Allergies

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I just found out not too long ago that I'm allergic to five things... and I'm freaking out a little. These things are:

Milk
Beef
Eggs
Soybean
Peanuts

My doctor is telling me to eliminate these foods from my diet, but from reading about all the foods that contain at least one of those products, I feel it's going to be pretty much impossible. Foods I'm going to have to eliminate are pasta, bread, crackers, pastries, canned foods, granola, cereal, butter, pizza, cheese, processed meats, chocolate, rice, etc. And that's just a short list.

Due to texture issues I don't eat many foods as it is but this elimination diet is going to leave me stuck eating fish and quinoa every meal. Does anybody have allergies or can anyone offer some advice??

If you can only eat vegetables and chicken and fish, you'll be the healthiest and most trim person in your neighborhood.

It sounds boring, but if you vary your condiments, its actually quite comfortable. My diet is pretty much like that by choice, except I have no problem with beef, but get my fish oil from caplets instead of real fish.

Not a single allergy, but when I was a kid they said I had severe pet hair allergy which I never even noticed with cats and dogs. Only thing was if I was in the stable all day. I didn't get watery eyes and runny nose like some other people I've seen. I was also said to have dust allergy. Anyway, when I grew up I didn't have any of that anymore. I have both cats and dust these days. No food allergies. Only thing I'm allergic to is a medication that has a reputation for causing allergies. OK, I almost died from taking it but.... it still doesn't COUNT! I'm not allergic!

I suggest you go to your local hippie store, I mean health food store. They will have lots of alternative versions of what you're used to. I don't see that you will have to give up pasta, as long as you don't get the kind with eggs in it, unless you are also allergic to wheat. Your natural foods store will have breads that specify ingredients so you can avoid bad things, and more of them than a regular store. Can you eat pork? Turkey? Chicken? You can even get hotdogs made from chicken and ham made from turkey, read labels carefully, though. It will take a lot of adjusting but you will still be able to eat a variety.

Are you sure you are allergic to these things? Were you eating them without any problems before?

I'm a bit confused as to why you're going to have to eliminate all the foods in your list. You've never heard of pasta made from beans? What's wrong with canned food? Granola? Rice?

Clumsy,

I am a celiac, so I live gluten free. I think much of what you will have to get used to is preparing a lot of your own food.

Fortunately, there is an increasing amount of different cookbooks that focus on removing certain foods from your diet. Also, it would be well worth the initial investment to hire a nutritionist and discuss a plan for categorizing various foods and what you can do when eating out.

You might drop by stores like Whole Foods or Trader Joe's and take a look at the large selection of whole foods available. Blenders like the Vitamix encourage users to work with fresh, whole, natural foods. Looks like you'll be reading food labels perhaps a little more regularly than you did at one time. You can also consider keeping a food diary and very slowly, over time, figure out what agrees with you/what doesn't and so on. Often a food diary can provide clues after using it for a number of days, weeks, months, even years. Good luck.

The pastas that are in my house all have eggs in them... but I guess there are others without, so live on pasta! Canned foods usually contain MSG, which I had been avoiding before. If canned foods don't use MSG, soy is usually included. Granola bars contain milk and soy (obviously no granola cereal). And rice I can't have the way my mom prepares it w/milk... but instead of rice I've been having quinoa in its place lately anyway.

The only reason I'm going to be so drastic and cut those 5 foods out is because I've been extremely sick since December 2006 and have been diagnosed with more than 10 diseases since then. I've willingly subjected myself to plenty worse medical procedures than a strict diet so I'm going to give this a fair try... even though the first few days are going to suck. I've got my migraine medication ready for when I quit caffeine and get the withdrawal.

@willard, it's definitely going to be an adjustment as I grew up in a family that ate like pigs and never ate vegetables. But I'm dragging my parents through the ringer too, they could stand to lose some weight. Even if I know they're going to cheat and eat pie while at work, when I'm around they definitely won't. Bwahahahaha.

@davethenat, I probably should hire a nutritionist. Just by looking at the ingredient list of foods containing soy my mind boggled. A list of ingredients of all five allergies would probably push 100.

@pgd, a food diary sounds helpful, I'll just have to remember to write in it after every meal.

I just wish there was a health food store in my area and not over 40 minutes away, it sounds like I'm going to be a regular customer there. Damn it, living in the middle of nowhere stinks.

So.... you're looking at essentially a vegan diet minus the soy and peanuts, but with chicken, pork, turkey, lamb, buffalo, ostrich, and all the fish in the sea added. I cook, and I'm envisioning a whole wealth of delicious foods on this diet.

By the way, my favorite pizza is not one covered in mozzarella and tomato sauce, but this one: homemade crust spread with garlicky Middle Eastern eggplant dip, sliced summer heirloom tomatoes on top, sprinkled with chopped herbs, salt and pepper and drizzled with extra virgin olive oil. Ok, I add Parmesan cheese, but that's really a minor ingredient, and could easily be left off.

You are young, and it's difficult to think of all the work involved in envisioning and creating foods that you like on a restrictive diet you aren't used to, but cooking is fun for a lot of people, and if you can start to get the hang of it, it can gradually provide you with far more of a range of delicious (not to mention healthy) foods than your friends have with their choices limited to Mom's cooking, frozen foods, take-out and sandwiches.

Also, it's entirely possible that you will grow out of some of your allergies. When I was a kid/teenager I was allergic to an entire rap sheet of things, but although I still have significant allergies (not food allergies), I've outgrown most of the allergies I had when I was young. Even if you don't, though, I'm telling you there's a lot to be had on a diet that doesn't include the things you are allergic to. 10 diseases is PLENTY even without being put in food jail!