<p>My mom gave up cooking for the family altogether when I was probably in late elementary because everyone was so picky-- my dad was the worst, he just randomly goes on these tangents where he decides something conventionally thought to be good for you is utterly terrible for you, lately it’s tomatoes. Recently she has started cooking two or three times a week, but she only grocery shops for what she intends to cook so we don’t have much produce in the house. Now I feel like I am just chewing on nasty flavored plastic when I eat them, but if they are soft and in a soup or a sauce or something it is tolerable so I am trying to adjust and ease more and more into it. </p>
<p>Incidentally I felt great right up until about the time I started trying to adopt healthier habits. Go figure.</p>
<p>Tomorrow is my trip to Whole Foods. I am hoping to emerge with some non-dairy butter, some choco chips, and maybe a little bit of cheese to try. Fingers crossed!</p>
<p>A suggestion that might be helpful, as you pursue this new path - One of my favorite veggies raw are the little sweet peppers. They taste a little like apples to me. </p>
<p>I can get them in a big bag at Costco for about $4.00, which is a great deal - we can chop them up for stir fry, eat them for snacks and slice them for sandwiches. Haven’t tried to roast them, yet, though.</p>
<p>Some veggies are hard on the stomach - like broccoli and cauliflower. </p>
<p>You can also grate up carrots and zucchini for breads and salads, too. Experiment with gluten free recipes, too, if you want to see if that helps.</p>
<p>I avoid many dairy products as I have discovered I feel much better when I do. </p>
<p>One EASY treat to help you feel less deprived would be a chocolate smoothie. I use WestSoy lowfat vanilla soymilk. I like it much better than Silk, which has too many emulsifiers or something to suit me. </p>
<p>Cut up a very ripe banana and freeze it overnight. (I use a tupperware container)
When you want a great drink mix
1 cup of vanilla soy milk
1 frozen banana
2 teaspoons cocoa (I use Hershey’s - not the special dark, it looks horrible in the drink)</p>
<p>This is my breakfast every morning. I love it. Satisfies my chocolate craving, no diary, and no added sugar.</p>
<p>One piece of advice that people have given to me about vegan cheeses is not to eat them immediately after become vegan because you need to kind of let your body forget what cheese is actually like. I know a lot of people love Daiya (and it’s probably the most similar) but I think the texture is too reminiscent if American cheese for me – which may be a good thing if you like American cheese. I’ve seen a lot of recipes for nut-based cheesey flavored spreads, which I think probably taste better but are less melty. Unfortunately I think with cheese it is often a compromise. If you do decide to get it, I would get Daiya. It comes pre-grated and freezes well. If you search for the blog “What the Hell Does A Vegan Eat Anyway” and daiya, you’ll see that it does make a pretty good imitation.</p>
<p>I’d recommend Earth Balance for margarine. I’d also recommend for ice creams looking for nut-based ones, which have a bit less of a strong flavor than soy. There’s an Almond Dream brand that I really like, and I’ve heard good things about cashew-based ice cream. I think Tofutti has a bit less of an off-taste than some other soy ice creams. (I like soy ice cream, but I know there’s that little soy flavor). Good Karma rice ice cream is pretty good too (much better than Rice Dream). I think with ice cream, sometimes just buying a few different types and seeing what you like is good. </p>
<p>Most good quality dark chocolate is vegan, and if you want something that’s a lot more like a traditional candy bar, check these out:</p>
OP, I think you need a complete medical workup, and you probably need to see an allergist. I would suggest going to the health service at your college at the very least.</p>
<p>I am lactose intolerant and also allergic to dairy. My advice is to avoid imitation foods. Find foods that you like, not foods that are non-dairy substitutes for traditional dairy based foods.</p>
<p>As someone who is both gluten free and dairy free I can assure you that you have tons of options. There is diary free and gluten free chocolate, cake, brownies, crackers, as well as meant, potatoes, rice, quinoa, all veggies, fruits, many wines (almost no beer, sorry), and so on. You will be fine. It is just a matter of learning to take care of yourself.</p>
<p>However, you do not have tons of options if you are trying to eat out or eat food others have made. You will likely do best if you cook for yourself. I am very sorry that your mom has food issues, and that you have to deal with this. For your own health you may have to separate earlier than you might otherwise. Also, food sensitivites count as a “disability” so your dining hall has to, by law, accomodate you. You may not have a big selection, but you will be fed!</p>
<p>As a cautionary note, Chinese food will help you avoid the dairy issues, but if you also have to be gluten free, most soy sauces are off the table (you can get gluten free ones but most Chinese restaurants don’t use them. However, if your fiance likes Chinese, P.F. Chang’s has a great approach to food sensitivities and they can handle both GF and DF meals with ease. </p>
<p>I would second the getting a full doctor’s workup. </p>
<p>Also, you may think you are allergic to something because you had a reaction after eating something, once. It may have been something else, entirely. </p>
<p>I have lacto issues when drinking milk, eating cream cheese or sour cream, but seem fine with hard cheeses and yogurt. I take the tablets and it makes my life much happier.</p>
<p>It is very likely that our OP is allergic not to the fruit itself but to the chemical residue in it. For ages DH thought that he was severely allergic to peaches, cherries and apricots until we started growing our own fruit. Now I buy certified organic fruit for him, and his stomach issues have gone away, but a couple of non-organic cherries can wreak havoc in his GI tract. Organic produce is expensive, but if I were you, I would try it instead of fake cheese substitutes. And there is no need to go vegan if you can tolerate lean meats and eggs just fine.</p>
<p>Second the Whole Soy yogurt recommendation (particularly the lemon). The first time I tried it I thought it tasted a bit watery, but by the second time it tasted very good. I eat it a few times a week now, and am not sure I would go back if I could.</p>
<p>Also, worknprogress2’s choc/banana smoothie is fabulous, I have adopted it from a previous post as part of my breakfast routine as well. I can’t bring myself to drink any of the soy or rice or almond products straight up… have just given up on that “milk drinking” experience. But we drink a lot of light vanilla soy milk in various smoothie recipes.</p>
<p>Your mom’s attitude seems so strange, especially if you have a medical reason for your diet changes. Maybe you can get one of your doctor’s to write a list of recommended foods to try, and foods to avoid that you can show her so at least she will give you fridge space…</p>
<p>I am replying to a lot of things at once here, so this is going to be a little hectic…</p>
<p>I guessed allergy because I have had a reaction five or six times in a row now within an hour of eating dairy products. I had a few inconsistent reactions before that, probably another 5 or 6 (all from June to August), but after it started happening every single time I figured that’s a good bet. As for the fruit allergy, that was diagnosed by an allergist but for whatever reason I never had a full allergy panel. My parents kind of dropped the ball on my medical care and I am just now trying to pull everything together myself. </p>
<p>I am not allergic to real, fresh fruit but my reaction is so severe when it is processed in any way that I do not consume any prepared fruit unless I purchased it from the produce section and prepared it myself. My throat swells shut. Since I live in a dorm, I can’t do much cooking. The other issue seems to be the acidity of a lot of fruits, they give me stomachaches. So, all in all, fruit is a special treat but not something I am able to get my hands on very often since there are a lot of little circumstances to contend with. At the moment I am trying to get consistent fruit and veggie servings from juices and getting the real thing whenever I can.</p>
<p>At the moment I think I am doing the best I can for a full medical work up. I had gotten abnormally ill, even for me, and I had missed a bunch of school (summer semester) so I went to see an internist my mom sees periodically to get my illness documented for my professor. I had been to a different doctor in that practice two years ago, and she referred me to a gastroenterologist who eventually said I was just stressed, gave me a ton of ativan, and then my family lost their health insurance. Now we have VERY limited coverage. My mom generally does not allow me to go to the doctor (I can’t afford to pay for myself at this point in time, so it just is what it is), but since she was out of town I just went anyway and paid with grocery money. They referred me to a new gastroenterologist to start that process all over again (thus the colonoscopy, which we have to come up with the funds for ourselves), and they noted that my thyroid was “extremely enlarged” so that got that whole ball rolling. So at the moment I am just doing whatever the internist, gastroenerologist, and endocrinologist are telling me-- but unfortunately now that school has started I am probably not actually going to have all these doctors caught up on my condition until Christmas. I am not sure what else I could be doing. </p>
<p>P.S. LOVE the smoothie recipe, I am going to try it! I didn’t make it to whole foods today, moving was too hectic, but I am hoping to go this week sometime. I did get some of the Smart Balance stuff, and today I ordered myself a slice of pizza without any cheese on it and it was not as pitiful as I expected it to be. There is an all organic pizza restaurant here that is supposed to have vegan options that I want to check out. Seems to be the only way to avoid hidden dairy while eating out until I am a bit more educated.</p>
<p>I have been vegan for the past 4 months to improve health. I have been following Dr. Furhman’s, Eat 2 Live principles. I like the Tofutti brand of products, especiallyntheir cream cheese. According to him, animal products and dairy and refined grains contribute to bowel complaints. I agree a diet in whole foods, not the store, but the less processed and the more whole it is the better. I use almond milk and soy creamer, not a lot but just in my coffee and in my daily spinach smoothie. I do use vegan cheese on occasion, as I try to limit the amount I use. Also, if you cannot tolerate raw foods, as some people can’t, steam them, it is much gentler on the system.</p>
<p>Does steaming them damage the nutritional value? I do steam the vegetables I eat because at this point I can only handle them soft, but I was under the impression I was cooking a lot of the nutrition out of them. Not sure where I got that idea from.</p>
<p>Steaming is not as nutrient-damaging as other cooking methods because it is quick, and the nutrients do not get “washed out” of the veggies. Cooking some foods, like red peppers or tomatoes, actually makes them more nutritious, because thermal treatment breaks down the cell walls and makes lycopenes more absorbent in the gut.</p>
<p>Also as far as steaming, another good way to maintain the nutrient density of a vegetables to make them into a soup. You can steam and cook the vegetable without compromising the vallue of the vegetable.</p>
<p>Just an update… I have tried the Earth Balance and I like it more than the “real” butter I am used to, so that’s fantastic. I got both varieties of the Daiya cheese, and a gluten free pizza crust to try making a gluten free, dairy free pizza. And I got some of the tofutti cream cheese, having not had real cream cheese in month anyway I thought I would adjust well. I also found a much greater variety of shelf stable milks, which will be great for my dorm. (I went with chocolate silk, and blue diamond almond breeze-- got some unsweetened and regular to see which I prefer.)</p>
<p>The only thing I am not absolutely thrilled about is that I only came out with half a bag of groceries and I spent $70.00. (That, and whole foods doesn’t accept checks-- WTH?) I literally can’t afford to ever go back. My sister told me I should try Trader Joes because they are cheaper than Whole Foods and have some of this kind of stuff… anyone have any experience? Taking the bus for these grocery shopping trips is extremely stressful, I don’t want to make a trip just to find they don’t have what I need. I had anticipated spending $40ish knowing that this place would be more expensive than Kroger but I was not prepared for $70. And I really need to be able to do some shopping, because the dairy free options in my cafeteria are EXTREMELY limited and if I have to go gluten free I may actually starve, I’ve been having to order chinese food almost every day.</p>
<p>On a separate but unrelated note, I had my colonoscopy yesterday and on the surface everything looked normal, no chrons disease or anything like that. They took a biopsy to check for some type of colitis I’ve never heard of and something else I can’t remember because they explained it as I was waking up from sedation, and I had bloodwork done to check for gluten intolerance. The prep was terrible but mainly only because it was so monotonous, I started it at 6pm and couldn’t go to bed until 3am. But beyond that I strongly believe that anyone who is supposed to be scheduling their routine colonoscopy who is procrastinating is really stressing themselves out more than necessary. I cry at doctors office when I have to endure anything requiring the removal of clothing and even I survived without post traumatic stress disorder. (I may have threatened the anesthesiologist beforehand, however…)</p>
<p>I hope the results come back to give you a good idea of what you are dealing with and that it isn’t both a dairy and gluten allergy!</p>
<p>Unfortunately here Trader Joe’s does not have the same selection of dairy free items but our Safeway and Harris Teeter grocery stores do (earth balance, tofutti cream cheese) - I haven’t been able to find daiya except at whole foods but check their website as they may have local chains near you that carry it (provided you like it). </p>
<p>Also if you find products you really like, don’t be afraid to ask if a local store will carry it, they may decide to do so. And while getting all that stuff at once can be pricey, you likely won’t need to get more of each every time you go. </p>
<p>Good luck - I just hope you find some things that make you feel like you have some options with food and that you get some idea of what you may be dealing with!</p>