My Husband is Allergic to Almost Everything...Help?

kirstinlee

I've been getting healthy and losing weight, and my husband has expressed interest in jumping on the bandwagon. He works at a very active job, so his main need is a healthier diet. Frozen pizzas, sub sandwiches, macaroni, crackers, and Monsters are basically what he lives on -- some days he eats a lot, and sometimes he'll go whole days without eating.

He wants to eat better, but it's hard for him because he's allergic to almost anything you and I would consider healthy. All nuts, all fresh fruit other than citrus, apples and grapes, and all fresh vegetables other than lettuce. And mind you, these aren't "tickle your throat" reactions -- he ate a cherry once and had to be rushed to the hospital, where they found out that his windpipe had shrunk to the width of a quarter turned sideways. Just the smell of peanuts makes his throat itch.

What can we do to incorporate more "healthiness" into his life? The obvious answer is cook vegetables and make salads, but for a man who's accustomed to eating pizza for breakfast and macaroni for dinner, that transition is WAY harder than it sounds. Steamed broccoli gets tiring night after night. :frown:

Any help would be greatly appreciated. :ohwell:

kirstinlee

Bump

lisadiane41

What about a gluten free diet. I am gluten sensitive and all the products are either rice based or corn based. Not sure if he is allergic to those things. If there is a Wegmans by you they have a great variety of gluten free products.

neanderthin

Whats in junk food that makes him immune to his normal allergies to everything? Get him to get an allergy panel done.

kirstinlee

Whats in junk food that makes him immune to his normal allergies to everything? Get him to get an allergy panel done.

That's the problem -- bready foods and protein are basically the only foods he's not allergic to. He has no insurance at this point, so an allergy panel is out of the question, but the last one he had done (at 15, he's nearing 21 now) revealed all of these allergies. He tests the waters sometimes on things he's not deathly allergic to, like strawberries and peaches, but it results in hours of thick saliva and labored breathing.

hdlb

I've been getting healthy and losing weight, and my husband has expressed interest in jumping on the bandwagon. He works at a very active job, so his main need is a healthier diet. Frozen pizzas, sub sandwiches, macaroni, crackers, and Monsters are basically what he lives on -- some days he eats a lot, and sometimes he'll go whole days without eating.

He wants to eat better, but it's hard for him because he's allergic to almost anything you and I would consider healthy. All nuts, all fresh fruit other than citrus, apples and grapes, and all fresh vegetables other than lettuce. And mind you, these aren't "tickle your throat" reactions -- he ate a cherry once and had to be rushed to the hospital, where they found out that his windpipe had shrunk to the width of a quarter turned sideways. Just the smell of peanuts makes his throat itch.

What can we do to incorporate more "healthiness" into his life? The obvious answer is cook vegetables and make salads, but for a man who's accustomed to eating pizza for breakfast and macaroni for dinner, that transition is WAY harder than it sounds. Steamed broccoli gets tiring night after night. :frown:

Any help would be greatly appreciated. :ohwell:

Honeslty, this is a situation where he needs to just deal with it. If he wants to eat better, and all he can eat is cooked veggies, then he eats cooked veggies.

There are tons of things he could eat. He can obviously eat the fruits hes not allergic too, cooked veggies, brown rice, whole wheat pasta, sandwiches? Water instead of Monsters, Lean meats like grilled chicken, fish, seafood, potatoes, yogurt, cheese....there is an endless list of things that do not contain nuts or raw veggies/fruit.

And I'm not trying to be mean, my son is allergic to dairy, soy, corn and nuts as well as having Celiacs. I know how hard it is to feed someone with allergies.

briannadunn

I am allergic to lots of things but the best option is to get him tested, I mean allergy tests and see what he should cut completely if not eliminate from his diet. From there introducing new choices is going to be key.

journeytogether

Try paleo recipes with him. It's all about veggies and meat. It's also called a caveman diet. You can find recipes on line or get cookbooks from a library. Here is a website to look at http://everydaypaleo.com/. They do do a lot of cooking with nut or coconut flour for bread products. So I am not saying follow it completely, but you should be able to find health recipes for him.