My oldest has severe allergies to dairy, eggs, all nuts, and peanuts, and my husband can’t eat shellfish, so we are label readers! Before my oldest developed his allergies at 2 months of age, I thought I knew what was in my food. I thought I ate healthy. Then I had to live his diet and read the labels while I nursed him for almost 2 years. At the time he was allergic to soy, which is the hardest by far because it’s in EVERYTHING!! It sent us down this wonderful path of very healthy eating and making everything from scratch.
I know I wouldn’t have learned to cook as well as I have if it wasn’t for his allergies. We really pride ourselves on being able to make just about anything that is “Andrew friendly”, our term for food that he can eat and we all eat that way. Most of the people who eat with us can’t tell the difference between our allergy-friendly food and “real food”. We would not have learned how to bake bread, make our own yogurt, make the most delicious cheesecake ever with vegan cream cheese and egg replacer, and totally change our way of eating if Andrew didn’t have his allergies.
It forced us to read labels and become shocked at what is added to our processed foods and make the decision as a family to get that stuff out of our home and replace it with whole, real foods. While learning to live with food allergies is difficult, it isn’t impossible and you can be very frugal while eating healthy. Who knows…you might even enjoy becoming a “crunchy hippie who makes everything”!
I really love this reader’s perspective in finding the advantages of living with food allergies! It’s a good reminder for all of us to see our blessings even in the midst of trials! Have you been able to open your eyes to any advantages in your own food allergy story?
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