food intolerance’s

Reflections of Grace

by // // No Comments

It is November my friends; can you believe it? I hope you all enjoyed the 31days of Food Intolerance’s series (even though I missed a few…oops). I would love to hear from you; do you have any questions or want to learn more, please let me know.

This month I will be putting my family to some real life challenges and you are going to be journeying with us. It is the month of “Giving -Thanks”. I am very excited to share with you on Monday just how we will be putting things in motion.

Since Friday is my day of “rest” in a sense. I will be linking up with Lisa-Jo Baker and some other friends (yes, they are real people…I officially met many of them in(RL) What a blessing it was to squeeze them and not have a screen between our words. Join me as we write for 5 minutes, unedited, on a given prompt. Today’s word; Grace

Go….

Being a Mom it can bring out the best in us and the worst. Our patience is tried in so many ways. We are pulled in every which direction between; meeting our families needs and seeing that our personal needs are met too.

We train.

We teach.

We learn.

We live.

We judge.

We fall short.

We stumble.

We fall.

But…we get back up. God is there with us always. He stands at the top of the mountain cheering for you when you might feel as though you don’t deserve it. His grace surrounds you and the door to forgiveness remains open for those times we are less that obedient. Keep true to yourself and who you were created to be. Know that there will be bumps in the road but there is always a hand on the other side waiting for you to reach out. 

Dairy, Oh’Dairy

by // // 2 Comments
When people find out we are a gluten and dairy free house they are very quick to have pity on our gluten sensitivity issues. However, I’m all about honesty here and the truth is gluten alternatives are not bad {some are quite yummy}. Dairy on the other hand is far more difficult to sub out; how do you make cheese taste like cheese when it’s made with flour and cellulose? You don’t. Dairy is also far more complex {I think} to understand. Did you know we are the only animal to ingest another animals milk? We don’t see goats nurse off of cows or vice versa now do we? 

Milk allergies; occur when the immune system mistakenly sees the protein in milk as an enemy and as something it should fight off. Milk allergies can cause irritability, bloating, discomfort, rashes, and respiratory  problems. Many children but not all will outgrow their milk allergy between 3-5 years of age. 

Is a milk allergy the same as being lactose intolerant? No, lactose intolerance is typically seen in adults and older children only. It is the inability to digest the sugar lactose that is present in milk. Where as most young children are in fact reacting to the proteins {whey and/or casein}. 

With dairy it is not uncommon to have a slower onset before seeing a reaction {7-12 days} from consumption. This making dairy very difficult to pin point as a problem at times. Although, please note some children react immediately. Some symptoms but not all include; loose stools {k.bears colored poop}, gagging, unexplained vomiting, congestion, eczema type rash, wheezing and in severe cases even anaphylaxis can occur. 
If you suspect that your infant or child is allergic to milk, as with anything I advise calling your doctor.  Testing/diagnosing for dairy reactions; There’s no single lab test to accurately diagnose a milk allergy at this time. Therefore, your doctor might order several tests to make a diagnosis. He/she will use a process of elimination in order to rule out any other health problems as well. A stool test, blood work up, and an allergy skin test may all be administered. If your child is showing signs of a milk allergy response you maybe advised to avoid it altogether.
*Remember dairy stays in our systems for quite sometime eliminating dairy for a few days will not likely show any change/improvement. 
Photo credit; Dr.Akirah