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I have just been diagnosed with a huge amount of food allergies and i am having problems coping with this. I am allergic to rice, oats, wheat, corn, soy, yeast, peanuts, walnuts, pecans, maple, eggs, tomatoes, celery, potatoes, barley, rye, garlic, pears, apple, strawberries, bananas, green peas, oranges, kiwi, mustard, mango, I have to say that doesn’t leave much to work with. Does anyone have any ideas. Sheila |
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I agree that it is overwhelming to learn to deal with food allergies. Two years ago, I was diagnosed with 20 food allergies and had no idea what to do to avoid them; I was very overwhelmed. Here are a few tips that I recommend for getting started: 1. I suggest going to a bookstore and looking through some of the allergy-friendly cookbooks. While all recipes might not be right for you, some of the good allergy cookbooks can teach you about foods you can substitute. They are great for helping to avoid some of the allergens that are harder to avoid (in my opinion), such as eggs, wheat, corn and soy. 2. Read the labels. Learn the different names for your allergens and their derivatives; therefore, you won’t be surprised by “hidden” allergens in your food. For instance, if you check out corn in our allergen list (http://www.cookingallergyfree.com/allergens/allergen_listing/corn_allergy), you can see all of the different ingredients that may contain corn or its derivatives. This may take some time to learn, but is a good skill to understand what’s actually in the food you’re buying. 3. If you can, shop organic. This may seem impossible to learn the labeling and names right away, so I found that shopping at organic food stores help. The packaged foods tend to have less ingredients and more human-readable names than normal supermarkets. I found that this especially helpful for grains – like corn and soy – which tend to be in tons of packaged foods nowadays. 4. Snacks are key. When I first started an allergy-free diet, I felt like I couldn’t eat anything. I would get so frustrated that I would tend to go for my comfort foods – which would usually be the allergy-laden foods that I shouldn’t be eating. Once I started having simple snacks, I stopped getting as upset and was able to stay on track all day long. 5. Variety. There is so much food out there. You just have to be adventuresome. Looking at your list, I can easily name a few fruits/vegetables off the top of my head – carrots, watermelon, broccoli, pineapple, grapefruit, spinach, cabbage, onions, apricots, peaches, eggplant, squash, zucchini, etc… In my opinion, its easier to avoid fruits/vegetables because there are so many varieties and some pretty exotic stuff out there. I think it does take more effort to avoid the grains like wheat, corn, soy; that’s why I suggested spending some time looking at the allergy-friendly cookbooks. 6. Don’t be afraid to experiment with substitutions. You might have to throw away some inedible dishes (which I definitely have had to do). Eventually, though, you start to learn what substitutions work in certain types of dishes. I have made some real disasters in the kitchen when trying to substitute for eggs. However, I keep trying and think learning to substitute is better than an allergic reaction which can ruin even the best-tasting meal. 7. Have hope. If you’re allergies aren’t life threatening, you’re allowed to make a few mistakes along the way. Eventually you’ll get on track and feel much better in the long run. -Melissa |
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Sheila, Sorry to hear about your allergies, but you are now able to go in the right direction! Like you I have multiple food allergies. I have found it best to start with a list of the things you can eat and go from there. Take a trip to a grocery store with a generous selection of food including a natural foods department. I started by going and reading labels with my list in hand. I don’t know if that is possible for you or not? I have numerous food allergies, but none are life threatening. I began by eating whole foods. It saves you from the worry of what is in a box/can or whatever until you learn how to read ingredient lists. I spent most of last summer eating salads made of cole slaw mix, carrots and pea pods with turkey and organic ranch dressing! I am having problems again so I go back to my original plan and write down what I can have and try to be creative from there. You can look at allergy free cookbooks but I have found most of them cover gluten, dairy, corn, eggs, etc. By the way I can ‘t eat tomatoes, peppers, citrus fruits of any kind, berries, grapes, acid foods like vinegars and wines, or any preservatives or colorants, fish or soy. It’s crummy to be sure but it is doable. Hope this helps some. Liz |
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I have a qeustion for those of you diagnosed with multiple allergies at once…. I went in on Monday because I have broken out in hives 3 times in 6 months and decided I was tired of not knowing… Now I wish I hadn’t because I have allergies to a slew of things that I have been eating for years with seemingly no side affects… I have gotten over the denial and anger stages fairly quickly. I am stuck in the “I have nothing to eat” phase and am looking for answers. Thanks! |
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I had the skin prick testing done about two years ago. Mainly, I went to get allergy tests because I got back from a trip to a foreign country and had horrible stomach pains for months (it turned out to be a chronic appendicitis but I didn’t know it then). At the time, I was really grasping at straws about what was wrong and thought food could be causing it. I already knew that I was allergic to a few foods before going to get tested, since I had pretty bad reactions before. I was avoiding those, but figured there might be others causing the problem. I’m allergic to 20 foods. Occasionally, I will try to add small quantities of these foods back into my diet after avoiding them for months; sometimes this helps – I can now eat small quantities of eggs without getting sick. However, other things affect me more than I thought. Like you, I had previously thought these had no/little side affects too. However, you have to pay attention sometimes hours and days after you eat this food to know how it really makes you feel. As far as the nothing to eat stage – try to find a handful of snacks that you can fall back on in the day; I initially ate many bananas and oranges while I got used to avoiding some foods. Ideally, you should rotate your diet if you are allergy-prone, but I think this is probably ok for a little while until you can start growing the list of things that are good for you. -Melissa |
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My son is 14 and has tested positive for multiple food and environmental allergies. We are still in the testing stage and it is extremely difficult. He tested positive for corn, peanut, soy, wheat, orange, rice, tomato, apple, carrot, garlic, mustard, onion, potato, rye and strawberry. He had lesser reactions to yeast, shrimp and tea. His environmental allergens include grass, mold, dust, cat, dog, trees and weed. |
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Knowledge really is power! To help deal with my frustration over having an extensive list of foods I couldn’t have, I made up a new list of things I could have. I also ‘flagged’ foods that were closely related to ones that caused serious problems for me so that I could see at a glance what might need to be limited. Now I can focus on the positive and be creative with what is available to me instead of wandering through the store/kitchen feeling sorry for myself. I have the pet, dust, ragweed problems but lately have had to add most of the foods that crossreact with birch and latex (many fruits, vegs and spices). |
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To dlantz – here are some snack ideas you might find helpful, most of them are pulled from two cookbooks that I use often: “The Whole Foods Allergy Cookbook” by Cybele Pascal, and “The Ultimate Food Allergy Cookbook and Survival Guide” by Nicolette M. Dumke. (1) Fruit Rollups – any kind of tortilla (you can make your own from almost any kind of flour; milo-arrowroot, kamut, barley, amaranth, buckwheat, teff, spelt, quinoa, oat, garbanzo), spread with a “seed butter” like tahini (sesame seeds), pumpkin seed or sunflower seed butter, add a fruit-only jam or any fresh fruit that you can have, and roll it up! (2) Fruit nuggets – made with dried fruit, unsweetened baker’s chocolate, honey, allowed cereal flakes (oat, corn, amaranth, millet-rice), allowed oil (safflower, sunflower, olive, canola), and rolled in unsweetened coconut. (3) If you can have rolled oat, rye, barley, kamut, spelt or any other kind of rolled grain you can make granola or granola bars. (4) You can make crackers out of any flour you can find (see tortilla ideas) with hummus (garbanzo bean spread – just leave out the garlic), or hummus with any other raw vegetables. (5) Fruit desserts are always a hit (instead of apple crisp you can make pear crisp, baked pears, etc.). You don’t need milk or eggs to make any of this – there are many other milk options besides rice, soy and animal milk – try oat, hazelnut, or almond. There are a lot of foods out there – try to make it fun for your son, go shopping at a health food store (even if it’s a long trip) or cultural store (Indian stores usually have garbanzo bean flour) and have a scavenger hunt…see how many new things you can find! Experiment substituting new grains, “milks”, oils, fruits and vegetables, “Ener-G-Egg Replacer” into your favorite recipes. Try to involve your son, he may feel better about eating things he’s involved with making (tortillas and crackers are great fun to make!) |
