Everyday Baby Steps

Everyone's been asking how I'm managing to avoid wheat and milk in my diet. It certainly isn't easy, otherwise I would have stuck with it ages ago. But it is possible to eliminate wheat and dairy products from your diet with a little planning and creativity. Thankfully, my allergies aren't as severe as some, people's but they do cause me to feel fatigued and to get frequent headaches. I'm feeling so much better since eliminating the trigger foods, and I believe I am actually losing weight! So here are some of the ways I'm sticking with it this time.

Variety

Any diet is hard to stick to if you have to eat the same thing all the time. While I am eating ALOT of salads these days, I try to mix it up by adding different things to my salad. Last night, I had a taco salad with leftover taco meat, salsa, and tortilla chips. Of course, I had to skip the cheese and sour cream, but it was pretty tasty without them. Sometimes I have tuna or chicken salad on a bed of lettuce. I'll add almonds, raisins, or apples for a bit of sweetness.

Texture

No, I don't just eat salads! When I'm craving something crunchy or salty, I'll eat tortilla chips or rice cakes. You have to be careful about things like flavored rice cakes though. Some of the most common milk derivative ingredients that people may not be aware of are whey, casein, and caseinate. Check the ingredient list carefully.For example, I can't eat even the cheddar flavored rice cakes, but the caramel ones are good to go.

Another thing I like to snack on now is cereal. I can eat Corn Chex or Rice Chex. Kix are also good; they have a new honey flavor. I've tried adding soy milk, but this is something I just can't get accustomed to. So I eat it dry, and it provides a nice breakfast with a piece of fruit or a crunchy snack during the day.

Flavor

A girl's gotta have chocolate. And, believe it or not, I can. One of my favorite indulgences is Pierre's chocolate sorbet. Yummy. And it contains no dairy. Even my kids love it. It's creamy and rich, giving you the illusion that you're eating ice cream. You can also buy a frozen treat made from soy instead of cream. Almost as good. I like the chocolate peanut butter kind best. I mix it with soy milk and a scoop of real peanut butter in the blender for a really good smoothie.

Another favorite of mine is cheese. While I can no longer snack on cheese and crackers, I've found a great substitute. Veggie Cheese is quite good. My recommendation is to get the pepper jack or other flavor, as it masks the texture a bit. I add Veggie Cheese to my omelettes, and you'd never know the difference.

Convenience

Finally, as a mom, probably the most important thing in sticking with a change in eating habits is convenience. I've started eating Lean Cusine dinners. They're really surprisingly good. I bought them on sale, and I was a little nervous because I bought ten. I'm so glad I did. Being able to grab one and put it in the microwave and have a healthy meal in five minutes keeps me from grabbing something that doesn't fit in my diet. I had to be careful when making my choices, but I was able to find ten different meals containing no wheat or milk. Remember, variety is important.

There are lots of things you can do to improve your diet, even if allergies aren't an issue for you. I've found that making these substitutions isn't as hard as I thought it would be. And the extra effort is definitely worth it. I think I may even be able to button my old jeans soon!