About

The Monday before Easter of this year I was told by my allergist that I am allergic to dairy, egg, wheat, and gluten. I cried. The next day I was furious that my body had betrayed me in such a horrible way. By the end of that week I had the resolve to start eliminating any and all food products that contained these allergens.

I am forty years old this year, so changing my eating habits will not be a simple task. Did I mention that I love cheeses, pastas, breads, milk chocolate, eggs, ice cream and milk? To make things even worse, I am quickly finding out that most of the processed foods we eat every day have gluten, wheat or milk in them – so they are off my list too. This includes many deli meats, cereals, easy-to-fix meals and even alcoholic beverages. For example, barley is a gluten and it is in beer.

Imagine my total dismay when I realized there was absolutely nothing at Starbucks that I could eat or drink. Likewise, there is not one thing on the McDonalds menu that I can have. Cross contamination is a factor for a lot of the restaurants that do have foods I can eat because my food might be cooked on the same surface as food that contains my allergens. Yep, I also loved to go out to eat – now that has changed, too.

How does a person live without dairy, wheat, eggs or gluten?  I don’t know, but I guess I am going to find out very quickly.  This blog is a story of my continuing journey.