A Mother's Sacrifice- The Food Edition

Not too long after Patrick came home from the NICU it was apparent that something wasn't right with his bowel movements. Basically mucus is bad and a green color can be a sign of blood in the breastfed baby's stool. Not to mention the smell. Breastfed baby's stool should usually smell pretty good, Patrick's was gross.

At an acute visit they tested a sample and sure enough there was blood present. That's when my fun new diet began. They recommended cutting dairy, eggs, and soy right away. They said that if any of those were the culprit we should definitely see improvement by the end of two weeks. Long story short I ended up needing to also cut peanuts, tree nuts, and coconut (because it is a tree nut).

With this new diet came a quest for somewhat normal foods that I could eat. This has been really hard to accomplish because they put soy in pretty much everything, including chewing gum! 

I've decide to list some of the products I've found and where I found them in the store (everything is bought at Kroger).

Condiments:

Earth Balance Buttery Spread- Natural foods section. This butter has a fantastic taste. I am certainly going to continue using this after Patrick weans. Please note that they have several versions- I obviously use the dairy and soy free version.

Maple Grove Farms of Vermont: Fat Free Balsamic Vinaigrette- With the dressings. It is hard to find dressings that don't use vegetable oil that contains soybean oil, but this gets the job done.

Annie's Naturals: Tuscany Italian- Natural Foods. An Italian dressing without cheese. What!?! (I love mixing this into my tuna fish for a yummy tuna wrap.)

Annie's Naturals: Lite Raspberry Vinaigrette- Natural Foods. *drool*

Smudge- Natural Foods. I only found it once, but it was pretty good. Think Nutella, but with no peanut/tree nuts and no dairy, just chocolate.

Normal things that fit the bill: Heinz Ketchup, most mustards and relishes, many barbecue sauces, most jellies and jams, and Hershey's Chocolate sauce, because that's important.

Baking/Cooking:

Pillsbury Pie Crusts!- dairy aisle. Mmm...pie.

Enjoy Life Mini chocolate baking chips- Natural Foods. All of Enjoy Life's products are free of the top 8 allergens: wheat (and they strive to be gluten free), dairy, eggs, soy, peanuts, tree nuts, fish, and shellfish.

Spectrum Organic All Vegetable Shortening- Natural Foods. Only uses palm oil. Crisco contains soybean oil.

Pillsbury Brownie Mix- Baking aisle. This is their plain jane mix. I know what you're thinking, "But eggs!" That's the beauty of canned pumpkin. It's the perfect substitute for the oil, eggs, and water. Use a 15 oz can of pumpkin for a 19.5 oz box, and bake according to the instructions. Note: they will be very fudgey/gummy and will get more so the longer they exist.

Remember that you can use bananas and applesauce to substitute eggs and oil in baking recipes. Just get on Pintrest or google and look for vegan baking recipes. 

Oils- I would stay away from vegetable oil as they often use soybean oil in their mix. Canola and olive oil should be fine, BUT double check the ingredients. I have relatives that were going to get a bottle of olive oil that was labeled "100%" olive oil, but in reality it was a mixed oil.

Pacific Broths- natural Foods. I usually would use bouillon, but found that it unfortunately contains soy. For the Pacific Broths I normally buy the Free Range Organic, because why not? Our store recently started to carry their four pack, which has four 8 oz bottles. Very convenient when you only need a little for cooking.

Snacks:

If you have to avoid soy don't even bother checking the ingredients of your favorite anything (except chips), they most likely contain soybean oil or that dreaded soy lecithin. (Soy Lecithin is used in the oddest stuff like canned soup and chewing gum. If you see "Lecithin" listed in the ingredients I would be safe and assume it's from soy. You will see some labels of products listed here that have lecithin derived from different plants.)

If you have to avoid peanuts, ALWAYS check your chips (and anything else fried), especially any local varieties or anything kettle cooked as they almost always use peanut oil to add to the flavor.

Lays Potato Chips- you know where they are. I haven't checked them all, but our favorite Wavy Lays use canola oil instead of soy or peanut.

Utz Ripples- Chip aisle. These favorites of my husband choose cottonseed oil over peanut oil.

Xochitl Totopos de Maiz (i.e. corn tortilla chips)- Natural foods. Again they avoid soy and peanut oils. Probably because they're No GMO. I got these because I thought Tostitos used soybean oil, but in fact they use sunflower oil. I must have read their label wrong before.

Enjoy Life- Natural Foods. They have a variety of cookies and bars to choose from. Not the best, but they get the job done.

Cybele's Cookies- Natural Foods. Like Enjoy Life, these are free of the top 8 allergens. They are also the best cookies I've found. Seriously. I tend to eat all 12 of those tiny but oh so yummy cookies in one sitting.

Barbara's Fig Bars- Natural Foods. Very yummy.

Candy wise you really have to look. Sheetz packaged circus peanuts and peach rings are basically sugar water with some artificial flavoring. Not good for you, but tasty. Also, Good and Plenty. Yum.

Bread:

Rice bread is not worth it. Ever.

Panera's Country White bread is dairy, egg, and soy free. If you wish to buy a loaf, call the day before and they will set it aside for you. 

Olé Mexican Foods: Xtreme Wellness! High Fiber, Low Carb Tortilla Wraps- with the other wraps. Very yummy. Less calories than two slices of most bread (90 calories per wrap versus 130 for 2 slices of Sara Lee Wheat bread). They have a wheat version (120 calories), tomato, and a spinach herb.

Store brand bagels- bread aisle. In this case you will need to check your store brand. Kroger plain bagels fit my needs, but Thomas bagels do not. 

Ecce Panis- bakery. I'm not sure if this is a Kroger thing or a local thing, but many of their artisan breads have no dairy, eggs, or soy. We currently have their Simple Focaccia Loaf. Yum yum.

Meats:

Check any meats like sausage, meat balls, or anything with a sauce on it. Lunch meats should all be fine.

Frozen foods:

Alexia Sweet Potato Fries- Frozen food section or natural foods. They don't use soy or peanut oil.

Ian's Gluten Free Breaded Chicken Nuggets and Fish Sticks- Natural Foods. Pretty tasty and doesn't use soy. 

Other than Ian's products I wouldn't bother with anything breaded and you will need to check the label of French fries. Many use soy oil.

I also wouldn't bother checking frozen meals because they're bound to have either dairy or soy in them, even the meals you find in the natural foods section.

Non-dairy dairy:

If you can have tree nuts or coconut then you have a lot of options. So Delicious (natural foods or regular frozen foods) has a lot of options that are made with coconut milk and are dairy, egg, and soy free. Some almond ice cream options contain soy. 

If you love yogurt and can't do without (because yogurt is dairy, and most likely your child has a dairy intolerance not a lactose intolerance), So Delicious has a cultured coconut yogurt. I have not tried it because again coconut is in fact a tree nut.

You can also make "cheese" using nuts. I haven't really looked into it because I can't have nuts. I think you primarily use cashews. 

Products for your body:

Continue to use your regular products. If it's just an intolerance, you can use the product on yourself or your child as long as it's not ingested. If it's an allergy say bye-bye to your shampoos, conditioners, and lotions. How do I know? I used pure coconut oil to treat Patrick's cradle cap and it got better. He never had hives or any other reaction.

Should it be an allergy- good luck. You'll have to consult your doctor on that one. Many natural hair and skin care products utilize tree nut oils.

Hopefully this helps you jump start your new diet, should you have to make that mother's sacrifice.

[Please Note: I am not being paid to mention these products (I wish!). I just felt that I should share what I've found to help with this new diet.]