Allergies

So, remember how Kraig had been consulting with our physician about his allergy symptoms (severe sinus congestion, sneezing fits, migraine headaches)?  We haven't been back to the doctor in a few months for followup testing but over the last 2 months of being vegan Kraig has noticed that he has had zero headaches.  Keep in mind he has had very frequent (multiple times a week) migraines since he was young and has not found a reasonable way to cope with them.  However, now he is not congested, doesn't have sneezing fits, AND he hasn't even been using his Neti-pot (which had helped clear the congestion previously).  The only (albeit, amateur) conclusion we can draw from this is that he has some sort of dairy allergy.  It's commonly known that humans weren't made to drink cow's milk, but over generations have adapted.  What's less known is that many, many people don't tolerate it at all (The prevalence of lactose maldigestion is above 50% in South America, Africa, and Asia, reaching almost 100% in some Asian countries. In the United States, the prevalence is 15% among whites, 53% among Mexican-Americans and 80% in the Black population. In Europe it varies from around 2% in Scandinavia to about 70% in Sicily (see map below). Australia and New Zealand have prevalence of 6% and 9% respectively. In general, it can be stated that about two thirds of the world adult population is lactase non-persistent.)

I guess Kraig is one of those people.

Good thing we went vegan, right?!  Ha!

We had intended to keep this "diet" for the foreseeable future, but now it seems that we really can't go back.  I'm certainly not going to start buying/cooking with any dairy products if Kraig can't have them, and to be completely honest I find the stuff rather repulsive.  Full disclosure: I haven't drank cow's milk straight up in years.  I have always been turned off by the taste and the awful stench (something akin to wet dog or... farm animal.  Fancy that.)  I did, however, use butter, half and half, and cream by the gallon each week.  I've found awesome vegan substitutions for all of that, though, so it seems silly to go back when this is totally workable.  Cheese, on the other hand, used to be my vice.  I get light cravings for it occasionally now; mostly because it is a handy, easy to grab snack.  But generally speaking, coming off our cheese "addiction" was much easier than I anticipated.

I'm excited for Kraig's followup bloodwork to be done.  His white blood cell count had been OUTRAGEOUS previously, indicating a very strong allergic reaction if that was the case.  So, we'll see what happens next....