Hi everyone - As well as listowner, I am also a fellow milk avoider,
so I am also very happy that this list has finally arrived! I am
sure we can all learn so much from each other. Don't forget that
everything that is posted goes into the archives, so we are already
building up a valuable database of information that can be accessed
around the world. That's why I am so excited about this project - in
the end we will have the greatest resource on milk avoidance issues
anywhere in the world!
 
I only stopped using milk 6 months ago, which means that for 36 years
it was damaging my health. I also cut out gluten from my diet at that
time, and the difference to my life has been enormous. I had been
suffering from continual mental and physical fatigue, stress,
depression for many years, as well as other signs of mental and
physical weakness, but I guess never obvious enough to warrant
concern from doctors. . .
 
As a child, I suffered a lot from ear infections and gastro-intestinal
troubles, but nobody pointed out that a food problem might of been
the cause.
 
Well, it took me so long, but I survived! What I am already learning
from this list is to see the patterns of milk-related symptoms, how
milk intolerance becomes milk allergy and then starts throwing up
other food intolerances and allergies, how the symptoms can go
underground for years, emerging as developmental problems in the
teens, and as chronic illnesses in adulthood.
 
I am looking (as always!) for dietary advice, ways to strengthen
and rebuild my body. My diet is severely limited by continuing intolerances
to all sorts of foods, so people's experiences of which foods are
hypo-allergenic are very useful to me. As someone else mentioned,
turkey is a good non-allergic protein source. I also eat lamb,
rabbit, salmon, pollack. For grains I have only found I can tolerate
rice and quinoa, although I haven't tried some of the other new
grains that are now in the shops. For vegetables, most sorts of cabbage,
onion and root vegetables (NOT potatoes). For fruit only pears, and for
oil only safflour! Nuts, seeds and legumes are a big problem, and I showed
a BIG IgG sensitivity for eggs. I am avoiding all citrus and nightshade foods
(tomatoes etc.) because of high phenol levels in those foods. I guess
I ought to experiment more, but the trauma of some of the reactions
is still fresh in my mind, so I'm not in too much of a hurry.
 
So, that's me! Now I'll go back to being your hard-working listowner.
 
Max