Let me introduce myself...

My journey to a dairy-free lifestyle has been a miraculous, windy, and life changing road. I didn't come into this lifestyle on my own accord, but I have certainly remained here because of it. My oldest daughter is severely allergic milk, and by the age of two we realized that our home needed to be completely without any form of milk to protect her well-being. After extreme efforts to do so I uncovered 66 magic words on food labeling that actually mean milk. Ingredients like "lactic acid", which can be found in a simple fruit juice, and "caramel coloring" found in things like deli style meats, can really throw your brain for a loop. Everything logically containing milk only scratches the surface of what actually contains milk. For this reason, most everyone is completely clueless when it comes to what they put into their mouth, and are completely incapable to assist in providing protection to our daughter. I hear a lot of "there's cow's milk in meat!?", or other seemingly abnormal places to find milk. The answer is YES,  and you basically need a PHD in deciphering food labels to know that information. I don't make the rules, the ingredients, or the justifications about why on earth our food supply is so soaked in milk, but it is, so I lend my voice to educate others about it. My daughter is so severely allergic that these milder renditions (or secret 66) of milk can send her into anaphylactic shock, and require that I be very knowledgeable when it comes to knowing where milk can be found, and disguised as, to keep my precious girl safe.

The early dairy-free stage was mind boggling! Everywhere I looked I saw milk. It was overwhelming and frustrating, and it really opened my eyes to the inferior food quality in the mainstream American diet. Company's are cutting costs by sharing conveyor belts and manufacturing plants, pumping livestock full of toxic components for higher yielding profits, and feeding those toxic animal biproducts to the public. They are then collecting on the increased healthcare component of toxic, chemical enriched diets. People are getting sicker than ever! Food Allergies have risen 200% in the past decade, and healthcare is now unaffordable to the average Joe! I know none of this is ground-breaking news, but to me it was. I lived in a state of ignorant bliss. I chose foods I ate based on their taste, never giving any thought to an ingredient, a manufacturing plant, and the hopped up cow that the dairy I was consuming came from. As if the dairy allergy epidemic isn't enough evidence, here's two more reasons to rethink why (if you're not already) you should be dairy free:
1.) Why are we still consuming breast milk past infancy?
2.) Today's cows are complete junkies and we're eating their drugs!

I've made this analogy before in my blog 365dayswithafoodallergy@blogspot.com that breastfeeding (human) mothers are very careful not to consume alcohol or medications when nursing their young. We even limit mild things like caffeine, but we have no problem consuming the toxic chemicals that cows are fed like growth hormone and antibiotics (neither of which are FDA approved and are considered illegal for human consumption). We feed this straight toxic potion to our babies when they turn one when we switch them to a sippy cup of cow's milk. We are so programmed by probably THE best marketing campaign ever, "Got Milk", that we literally think life without it is a sacrifice and hardship. People truly believe that not consuming milk is detrimental to your health! Wow, the powers of advertising are unreal. The only hardship is trying to get away from it! As far as a sacrifice, there are so many plant-based options for everything these days that I feel a little bit sad for people who let marketing campaigns form their opinions, and not their own research. Hey, if you want to eat a fistful of chemicals be my guest, but don't pity us for choosing not to do so.

There's also another school of thought from the baby boomer generation and earlier generations. That milk is good and wholesome and they were raised on it and they're fine,  so why are the newer generations making such a big deal about it? The difference is this: Baby boomers were raised on organic produce and dairy, and it was wholesome. During the depression and earlier when the country was going hungry and women weren't able to produce breast milk, cows milk was a good alternative to feed their hungry babies. Coming into the baby boomer reproduction years, it had become unfashionable and socially unacceptable to breast feed. This was the era of woman's rights and somehow a woman's God given ability to nurse her own young was barbaric and old school.  Cow's milk became the go-to for human babies as well as calfs. By the early 80's the dairy industry decided to make the US cow population responsible for all calf AND human nursing needs, and pumped them full of toxic chemicals to make them overproduce, so the companies could profit off this unnatural act of drinking another mammals milk. No consideration of the detriment to the health of cows and their inability to even walk with this unnatural added udder weight. No one ever considered that these living creatures weren't meant to feed humans, and that there would be drastic scientific ramifications for human greed.

My youngest daughter doesn't have the milk allergy so I hear a lot of pity going her way. "Poor thing has to go without milk because of her sister's allergy." Can I just say that perspective is gross. If things were reversed and my youngest was my oldest, and we didn't enter into parenthood with a food allergy mindset,  I'm sure we would have succumb to the dairy path for her. Now, I thank God for the wisdom I have gained and that I have never subjected my youngest to anything milk related. I'm positive this will pay off down the road for her health and the health of her offspring. She is healthy, in the 90th percentile, she eats every vegetable I give her, drinks my juicer concoctions daily with spirulina and chia seeds, and has NEVER been sick, had an ear infection, strep, nada! Pitying her is just plain ignorant--she's getting an A+ diet and a healthy perspective about food. And introducing the mindset to be resentful toward her sister because of her food allergy disability is, again, gross! I won't make excuses for ignorant people even though I'm constantly expected to so.

The severe, anaphylactic milk allergy that my oldest has is not thought to be something she will outgrow. In fact, they think it will continue to progressively get more sensitive. I have no plans to turn back to milk and only plan to forge forward with my own unique recipes and lifestyle wisdom. We live with intentional efforts, strong bonds, and respect for ourselves and our bodies, and the bodies of other creatures of God. That is why I created Dairy-Free Darlings so we could share our story, our mission, recipes, and lifestyle with anyone else who wants to (or already is) traveling this path, and wants to share in our kindred spirit.

I'll end this post with a sweet treat for the Darlings in your life!

My Darling Little Crispy Recipe: Free of Dairy, Nut (except coconut), Gluten, Soy, Egg (obviously)

1 TBS Coconut oil
1/2 package of natural, organic marshmallows
1/2 box of Erewhon Honey Crisp Brown Rice with Mixed Berries
1 TBS shelled Hemp seeds
1 TBS chia seeds

In a large sauce pan melt coconut oil. Add marshmallows and stir until melted. Turn off heat. Add Honey Crisp Brown Rice With Mixed Berries and stir well. Add Chia and Hemp seeds and keep stirring. Pour concoction into pan and press down to flatten the top. Put in refrigerator for one hour. Take out then cut into squares and leave out for 15 minutes before serving (they will be hard because of the coconut oil). Voila- a healthier kick on a childhood favorite. Free of high fructose corn syrup and gluten--two things that will wind your little darlings up. Also, a decent serving of vitamins and minerals including calcium and magnesium, with a dash of protein.