Multiple Food Allergies Including celiac disease

[gfgypsyqueen]

Just overwhelmed today. Added yet another food allergy to the household and I can't figure out how to manage it very well.

I'm trying to figure out how to manage mulpitple food allergies in one house. Everyone has one allergy of their own, but we have a total of three different allergies. One allergy is anaphylactic.

I know other people on this site must be dealing with this too. How do you shop? How do you handle food, food storage, food prep so that no one gets sick??

Any suggestions? Do you buy only products that are safe for everyone? Not many options there. Do you label or color code the food?

[AndreaB]

We don't have IgE allergies. We have the IgG (delayed) allergies or intolerances.

I make dinner totally allergen free for the whole family (so it's only one meal). Breakfast and lunch those who aren't intolerant to an item can have it.

Hopefully someone else with IgE allergies will come along with some advice.

[hathor]

Which allergies are you dealing with? It sounds like it would be easier to find recipes that would work for everyone, with some labeled prepared food for things that not everyone can have. I personally would keep anything that caused an anaphylatic reaction out of the house completely. Of course, it is easier to give advice when one doesn't have the issue one's self.

I have multiple intolerances. No one else in my family seems to have a problem with anything. I prepare meals I can eat. Stuff folks are really hungry for that I can't have -- they can eat it at a restaurant or I buy it prepared and they can have it when we are having an "everyone for him or herself" meal, like sandwiches or assorted leftovers. I have a cabinet where I keep things I can eat and a cabinet containing things I can't (for cereals, crackers, etc.) I do have two kinds of bread, with gluten and without, and this seems to work.

I have enough problems getting ONE meal on the table (Not finding stuff I can eat, mind you, the physical process of cooking ... )

[Creative-Soul]

I don't know how much I can help I can offer as I only cook for myself, but I know how totally frustrating it is to have a new allergy to deal with! I found out about a new one myself recently; after eating some cabbage a week ago I found myself wanting to absolutely tear my skin off - everywhere was red and itched so badly I couldn't even think straight...

I would suggest the labelling/color coding if needed - sounds like a brilliant idea; do them both, because it could be easy to forget at first what color represents what. I agree with Hathor - I would keep the analphylatic food out of the house, especially since you are in charge of the food! I, however, don'y have that option right now...

[tarnalberry]

Yep, especially with only three things to restrict, I'd say to keep everyone eating the same foods, with the allergens out. It's just much safer that way. What items are you restricting? It can be hard, especially at first, until you figure out ways to adapt around it and get into the habit of using, and liking, those ways. After that, it's easier, but it's never as easy as not having to be different, of course.

[Natasha]

Hi, I have multiple food allergies (wheat, eggs, walnuts) and it IS damn hard to find food to eat. I used to cook at home quite often before I was diagnosed so the amount of time I had to spend in the kitchen didn't increase much.

Anyway what I ended up having to do (along with making most of my food from scratch) was to explore different CULTURAL FOODS! I found a lot of Indian, Asian, Caribbean, African and Latin foods that to fill the void left from abstaining from most American fare. Thankfully, most of the ingredients like rice based pasta can be found in the ethnic section of your major grocery stores. But I do have to shop at Whole Foods for things like Nayonaise (the BEST tasting mayo substitute EVER!).

As for subs for bread, cupcakes, pies etc, I have yet to find a brand I can BUY that actually meets my allergy requirements AND tastes as good as the baked goods WITH all the things I am allergic to. I have, however, been able to make some pretty damn good subs in my own kitchen.

Before you go buying any new products, be sure to search for reviews online. You can save yourself a lot of $$$ that way.

This website is a great place to find products that suit ALL of the allergy prerequisites - they allow you to filter by allergy - www.shopbydiet.com

[Anonymousgurl]

Aww I know how you feel

There are days when I get SO frusterated. I'm allergic to gluten, dairy, eggs, and fatty acids (which means anything with oil, nuts, avacados etc.)

So if you have any of those inollerances and need help...please let me know! If you need dinner ideas, snack ideas etc.

OR if anyone else has the same intollerances as I do, I'm still open to suggestions too

Good luck, I feel your pain!

[hathor]

I'm allergic to gluten, dairy, eggs, and fatty acids (which means anything with oil, nuts, avacados etc.)

...OR if anyone else has the same intollerances as I do, I'm still open to suggestions too

The McDougall diet is vegetarian, with no dairy, eggs, added fat, or high fat plant foods (the last if one is trying to lose weight). So there are lots of recipes there (several books, a free monthly newsletter with recipes [archived], a discussion board). It isn't gluten-free, but those of us that are have our own little subforum to talk. There are some nice recipes at www.vegsource.com/marla (have to convert those that have gluten) and www.fatfreevegan.com/gluten-free.

If you eat meat & fish, I can't help you recipe-wise. (Do the fatty acids in them bother you?) But this at least gives you some side dishes or recipes for meatless meals. I had a big problem with fats, dairy, & egg, which is why I went to McDougall to begin with. Now I find that I can digest occasional items with some added fat & high fat plant foods, which I can "afford" since I'm now skinny But now I find out I need to avoid gluten, soy & yeast and do a complete job of avoiding dairy & egg, so I don't know that I'm making progress

One thing I've noticed is that you can often leave oil out of a recipe without problems. One can saute in water, broth, wine, soy sauce, balsamic vinegar, etc. and things work. At least sometimes, in baked goods you can substitute something like apple sauce for the fat and it actually works! In the regular fatfreevegan dessert recipes, you can get some ideas.

[Anonymousgurl]

The McDougall diet is vegetarian, with no dairy, eggs, added fat, or high fat plant foods (the last if one is trying to lose weight). So there are lots of recipes there (several books, a free monthly newsletter with recipes [archived], a discussion board). It isn't gluten-free, but those of us that are have our own little subforum to talk. There are some nice recipes at www.vegsource.com/marla (have to convert those that have gluten) and www.fatfreevegan.com/gluten-free.

If you eat meat & fish, I can't help you recipe-wise. (Do the fatty acids in them bother you?) But this at least gives you some side dishes or recipes for meatless meals. I had a big problem with fats, dairy, & egg, which is why I went to McDougall to begin with. Now I find that I can digest occasional items with some added fat & high fat plant foods, which I can "afford" since I'm now skinny But now I find out I need to avoid gluten, soy & yeast and do a complete job of avoiding dairy & egg, so I don't know that I'm making progress

One thing I've noticed is that you can often leave oil out of a recipe without problems. One can saute in water, broth, wine, soy sauce, balsamic vinegar, etc. and things work. At least sometimes, in baked goods you can substitute something like apple sauce for the fat and it actually works! In the regular fatfreevegan dessert recipes, you can get some ideas.

Wow, you have no idea...you might have just saved my life! I'm so limited right now and gaining weight is nearly impossible...these websites actually might help me to be healthy again! Thank you SOOOOOOOo much!!

[Juliebove]

My daughter is allergic to 7 foods. I am allergic to 3. One of mine is almonds, the other two we share. I simply do not eat almonds. She does and that's fine with me. Since she has so many, we have a special fridge for her and a special area set up with her food. This makes it easy for her to know which foods are safe for her to eat and would make it easy for anyone who might babysit her. And by this I mean prepared foods such as cans of pasta and boxes of cereal. There are shared foods such as rice and dried pasta that I keep elsewhere.

In the beginning, I got rid of all foods we were allergic to. Gave them away or threw them away. Then I realized this wasn't working so well because hubby who has no food allergies wanted to eat certain things we could not. So I gradually began bringing things back into the house but with conditions. There is one drawer in the fridge and it holds cheese and other foods daughter and I can't eat. We are both allergic to eggs so while I will buy them, I will not cook them.

I do not make sandwiches for husband, but I will buy him prepared, wrapped ones. I will buy him other prepared foods that he can eat and we can not. Like mac and cheese or fried rice. But for the most part when I make dinners, I make something we can all eat. I just buy the prepared foods for the nights when daughter and won't be home and will be dining out.

[gfp]

Lots of good posts already....

I'll just add "one step/day at a time" as a direct answer to the question....

What seems overwhelming gradually becomes second nature.... one day you just look back and think how hard it all seemed and how you hardly need to think about it now....

If you drive, think back to the first time you got in a car... specially if it was a stick-shift... all those controls, buttons and stuff yet after a while you jump in and its all second nature.

[mmaccartney]

We have lots of allergies too. My household can't have gluten, milk, eggs, peanuts or any other nuts. We keep the house free of any of these items. We cook 95% of our own food. My children can have gluten when they aren't eating at home...just like I can have eggs and nuts outside of the home. The house remains safe for everyone.

I can't say it's easy but there are a lot of products out there...but the biggest thing is keeping the house safe and accepting the new role of chef....

[bklyn]

I'm curious - for those of you with intolerances, rather than allergies, what are your symptoms? I recently had an IgG antibody assesment done, and there were several foods that came up. I was tested due to daily headaches and stomachaches,but are these the kind of symptoms the rest of you are getting?

thanks for the help.

Kathy

[hathor]

My symptoms have been largely gastrointestinal, from difficulty digesting items (just sit in my stomach), gas, bloating, to constipation & occasional diarrhea. It is hard to tell about headaches because they can come from so many things. But I'm definitely having fewer of them now.

When I (largely) cut out dairy some years ago, my nose stopped being as stuffy. I used to have at least one big sinus infection each year and I haven't since I changed my diet. When I cut out wheat, the lingering little runniness -- which I had attributed to pollen or something -- went away.

I never noticed any symptoms from soy or yeast. (I only tested for them because it was in the same test package with egg, which I'd had increasing problems digesting & was at the point of only occasionally having it in baked goods. As long as I was taking the trouble to ship my poo off I might have it thoroughly tested for everything ) With my positive test results and reading, I've learned that the symptoms for soy sensitivity can be subtle. I don't know what the symptoms for yeast sensitivity are supposed to be (not to be confused with Candida, which I don't have a problem with.)

Anyway, given my results, I thought I would cut them out and see what happens. My BM character improved -- now it is precisely like I've read things are supposed to work. Some perioral (around the mouth) dermatitis I could never get rid of no matter what I did cleared up. Also, I am going through menopause and had been getting hot flashes during the day and bad night sweats every darn night. They have improved immensely. Someone told me on an internet board once that she stopped having hot flashes when she cut out soy as well. I tried for a couple days and didn't see a result. I guess I needed to do it for a few weeks before I saw something happen.

The other day I had night sweats again and I noticed some blemishes on my face. My knees also were hurting for some unknown reason. I thought, what is new. I remembered a new supplement, that said it was hypoallergenic, doesn't contain blah, blah, blah. I guess I didn't want to stand there in the store any longer reading labels and didn't notice that soy wasn't listed as absent. Another supplement I have from the same company does say it is soy free, so I think it is a safe bet soy is in the other one. Anyway, I stopped taking it and I am back to where I was before.

I don't know if the joint pain is related. I've had problems before but that is usually when I haven't been exercising. Or so I suspected. I haven't kept track well enough to know if my knees hurt less now that I've changed my diet.

I didn't know what to expect when I cut out these items. You might try eliminating what the tests say you react to and see what happens. If something positive happens, you have your answer. If you don't notice anything, well, maybe the test isn't 100% accurate

[cybermommy]

Just overwhelmed today. Added yet another food allergy to the household and I can't figure out how to manage it very well.

I'm trying to figure out how to manage mulpitple food allergies in one house. Everyone has one allergy of their own, but we have a total of three different allergies. One allergy is anaphylactic.

I know other people on this site must be dealing with this too. How do you shop? How do you handle food, food storage, food prep so that no one gets sick??

Any suggestions? Do you buy only products that are safe for everyone? Not many options there. Do you label or color code the food?

I find that while young children learn their allergies quickly, they may not always know what foods in the house contain them. Especially your 2 yo would be at risk to grab foods & stick them in her mouth, even crumbs dropped on the floor. I know the 2 yo in my house does. When my oldest son was little I eliminated all blueberries and red #3 & #33 from my house & since have shellfish allergy I used plain salt & didn't buy shellfish. I kept regular milk for my husband & myself & soy milk for the kids who were dairy intolerant. At present I am still converting my house to gluten-free. I have an area of gluten containing foods that the boys need to eat up (I can't afford to dispose of it), an area for specialty foods that need preparation & shelves in my bedroom (where the 2 yo & I spend most of our time) with easy foods we can eat. Top shelf has some soy & peanut that I can have when she is not here. (She reacts if I eat them around her) . Lower shelves have foods that are gluten, dairy, peanut & soy free for her. She can get them out herself.

I have teenage boys who eat at different times due to school/work schedules & they tend to fix there own or eat out. I do keep each of their favorite breads sealed in plastic bread keepers which are labeled. I also keep some frozen burritos for fast microwaved meals for them. They are old enough to understand about cross contamination & the seriousness of the health effects & are good about it. (3 of us have done the whole anaphalactic number.) I keep kitchen wipes on the counter & they are to wipe the counter down after food preparation that contains an offending food. They also wash their dishes immediately after using, which reduces stuck on food particles.

My 20 yo daughter recently discovered she has celiac disease. My precious son-in-law is a bit absent minded, as discovered in dealing w/ my daughter's lactose intolerance (they both cook), so they have converted their whole house w/ the exception of a loaf of bread for his lunches that he takes to work.

In our extended family we have all 8 major food allergens plus quite a few others. If we have a small child with the allergy it is completely eliminated from family get togethers. As they get older we have special areas set up w/ allergy free foods. We finally get to have deviled eggs again. We do all gluten-free as we now have 6 family members who are gluten intollerant. 3 family members are now allergic to soy.This is the one I am having trouble adjusting to, as a lot of our gluten-free foods had soy.

It sounds like a good idea to eliminate anything that causes anaphalaxis. Color coding can be good too. In the end only you can decide what works for your family. Even very young children understand if you tell them that they are allergic to a food & that it will make them sick. Teach them early to take responsibility for their own health (w/ appropriate supervision for age). This makes them more likely to stick to their diet when they are out from under your supervision. (The pediatric nurse in me had to say it)

Good Luck,

Deb

PS: Anyone know of a gluten-free, peanut free, soyfree substitute for soysauce?

[corinne]

I seem to be intolerant of (besides gluten) dairy, soy, nuts, most cruciferous veggies, high amounts of fructose, all grains including corn+ rice, beef, pork and potatoes. My symptoms are stomache cramps followed by vomiting, then intestinal cramps and finally 4-8 hours of D. So pretty much the same as gluten.

I stick to making a simple meal in the evening - baked chicken or fish, a filling veggie such as carrots or squash and some green beans and other veggies and munching on things throughout the day. That kind of meal though might be hard to get kids to eat.