Food Allergies

During part of my withdrawal from blogging, I had a baby. I now have 3 adorable boys. Here's the most recent photo I have of them - taken last fall.

I mean really, though aren't they adorable?! I may be a bit biased though ;). Thinking about them made me get sidetracked though...

When the youngest was an infant he had neo-natal colitis. It took me 8 months to get a diagnosis and then he had it for 3 more months after that (luckily babies grow out of it). The GI doctor said that it was like eczema in his guts - except a different type (4 vs 2) and some more stuff that went over my head or I forgot. During this time I removed over 13 foods from my diet because they would affect him through me breastfeeding him. (Complete list for all of you who are wondering: Dairy, Soy, Wheat, Rye, Barley, Rice, Chicken, Beef, Black Beans - really most beans except chick peas, Sweet Potatoes, Peas, Peanuts, and Fish are the ones I'm remembering right now. I could eat some Pork but only about an ounce or two every few days, which held true of most proteins I had to eat them in moderation. If I ate these foods he'd get blood in his stool and pretty much be miserable with stomach pain. I was so good at not eating these foods because I didn't want to cause him pain. There was no cheating, but I did manage to find some things that I could still eat... Coconut Ice-Cream is delicious. 

When the wonderful time came that he outgrew this condition - which can I say I'm so grateful that he did, I really do feel for all you Mom's out there who deal with food allergies with your children! Late February last year I started eating a normal diet again. And for a week I felt slightly nauseous. After it went away I decided to wait to get tested for a food allergy (I was sure that's what the nausea was being caused by) because I really couldn't handle eating a special diet again. The frustration from figuring out what to eat was not fun, in fact I would break down crying over the knowledge I had to eat but not knowing what to eat (because let's face it you can only have vegetable soup and salad so much before going crazy - or maybe that's just me.) 

One thing I learned - if you want to avoid most processed foods, remove Soy, Dairy, Wheat, and Rice from your diet. It's really hard to find foods without those in them (Rice mainly because most gluten free processed foods have rice in them.)

I finally got up enough courage to get my food allergies tested last month. However there was a preliminary appointment before the testing appointment so I didn't actually get tested until this month, earlier this week even on Monday. I tested positive for 2 foods. And let's just say that removing 2 foods will be easier than 13+ foods, but I'm allergic to Soy and Barley. I just have to say that soy is in pretty much everything. It's a good thing I know how to make my own vinaigrette, because most that are sold in stores have soy in them (sometimes just listed as vegetable oil...) My personal pet peeve is when something lists it as Canola Oil OR Soy Oil, can't you just say which one so I know if I can eat it or not?!? Barley sneaks in a lot too, most malt is made from barley (I like malt but it's not something we have frequently.) 

So starting next week I'm avoiding all things with soy and barley. Funny thing is before my crazy diet with my son's colitis I would avoid most soy (I did have some soy sauce for when I made Asian foods). I've rebelled at reading labels in the past few months and because of such I have let a lot of it into my house. I was semi-surprised how much I have because I do try to avoid it since it can make PCOS symptoms worse. So here's to going back to reading labels again. I really don't mind except how much longer I'm in the grocery store!

My shout out to all those that have food allergies or kids with them. It can be hard!