A Soy Free, Dairy Free Diet

So, one of the things that has kept me away from my blog for the last several months is learning to eat Soy and Dairy free.

You see, when Ann was about three months old, so back in April sometime, we discovered that she has a dairy and soy allergy. Since then we have learned that this is not so unusual for a baby. And hopefully is something that she will outgrow. In the mean time we have been very happy that, with an altered diet, I have been able to keep nursing her.

One thing that was very hard about this transition was that it came very suddenly with little or no direction. We noticed some unsettling symptoms in our baby, called the doctor and left a message and a couple of hours later got a call back from the nurse saying that it was "probably a dairy allergy so try eating dairy and soy free and call back in a few days if that doesn't work." There did not seem to be any understanding of how that shook my world. What?? No milk? No cheese? No ice cream?? No butter??? Doesn't that seem a little extreme?! Surely there is another option? Or shouldn't we at least make sure this is the problem first?? Imagine my surprise when I found that every cheese or butter substitute in the grocery store was made from soy! I spent a long time one day reading the ingredients on every package in the dairy isle...and everything else on my list too.

Another issue was that while there is a lot of information on how to eat dairy free there was very little available on how to eat soy free at the same time. I did find this website (or really my mother did) and the coconut curry is delicious!

So my intention is to make this the first of a series on the subject. This way, if I ever have to do this again I won't have to re-invent the wheel, and perhaps some stranger, who is hungry and scared to eat for fear of hurting her sweet little nurser, will find it useful as well!

So for now, if you're interested, check out that website, and I'll add some more recipes and substitutions and such later on!