Corn sensitivity and chicken?

[tooticky]

I have been trying to eliminate corn from our diet for dd's eczema, but having just read through http://www.cornallergens.com/list/av...n-products.php I am feeling a bit depressed...

Chicken? Really? I had been relying on this as one of her sources of protein, and was even considering eating some myself (I've been a vegetarian for 15 years, but am getting to the point where I would EVEN EAT CHICKEN if we could get a good night's sleep! )

Do any of you have thoughts on chicken?

I had been thinking of doing a serious one week TED with just chicken, rice, and yams.

We've already been dairy, wheat, soy, egg, fish, shellfish, and SOMEWHAT corn-free (I thought we were corn-free until I read through that website) for 2 1/2 weeks and there has been a definite improvement in her eczema and sleeping, but we're still not to baseline.

I have been eating nuts (but not peanuts) and legumes, as I need a protein source. I suppose I could eat quinoa, I just really dislike the taste of it.

I have always suspected that corn is a problem for her, so definitely want to eliminate it....

So - chicken?

TIA for any advice.

[Niamh]

Several people on the Homesteading Today forum eliminate certain things from their chicken's diets to accomodate their own allergies. There are people on there with corn-free and wheat-free chickens.

I don't eliminate corn from my chicken's diet - it never has been part of their diet. If you can find a local chicken producer, you'll likely be able to find one who either doesn't feed corn or who will feed some without if you buy in bulk (say 10 or more). Factory produced chickens have to be fed corn so that they grow faster and bigger. A bonus to locally produced chickens is that you're more likely to be happy about the way they're raised.

[tooticky]

Hmmm....

We buy our chicken from a local operation, but it is a fairly large farm. I have just emailed them to ask them if corn is one of the grains fed to their chickens.

If so, I have some other ideas on where we could get chicken.


Thanks....

[WildIris]

Just echoing what the PP said--your best bet is to find a local source straight from the farmer so you can ask them questions. I'm corn allergic and I only eat pastured chicken from a local place. I'm not even sure if they eat some corn, I think they do get some, in fact, but it hasn't bothered me yet. Aside from what the chickens eat, I'm just happy to be able to get some chicken that hasn't been sprayed or rinsed with anything corny, and that I don't have to worry about corny stuff in the packaging. I doubt I will ever eat store-bought chicken again, just because of worries about the packaging.

[Chinese Pistache]

For the TED, i would recommend free range, organic and all that. Then, trial corn-fed chicken when you get to baseline. My dd has an IgE allergy to corn and is able to eat corn fed chicken. Foster Farms chicken from Costco (it has another brand name in some parts of the country) is corn free as far as not being injected with anything corny or having corn in the packaging, and my dd eats it just fine.

[changingseasons]

Are they required to say if they've injected the meat with something???

DD seemed fine with chicken for a long time (her first food was chicken bone broth), and then suddenly seemed to react to it. I never even thought that I needed to keep track of the brands that we were buying... :

I'm really curious about all this now. We're also having a discussion about this kind of stuff in the "Soy in Meat" thread.... very interesting. I'm definitely going to be on the hunt for some better meat. Trying to figure out which bill to skip paying so that we can afford it.

[tooticky]

I heard back from our chicken guy - they are corn fed but he offered to look around for some wheat fed ones for us.

Of course I'm not sure yet whether or not dd is also sensitive to wheat!

I wonder if it makes more sense to feed her organic lamb during our TED. I am assuming that I can find grass fed lamb somewhere hereabouts...

I would guess that turkey would have the same problem as chicken, no?

Is there a recipe around somewhere for allergen free bone broth? I found the one for regular bone broth, but it had onions and other veggies in it. Do you just boil some bones in water?