Forgiveness Versus Worthlessness

This weekend there was a bit of a situation.  A friend of mine pointed out something to me about myself and I don't think he even really meant to.  It's true that other people can make a fantastic mirror to ourselves.  We just need to be open enough to look.  In my case, it was too much of a slap in the face to ignore.

To save on the drama, because it's their business, not mine, I'll give you the short version.  My friend's wife has a tendency of doing things that pretty much shows she doesn't give a damn about anyone but herself.  She always backs them up with these excuses that don't hold up any deeper than the surface.  While other people leave these little pinholes in their logic, she leaves the grand canyon.  Even with these shoddy excuses and pathetic attempts to cover herself, her husband still forgives her every time and acts as though nothing happened at all.  Why does he do this?  Because he makes her feel bad.

The truth is with the way she's acting she deserves to feel bad.  It's not like he's actively going out and tearing her down about something she can't help.  She's done something that he finds hurtful.  She makes him feel bad or hurt and in return she's having to suffer the results of her own actions.  The person making her feel bad is none other than herself.

Unfortunately, time and time again the husband feels bad.  I can understand that.  If you truly love someone you don't want them to feel bad.  You'll probably do just about anything to make them feel better, once you're over your own pain about what they've done.  Sadly, doing that means when all is said and done they learn that all they have to do is pout a bit, let a few tears drop, and before you know it, everything's just as it should be.  If they're lucky, the innocent party in it all feels so poorly that they're now the one taking actions to make it right, when they did nothing wrong to feel bad about!

How does this apply to me?  That husband and I have a lot in common.  When someone in my life wrongs me, I tend to act, well, cold and a little mean.  Should that person cry, whine, feel bad, I don't tell them, "You brought it on yourself by treating me poorly."  No, I tend to open my heart to them and feel bad that I said something that might be construed as mean.  I feel bad, when in reality, I'm not the one who should feel bad at all.  I'm the one who was hurt, and my forgiving nature is causing me to set myself up to go through it again.

The truth is, by forgiving and forgetting, you can easily become a door mat.  You can easily be walked over because people come to realize one thing above all else, all they have to do is feel a little bad and you're head over-heels in apologies and trying to make it better.  You're not the one who did anything wrong.  You're completely entitled to express your pain.  However, they make you feel that you're not.  They make you feel they were justified.

This is exactly how I got in an abusive and controlling relationship.  Instead of putting my foot down and calling things what they were, I kept making excuses for him.  Why?  He would make excuses to me and therefore I would forgive him.  The whole world told me I was being an idiot, or worse, blamed me.  I felt so bad all the time that I thought it was all my fault.  It took me a good long while to realize that I was being conditioned into accepting pretty much anything he did was for the best, even though it meant using people, losing friends, and having a completely unstable lifestyle.

The truth is that's not forgiveness.  That's a lack of self-worth.  Forgiveness is a good thing, but you can't "forgive and forget", not completely.  You need to recognize patterns in the person's life and if they're still repeating the same action, then they don't feel sorry for what they're doing.  It's time to cut your losses and leave or put your foot down.  There is no excuse for hurting people you supposedly love, which means pouting and feeling bad shouldn't make anyone feel guilty about being upset.

As sad as it is that my friend is going through this, I know I can't change his situation.  That doesn't mean I can't learn from his situation and bring it into my own life.  I need to stop being a doormat.  I need to stop accepting weak excuses and an upset look because I have no reason to feel bad when other people's actions upset me.  They are responsible for their own actions, not me.  In reality, if I'm upset or hurt, I've got every right to own my own feelings.  If someone does something to hurt me, I have every right to feel bad.  If they feel bad about what they've done, it's probably their conscience speaking.  This will sound horrible, but they're getting what they asked for.  What you put out always returns to you, whether you call it karma, the law of three, holy justice, or whatever.

So what am I getting at?  It's about time I developed a spine.  It's time I stopped trying to live with things I shouldn't have to live with.  It's time I stop feeling guilty about things when I've done nothing wrong.  It's time I start looking at the people in my life, and instead of forgiving them blindly and welcoming them back in my life with open arms, I need to put my foot down.  Yes, I'll always forgive, but sometimes it's better to forgive and walk away than put yourself in a situation where I'll be hurt because that other person has some growing up to do before our relationship is anything more than hurtful experiences.

My friend may never know he's inspired me this way.  I doubt he'll read this blog, and I'm not about to tell him.  No matter how I try and say it, it'll come across as though I'm expecting him to change.  I hate seeing him walked all over, but I can't ask him to change.  I can't tell him how to live his life.  However, I need to do this for me.  I have a feeling my life is going to be so much better as a result, and I'm going to be a much stronger person.  This is going to be a growing experience for me.  I can't wait.

What to Do about Eggs...

As promised to my facebook readers, here's a list of egg substitutes I've found and some suggestions about planning to use them.  Keep in mind, I haven't tried all of these yet, so I can't say how well they may or may not work.  Each of them alters the consistency of the recipe in a different way, so it can't hurt to try an few things out and see what works for you.  Here's the list or substitutes equivalent to one egg., and I'll follow it with some thoughts on using them:

• 2 Tbsp Potato Starch
• 1 Banana, Mashed
• 1/4 cup Apple Sauce
• 1/4 cup of Mashed Potatoes
• 1/4 cup canned Pumpkin or Squash
• 1/4 cup pureed Prunes
• 1/4 cup of Soft Tofu
• 2 Tbsp water, 1 Tbsp oil, 2 Tsp Baking Powder, mixed
• 1 Tbsp ground Flax Seed simmered in 3 Tbsp Water
• An egg replacer called Ener G

Of course, when looking to replace eggs you've really got to think about what you're using the bread for in a recipe.  For example, banana, applesauce, and mashed potatoes aren't likely to help in a bread that needs to rise.  Mashed potatoes can have a lumpy consistency when hand made, something to keep in mind when cooking with egg.  However, they may offer the perfect sticky consistency to replace the egg.

In reality, it's a game of cooking chemistry.  What can you use that will fulfill the purpose?  It's also a great lesson in science as you research what the egg does in each individual recipe.  I can't wait to start trying some of these substitutions!

Oh, and just want egg whites?  Take one Tbsp of plain agar powder and mix it with an equal part of water.  Whip it, chill it, and whip it again for a suitable egg white substitute!

What Can I Eat?

This whole thing was frustrating before, but now I feel like I'm being starved!  Going off of commercially-made foods, processed foods, is a lot harder than I'd ever imagined.  I had no idea it was going to be this hard!

I'll be honest, the biggest problem I have with going off of everything is not knowing what to eat.  It's not like I have a nutritionist at my disposal to advise me on what I can and can't have, though that would be lovely.  Instead I have to figure it out as I go along.  I have to play with what I need and what I'm missing out on in my diet.  Right about now it feels like I'm missing out on a good deal, but that's also because I've been programmed by society to eat so many of these processed foods.

Going out to eat has become a bit of an impossibility.  I've looked at many menus and as much as they offer gluten-free solutions, many of them are known for still using eggs and dairy in the baking process for breads and the like.  For example, a friend of mine suggested Jason's Deli does a gluten-free menu.  Unfortunately, having checked their menu, all I can have is the salad bar...and then the only dressing I can have is oil and vinegar, which I'm not terribly fond of to begin with.  Everything else on their gluten-free menu has eggs, milk, or soy.  It's not exactly easy to find a food that's free of all of those things, again, unless I hit up the salad bar. It's not exactly fun to be eating rabbit food when everyone else is eating something so delicious looking.

I've also learned that making things from scratch means really making everything from scratch.  Just going to the grocery store to pick up some beef broth I realized it's got dairy in it as well as tons of soy.  Beef stock is even worse with honey.  I'm kind of glad I've never used beef stock before!  The more I go along the more I realize that I do have to make 100% of my meals from scratch.  I can't even use prepackaged ingredients because everything's got additives I just can't have.  I think it might just be fun to start making my own stuff from beginning to end, but at the same time, this whole allergy thing is sapping my energy.  I just don't have the energy for that whole process.  At the same time, if I cheat and eat things I shouldn't, or starve myself, then where am I going to be?  Without the energy to do it!  It's a catch 22 no matter what I do.

Thankfully, this new diet does mean eating more regularly.  I can no longer snack throughout the day unless it's fruits and veggies.  That means I'm more likely to eat fruits and veggies, and since they don't fill me up the same way, I'm still hungry come meal time, though I haven't really been eating meals all that often.  Even so, I'm starting to feel like I'm getting somewhere with all of this, even if it is just a small change towards healthier living.  Every small step is one step closer, right?

To My Reader!

I ran into one of my readers today at the gas station!  That was awesome!  I'm so happy to know that I'm actually connecting with people, people I may not even personally know, people that may not be a part of my daily life.  I think that's fantastic!  That completely made my day.

It was also made aware that you needed to be a registered user to post comments on my blog, so she was unable to leave a comment.  Well, I changed that, so everyone can now make comments, and please do!  I love hearing back from my readers!  I love hearing what all of you have to say about what I'm doing, the experiences I'm having, and everything else!  Definitely feel free to share opinions, ideas, feedback, and whatever else crosses your mind!

I have to thank that reader I met at the gas station today.  Not only did that make my day, but it makes me smile to know how many lives I'm touching.  It makes me feel like I'm really doing something with my life.  Now if only I'd thought to take a picture with you today to post on the blog too!  Wouldn't that be something?

Thanks so much to everyone for reading.  Usually I don't blog on Fridays, but I felt it was a special occasion and I really needed to share!  Thanks so much for making this possible!

Grocery Shopping for a New Diet

Grocery shopping for a larger family is already hard enough without adding more complications.  We've got three children and three adults in this house.  It's not easy to find foods that all of us will eat, and that's not even looking into the reality that we're also in a house with food allergies.  I know some people have told me I may as well just let everyone eat what they like, but that's not as easy as it sounds.  That could result in making five dinners every day because not everyone can eat the same things.  I'm not about to do that.  Instead, I've decided to take the whole house with me on my journey through allergy land!

At this point, we're avoiding a whole huge list of things, and let me tell you, they're in everything!  The hardest one to escape seems to be soy.  While making things from scratch with a gluten substitute isn't that bad, and there's plenty of ways to avoid dairy, even the substitutes for dairy contain soy (and sometimes soy and dairy combined!) which makes trying to avoid soy an interesting challenge.  To simplify things, I'm cutting soy out of my diet last because, well, I still want to be able to add butter to things a little bit longer.  It's not easy trying to escape these ingredients!

When we go to the store we've got a lot to take into consideration.  I have all of my allergies, and Marrok (the former owner of the perfect grunge shirt) has his nut allergies.  That means we've got to be very selective about what we get.  To further complicate things, we're a pork-free household, which means we've got one more option off the list.  At present we're avoiding poultry, too, as it's often injected with casein to keep it fresh.  This means fish, beef, lamb, and a lot of vegetables.  We even have to be careful about our dairy substitutes as many of them contain nuts.  Obviously soy milk is out, and Marrok can't have almond milk.  Surprisingly, coconut milk comes with a warning that it may contain almonds.  We may have to change over to rice milk depending on how he reacts.  That may not be a bad thing considering I actually like rice milk for cooking.  As he's said, we just need to make sure we have a phone handy in case of emergency.  I don't want my need for healthy living to kill him!

Shopping at Walmart, unfortunately, proves problematic.  They don't have very much selection on anything.  It seems like they're part of the culture that feeds into unhealthy America, and if I could afford to, I'd boycott the store.  Unfortunately, Walmart seems to be one of those companies no one but the rich can afford to boycott.  When it comes to home goods, clothing, and everything else, their prices can't be beat.  However, this isn't exactly the time for my rant on how Walmart is part of the downfall of this country and it's economy.  I'm trying to focus on something much happier, my own health.

Having little other option, and wanting to make gravy to go with my new version of shepherd's pie, I had to pick up some kind of flour.  Sadly, there aren't a lot of options for flours that don't contain gluten in your Walmart baking aisle.  There's tons of wheat flour of any variety imaginable.  There's organic and non-organic, self-rising flour with yeast, baking flour, and pretty much everything else.  There were more kinds of wheat flour than I had ever imagined, but only one small shelf with soy flower in small packages.  There were only two rows of it and the shelf was hardly full.  It seems like society expects that people don't have wheat allergies and things like that.  Apparently the local Asian market offers rice flour, which will probably be where I shop in the future, but until then my only option was soy flour.  They sold it in tiny packages, so small it made me glad I didn't have to do any serious baking with it.  As something to make gravy with, it wouldn't be so bad, but it certainly isn't an economical purchase for frequent use!  I can't wait to check out my options.  I'm looking forward to being soy-free and I'm hoping that rice four is a better option for us.  I've heard there are all kinds of gluten-free wheat substitutes out there, but I don't know much about them.  I'm going to have to do some research on this one because the more options I have, the better.

Butter was another challenging problem for me.  There really aren't many options when it comes to butter as most of them contain soy.  I wouldn't be surprised if all of them contain casein in their "natural flavor", but I decided it was worth a try.  I can't kick everything and butter is such a common additive for cooking.  Apparently there are only two options that do not contain dairy as a main component available at Walmart.  I hear HEB has a better selection, but I wasn't brave enough to try them.  I've found their prices to be even more steep than Walmart locally.  Smart Balance has a butter made from extra virgin olive oil.  There is also a company called Best Life that makes a stick butter.  Both products have soy, but at this point I'm running out of options.  I don't know if they make a butter that's dairy and soy free.

I couldn't help myself when it came to the milk section.  Passing my favorite chocolate milk was far too sad for me.  I didn't check the ingredients (though I suppose I should have and probably still should), but I got some chocolate almond milk.  I couldn't resist.  I had to do something for me, and we were already there buying coconut milk.  I know it's not going to be anywhere near as good as the chocolate milk I used to drink, but I can at least try it.  You never know, I may love it!  I think that's going to be the hardest part of going dairy-free.  I don't like the milk substitutes near as much as I like milk.  With how expensive this stuff is, I may have to look at making my own.  I got a recipe for rice milk that I'm going to have to try out and review later.  It would definitely put me one step closer to the root of the process, something I think is very important when you're making your own foods, especially when it comes to allergies.

To balance things out a bit, and to give me something fast and loaded with sugar for sugar crashes we loaded up in the produce section.  I picked up some butternut squash.  I'm going to try acorn squash, though I have no idea how to prepare it.  We bought a bunch of potatoes, since those are always safe.  They may not be near as good without butter, but I'm sure I can find a way to make them taste yummy without it.  Carrots and broccoli are always favorites around here, but again, I cook my carrots with butter, so that might get interesting once I kick the soy.  I've been told I should check out the Asian food market here for vegetables too.  Apparently they have an excellent variety of squash and other things.  It would be nice to have something to resort to that doesn't come in a can.  I love canned corn for it's sake of ease, but I miss having fresh corn from the little farm back home.  If anyone who reads this lives in the Arlington, Mass area, check out Wilson's Farm.  They're fantastic!

Then we loaded up with fruits, even though we only got clementines and black plums.  I've noticed in Texas there's only one short window where you can get black plums.  The rest of the time it's red plums, which I can't stand and I never knew why.  I think it's because I grew up on black plums.  My dad and I used to eat them every summer.  Clementines were new to me in high school.  My mom got a bunch from someone she was in school with and brought them home.  My sister and I adored them  They were the best thing we'd had in quite some time and we couldn't get enough.  I've always liked oranges, but the sweet, easy taste to these was delightful.  I've bought them ever since and my kids and I enjoy them.  They're harder to find when it gets cool, but in the summer, they're everywhere.  I just wish you could get the big crates of them like we always used to be able to find back home.  They would last for what seemed like forever.

We picked up some teas too.  I love drinking tea.  I haven't been drinking it so much because it's just been too hot, but if I'm not going to be drinking soda, I need to have something other than water.  I love juice, but I don't want to be filling myself up with that much sugar.  Tea is an incredible alternative.  Besides, I can get a mint tea that will help settle my stomach with everything that's going on.  We picked up some Yogi mint tea for me.  We also grabbed some Yogi detox tea for Marrok, since he's put a lot of unhealthy things in his system over the years, and if it helps his body purge, all the better.  I picked up some Celestial Seasons Vanilla Sleepytime Tea for the kids, and some Chai for Chesh.  I figure tea will be something that can benefit the whole family.

Because it's been forever since I've had honey, we stopped and looked at the Agave.  Marrok immediately jumped on it and said I should get it.  It was cute.  He said, "You use honey in your tea, right?"  I almost laughed.  Of all the things I'm allergic to, honey is perhaps the most evil.  Just one spoonful is enough to make me double over with abdominal pain and be sick for a week.  Because of this, I'd never gotten used to honey in tea.  My allergy picked up before I'd even started drinking tea, back when I was about twelve, maybe younger.  I decided it might be fun to try something new to sweeten my tea, so we'll see how it works.  I may just decide I would rather not sweeten it at all.  He's so kind for thinking of me though!

To top it all off, we got a lot of red meat and some fish.  We're going to be making steak, roast, and stew.  Of course, red meat is the most painful and expensive part of the whole thing.  One would think in Texas it would be cheaper and more affordable, but I guess not.  I also find myself missing living back home.  There's something about getting fresh fish that's so much better than the frozen stuff offered here.  It felt like there were so many more options, at least where fish was concerned.

Living back home things were different.  The local co-op held many options for those with diet restrictions.  I was able to live on a healthy diet for me for a year without a problem there before I decided to start cheating on everything again.  It felt good to know that I was able to live off of foods I liked without having to worry so much.  Here we don't have a co-op, unless you drive to Austin.  We don't even have a Whole Foods.  The options for something healthy are far more limited.  Our little Asian market seems to be the best option for someone like myself, but sometimes it would be nice to have a wide variety of options.  It would be nice to go into a place that looks and feels like a health food store, as silly and pointless as that may sound.

I can't wait to get to somewhere more health conscious than this hole in the wall city.  It will be so nice to go grocery shopping without having to worry about how much variety I can actually get.  Yes, I may still have to check labels, but a number of these health food companies are good at labeling.  They love to slap gluten-free, soy-free, and dairy-free on anything they can because they know it will get them attention from all the right people.  It helps people recognize how to shop.  It helps them recognize what they need to get without sitting there, reading labels.  It gets their company attention.

The sad thing is a lot more Americans have problems with these foods than anyone could ever have imagined.  Doctors don't exactly suggest eliminating foods as a first course of action when people come in complaining about health problems.  They would rather prescribe medications for pain, migraines, and mental disorders than focus on changing the diet to see if that helps, because adding more chemicals to the body solves anything...  We're only facing an increased chemical dependency in our country as the days go by.  Who knows what our country would look like if we learned how to eat right, eat healthy, and take care of our bodies?  Perhaps this is a sign that we should start putting a focus on eating right for a healthier, happier, America.  Who knows?  Maybe the suicide rate will drop.  I have no doubts that American obesity would be less of a problem.  Problems like arthritis and asthma might be reduced as they can relate to food allergies (though most people don't know that....I didn't know that)!

We've Made It to Six Months!

And we're here...past six months!  It somehow feels like it's been so much longer than that.  I've had to deal with some difficult situations.  I've had more than a few friends try and convince me to get rid of them.  It's not exactly easy to keep to a commitment when everyone keeps telling me I should get rid of them.  I have to stand against what most of my friends think I do.

I know most of my friends hate my dreads, but I've got to breathe.  I've got to realize that it's not their hair.  It's not their lives.  They've got to accept that this is my hair, my choice, and they don't have to like it.  I particularly enjoy my hair and they shouldn't be pressuring me to conform to their standards.

The hardest thing for me is a number of my friends shaving their heads in various ways.  In all of this I got the comment that I should shave my head.  Mind you, I don't want to shave my head again.  I love my dreads.  They suit me and I'm pretty happy with them, even though they have a long way to go to hit perfect.  These things take time, of course, but at the same time, I have to consider what my friends must think of the process.  It's scary to think I'm doing something so different, so unique, something I'll feel so alone about.

I don't want to go against the grain.  I don't want to break the mold.  I don't really want to do this to be different, but I kind of have no option, in a way.  All I want is to be happy.  I want my friends to accept me for who I am, to love me for what I like, and to let me be me.  That's not what I've been getting at all.  It's a lot of pressure.  I'm just glad the men I live with are so incredibly accepting, that my dance partner seems to adore my dreads, and that I've got some encouragement to be myself.  It would be quite the challenge without that.  I can't imagine having to go through this feeling isolated and alone until people started realizing that this look, these dreads, they're not going away.  This is a part of who I am, the style I choose, the way I want to be.  They can take me for who I am, or they can leave me.

As for these dreads?  I love them.  I'm six months in and I'm still enjoying them.  This is the longest I've held any one style without regret.  I think I should take that as a sign.

A Shocking Discovery, What's Really in my French Fries

This whole quest for information started when I began to research foods I can't eat to eliminate my allergies.  It's positively shocking how many things aren't vegan friendly!  There's dairy in everything, even things that label themselves as "dairy-free"!  From chewing gum to margarine to "natural flavoring" to chicken, dairy products are found everywhere.  This is especially an issue if you're not just dealing with lactose intolerance.  Instead I have to focus on eliminating all dairy products, which means looking for weird things like whey, casein, lactalbumin, galactose, recaldent, "natural flavor", caramel color, and "protein" as many protein enriched or high protein foods include added protein in the form of milk proteins.  Most vegans I know don't realize that they need to look for all those additional ingredients in their foods, and not all of the foods that contain those things plaster on their label "contains milk products".  Even soy cheeses have been found to contain milk proteins.  I guess that means going vegan just became a whole lot harder!

In the process of doing my research I came across a warning on the top of one page.  The warning informed readers that McDonald's french fries contain dairy products, as well as gluten.  I was shocked at this!  How could french fries ever contain dairy?  Or gluten for that matter?  Of course, some fries have breading, so that made a lot more sense, but what in the world is dairy doing in a french fry?  And why do my vegan friends not seem to know this?

Being a good little intelligent girl, I decided to do my research.  I wasn't going to take this at face value.  Why should I?  I'd heard a lot about the various ingredients in fast foods from all over the place.  Everyone's heard the rumor that XYZ fast food chain uses rat meat, or they use a grade of meat that's not even regulated for human consumption.  I'm sure most people have heard rumors about the toxic chemicals in fast foods from this or that.  Just about everyone has heard of the silicon in Pizza Hut's cheese.  I wasn't about to take these rumors as fact until I checked it out for myself.

My first bit of research came up with article after article, but most of them were older and outdated, from 2006 and prior.  I'd come across one article from 2011 that mentioned a beef flavoring in McDonald's french fries that made them unfriendly to vegetarians, as well as many religious practices.  Still, I couldn't find any compelling hard evidence in any major media's website.

The first page I'd found that detailed possible allergy information was by Food Facts, which listed not only their "natural beef flavoring" but gave a breakdown of how natural flavors were made, how they were governed for reporting their ingredients by the FDA, and that natural flavors such as these are considered controversial because they are not required to report things like GMOs.  Reading the information from their site in the link above will give you all sorts of information on that natural beef flavoring, including the fact that it does in deed contain wheat and dairy products.  For those who may be concerned, they also contain soy, another product in everything that is developing into a common allergen.

Realizing I had to get more creative on my search, I finally decided to go onto the McDonald's website.  According to this MSNBC article McDonald's claimed their fries were gluten-free and dairy-free back in 2006, but then added "contains wheat and dairy products" to their french fry ingredient list not long after without making too much of a public display about it.  I was certain I would find more definite information on their website, and something more concrete and recent than 2006.

According to McDonald's own ingredient list, their french fries are in deed not vegetarian friendly at all!  Shocking!  They also are not friendly to those with wheat and/or dairy problems.  While their website does detail these common, known allergens, their restaurants are surprisingly void of these details.  Further, questions outlined in Yahoo Help and other websites by vegetarians asking whether McDonald's fries are vegetarian or vegan friendly are met with many people who clearly don't know what they're talking about.  Many of the answers state that McDonald's fries contain nothing but potatoes and are cooked in vegetable oil, which means they're safe to vegetarians and vegans alike.  This myth of vegan friendly and vegetarian friendly french fries is propagated all over the web, and it seems like McDonald's is not about to make a fuss to correct this misinformation. The company is allowing people to consume foods they either should not or choose not to eat because they don't think to ask about the ingredients.  Bad form, Micky-D's!  Bad form!

In contrast, Burger King's ingredient list is far more appealing for their french fries!  No, their veggie burgers aren't vegan friendly, but they openly state that the veggie patty is not cooked on equipment that meat or poultry products are cooked on.  They do, however, contain milk, wheat, soy, and egg, followed by a clear statement that this is NOT a vegan product.  Go BK for your honesty!

Wendy's french fries are a good bet too.  While there is no simple way to link the ingredient list so you can see for yourself, here's the french fry ingredient information I've pulled off of Wendy's website:

Potatoes, Vegetable Oil (contains one or more of the following oils: canola, soybean, cottonseed, sunflower, corn), Dextrose, Sodium Acid Pyrophosphate (to maintain natural color). Cooked in Vegetable Oil (soybean oil, corn oil, cottonseed oil, hydrogenated soybean oil, natural flavor [vegetable], citric acid [preservative], dimethylpolysiloxane [anti-foaming agent]). Cooked in the same oil as menu items that contain Wheat, Egg, Milk, and Fish (where available). Seasoned with Sea Salt.


That's pretty encouraging.  They even specify that their natural flavor is vegetable, and that their products are cooked in the same oil as non-vegan friendly products.  Someone allergic to wheat or dairy may think twice about Wendy's fries based on the oil they're cooked in.

Of course, these are just the three biggest chains.  It would be worth it to ask for nutritional information at all fast-food chains you visit if you've got any specific allergy related concerns, or any other special dietary requirements.  While their websites detail the information, it can be challenging to find and may not be beneficial while on the go.  Perhaps if enough people ask for the information, they may just start keeping it on hand and readily available, because it's clear from much of what I've heard, you can't rely on the employees for accurate information.  They might not know themselves and just give you the easy answer.

As for me?  I'm boycotting McDonald's, in part because I have a problem with their ethics, but also because it's becoming clear that they've got pretty much nothing I can eat!  It seems like most fast food chains are going to present similar problems, but I'd be far more willing to bend my diet just a bit for a special treat for the kids with a company that's open, honest, and realistic about their products.

For an interesting (and only somewhat related) read, I'm suggesting The McDonaldization of Society: The Reader, The McDonladization of Society 5, and The McDonaldization of Society 6 by George Ritzer.  It's absolutely scary how much McDonald's has influenced our entire culture and society, especially with everything they get away with.  It really makes you think!