How do I do it? Why would I do it? Can I do it? Will you help me do it?
Change Can Be Hard
Changing your diet can be overwhelming. Sometimes we have to change for medical reasons, or personal preference, or changing body needs. Whatever the reason, food is a constant in our days and so changing food can be difficult.
Can we just pretend that we bumped into each other in the grocery store or maybe I am a neighbor and we are sitting on your couch? I am not a doctor or a nutritionist, just a friend who is passing on information that I have learned.
I cannot prescribe, cure or diagnose. What I hopefully can do is talk about helpful information, share experiences, and be an understanding ear because food issues are challenging. They can be daunting. They can be annoying. But they can also be understood. Solutions can come. Answers can present themselves.
As you are on this journey, give yourself and those you are caring for lots of patience. Food isn’t just a physical need, it is also connected to our emotions, and to our memories. So if there are tears or anger, its ok. It’s part of the process.
Signs of Allergies or Intolerances
I have a couple kids that have a dairy intolerance, meaning they can have dairy sometimes but if they have too much or if their stomachs are already in a bad state then dairy will cause it to quickly go over the edge and they’ll be in pain. My older daughter gets dry itchy patches on her skin when she has too much.
My youngest daughter has a dairy allergy. She can’t have any dairy at all. A dairy allergy, like any allergy can manifest itself in different ways.
Some signs include skin issues: puffiness, rashes, acne, irritated patches. It can come through in digestive issues: bloating, diarrhea, constipation, vomiting. Also, you may see it in excess mucus: runny nose, goopy, itchy eyes, thickness in the throat, or discharge.
My daughters sleep is affected. When she eats dairy, she can’t sleep, her legs gets achy and then if she gets an excessive amount, she throws up. Sometimes when she has dairy, she walks in her sleep. Crazy, I know.
When my husband was a baby, he was very colicky. He constantly was spitting up. He was breastfed and the dairy his mother ate was being passed to him. Still to this day, dairy is hard on his system.
Dairy Free Milk
When I was growing up, we mostly used rice and soy milk. With my own kids, we use almond and coconut milk most often. Recently oat milk has become popular. There are so many brands and types. If you are trying to eat whole, clean foods, you will soon find that lots of dairy alternative milks have a long list of ingredients. How do I choose?
I like almond milk because I can make my own easily. Califia brand has an organic almond milk with three ingredients. It feels watered down to me but I like that their ingredient list is short and all good things. Organic raw almonds are expensive so the price tag on an organic almond milk will reflect that.
Coconut milk is higher in fat and so when I bake, I like to use canned coconut milk. I feel like it gives me the best results. Some coconut milk has guar gum added for stability and emulsification. Trader Joe’s Coconut milk, Azure Standard brand and Native Forest Brand do not have guar gum. There are probably others, but those are the ones I have experience with.
Guar gum, xantham gum or Agar gum are often added to food as a binding agent. They are typically highly processed and don’t impart any real food value to your ingredients. When your body is in a highly inflammatory state with food allergies, it is best to try and avoid as many “gums” as possible. Sometimes, it isn’t possible and dealing with food allergies and sensitivities is all about doing your best. Do the best you can in this regard.
Simple Steps
- Find a milk that tastes good to you. Everyone is different, so you need to find one that is a good fit for you personally. There are so many options, some include: Oat, Almond, Coconut, Cashew, Rice, and Soy.
- If you are concerned about quality ingredients, include that in your search. Is organic important to you? There are options available.
- If you are a big milk drinker, its ok to just cut back your milk intake and drink water. It will help your body to flush out the things it doesn’t need.
Dairy Free Cheese
I went to a class once with a doctor who helps patients with dairy allergies. She says that cheese is always the hardest for people to give up. It almost acts like an addiction in the brain. I thought that was a little crazy, but the more I talk to people about dairy allergies, the more I see that it is true.
Here is my tip. Don’t try to replace it. When we first had to go dairy free, I just stopped putting cheese on top of casseroles, setting it out for taco bars and we didn’t eat pizza for months. Why?
Totally cutting it out actually helped my kids realize that they didn’t need cheese on everything. Americans (and maybe other people too) really love their melty cheese on top of all things! Is it really necessary? If we cut it out, where do we really miss it? Focusing on a few areas instead of every meal, can hopefully not make it feel like so much.
Here is an example that may be helpful in explaining my point. John really loves cheese and was just told by his doctor that he needs to go dairy free. For three weeks, he avoids all cheese. He realizes that he doesn’t need it in his breakfast burrito or on his sandwich at lunch, he doesn’t even miss it on his beloved tacos but where he really feels like it is needed is on a piece of his favorite pizza. Now John can focus on finding a suitable replacement for just that one type of cheese and one type doesn’t feel so overwhelming.
In recent years, there have been drastic improvements in the quality and flavor profile of dairy free cheeses but in my opinion, they aren’t all necessary. Just an opinion. Lots of dairy free cheeses include ingredients that I try to avoid and they are pricey. I find it easier to just skip it, not always but more often than not.
One of the simple replacements we use is this cashew parmesan cheese, it is a simple, easy recipe with only a few ingredients that lasts a couple weeks in the fridge. My daughter sprinkles it on stuff when she feels left out. She even uses it on pizza, even though it does not simulate melted cheese. She hasn’t ever had melted mozzarella cheese so she doesn’t know that it is any different.
Simple Steps
- Avoid all cheese (dairy free ones as well) for three weeks.
- Evaluate where you really miss it.
- Find a suitable replacement for that one (or two) area(s).
Dairy Free Butter
Margarine and shortening are both dairy free butter options but they are made out of oils I try to avoid, such as soy and vegetable oils, both GMO products and highly processed. I didn’t want to avoid one problem ingredient and introduce another problem ingredient into my little children’s bellies.
Coconut oil was my best friend for a lot of years. I used it as a butter replacement constantly. It was reasonably priced, had only one ingredient on its ingredient list, and I felt it was a healthy choice. It was a good replacement in so many recipes.
After a while, when I wasn’t so overwhelmed by changing our food, I started to branch out. Back in those days there weren’t organic options readily available and I wasn’t going to make extra trips to specialty stores with a bunch of little kids in tow. So I tried options that popped up in my local grocery stores. Some were good, some were not.
In the last 10 years, options have multiplied. I prefer organic options. Organic might not be as important to you.
Simple Steps – Here are the butters I use and for what purpose
- Organic Coconut oil (Ingredients – Coconut oil) – I use an organic, unrefined, cold pressed version. I use it in baking recipes where the butter flavor is not important – Switch it out in equal parts for butter. Some recipes you can use about 3/4 the amount of coconut oil in place of butter.
- Organic Earth Balance spread (Ingredients – vegetable oil blend (palm fruit*, canola*, soybean*, olive* oils), water, less than 2% of: salt, natural flavor*, defatted soy flour*, lactic acid (to protect freshness), annatto extract* (color) (*organic). I don’t love this ingredient list so we don’t use it a ton. This one tastes the most like butter so I use it when the flavor is prominent in a recipe, like this syrup.
- Organic Miyokos Cultured Vegan Butter (Ingredients – Organic Coconut Oil, Organic Cultured Cashew Milk (Filtered Water, Organic Cashews, Cultures), Filtered Water, Organic Sunflower Oil, Organic Sunflower Lecithin, Sea Salt.)
- Combination of the above – because I love the ingredient list in the coconut oil, I often use part coconut oil and part one of the other butters above to lessen the non-preferred ingredients in my final product.
Other Dairy Free Items
Sometimes, you can’t find a suitable replacement for something and that’s ok. However, here is a list of a few items that have worked for us over the years. Maybe they will work for you.
- Dairy Free Sour Cream – This recipe for Vegan Sour Cream from Cookie and Kate is great. If you don’t add the mustard in the recipe and you sweeten it just right, it makes a good fruit dip. Also, I use it in this ranch dressing and it has been a great substitute.
- Dairy Free Whipped Cream – Everyone claims that you can whip chilled coconut cream from a can but I have never been successful at it. You probably will be able to do it on your first try! They do have dairy free whipped cream in a spray can at most grocery stores. There are almond milk, oat milk and coconut milk varieties.
- Dairy Free Sweetened and Condensed milk – There is a coconut milk version. I have found it at Sprouts and Walmart. It isn’t exactly the same but it is still good.
- Dairy Free Ice Cream – The options for dairy free ice cream have grown exponentially in the last few years and there are some pretty good options out there. Some ice cream shops even have dairy free choices. I am always grateful when they do. Even with all the options available everywhere, I bought a cuisinart ice cream maker years ago so that I can make our own dairy free ice cream. A small container of ice cream never was enough to feed our family and $5 a container was pricey. Making my own ice cream, allows me to control all of the ingredients. One of my favorite recipes is made with cashews and maple syrup. You can find that recipe here.
- Dairy Free Yogurt – There are some great brands that have a very short, wholesome ingredient list like Cocojune, Forager and Cocoyo. Making your own dairy free yogurt is also a possibility.
- Dairy Free Chocolate Chips – The enjoy life brand is allergy friendly and Nestle even has a newer allergy friendly chocolate chip but the cheapest dairy free chocolate chips I have found are the Kirkland Signature brand at Costco. They only have them during the holiday months. They are made on equipment that processes milk products so if you are super sensitive, you might have to stick with the first two options.
- Dairy Free Evaporated Milk – They do have canned evaporated oat milk. It has good flavor and works well in most recipes. Some recipes I am able to swap canned coconut milk. The coconut flavor comes through in some recipes so when it does, I use the oat milk.
You are Amazing
I had a friend who often lamented that she had to think about food three times a day. Her wish was to eat food once and be completely satiated for the whole day! Wouldn’t that be great? Unfortunately, we are hungry creatures and one time a day is really never going to be enough, especially not with kids!
When you throw allergies into the mix, food three, five or ten times a day can become extra hard. Its ok if there are tears and tantrums. It will get better. Let me know how I can help. You are amazing! You got this!
