When Alexandra was a baby, just weeks old, I could tell something wasn’t quite right. Her diapers just smelled far too terrible. My husband claimed maybe I had forgotten what dirty diapers smelled like. Our girls are 23 months apart, I hadn’t forgotten. 
In the early morning light, there it was, blood in her diaper.
I was exclusively nursing. The solution (via our pediatrician recommendation) to solve this irritation, for our girl, was that I no longer eat dairy, wheat, soy, nuts, eggs or corn. I removed these items from my diet (quickly lost all the baby weight) and by the time Alex turned one, she was cleared to resume a normal diet. Her intestines had had time to heal.
Fast forward six years…
It’s now Karoline’s turn. Once she started kindergarten I began to realize Karoline was needing allergy medicine quite often. She could never fight a cold on her own and her airways were often times very tight. We turned to asthma medicine, an inhaler and continued allergy medicine. Meanwhile, I wondered if it was her room, the air ducts, the environment, this, that, the other…
However, I could not shake the idea that maybe something she was eating was causing this. Karoline also had insanely huge tonsils. We made an appointment with an allergy, asthma and sinus specialist around Christmas time last year. Upon arrival I expressed that I wanted to know if something she was eating could be causing the inflammation of her tonsils and the bulk of her breathing issues.
The specialist took a look at Karoline’s tonsils and said we wouldn’t be able to know anything until her tonsils were removed, they were just far too large.
We scheduled the surgery.
In recovery the surgeon told me Karoline’s tonsils were the biggest of the day.
I was hopeful her dang tonsils were going to be like a splinter. With her tonsils out, there would no longer be any issues.
Just four days post surgery, Karoline needed her asthma medicine. A few days after we had to add back in the allergy medicine. A few more days, the inhaler. My poor baby needed the inhaler to not cough (think like on the movie Hitch, when Will Smith keeps trying to clear his throat after eating shellfish) four to five times a day.
I was fed up. I refused to believe that my perfectly healthy six year old needed to take this much medicine for the rest of her life.
We went to see our primary physician, whom I greatly admire and appreciate. I expressed concern that I just could not stand by and give her more and more chemical medicines every day. He decided to order a simple blood allergy test.
We did the test. Within a few days we had an answer. Karoline was, and is, allergic to beef, fish, corn, eggs, dairy and wheat.
At the time my husband and I had just watched, “What the health?” and were trying to live a more plant based life style. Making the adjustments to her diet was not as difficult as one might think. Especially with the practice I had from when Alex was a baby.
We removed these foods from her diet. In a matter of weeks we were able to cut out ALL of her medicine and the use of the inhaler. Through elimination of the known allergy items I was also able to pinpoint that almonds also are a trigger for her asthmatic symptoms.
It’s been almost a year since Karoline had her tonsils removed and almost nine months of a modified diet. In the first five months of removing these foods from her diet she gained eight pounds. EIGHT.
Over the last few months she has fought colds on her own, without the need of a doctors visit or medicines! Her body is finally not fighting the foods that were poisoning her. Now it can fight the viruses.
Staying on a vegan diet with my husband has been hard. We have been unable to do so. However, I try to have a few vegan dinners a week.
A few weeks back, I went into our doctors office to pick up a few things and saw a book sitting on the counter. The title was How Not to Die, by Michael Greger, MD. The nurse said that our physician was recommending all of his patients read it. Again, I admire our doctor and respect him quite a bit. After all, he was the one who heard my concerns and suggested the blood allergy test that may have very well saved our daughters life. So, I bought the book on Audible.
The benefits of eating more fruits and vegetables and less meats and dairy are astounding. I can not adequately reiterate the astonishment, and also the frustrations, I’ve had while listening to this book.
What I can say is, if you, or someone you love, are currently taking any medicine or are in any pain, you can not afford to not read this book.
Furthermore, if you are a mom, and you have a hunch that something isn’t quite right, KEEP FIGHTING. Do not take no as an answer. Just because a specialist says something doesn’t mean it has to be true. If your mom gut is talking to you, goodness gracious, you listen and you feed it some broccoli.
*The views and opinions in this blog are just views and opinions and a recount of our personal story. Don’t take my word for anything, do your own research. My only hope is this may spark you to do so.
No comments