Monday, September 28, 2009

Food Allergies??

This post is a shout out to all of you out there who have already had to brave the world of a food allergy. I personally do not have a food allergy and have never had to think much about what I eat and how it might affect me. That was until I started nursing. For the past three months I have been off dairy. I have been avoiding "obvious" dairy. Like milk and all cheeses. London has been doing better because of this but this past weekend was a nightmare. Her tummy seems to hurt all the time. So I was advised to take the next step and actually eliminate all dairy. After doing my homework I realized that dairy is in almost everything we eat. They hide it in words like whey, casein, lactose, recaldent. Did you know that even lunch meat has dairy in it? I went food shopping last night so I could start stocking my shelves with dairy free friendly food so I would not cheat because of lack of options. It is overwhelming to read all the labels...it was a very long food shopping trip for four bags of food. The other thing I realized, because I have a friend with a legume (soy) allergy....THERE IS SOY IN EVERYTHING ALSO. I also found it interesting that you would find a food not containing milk or soy or gluten, but then at the bottom of the container they advise you that the food you are about to eat was packaged at a plant that also packages food that contains soy, or nuts, or gluten...so it would be in your food. Very challenging!

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hang in there my friend!

Mommy2five said...

I have been there...I am not sure what the right 'recipe' for all this change is. I remember having to pay attention to everything and some days were better than others. Hang in there, when in doubt, eat fresh veggies and meats!!! :-)
It will work itself out in time. Jacob did out grow the dairy allergy by 5.

Meg said...

We take the light rail into Phx for the Farmer's market...the meat is more expensive but the veggies are so cheap it makes up for it!
We should all hit it up one weekend!

Tirsa Baker said...

WELCOME TO MY WORLD!!!! This dairy/egg allergy with Keith has been a killer. Do you trust things that are made on the same equipment? It was nice when Soy was introduced into Keith's diet because it opened up a lot more food for him. Yes, if it doesn't have milk it will have soy. I have to say that Earth's best brand had been great for Keith. You probley dont want to eat the food but if this carries over to London there will be an option for you. Here is a great website I found from PETA that shows all the vegan stuff that turns out to be normal food. We love vegan things now cause I know Keith is safe. I do need to take a trip to whole foods. I am sure they would have a lot. THis should help http://www.peta.org/accidentallyVegan/
Call me!

Joel Mayward said...

This is why I don't eat out often or eat pre-packaged food. Hang in there, it is actually possible to eat this way, it just requires a great deal of patience and experimentation. And thanks for the blog shout out!

Katie said...

Yup, that is exactly what my shopping trips are like too. We eat a lot of the same meals and pretty boring food but I guess the alternative is not an option so we figure out how to make it work. I am back to eating dairy and Copeland seems to be doing ok as long as I eat it in moderation. I just think of all the allergy things as a good diet plan =) We don't eat processed or pre cooked food so in the end we eat a lot healthier though a lot simpler.