As a child, I was used to eating with dietary restrictions. I have many food allergies, including peanuts, tree nuts, onions, strawberries, raspberries, and sesame seeds. These are just a few of the things I cannot eat. However, these allergies never seemed to interfere much with my life. Of course, there were things I couldn’t eat, but for the most part, I never felt like I was missing out. I could still eat some of my favorite foods like pasta, pizza, and chicken fingers.
This all changed about four years ago when I had to cut dairy out of my diet.
When I realized dairy was making me sick, I had to stop eating it. This was a very rough adjustment in my life. My whole childhood I had eaten pizza, chicken parmesan, ice cream, and – my absolute favorite – mozzarella sticks.
Quickly, I realized how to adapt the food I ate to fit my new restrictions, and to my surprise, there were many great non-dairy alternatives out there. For baking, I started using non-dairy butters and lactose-free milks. I started eating a lot of foods like chicken parmesan and pizza without the cheese. My most exciting find was the wide array of non dairy ice cream options, though it did pose a slight dilemma for me since I couldn’t have ones with almond or cashew milk.
For the most part I was eating the way I had, just with a few adjustments. I accepted that and came to terms with it, although I did have a hard time with the mozzarella sticks.
Going dairy free was never that hard for me, but going gluten free was. About a month ago, I decided to go gluten free because the gluten was making me sick. This turned out to be a challenge for me since I ate something with gluten for almost every meal.
I have been able to find some great gluten-free alternatives, but it has been a learning process. Some things are good and some are not, but I have found one overarching problem: things just don’t taste the same.
The biggest challenge, however, is when you mix all of my dietary restrictions together. The gluten free and the dairy free diets aren’t too much of a hassle separate, but together they’re a pain. I feel like everyday I eat the same thing and there is no variation in the things I eat. But the more I live this way, the easier it gets. It’s all about being innovative and finding new things to eat as well as different ways to eat them.
In my home, we order out food a lot, which by far has been a huge hurdle we have had to figure out. The dairy issue was already a pain because some places do not give the options to modify items on their menus to remove the cheese. Now, finding gluten-free foods as well is much more difficult. What I have found is that not a lot of restaurants offer gluten-free options, alternatives, or menus. My pool of restaurants to choose from has significantly dwindled, but it’s not impossible to find great gluten-free options at restaurants.
For anyone living with dietary restrictions like me, I commend you for living in a world that makes eating slightly more difficult. Despite increasing options for different diets, what I have found is that it is still challenging, and I applaud everyone else living with dietary constraints.