About
My name is Alicia. I am a Wife and stay at home Mom with three beautiful girls, and a sweet Golden Doodle named Roscoe. I have the most wonderful nieces and nephews that anyone could ever ask for! The Lord has truly blessed my life with an amazing family and Church family. I am so Thankful to be able to share my experiences, recipes and day to day healthy living with all of you. My hope in doing this blog is to help you feel more informed and confident in your cooking, when dealing with food allergies.
My Family’s Story
When I was a child, we realized I was allergic to most all medicines and had a severe allergy to mushrooms. Even over the counter drugs like ibuprofen is a no, no for me, due to causing severe stomach cramps. Then, I had to add milk to that long list of things that were definitely bad for me. These issues made my Mom seek out natural remedies and do her own research on how to help me when I got sick. I haven’t been on an antibiotic for the last 25 years, thanks to natural and homeopathic products. Due to this, I have also learned to do my own research and try to be as informed as I possibly can about the health of my family.
When I became a new Mom wanting to make the best decisions that I could for this sweet little girl. I tried to breast feed and ended up having to supplement due to low supply. I was told to supplement with Enfamil. She started having diaper rash and tummy trouble so we switched her over to goat milk. Our family Chiropractor told me that goat milk was as close to breast milk as I could get and had lots of healthy fat for her brain development. She thrived on it and we never looked back. Then, our 2nd daughter was born and I breast fed till low supply hit around 3 months. I did the same thing, gave half goat milk, half breast milk. I thought we had this figured out and all would be smooth sailing. Nope! That was not the case. When our middle daughter was two she seemed to have lots of stomach issues and eczema. I just figured she had sensitive skin and probably had inherited the stomach issues that both sides of the family had. It was about six months later that I started to see an odd pattern with both girls. They would randomly have stomach cramps and throw up. The first time, I just figured it was a virus and they were exposed at the same time. The second time, I found it a little odd and by the third time happening, I knew a virus or sickness had nothing to do with it. I was wracking my brain of anything we had eaten that was the same as the times before. Anna would have flare ups when she had certain milk products and eventually with gluten products. Audrey was with my parents and had two bites of wheat toast. Within five minutes, she had white streaks from her eye down to her cheek. This prompted me to meet with a licensed natural professional to see what I could do. That’s when I started a food diary and read how to properly follow one. I eliminated one trigger food at a time. After 60 days without any dairy product, I slowly added some back in to see what reaction they had. Milk was definitely a problem. Next, came taking gluten out and boy was this hard for all of us to do! However, for 60 days we ate zero gluten. I couldn’t believe the change in the girls AND my husband. He noticed that his headaches, joint pain, and indigestion seemed to be gone. He and the girls felt so much better. Anna was less hyperactive, Audrey came to me and said how good her belly felt and she stopped having stomach issues at all. Even the eczema seemed to be clearing up. This was so eye opening to me! Now, I finally knew what the issues were. I was told if I wanted to test for celiac, I would have to put the kids back on gluten for at least 30 days in order for the test to be accurate. I chose to not attempt this because both girls and my Husband would have been so sick; just for them to clinically tell me on paper what I already knew. It just wasn’t worth it to see them miserable! Since then we have had ups and downs trying to find what foods seem okay, but might trigger a response. It takes a lot of time and effort to change your whole way of life. It simply can’t be done in one day. My advice is to start small and slowly change into a new happy, healthy life, one bite at a time.
My Mission
My intent in making this blog is to help families, like mine, that are dealing with food allergies or intolerance. My family has been dealing with food related issues for the last ten years. Two of those years were spent trying to figure out just what foods were the issue. I know, just how hard it is, to have to change your whole way of living.
Are you one of those people that thinks gluten free can’t ever taste like normal food? Do you think gluten and dairy free is too expensive? Are you overwhelmed at all the different types of flours and which one to use? If you answered “yes” to any of these questions, then Pure and Simple Mama was made for you! I want to help you on your journey and give you the information and confidence to feel like you can do this! I will give amazing recipes, tips in cooking and day to day living, all my favorite cooking ingredients/supplies, and where I find the best deals. All my recipes have been tested by the most critical critics there are, my Family. As you know, Family will be brutally honest and that just makes me more determined to make every recipe as amazing as I can.
I have always made it my mission to recreate foods for my family that they felt they were missing out on. So, I spent years researching and experimenting in the kitchen. I enjoy helping others and would love for you to join me, at Pure and Simple Mama.