3MC

Archive for the ‘Food Allergies’ Category

When you have a food allergy and you have a party or a family holiday coming up, do you feel like you should be left out of the festivities for your own safety. Or how about if you are the host or hostess at an upcoming event and you realize one of your guests has severe allergies. Both of these scenarios has their own list of “horrors”. Try some of these tips to relieve some of the stress evident at any of these important events.

When You Are The Guest

Try following some of these rules as guidance to relieve some of the anxiety when you go to a party.

Always talk to your host in advance. Never show up and just announce “I can’t eat that…and that… or that.” Have the courtesy to explain your limitations in advance and have a list ready of the types of things you may eat and are considered safe. If the menu does not seem to coordinate with your limitations, ask if you may bring a covered dish or two of your own. If possible, try to coordinate your selections you bring into the party’s theme also. Pack your own small snacks and treats goodie bag also just in case something happens that a food disaster crops up with the menu. Mention to your host you need to see the ingredient labels before the dinner or during your initial conversation. Do not ever expect anyone unfamiliar with allergies to understand all those words on an ingredient label. Remember, this is a party. You are not there just for the food. Enjoy the food wherever possible but also the company, camaraderie and the games.

When You Are The Host

Make your day a little easier–and safer– by following a few of these ideas:

Be sure to mention on the initial invitation that you wish any guest to advise of any food restrictions in advance of the party. Most people will be thrilled you had the courtesy to try to include them into your party plans. If you need help devising a party menu, ask them for ideas what is safe for them. Often the allergic individual may offer to bring a dish or two. Accept their offer of help with gratitude as it will relieve some of the pressure off you and your menu selections. Remember to keep all the ingredient labels for everything. Realize this does mean everything too! Most people think of keeping the main components of their dish and its labels but the baking powder, baking soda, salt and or spices, pats of butter etc. are all in there also. Most people with food allergies are dependent on knowing everything which goes into a recipe, not just selected major components. Check up and verify you understand the principle of cross-contamination. Take special precautions to verify no other guest accidentally contaminates the “safe foods.” Do not hover over the allergic guest all night to confirm their safety. Set up your precautions, follow through on the plans and then allow your guest to enjoy themselves for the evening, the same as you.

So whether you will be the guest or the actual host of the party, with some advance planning and preparation, you can immensely reduce the odds of an accident and ensure a good time is had by all at the party in which you are in attendance.

This article was written in the hopes of people experiencing similar symptoms may come to know and find out what may be ailing them. This is a subject which most people don’t even want to think about much less have to face in our Cheesy country where mounds of the gooey stuff drip all over morsels of food in any ad we see whether it be television, magazine or newspaper ads. Not only can we taste this delicious goo in our mouths just by looking at the lovely, happy, delectable pictures we see, but the temptation is beyond most of our restraints. We know, we know. And who can do without bacon and eggs in the morning? Or pancakes? O, my goodness.

My husband began experiencing bouts of inexplicable diahhrea and waves of stomach cramps periodically and finally realized he would have to see a Doctor. The Doctor examined him saying he didn’t see anything Wrong with him except to watch his stomach as he had PreUlceric conditions.

How Would Anyone Know?

One day my husband said he was going to do some self tests. He asked himself one day, “What is making me ill some days and not others?” He set out by testing himself using the process of elimination of foods. He had long been an eater of meat and cheese sandwiches and just decided to eliminate one of them. So while on vacation we brought a big deli array to our son’s house and there the experiments took place. One day, no meat. The symptoms ran rampant, but the next day…all meat sandwiches and no negative reaction. Interesting isn’t it he omitted the meat first. Allergic to cheese, impossible. One day after breakfast of bacon and eggs, similar negative symptoms occurred in the morning and with the omission of eggs we determined the other culprit.

Of his daily foods he came to realize it was the dairy and eggs causing him the stomach problems. Utter relief was the most apt way to describe him from that day forward. No more immediate diahhrea bouts right After eating. No more indescribable, undefined stomach cramps. As hard and as unfashionable as it may be, He had to avoid dairy foods and eggs at all costs. We had eaten plenty of pizza, lasagne and desserts to know he would miss these foods and there is dairy and eggs in most desserts.

Aha, he thought of trying the many dairy allergens on the market. They worked for a period of time, only to find out, as he aged, the lactose became more sensitive and no longer was it any use to take the many varieties of lactose medicines that people can now buy easily over the counter. He knew not only were these Sensitivities happening more and more frequently but other foods he loved as well began to feel irritating, I.e., fried foods and coffee.

As he discovered this ailment in his 30s, he has had many years to live with it. Unfortunately, many co-workers have not learned as much to just sit by and be tolerant— abhorrent remarks made by insensitive people who have no such problems and say they would “die” if they had to go without it or “you do not want to socialize with us and eat with us” “you might as well be dead” “surely you are alien if you can’t drink coffee” and a myriad other number of thoughtless remarks people may make. One can understand the feeling of being terrorized by these cruel thoughtless statements.

What Were We To Do Next?

When I found out my husband had these intolerances I thought I shall never bake Again nor could we have the very many foods we were so used to having. My food world had come to A breaking halt and predicament of what can I do about this? I scourged for information high and low. (we didn’t have a computer then) about food allergies and intolerances. When I inquired about this topic it was generally, “Let’s not talk about it”. I appreciate your giving me an opportunity to talk all about it now.

Not only do these food allergies NOT come all by themselves but most likely they will be accompanied by other “sensitivities” as well such as serious affects if eating too late at night, colon irritation accompanied by Cramps and possible diahhrea. Another subject most people do not want to talk about but this is the world Of people who have to watch any type of intake of foods. People with IBS and Celiac Disease and any other stomach ailment associated with Food Allergies and Sensitive Stomachs know this to be true.

Part 2

Scouting for Information

After spending many months looking for some type of help books I bless the day when my son called and said I am sending you some birthday presents and I know you are going to like one of them in a special way. Not having a clue what he was talking about one day his presents arrived and lo and behold “The Lactose-Free Family Cookbook”(l996) arrived with some other gifts; I don’t to this day remember the other gifts, but I do remember this one. Written by Jan Main of Canada. To this day, when I look at this Cookbook it reminds me of the joy of having received it.

As I read this book I felt she was with me every step of the way from disappointment to disillusionment to becoming unquenchable about finding out about knowledge of this illness and most of all….the substitute foods people can use instead of milk, cheese, eggs, etc. if any. Her best friend became lactose intolerant and asked her to write this book and she decided to write it. She is a great empathizer to people who do have LI.

In the first few pages of her book are listed foods for high calcium from nuts to green vegetables and the list goes on and on. She then proceeds to talk about levels of LI from most severe to mild. Some people can have some dairy intolerance but not much whereas people like my husband it has become a poisonous substance in his body in whatever amount. This book is full of recipes for the LI…

However, this book had nothing about Egg Intolerance. My search continued and finally I found a book called , “Special Diet Solutions” by Carol Fenster, Ph.D. (l997) This lovely author takes us on a journey of her discovery of her wheat allergy and how she thought she surely must be dreaming…being married to a big wheat farmer in Nebraska? Her book also entailed Healthy Cooking without dairy, gluten, eggs, yeast or refined sugar. Aha, I finally had the 2 pieces of the puzzle together (egg and dairy free cookbooks) and from here on I even started experimenting with other flours and ways to cook. During this period of time we lived in a small town where there were no such thing as a health food store.

Thanks to moving to a small city in Missouri named Mountain Grove they have/had an excellent Health Store and the owner’s husband was an MD who was dairy intolerant. I received soy butter recipes from his wife along with other tips from her most valued assistant who helped me immensely in knowledge and telling me about various health foods. It was like a haven for me.

With our most recent move to Tallahassee, I became more aware of other foods which could be purchased. The health food stores now have substitute tofu mayonnaise which tastes just like the real mayo and many substitutes already prepared. They also have specialty breads made with soy flour or various other flour mixtures. Tofu and its miraculous consistency can be made to make anything from delicious cheesecake (it tastes just like cheesecake) to mayonnaise. It adapts itself to the surrounding flavors. It is healthy and can be available to be used for numerous substitutes in the dairy free diet. It is also known to be a meat substitute. Some grocery stores are beginning to incorporate lactose free margarine.

What to Substitute Soy, tofu, rice milk, etc. are all substitutes for dairy – I just substituted water as all the milks affected my husband’s body system. Evidently, the food processing had something to do with his body aching as well as the foods. When I would make soy bread or rice flour bread these flours had no negative effect on my husband’s body system. (This is just an example of how one situation can lead to another situation and we learn more than we expected. )

Did you know all the many substitutes for eggs? Do you want something sticky for ingredients to cohere to each other? How about ground heart healthy flaxseed heated…it is very sticky when heated with water and becomes pasty. It will cohere ingredients just as solidly as eggs. Another binder for egg substitutes is the healthy joint /muscle food called Knox gelatin. Mixed with hot water, this makes a tremendously sticky substance that is needed in cakes, etc. Did you know l/4 cup of tofu can be substituted for 1 egg? Did you know l l/2 cup flaxseed = l cup of butter

Being a big dairy lover myself, a few years ago I had a mound of cottage cheese and yogurt, one of my old time favorite foods. I fell asleep in the afternoon and I awoke gasping for air. I was all alone by myself in the afternoon and wondered if I were dying. I could not breathe and thought I was having an asthma attack though I never had one before. After a few minutes, I appreciatively thanked God I was still alive and later read a few articles about how dairy allows mucous to build up in the lungs. I am sure that is what happened to me that afternoon and have been leery of eating the two ever again.

Living with Allergens

A true life-style change has come about due to this and we have learned to read every label for “hidden” terms for eggs such as “albumen” and many other terms. Buying Prepackaged food has become almost nearly become out of the question most of which contains dairy or cheese or egg in some form or other.

Not only have we come to live and enjoy our way of eating but do not mind it at all. up . Like any other habit, we have deprogrammed ourselves from these foods. I myself only eat them occasionally.

I hope you have enjoyed reading my article and please pass it to anyone who may be interested.

Food allergies and sensitivities can be treated several different ways. The following 3 treatments work well and can have you feeling better soon.

1. Food Elimination

Elimination of the food from your diet is the best form of treatment. If it is done completely it often can eventually lead to eventual tolerance of the food, except in instances of fixed food allergies, which must never be eaten. Careless, halfhearted, or partial avoidance can, in some people, lead to increased sensitivity. It is also best to avoid artificial flavors, colors, and preservatives.

2. Rotation Diet

A Rotation Diet is one in which you rotate the foods you eat on a four day plan. Ideally, you will totally eliminate all the foods that you are allergic to and then rotate the foods you do eat. Practically, eliminate foods that you are allergic to as much as possible, then rotate the foods you do eat as much as possible. Alternate foods are eaten to prevent the development of new allergies.

3. Injections or Drops

Food injections or Food Drops can help control your cravings much as a nicotine patch helps nicotine cravings. This involves being food tested at an allergist’s office. Your treatment injections are made by combining the treatment doses of all allergic foods tested into one small injection. They are individually made for each patient. The drops are made of the the same extract, but you use these at home. A couple of drops of the sweet tasting liquid is placed under the tongue each day or upon exposure.

With treatment, most patients improve steadily and in some cases, very quickly. It depends on sensitivity and which treatment you choose.