Elimination Diet Day 1

In the past two weeks I have been spending a lot of time researching soy allergy and foods that are friendly to soy allergies (as well as milk, eggs, peanuts and tree nut allergies). I have done this over the internet, by visiting stores and of course in my own pantry and refrigerator. I have also moved from the shocked stage to I think the mourning stage. I don’t remember being so sad about my older son’s food allergy diagnosis. When J was diagnosed we were expecting him to be allergic to milk, since he had eczema and had reactions to milk. But when Mr. T was diagnosed we never expected to have a soy allergy diagnosis. Plus soy is in EVERYTHING. Milk is in a lot of things, but soy is in pretty much everything else!

My first day without soy, milk, eggs, and nuts was last Thursday. As a way of my dealing with everything I spent much of the day cooking. After my work-out on Thursday I decided to head down to the pantry to get a box of cereal for breakfast (since the only open boxes of cereal contained soy). I had reorganized the pantry and made a section of foods that I could eat on my new diet. I went to grab a box of Cocoa Pebbles and decided to double check the ingredients. I had checked them before and thought that they were soy free- except this time I noticed “natural and artificial flavorings” which can be anything, but it can also be code for soy. So I sent an email to Post (since then they emailed me back and confirmed that anything that they produce that has soy will state it on the package). That should have been my first clue that I was not prepared yet- so I looked at the other two cereals that I had- Frosted Mini Wheats and Golden Crisp, which looked to be okay so I enjoyed a bowl of Golden Crisp with my Rice Milk and a glass of orange juice. Normally I snack through the morning but today J had a doctor’s appointment so on the way back home I stopped to get the two older kids something from McDonalds and realized I was hungry and thought maybe I would get a snack- but then I realized that they don’t have anything I can eat that is soy free. I got home and fed the kids and looked around for something to eat- normally I eat a salad or a grilled cheese or leftovers for lunch, but all of those were out so I ended up eating some peas I had shelled from my garden, a half package of raspberries and a half bag of Orville Redenbacher’s Simply Salted popcorn- after that lunch I vowed that I would be more prepared the next day!