Starting around 2 or 3 weeks, Avalon cried for hours and hours every night. I thought she had reflux or was reacting to my overactive letdown and supply. By six weeks, my supply calmed down but Avalon didn’t. I decided to eliminate dairy and within two days the “colic” stopped! Then, I upped my soy intake and within 5 days the “colic” returned. Up to 50% of babies allergic to dairy are also allergic to soy.
So I had to cut dairy and soy out of my diet. This post will go over my grocery list and what I eat now. I used to be really big on cheese and milk. I was eating cereal and milk for breakfast, cheese flavored junk for snacks, lasagnas and frozen pizzas for dinner and drinking lattes or having coffee with non dairy creamer (which has casein) every day after Avalon was born!
Now the smell of cheese actually grosses me out. I also feel better and like I can think more clearly since I started eating whole foods instead of processed stuff. The weight I thought was going to take me awhile to lose is just falling off now, and TMI I am going regularly to the bathroom for the first time in my entire life. It is clear to me that perhaps my child inherited a sensitivity from me!
This is the kind of diet I wrote that I wanted to eat and wanted to feed my kids, so I consider it to be a blessing that Avalon ended up allergic to dairy and soy. I am learning to cook in new ways. We are also saving a ton of money because I can’t eat out anymore.
Our rice cooker is my new best friend! I hated rice before. My hubby just made it with water and put Parmesan cheese on it. I only would eat packaged rice stuff which had MSG and other stuff. Now I love my rice cooker rice… it doesn’t have to taste like crap, people. Most rice cookers have an aluminum bowl covered in nasty nonstick stuff (Teflon) that tends to peel eventually and get into your food. I searched for awhile to find one with a stainless steel bowl. (Don’t be fooled in the store. If the rice cookers say “stainless steel” they are referring to how it looks on the outside – not the bowl itself.)
I also bought an amazing rice recipe book that I use daily. Every single recipe we’ve tried has been a hit. I like the mushroom risotto, Moroccan rice, rainbow rice, butternut squash risotto, and the Mexican rice so far. I don’t follow the recipes exactly. Sometimes I use less homemade chicken stock or I omit ingredients. I usually add more vegetables. I often cook a few chicken legs in the oven (or use leftover chicken when I cook a whole bird) and then take all the meat off and add it to the rice when it is done.
The World’s Healthiest Foods book is another favorite of mine. (You can also check out whfoods.com) My fave avocado dip recipe is in this book. There are many healthy recipes in this book that don’t use dairy or soy. I absolutely love all the information in this book and I am known to eat things and exclaim “Yay, I am eating heart healthy fat!” (for avocados) or “Mmm Beta Carotene!” for carrots or butternut squash. Juan thinks it is weird. Today I studied up on Kale, while I enjoyed my delicious veggie / sausage/ egg scramble.
This list is for soy free / dairy free foods. A lot of deli meats and stuff can have ingredients made from dairy or soy or come into contact with cheese. I figure that if I am going to eat healthy, I might as well avoid a lot of preservatives and artificial stuff. So I am sticking mostly to whole foods and minimizing the processed. “Caramel Color”, “Natural Flavors”, and other vague ingredients can have dairy and soy hiding in them, so it is better to just avoid that stuff, too.
I shop at Whole Foods or our local grocery store. We have been buying all our meat from a local farm based on the Polyface farms model <3. We bought half a pig, recently, so that lowers the overall cost of meat almost down to the cost of junk factory farm meat you find at the grocery store. We are part of an organic produce co-op and get something like 70lbs of organic fruits and veggies bi-weekly for $150 a month! It probably costs us $500 a month for Juan and I.
I am making enough at dinner so Juan can take leftovers for lunch the next day, too. If you don’t eat out and you eat whole foods like this you will see eating like this very affordable. It is also an investment in you and your family’s health.
Dairy-Free, Soy-Free Gluten-Lite Grocery list (Organic / Free-Range when possible):
*Tons of different types of organic rice – brown texmati, jasmine, arborio, etc.
*Organic free range chicken stock and vegetable stock (just buy whole, free range chickens and make your own healthy stock instead! Our chickens cost $19 and last for about 3 meals and make $25 worth of free-range chicken stock. The chicken essentially pays for itself in stock alone.)
*Organic coffee (coffee is really high in pesticides)
*So Delicious or Silk coconut milk and So Delicious coconut creamers (You can also try almond milks or rice milks, but I like the consitency of coconut milk and it does not have any strong coconut taste. I sometimes just use the vanilla coconut milk with some sugar in my coffee when I can’t get to Whole Foods for the creamer.)
*Spelt white bread or other bread without soy or dairy in it. (The spelt white from whole foods actually tastes good to me unlike some others. Check your local grocery store bakery. Publix, for instance, makes bakery bread without soy or dairy. Other local stores use soy.)
*Organic / free-range bacon and sausage
*My huge list of favored organic produce: lettuce, cilantro, basil, tomatoes, avocados, carrots, celery, tomatoes, mushrooms, apples, oranges, potatoes, parsnip, broccoli, pears, pluots, strawberries, blueberries, grapes, melons, kale, collard greens, spinach, romaine, potatoes, onions, zucchini, sweet potatoes… etc. Having the co-op is wonderful. I have tried so many new things in the past few weeks and I have loved most of them!
*Store bought hummus or the ingredients to make your own (chickpeas, lemon, tahini, garlic.)
*Canned beans for eating rice and beans. (Cans have BPA most of the time, so if you have the time to make them from dry, do it.)
*Olive oil (don’t fry with this, it destroys it), and High Heat Safflower oil for frying/ sauteing.
*Celtic sea salt and fresh ground pepper. Every single organic spice in existence. When we moved I didn’t have any so I got everything… I use all of them now that I don’t have cheese to fall back on for flavor!
*Spectrum Canola mayonnaise or Safflower Mayo. (I make wild planet tuna sandwiches (I buy the tuna, in bulk online because it is so pricey at whole foods), egg salad sandwiches, BLT + Avocado sandwiches, etc.)
*Cereals: brown puffed rice, some of the cheerio types, bob’s red mill organic oatmeal and grain cereal. There are a few mainstream cereals that took gluten, soy and dairy out of their products, so you can check your favorites.
*Your favorite organic fruits and veggies – FROZEN so they last longer. I have a supply of frozen veggies and fruits to fall back on because my produce doesn’t last two weeks. Frozen organic berries are a best buy because those are high in pesticides when conventionally grown and really really expensive fresh. Then they go bad quickly and you sometimes lose money on them.
*Rice protein powder for smoothies
*Organic nut butters: If not peanut butter, try almond and sunflower butter.
*Organic free range meat
*Tortilla chips and pita chips (whole foods has both brands free of dairy and soy, Amy’s, I think, has pita chips free of it and Lay’s doesn’t use soybean oil.)
*Kettle Brand Salt and Pepper Chips (my guilty pleasure!)
*Enjoy Life! Chocolate Chips
*Brown Rice Syrup and / or Organic Raw Honey
*Organic sugar and cocoa powder if you want to make some homemade hot chocolate with the coconut milk because you miss chocolate lol.
*Whole Foods has some meringues and biscottis that are free of dairy and soy.
*Coconut Aminos in place of soy sauce.
*Earth balance soy free spread in place of butter and other spreads. (If you get half a pig, you can also make some free-range lard. I personally think cooking in lard from a free range pig is fine and healthy, but you may not.)
*Organic Free-range eggs (Eggs can be an allergen, but Avalon seems to be fine when I eat them.)
*Orange Juice
*Immaculate Cookie Co. Refrigerated Cookie Dough – Oatmeal and Sugar Cookie varieties currently have no dairy or soy in them. I am trying to come up with a comparable recipe, but have yet to do so. These are also a guilty pleasure.
*Canned organic chopped or whole tomatoes (BPA in the cans, though. I wish I could find jars…)
*Organic brown sugar
*Various types of mustard
*Organic balsamic vinegar
*Pre-made spaghetti sauce. Every brand is different. Look for plain types and check for soybean oil and cheese.
*Pasta. Whole grain or gluten-free types.
*White flour or a gluten free type of flour.
Some of my favorite dairy-free, soy-free meals / snacks:
*Mushroom Risotto (chicken stock, mushrooms, arborio)
*Apple with nut butter
*Coconut milk with any of the cereals
*Tortilla chips with avocado dip (blend avocados, cilantro, some tomato, and lime juice YUM)
*Carrot sticks or pita chips with the hummus. I eat this a lot and love it.
*Mexican rice with pinto beans and a topping of the above avocado dip (mexican rice has tomatoes and onion in it and is awesome. It isn’t very spicy, either.)
*Rice cooked in chicken stock with shredded chicken, peas, and carrots. You can also add coconut animos instead of soy sauce.
*Hard boiled eggs
*Eggs and Bacon with Toast, Earth Balance spread, and Orange Juice or an orange. You could also do a scramble with veggies.
*Free-range sausage scramble: Eggs, sausage meat, onions, mushroom, garlic, tomato, kale – no oil necessary. Add turmeric, cumin, and paprika.
*BLTA - Bacon, romaine, tomato, mayo and half of an avocado mashed on toast.
*Rice protein powder with coconut milk and frozen fruit, blended. I haven’t tried this yet because I don’t really like smoothies, but this is a good way to get more protein and vitamins.
*Crock pot roast with carrots, potatoes, onions, garlic, and celery. If no potatoes, try polenta or rice on the side.
*Whole chicken roasted with carrots, potatoes, garlic, and onions. Seasoned with Rosemary, Thyme, Parsley, and Sage. Free-range chickens have very little fat, so sometimes I add a little stock so we get more liquid at the end.
*Homemade pasta sauce with pasta: I saute onions, mushrooms, garlic, oregano, basil in with whatever veggies I need to use up (maybe zucchini, kale, broccoli, etc.) I add a can of tomatoes, some brown sugar and balsamic vinegar and I simmer that for a few hours. Sometimes I add ground beef or sausage (pork). Then, at the end, I typically throw in a jar of pre-made sauce and I’ve got enough sauce for like 4 or 5 meals. It is great.
*Pork Chops with brown sugar mustard glaze, sweet potatoes, and green beans. I put flour and egg on them before baking, too.
*Roasted parsnips with brown sugar or maple glaze
*Brown rice, honey, nut butter, banana, chocolate chip squares (using brown rice syrup in place of honey will make them actually stick together better than my version does.)
I’ll come back and add links to these recipes as I post them!
Supplements I am using that are dairy free and soy free:
*Solgar Pre-natal Vitamins (I was getting sores in my mouth all the time before I started taking these!)
*Emergenc Powder – Super Orange (I wrote the compay and this stuff doesn’t have dairy or soy in it. We have been taking it for 4 years when we feel colds coming on and have not been sick more than once or twice in 4 years because of it.)
*sublingual B12
*Vitamin D3
Dairy and Soy ingredients can be hiding in your vitamins and medications, so you have to check.
I am deficient in D3, B12, and Iron so my doctor has me on all of these. I also bought a dairy free calcium /magnesium supplement that I might start taking since I am not eating dairy, but coconut milk apparently has even more calcium than cow’s milk.
Leave your recipe ideas and ingredients in the comments, please! I am always looking for new fun things to make.
