Where's the 'milk'?

My son is lactose intolerant - he doesn't digest the sugars found in cow's milk very well. My daughter and I are allergic to casien, the protein found in cow's milk along with soy. So when it comes to finding a good substitute for baking or pouring something over our cereal that looks and tastes like milk - what do we do? Fortunately, there are plenty of replacements for dairy. Below is a list which i hope you will find helpful. You may need to try different kinds and different brands to find one you really like as each brand and flavor has a different taste. Just hang in there and keep trying until you find your new fave.

Rice Milk

Rice milk is not as thick as soy or dairy milks, and has a somewhat translucent consistency. Because it is slightly sweet, rice milk works well in dessert recipes. Compared to soy and almond milk, rice milk has less protein.

Almond/Cashew Milk
Milk made from almonds or other nuts, such as cashew milk has a creamy consistency similar to soy milk and a nutty taste perfect for making smoothies or other creamy drinks and desserts. There are now several brands of almond milk available, but you can try making your own almond or cashew milk. I have not seen cashew milk on the market and will try making my own this week.

Soy Milk

While I am not personally a fan of soy, from a nutritional perspective, soy milk has less fat than dairy milk, no cholesterol (not an animal product), just about as much protein and since most are now fortified it is also a good source of calcium.

Hemp Milk

Hemp milk contains a 3 to 1ratio of Omega-6 and Omega-3 EFAs and other nutrients include magnesium, phytosterols, ascorbic acid, beta-carotene, calcium, fiber, iron, potassium, phosphorus, riboflavin, niacin and thiamin. It also may be more digestible than soy protein because it doesn't contain oligosaccarides, a complex sugar that can cause flatulence if not properly broken down during digestion.

Coconut Milk

Coconut milk has a long standing cultural association with health in the Ayurveda tradition. It has many health benefits and you'll typically find in in the Asian section of the market. There are also some very delicious ice creams made with coconut milk and it's a great substitute for cream.

So, you are not just gluten-free, but dairy-free, too

"What?! First, no gluten and now no dairy, either?" You may be asking in tears and frustration. If this is the case, don't worry. I'm here to help. So, take a deep breath and exhale knowing that there are now plenty of great-tasting dairy-free alternatives on the market and going dairy free may be the next best thing for your health since going gluten free. A casein-free diet (casein is the protein found in milk and is also used as a binding agent in some cosmetics, paints, and nail polish) has been found to be very beneficial for a number of reasons - from those with autism to anyone with an auto-immune disorder or wishing to avoid one.

Below is a list of foods that contain casein taken from Living Without magazine:

• All bovine milk products
• Milk - White or chocolate
• Cream
• Half & half
• Yogurt
• Sour Cream
• Cheese
• Butter
• Sherbet
• Ice Cream
• Ice Milk
• Creamed Soups and Veggies
• Soup Bases
• Puddings
• Custard
• Whey

Casein-Free Alternatives

• Rice Milk
• Soy Milk (not a fan of soy personally)
• Hemp Milk
• Coconut Milk
• Any nut milk - almond, cashew - especially homemade
• Pareve Creams and Creamers
• Sorbet
• Italian Ices
• Ghee (ensure it says Casein Free as not all brands are - see www.spunkycoconut.com to learn how to make your own)
• Coconut Butter
• Coconut Milk
• Earth Balance "Butter" Spreads - also in soy free
• kosher pareve foods
• Foods certified as kosher non-dairy or pareve
• Note: for a non-dairy alternative to powdered milk, there are rice, goat, and coconut milk options available. You just might have to purchase on-line as it's a difficult item to find

Foods/Items that MAY contain casein

• Margarine
• Tuna fish
• Dairy-Free Cheese (most brands)
• Cosmetics
• Medicines
• Nail polish
• Paints
• Lactic Acid
• Artifical Flavorings
• Semi-sweet Chocolate
• Hot Dogs
• Lunch Meats
• Sausage
• Ghee

If an item as "dairy free" it still may contain casein. And as you may have noticed by the list, many non-food items contain casein. So, once again, it's "let the buyer beware." Please read labels and "if in doubt, go without." Get to know your options and don't forget to smile and have fun :)

This morning, I checked into Lexi's blog over at Lexi's Kitchen, and she was bringing attention to a recent post over at Gluten Free Easily, Grieving Gluten: The Five Stages or Loss of Gluten Plus a New One. This post is a 'must' read If you or someone you love has recently been diagnosed with celiac/gluten intolerance, a food allergy or any medical condition that requires substantial modifications to diet. As one who has been diagnosed with Celiac (among 24 others) and has a son who has Type 1 diabetes and a daughter who was recently diagnosed with various food allergies (including gluten, dairy, soy, corn, eggs, and yeast), I was able to see the processes I've gone through three times now to get to the 'embracement' part. The journey has never been easy so it was nice to see that my responses were pretty common and I am OK and on my way to living the GF life to the fullest. :)

30 Days of Easy Gluten-Free Living

For the month of May, 30 GF bloggers made a contribution to a special project - Easy GF Living. I have yet to spend the time I'd like to on each site for every one is full of information on health, brain nutrition, how to make GF eating easy for kids, delicious recipes, etc... Because the information like this is priceless, I wanted to share it with you. Below are 30 links which will enable you to live G-free and love it! :)

Monday May 2nd Diane, The WHOLE Gang sharing Easy Gluten Free Grocery Shopping Tips

Tuesday May 3rd Iris from The Daily Dietribe sharing on How to Start a Gluten Free Diet.

Wednesday May 4th Heather from Gluten-Free Cat sharing Smoothing the GF Transition with Smoothies

Thursday May 5th Alta from Tasty Eats at Home sharing Make Your Own Convenience Foods

Friday May 6th Elana from Elana’s Pantry sharing Quick and Easy Gluten Free Cherry Vanilla Power Bars

Saturday May 7th Cheryl from Gluten Free Goodness sharing Easy Meals GF Style

Sunday May 8th Megan from Food Sensitivity Journal sharing Gluten Free Baking Undone: Easy Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie

Monday May 9th Amy from Simply Sugar and Gluten Free sharing Magic Cookie Power Bars.

Tuesday May 10th Ricki from Diet, Dessert and Dogs sharing Gluten Free Baking Tips

Wednesday May 11th Ellen from Gluten-Free Diva sharing Gluten Free Travel Tips

Thursday May 12th Kim from Cook It Allergy Free sharing Eating from your Garden for Easy Gluten-Free Living

Friday May 13th Melissa from Gluten Free For Good sharing Gluten-Free Food Rules (recipes included)

Saturday May 14th Brittany from Real Sustenance sharing Healthy Allergy-Free Quick Bread with easy flavor variations.

Sunday May 15th Nicola from g-free Mom sharing Kids Lunch Boxes

Monday May 16th Wendy from Celiacs in the House sharing Fast Food for Gluten Free Teens

Tuesday May 17th Shirley from gluten free easily sharing Your Pantry is the Key to Living gfe

Wednesday May 18th Nancy from The Sensitive Pantry sharing Tips for BBQ and Picnics

Thursday May 19th Heidi from Adventures of a Gluten-Free Mom sharing Tips for Getting Kids to Embrace Whole Foods

Friday May 20th Silvana from Silvana’s Kitchen sharing Everything I’ve Learned So Far about Gluten-Free plus my Dairy-Free Nutella Knockoff recipe!

Saturday May 21st Maggie from She Let Them Eat Cake sharing Easy Gluten-Free Living With Preschoolers and a Vanilla Cupcake recipe!

Sunday May 22nd Sea from Book of Yum sharing Easy Gluten Free Vegetarian Soy Free Breakfast Burritos

Monday May 23rd Tia from Glugle Gluten-Free sharing The Value of Support

Tuesday May 24th Alisa from Alisa Cooks and Go Dairy Free sharing Wrap it Up-Thinking Outside the Bun

Wednesday May 25th Hallie from Daily Bites sharing Cooking by Color

Thursday May 26th Carol from Simply…Gluten-Free sharing tips on Entertaining

Friday May 27th AndreaAnna from Life as a Plate sharing Tips on Traveling on Day Trips with Kids

Saturday May 28th Zoe from Z’s Cup of Tea sharing Feasting With Their Eyes: Food Packaging and Presentation For Kids

Sunday May 29th Kelly from The Spunky Coconut sharing Buying in bulk to save money, Cooking in bulk to save time.

Monday May 30th Rella from Penny Pinching Epicure sharing Gluten Free on a Budget.

Tuesday May 31st Naomi from Straight into Bed, Cakefree and Dried sharing how to prepare grains so they are more nutritious & digestible and create fluffier wholegrain baked goods!

Gluten-Free Recipes

I received this posting from the Gluten-Free Goddess, and thought I'd pass it along. Enjoy baking and living g-free and Happy Mother's Day to all the moms. :)

http://glutenfreegoddess.blogspot.com/2011/05/browse-gluten-free-recipes-visually.html#more

Create a Plan before taking Action

If there's one thing we've already learned 5 days into dealing with our daughter's food allergy diagnosis is that we should have developed a plan prior to jumping into this. We should have taken her to the local health food store first, finding the various foods she can eat. Thus, finding replacement foods for the foods she's currently eating - ie, a new cereal for her regular cereal, a new munchie to replace her fave munchie, a new non-dairy milk to replace her regular milk, etc...

Fyi - even if you purchase milk straight from the cow, per se, if you're allergic to casein, you'll still have an allergy to the milk as it's the protein, not the sugar (lactose) in the milk. And Ghee is a wonderful butter replacement as it's casein free. Back to the plan of action -

This would have eased her mind about what she was going to eat next, especially as we found out she was anxious if she'd be able to eat anything the next time her belly rumbled. We did take her to the store yesterday and spent $70 as we purchased everything she thought she might like to try. While this may seem expensive - it is. The gluten-free diet costs nearly 3xs as much as the tradition American diet. However, her choices were very, very limited due to no corn, diary, or eggs as well so I know we could have spent much more if this were not the case. With her allergies, just like mine, we basically need to make everything we eat. There's not a lot of pre-made anything for us. For me, this isn't the end of the world - for a teenager who wants to fit in and doesn't want strange foods in her lunch - it's like the end of the world.

At this point, it doesn't matter if she hates anything we buy or make. We need to her to have the courage to try new things so we can discover what she likes. Once we have that down, life will be a bit easier. I've also purchased two new cookbooks (by the "spunky coconut") as her likes and allergies differ from mine. This will bring provide more variety to her new diet.

While I know exactly how to cook for her (Thank you, God! as that's 75% of the battle), wouldn't you know our 3-yr-old oven's panel control board decided to burn out?! And it quit while I was baking some cinnamon coffee cake for her for breakfast yesterday (she was so looking forward to it). The part alone will be $606 and has to be ordered from TX. The technician said maybe by Monday my oven will be working. Grrrr... But, all things aside, we should have developed a 5-7 day meal plan as well. This way we could have purchased the needed ingredients prior to starting this 'diet/lifestyle overhaul' and been more prepared when she asked, "What am I to pack for lunch?" So, even though we've been through this before - we're still learning and sometimes the hard way.

This is not easy!!! There were a lot of tears and louder voices due to frustration and confusion over the weekend. While it's a good-thing -and will most likely keep us all from contracting an illness later on due to all the bad things in our foods - this is now and today is hard.

What then shall I eat???

Our 13 year-old daughter was just diagnosed with a variety of food allergies. And to make things even more interesting here at home, some of hers are different than mine. While I hate to see her struggling to make the necessary changes, I am very proud of her happy attitude and efforts to ensure she does not eat anything on her "Do not eat" list. The problem is finding suitable alternatives as the words corn, dairy, soy, yeast, and egg are typically hiding somewhere in nearly every mix or recipe - even though they're gluten-free.

Fortunately, I'm in the position of telling her that she's not being punished or should not feel as if she is no longer 'normal' because she cannot eat 'normal' foods like pizza, cereal, Mac and Cheese like her 'normal' friends - but that she's one of the "lucky" ones. The typical American diet leads to sickness, disease, and even death as it's filled with toxins, chemicals, heavy metals (there's mercury in high fructose corn syrup, my friends). In fact, recent research stated that 80% of what is sold in 'normal' supermarkets is poison for the body as it is nutrient deficient, genetically modified, full of hormones, pesticides, antibiotics, and only God knows what else. As I've told my daughter, her new 'diet' is a diet that everyone should follow if they want to live life without serious health problems. Her 'diet' is what is going to keep her, and the rest of our family, living life abundantly.

While making the transition may be difficult, it will be well worth it in the long run.

To make this more applicable to you, here is a list of foods I believe are healthy for most people, especially when organic: (NOTE: Please have a personal food allergy test done to ensure these healthy foods are truly healthy for you. click here to find out more information)

• low to moderate glycemic-index fruits
• Veggies except those belonging to the nightshade family
• Olive, grape seed and coconut oils
• Almonds, walnuts, cashews, pecans, and most other nuts (except peanuts and if you have a an allergy)
• Nut butters without additives
• Farm-fresh eggs (unless have an allergy)
• Grass-fed, hormone-free, antibiotic-free meat
• Wild-caught fish
• Legumes (not canned)
• Spices (ensure gluten-free or if have an allergy)
• Coconut, almond, cashew or rice milk
• keifer
• Brown rice and other kinds of rice except white
• Gluten-free and even grain-free breads, crackers, cookies and desserts
• natural food bars