Eating healthy can be challenging especially when I have multiple food allergies.  Lactose, a common allergy to the enzymes often found in dairy products and Soy, which is found in EVERYTHING. So I’ve learned to make my own “Buttery Spread’ which isn’t always a butter but a combination of coconut milk and millet. I could go out to buy the butter that is Lactose and Soy free but for a little tub can cost me anywhere from $4.00 to $6.00, and being on a fixed income, is too much for my wallet.
I was told to eat protein bars... that sounds simple enough. However, everything has soy in it. The ingredients may not say SOY:
 Edamame , Miso, Natto, Shoyu, Soy (soy albumin, soy cheese, soy fiber, soy flour, soy grits, soy ice cream, soy milk, soy nuts, soy sprouts, soy yogurt) , Soya, Soybean (curd, granules), Soy protein (concentrate, hydrolyzed, isolate) , Soy sauce , Tamari, Tempeh, Textured vegetable protein (TVP) , Tofu.
(Some of the foods that have these names in there I don’t eat because of sodium)
And I’ve learned to read everything. Thank goodness there are cookbooks out there that cater to my allergies. True, it’s not common, but it’s out there. So my kitchen looks like a health food market.
                                                  “Was I always this way?’

I started to show digestive problems with Lactose while I was pregnant with my youngest son. I didn’t like cheese but there are some foods with cheese I love to eat. It started with the usual stomach cramps but over time it started to go from pains to gas and diarrhea on top of my cramps. So from there I went to Soy milk. I still had the bloating, gas, cramps associated with lactose. It never crossed my mind for a while for I just thought it was still something to do with the lactose in my coffee or ice cream. The pain became too much for me to handle. I began to go online and research allergic reactions of soy. All of the things I’ve been dealing with was listed in front of me but with everything you read on line isn’t always true. So I started a self-test. I went to Starbucks coffee because they had Coconut Milk and I already checked the label to make sure there was no soy. I drank my usual coffee order but this time with coconut milk and something amazing happened…. NO STOMACH ISSUES.  
From there, I looked up all the other names for soy and began to see how many food items have it in it. Again, being on a fixed income, I had to order many foods online for finding specialty foods can be hard.
Instead of always spending money all the time, I’m trying to make my own, Makes me more mindful of what goes into my mouth.
Avocados, blueberries also cause me stomach issues. Which makes sense for I’m allergic to Latex. Some of the same enzymes in avocados are found in latex.  Strange but true. 
So I can eat wood, stones and maybe grass hahahahaha