Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

I was on high doses of Prednisone for about 5 months last year and created a diet that worked for me - obviously, you should talk with your doctor first and everyone's situation is different. I am lucky that I am small to begin with. However, I did a lot of research to create this diet and did not gain any weight or get the facial swelling that is common. Even my doctors were very surprised...I actually lost a few pounds!! I was very strict about it, and it worked for me, but it might be difficult for some.

The biggest thing I did was to avoid white foods with the exception of cheese. I can tell you I did not have even one piece of bread, not one french fry. That also means steering clear of sugar and salt. It's pretty hard, but I found that ultimately it changed my eating habits for the better! If you go to health food stores and look for gluten free products, you can find lots of yummy crackers that don't have all that processed flour. For breakfast every day I had Arrowhead Mills Organic Wheat Free 7 Grain Hot Cereal. On its own, it's not so good - but I added dried blueberries and almonds and it really filled me up. Sometimes I also made poached eggs with tarragon, olive oil, and goat cheese served over Kavli crisps and it is one of my favorite things to eat! I also ate a lot of yogurt (unsweetened) with fresh fruit. No granola.

Surprisingly, I actually ate a lot of cheese (steroids deplete calcium, as I'm sure you know) and had no issues with weight gain. For my other meals, I stuck with lots of proteins and veggies (lots of chicken and fish, grilled vegetables, sauteed spinach, that sort of thing). I also ate a lot of sushi (no soy sauce). If I wanted sweets I would have ginger slices or sometimes dried figs with goat cheese. I also never, ever drink soda anyway, so as others have mentioned, lots of water is always a good thing.

As a snack, I always kept (and still do) a stash of almonds with me. I find that when I need a snack, it gives the crunch I need and fills me up.
I also read a book "Coping with Prednisone" as part of my research - it has some recipes - but honestly the book mostly scared me so I'm not so sure I would recommend reading it beyond the food part.

One last thing. I also regularly started going to acupuncture. I'm not sure if that was a factor in my weight but it certainly helped with my overall well being, in my opinion.
I hope this info is helpful. Good luck!

I made an enormously popular Oreo truffle dessert from a recipe that one of your readers had posted awhile ago.
But of course, I had to eat it with a side of humble pie being from New England and all.