Who's got allergies/sensitivities to food? Let's talk!

ahavoc

I do. Mine top one's are wheat, cow milk and anything made with it, peanut butter, tree nuts, strawberries, and chicken eggs. There's quite a few more that I'm sensitive to, but can eat with care. Food combos can really get me. I will either break out in hives, or if I eat too many I shouldn't, go into Anaphylactic shock, or I'll get eczema patches, stomach cramps and diarrhea, migraines, it's all from the foods. I was tested and had a reaction to 43 foods out of 49.

What I can eat are: oats, beef, goat milk, duck eggs, corn, rice, veggies, sheep or goat cheese, and some fruits.

Anyone else having as much fun as I am? When I look at peoples food diaries here, I have to laugh because I can't really eat what most are eating, and it's been an interesting challenge cooking for my family while a) dieting and b) not being able to eat everything they can.

So, anyone else?

ahavoc

bump!

ElizabethObviously

wow i thought i had problems. I just get a little upset stomach from dairy. If i take lactose pill before i am fine.

KimmyEB

I'm not quite sure if it's an actual allergy, or if I'm just very sensitive to it, but food dyes...especially red dye, which seems to be in a lot of desserts (at least at the bakery I worked at, red dye was the norm, it seemed...especially around the winter holidays!). Even a little food coloring that I used to make a light frosting for a dessert last Halloween ended up making me very sick.

I've recently found out that I'm allergic to cilantro, as well.

ahavoc

Oh yeah, food dyes, I have to watch out for that sometimes too. But isn't it weird how your body reacts?

Hannahrenee86

I am deathly allergic to garlic and strawberries..

ahavoc

No, not garlic! lol! I'm part Sicilian, so with the wheat allergy there's no real pasta, so I figured all my Sicilian relatives were up in heaven going, "Wadda you mean no pasta?"

Qarol

Oh dear...allergic to strawberries. That sounds awful!

Queen_JessieA

I do not, but my youngest has a severe peanut and tree nut allergy. We can't eat nuts around him because he will react just from the smell. Poor guy. In fact, I am about to head out and eat lunch w/ him at school today! Have a good one!!

Queen_JessieA

Can you eat chicken?

rdmchugh

I have had Celiac all my life. That means no wheat, barley, rye, and some oats. I get to live gluten free. Thankfully it is much easier now than it used to be! I can try to give you a ray of hope AHAVOC, once you have been truly gluten free for 6-8 weeks, many of your other food sensitivities should be greatly reduced. I am also very sensitive to milk and milk products. Lactose intolerance seems to somewhat go with gluten intolerance. Clean Eating is your friend My favorite two web resources for Clean Eating are:

The Gracious Pantry at http://www.thegraciouspantry.com/
The Joy of Clean Eating at http://thejoyofcleaneating.com/

For help with gluten free cooking/baking substitutions I like

The Gluten Free Goddess at http://glutenfreegoddess.blogspot.com/

It's tough, but once I got my sensitivities figured out and under control, I have felt SOOO much better!

Sending you positive energy!
Renee

jvkh127

I have a sensitivity to whole milk, even 2% but fat free I am fine with. And I actually had an allergic reaction to Gourmet House Minnesota Wild Rice just 2 weeks ago. Tongue swelled up, dizzy almost passed out. Never had anything like that before in my life uggghhhh I feel for you guys with that kind of allergy.

Caseyanna

My son has similar allergies. Peanuts, wheat, soy & cow's milk. It makes it very difficult to cook healthily in our home! So I usually make 2 dinners. His and then mine and the bf's. Makes for a busy evening after work!

MamaKatel

I have food allergies too! I'm sensitive to wheat, milk, soy, garlic, chocolate, vanilla, eggs, apples and much more. I tried once to restrain from these foods but it didn't do much to my allergies, so now I just eat whatever :ohwell:

brittanyjeanxo

If I have a lot of beef in one sitting, such as a steak larger than 8 oz....well, let's just say it goes right through me! lol

exacerbe

I'm lactose intolerant, partially allergic to eggs (but I still eat them), and cashews. Growing up, I was allergic to wheat and barley. From time to time, gluten gives me issues but I don't have celiac.

Thankfully, I can still eat cheese and yogurt.

_eislek_

Syrup! It's more of an IBS thing than an allergy but if I have syrup I better not have plans that day TMI, I know.

Oh and aspartame, sucralose, any kind of "artificial sweetener" gives me a migraine about 5 seconds after tasting it so none of that for me.

ilookthetype

No, not garlic! lol! I'm part Sicilian, so with the wheat allergy there's no real pasta, so I figured all my Sicilian relatives were up in heaven going, "Wadda you mean no pasta?"

Celiac in the HOUSE! *does a dance*

Yeah, I got this response from people too.

I shouldn't eat any dairy because I'm lactose intolerant, but I don't react as strongly is I eat cooked dairy SOOOO I do eat that.

Where the hay do you get duck eggs?!

AND I've got a soy allergy. If a factory had any part in the food getting made I can't eat it.

I embrace my food allergies. They keep my eating right.

mayandreamer

I'm sensitive to wheat and corn, and allergic to chocolate (I get migraines). And I have a tree-nut allergic child. I am only now atarting to get control of my sensitivities. And I know that when I avoid them my digestive system "works" well. I do cheat a little here and there with the wheat - it's so hard to say no to a piece of birthday cake. But I now make the choice knowing full well that I will have a "slow" digestive system for a few days later. But at least I don't feel like crap all of the time anymore.

I've started doing different grains for pasta. There's some good ones out there made in brown rice or quinoa. My family LOVES pasta, so I usually use one of the safe ones for me, or I give then the wheat ones and have spaghetti squash.

FollowThatUnicorn

Lactose intolerant here. I can't drink cow's milk, eat ice cream or cheese. If I do, bad things happen. Sometimes it's frustrating because so many diet/meal plans call for cheese cheese cheese

ilookthetype

My son has similar allergies. Peanuts, wheat, soy & cow's milk. It makes it very difficult to cook healthily in our home! So I usually make 2 dinners. His and then mine and the bf's. Makes for a busy evening after work!

How do his food allergies make it difficult? I started eating a million times better when I found out about my allergies. I have the same allergies your son except for the peanuts.

hanna1210

Soy milk has been a God-send for me. Lactose sensitivity is just not something I like putting up with. I also have a weird allergy to certain fruit and veggies (watermelon, canteloupe, bananas, etc) that makes my throat itch. I've only found one other person that has the same reaction. It's not good when eating out because I can't risk the "fruit cup" of which I can eat the grapes. :huh:

raychybabe

I'm allergic to eggs, nuts and shellfish as well as lanolin, which is found in cosmetics.

I'm also wheat intolerant, as it gives me IBS like symptoms so I avoid bread/dough, pasta, pizza etc. I do eat biscuits though as they dont seem to contain enough to set me off - however the more processed the wheat, the worse it is.

ahavoc

Wow, thanks for not making me feel so all alone!

My allergist says I have to stay away from any kind of sprouted grain, so there's no fun for me in regards to finding substitutions. I've found that the bread products made with tapioca flour, rice flour and chick pea flour are ok, but they pale in comparison to the real thing. You have to toast them really well in order to eat them.

I never liked milk growing up, so I'm thinking that it was my body telling me not to drink it. I use goat's milk which has high lactose, so it doesn't work for everybody, but it's goat lactose so is sometime tolerated better. It's also high protein and very easily digestible. Goats milk and sheep's milk cheeses save my day, but I don't eat too much. Goat milk yogurt, expensive, but yum!

I stay away from strawberries, in another post I explained that I found out about my food sensitivities because I was working in a supermarket cutting fruit, and I'd always cut the strawberries last, and whenever I did, even though I wasn't eating them, I'd break out in hives. I was inhaling them. So my doctor referred me to an allergist and I had the food skin prick test. You know it isn't good when the nurse leaves the room and you hear her say in the hallway, "I've never seen so many reactions to foods before?" lol!

Some reactions worse than others. No tree nuts for me either. No peanut butter. It's a challenge to eat out, so I'll only go to restaurants where if I tell the kitchen I have allergies the chef or someone will come out and tell me what the chef will do for me. Disneyworld was great with that.

And I have to cook two things at times. I'll make regular pasta for my family and rice pasta for me. Usually I cook "clean", everything from scratch. That way I know what's in it. No surprises.

MSG and certain food dyes will get me too. I'm not allergic to chocolate, but the milk in the milk chocolate. And I never believe any thing is dairy free unless I read the label. Casein is made from milk and causes a reaction for me, and it's in a lot of things that are labeled "dairy free". Gluten free doesn't always mean wheat free, and wheat free doesn't always mean gluten free. I've found milk in the contents for broth, and wheat as well. So I always read labels.

I get my duck eggs from a farm near by that has ducks. I think they're delicious with polenta! You have to cook them at a lower heat, but they have higher protein than regular eggs, and don't make me sick.

ahavoc

Ok, and last night I had some homemade ciappino, which is a seafood stew, and I was sick all night. Something killed me. I think it was the clams, because I usually don't have a problem with scallops, and mussels have been ok for me as well.

But sick as a dog. Then woke up and felt like a truck had hit me and my itchy patches are flaring up and making life miserable. I took my ibuprofen, and went to the gym and worked out, but my heart rate stayed low.

Tonight, nothing but safe foods.

dls06

Dairy, Almonds, Bananas, Shrimp and Lobster Tear my stomach up?

Kimmer2011

My husband is allergic to poultry. No chicken, no chicken broth, no Thanksgiving turkey, and I have to be really careful about reading ingredient lists. Luckily, I can use a boneless pork chop for almost anything you can do with a boneless chicken breast. And since the kids don't share that allergy, I can make chicken for us if he's having something else (doesn't happen all that often, though). It's challenging, but has become not that big a deal. I always remind myself that there are many other much worse things that he could be allergic to.

Oh, and I don't know if it's an allergy or what, but over the past few years, I've been unable to do more than slowly sip on any kind of alcoholic beverage. Even wine makes my face turn bright red--I look and FEEL like I have a terrible sunburn. No wine, no matter how delicious, is worth it!

starbucks_5

I have a severe allergy to wheat. I can't breathe it, or eat it. I also cannot tolerate rye or barley (delayed allergic reaction). But wheat is deadly poison to me. Just yesterday I almost had to use my epi-pen in the grocery store because the bakery was busy baking up a Thanksgiving storm. First I got dizzy, then my face turned tomato red and blotchy, then my throat went tight , followed by one hive on the tip of my tongue and several on my chest. When the coughing and chest tightness started, I ran for the door. The line to check-out was really long, but the manager opened a register and checked me out while I stood outside. He motioned me in when it was time to pay. It took all day to recover. I still have the hives, but I'm not wiped out and exhausted today. Yesterday, I had to go home, get the groceries in the house and then go to bed with some benadryl.

The part that really bothers me is that I had just received a beatheasy mask in the mail that I ordered online that is suppose to block airborne allergies, and I forgot to take it to the store with me. I wonder if the mask would have worked? I didn't even get all the food we need, So I'm going to have to go back....ugh. I won't forget the mask this time!

To the OP, I cannot imagine having the amount of food allergies that you have. This wheat/gluten one is hard enough to manage. I use to think the diet was hard, but then 8 months ago I started reacting to airborne wheat and now managing the airborne aspect is the one that is tough to manage.

I do not know anybody else that reacts like this to airborne wheat. I know nut/peanut allergy people react quite a bit though.

OP, I get what your saying about how interesting it is to read other peoples food diaries. What they eat is way different than what I eat, and I am positive that even my diet is odd to you because I've only had to eliminate 3 things.

I've eaten duck eggs before, They were good! What a great idea to use them in place of chicken eggs when you have an allergy. That must make cooking much easier than not having any eggs at all. Very inventive on your part...Kudos!

yankeedownsouth

I don't but my 12 year old son is really struggling, and I really have no idea what's making him have problems. At least once a week, that poor boy is sick with horrible cramps and diarrhea. I'm going to start a food diary and see if we can pin something down. Seems all the normal cuprits (dairy, wheat, etc) don't bother him. Poor kid...