Lessons from a Dairy Free Virgin: Fast Food Unwrapped

If you adore fast food and worship its crispy fried goodness...skip this and continue to live in blissful ignorance.

But if you can't do that anymore due to your child's irritating fun new allergy... read on! Oh the things you will learn!

Surprise ingredient lists from your favorites:

Chick fil a Chicken Nuggets:
100% natural whole breast filet, seasoning (salt, monosodium glutamate, sugar, spices, paprika), seasoned coater (enriched bleached flour [bleached wheat flour, malted barley flour, niacin, iron, thiamine mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid], sugar, salt, monosodium glutamate, nonfat milk, leavening [baking soda, sodium aluminum phosphate, monocalcium phosphate], spice, soybean oil, color [paprika]), milk wash (water, egg, nonfat milk), peanut oil (fully refined peanut oil with TBHQ and citric acid added to preserve freshness and Dimethylpolysiloxane an anti-foaming agent added).

That's right folks... our beloved "healthy" chicken nuggets... have milk... and ANTI-FOAMING AGENT!


Tell me, WHAT FOAMS ABOUT A CHICKEN?! If my chicken is foaming... I don't want to eat it. You just leave that foaming chicken alone and let it peck itself to death... bleck!

*Don't believe me? Click here. 

McDonald's French Fries: 
Potatoes, vegetable oil (canola oil, hydrogenated soybean oil, natural beef flavor [wheat and milk derivatives]*, citric acid [preservative], dextrose, sodium acid pyrophosphate (maintain color), and salt. Prepared in vegetable oil (canola oil, corn oil, soybean oil, hydrogenated soybean oil with TBHQ and citric acid to preserve freshness). Dimethylpolysiloxane added as an antifoaming agent.
*(Natural beef flavor contains hydrolyzed wheat and hydrolyzed milk as starting ingredients).

And antifoaming potatoes now?! Again... I'm scared enough of the foaming chickens... now my potatoes are foaming?! Back at my house, we throw away potatoes when they foam...we don't fry them.

Don't believe me? Click here. 

Ok so those were the two most startling finds. But, I will share with you my lists of crap that I learned or surprised me.  This would have been nice to have handy when we first learned this about my son.

Things I've learned: 

• Most of the buns in fast food restaurants are fine. Milk doesn't help them last longer so they don't put it in there. Although, Sonic you have to check at each one you go to because they buy their buns local and the ingredients could change.
• KFC Original Recipe has milk, Extra Crispy does not. 
• Sonic Popcorn Chicken and Breaded Chicken Breasts do not have milk, but Breaded Chicken Strips do. 

Things that contain milk that shouldn't:

• Burger King Original Breaded Chicken Patty (and the dairy is in the patty... not the breading)
• BK Tendercrisp Chicken Sandwich (dairy is at least in the breading here)
• BK Onion Rings (maybe they should... I just wasn't expecting it)
• Almost everything at Chick Fil A (aside from the grilled chicken sandwich, hashbrowns, and fries)
• Wendy's Chicken Nuggets
• Back Yard Burger Hawaiian Chicken Sandwich (because of the lemon pepper chicken breast)

Things that don't contain milk that surprised me:

• BK Chicken Fries
• BK Chicken Tenders
• BK Dutch Apple Pie
• BK Soft Serve Cone (It is ice cream for crying out loud!)
• McDonald's Hot Apple Pie
• McDonaldland Cookies
• Taco Bell Cinnamon Twists
• Anything on the Taco Bell Fresco Menu
• Sonic Onion Rings

Parting Advice:
I will say, this list is compiled from my own research into the milk allergy on each individual sites allergen information as of today. Ingredients change from time to time, so if this is an issue for you, double check before you eat any of it. 

While on my my allergy kick, my son's dairy allergy presented itself as chronic ear infections. We were treating him with Zyrtec for his runny nose and it wasn't helping much at all. After we got tubes and were still having ear infections, we tried the no dairy thing. And I have to say... you HAVE to do it for the full 3 weeks before you notice any difference. Then all of the sudden, you've gone 4 days without a runny nose. And now we are on 2 or 3 weeks now with no runny nose and 6 weeks or so without an ear infection. Also, it has been about 2 or 3 weeks since I've had to put thick creme on his legs for his eczema. It is basically gone now. All because of milk. It is worth the effort to try.

When trying, look out for "casein" and "whey". These are both milk ingredients. Depending on the severity of the allergy it may not be a big deal. I avoided everything for the first 3 weeks, which was hard, but the only way I could know for sure. 

His almond allergy presented itself as violent vomiting after having a cup of almond milk. But once he was done throwing up (45 minutes later) he was fine and back to his jolly self. A few days later, he had some Honey Nut Cheerios, which contain almond, and had violent diarrhea for a few hours. Then it cleared up. No rash, no itchy, no redness, ... just vomiting and diarrhea (which makes you think virus... not allergy).

Sam Isn't Normal... And I Think I Like It

I have not openly shared the following story yet with the whole world. 1) Because it is fairly recent. 2) Because I haven't had time. 3) Because I hadn't really processed it myself until now.

Apparently, my son REFUSES to be normal. Here is a list of what "normal" kids do:

• Drink milk
• If they can't drink milk, it presents itself fairly obviously
• Eat bananas
• If they can't for some reason, it probably causes them to itch and have hives
• Eat almonds
• If they can't for some reason, it probably causes them to itch and have hives

Ear Infections:
Admittedly, my list of "normal" is a bit biased. But my son had his horrible bout with ear infections. We got the tubes, he got more infections (not an increase in frequency but certainly not a decrease). So the doctor says, "Some kids are weird and have a milk allergy that keeps the ear infections coming regardless of the tubes. Take him off of all milk for 3 weeks. After the 3 weeks, see if you notice a difference."

I was more than skeptical about this. He has had milk all of his life. Why on earth would he be allergic? And he hasn't ever had any symptoms... but fine, it is three weeks. Whatever.

After the first couple of weeks... I thought she was crazy. There was no difference. In fact, there may have been an increase in mucous. But we stuck it out. Right around the end of the third week... going into the fourth week... it suddenly occurs to me, "He hasn't had a runny nose in a while."

And this whole 3-4 weeks now... no ear infections. And I just noticed last night... his skin (eczema) is a lot better! Almost non-existant.

Sonofabitch! Holy smokes, Batman! The kid was allergic to milk.

Bananas:
When he was still a baby, we noticed he kept breaking out in these tiny red bumps. It was a rash, no doubt, but it wasn't bothering him and it didn't look like hives at all. I mean they were TINY. And they started at his stomach and went out from there.

So we are trying to figure out what on earth would be causing this. I immediately go to laundry detergents. But we were using All Free and Clear. So we went to a double rinse.

No improvement.

I think, maybe it is the fabric softener.

Some improvement... but not much.

Then he got a tummy bug and didn't eat much of anything for several days. And the rash went away. I fed him a banana one morning before taking him to Susan's and it hit me... he's had banana on all those days he had the rash, and he hasn't had any since this virus... lets see if it comes back now.

And boy did it! Rash everywhere. Took him off of bananas... no more rash.

Weird kid!

Almonds:
Admittedly, the jury is still out on this one but I'm pretty much convinced that this is what it is.

Back story: Last week, Thursday to be exact, Sam woke up throwing up right after putting him to bed. He then spent the rest of the night (with a max of a 10-15 minute break here and there) throwing up. Midway through the night, diarrhea sets in. He can't hold anything down. At all. And he is expelling what he does have in him out his rear end. (I'd apologize for over sharing but I'm not sorry).

At about 6 am, he wasn't acting right and I was worried about dehydration so we went to the ER. They stopped the vomiting through magical dissolvable pill. Sam starts drinking like a camel at an oasis. Things are looking up.

At about 1 pm that day, Sam jumps up and is ready to play and be merry. He was cured! He still ate bland and drank lots, but was his happy, jokey, goofy self.

Susan volunteers to watch him the next day so Justin and I can sleep. (He gets to her house and the virus gets me... but that's irrelevant). She calls back to say he is throwing up again. He had just gone over 24 hours without vomiting.

GRRRRRR!

We got the magical pill in him and he stopped throwing up before it got too bad and made a full recovery. Yay! Life continues.

Until yesterday. When our secretary comes into a meeting I'm in and hands me a note. It says,

"Sam is vomiting a lot. Susan is concerned."

SONOFABITCH! Really?!

So now I'm freaking out. No longer is this a "virus" or an aftershock from the virus. This is too damned much.

I talk to Susan and she is scared. She has never seen a kid throw up as much as he was. He couldn't stop.

When I got to her house, he had fallen asleep on her. She was just waiting for him to wake back up to throw up, but he never did. We let him sleep for about 45 minutes or so. When she gave him to me to rock for a while, he woke up.

And immediately starts MAKING FACES AT ME! Sticking his tongue out, laughing, giggling... being is sweet, little charming self.

Now don't get me wrong, my heart is swelling at this point, because when you walk in and your child's skin is see-through and eyes are sunken... all you want to see is them healthy and fast.

But what in the world is going on?! And that is literally all it was. He drank some tea and kept that down. Wanted some food. Ate it and kept it down. Ran around and played... like nothing ever happened.

How can this be? This was obviously, now more than ever, not a virus. But what was it?

I talked to the nurse, and she said it sounded like an allergy.

Insert blank, sarcastic, "you have got to be kidding me" look here.

She said, it is not uncommon for a kid to develop an allergy to something after having it for a few weeks. Well... due to the aforementioned milk allergy, he had started almond milk a few weeks ago. Then he got the virus that cleared his system... so he probably developed an almond allergy.

And while "normal" kids would break out in hives or have difficulty breathing, some kids just throw it up until it is gone.

What did he have that morning? Almond milk and honey nut cheerios. I think we found the culprit!

So while this is just a hypothesis... I'm pretty sure that's what we are dealing with. Blasted.

Back to the title:

I know everyone wants to think their kid is special and smart and blah blah blah... and I may just be one of those, but it is my blog and I can write what I want.

But even in his everyday living... he is obviously different. And a good kind of different.

• He is so smart. He picks up on things abnormally fast.
• He is funny. He is already a little jokester and he isn't even 2. 
• Since the day he started daycare, (at a ripe bold 8 weeks old), he declared himself "special" by refusing to sleep on anything other than the couch. 
• He is still "special" there. He was out talking all of the kids at 18 months old...and was the youngest. 
• He started potty training himself. Against my will, mind you. 
• And dang it, now he is special because he is going to treat allergies like he treats everything else... with his own special little twist. 

I cannot wait to see what the little boy becomes. I just feel it in every part of me that I'm going to be baffled by what he becomes, who he impacts, and what lives he changes.

He may not be famous or world-renowned... but he is going to be special. No doubt about it.