We have a diagnosis.
Just to recap a bit, you may recall a situation at Michael’s school in which we were concerned about his behavior and were taking steps to help Michael improve.
One of the things his mom and I talked about with his teachers was the possibility of a food allergy. The medical community is well aware of links between food allergies and behavior problems. This was our first course of action, to determine whether Michael’s spurious aggression had an organic root as opposed to a psychological or pathological one.
A few days ago, Michael’s mommy took him to the doctor for a blood draw (he got a trip to McDonald’s for chicken nuggets out of that). Evidently allergy tests these days are done with a blood draw, rather than the skin scratch test. Long story short, if your blood has antibodies that are hanging around ready to go dukes with a particular allergen, the lab test will ferret it out.
And ferret it out they did. Michael’s blood has two very specific antibodies, in fact.
One of them was for milk (and thus all things dairy).
So, there goes milk on the cereal. And ice cream. And cheese – oh, wait; he hates cheese. No big loss there.
He looooooves chocolate milk, though, so we’re going to have quite a time dealing with that. And what to put on his Wheaties in the morning?
Why, of course! Soy milk, right? Right!
Wrong. That other antibody he was carrying around is the one for all things soy.
Between the two, that clears out about ninety five percent of the processed food market. Have you seen how prevalent soy is in everything? Heck, I thought high-fructose corn syrup was ubiquitous; soy has it beat by a mile.
After getting the report from the doctor, I went to the store to find stuff for Michael that didn’t contain milk or soy.
Turns out, they use soy in everything, to bump up protein content and add bulk as well as coloring, a cooking agent and as a “natural” flavor. Sheesh. Good luck finding anything that doesn’t have either milk, soy or both. Even most brands of rice milk contain soy.
I did find some almond milk that is proudly soy free, and he actually likes it. I also found some hemp milk that’s soy-less, though I feel a little wary of pouring that on his frosted flakes. I’m worried that he might get the munchies at Ms S’s midway through the day, or suggest putting on some Led Zeppelin at music time.
Constructing a proper diet for Michael is going to be a challenge, for sure.
But you gotta do what you gotta do.
A. Laughing myself silly.
B. Glad you found a root cause.
C. What a pain in the neck.
4. Where can I gt hemp milk? I never knew such a thing existed and am oddly curious.
(MD) I found hemp milk at Fred Meyer (aka Kroger), though I suspect any natural food store will have it. You can make just about anything with hemp, so I’ve learned. Avoid brownies.
Okay, over here from WeaselMomma’s tweet – but my daughter is also not supposed to eat dairy, soy or wheat. Oh yeah, it’s fun LOL!
Rice milk – get used to it, learn to love it. They also make chocolate rice milk. In addition to that there is coconut milk that can be called for in recipes. And you might want to try goat’s milk. A lot of people who can’t have cow’s milk do really well with goat’s milk!
For ice cream – look for Rice Dream – but be careful, I know some flavors of it do have soy in it. I’m not sure if all do though. Otherwise you’ll have to make your own, which with an ice cream maker isn’t that bad. I have a very yummy recipe that I can pass along too that my dd really does like a lot!
For butter – Earth Balance has a dairy/soy free version.
It takes a bit to get used to but it can be done. =) And I’m cracking up at hemp milk – we haven’t tried it ourselves because mine can handle lactose-free milk. Although even that’s got me wondering lately. Anyway, just wanted to say hi and that I feel your pain right now. For the first month we learned about my daughter’s restrictions I’m pretty sure we ate chicken and rice every night for dinner because I just had no other clue what to feed her LOL! =)
(MD) Thanks for dropping by! I always appreciate a new reader. And thank you very much for all the information! We’ll be scouring the stores this weekend. We have a Whole Foods nearby that has a humongous selection of all things organic, natural and alternative so I’d be willing to bet they have some other soy- and dairy-free options for us.
Eek! Though I am very happy that you found out about the allergies, I pity the food quest you have been put on. At least it’s not soy and wheat. That would be impossible! Hope this helps things to improve.
(MD) Wheat! I’d fall upon my own pizza cutter if he was allergic to wheat. We’re hoping things improve too, but we’re taking things one step at a time.
I am still having a hard time with how soy is in almost everything. It is really hard to avoid it.
(Hubby) One more reason for us to do all our own cooking.
I just looked up Chicken Nuggets and it lists … (may contain partially hydrogenated soybean oil and/or …). What is up with that????
(Hubby) I was afraid to look… glad you did. Maybe since this is just a special treat it will be okay once in a while?
Costco has organic rice dream milk with no soy listed. Those chicken sticks he likes so well have milk in them. Campbell’s chunky sirloin burger with country vegetables doesn’t list soy or dairy. Hopefully this is something he will grow out of!
WOW. This is going to be tough. At least it’s not a life-threatening allergy though, right?
But still: oy vey.
I’m with Grandma K. I hope he grows out of it: and soon!
(MD) No, it’s not life-threatening. He’s been relatively blissfully carrying on all the while with no apparent problems. I hope he grows out of it too… but I’m not holding out a lot of hope.
Sorry to hear about the allergies. That sounds like quite a challenge. I hope the transition in diet goes as smooth as possible.
I have to think that Hemp milk and cereal go quite well together. Adult stoners eating kids cereal floating in hemp milk. Wow.
(MD) I’m sure it’ll be okay; he’s done well with the transition so far. I’m sure Lucky Charms would be even more magically delicious in hemp milk.
Glad you found a root cause. I’m late to the party having been of the grid a few days, but have you tried Rice Milk? My son had a milk protein allergy when he was about 4 months and we had to strip all dairy and soy from my wife’s diet so she could continue to nurse. I totally feel your pain about avoiding soy. I had no clue how much stuff had soy in it until you had to research every component of every meal. I don’t know if you have a Trader Joe’s near you, but they have a lot of non-dairy drinks available and the prices are better than the whole food type stores. You have my curiosity piqued with the hemp milk, that could get interesting
(MD) We do have a Trader Joe’s right close by, and we have gotten rice milk there and it’s a winner. The hemp milk just didn’t cut it. Soy is going to be quite a bit harder to eliminate from the menu than the dairy; I’m glad it’s not a life-threatening condition.
hey my x- roommates 3 year old has the same issues, theres a product out there called so nice or so good , okay there are 2 products out there, so good tastes nasty and so nice taste good , or its the other way around…. they both have no soy or milk or lactose. ill have to look it up but there is also a company that makes milk and soy free ckicken strips and burgers for kids shaped as animals and dinasors. really kool and tasty.(took me 3 weeks of searching to find,because i can never remember the name but they are cheep and worth the look) also side note candy ! READ it most candy is made of milk or soy base inclueding jelly beans. i did not know that in the begining and use to feed them to the kid like there was no tomorrow as a potty training brib.
if i remember the name of the chicken strips ill message you.
oh and i remembered its so nice thats good and so good thats not good.
(MD) Thanks for the info… evidently “so nice” is all soy, and “so good” has some rice products but don’t specifically state that they’re soy-free, so we probably will have to pass.
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