Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Things I Love.

I am quite torn on the controversy surrounding the secretion of food proteins into breastmilk and the concept of an elimination diet. There are two sides to every story, and I'm not convinced either way.

However, one thing that has been proven, and even encouraged to me from my physician is a trial of dairy elimination for a baby struggling with fussy and painful gas. The protein from cow's milk does pass through breastmilk and can affect certain nursing infants.

My otherwise peaceful baby is not peaceful when I've eaten dairy. The difference in temperament is so drastic that I can no longer deny this aspect of my diet. And after an almost two week elimination trial, I tested it yesterday and ate a half slice of pizza for a lunch, and mashed potatoes with milk and cheese with dinner.

It was a rough night and a rough morning.

Bummer. I really, really, REALLY like pizza...and cheese....and milk...and ice cream...lasagna...

I'm not going to go on a dairy witch hunt and eliminate things like Ritz crackers or butter (gasp!), but I have been trying to replace the obvious dairy in my diet.

For starters, Almond Milk.

I was SO scared to try this, but I have to admit that it's not nearly as freaky as I thought it would be. I mix it in my eggs, stir it with protein powder, and have used it as a general milk substitute. It's not bad! And, apparently this stuff could actually be good for you?!

Drink up!

5 comments:

Sarah said...

So good!! We use this instead of soymilk and the boys LOVE it! They call it their "nut milk"!

Catie H said...

Hey Mallory,

Do you know if the proteins also pass through if you eat yogurt? I've always been confused about that one since they are digested differently due to the live active cultures...

Thanks for your thoughts!
Catie

Mallory said...

Catie, first of all, let me introduce you to the above poster, Sarah. Sarah is dairy-free (100%), and she writes about it on her blog. The funny thing is that I JUST asked her about this because I was wondering the same thing, and wanted to continue eating yogurt despite taking out all milk and cheese.

It seems like yogurt has to be a trial and error sort of food (like goat's milk--works for some, not for others). I decided to take a break from yogurt with this initial elimination, but I am hoping to try it in the next week or more to see if baby can tolerate it.

So, I don't really have an answer for you, and I'm wondering the same thing.
Sarah...any more insight?

Christopher Corgiat said...

Hi there! I'm not sure if you are still dairy-free, but lately we have been loving on the silk pure coconut milk. And we are pretty big fans around here. :) especially good on cereal I think. Also, it's really good for non-dairy icecream. I have never tried it with eggs, but I do bake with it all the time. Almond is pretty awesome too. I found out a few years ago that I am seriously dairy intolerant, maybe have an allergy and my little 3 year old is allergic too. Ironic bc my dad earned his living our whole lives working for Land O Lakes, the wonderful dairy company. Oh and good news! While Ritz crackers are filled with tons of hydrogenated fun, they are not filled with dairy. party on people!

Mallory said...

I'm not 100% dairy free, but I have made a point to not each much of it. I eat a small amount of yogurt several times a week, and the baby has tolerated a very small amount of pizza (like a tiny slice once a week). My middle boy has big problems with dairy, but again, I just have to make sure that only a small amount goes in.

Yes, it is funny, with all the farmland and cows that so many people can't tolerate them!

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