Coping with Multiple Food Allergies
32 topic(s),
159 post(s)
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Have you just been diagnosed with allergies, or have you been surviving with them a long time? This article details a few of the steps that worked for myself, and others, in overcoming your food allergy problems. |
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I have just been diagnosed with 10 food allergies. The most odd one to me is that I tested reactive to cows milk, but not to hard cheeses such as cheddar, provolone, parmasean, etc., (basically anything you can shred). I’m confused as to what it means to be allergic to cows milk, but not to cheese. I’m wondering if that means I’m actually sensitive to whey protein (in milk) as opposed to casein protein (in cheese). If that is the case, it will make things clearer in terms of what I have to avoid. Does anyone have any experience making sense of this type of allergy diagnosis? I’ve been searching the web but have yet to find anything helpful. Tracy |
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From what I’ve read online, I think your explanation is reasonable. From a little bit of my own research: Casein makes up about 80% total milk proteins – it is what makes the curd that forms when milk is left to sour; whey makes up about 20% – it is the watery part that is left after the curd is removed. These two proteins in the milk are what cause allergic reactions. People can be allergic to either whey or casein or both. However, I haven’t found an explanation yet on why there really is a different “allergy” for each. Cheeses are primarily made of the curd (which is mostly casein) and there are different processes to make hard versus soft cheeses. If you look at Wikipedia, they have a good explanation of cheeses in general: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheese. One line in particular stands out for me: “Some hard cheeses are then heated to temperatures in the range of 35 °C–55 °C (100 °F–130 °F). This forces more whey from the cut curd.” I’m completely guessing (and this is not a medical opinion), but this might help to indicate why you can tolerate hard cheeses if you indeed have a whey allergy instead of a casein allergy. I hope this helps; I will post more later if I see any other pertinent info on this topic. -Melissa |
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My husband, who is 2 months shy of 76 years old, has had hives all over his body since last Thanksgiving. He was diagnosed this past Thursday with multiple food allergies – 14 different things. The ones that cause most concern are milk, eggs and wheat. Our allergist gave us 3 pages of things to avoid in these catagories and we can deal with that. Our biggest problem seems to be what to have for breakfast without eggs, wheat or milk. For two days now, we have eaten oatmeal. He never used milk on oatmeal before, so that is not a problem, but what do I do when he becomes bored with the same thing every day. He is also diabetic, so he cannot just do without breakfast as he said he would do. To keep him motivated, I told him I would only eat whatever he eats. Any help with this would be greatly appreciated. |
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Does goat’s milk contain as much whey as cow’s milk? I know it contains a minimal amount of the casein protein, but I’m not sure about whey. |
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Breakfasts without Eggs, Milk, or Wheat: Check into Chebe mixes and use an egg-replacer mix for the eggs. This will give your husband some “biscuits” and I think you can make pancakes from them. You can also adapt the plain mix to make cinnamon rolls, cookies, etc. They’re very versatile. Use banana in pancake recipes instead of the eggs. I’ve also heard of using zucchini to make pancakes. – Look for wheat-free pancake recipes to start with, or gluten-free ones will work as well. Otherwise, there is buckwheat groats instead of oatmeal for a change of pace, or even quinoa. Bacon, Breakfast steaks, ham, sausage, etc. are also good ideas. Getting a good protein in breakfast also helps the diabetes. Fresh Fruit is also a good idea, and a great way to spice up oatmeal. Even just adding some frozen berries to the oatmeal can help change things up. |
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Happywheather – I haven’t read too much about this. However, this one page seems to indicate that while goat’s milk is less allergenic than cow’s milk, this doesn’t translate to the whey. |