Dairy Elimination Trial

After a recent chat with our family doctor, we have decided to try a dairy elimination trial with our 6 year old son. He has extremely dry skin, excessive gas and most recently has changed how he breaths. I know...vague description. The best way I can describe it is that occasionally he takes a deeper breath, as if regular breathing just isn't doing the trick. So, while we wait for a pulmonary function test and allergy testing, we're cutting out dairy to see if he shows any signs of improvement. To be a supportive family, we're all cutting out dairy during this trial.

Well...easier said than done. My background is in Holistic Nutrition and if I were to assign this task to a client, I would cover every basis, but somehow with my own son, a few things slipped through the cracks. The first thing was popcorn day at school. I didn't send him with money to buy popcorn, but his teacher purchased some for him. It is covered with a buttery topping. Needless to say, I quickly wrote her a note...but really, I should have mentioned the trial to her sooner. Next I noticed that the Nutri-grain bars he has at recess contain milk ingredients, as do a surprisingly large number of granola bars. So, starting tomorrow, we will be making homemade bars and reading labels a lot more carefully.

Here is a list of what we'll need to avoid:

milk
cheese
yogurt
ice cream
butter
pudding
cream sauce/dressing
milk chocolate
baked goods
cold cuts (containing casein)
Basically all processed foods

When you are doing a dairy elimination trial you must eliminate 100% of all dairy from your diet to get a true response. After about 2 weeks, we'll know if dairy is behind his symptoms. If we don't see a very drastic and positive result, we will then try a gluten elimination for 2 weeks, unless he has already had his allergy testing at that point. Note: Dairy and gluten are the top 2 culprits with food sensitivities.

I'm off to the grocery store to very carefully select all non-dairy foods to officially start this trial tomorrow. Good thing my son already loves almond milk and doesn't like cheese. There are 2 less battles to fight this week. Wish us luck!