Dahlia the meat-eating vegan

Or how about these other options to title this post:

1. Why grocery shopping is so darned expensive

2. Rice, rice, and more rice!

3. Why grocery shopping is so darned complicated

4. At least Dahlia loves kale chips and beets

5. Hemp milk, rice milk, almond milk, oh my!

So, here's the latest, and the primary reason for the increased stress load in our house. Dahlia has had eczema and chronic digestive issues of one sort or another for most of her little life. She also has rarely slept for more than 2-3 hours in a stretch (we would get the occasional miracle night of sleep, but it wasn't the norm by any means). Additionally, she hasn't gained any weight in the last 6 months or so. That wouldn't be such a big deal if she had had a little more squish to begin with, but she's decreased from the 40th to the 10th percentile, and that's a little worrisome. I was feeling pretty sure it was all food-related, but after being told by 4 pediatricians and one allergist that "toddlers just get eczema, here's a steroid to put on it, quit worrying about it," I had had enough of being put off. We switched our insurance recently, found out that we had naturopathic coverage with the new plan, and I immediately switched Dahlia to a very well respected and highly recommended pediatric ND. I described Dahlia's symptoms and the ND immediately said "that sound like a food allergy to me, we should get her tested." I nearly jumped out of my seat and hugged her. It was so nice to really be heard and have my mom instincts trusted.

We had had Dahlia tested for allergies before (by the pediatric allergist that barely listened to a word I said) and she came up negative for all of them. What the new doc told me was that there are two different types of allergies, immediate and delayed. Both are immune responses, but one is an emergency (the immediate ones, the type of testing that she was negative for) and one isn't. The delayed allergies typically take an hour to a few days to manifest themselves in your system and can cause anything from eczema to digestive distress to frequent waking (sounding familiar?) or headaches, joint pain, frequent colds or sinus issues, the list goes on. I had no idea that this even existed, much less that you could test for it. We did the blood test and the results showed that Dahlia is highly reactive to eggs, dairy, wheat, spelt, and peanuts, and moderately reactive to soy, peas, lima beans, rye, and grapes. Yikes! and Yay! were my initial reactions. At least I am not crazy and there really may be something to this. The sad irony is that if I were to make a list of Dahlia's favorite foods (pre-elimination diet) they would have all landed on the no list. No more cheese toast with scrambled eggs and a side of peas for her.

We were instructed to remove all of the highly reactive foods for 3 weeks, followed by a period of "food challenges" to see which foods are the serious no-nos and what they do to her. We diligently followed the diet for the first 12 days and saw no real improvement, so I decided to remove all of the moderately reactive foods as well. Within two days of being "allergen free" she has nearly clear skin, normal poops, and she now typically only wakes once or twice per night (her sleep had been steadily improving since we started the diet). I am amazed, and feeling rested for the first time in years! Though the decrease in symptoms has been great, the daily work of preparing almost everything she eats (try finding a packaged snack without wheat, dairy, eggs, or soy - there are very few), planning meals, researching nutrition facts, making sure she has enough calcium/protein/iron/etc is very overwhelming. We are getting through, but it is hard. I am looking forward to getting to the end of the process, having our final list of no-foods, and moving on with our eggless, dairyless, soyless, whateverless lives.

And, oh by the way, Nathan is doing the same process as well, and his list of no-foods is just as long, and DIFFERENT than Dahlia's. I may go insane. Or I may just sneak away to the bakery for a cinnamon roll with extra butter on it. The next steps for me are to track down more vegan recipes, that I will ironically add meat to a lot of the time, and then to maybe, perhaps, possibly trust anyone else to feed her ever again.

The real blessing in all of this, other than her symptomatic improvements, is that Dahlia has been a perfect elimination diet toddler. She is so happy to eat raw fruits and veggies of any sort, and loves them even more if you roast them. She will suck down a morning smoothie (she calls them "morning suzies," so cute) with just about anything hidden in it. She is getting better about eating meat, though it still isn't her favorite (hence all of the "raising a vegan child" research I am doing). She seems very happy with her mostly homemade, sugar and allergen free diet. And best of all, when she asks for something she can't have, which is rare since we have basically purged the house of all offenders, we tell her it will hurt her tummy and that totally works for her. She doesn't push the issue at all. That is a miracle.

Here is my little veggie eater loving some kale chips

See everyone, kale is delicious!