The Steinacker Spot

Hi!
This is Anda posting (for a change). Here's my version of Ben's allergy story. See, Kevin is just observing the changes... I am the one actually MAKING changes in Ben's diet... I am losing my mind. It's just overwhelming an frustrating to, first, cook ALL the meals from scratch, and, second, use stuff I've never cooked with. Some substitutions were easy - switch from all vegetable oil (it's most of the time soy oil) to olive and corn oil. That works the same, so no big deal. But what about baking without eggs, dairy, wheat, oats, sunflower, soy, almond??? The kid won't have a sandwich for 6 months and very possibly for much longer??? How do you pack a school lunch without some type of bread??? Aaaargh!
On the other hand, I feel like I was not crazy to begin with. I decided to take Ben to a naturopath about 6 months ago. Everyone wondered why. But I had my reasons. To me, it seemed Ben wasn't getting all the nutrition he needed, because his poor baby teeth are in really bad shape although we brush every day and he never sucked on sugary drinks for hours at a time; also, he's had some spots of psoriasis on his knees for what seems like years; and he in general seemed to not have much energy. And he's a very picky eater. Our pediatrician didn't see anything worth fussing over, so I had to ask someone else, right? At first the doctor gave us supplements to improve the teeth and skin. Suggested protein at every meal to fatten him up, cut down on sugar, chew sugarless gum with xylitol, eat yogurt to help his gut... But after 6 months of that there was no big changes, so she suggested a blood thest to check for food allergies. This test tests 99 foods and costs $185. So Ben bravely and tearfully gave up a couple drops of his blood from a finger and Kevin already told you the results. I counted 97 foods in the results of which 33 Ben had a reaction to. He even had a low reaction to zuccini, radishes and cauliflower!! How whacky is that? Anyway, doctor said, it might get better. His gut must be in a bad shape to react to so much stuff, and if it heals it might stop doing that or something. That's the story. Oh, and I also want to get Kevin tested. I think he might be allergic to some things, too. And we know now my intuition is worth something, don't we? :) Well, talk to y'all later! If you need me, I'll be in the kitchen, losing my mind! :)