POWER MILK to the rescue!

So I should tell a little more about me... and PKU. I have PKU myself (if you haven't figured that out by now) and have had it since birth. I am on my high school's swim team, I just tried out for Madrigals and Accapella choirs, and I enjoy reading, writing, stuff like that. I'm not going to tell you too much though because this site isn't about me. It's about my diet and how a teenager with this diet can be happy. How I live with it and how my family lives with it. My sister also has PKU sometime I'll have her write a post but for now it's me.

Now, about the pictures on top... Because PKUers (Phenylkenylnuria in case you forgot) can't eat a lot of meat or dairy we find it hard to get certain nutrients that everybody needs. For example calcium is found in milk, which is a dairy. So we have to drink a formula that gives us these nutrients. There are lots of nicknames for our formula: "power-milk", "milk", "medicine", "formula", etc... I used to call it my POWER MILK! Now, I tend to call mine my formula. I have to have 200 grams of Phenylade Essential and 1 packet Phenylade 60. Both are a vanilla flavored powder that I mix with water in a water bottle. There's more than just vanilla flavored, there's: chocolate, orange cream, and unflavored. That's just 1 brand too! It may seem a bit odd but there are actually quite a few brands of formula out there. So the picture on the left is my formula containers.

The picture on the right is not formula. It's a smoothie I made; I took the ACT test on Tuesday. Everyone knows to have a good breakfast on the day of the test. Teachers tell you to eat protein; but what are PKUers supposed to eat if we can't eat protein, and we still want a good breakfast for the test? I made smoothies. :) It was a great breakfast that lasted me the whole test. I threw some oranges, banana, dairy free creamer (substitute for milk), and shredded coconut into my dad's amazing blender. Then alternated the dial between smoothie, and milkshake. Then last second I threw my formula powder in. It blended just fine and I couldn't taste it (which always is my biggest worry when I use it to cook).

Oh and before I go I wanted to tell you the third most heard reaction to my diet, "I couldn't do it I LOVE meat!!!"

Signing off.

Your amazingly awesome writer Cassandra. ;)