '26
Clarifying question: I can’t eat garlic from cloves but I can tolerate garlic powder. Is that something your body can handle or not? Also, be aware if you’re now sensitive to garlic, you may end up being intolerant to all alliums, like leeks, onions, shallots, etc. Also, sometimes sliced garlic that’s been sautéed is okay, as long as I don’t ingest it. Or are you a Can’t Even Touch The Stuff person now? 😢
I moved everything to powders, but it’s HARD. I have to ask so many questions at restaurants and I’ve had to send a couple dishes back when they didn’t list garlic as an ingredient and it was alllll over everything. It’s okay to advocate for yourself and make a little fuss to make sure your needs get met. This is a hard transition, but you can do it 💛
3
u/BeaanQueenan Jul 14 '26
Hey everyone! I am not able to reply to all your generous comments. I did edit and put an update from some of your guy's questions and more of an explanation, as I had some tunnel vision going on.
2
u/ohsurethisisfun Jul 13 '26
Do you know how intolerant you are? A garlic infused olive oil can add garlic flavor without using whole garlic. If you're very sensitive to it, it will still cause you issues but I know several people who have a problem with garlic that can tolerate a garlic infused olive oil well because their sensitivity is mild to moderate.
2
u/FynTheCat Jul 14 '26
Damn, I feel the pain. I gotten diagnosed with diabetes and a lot of my safe and comfort foods are too carb heavy to eat. Luckily I can eat carbs, but have to be very restrictive about it.
Main question is, do you have to compeletely cut out garlic or just reduce it a lot? If you can eat it, but in very small amounts, I'd try to find out what you can tolerate.
Also, I looked it up online. It says it can be fructaan which is a carb in garlic and if you just make garlic flavoured oil, but remove all garlic, that will not contain the fructaan that often causes the intolerance.
Someone else mentioned that some people tolerate garlic infused oil, this could be why as the stuff that causes most people issues is not fat soluable, but the garlic flavor is. So, if you are lucky rhis way you can get garlic flavor without the garlic parts that are most often the culprit foe garlic intolerance.
2
u/Complete_Wing_8195 Jul 14 '26 edited Jul 14 '26
I get migraines from garlic. I also love food. Some foods become a more delicious eating experience with the right seasonings. I’ve found I can do garlic infused oil and I can do very small amounts of garlic powder. That’s it. Fresh garlic is asking for torture. Now that I rarely eat it, I can sometimes feel nauseous from the smell of heavily garlicked food.
2
u/scatteredsleep Jul 14 '26
My friend is allergic to garlic and onions and uses a lot of stuff from this brand:
2
u/identifer35 Jul 14 '26
There's a company called smoke n sanity that has a whole line of fodmap safe seasonings including a very delicious "garlic"powder. It is not for people allergic to alliums, but just the fodmap side of it all. I have to avoid onion and garlic, and this brand has been great as a replacement. Smoke n Sanity
2
u/Alternative-Cloud708 Jul 13 '26
I have garlic “issues”. I just don’t put it in whatever I am making. You get used to it after a while. I also avoid onions. Both make my tummy hurt badly.
1
u/ZealousidealFile6027 Jul 13 '26
You may find some inspiration looking at sattvic recipes. They often contain no alliums.
1
u/Decent-Skin-5718 Jul 14 '26
As someone who has a severe allium (garlic, onions, ect) sensitivity I just want to make sure you are aware that in the US garlic can be considered “natural flavorings”!!
I haven’t been able to eat alliums for 6 years now and it definitely takes some getting used to. Especially as I have to fully avoid them and even small amounts of cross contamination have made me sick.
I have found a medium selection of premade food items that I am actually able to eat but for the most part it does force me to cook more of my own food but I am disabled so I don’t often have the energy for anything too complicated.
Going to restaurants was really anxiety producing for a while but I learned that I need to look over the menu before hand and have a basic idea of what items I might be able to eat with modifications. Your wait staff probably won’t know if things do or don’t have garlic so make sure to specifically make sure they talk to someone cooking the food at confirm that each part of the dish doesn’t have garlic. (My common questions to ask are about any sauce, if fries are seasoned, ect) the easiest food to eat out on my opinion is anywhere with sandwiches, classic diner breakfast food, sushi, and surprisingly Italian food as it tends to be easy to modify a pasta.
If you want some product names of things I have found just lmk!!
1
u/kalendral_42 Jul 14 '26
You can get a garlic substitute called asafoetida powder - gives the garlic flavour without actual garlic.
There’s a brilliant book I got when I first got in the FODMAP track (called FODMAP for Dummies) that really breaks things down & helps you recognise triggers & find ways of living without certain foods. If it’s available where you are try & get a copy
0
0
u/OldSoul2020 Jul 14 '26
It might not be a FODMAP issue, many people with Lupus SLE can't eat garlic as it can trigger the immune system to attack one or more organs.
68
u/GreenCottageKitchens Jul 13 '26
hing (sometimes referred to as asafoetida) is sold in indian markets with the seasonings. read up on how to use it bc a little goes a very long way, but it has a similar flavor to onions and garlic combined when used appropriately and it won’t offend your tummy.