The hardest food elimination is the first one..... And the one you crave the most.... And the one that's most convenient to cook on a busy evening.
Who am I kidding? They're all hard in their own way!
But when it's for your baby it's worth it.
My first elimination was dairy in October 2008. Now, I am a self proclaimed cheesaholic so this elimination was frought with despair. I chose this path in hopes of stopping the constant ear infections my 18 month old daughter was experiencing, even though my pediatrician said I was crazy and there was no correlation. The naturopath I was seeing at the time agreed with my decision to eliminate dairy and set me up with a nutrition plan to do that and also to lose weight (40lbs in 4 months!).
My daughter was 18 months when I started this journey and it took a few weeks until I "got it". You see, even though. I knew dairy was an issue I didn't WANT to believe it was. One evening early in this elimination process we had my inlaws over for dinner and ordered in from Chilis. Not wanting to miss out on the nachos (cheesy cheesy nachos) my husband had ordered and still in denial based on my WANT for it not to be a real problem I "enjoyed" some nachos. My, were they tasty with all their cheesy goodness.
48 hours later my daughter had a raging double ear infection and the guilt I felt was astounding. I did this. This is MY fault. Was it REALLY worth the few minutes of cheesy delight? Seeing my daughter in so much pain because I couldn't resist the cheese-demons cut me to the core. My heart ached with regret and sadness that I had been selfish to the point that caused so much pain for my child. It had finally hit home that dairy was the enemy, needed to be eradicated from my life and thus .... Au Revoir le fromage. Good bye old friend, I shall miss our interesting culinary adventures.
It wasn't evident to me at the time, but it is now. You can see the dark circles under her eyes which is a telling symptom of a food allergy. Her complexion is pale as well. Her belly, which isn't pictured, is bloated and since birth she's had breasts. Once dairy was removed the breast tissue went away. Two years later when we finally went gluten free her bloated, pregnant belly disappeared. "Is This Your Child?" Is an excellent environmental and food allergy resource. http://www.amazon.com/This-Your-Child-Doris-Rapp/dp/0688119077
One additional incident with dairy consumption furthered my drive to keep her safe. In January we went to my inlaws for dinner. We had mashed potatoes (is it odd I remember nothing else from this meal?), and they were delicious. My MIL used
chicken broth in the potatoes for mashing and adding moisture which makes them out of this world. Not exactly butter and sour cream out of this world but fantastic in a dairy free sort of way. Anyways, upon returning home from a meal where my daughter and I both consumed a fair amount of these delicious starch mountains my MIL called to say that while washing the cans she realized the broth contained milk and she's SO sorry she didn't check. Yes, we were sorry too that she didn't check and we were trusting that she had. This brought us another raging double ear infection, fever, vomiting, and a ruptured ear drum.
This is the "whey" dairy hurt my baby. My resolve to keep her safe strengthened at the time and I became somewhat of a control freak with food.
Our daycare was very good about it, for the most part...but they didn't convey the information to the woman who subbed as my daughters teacher. Even though the room had signs everywhere saying my child couldn't have dairy she was still given a bowl of pudding one day! What happened? You guessed it - ear infection, vomiting....and it was so bad after a bowl of pudding that we ended up at the children's hospital because we couldn't get her to stop and she became dehydrated. From pudding. Yes it's really that important to avoid an allergy all costs.
For what it's worth my daughter had never had a skin reaction to food. Her stools as a breastfeeding infant were textbook normal and allergy testing had ALWAYS come back negative for dairy. Obviously though, it's a bad choice for her body. I fired my pediatrician because he told me I was nuts (more or less). I beg to differ, but if eating x food leads to vomiting and illness I'm going to avoid that food.
My husband was not dairy free but he did agree to not have dairy at home. It wasn't fair to us to see him have cheese when we couldn't and besides those cheese demons are so strong....it's not enough to be dairy free. You have to really eliminate it from your house 100% so you don't cave to the pressure. The cheese speaks to you, it taunts you, and it beckons you to come closer. DO NOT EAT THE CHEESE!
A note added by Jamie;
"The momentary "high" and pleasure you get when you cave to the temptation to eat the cheese is not worth the nuclear level fallout after consumption. No amount of enjoyment and pleasure from a food of ANY kind is worth seeing your child tortured and torn apart from the inside out. Dairy free seems simple to me now. At first it was Mt Everest and I was climbing in off season with no guide and a storm brewing. I made it to that summit. I pushed past the addiction and the happy feelings dairy brings, and I did it with zero regrets. We all say we'd die for our children, but are we willing to let the part of ourselves that is hurting them die? In the climb you find a passion for a healthy life. You realize Mt Everest was no taller than the dirt fort in your backyard as a kid.
People tell me all the time "I wouldn't survive without ______" usually dairy, or gluten. Those are the two hardest to give up because they speak directly to the happy spot in your brain. They deceive you into feeling warm, safe and happy. When you're smack dab in the middle of the withdrawal from these things, you may honestly think you're going to die. But on the other side, you realize that you weren't truly living before. You begin to understand what all those healthnuts have been saying. Feeling healthy is worth far more than the drug like high created by dairy. After a while, the very thought of eating it makes you shudder."
"The Gluten/Casein Peptides Test can determine the inability to digest wheat, rye, barley, and milk. These undigested proteins, called peptides, are associated with gastrointestinal, neurological, and neuro-developmental disorders.
Urinary peptides are incompletely broken down pieces of protein. The peptides from gluten and casein can react with opiate receptors in the brain, thus mimicking the effects of opiate drugs like heroin and morphine. These compounds, called neuropeptides, have been shown to react with areas of the brain's temporal lobes that are involved in speech and auditory integration. Neuropeptides also decrease the ability to feel pain and effect cognitive function.
Most people who have food allergies to milk and wheat also have problems with peptides from these foods interacting with their brain and causing an opiate-like effect. However, some individuals may not show a food allergy to milk or wheat, but have the peptide problem and vice versa. Because of this, we recommend the Gluten/Casein Peptides Test be taken in addition to our food allergy testing." http://www.greatplainslaboratory.com/home/eng/peptide.asp
Dairy is also an opiate like drug -- http://home.iae.nl/users/lightnet/health/dairyfoodaddiction.htm
This is my baby girl now, 4 years dairy free. Since the we've also eliminated eggs, soy, corn, wheat and then all gluten, grains.
~Stacey
