A New Found Respect

I've heard about people whose kids have severe food allergies.  I know people whose kids have severe food allergies.  You think "man that sucks!" or "wow, I bet that's tough!" and then you go on with your day.  Eating whatever you want.

Then Monday happened and it was pretty obvious that Miss Samantha is allergic to something I'm eating.  Since she can't tell us, I got the orders to cut out: dairy, eggs, berries, nuts, beef and soy for a week, or until she gets normal stools and lessens spitting up, then add one group in at a time.  I thought it would be difficult, but not impossible and came home.

Then, I got hungry and went through the cabinets looking for something to eat.  EVERYTHING has soy in it.  How is this possible?  Even tuna, right there on the can, ingredients: tuna, soy.  Um....  But, I digress.  I found one can of soup and fruit cups that would pass the test.  And headed to the store nearest us, Food Source, feeling very hungry.

At Food Source, I read the labels and put a lot of things back on the shelves.  I ended up with some turkey and gluten free pasta, and some turkey meatballs.  Yum.  But, at least it filled me up.

Yesterday, was even worse.  Nothing sounded good.  I went to raley's to check out their "healthy" section and found a few incredibly expensive things.  Like the vegan, soy-free, fake chocolate chocolate bar.  I thought it would be disgusting, but I was so hungry I didn't even care.  It was actually delicious.  But, it was also $3 and that's a lot for a candy bar.  I found some vegan, soy free fake chicken, rice chips with sea salt (and just devoured the whole bag), some allergen free breads and buns, turkey hot dogs and some breakfast bars.  And some more fruits and veggies.

Yesterday I managed to eat: a banana, chocolate bar, breakfast bar, value fries (wendy's are allergen free), large dr. pepper, 2 turkey hot dogs in gluten and allergen free buns.  I consumed a total of 1595 calories.  I just could not get full and nothing sounded good.

I don't know why I was so surprised this morning when my head was in horrific pain.  Today I've had 2 slices of allergen free cinamon raisin bread with fake, allergen free cream cheese on it, a small glass of rice milk (yuck) and an entire bag of rice chips (6 servings).  Boo to this.

As selfish as it sounds, if it turns out she is allergic to soy, I don't think I could give it up for a year, no matter how much I love nursing or how important I think breastmilk is.  Soy is in EVERYTHING.  And I love food.  It is so yummy.  I have a hard enough time keeping weight on, this is not helping.