Wisdom in the Kitchen

Do you know what it's like to have a food allergy or intolerance?
Does your energy level constantly feel zapped by eating too much sugar or processed food?
Do wish you had more inspiration to eat healthily and clean?

I can answer yes to all three - well confession time, I don't actually have an allergy myself but since the smallest babe appeared in our lives I have lived life diary, gluten and egg free, in separate chunks and all at times together! She is allergic to the protein in cows milk and from what we can tell she reacts to goat, sheep and soya too - bummer, I know!
(UPDATE: She has now worked up the Milk Ladder and can tolerate soya and most diary products although she's not quite drinking cows milk yet) 

So why did I exclude them from my diet too? Well it was important to me to breast feed my girl so what ever I ate, she got a taste of it through my milk and so if I  munched on one of these trigger foods she reacted with the most awful reflux and colic and since weaning, eczema too.

I could of given up breastfeeding I know but a) the formula available for allergies is in comparison to chip fat, we used one to combination feed and it's one of the less repulsive ones and now it's her main source of milk, and b) it was personally most important to me that she had a good chance at getting some boobie milk for a decent length of time, in fact I had fully intended to give up around the 6 month mark but it became even more valuable as milk we could guarantee that wouldn't make her sick and I'm in awe that I continued to breast feed her until 13 months!

As you can imagine though, with these limitations in place it can be hard on her and the rest of the family however I have to honestly say I've never felt better, I have lost 4 stone in weight (that's 46lbs or 20.3kg!!) and am a stone and a half lighter than I was than when I fell pregnant last year - I know! It's not all about weight though, my skin is better, moods are getting better and I feel more energised too, all round it feels like a better way to eat and live.

She is starting to grow out of these allergies though but we still come up with some exciting and inventive recipes that are diary and gluten free. I still find myself having to cook from scratch a lot and in fact my friends and family have been asking me for my recipes and so here they are and I will keep adding every time we have a new favourite - let me know if you try them out!


Diary & Gluten Free Chocolate Avocado Cookies

Dairy & Gluten Free Pancakes : No Fuss Breakfast Wisdom

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