I don't often post on here as so many of the discussions revolve around
milk allergic children, and also because I live in the UK and the brands
are sometimes different here.

However, I'm an adult who avoids dairy, eggs, pork/ham/bacon, malt,
coconut, chocolate and caffeine.

I certainly don't go hungry, although whether my diet is nutritionally
sound is another question, as the poundage has been creeping on
recently, aided by Pizotifen taken as a migraine preventive, which is
also an appetite stimulant (as if I needed one!) and also lack of
exercise as I seem to be too busy at work to get to the swimming pool
any more.

I eat oat and wheat cereals with soya "drink" poured on them if I have
time for breakfast, otherwise I grab a Ma Baker cereal bar when I get to
the office. I keep a supply of them in my desk.

(See http://www.firstqualityfoods.co.uk/ for a description.)

I drink herbal teas: generally nettle in the morning and peppermint in
the afternoon, and I often make up banana Nesquik powder with soya
"drink". I also drink quite a lot of water.

I normally eat quite a bit of minced beef, which I cook with a bought
bolognese sauce (there are quite a few which are dairy free) and I also
make chilli from scratch, apart from using kidney beans out of a can:-)
I even venture into lasagne when I feel like making the effort, and
instead of having cheese layers, I make up a white sauce using soya and
I add some chopped onions to it. The best cheese substitute available in
the UK (in my opinion) is Cheezley, and if I've got any of that to hand,
I'll grate some of that in as well. It doesn't go runny like dairy
cheese though. The other day I tried something called Vegerella and it
didn't melt and was just about the blandest thing I'd ever tasted! I
wouldn't recommend that one!

I also eat quite a bit of turkey, and chicken to a lesser extent, purely
on cost grounds. I usually chop it up into cubes and cook it with a
bought sauce. I have to read labels to find the ones I can eat, but
usually have to hand a sweet & sour sauce, a couple of Indian sauces
(but beware of anything that says korma) and a selection of "Chicken
Tonight" products. I cook rice to go with these, and I freeze the
uneaten portions and taken them into the office to heat in the office
microwave. The local sandwich shop pollutes most of their sandwich
fillings with mayonnaise, which I wouldn't touch, so bringing my own
lunch is much more interesting. I used to end up with a corned beef
sandwich nearly every day when I used to buy lunch.

I also eat fish, and if you read the labels in the frozen fish section,
you should be able to find some breaded fish which is dairy and egg
free.

Rice I've already mentioned, and pasta I've assumed that you've assumed
(to go with the bolognese sauce) and I can eat just about any vegetable
or fruit.

Recently I've been having dental problems and simply couldn't manage
meat for a while, so I went vegan for about a month. I consumed quite a
lot of Sosmix (see http://www.haldanefoods.co.uk/ for Haldane Foods'
website) and I've also had a nut roast or two. [The nut roast would be
out for you, Nancy, but you might be able to do something similar with
pumpkin and sesame seeds, or do they get lumped in as nut no-nos too?]

I do miss cakes, but can find vegan ones in the health food shop. I can
even cook a vegan cake myself, but I don't often bother. I'd only eat
it, and I really don't need all that extra sugar!

One company whose products I am very keen on is Provamel. (Their website
is http://www.provamel.co.uk/) I wonder whether their products are
available in the US, as I've seen someone mention Soya Dream more than
once in here. I think Soya Dream is wonderful, and I use it where a
dairy consumer would pour cream on. I also like their Yofu very much.
It's about the only soy yoghurt available which doesn't taste chalky. It
may be a bit sweet for some people, but I like it. In fact, I use plain
Yofu where dairy eaters would use sour cream, and when I have a chilli,
I have a nice dollop of plain Yofu on my chilli, which really adds
something to the taste. I have it with curries, too.

Once you get used to shopping for products which don't contain problem
ingredients, you get to know where to find things, and I probably eat as
great a variety of foods as a dairy eater does. They're just different
ones.

Good luck with the pregnancy, Nancy!

Helen
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Helen Edith Stephenson  <[log in to unmask]>
                        http://www.baronmoss.demon.co.uk/