Liz's Food Journal
For 7 days my partner, Alyssa Robinson, and I kept a food journal about everything that we ate in order to grasp the differences in the way that we eat for our Collaboration Project. We also went out into the field and researched more about Trader Joe's and Shoprite and how the accommodate people with food intolerances.
Below is my food journal and field research. To look at Alyssa's food journal and field research, click here.
Day # 1
Breakfast:
Multi-grain Thomas bagel w/ tofu cream cheese
Green Tea
-> I know I can have bagels, because most companies do not use dairy in them.
Now for the tofu cream cheese. It is the only one of it's kind that I can actually eat. On the cap it says "Better than Cream Cheese!" Let me just say right now, if they have to write that out, then it is obviously not true. It is definitely not better than real cream cheese, but I deal with it.
-> I try to drink as much tea as I can, especially Green Tea, because it is really good for your stomach and digestion. I like it best cold, so if I have time in the morning (which I did this morning) I will make a cup with honey (also good for you) and throw in a couple ice cubes and I'm good to go.
Lunch:
Peanut Butter and Raspberry Preserves on Wheat Bread
Banana
Wheat Thins
Grapes
Water
-> First I want to talk about the bread. I had no idea that some bread had milk in it, until I ate some and got extremely sick. Now before I even make a sandwich, I look at the ingredients to make sure milk isn't listed. My dad goes grocery shopping for my family, and buys bread with milk in it. Way to go dad! So even at home, I always look.
->Peanut Butter is the next thing I want to talk about. Jif and Skippy are no longer allowed in my house. We buy Smart Balance creamy peanut butter. This doesn't have any of the hydrogenated fats that the other peanut butters have.
-> I try to eat a lot of fruit with my lunch, even though I'm supposed to eat that at breakfast. Too bad. I love the sweetness, and it keeps me from craving something like a chocolate candy bar.
-> I drink water with almost every meal. And it has to be room temperature. It is harder for your body to digest cold water, so I drink room temperature water. I think it tastes better. I'm weird.
Dinner:
Pasta
Marinara
Muscles
Shrimp
Bread
Butter (Best Life)
Salad
Water
->Everyone always thinks that because I can't have dairy that I can't have gluten (pasta). I can! And I love it :) My dad made the marinara using olive oil. He never uses any cheese in dishes- that is only added at the table.
-> You already got a speech about bread, so now I am going to give the speech about butter. When I first began to get sick from dairy it was so hard to find a spread that didn't have some kind of dairy. My mom and I searched for hours reading ingredients and looking at prices. We finally found one that had less than 2% dairy that my body could handle, which was Smart Balance. Then we found Earth Balance which we all loved, and it didn't have any diary. The only problem was that it was super expensive. We have now found a new spread, Best Life, which is very cheap and we all like it (Except my dad, but he just likes to complain).
Dessert:
Coconut Ice Cream w/ Pretzels
-> I love ice cream, and I have finally found one that is pretty tasty. I tried soy ice cream, which is very gross. I actually found this ice cream this week, and I have fallen in love. It is so hard to watch everyone eat ice cream, and I am not allowed. Now I have something to eat too. :)
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Day # 2
Breakfast:
Egg
Potatoes
Onions
Vanilla Chai Tea
-> My dad made breakfast before me, so I made sure that I didn't use the same pan as him (because he loves to use butter). I also had to make sure that I didn't use the same spatula that he used, or to put my spatula in the same place that his was in. Usually I put everything in the sink to get it out of the way, and wash off the counter top.
Lunch:
Leftovers from the night before:
Pasta
Marniara
Shrimp
Salad
Water
-> Got extremely sick after lunch. I'm thinking that when someone put the food away last night, that someone put cheese in their dish and mixed it in there. No matter how careful I am, others ruin it for me. Not fun.
Dinner:
Kabasi
Potatoes
Carrots
Onions
Asparagus
-> Finally 5 hours after getting sick from lunch, I was able to eat dinner. My stomach was in so much pain
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Day # 3
Breakfast:
Pancakes
Syrup
V8 Fusion Blueberry and Pomegranate Juice
->I make my pancake mixture from scratch. I like to do this that way I can use whole wheat flour instead of unbleached white flour. The white flour turns to sugar in your system, so I like to substitute whenever I can. Also, I use almond milk. I used to drink soy milk, but my nutritionist told me how bad it really was. The companies who make it strip out all the nutrients, so you are left with nothing good. Plus, it makes everything more sweet, which throws everything off. I honestly love almond milk. It's a little sweeter than regular milk, but still delicious :).
Lunch:
California Roll
Sweet and Sour Pork w/ Red Sauce
White Rice
Egg Roll
Water
->I love California Rolls, and try to eat them as much as I can. I also can't help myself when it comes to fried foods, so I indulged. This day I got an epidural injection in my back, so I couldn't make myself lunch like I usually do, so I had my boyfriend bring me this. He is really food about my food allergies, and always asks if there is dairy in foods if I don't. Which means I didn't get sick after eating this, yay!
Dinner:
Turkey Club w/ wheat bread
Fries
Water
->When I go out (or have my parents bring my home something like they did tonight) I usually get sandwiches. They are the easiest thing to not get sick off of. The only thing I have to watch out for is if the sandwiches are served with lunch meat. I can't have regular lunch meat from the deli, because they preserve their meats in milk. Believe me, I found out the hard way. So now I have to make sure that if I get a sandwich that the meats are freshly cooked and not preserved in anything.
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Day # 4
Breakfast:
Scrambled eggs
Piece of Bacon
Flour Tortilla
(breakfast burrito minus the cheese)
Lunch:
Leftover Chinese from dinner last night
Snack:
Hot Chocolate w/ soy milk
->Starbucks is the only place that offers soy milk. It's a dollar more than regular milk, boo!, but at least I can enjoy a hot drink while I'm out. I once asked Dunkin Donuts if they had soy milk, and they looked at me like I had 3 heads!
Dinner:
Chicken
Egg Noodles
Mushroom Sauce
Turnip Greens
-> Dad made this at home, so I didn't have to worry about the sauce. Usually if I go out to eat, I have to get everything plain because they put butter in EVERYTHING.
Snack:
Soft Pretzel Bites w/ mustard instead of cheese (duh)
->I can actually eat the popcorn at the movies, because I don't think they use any dairy in anything. I believe it's all just flavoring, and they pass it off as "butter". When I was standing in line to get popcorn and pretzels, the sign on the 'butter' machine said "Liquid Flavoring". How disgusting does that sound? I stuck with the yummy pretzel bites instead of the popcorn.
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Day # 5
Breakfast:
French Toast
Syrup
V8 Fusion
-Love making french toast at my house because I can't get it when I go out.
Lunch:
Tuna Macaroni Salad-
Tuna Fish
Elbow noodles
Mayo
Sweet pickles
Red Onion
Celery
- I think it's so funny when people almost knock me over when I'm about to eat mayo. It DOES NOT have dairy in it. It has eggs. Eggs in my book are not dairy. Others will argue, but I think I'm right, so I don't care.
Dinner:
Turkey Tacos w/ lettuce, avocado, salsa, and tofu sour cream.
- Beef makes me sick, so I don't eat that either. I believe that even if I could eat it, I wouldn't. Ever since I stopped eating beef over a year ago, I have had some cravings but not much. I much rather eat another meat.
-And tofu sour cream is disgusting. It tastes nothing like the real stuff.
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Day # 6
Breakfast:
Scrambled Eggs
Toast
OJ
Lunch:
Salad works Autumn Harvest salad
Spring Mix
Craisins
Sunflower Seeds
Dried Apples
Carrots
Wheat Roll
Green Tea
-> I love this salad. It doesn't have any kind of dairy in it, so when I go up to the counter I don't have to scream at the servers for forgetting and putting dairy in my food. You don't even know how annoying that gets, so when I go to Saladworks I can pretend that I don't have a food allergy. The only thing that I have to be careful of is when they pick up the cheese, it doesn't fall into the other compartments. I've only gotten sick from that happening once, so that isn't that bad.
Dinner:
Ribs
Salad
Baked Potato
Water
-I have to be careful about sauces when I go out. I ate this at my house, so I was fine, but when I eat out I always ask if they put any butter in it (which they usually do, and I found out the wrong way).
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Day # 7
Breakfast:
Cinnamon Raisin Bagel
Best Life Butter
Green Tea
Lunch:
Chicken & Wild Rice Soup
Wheat Roll
Chocolate Milk
-> Lots of soups have milk or beef in them, so I always check the back of the can before I eat it. I must say after 3 years of not having dairy, I'm getting pretty tired of chicken noodle soup.
Dinner:
Shrimp& Grits
-> My dad likes to try out new recipes, and this was one of them. It was really good, but I know it would have been better if it had cheese on it. He made mine without cheese, which means he puts a portion aside for me and then puts dairy in the rest for the rest of my family. The only thing bad about this is if I want more, too bad. I went through this tonight, and had to find something else to snack on after different to fill me up.
Dessert:
Strawberries & Chocolate
->Obviously I can't have milk chocolate, so I eat dark or semi-sweet chocolate. These don't have milk in them, so I can have chocolate. I can't have normal candy bars though, which I miss a lot. It is hard to watch people around me eat m&m's, reese's, and so on and I can't have a single bite. I hate when people use the "I wish I couldn't eat dairy that way I could lose weight". Wow. Do people really think that's how it works?
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Trader Joe's that I went to was in Marlton right on Route 73. I try to take a trip there once a month. They have almond milk, soy milk, and they even have an organic drink that my family likes to keep in the cabinet just incase I run out of almond milk. It doesn't have to be refrigrated until opened, and it is made out of quinoa which is really good for you.
They have regular milk at Trader Joe's, which is organic.
The beef section is small, but they offer organic beef. It looks pretty pricey. They also have organic chicken and pork.
The Earth Balance that I used to get is there, but it's expensive. It costs almost 5 dollars for a small container of it.
The people working at Trader Joe's were very helpful and very easy to find. There were a lot of people there, but they were very friendly.
The Shoprite that I went to is in Clementon right on Blackwood Clementon Road. There they offer the soy milk and almond milk that I drink, but not the organic drink that I like. They have a small section of organic things, but not much is offered there.
They only have regular milk at Shoprite, nothing organic.
The beef section in this Shoprite is huge. They have all different kinds of meat, and many are really cheap. None of the beef is ogranic.
They do not offer the Earth Balance at Shoprite.
The people working at Shoprite were very friendly, even though they didn't know where anything was. There were a lot of people shopping when I was there, so it was hard to find an employee to ask for help.
Below is my food journal and field research. To look at Alyssa's food journal and field research, click here.
Day # 1
Breakfast:
Multi-grain Thomas bagel w/ tofu cream cheese
Green Tea
-> I know I can have bagels, because most companies do not use dairy in them.
Now for the tofu cream cheese. It is the only one of it's kind that I can actually eat. On the cap it says "Better than Cream Cheese!" Let me just say right now, if they have to write that out, then it is obviously not true. It is definitely not better than real cream cheese, but I deal with it.
-> I try to drink as much tea as I can, especially Green Tea, because it is really good for your stomach and digestion. I like it best cold, so if I have time in the morning (which I did this morning) I will make a cup with honey (also good for you) and throw in a couple ice cubes and I'm good to go.
Lunch:
Peanut Butter and Raspberry Preserves on Wheat Bread
Banana
Wheat Thins
Grapes
Water
-> First I want to talk about the bread. I had no idea that some bread had milk in it, until I ate some and got extremely sick. Now before I even make a sandwich, I look at the ingredients to make sure milk isn't listed. My dad goes grocery shopping for my family, and buys bread with milk in it. Way to go dad! So even at home, I always look.
->Peanut Butter is the next thing I want to talk about. Jif and Skippy are no longer allowed in my house. We buy Smart Balance creamy peanut butter. This doesn't have any of the hydrogenated fats that the other peanut butters have.
-> I try to eat a lot of fruit with my lunch, even though I'm supposed to eat that at breakfast. Too bad. I love the sweetness, and it keeps me from craving something like a chocolate candy bar.
-> I drink water with almost every meal. And it has to be room temperature. It is harder for your body to digest cold water, so I drink room temperature water. I think it tastes better. I'm weird.
Dinner:
Pasta
Marinara
Muscles
Shrimp
Bread
Butter (Best Life)
Salad
Water
->Everyone always thinks that because I can't have dairy that I can't have gluten (pasta). I can! And I love it :) My dad made the marinara using olive oil. He never uses any cheese in dishes- that is only added at the table.
-> You already got a speech about bread, so now I am going to give the speech about butter. When I first began to get sick from dairy it was so hard to find a spread that didn't have some kind of dairy. My mom and I searched for hours reading ingredients and looking at prices. We finally found one that had less than 2% dairy that my body could handle, which was Smart Balance. Then we found Earth Balance which we all loved, and it didn't have any diary. The only problem was that it was super expensive. We have now found a new spread, Best Life, which is very cheap and we all like it (Except my dad, but he just likes to complain).
Dessert:
Coconut Ice Cream w/ Pretzels
-> I love ice cream, and I have finally found one that is pretty tasty. I tried soy ice cream, which is very gross. I actually found this ice cream this week, and I have fallen in love. It is so hard to watch everyone eat ice cream, and I am not allowed. Now I have something to eat too. :)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day # 2
Breakfast:
Egg
Potatoes
Onions
Vanilla Chai Tea
-> My dad made breakfast before me, so I made sure that I didn't use the same pan as him (because he loves to use butter). I also had to make sure that I didn't use the same spatula that he used, or to put my spatula in the same place that his was in. Usually I put everything in the sink to get it out of the way, and wash off the counter top.
Lunch:
Leftovers from the night before:
Pasta
Marniara
Shrimp
Salad
Water
-> Got extremely sick after lunch. I'm thinking that when someone put the food away last night, that someone put cheese in their dish and mixed it in there. No matter how careful I am, others ruin it for me. Not fun.
Dinner:
Kabasi
Potatoes
Carrots
Onions
Asparagus
-> Finally 5 hours after getting sick from lunch, I was able to eat dinner. My stomach was in so much pain
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day # 3
Breakfast:
Pancakes
Syrup
V8 Fusion Blueberry and Pomegranate Juice
->I make my pancake mixture from scratch. I like to do this that way I can use whole wheat flour instead of unbleached white flour. The white flour turns to sugar in your system, so I like to substitute whenever I can. Also, I use almond milk. I used to drink soy milk, but my nutritionist told me how bad it really was. The companies who make it strip out all the nutrients, so you are left with nothing good. Plus, it makes everything more sweet, which throws everything off. I honestly love almond milk. It's a little sweeter than regular milk, but still delicious :).
Lunch:
California Roll
Sweet and Sour Pork w/ Red Sauce
White Rice
Egg Roll
Water
->I love California Rolls, and try to eat them as much as I can. I also can't help myself when it comes to fried foods, so I indulged. This day I got an epidural injection in my back, so I couldn't make myself lunch like I usually do, so I had my boyfriend bring me this. He is really food about my food allergies, and always asks if there is dairy in foods if I don't. Which means I didn't get sick after eating this, yay!
Dinner:
Turkey Club w/ wheat bread
Fries
Water
->When I go out (or have my parents bring my home something like they did tonight) I usually get sandwiches. They are the easiest thing to not get sick off of. The only thing I have to watch out for is if the sandwiches are served with lunch meat. I can't have regular lunch meat from the deli, because they preserve their meats in milk. Believe me, I found out the hard way. So now I have to make sure that if I get a sandwich that the meats are freshly cooked and not preserved in anything.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day # 4
Breakfast:
Scrambled eggs
Piece of Bacon
Flour Tortilla
(breakfast burrito minus the cheese)
Lunch:
Leftover Chinese from dinner last night
Snack:
Hot Chocolate w/ soy milk
->Starbucks is the only place that offers soy milk. It's a dollar more than regular milk, boo!, but at least I can enjoy a hot drink while I'm out. I once asked Dunkin Donuts if they had soy milk, and they looked at me like I had 3 heads!
Dinner:
Chicken
Egg Noodles
Mushroom Sauce
Turnip Greens
-> Dad made this at home, so I didn't have to worry about the sauce. Usually if I go out to eat, I have to get everything plain because they put butter in EVERYTHING.
Snack:
Soft Pretzel Bites w/ mustard instead of cheese (duh)
->I can actually eat the popcorn at the movies, because I don't think they use any dairy in anything. I believe it's all just flavoring, and they pass it off as "butter". When I was standing in line to get popcorn and pretzels, the sign on the 'butter' machine said "Liquid Flavoring". How disgusting does that sound? I stuck with the yummy pretzel bites instead of the popcorn.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day # 5
Breakfast:
French Toast
Syrup
V8 Fusion
-Love making french toast at my house because I can't get it when I go out.
Lunch:
Tuna Macaroni Salad-
Tuna Fish
Elbow noodles
Mayo
Sweet pickles
Red Onion
Celery
- I think it's so funny when people almost knock me over when I'm about to eat mayo. It DOES NOT have dairy in it. It has eggs. Eggs in my book are not dairy. Others will argue, but I think I'm right, so I don't care.
Dinner:
Turkey Tacos w/ lettuce, avocado, salsa, and tofu sour cream.
- Beef makes me sick, so I don't eat that either. I believe that even if I could eat it, I wouldn't. Ever since I stopped eating beef over a year ago, I have had some cravings but not much. I much rather eat another meat.
-And tofu sour cream is disgusting. It tastes nothing like the real stuff.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day # 6
Breakfast:
Scrambled Eggs
Toast
OJ
Lunch:
Salad works Autumn Harvest salad
Spring Mix
Craisins
Sunflower Seeds
Dried Apples
Carrots
Wheat Roll
Green Tea
-> I love this salad. It doesn't have any kind of dairy in it, so when I go up to the counter I don't have to scream at the servers for forgetting and putting dairy in my food. You don't even know how annoying that gets, so when I go to Saladworks I can pretend that I don't have a food allergy. The only thing that I have to be careful of is when they pick up the cheese, it doesn't fall into the other compartments. I've only gotten sick from that happening once, so that isn't that bad.
Dinner:
Ribs
Salad
Baked Potato
Water
-I have to be careful about sauces when I go out. I ate this at my house, so I was fine, but when I eat out I always ask if they put any butter in it (which they usually do, and I found out the wrong way).
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day # 7
Breakfast:
Cinnamon Raisin Bagel
Best Life Butter
Green Tea
Lunch:
Chicken & Wild Rice Soup
Wheat Roll
Chocolate Milk
-> Lots of soups have milk or beef in them, so I always check the back of the can before I eat it. I must say after 3 years of not having dairy, I'm getting pretty tired of chicken noodle soup.
Dinner:
Shrimp& Grits
-> My dad likes to try out new recipes, and this was one of them. It was really good, but I know it would have been better if it had cheese on it. He made mine without cheese, which means he puts a portion aside for me and then puts dairy in the rest for the rest of my family. The only thing bad about this is if I want more, too bad. I went through this tonight, and had to find something else to snack on after different to fill me up.
Dessert:
Strawberries & Chocolate
->Obviously I can't have milk chocolate, so I eat dark or semi-sweet chocolate. These don't have milk in them, so I can have chocolate. I can't have normal candy bars though, which I miss a lot. It is hard to watch people around me eat m&m's, reese's, and so on and I can't have a single bite. I hate when people use the "I wish I couldn't eat dairy that way I could lose weight". Wow. Do people really think that's how it works?
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Trader Joe's that I went to was in Marlton right on Route 73. I try to take a trip there once a month. They have almond milk, soy milk, and they even have an organic drink that my family likes to keep in the cabinet just incase I run out of almond milk. It doesn't have to be refrigrated until opened, and it is made out of quinoa which is really good for you.
They have regular milk at Trader Joe's, which is organic.
The beef section is small, but they offer organic beef. It looks pretty pricey. They also have organic chicken and pork.
The Earth Balance that I used to get is there, but it's expensive. It costs almost 5 dollars for a small container of it.
The people working at Trader Joe's were very helpful and very easy to find. There were a lot of people there, but they were very friendly.
The Shoprite that I went to is in Clementon right on Blackwood Clementon Road. There they offer the soy milk and almond milk that I drink, but not the organic drink that I like. They have a small section of organic things, but not much is offered there.
They only have regular milk at Shoprite, nothing organic.
The beef section in this Shoprite is huge. They have all different kinds of meat, and many are really cheap. None of the beef is ogranic.
They do not offer the Earth Balance at Shoprite.
The people working at Shoprite were very friendly, even though they didn't know where anything was. There were a lot of people shopping when I was there, so it was hard to find an employee to ask for help.
The Trader Joe's that I went to was in Marlton right on Route 73. I try to take a trip there once a month. They have almond milk, soy milk, and they even have an organic drink that my family likes to keep in the cabinet just incase I run out of almond milk. It doesn't have to be refrigrated until opened, and it is made out of quinoa which is really good for you.
They have regular milk at Trader Joe's, which is organic.
The beef section is small, but they offer organic beef. It looks pretty pricey. They also have organic chicken and pork.
The Earth Balance that I used to get is there, but it's expensive. It costs almost 5 dollars for a small container of it.
The people working at Trader Joe's were very helpful and very easy to find. There were a lot of people there, but they were very friendly.
The Shoprite that I went to is in Clementon right on Blackwood Clementon Road. There they offer the soy milk and almond milk that I drink, but not the organic drink that I like. They have a small section of organic things, but not much is offered there.
They only have regular milk at Shoprite, nothing organic.
The beef section in this Shoprite is huge. They have all different kinds of meat, and many are really cheap. None of the beef is ogranic.
They do not offer the Earth Balance at Shoprite.
The people working at Shoprite were very friendly, even though they didn't know where anything was. There were a lot of people shopping when I was there, so it was hard to find an employee to ask for help.
They have regular milk at Trader Joe's, which is organic.
The beef section is small, but they offer organic beef. It looks pretty pricey. They also have organic chicken and pork.
The Earth Balance that I used to get is there, but it's expensive. It costs almost 5 dollars for a small container of it.
The people working at Trader Joe's were very helpful and very easy to find. There were a lot of people there, but they were very friendly.
The Shoprite that I went to is in Clementon right on Blackwood Clementon Road. There they offer the soy milk and almond milk that I drink, but not the organic drink that I like. They have a small section of organic things, but not much is offered there.
They only have regular milk at Shoprite, nothing organic.
The beef section in this Shoprite is huge. They have all different kinds of meat, and many are really cheap. None of the beef is ogranic.
They do not offer the Earth Balance at Shoprite.
The people working at Shoprite were very friendly, even though they didn't know where anything was. There were a lot of people shopping when I was there, so it was hard to find an employee to ask for help.
