No dairy or soy

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do you eat meat? I was a vegetarian when I got hit with the same news, and it was really hard, but if you eat meat, you are in luck!

A few ideas for simple and nutritious meals/snacks:

- Peanut butter or almond butter on toast (check, but most breads don't have milk or soy)
- Pasta (check the label, but most are okay) with marinara sauce (make sure there's no cheese in it, but most don't have any), and ground beef
- Salads
- Burritos or tacos without cheese but with meat, beans, and veggies (salsa should also be fine)
- Most cereals are okay, and so is oatmeal (you can add raisins, fresh fruit, nuts, brown sugar, milk substitutes, etc.)
- Rice or quinoa (great protein!) -- the mixes have a lot of sodium in them but are easy and delicious
- Bake potatoes with toppings inside
- Sweet potatoes with toppings inside
- Deli meats as snacks or on toast
- If you have a slow cooker, it's easy to throw some meat, veggies, and broth/water into it and cook all day for a delicious meal free of anything you can't eat

Try some of the milk substitutes (especially things like coconut milk, almond milk), and make you are getting enough calcium (you might need a supplement). But be aware that most dairy substitutes or meat substitutes have soy in them, and so does a lot of processed food. I personally hate things like "almond cheese" and coconut yogurt, but maybe you'll like them. I'd rather have something completely different than a fake substitute that isn't any good.

As a family that has been dairy/soy free for 3+ yrs, I disagree with some of the statements above. A lot of breads contain dairy and even more contain soy, soy flour, or soy lecithin (which many people don't react to, but my kid does). Deli meats can be cross-contaminated when people handle cheese and then meat. Some of the packaged meats may contain casein (dairy).
Many cereals contain soy lecithin or add soy for protein. A lot of the "plain" cereals are safe (Cheerios, Rice Chex, etc). Other than plain Quaker oats in the canister, many of the packet-type oatmeal have dairy, soy, or both. Even the plain Quaker oats in a single serve packet have soy.

Earth Balance soy-free spread (butter on safe bread) or sticks (baking)
Earth Balance coconut spread (delicious!)
Coconut oil - can replace butter in cooking
Coconut or almond milk
So Delicious coconut milk yogurt, coffee creamer, and ice cream
Daiya cream cheese (I think their other cheeses don't taste good)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am vegetarian and had to go dairy and soy free while I nursed my MSPI daughter. Ended up nursing for 2.5 years. I cooked 90% of my food at home. Going out was tricky but chipotle worked on occasion as do vegan restaurants like Great Sage and Vegetable Garden. Good luck. It's tough at first but can be done. I'm now back to eating soy but have mostly given up dairy as my body can't process it much anymore.

Are you me? Except I am in va.

[Anonymous]

Did this for over a year, and I feel for you! First, I disagree with a PP who said to just cut one and see what happens. Given that it takes a while for these to leave your system and how hard the elimination can be at the start, I recommend cutting both and once you hit a good base line with DC, you could try adding one back in and see what happens. If there's a change for the worse, cut that back out until you're at baseline, then try the other. That's a better way to control and know if what you're seeing is really a reaction to X or Y. You might add nuts into this equation and take those out getting to baseline and add in later to test for a reaction.

I found that I could have NO soy. Not even soy lecithin. But a little dairy was ok. So a splash of cream in my coffee or a little parmesan cheese was fine.

Soy is the one that's really hard to cut because it's in so many processed foods. That said, once you get used to eating soy and dairy free, it's not terribly hard and you're almost certain to lose some weight! Some staples for me: avocado, chocolate cocnut ice cream (TJ's), TJ's exta dark chocolate bar, sunflower butter (instead of PB), lots of olive oil, and canola oil for cooking. Also, Whole Foods carries soy and dairy free chocolate chips, so you can still bake!

Good luck - it's hard but not impossible, and you're doing this for your DC's health. Let that (and the weight loss) motivate you! Read labels carefully and be sure to ask a lot of questions if you eat out. Most places cook with "vegetable" oil, which means soy.

[Anonymous]

13:03 back to give you hope - DD is 2 now and happily eats EVERYTHING without any reaction.

[Anonymous]

For all of you soy and dairy free parents, this baker will make a gorgeous soy and dairy free cake for your DC's birthday. We got one last year, and she even delivered!

(no, I'm not affiliated with the baker)

http://www.yelp.com/biz/sweet-moon-cakes-takoma-park

[Anonymous]

Soy is sneaky! It is amazing, and scary, how soy has seeped into so many products. Soy is in candy, breathmints, lemonade mix, and even herbal tea!!!!

Careful with in store baked breads, many have soy too. And probably all the processed breads. I buy my bread and bagels at Firehook. You can eat bagels at Brueggers.

I was disappointed to learn that my work cafeteria cooked the stirfrys in soybean oil instead of olive oil. And learned all their cooking was in soy oil.

Like PPs said, a lot of prepping of stuff at home. And you probably will loose weight. (Unless you replace with candy, like me. I am hooked to Hot Tamales!)

You can eat at Chipotle and Chop't (just check their nutritional info re: which foods have soy. The grilled chicken is safe.)

I love Sharon's Sorbet - the coconut and chocolate flavors.

You can bake using Enjoy Life chocolate chips.

Earth Balance Mindful Mayo - with olive oil.

Use Coconut Oil and/or Appleauce to replace butter.

I found a nice bread recipe that did great with applesauce and canola oil and ate that.

Good luck! In a few weeks I will stop my restrictions but I am very wary of soy and will still try to avoid it. I haven't done research but it seems like an overused filler "ingredient."

[Anonymous]

Almond milk, vanilla flavored works in coffee and in oatmeal and other cereals.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Soy is sneaky! It is amazing, and scary, how soy has seeped into so many products. Soy is in candy, breathmints, lemonade mix, and even herbal tea!!!!

Careful with in store baked breads, many have soy too. And probably all the processed breads. I buy my bread and bagels at Firehook. You can eat bagels at Brueggers.

I was disappointed to learn that my work cafeteria cooked the stirfrys in soybean oil instead of olive oil. And learned all their cooking was in soy oil.

Like PPs said, a lot of prepping of stuff at home. And you probably will loose weight. (Unless you replace with candy, like me. I am hooked to Hot Tamales!)

You can eat at Chipotle and Chop't (just check their nutritional info re: which foods have soy. The grilled chicken is safe.)

I love Sharon's Sorbet - the coconut and chocolate flavors.

You can bake using Enjoy Life chocolate chips.

Earth Balance Mindful Mayo - with olive oil.

Use Coconut Oil and/or Appleauce to replace butter.

I found a nice bread recipe that did great with applesauce and canola oil and ate that.

Good luck! In a few weeks I will stop my restrictions but I am very wary of soy and will still try to avoid it. I haven't done research but it seems like an overused filler "ingredient."

Ooh, thanks! Would love bread recipe!

[Anonymous]

Pumpkin Bread Recipe

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/downeast-maine-pumpkin-bread/

Use 1/2 cup applesauce and 1/2 cup vegetable oil

Try less sugar, maybe 1.5 cups of white sugar and 3/4 cup of brown sugar

If you don't have cloves and ginger, use all spice.

Add cranberries and raisins.

[Anonymous]

Awesome! Thank you!!!