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Dealing with food allergy can be very troublesome - even traumatic. The first problem is identifying the offending substance. This takes a lot of detective work, and it's easy to misidentify something that seems to be the problem. Some food related reactions may not be technically allergies, but can be just as damaging to the system. I share this troubling syndrome, and here is my best advice on dealing with food allergies and sensitivities: Like feeding a new baby, doctors recommend reducing the diet to a few trusted foods (my diet has sometimes been rice and tea) and add one new food at a time until you have a wide enough range of foods on which to base your diet, or until you find a problem food and can eliminate it. A caution: sometimes an allergen can be hiding in the food you THINK you might be allergic to! Soy and sulfite allergies are especially troublesome this way, since even food labels are not complete. Soy derivatives may be in "natural" food flavors and colorings. Sulfites may be used to clean equipment, but not listed as an ingredient - or used in processes such as separating molasses from sugar. Traces of sulfites can find their way into the food supply in odd ways. You may find one product that you can tolerate while another, with an identical ingredients label, may be a problem. Allergists do the best they can to help identify specific allergies, but it is often up to the individual to do much of the detective work. Food containers considered "generally food safe" may be a problem. I have an anaphylactic reaction even to water packaged in plastic beverage bottles, and to some brands of food storage bags. About Dairy Products and Meats: If your doctor has suggested that you should avoid dairy products, eggs or meats along with other food allergens, you may find that you can tolerate chemical-free animal products. This can be tricky, and involves checking with local producers and butchers to find out just what you may be exposed to in the meat and milk you are buying. It's worth it! I have a soy allergy, and have found one dairy in my local area that uses only grain feeds. Prepared "organic" foods are still allowed to have 5% non-organic ingredients, so I recommend looking for "Natural" products without additives. The fewer ingredients the better. If you have an irritated bowel, try staying away from not only dairy products but any medicine that contains lactose. Sensitivity to traces of lactose may go well beyond "lactose intolerance". Try having prescriptions and other medications hand compounded. I provided my pharmacist with a tapioca powder that I know is safe for me to use as a filler in capsules when he compounds for me. Work with a doctor who is sensitive to your needs! I also found the addition of estrogen to my daily medications reduced the anaphylactic reactions dramatically. The reasoning is this: estrogen enables the body to produce lactoferrin which is a tryptase inhibitor. High tryptase levels have recently been implicated in psoriasis, asthma, anaphylactic reactions and irritable bowel disease - but these levels can only be tested for when a reaction is in high gear. It seems to be generally involved in inflammatory processes, some of them pretty serious. You can get lactoferrin, which is a whey derrivative, in health food stores. You may need to learn to produce your own food products from ingredients you know are safe, but that opens the door to a whole new wonderful hobby! A little nutritional yeast added to baked goods can provide B vitamins if you can't tolerate vitamin pills and enriched grain products. Fresh soft cheese and butter can be made from safe dairy products, and ales from unpreserved fruit juices. My own ginger ale is the very best, a delicious flavor not to be found in any commercial product. You can use common recipes to create versions of nearly everything but substitute ingredients you are okay with. I'm listing food products at the right that I have found to be safe-and my sensitivities to chemical additives are extreme!
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 *Florida Crystals Sugar *(tip: bury an organic vanilla bean in a container of organic sugar for use in baking sweets) *Wholesome Brand Sweeteners *Bob's Red Mill Organic Flour *Hodgson Mills Unbleached Flour *Hodgson Mills Corn Starch *Red Star Natural Yeast *Hain Baking Powder *Any Brand Whole Grain Rice *Contadina Tomato Paste *Santa Cruz Organic Apple Juice *Knudsen Farms Just Tart Cherry Juice *Ocean Spray Whole Fresh Cranberries *Any Brand Canola Oil *Organic Fruits and Vegetables *Frontier Natural Herbs and Spices *Organic Coffee (Sweet Marias for Home Roasting) *Twinings English Breakfast Tea *Del Monte Organic Dill Pickles *Lindsay Olives *Safeway Organic Frozen Blueberries *Any non-organic fruit that can be peeled (apples, bananas) *Walgreen's Natural brand Calcium supplement *Dole fresh pineapple *Oscar Meyer Turkey Hot Dogs *Coke Zero in the can (not bottled) *Tings Natural Corn Sticks *Ruffles Natural Potato Chips *Garden of Eatin' Tortilla Chips *Natural Meat (no hormones, antibiotics, etc) *Sweet Baby Ray's Barbecue Sauce (surprise!) *Bearitos Brand Tortillas and Traditional Refried Beans *Wendy's Chicken Nuggets, French Fries and Diet Pepsi from the fountain (not bottled or canned) *Sun Luck Sesame Oil and Somen Noodles *Saffola Mayonnaise *Grain fed and/or Free Range Eggs *Rice Dream Original Rice Milk(unenriched) |
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