Thursday, October 24, 2013

I Cheated

I need to confess. This isn’t the kind of confession I should be making to a priest. No, it’s the kind of confession that only you – the readers here – might understand.

I made myself a grilled cheese sandwich. I ate it. And I enjoyed it.

You know that the recipes I share here are wheat-free, gluten-free, egg-free, nut-free, and soy-free. That list covers both my son’s and my own food allergies. Although I am only allergic to gluten and soy, most days I am happy to eat the way my son must eat everyday.

I am not only completely comfortable with milk alternatives, I prefer them to cow’s milk. Nuts were never my thing. I do accept the occasional gluten-free roll made with egg at a restaurant, but that doesn’t feel like cheating – can I call it research?

The food that calls to me on occasion – the one I miss – is cheese. No, the cheese substitutes just don’t do it. And so, today (when no one else was looking) I blissfully ate my grilled cheese sandwich.

Do you follow your child’s food diet? Do you cheat? What food do you miss the most?

4 comments:

Selena said...

I used to be a cheese-a-holic, until I found out what it was doing to me, and back then, yes, I would eat cheese when I was not near my daughter. Now that I've given up cheese, I think the only thing I eat, food-group-wise, that my daughter can't have is wheat, but she is not anaphylactic to wheat. When I'm away, I'm pretty sure I'm going to eat some eggs, though, as that is one thing I have been missing/craving. Most of the time, though, I live just fine without milk, eggs, PN/TN, flax, etc. :)

Unknown said...

This is an interesting conversation and I wonder if our family is in the minority. While we do eat healthier and consume more whole foods since my child's diagnosis 12 years ago, we have his "allergic foods" in the house and the rest of us eat those foods. Of course we are very careful! This is probably because the original diagnosis was to over 20 different foods, including all of the top 8. It's worked for us and there have been no accidental exposures (knocking on wood now!). I'm curious to hear about how others manage this. Thanks for bringing it up, Colette!

Jenn said...

I follow my children's diet the majority of the time, and yes I cheat! I'm not allergic, and sometimes just really miss some foods. I eat their diet not only because it's easier, but because I want them to feel free and comfortable in our home with all our food. When we go grocery shopping we check everything and when we dine out, but at home I don't want us to have to do that. So, when I "cheat" I'm usually out without them. Funny things we do!

Gretchen Flores said...

I am not food allergic but my husband and my kids are... collectively they are allergic to wheat, corn, nuts, peanuts, seeds and eggs. We keep the peanut butter out of the house but my husband and I eat scrambled eggs and I sneak tree nuts sometimes. I have to be really careful about the tree nuts bc the oil stays on your skin. One day when I had eaten nuts at work and came home, my husband developed a giant hive on his lip after I kissed him hello. Whoops! So honestly most of the time I steer clear.