Corn Allergy...now what?

So once we discovered all of this right before around Christmas last year, we were a little overwhelmed. I didn't worry too much at first, I just thought no more corn with dinner and probably no popcorn. He loved those 2 things so much, so having them as often as we did surely wasn't helping the situation...After some online research, we found a different story.

Corn is in EVERYTHING!!! I was SHOCKED when I began to read The Corn-Free Cookbook & Survival Guide by Steele and Knott (which is a wonderful resource!). Corn, or corn derivatives, are a staple in most all processed foods. High fructose corn syrup and corn starch are in a crazy amount of foods. I met with a dietician at our local grocery store and she gave me some ideas on the organic items and allergy-free foods, but corn is such a prevalent "natural" ingredient, that very few items work for us.

As we were nearing the end of his 2nd treatment, we began to eliminate all corn products from our diet. This was a huge undertaking and involved a complete overhaul of our pantry, fridge and freezer. We started conservatively and took out all "corn" ingredients (corn syrup, starch, meal, etc.). Our little guy did better, but within a few weeks, the vomiting returned. After consulting with the GI doc, we agreed to another round of treatments as we worked to get out all of the corn possible. That list is MUCH more cumbersome and includes derivatives of corn like: dextrose, fructose, citric acid and caramel. There is a comprehensive list in the book or on websites like cornallergen.com .